Inside NCR
Fr. Tissa Balasuriya is clearly onto
something when he says there is a debate within Catholicism about how to
respond to the worlds religious diversity (see story).
One approach, embodied in the recent Vatican document Dominus
Iesus, is to assert in the clearest possible terms the superiority of
Christianity to other religions, and of Catholicism to other Christian
churches. The other is to allow that God is infinitely greater than any
particular creed or cult, and thus to accept that pluralism may indeed be the
divine plan. John Allens story clearly illustrates the gulf between the
theological line of Dominus Iesus and what the churchs dialogue
partners are hearing when they sit down with Catholics to talk.
That gulf, by the way, which might well be ignored by ordinary
Catholics and those engaged in official dialogue, has consequences at another
level. It is one more illustration of church leaders leaning heavily on an
authoritarian approach to a complex reality. The result is a further
diminishing of real authority. That quality, as Eugene Kennedy and Sara Charles
point out in their book, Authority, the Most Misunderstood Idea in
America, nurtures and gives power to grow and create. The authoritarian
acts of the Vatican in recent years, in contrast, have cut down and silenced.
Little has been nurtured.
However, if Balasuriya, insightful as he is about the growing gulf
between words and practice, is suggesting that Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of
the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is aligned with the more
affirming view, he gives credit where it isnt due. Yes, the concluding
document from the councils interreligious assembly last October contained
some polite language about mutual respect. But those present remember the
exceptional pains Arinze took to stress that this implied no shift in
Catholicisms claim that Jesus is the lone savior of humanity.
The event was orchestrated to avoid even a visual hint of equality
among the religions. When the delegates traveled to Assisi, the media was
excluded from their joint moment of silence before the tomb of St.
Francis. No one had a chance to snap a photo of Arinze and a Shinto priest or a
Native American shaman in what might look like common prayer. At the beginning
of the conference, Arinze admonished the delegates to leave aside
speculative discussion, suggesting that no progress could be expected on
the doctrinal front.
Arinze, in other words, does not appear to be the champion of
religious pluralism that Balasuriyas essay might suggest. On the
important matter of Catholic relations with other world religions, his view is
far more aligned with the Vatican document than with any pluralist view. On
other matters, the record would show him as authoritarian as any of John Paul
IIs appointments. These are points with special significance since many
regard Arinze as a candidate to be the next pope.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 22,
2000
|