Letters from our readers

Priesthood without Christ?

Editor: We write in response to the article "Priesthood Without Christ?" (2/97) in which John J. Lombardi expresses his dismay that, in light of his experience at a convocation of priests, "priestly formation workshops are held captive to self-esteem facilitators bent on demythologizing the faith" manifested by an over-emphasis given to "process," and a dramatic and dangerous absence of a Christ-centered approach.

It is difficult to understand where this serious charge concerning a lack of Christ-centeredness finds its source in light of several elements of the convocation not mentioned in the article. For instance, mention is not made of the discussion session "Images of the New Testament" where the priests were invited to reflect on six images ("Father," "Presbyter," "Overseer," "Shepherd," "Do This in Memory of Me," etc.) found in nine New Testament texts. Nor is mention made of the session "Gospel Concerns of Christ" in which priests were asked to reflect on seven significant elements of Jesus' ministry rooted in particular New Testament texts. Finally, the article failed to note the session "The Journey Continues," based on Pope John Paul II's document Pastores Dabo Vobis which challenged the priests to consider their call to minister as Witness to Mystery, Servant of Communion and Proclaimer of the Gospel.

With regard to the described over-emphasis on "process," it must be remembered that an essential element of the practice of Jesus was to call others together (in groups as small as the Twelve and as large as the 5,000), to invite them to reflect on their lives and to share their experiences, and to use their experiences (in the form of parables, among others) as vehicles for gaining insight into the Kingdom of God. Inviting priests to participate in a similar exercise would seem, then, not to be inconsistent with the practice of the great Teacher.

Over 160 priests rated the convocation very highly, offered numerous comments praising its effectiveness, and welcomed the opportunity to share their stories with brother priests in a faith-filled environment. Far from being described as "scandalous," we believe that more complete information reveals a priestly formation event which was truly rooted in prayer, reflective of Jesus' teaching, and flowing over with the Spirit of the Great High Priest.

Rev. J. Bruce Jarboe
Msgr. Joseph Luca
Archdiocese of Baltimore
Baltimore, Md.

On "Modernity vs. maturity"

Editor: This is a note of affirmation and total agreement with the article on "Modernity vs. Maturity" in the April 1997 issue of HPR. Among the many problems we are faced with in this age of so-called progress and change, the area of ongoing church "renovation" is one that causes me much sadness and is difficult to comprehend.

Dr. White's article describes my thoughts and feelings on this matter very accurately. I only wish that every cardinal, bishop, pastor and member of liturgical and building commissions would have a copy of this article to read and digest. Surely this is wishful thinking on my part, but I do thank you for publishing the article for HPR in general.

Bro. Cyrus Toschik
Appleton, Wis.

Sacraments are necessary

Editor: In discussing the diversity of religions and the meaning of this diversity as far as the salvation of man is concerned, Fr. Schall mentions the sacraments (as in the seven life-giving signs) once. He alludes to the Church offering the sacraments as part of its constitutional right (January 1997).

What did Christ mean when he said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you . . ." (John 6:54); "Unless you are born again of water and the holy Spirit, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven . . ." (John 3:5); "Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven . . ." (John 20:21-23)? The way Jesus puts it, it sounds more like a mandate than an offering. It occurs to me that the Catholic Church has a unique transcendency among other religions for more reasons than being the best exposé of God's Word or for enlightening the mystery of reality most adequately. The Catholic Church mediates communication of God's life-through the sacraments.

Is not God's plan for the salvation of man rather simple? Jesus rubbed shoulders with solid folk of unrefined intellect, who were then, and are today, too busy working at life to have time to dissect the intricacies of its meaning. The Pharisees, with all their learning, often received his divine condemnation.

I do not see where Jesus left anyone on their own, learned or not, to ascertain whether their particular belief and understanding were close enough to be a good choice. Anyone reading the book of John, especially, should find the message of salvation and truth clear cut and direct. The sacraments in particular stand out so vividly, I can picture the Evangelist whipping out his Day-Glo highlighter as he pauses to review what he's just put down. If the human intellect is untempered by humility and acceptance, its search for God is a very deep, dry well.

This does not deny that other religions have true insights on God and his plan, or that the virtuous examples of those of other faiths are useful, but they have not the sacraments: Living Water, Bread of Life, and the forgiveness of sins.

Can we let unease at the unknown fate of those outside the fold cloud the clarity of our belief in the necessity of the sacraments? Avoiding the vital importance of these institutions of Christ is a diseased cell that leads to serious cancers of heresy and apostasy. I can hardly belief that Isaac Jogues, Francis Xavier, et al. gave their lives that others might make the best informed choice.

Valerie Cowan
Brookings, Oregon

Pre-nuptial agreements

Editor: In considering pre-nuptial agreements (March 1997), Monsignor Smith seemed to have neglected to consider one very important area. When one or both parties are parents, very often these agreements are highly advisable.

To mention one example, how often do adult daughters resent their stepmothers, when dad dies and she keeps items that they believe their mother had intended for them.

In some circumstances, I have found it very advisable for a parent to discuss the agreement with the other members of the family at the time it is executed; so they can be assured that its contents represent the wishes of the parent.

Msgr. John R. Maguire
St. Louis, Mo.

Defining a university

Editor: Father Tekippe's consideration of "The Future of the Catholic University" (HPR, March 1997) prompts me to make known to your readers the best short statement I know of the university's traditional purpose and of its contribution to our Western culture-a purpose and tradition we should maintain.

In March 1974 the University of Adelaide (South Australia) conferred an honorary degree on the Duke of Edinburgh. The university published his response as its Centenary Oration. Its theme was the emphasis older universities (and, I add, our early Jesuit schools) put on the essential preliminary to serious study of any discipline: the development of a precise and sophisticated language in which to formulate accurately and discuss abstruse questions of the most profound importance-philosophy and theology among them.

This, I believe, is the specific task of every sort of educational institution, primary, secondary and tertiary.

Rev. John W. Doyle, S.J.
Kew, Victoria, Australia

Christ on the altar

Editor: Apropos of Michael Carey's article on the place of the Blessed Sacrament in the March issue of HPR, your readers might be interested to know that according to William Hood in Fra Angelico At San Marco (London: BCA with Yale University Press, 1993), p. 46, it is clear that the Dominicans began the practice of having the Eucharistic species near the altar: "Even as early as the thirteenth century, when the Eucharist was usually kept in a tabernacle set into a side wall somewhere in the altar, the Dominicans kept it on or above the altar itself [footnote six referenced to a source at the Biblioteca Nationale, Firenze]. . . . Thus however ubiquitous it may have been by Fra Angelico's day, for him and his brethren the reserved sacrament was a powerful and characteristically Dominican focus for their liturgy of the hours. Furthermore, it illuminated the office with a certain clarity regarding the Communion of Saints gathered in the unveiled presence of the Lord in paradise. The preachers liked, in fact, to remind themselves that the presence of Christ on their altars, albeit in the substance [sic] of bread, literalized the meaning of their office as simultaneously parallel to the worship of the company of heaven."

Basil Cole, O.P.
Oakland, Calif.

Infallible and ex cathedra
are not identical situations

Editor: Thank you for the recent articles discussing the Church's formal teaching that Christ's plan for the sacraments is such that his priesthood is for men only. Infallible and ex cathedra are not identical situations.

An ex cathedra pronouncement on some doctrine is a one-time event, probably done with extraordinary public ceremony. Of course a doctrine proclaimed in this extraordinary ex cathedra manner of proclamation is infallibly true. The doctrines of Mary's Immaculate Conception and her Assumption are examples of infallible doctrines proclaimed in the ex cathedra manner of proclamation.

There are also other doctrines which are infallibly true even though they have never (yet) been proclaimed by an ex cathedra ceremony. A doctrine of faith and morals proclaimed for the universal Church by the ordinary magisterium of the Church throughout the centuries is true and infallible even if its proclamation was never done in an ex cathedra ceremony. The intrinsic evil of acts of abortion and acts of contraception, the non-acceptability of homosexual acts, and the inability of the Church to ordain women are examples of doctrines of faith and morals which have always been proclaimed for the universal Church by the magisterium of the Church and are therefore infallibly true. The fact that these particular doctrines have not yet been done in an ex cathedra ceremony does not mean that they are not yet infallible. Truth does not require an ex cathedra ceremony in order to become the truth, i.e., the infallible truth.

A Catholic's conscience is bound by ex cathedra pronouncements; it is also bound by doctrines on faith and morals repeatedly pronounced for the universal Church throughout the centuries by the ordinary magisterium which teaches in accordance with Christ's plan for communicating his truth.

Jean Etienne Kadeba
West Memphis, Ark.

Using the word "infallible"

Editor: Father Dietzen's letter in the April 1997 issue on the subject "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" was very disappointing. He seems to have forgotten the parable in St. Luke where Abraham says to the rich man: ". . . they will not believe even if someone rises from the dead."

Father Dietzen says that our Catholic teaching gives no other individual the authority "even to 'interpret' them (the Pope's words) into infallible declarations." Father could do well to review what Vatican I and II declared; they did not require the pope to use the word "infallible," and I do not find Pope Pius IX or Pope Pius XII using that word. In fact Pius IX made his declaration before Vatican I had defined papal infallibility.

The dissenters are undoubtedly aware of what the Pope meant when he said: ". . . in order that all doubt may be removed . . . a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution . . . in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren . . . this judgment is to be definitely held. . . ." As Christ said they will not believe even if someone rise from the dead.

Paul McCollum
Omaha, Nebr.