Commentary Papal apology a first step
By CARMEL McENROY
I suspect that more comments may be made about what John Paul did
not say than what he actually said in his March 12 Day of Pardon
Mass and reconciliation service. He should have said this or that. I, too, have
my shoulds, but they are not my main focus.
I believe in the power of the symbol -- symbolic actions and words
from which power goes forth. Human beings are symbol-makers, hence, the basis
for effective liturgy and sacraments. As a visual, prophetic action, John
Pauls message reached far more people than any encyclical ever could.
At Vatican II, Paul VI demonstrated on several occasions his keen
sense of the power of symbol. He donated his papal tiara to the poor people of
India during the 1965 Eucharistic Congress. He held a moving ceremony of
reconciliation between Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople and himself,
regretting the sins of the 1054 division between East and West. He invited a
small, symbolic group of women to the council as auditors for the
first time in history. When Paul opened the second session of the council, he
welcomed the ecumenical observers and apologized to them for Romes part
in Christian divisions. Many bishops murmured their disapproval. Why should the
one, true, holy, Catholic church apologize to anyone? But Paul was not dismayed
and proceeded to make amends by launching the ecumenical movement from the
Catholic side.
Regardless of the limitations of John Paul IIs ceremonial
message, the most important thing is that he actually held a public service of
confession and repentance in St. Peters. He involved prelates of the
worldwide Catholic church in a public naming of the churchs sins and
prayed for Gods forgiveness.
I do not know how appropriately the other characters were cast for
their confessional parts. One could hope that as our brother Joseph Ratzinger
represented the overzealous defenders of truth, he might gain insight into his
own role.
After each specific confession, a lamp was lit before a crucifix.
Light was shone on specific sinful areas in the churchs words, deeds and
omissions. The lamp has been lit. May it produce an eternal flame.
It would have been nice if the pope had denounced the Holocaust
and Romes silent acquiescence in it. It would have been nice if the pope
had specifically acknowledged how the official church (not just individual
Christians) humiliated and marginalized women and used the infamous
15th-century Malleus Maleficarum (hammer of witches) as the
instrument that sent off thousands of wise women to untimely deaths; how the
official church continues to erase women by its mandatory sexist language both
for humankind and the deity and the exclusive conclusions that follow in terms
of ministry. It would have been nice if the pope officially abandoned the
theologically bankrupt and ecumenically insensitive use of indulgences. It
would have been nice
but this was a symbolic action, not a catchall
encyclical.
Who knows what will be the ripple effect of the popes
gesture? Who knows how the Spirit that blows where it will may prick the
conscience of church leaders who have sinned by their unjust actions and have
hitherto taken shelter under church auspices? The pope has given all the
bishops and priests of the world permission to examine their own consciences
publicly and to ask forgiveness, not just of God, but of the very people they
have offended -- not those dead hundreds of years. Some bishops have already
taken their cue from the pope and circulated confessional texts.
Rome says it is a first step. Parents delight in the first step of
their baby, but if there are no subsequent steps, they become alarmed. I await
the next and the next steps -- evidence of Romes true purpose of
amendment, especially in its area of greatest blindness as it pertains to the
female half of humanity.
Dont blame it on the frail, elderly pope. He has taken his
one step. Get in stride with him, brothers. Carry him along. Walk, run, leap in
the way of love and justice for all. Blow the Jubilee horns and demonstrate
that we are finally ready to live the kin-dom way of Jesus.
Mercy Sr. Carmel McEnroy is currently Visiting Lilly Professor
at Berea College in Kentucky and adjunct professor of Catholic Studies at
Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Ky.
National Catholic Reporter, March 24,
2000
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