Vatican Files

Journeys of Faith is the title of a recent book which contains a number of biographical narratives about people in the US context who have changed their Christian allegiance from one church or tradition to another. [1] It is a fascinating account on the complex reality of religious changes in peoples’ lives.

            Journeys of faith are happening all over the world at all times. Religious migrations are ordinary events whereby people change the direction of their spiritual pilgrimages. In some areas, like Latin America, it is a given that the Roman Catholic community has been declining in its numbers at the expense of various Evangelical and Pentecostal churches for some decades now. Why did it happen? Sociologists and historians are giving some answers. The important issue was recently addressed by Benedict XVI and his comments now deserve some consideration.

1. No Theological Reasons

In receiving the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia (June 22^nd), Pope Ratzinger spoke about the Latin American context as a region where the Roman Catholic Church has to deal with a growing religious pluralism. Latin America in general, and Colombia in particular, used to be a more “unified” society from the religious point of view, but recent changes have transformed it into an extremely multifaceted area. Benedict XVI explicitly refers to “pentecostal and evangelical communities” as very active realities and primary agents for this change.

            At this point he asks the “why” question before asking the “what to do” question. Instead of providing his own attempt to explain the situation, Ratzinger quotes the document drafted by the 2007 Conference of the Latin American Bishops which provides an interesting insight. The relevant section of the document (n. 22), quoted verbatim by the Pope, can be summarized in this way: most people in Latin America leave the Roman Catholic Church not because of what the “non catholic” groups believe, but because of how they live. The fundamental reason is not doctrinal but instead lifestyle related. The problems they see are not dogmatic, but pastoral. They do not distance themselves from the Catholic Church for theological reasons, but instead out of practical concerns.

            In other words the challenge that Pentecostals and Evangelicals represent for the Roman Catholic Church has little to do with their different doctrines of the Bible, authority, sacraments, the Church, salvation, etc., but with the quality of life they seem to live and to offer to outsiders.

2. The Answer is Even More Catholicism

The “what to do” answer is simple and is a consequence of the “why” question. There is nothing to change as far as the doctrine of the RC Church is concerned. The challenge is to become “better” Catholics: more hospitable, more inclusive, more compassionate. Actually, the Pope encourages the Colombian bishops to achieve this better quality of Catholic life by promoting the “catholic” distinctive features which are near to the Latin American soul: adherence to the traditions of the Church, the deepening of Marian spirituality, and the practice of a richer devotional life. The cure is not less Roman Catholicism and more Evangelicalism, but instead more Roman Catholicism in need of becoming richer and more profound than practical Evangelicalism.

3. Between Hardware and Software

To put it simply, in the Pope’s eyes Evangelicalism does not seem to have a theological “hardware” that is solid enough to be a real alternative to Roman Catholicism. This Pope has repeatedly argued that Evangelicalism is too doctrinally liquid and ecclesiastically unstable to be taken as a serious theological counterpart. However, what Evangelicalism has is a good “software” of the Christian life, a better approach to the spiritual quest than present-day Latin American Catholicism can offer to the people. Catholics should therefore improve their “software” without changing their well  established “hardware”. They should work on the output by reinforcing their DNA. Finally they should better their performance by closely abiding to what their Catechism teaches.

            The Pope’s speech to the Columbian bishops is yet another instance of how Evangelicalism is perceived by Benedict XVI: a curious experiment that attracts people with its ability to grapple with their experiential expectations, but with little theological substance to be a real concern for the Roman Catholic Church. It also reminds us of the way forward that the Pope foresees for the future of his Church: an inner renewal without any doctrinal reform by way of grasping better its past and living tradition.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 18^th July 2012

Instrumentum Laboris are the Latin words for “working tool”. In the ecclesiastical language it is the document that will serve as the basis for discussion at the next Synod of Bishops that will take place at the Vatican (7-28 October 2012) on “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. The eighty page text is the summary of responses received from Episcopal conferences, the Roman Curia and the Religious Orders to a set of questions asked in 2011 about the New Evangelization (NE). About 70% of the various departments of the Roman Catholic Church responded and their feedback was condensed in the Instrumentum Laboris.

            This is not the official document of the Synod but a preparatory one. The final text will be the Post-Synodical Exhortation that the Pope will issue after the Synod. Nevertheless it gives the pulse of what is happening around the NE given the fact that NE will be perhaps the most defining feature of Roman Catholicism for the next decade.

1. Towards a Definition of the New Evangelization

The expression New Evangelization has been floating around since 1979 when John Paul II began to use it. Since then it has become a keyword in his pontificate as well as in Benedict XVI’s. With the Instrumentum Laboris it eventually reaches its technical definition: “Evangelization is the missio ad gentes (i.e. mission to the peoples) directed to those who do not know Christ. In a wider sense, it is used to describe ordinary pastoral work, while the phrase ‘new evangelization’ designates pastoral outreach to those who no longer practice the Christian faith” (n. 85). This will become the standard definition. As it appears, the Christian West is the primary object of the NE where the first evangelization occurred centuries if not millennia ago and where the RC Church has traditionally been strong and influential, but is now losing its grip. The NE is an attempt to call the masses of non-practicing, baptized Catholics back to the life of the Church.

2. An Increasing Concern …

Why is the NE necessary? The main reason is that the Christian world today is going through a “silent apostasy” (n. 69). The portrayed picture of the spiritual condition of the West is rather dark. The different components of the Church report “a weakening of faith in Christian communities, a diminished regard for the authority of the magisterium, an individualistic approach to belonging to the Church, a decline in religious practice and a disengagement in transmitting the faith to the new generation” (n. 48). In short, the modern world is characterized by the “de-Christianization of many ordinary people”.

            As a result of this worrying trend, some are taking the path of secularization (i.e. practical agnosticism), others are trapped in the “spread of sects” (n. 13). The term “sect” is left undefined, so it is impossible to ascertain who they are. In another passage, there is a reference to new religious groups that exercise “emotional and psychological dominance”, promise “prosperity and success in life”, and use “aggressive, proselytizing methods” (n. 66). Clearly, some prosperity gospel movements are involved here, but a more careful description of what is meant by “sect” would be useful, due to the widespread and derogatory usage of the label to indicate various non-Catholic groups.

            The bulk of the document is a rehearsal of various reasons (e.g. cultural, economic, sociological, religious, technological, etc.) for why the “de-Christianization” has taken place and therefore why the NE has become vital for the present and future of the Roman Catholic Church.

3.  … But Little Self-Criticism

Much of the text suggests bits and pieces of analysis of “external” threats that make it urgent to invest in the NE and that the Synod will need to work out in a more organic way. The world (i.e. the West) is to blame for the “silent apostasy”. Secularization is the enemy. Sects are dangerous competitors. Therefore the overall response of the Church should be to do with greater enthusiasm, energy and zeal that which it has been doing thus far. The terms used are “new fervor”, “fresh enthusiasm”, “new incentive”, “rekindled energy”. The message is that the NE is what the Church has been doing for ages, only with more passion and conviction. This is the reason why every practice of the Church is involved in the NE: sacraments, catechesis, popular practices, Marian devotion, etc. The NE is the usual and the whole program of the RC Church which is now being done with more intensity.

            What is striking is the near absence of a self-critical reading of the situation, as if the “de-Christianization” of the West just happened out of the blue, without the Church having any responsibility in the matter. There is no ecclesiological self-questioning (e.g. is there a problem in our vision of the church?), nor theological interrogation (e.g. is secularization also the reflection of our own failures?), nor moral self-analysis (e.g. do the recent scandals and failures have a role in the apostasy of many?). There is instead a thoroughgoing self-affirming attitude. To be honest, there is only one line in the text where the Instrumentum Laboris says that some RC circles ask whether “the lack of effects in evangelization today is the result of ecclesial and spiritual factors” (n. 39). Exactly which factors are not mentioned and the request is not developed further. Later there is a passing comment concerning the fact that some lament “the excessive bureaucratic character of ecclesiastical structures” and  “the excessively formal character of liturgical celebrations” (n. 69). Full stop. One line out of eighty pages.

            The hope is that the Synod will be more self-critical. Today’s “de-Christianization” has much more complex reasons than the sociological ones and Christians of any sort, instead of pointing the finger first, should repent before God for all their sins and be open to change according to the Word of God. This will be the beginning of the New Evangelization.

Leonardo De Chirico

leonardo.dechirico@ifeditalia.org

Rome, 27^th June 2012