Phan: Western church must respect Asian, African churches
Print Friendly VersionBy Rick DelVecchio
Catholic News Service
BERKELEY, Calif. -- The future of the Catholic Church as a global force depends on shared power and mutual respect between the churchâs historic center in Western Europe and its fast-expanding population base in the Southern Hemisphere, Georgetown University theologian Father Peter Phan told an audience in Berkeley Oct. 6.
Phan, who brings an Asian cultural perspective to Catholic thought, described the growth of Catholicism in the developing world and the importance of local culture among people embracing the Catholic faith in Africa and Asia.
He was the keynote speaker at an international conference sponsored by the Franciscan School of Theology. The Oct. 6-7 event focused on how globalization is changing the church and what the church can do to change with it.
Phan said he is advocating mutuality, not conflict.
Vatican officials are examining a book written by the Vietnamese-American priest for possible ambiguities on the unique role of the Catholic Church in the framework of religious pluralism. The book, titled Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue, was published in 2004 by Orbis.
In an interview after his talk with Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper, Phan he said is not challenging the churchâs core principles of papal primacy and papal infallibility, but he declined to discuss his troubles with the Vatican.
According to a Sept. 12 story by the National Catholic Reporter (see Why is Fr. Peter Phan under investigation?), the central issues of concern included what the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith considers the bookâs unclear descriptions on Christâs role as universal savior, the function of the Catholic Church in salvation and the value of non-Christian religions.
In his address Phan said the Roman Curia, the churchâs central administrative offices, should resist fighting the trend of globalization. It must share ecclesiastical authority with bishops on the periphery and embrace their non-European roots as vital to the churchâs global mission, he said.
âPower relations cannot be ignored in global Christianity simply because we say we are a religious institution,â Phan said. âThe task is to try to make the voices of the global South heard by the ecclesiastical core.â
The church must be a âhouse of love rather than a house of fearâ and the West must not impose its cultural norms on the East, said Phan, the first non-Anglo to be elected president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He served from 2001 to 2002.
A former Salesian and now a priest of the Dallas diocese, Phan holds the Ellacuria chair of Catholic social thought in the theology department at Georgetown.
Phan, who grew up in Vietnam and arrived in the United States in 1975 as a refugee, offered his model for a global church that is accountable to its culturally disparate faithful.
The theologian challenged the notion of a unified Christendom, calling the idea an example of Eurocentric ideology.
âI reject this,â Phan said. âPositively, we say âChristianitiesâ -- plural. In fact, in the first seven centuries the most successful fields of mission were not Europe but Asia and Africa, with Syria as the epicenter.
âAnd the most vibrant intellectual centers were located not in the Western part of the Roman Empire but in West Asian and African cities,â he said. âUntil the seventh century there was more Christianity in the East than in Rome. Rome was a backwater.â
When people talk about the legacy of the early church, âwe always talk about Latin and Greek,â he said. âPlease, look at the other side. Thereâs a whole Christian theological and liturgical heritage that usually disappears from the pages of church history books.â
He noted that Asian bishops do not enjoy conducting business in Italian and providing economic reports to Rome. They are more comfortable conferring in their own language over tea and measuring their success as ministers by their own norms.
Phan offered the social structure of early Christianity as a model for a global church in the 21st century.
âEarly Christianity is not a single tree rooted in Rome,â he said. âThe right picture is the rhizome that grows in the ground, that spreads everywhere. Thereâs no trunk. It just spreads and spreads and spreads. Thatâs a far more accurate picture of early Christianity.â
By 2050, Phan said, 80 percent of the worldâs three billion Christians will live in the Southern Hemisphere.
âBy that time a white Christian is an oxymoron,â he said. âThat is a shock. Wake up; this is the reality you cannot avoid.â
The church should respond by building a new pluralistic social compact on the foundation of a century of modern church teachings on human dignity, the preference for the poor in the exercise of Christian charity, justice, human rights, international relations and the environment, Phan said.
At the heart of the social compact must be a more open-ended view of ecclesiastical authority, he said.
âIn globalization,â he said, âstratification has shifted to function. It doesnât matter who you are, whether you are ordained or not ordained. It doesnât matter. The question is, âCan you do (it) and do it well?ââ
Learn more about Phan in East meets West, and a storm erupts over the Vatican: Phan's pioneering theology sets off doctrinal alarms.
We seem to be undergoing a
We seem to be undergoing a dark night in the Church, not the first in history and probably not the last. This darkness is not a mystery given the frantic efforts by some to slam the windows and nail down the shutters after a bit too much of the fresh air introduced by John XXIII at the instigation of the Holy Spitit. As at the first Pentecost, difference is a primary sign of that Spirit. Until the institutional part of the Church can learn to embrace and value difference, it will be primarily the responsibility of the rest of the Church to do so. Thank God for theologians like Phan and others. The Holy Spirit cannot be stopped and it is up to theologicans to make Her presence felt in times like these.
Anthony Christiansen, OFM
http://anthonyofm.blogspot.com
Difference is not a sign of
Difference is not a sign of the Holy Spirit. The primary sign of the Holy Spirit is consistancy in Divine Truth.Divine Truth is absolute.The purpose of Catholic Theology is to confirm Divine Truth not debate it.The dark night in the Church is a direct result of the sin of Pride in those members who refuse to believe that Divine Truth is,in fact,absolute.It is the same sin that has been with us since the beginning of time, the belief that somehow, we could become greater than God.God so Loved the World,(all of us) that He sent His only Son so that we would know Him,know the Truth about His Love for us.He sent the Son so that we may know Him in the Flesh,so that we would know what it means to Love someone in the fullness of Truth.To Love someone in the fullness of Divine Truth is to want Salvation for them.Divine Truth is the Word of the Father,who sent the Son,who sent the Holy Spirit.He,the Son,is our Hope for Eternal Salvation.He sent the Son so that we would find our way back Home to our Father in Heaven.His only desire is that we Love Him as He has loved us. God Bless our Pope,God Bless our Church,God bless those Priests that lead us in Divine Truth.
Difference may or may not be
Difference may or may not be consistent with the Holy Spirit. But I disagree that consistency is the primary sign of the Holy Spirit. The primary sign of the Spirit is our loving of one another. As Jesus said in the telling of the Good Samaritan Story, loving one another (-- the short form of "Love God above all ... and neighbor as self" --) is "all the law and the prophets." This priority given to love (from Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5) may have been taken by devout Jews as derogation of the full requirements of the 613 laws contained in the Torah.
For good or ill, human beings that we are, we in the Catholic Church (the one in which the Church of Christ "subsists") have developed over the centuries an extensive elaboration upon the law of love -- our own version of the 613 requirements of the Torah. Would not Jesus -- does not the Spirit -- provide us with the same cautionary note: it's about love, and nothing can qualify as Divine truth unless it passes the test, "is it loving?" Jesus Christ is the truth; loving one another is the truth.
I am quite comfortable with the set of elaborations upon the law of love that establish "Catholic identity." But at this point in history we know a great deal more than we knew at the beginning. In the early centuries there was considerable diversity of Christian communities, even after the scriptural canon became fixed. It should come as no surprise that if we were to begin today with the Resurrection experience and forge anew a set of elaborations upon the law of love, the Church might look different. "Is it loving?" would still be the same question to be applied to this new set of elaborations, and even applied to the requirement of consistency.
Our problem is that we are just human beings. We prefer consistency, even when a consistency requirement does not (or may not) pass the "is it loving?" test. And what is love, anyway? If that is too difficult, we fall back to rubrics somewhere embedded in our "set of elaborations." But in so doing -- in failing to persist with the question of love -- we risk idolatry: setting up as "Divine Truth" that which is of our own creation. And we can do that as Church as well as individually. Oh, the Spirit will correct us eventually, but maybe not right now.
But not to worry. God loves us anyway. What the Spirit calls us to do is to love one another, which is how we share in God's existence, as frail and well-meaning bumblers as we may be. Mother Teresa is a marvelous example, doubts and all. She said, "God, tell me what to do; give me some consolation for what I am doing", and God was silent. But she went on loving one another anyway. So God was not silent after all. Go figure.
God bless our Pope, God bless our Church, God bless those Priests that lead us in loving one another. And also God bless those who love one another, or who are struggling to love one another, and who are different from us.
Clyde Christofferson
God Bless You Anne. May the
God Bless You Anne. May the Peace of Christ be always with you.
I find your statements about Divine Truth interesting. I just answered a post on another thread "Slow Talk" that also involved references to God's Truth, "Divine Truth" as you say. You mention, "The purpose of Catholic Theology is to confirm Divine Truth not debate it." I actually think the purpose is to share it (God's Truth) with us and help us understand it (Divine Truth).
You also say about God, "His only desire is that we Love Him as He has loved us."
Well actually there is one other desire He has, that Christ taught us. Remember? Love One another as God loves us.
He or She who loves his or her brother or sister in God, Loves God.
You conclude with, "God bless our Pope..." I'd say it like this:
God Bless our Pope, God Bless our Church, God bless those Priests like Father Phan who lead us in learning and in understanding Divine Truth as it is lived out in our daily lives.
Here's some of that post on Truth, I mentioned. See what you think. :-)
"So weather one is wrong or the church is wrong on a particular issue. God is the final and definitive Judge of Truth. You make some very GOOD statements about Truth .... You assume and I believe rightly so that there is a Truth that exists that is Perfect in itâs Existence. I believe you are correct in that assumption. God is that Perfect Truth. And Only God can know God in Godâs completeness. That is perhaps where we differ. You believe the Church can know God in all Godâs completeness. I donât. Itâs really that simple.
You write:
âI donât understand how you can say that you trust in Godâs promise to keep the Church from error and then say that she is wrong .â
Ok ... let me explain. I believe Godâs promise to keep the Church from error is a dynamic ongoing living promise. It is never completed, it is always in process. It canât ever be completed because God is infinite. The Church is not. The more perfect the church becomes even as God is perfect the closer it gets to representing Godâs perfect truth.
You on the other hand believe that the church has arrived at the definitive perfect truth on some issues. The examples you gave are the Trinity, the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Christ is true God and true Man. Your claim of the Church infallibility on these issues being equivalent to Godâs infallibility of knowing these truths would indicate that the church in these matters understands these truths as well as the creator of and living existence of these truths. I say thereâs NO Way the church can know the truth of these existences as well as God.
Does that make a little bit of sense to you? I mean how I can believe that, based on my understanding of my Father in heaven as taught to me by Jesus Christ through the Church? I mean itâs the churches own teachings that lead me to that understanding of God. It gets real confusing doesnât it? I mean the church teaches me about God through Jesusâ teaching and I come to understand by that teaching that only God is infinite SO only God could have an infinite understanding of these Truths. And then you tell me that by the churchâs teachings and by virtue of the authority placed by God in the Apostles that the Church has the same infinite understanding of these truths as God does. I would say thatâs impossible the church can NEVER understand these truths as completely as God.
Doesnât that seem right to you ....?
you write:
âWhen you say, âThe authority of God and the authority of the Church is not synonymousâ, that is where we differ.â
I agree. We differ.
You write:
âBut once the Truth was recognized and stated clearly, the discussions against it ceased to have much use.â
I disagree. They do have use in that they eventuate into the promise of God to keep the church from error. They (the discussions) do this by what you call âthe development of our understanding of a truthâ. Our understanding is continually enhanced by this âconfrontation, discussion, councils, etcâ.
You continue:
âfirst I want to reiterate that the development of our understanding of a truth is not the same as change.â
And itâs through this development that we âmake sure Godâs promise is honoredâ.
Then you say:
"Otherwise, how could she claim that the Sacraments give life or forgive sins? Yes, she gets her authority from God."
She can claim that because we all know the GRACE conferred by the Sacraments comes from God not the Church. The Church supplies the âFormâ, The rite and ritual surrounding the Sacrament.
You continue with:
âThatâs why I donât understand not listening to her.â
Iâm not saying donât listen to her. Iâm saying listen to her very carefully, and make sure SHE Follows Godâs Laws and makes HER LAWS conform to GODâS LAWS.
From the TOP to the BOTTOM and from the BOTTOM TO THE TOP this should be done. So the Church is true to itself and to God in either direction.
You write:
âI think we are coming to the end of the time of confrontation on some more recent issues and are in different stages of discussion and clarification. Once the Church recognizes and says what the Truth of the matter is (Iâm not sure what the official term is), the arguments against it become counterproductive.â
and you continue with:
âIt does mean that all Catholics have an obligation to accept the Truth and ask for the grace to understand it.â
I agree emphatically with you on asking âfor the grace to understand it.â And I would call the asking for Grace âpraying for Graceâ. On the first part I would say not only all Catholics But ALL PEOPLE donât have an obligation but a NECESSITY to accept NOT THE TRUTH but Godâs TRUTH. And trust that God understands what it is and wantâs to share that Truth with us and the Church is a major vehicle BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE, for God to share that Truth (Godâs Truth) with us. So the way I would say what your saying as a development to achieve what Christ taught, that His Truth was for ALL PEOPLE, would be this:
All People have an opportunity and a necessity to search out Godâs Truth, and praying for the Grace to understanding that Truth is an effective way to achieve that goal.
So I think we are basically saying the same thing. I believe Iâve expanded (developed) on the way you were saying it to include All people the way Jesus taught me too. And to include the fact the Truth is Godâs not the Churchâs BUT The Church is in fact a major vehicle for sharing Godâs Truth with ALL people.
Do you see the importance of the nuances developed here to better reflect Godâs truth as taught by Jesus? It takes nothing away from the Church but it does give all glory to God even as Jesus taught. SOLI DEO GLORIA."
Peace be with you Anne. I pray you take my words with the same sincerity I share them with. God Bless and be with you Anne. :-)
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
Joer,God Bless You.I want to
Joer,God Bless You.I want to make sure that you understand that I did read your sincere reply.Christ gave His Church a great responsibility when He left this world in the Flesh.(He is with us now as always)His purpose in coming was not to reveal all things about God or the World for that matter.God sent His Son so that We would know Him in the Flesh.God sent the Son because he is pure Love and He wanted us to know the Truth about what it means to Love one another.This Truth about "Love one another as I have Loved you ",is expressed fully when all of us recognize the Sacredness and Dignity of Human Life.He entrusted that The Word would continue to be heard,unaltered,through His Church.The Pope is the final authority on matters of Church Truth because there can only be one voice regarding this Divine Truth.Peace be With You always,Joer
Thank You Anne. We are
Thank You Anne. We are blessed in the Love of God that we share. I'm blessed to receive your words in this last post that are poignant echoes of the Love Christ gave us. I would also rejoice in the Spirit of Truth that as Christ promised was poured out onto the world and is shared in our hearts even today Anne. May that same Spirit in God and Christ and us continue to strengthen us in the Spirit of Love and be amplified by us as we live and share it with ALL our brothers and sisters in the world. I heard this story Anne. It's not in the Bible but it reminds me so much of what my beloved Master Jesus taught me in the Bible through His Holy and Apostolic Catholic Church, about the Spirit of God, The Spirit of Living Truth that abides in us Anne to eternally guide us on the Path of our Eternal father in Heaven forever and ever through all ages and all learning and all epochs of change that we may face The Spirit of Truth will be with us Just as Christ Promised. May this Holy Spirit of God continue t be our guide Anne and fill us with the Love of God and enable us to share it with all whom come in contact with us. And they will know we are Christians,...By Our LOVE. :-)
"One of the most eventful of all the evening conferences at Amathus was the session having to do with the discussion of spiritual unity. James Zebedee had asked, "Master, how shall we learn to see alike and thereby enjoy more harmony among ourselves?" When Jesus heard this question, he was stirred within his spirit, so much so that he replied: "James, James, when did I teach you that you should all see alike? I have come into the world to proclaim spiritual liberty to the end that mortals may be empowered to live individual lives of originality and freedom before God. I do not desire that social harmony and fraternal peace shall be purchased by the sacrifice of free personality and spiritual originality. What I require of you, my apostles, is spirit unity--and that you can experience in the joy of your united dedication to the wholehearted doing of the will of my Father in heaven. You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the heavenly Father. Your apostolic harmony must grow out of the fact that the spirit hope of each of you is identical in origin, nature, and destiny.
"In this way you may experience a perfected unity of spirit purpose and spirit understanding growing out of the mutual consciousness of the identity of each of your indwelling Paradise spirits;
and you may enjoy all of this profound spiritual unity in the very face of the utmost diversity of your individual attitudes of intellectual thinking, temperamental feeling, and social conduct.
Your personalities may be refreshingly diverse and markedly different, while your spiritual natures and spirit fruits of divine worship and brotherly love may be so unified that all who behold your lives will of a surety take cognizance of this spirit identity and soul unity; they will recognize that you have been with me and have thereby learned, and acceptably, how to do the will of the Father in heaven.
You can achieve the unity of the service of God even while you render such service in accordance with the technique of your own original endowments of mind, body, and soul.
"Your spirit unity implies two things, which always will be found to harmonize in the lives of individual believers: First, you are possessed with a common motive for life service; you all desire above everything to do the will of the Father in heaven. Second, you all have a common goal of existence; you all purpose to find the Father in heaven, thereby proving to the universe that you have become like him."
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
Dear Anne, I'm afraid I have
Dear Anne,
I'm afraid I have never seen "consistency in Divine Truth" in any list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, certainly not as Paul outlines them. This does not mean that it isn't a gift of the Holy Spirit. However, in a discussion of basic pneumotology and when putting forth a personal opinion that cannot be substantiated either by scripture or tradition, it is a good idea to state that it is a personal opinion.
Now I admit that "difference" will not be found in the Pauline list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit either. On the other hand, volumes could be written on the fundamental and overarching motif of difference in the New Testament, the ministry of Jesus, and the trajectories of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and afterwards. I would suggest that the capacity to embrace and value difference is central to the authentic observance of the gospel.
Jesus didn't seek out and befriend those who maintained certainty of an absolute Divine Truth. In fact, he uniformly chastised and dismissed them. Instead Jesus gathered around himself those who were fairly certain they might be lost in one way or another. The gospels are clear that the experience of Jesus coming into the world is epiphanic and involves, not constriction of the meaning(s) of truth, but their great expansion with the power to bring more and more into their sphere of influence. This theme is exemplified in the experience of Pentecost which induces tongues in a multitude of voices and languages by diverse peoples and also in the first church council where difference rather than uniformity is upheld as a positive value. Difference continued to be embraced and valued in the early missionary ventures of the church.
Absolute, divine truth does in fact exist for those of us who identify as Catholic Christians. It is twofold. First of all it is a person: Jesus the Christ. Secondly, it is a relationship with that person. Because this truth which is a relationship with a person is always unfolding and developing, it can never be the sort of static, reified, and domesticated category you claim to possess with absolute certainty. And that is good news indeed! You can't keep God's Spirit down!
May we all be blessed as much with what we do not know as that which we do know.
Anthony Christiansen, OFM
http://anthonyofm.blogspot.com
With all due respect,
With all due respect, Anthony OFM, this much I know for certain is True, that consistency in Divine Truth is, in fact, a sign of the Holy Spirit. Truth does not contradict itself. Truth is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. I believe, that is all. The fact that others do not believe that Christ is Divine Truth, does not change the fact that He is Divine Truth. I agree with you, (this is an opinion) that my relationship with Christ is always unfolding and developing as my life unfolds and develops. I know that I need to be reminded (sometimes I admit over and over again) especially in times of weakness, about what is the right thing to do. Sometimes things get a little complicated. This is when I really value my Church, His Church. Often, I admit, I tend to neglect Him, especially when things are going well. I know I sometimes take Him for granted. I need to work on that. I will even admit that sometimes I'll be in the middle of something, and I know that it is wrong, and I do it anyway.(Usually this is not something major and I convince myself that it is not something major, which is probably why I continue to do it!) This, I know, will require a great deal of patience from Him.
While it is True that the experience of Pentecost included different tongues in a multitude of voices and languages by diverse (different) people, we can presume that this gift of languages was so that the Apostles could communicate the Word (consistent) to those who spoke those various languages. Just so you know, one of my favorite songs is, "What a Wonderful World", by one of the all time greats, Louis Armstrong. (A matter of opinion in which I think most people would agree,which I suppose is another matter of opinion.Just kidding with you a little.) I really enjoy the diversity of people and personalities. I think this is one of His greatest ideas and I hope I get the chance to tell Him face to face.(Although I have no idea nor can I begin to even imagine what that will be like but I Trust Him and presume it will be awesome!)
It appears, Anthony OFM, that this is a matter of misunderstanding (opinion). There are a bajillion facts about this world that I do not know. I only know that He is my Hope for Salvation.
"Difference is not a sign of
"Difference is not a sign of the Holy Spirit."
And yet, Anne, who is more different than God?
Who is more totally beyond all of our boundaries, our attempts to grasp and understand--to control and box in--than God?
I see God as always on the wild, untamed boundaries of our existence, beckoning us forward, beyond all that we take for granted and hold as firm and established. God seems to me to speak in wildly diverse ways, and in through the wildly diverse creation God has called forth.
It seems to me that no one tiny aspect of that creation can ever fully mirror the amazing diversity of the divine nature--nor can any one religious tradition, one language, one people, one gender, one species.
Surely it's that God towards whom we journey in our lives of faith, through a wilderness that constantly daunts our attempts to tie everything up in neat explanatory schemes. I expect to be surprised--very surprised--when I meet God face to face at the end of my life.
William D. Lindsey
And so we continue the same
And so we continue the same old debate.(I think I may be getting a slight headache)The purpose of Catholic Theology is to confirm the Truth.(explain,defend)We already know that He,Christ,is the fullness of Divine Truth.He is,in fact,absolute.Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.All that is in this World is a gift from Him,the Creator. The Catholic Church is not, as Fr.Phan has stated, some religious institution.There only exists one Christ(one Divine Truth)not "Christianities".The Divine Truth is the Word of the Father, who sent the Son, Who sent the Holy Spirit.He,(Divine Truth) is with us now as always, through His Word, His Church (which includes His chosen leader the Holy Pope BenedictXVI)and His gift of the Sacraments.With all due respect Joer, the purpose of Christ's Life on Earth was to show us how to Love one another.He showed us,by His Death on the Cross, that to Love someone is to desire Salvation for them.He came to show us the way back home to His Father in Heaven.His desire is that we Love Him as He has Loved Us. This is what We, who are Catholic , believe.Love and Peace to all.
"Charity, furthermore,
"Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free, it is not practiced as a way of achieving other ends." â Pope Benedict XVI
Main Entry: pros·e·ly·tize
Pronunciation: \ËprĂ€-s(É-)lÉ-ËtÄ«z\ Function: VERB Inflected Form(s): pros·e·ly·tized; pros·e·ly·tiz·ing Date: 1679
1 : to induce someone to convert to one's faith 2 : to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause
TRANSITIVE VERB : to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause
I like finding things that bring us together. To often we focus on what divides us. I have often found how things that the Pope says are in alignment with Things that others who are made out to be controversial and anti-church say, when if fact they arenât.
The Popeâs message above is in line with the things Iâve seen Father Phan say. He works to include ALL. Just as Jesus commanded and as Pope Benedict XVI is indicating as important in his above statement. Too often there are those, even on this site, who would change people from the way they are to make them worthy (in these person's imperfect estimation) of receiving communion, receiving God, receiving the Gospel, receiving Christ or even being part of the Church. They would rather excommunicate someone rather them to see them as beneficiaries of the Love we as Christians are meant to share with them. As the Pope points out, They donât need to be changed to receive this Love that through Christ is freely offered.
Well thatâs just what Father Phan is teaching. I wish some at this site could recognize what Christ and the Pope are saying. Love is Free you donât have to meet any criteria to receive it other than be willing to be Loved by God THE WAY YOU ARE. Not the way others want you to be.
Bless you all. May God unite us in our hearts. Help us to see we are ONE even as we are ONE. Amen
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
The Pope is referring (in
The Pope is referring (in Deus Caritas Est) to those who would make works of mercy dependent on the conversion of those that they help. (This is not uncommon in Protestant ministries in my area, soup kitchens that only admit those that come to the sermon before hand, others where they preach while people get their food).
This is what he had to say in Dominus Iesus on the missionary activity of the Church:
"âIndeed, God âdesires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth' (1 Tim 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the promptings of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionaryâ."
Hey Here Today, How are you
Hey Here Today, How are you doing. I hope you are well in all respects and enjoying our short time here on earth in our Spiritual journey with God.
Thanks for that other quote of the Popes. My point was how the Pope's words on God's Love reflect those words from Fr. Phan on God's Love. In truth finding the common threads that connect the basis of the Church, God's Love in this case expressed freely as service to God's children with no condition of conversion implied, to the basis of Liberation Theology which is God's Love expressed freely as service to God's children with no condition of conversion implied.
So rather than jump to a theme on conversion in the Catholic Church I would rather focus on the theme of God's Love which the Pope so graciously choose for HIS FIRST ENCYCLICAL LETTER as Pope. So in keeping with the theme of God's Love and how it's expression by the Pope the Leader of Today's Catholic Church is consistant with it's expression by Liberation theologists like Fr. Phan. Here's a little more from DEUS CARITAS EST:
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
DEUS CARITAS EST
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON CHRISTIAN LOVE
INTRODUCTION
1. âGod is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in himâ (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: âWe have come to know and to believe in the love God has for usâ.
We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: âGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should ... have eternal lifeâ (3:16). In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel's faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth. The pious Jew prayed daily the words of the Book of Deuteronomy which expressed the heart of his existence: âHear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mightâ (6:4-5). Jesus united into a single precept this commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbour found in the Book of Leviticus: âYou shall love your neighbour as yourselfâ (19:18; cf. Mk 12:29-31). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere âcommandâ; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.
Liberation Theology in practice leads to a living expression of God's Love in humankind's service to their Fellow human beings. Thus honoring God's love by loving God's Children as Christ and the Prophets directed.
Peace be with you HT and all at this site. Amen/Awomen
:-)
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
I am just curious about what
I am just curious about what will happen to all those white Christians who will become oxymorons in 2050. Perhaps he meant more the exception than the rule, of course, that is already the case. Maybe we will all become Buddhist.