From the Editor's Desk

Imagining what might be

Heuristics, the art of problem solving, is a field that has captivated my imagination for many years as a means for addressing complex issues. For instance, if you can find a situation analogous to your own, then understanding one may provide clarification for the other. Heuristics is full of such methodologies for making sense of the world around us.

The pronouncements from Rome this past summer have forced us to reconsider our understanding of the winds blowing through the church. Our comprehension of an already complex situation became even more complex. More information only seemed more confusing. We watched as energies were being focused on specific questions while the bigger picture was blurred. We at NCR asked John Allen to draft an article that would provide a fuller assessment of the situation facing us.

In the article, John used the phrase evangelical Catholicism. It was as if he turned on a light bulb while we were searching for the point of illumination for comprehending Benedict XVI’s papacy. Using a term we recognized within an analogous situation, evangelical Protestantism, we were able to make better sense of the happenings of the past few months, if not the past 20 years.

Benedict XVI’s papacy is bringing to fruition the foundation laid by Pope John Paul II for the construction of evangelical Catholicism. Using this as a guide, future pronouncements become almost predictable as the church struggles in response to the forces shaping the world of the 21st century.

We seized upon John’s term, evangelical Catholicism, and asked him to complete his piece as our cover story and give us a fuller explanation of these thoughts as well as his insights regarding implications for liberal Catholicism. As always, we are interested in hearing what you think about this interpretation and your own assessment of the current reality.

In another article this week, we report on a lay convocation (part of the lay synod movement) that took place in San Francisco. Again, the field of heuristics may offer insight into future possibilities for these assemblies.

A potential approach for addressing questions of church is based on a new theory and methodology of human development called “Appreciative Inquiry.” The basic idea is to build organizations, in this case church, around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn’t.

The approach asserts that we can become prisoners of our own perspectives on a problem rather than think about what worked in the past and what represents our best experience.

After reading about the experience of the San Francisco gathering, I thought of what I had read concerning Appreciative Inquiry and whether this particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future would be helpful. Appreciative Inquiry doesn’t ignore past difficulties and injustices, but emphasizes positive relationships by building on the basic goodness in a person, a situation, and an organization. In so doing, its goal is to enhance the group’s capacity for collaboration and change. In the words of Dr. David L. Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University, a significant voice for the Appreciative Inquiry method, the hope is to “ignite the collective imagination of what might be.”

In the words of the Web site appreciative-inquiry.org, “It’s about seeing what others may not see. It’s about heightening our awareness of the value, strength and potential of ourselves and others -- and overcoming the limits that we impose, often unconsciously, on our own capacities.”

Contact me at rlarivee@ncronline.org.

-- Sr. Rita Larivee, SSA

National Catholic Reporter, August 31, 2007