A New Synthesis
Edward Holloway Teaching must be firm, clear and make sense
There is no lack of love for God, nor of willing self-giving to Him in the youth of today. This is the finding of all of us who have worked with the 'Faith Youth Movement'. The number of young men who have already offered themselves to try a vocation to the priesthood, proves that our opinion is no empty assertion. It stands proven just as certainly in the active confidence of such young men and girls at the universities, and in the large number of excellent young Catholics who do not lapse as soon as they enter upon the world and adult lay life. There is no lack of love and generosity: there never is among the young, at any age of history. Now and always, the problem is rather "Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him?" (John 9:36). The testimony of St. Paul remains true: "Whoever would draw near to God, must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him."(Hebrews 11:6). The soul must be formed in knowledge and love towards God, before a boy or a girl can lay hold on Him in their own spirit, and thrill to the joy of His service.
It is useless to call men to more prayer, more union with God, unless first they clearly and firmly believe in Him. If you are not really convinced of a personal God, not really sure about definite teaching, then you will not pray. Even if you do pray, you will pray at a hazard, "like one beating the air"(1 Cor.9:26) - you will not gather strength of soul, nor enter into the close union of a loving understanding of your God possessed. What is true for the teenager is true for the church student, indeed for all of us. Derogation from the full and certain truth, an agnosticism imparted perhaps unconsciously or unwittingly by their teachers, causes men and women to leave seminaries or Religious novitiates unformed in mind, and immature in the spirit. Subtle changes in their inner personality, a "loss of heart" based on the same uncertainty concerning divine truth, is a main reason why older men and women drop out quietly from their states of vocation. They drop out in equal numbers, and even more quietly, from their places along the benches of our parish churches.
When people are not sure of the literal Divinity of Jesus Christ, not sure of the objective inerrancy of the Church's teaching upon issues of faith and of morals, then quite necessarily Humanism replaces dogma in the minds and hearts of the Christian people. As we have been accustomed to use the word, dogma has meant truth certain with the certainty of an objective and a divine guarantee, a certainty which cannot change, or be superseded by history. Dogma is dogmatic because its living truth is backed by the authority and revelation of a personal God. A God like this transcends the created universe and its order: of Him one can only say I AM, or HE WHO IS. A God like this does not evolve with the creation, and is not immanent within the creation. A God like this does not increase in the content of His being through space, time, and development as matter ascends in its evolution. We must say of such a God, the genuine God of Christian Faith, that He is self-standing and self-fulfilled in His I AM before energy, space, and time began. The majesty of creation is a reflection of the glory and power of His self-contained and perfect being. This God, personal and independent of the creature, poises the creation in being, and in the moment of that poising determines its law of ascent and of development.
Yet, so close is this God to the creation that of us human beings at least, in whom creation reaches its climax of achievement, we can say with St. Paul that "he is not far from any one of us; in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts. 17:28). Closer than mother to infant to us, is this God of Christian dogma, in poising us in being, in sustaining us in wisdom, in fulfilling us in the maturity of spiritual love. For we are conceived within the very bosom of God's being: conceived of His mind and His love, but without the inadequacies and contradictions of a pantheistic humanism. So close are we to the real God that Christian dogma, which is to say Christian doctrine, proclaims that: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made .... He was the True Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world .... and the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us.". ( John 1: 1 et seq) (From ‘Christian Formation’ pp. 1-2.)
Science and Religion
Many scientists today are taking their listeners to the outskirts of a doctrine of creation into meaning, which in turn gives hope of a life which, while beginning within the universe, transcends that universe, and goes on in meaning and fulfilment into the very bosom of God.
They do not draw out the majesty of that vision, nor the unity of its principle. They do not have the key. The Church alone has the key, and it is an utter woe for mankind that she has not realised what she holds in her hand, and has not yet placed it in the lock of human knowledge and opened to mankind a new door and a new perspective.
Religion is the summit of science, because religion is the provision for man, who is made under the Unity-Law within which the whole universe is made and poised. St. Paul gave us the answer so wonderfully, at the beginning of the Christian era, and the text has been so woefully undervalued, at least in the Latin West, and among its theologians. Of God he says: "For in Him we live, and move, and are, as indeed some of your own writers have said: we are all his offspring" (Acts 17:28). (From a FAITH Magazine Editorial)
From the unity of truth - to God
To call for a return to a Catechesis based upon objective argument for the existence of God, and to an apologetics which expounds and defends His works, does not imply a return to the situation exactly as it was some forty years ago. There must be a recovery of the syllabus or handbook of objective and accurate doctrine, without significant omissions, but there was urgent need for an aggiornamento, an updating, and that need still remains. There needs to be a new perspective upon the presentation of Divine truth. There should be a more profound presentation of the unity of intellect and of purpose in all the works of God, and the presentation of that unity of plan or economy should be shown more intimately than in the past, in the manner in which the order of natural creation is linked with the making of man, and with the Divine order of salvation and redemption for man in Christ. The work of God in creation must be seen as one scheme of wisdom ascending to an ever more perfect fulfilment. This is the projection used by St. Paul for instance, who in so many places presents Christ as the "Sacrament of the world", as the "Mystery hidden from before the ages in God, now revealed in these latter days" etc. This is the favourite theme and presentation of the Greek Fathers of the Church in particular.
The working out and presentation of new perspectives upon solid doctrine which was one of the principal demands of the Second Vatican Council, seems to some of us to have been one of the most neglected aspects of the aggiornamento which was called for by that Council. In this respect a direct initiative of leadership came from the Holy See itself, through the Congregation for the Clergy, in the publication in 1971 of the General Catechetical Directory. This writer had the privilege in the autumn of that year of attending the International Catechetical Congress at Rome, and well remembers the hot criticism there was, especially in the English language group, of the allegedly "essentialist presentation" of that document. The General Catechetical Directory was far removed from any dry, abstract, or old-fashioned projection of the Faith. On the contrary it provided an excellent blend of the best of the old and the new methods in Christian formation. It also provided a much needed corrective, and began to inspire good work which has now come into publication. The General Catechetical Directory was not itself a handbook of Christian teaching it must be stressed. It set out in detail the structures and themes which are basic and necessary to any good formulation of Christian dogmatic teaching, and it gave detailed guidelines on how such presentation should be tackled, and the ethos in which it should be worked out in the modem age. The General Catechetical Directory expressly recognised that different presentations are necessary, especially for adult teaching (and the higher forms of comprehensive schools are young adults, not children) according to the degree of development of peoples and cultures. It called upon the bishops of the world, and through them theologians and experts, to work out detailed solutions according to the needs of their own regions, from the groundplan it provided.
In this article we are concerned with the needs of the scientifically advanced Western countries. Any approach which assists us to stop the lapsation of youth and to promote a new missionary advance of the Church in these countries, will apply just as much to those more advanced countries formerly of Marxist ideology or government. Since between them the humanist cultures of the West, and the now increasingly secularized Eastern European bloc dominate the world in economic power and technological prestige, any solutions which help us here, will become increasingly of assistance among the rising educated classes of the countries and cultures of Asia and "the Third World".
(From ‘Christian Formation’ - p5.)
Edward Holloway Teaching must be firm, clear and make sense
There is no lack of love for God, nor of willing self-giving to Him in the youth of today. This is the finding of all of us who have worked with the 'Faith Youth Movement'. The number of young men who have already offered themselves to try a vocation to the priesthood, proves that our opinion is no empty assertion. It stands proven just as certainly in the active confidence of such young men and girls at the universities, and in the large number of excellent young Catholics who do not lapse as soon as they enter upon the world and adult lay life. There is no lack of love and generosity: there never is among the young, at any age of history. Now and always, the problem is rather "Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him?" (John 9:36). The testimony of St. Paul remains true: "Whoever would draw near to God, must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him."(Hebrews 11:6). The soul must be formed in knowledge and love towards God, before a boy or a girl can lay hold on Him in their own spirit, and thrill to the joy of His service.
It is useless to call men to more prayer, more union with God, unless first they clearly and firmly believe in Him. If you are not really convinced of a personal God, not really sure about definite teaching, then you will not pray. Even if you do pray, you will pray at a hazard, "like one beating the air"(1 Cor.9:26) - you will not gather strength of soul, nor enter into the close union of a loving understanding of your God possessed. What is true for the teenager is true for the church student, indeed for all of us. Derogation from the full and certain truth, an agnosticism imparted perhaps unconsciously or unwittingly by their teachers, causes men and women to leave seminaries or Religious novitiates unformed in mind, and immature in the spirit. Subtle changes in their inner personality, a "loss of heart" based on the same uncertainty concerning divine truth, is a main reason why older men and women drop out quietly from their states of vocation. They drop out in equal numbers, and even more quietly, from their places along the benches of our parish churches.
When people are not sure of the literal Divinity of Jesus Christ, not sure of the objective inerrancy of the Church's teaching upon issues of faith and of morals, then quite necessarily Humanism replaces dogma in the minds and hearts of the Christian people. As we have been accustomed to use the word, dogma has meant truth certain with the certainty of an objective and a divine guarantee, a certainty which cannot change, or be superseded by history. Dogma is dogmatic because its living truth is backed by the authority and revelation of a personal God. A God like this transcends the created universe and its order: of Him one can only say I AM, or HE WHO IS. A God like this does not evolve with the creation, and is not immanent within the creation. A God like this does not increase in the content of His being through space, time, and development as matter ascends in its evolution. We must say of such a God, the genuine God of Christian Faith, that He is self-standing and self-fulfilled in His I AM before energy, space, and time began. The majesty of creation is a reflection of the glory and power of His self-contained and perfect being. This God, personal and independent of the creature, poises the creation in being, and in the moment of that poising determines its law of ascent and of development.
Yet, so close is this God to the creation that of us human beings at least, in whom creation reaches its climax of achievement, we can say with St. Paul that "he is not far from any one of us; in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts. 17:28). Closer than mother to infant to us, is this God of Christian dogma, in poising us in being, in sustaining us in wisdom, in fulfilling us in the maturity of spiritual love. For we are conceived within the very bosom of God's being: conceived of His mind and His love, but without the inadequacies and contradictions of a pantheistic humanism. So close are we to the real God that Christian dogma, which is to say Christian doctrine, proclaims that: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made .... He was the True Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world .... and the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us.". ( John 1: 1 et seq) (From ‘Christian Formation’ pp. 1-2.)
Science and Religion
Many scientists today are taking their listeners to the outskirts of a doctrine of creation into meaning, which in turn gives hope of a life which, while beginning within the universe, transcends that universe, and goes on in meaning and fulfilment into the very bosom of God.
They do not draw out the majesty of that vision, nor the unity of its principle. They do not have the key. The Church alone has the key, and it is an utter woe for mankind that she has not realised what she holds in her hand, and has not yet placed it in the lock of human knowledge and opened to mankind a new door and a new perspective.
Religion is the summit of science, because religion is the provision for man, who is made under the Unity-Law within which the whole universe is made and poised. St. Paul gave us the answer so wonderfully, at the beginning of the Christian era, and the text has been so woefully undervalued, at least in the Latin West, and among its theologians. Of God he says: "For in Him we live, and move, and are, as indeed some of your own writers have said: we are all his offspring" (Acts 17:28). (From a FAITH Magazine Editorial)
From the unity of truth - to God
To call for a return to a Catechesis based upon objective argument for the existence of God, and to an apologetics which expounds and defends His works, does not imply a return to the situation exactly as it was some forty years ago. There must be a recovery of the syllabus or handbook of objective and accurate doctrine, without significant omissions, but there was urgent need for an aggiornamento, an updating, and that need still remains. There needs to be a new perspective upon the presentation of Divine truth. There should be a more profound presentation of the unity of intellect and of purpose in all the works of God, and the presentation of that unity of plan or economy should be shown more intimately than in the past, in the manner in which the order of natural creation is linked with the making of man, and with the Divine order of salvation and redemption for man in Christ. The work of God in creation must be seen as one scheme of wisdom ascending to an ever more perfect fulfilment. This is the projection used by St. Paul for instance, who in so many places presents Christ as the "Sacrament of the world", as the "Mystery hidden from before the ages in God, now revealed in these latter days" etc. This is the favourite theme and presentation of the Greek Fathers of the Church in particular.
The working out and presentation of new perspectives upon solid doctrine which was one of the principal demands of the Second Vatican Council, seems to some of us to have been one of the most neglected aspects of the aggiornamento which was called for by that Council. In this respect a direct initiative of leadership came from the Holy See itself, through the Congregation for the Clergy, in the publication in 1971 of the General Catechetical Directory. This writer had the privilege in the autumn of that year of attending the International Catechetical Congress at Rome, and well remembers the hot criticism there was, especially in the English language group, of the allegedly "essentialist presentation" of that document. The General Catechetical Directory was far removed from any dry, abstract, or old-fashioned projection of the Faith. On the contrary it provided an excellent blend of the best of the old and the new methods in Christian formation. It also provided a much needed corrective, and began to inspire good work which has now come into publication. The General Catechetical Directory was not itself a handbook of Christian teaching it must be stressed. It set out in detail the structures and themes which are basic and necessary to any good formulation of Christian dogmatic teaching, and it gave detailed guidelines on how such presentation should be tackled, and the ethos in which it should be worked out in the modem age. The General Catechetical Directory expressly recognised that different presentations are necessary, especially for adult teaching (and the higher forms of comprehensive schools are young adults, not children) according to the degree of development of peoples and cultures. It called upon the bishops of the world, and through them theologians and experts, to work out detailed solutions according to the needs of their own regions, from the groundplan it provided.
In this article we are concerned with the needs of the scientifically advanced Western countries. Any approach which assists us to stop the lapsation of youth and to promote a new missionary advance of the Church in these countries, will apply just as much to those more advanced countries formerly of Marxist ideology or government. Since between them the humanist cultures of the West, and the now increasingly secularized Eastern European bloc dominate the world in economic power and technological prestige, any solutions which help us here, will become increasingly of assistance among the rising educated classes of the countries and cultures of Asia and "the Third World".
(From ‘Christian Formation’ - p5.)