archives

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

Much mischief in Catholicism often results from over-emphasizing one or another pole of a continuum. For example, push too hard on the church as a hierarchy, and the result is an inflated notion of authority; put too much stress on the church as the “people of God,” and you get congregationalism.

Applied to the current Synod of Bishops on the Bible, this "both/and" feature of Catholicism means that the bishops need to do two things at once: foster a deeper knowledge and love for the Scriptures, without generating an exaggerated cult of the printed word divorced from broader notions of tradition and the living church. A more succint way of phrasing the point is this: How can the church stress the Bible as fundamental, without turning Catholics into fundamentalists?

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

Amid growing political ferment over immigration policy in the United States and other parts of the world, Pope Benedict XVI today urged “brotherly love to the full” for migrants and refugees, calling them “the weakest and most defenseless … marginalized and often excluded by society.”

The pope issued the call in the form of a message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, marked by the Catholic church on January 18. The message was presented today in a Vatican press conference by Italian Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees, and Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the same council.

With much fear and trembling, I have decided to start a forum on "A Catholic Approach To Scripture: Challenges & Opportunities For Lay Catholics". I have been following the Bishop's Synod in Rome and must admit, that I am very excited about the topic which Pope Benedict XVI and the Bishops have decided to study. Like many Catholics, I grew up in a household replete with pictures of John XXIII, Catechisms, Rosaries, and dessicating Palms. What was absent in my family's home was a Bible. I remember how shocked my Protestant friends were when they asked where our family Bible was and my only response was to point to the Crucifix on the wall and stutter something about, "But we have our missals".

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

So far, the Synod of Bishops on the Bible has not featured particularly intense doctrinal debate. Most of the leading themes appear basically pastoral in nature – how to foster better preaching, for example, or more widespread prayer with scripture, especially the use of Lectio Divina.

Around the edges, however, one doctrinal can of worms has been at least partially pried open, focusing on the extent to which the Bible is “inerrant,” meaning free from error.