book reviews

by wm. b. smith

Law and order
CANON LAW AS MINISTRY: FREEDOM AND GOOD ORDER FOR THE CHURCH. By James A. Coriden (Paulist Press, 997 Macarthur Blvd., Mahwah, NJ, 07430) 205 pp. PB $14.95.

On January 25, 1959, Pope John XXIII called for renewal. As Fr. James Coriden reminds us, on that day, Pope John did not only call for the Church’s Twenty-first Ecumenical Council, he also called for a thorough updating of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. According to Coriden, these two projects of reform are inter-related in that, “A rigidly juridical mode of church leadership was viewed as unsuitable and detrimental. This negative judgment about the effects of Canon Law on the life of the church led to some disaffection with the discipline as well as to its reassessment” (10). Coriden accordingly takes up this reassessment in an effort to highlight the discipline of Canon Law as a ministry of love and service within the Church. Chapters 1 and 2 of this volume are historically oriented, treating the long history of Canon Law. Coriden very succinctly and accurately takes the reader through “seven schools” of thought regarding the nature and role of Canon Law today and provides a helpful history of the place of law in Christianity, from the New Testament through the Christianization of the Roman Empire, up to modern-day Concordats.

The next four chapters are concerned with the nature of the Church in which law is exercised. Here Coriden draws heavily from Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes. His concentration is mostly on the renewal of communio and the different ways this is lived out: from Eucharistic and human-divine communion, to the more “everyday” forms, such as geography, employment and education. Coriden roots all his insights and examples in a fictitious community, “St. Mary’s’ on Main Street,” reminding the reader that the Church never exists without reference to a local community of people, be they in Antioch, Rome, or Kalamazoo. Although such practicality is helpful throughout, it is precisely here that the most glaring fault of this volume lies: Coriden’s insistence that, “the church is, after all, only a flawed band of sinful people” (114) or “The church, since it is fully human, is always cast in shadow” (54). Fr. Coriden’s vision of Church suffers from an extreme myopia. In neglecting the Church’s roots in Christ’s will, her divine sustenance and heavenly goal, he stresses only the human, and in the words of Cardinal de Lubac, “if we say only this, we fall into a sort of ecclesial ‘monophysitism,’ which in its one-sidedness is just as false if not more so, than christological ‘monophysitism.’” Chapter 7 finally turns to the practical changes needed to make Canon Law more of a ministry within the Church today. Here Coriden offers practical suggestions of seeing Canon Law as a ministry integrally united to other ministries in the Church, related to theology, Scripture, as well as preaching, catechesis, and pastoral counseling. As he says, “Canon Law is a means to the end of the church, whether that end is expressed in terms of the salus animarum, the salvation of souls, or the sacramentum mundi, the sign of God’s love for the world. Canon Law must never be viewed as an end in itself” (152). 

Fr. James Coriden, Professor of Canon Law and Dean Emeritus at the Washington Theological Union, answers a challenge first articulated back in 1892 by the Protestant theologian, Rudolf Sohm (1841-1917). Sohm captured a popular sentiment when he asked the Church to clarify the role of law in a community supposedly based on love. Sohm put his thesis bluntly: “The essence of Canon Law is in contradiction to the essence of the church.” John Paul II’s Sacrae Disciplinae Leges, acting as an introduction to the 1983 Code, responds beautifully: “the Code is in no way intended as a substitute for faith, grace, charisms, and especially charity in the life of the Church and of the faithful. On the contrary, its purpose is rather to create such an order in the ecclesial society that, while assigning the primacy to love, grace and charisms, it at the same time renders their organic development easier in the life of both the ecclesial society and the individual persons who belong to it.” By recasting the study and execution of Canon Law as a branch not of jurisprudence but of ecclesial ministry, Coriden has tried to make this vision a reality.

David Vincent Meconi, S.J. University of Innsbruck, Austria

Means as ends
THE LONG TRUCE. How Toleration Made the World Safe for Power and Profit. By A. J. Conyers (Spence Publishing Co., 111 Cole St., Dallas, TX 75207, 2001), xiv + 266 pp. HB $27.95.

It has been said that the only virtue left in modern society is the virtue of tolerance or toleration. To “tolerate” means to bear the burden of another or to put up with another. Since the philosophy of relativism seems to be the dominant view in our society, explicitly by intellectuals and in practice by ordinary people, it follows that no one can know the truth with certainty. If that is the case, which I do not grant at all, then the logical conclusion is that no group or religion can maintain that its position on the meaning of human life is true and absolutely certain.

A consequence of this is the relativizing of all religions and firmly held positions; it means that there is no basic difference between Hinduism and Catholicism, or between Mormonism and Protestantism. All positions, therefore, are not the result of intelligence and reason (or revelation, for that matter), but are merely personal preferences. That being the case, then there is no reason to give priority to any one view over any other. This seems to be the basic philosophy behind the modern promotion of “tolerance.” To those who hold this view, the Catholic Church’s condemnation of contraception, abortion, divorce, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, suicide and so forth, is considered “intolerant” and opposed to the good of society.

Professor Conyers presents a brief history of ideas from Descartes through Hobbes, John Locke and John Stuart Mill in order to show how the modern idea of toleration came about. His basic point is that modern man, especially during the time of the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, wanted to change the political structure so that wars of religion, which had devastated Europe from 1618 to 1648 could be eliminated forever. The strategy was to emphasize the importance of the individual over against the groups or religion he might belong to. Further, there was a drive to eliminate religion from public discourse, that is, to get rid of discussions about the purpose of human life, about the ultimate meaning of human existence. Money, well-being, politics and power were stressed, so there was a change from the consideration of ends to the consideration of means. What we have is the minimizing of intelligence and the glorification of will. And will has to do with power.

If you relativize the social groups people belong to, such as family, church, school, social and economic groups, then what you have left is the state and the individual. Thus, one of the main points our author makes in his book is that modern “toleration” has led to the weakening of these social groupings and the strengthening of the omnicompetent State. This leads to an increase in the power of the state, since it is easier for the state to deal with lone individuals than with large organized groups that can resist encroachment from above.

The solution our author offers to the problem is a return to the pre-medieval mentality which was based on the Christian belief in the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. In those days, when people held firm beliefs about God, man and the world, they could be tolerant because they knew what God had revealed, but they also knew the limits on human understanding and knowledge. The point he makes about the Incarnation comes only at the end of the book.

In my opinion, the author gives a plausible explanation of the nature of the secular society we now live in. For him secularism means the substitution of means for ends, the refusal to consider the purpose or end of human life, and the glorification of the will to power over intelligence and reason.

Conyers touches on theology in his consideration of toleration, but the bulk of the book is about modern philosophy, which for the most part is an idealism that is cut off from reality. From a Catholic point of view, the weakness of the book is that the author lacks the certitude that comes from an infallible Magisterium of the Church. Consequently, many of his good points are presented more as his own personal opinion rather than as objectively true positions. Nevertheless, the book is worthwhile. It will give you some valid insights into the modern mind which dominates our society and which is skeptical, pessimistic and basically nihilistic. That modern mind is diametrically opposed to the Catholic understanding of God, man and the world.

Kenneth Baker, S.J. Ramsey, N.J.

The Jews’ best friend
THE DEFAMATION OF PIUS XII. By Ralph McInerny (St. Augustine’s Press, P.O. Box 2285, South Bend, IN 46680, 2001), xii + 211 pp. HB $19.00.

It all started with former Nazi youth Rolf Hochhuth’s mendacious play, The Deputy (1963). Pope Pius XII died in 1958. During his life and after his death he was highly praised by countless Jewish leaders for all he did to save persecuted Jews under the Nazi regime. Jewish author, Pinchas Lapide in his 1980 book, which was a defense of the great Pope, estimated that he had saved at least 860,000 Jews from extermination in the Nazi death camps.

Hochhuth believed in the false idea of “collective guilt.” He concluded that all Germans were in some way guilty for the crimes of the Nazis. The notion of collective guilt was rejected as erroneous by Pius XII on at least two occasions. In any event, Hochhuth was looking for someone to blame for all that Hitler did. Seeing that the Catholic Church was hierarchical and in that was similar to the Nazi governmental structure, he drew the illogical conclusion that Pius XII could have stopped Hitler from killing the Jews if he wanted to. He accuses the Pope of complicity in the crimes of the Nazis because he was anti-semitic.

This is arrant nonsense which has been refuted again and again by such reliable scholars as the Jesuit Robert P. Graham, who was one of the editors of the twelve volumes of war letters of Pope Pius XII. Since 1963, others have weighed in to attack the noble Pope who even gave his personal fortune to help rescue Jews from the hands of the Nazis. The accusers have included both Jews and so-called Catholics like John Cornwell and Garry Wills.

Ralph McInerny is well-known as the author of the Father Dowling series of mysteries, books on philosophy and culture, the founding editor of Crisis magazine and Catholic Dossier magazine. An experienced and successful author, he knows how to tell a story. That is what he has done on this book — he tells the story of Pope Pius XII. The evidence is overwhelming that Pius XII did more to help the Jews than any other person or group, including Jewish groups. In fact, Professor McInerny points out that Zionists and anti-Zionists disagreed with each other on helping European Jews. The Zionists wanted to help only those Jews willing to go to Palestine and help establish the state of Israel. On this point the author presents information about internal Jewish politics that perhaps most Catholics have never heard about.

At the end of the book McInerny saves his most scathing remarks for those so-called Catholics who, to ingratiate themselves with the secular media, join in the shameful attack on Pius XII.

What is the reason for the savage attack on a Pope who risked all to help the Jews? Here one finds the most interesting point in the whole book. McInerny claims that the real target of these attacks is not really Pius XII, but the Catholic Church which is the guardian of the natural law and universal objective moral principles, such as thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not commit adultery. In short, the real object of the attacks is the sexual morality of the Catholic Church which is almost a lone voice in modern culture denouncing sexual liberation and the general depravity of morals. John Paul II has called modern culture a “culture of death” and opposes to it the Catholic view of the primacy of love and so promotes a “culture of life.” The Catholic Church denounces as erroneous the separation of the unitive from the procreative aspect of human sexuality. Therefore, she rejects as evil all forms of contraception, abortion, homosexuality, pre- and extra-marital sex. That is the real object of the recent attacks on Pope Pius XII and his successors, especially Popes Paul VI (for Humanae Vitae in 1968) and John Paul II for his many strong repetitions of the Church traditional teaching on sexual morality.

If you have any doubts about Pius XII because of the recent hype in the media about his “silence,” this book will put your mind to rest. You will also discover that there was a remarkable cooperation between the Vatican and major Jewish organizations in the effort to save Jews from Hitler.

As the author says on page 181: “Pius XII was responsible for rescuing 860,000 Jews from certain death at the hand of the Nazis. In word and deed, Pope Pius XII was the best friend the Jewish people had during the Nazi effort to exterminate them.”

Kenneth Baker, S.J. Ramsey, N.J.

The quotable Bishop Sheen
THE SEVEN CAPITAL SINS. By Fulton J. Sheen (Alba House, 2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314, 2001), 108 pp. PB $5.95.

It is wonderful to have an inexpensive book of the thoughts of the great Bishop Sheen. Billy Graham called him the greatest speaker for religion in the twentieth century in America.

In the 1950s millions watched him on TV. Though he was gifted in mind, he could explain the faith in a way that ordinary people could understand. And his unfailing wit made his talks even more enjoyable.

Everything Bishop Sheen said was excellent. Here we have him telling us about sin, a subject often forgotten by Pollyanna Catholics. There are chapters on Anger, Envy, Lust, Pride, Gluttony, Sloth, and Covetousness. And a final chapter entitled “Closed Door.” This is about the Resurrection. His thoughts are so clear, direct and yet profound.

Bishop Sheen uses the seven last words of Christ from the cross, one for each sin. For instance for the chapter on anger he quotes, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The third chapter is on lust. The words of Jesus are, “Woman, behold your son . . . son, behold your mother.” These words, Bishop Sheen states, are in reparation for the sin of lust. He said, “Lust is an inordinate love of the pleasures of the flesh. The important word here is inordinate for it was Almighty God himself who associated pleasure with the flesh. He attached pleasure to eating in order that we might not be remiss in nourishing and preserving our individual lives; he associated pleasure with the marital act in order that husband and wife might not be remiss in their social obligations to propagate mankind and raise children for the Kingdom of God. The pleasure becomes sinful at that point where, instead of using it as a means, we begin to use it as an end. This is lust, a selfish or perverted love. It breaks the lute to snare the music.”

Once started, it is difficult to stop quoting Bishop Sheen. But the best thing for you is to buy this inexpensive, excellent book and read it all.

Fr. Rawley Myers Colorado Springs, Colo.