POPE FRANCIS, THE DEATH PENALTY & HERESY

When there was such a thing as institutional slavery, the Church recognized this as a fact of the world and gave teachings based on those given in Scripture on how those who “owned” slaves should treat their servants.  Over the course of time, the Church recognized that, because each human person has an inalienable dignity, nobody could possibly be “owned” by anybody and to be a person who “owned” slaves was inherently evil.  This happened at a time when the Christian world was sufficiently awakening to the evil of this practice it was possible to bring this abomination to an end.  

This was not a change in the teachings of the Church.  It was a development in the understanding of the inherent worth of each individual human soul.  It was a slow and painful path.  But the moment there was any recognition that the oppressed person was in fact a person with a soul, with dignity and worth, who was saved by the Passion of Jesus Christ, it was inevitable that slavery would be done away with.  The very idea of a “slave owner” was poisoned with the first drop of Christ’s blood and every subsequent teaching and recognition of the value of life brought it closer and closer to death.

In my opinion, the recent teaching of Pope Francis on the death penalty can be seen in the same light.  What he now says (though I understand the difficulty in the way he said it) does not negate the realities and teachings of the past.  By the time we get to St. John Paul II, because of the advancement of culture and our ability to detain and isolate persons who are a serious threat to society, he had difficulty imagining any scenario in which the death penalty could be used.  He stood at the precipice of the seamless garment of the respect of human life, unable to imagine the need for civilized Christians to resort to killing an otherwise detained person for the sake of the salvation of the world.

As there was a point in which slavery was no longer a tenable option for Christians, Pope Francis says such has the time come for the death penalty.  

Many will disagree.  Many will disagree with the way he said it.  Many will disagree with the format in which he said it.  Indeed, the reader of his article may think the pope was either premature in this declaration or a bit of a Pollyanna in his worldview or that he took one step too far, but, in my opinion, the one wagon that no one should jump on is that he has been speaking heresy.  It is not only unhelpful to the conversation it does not display an understanding of how the Church has operated for 2,000 years.  

CATHOLIC DOGS GO TO HEAVEN

Though dubious, when NPR reported that Pope Francis had said that dogs will go to heaven and thinking of my dog Sebastian, I texted Fr. Pfeiffer who has always maintained that dogs do not have immortal souls that, “HA!  IN YOUR FACE!  POPE SAYS DOGS GO TO HEAVEN!” though inside I was wondering, “How on earth can he say that?”

 

Well, as it turned out he said nothing of the kind.  There was a retraction in the New York Times the next day.  The “alleged” quote is now being attributed to Pope Paul VI who apparently said it to a young boy who he found crying in St. Peter Square.  “Paradise is open to all God’s creatures,” is the supposed quote though there is no hard and fast proof of it.  And, as one Catholic reporter for CNN wrote, “It’s called being pastoral.”  He was not trying to teach a crying boy doctrine but was trying to comfort him.  And this comment could be taken well within Catholic doctrine anyhoo . . . Scripture says there will be a new creation at the end times and what exactly that means we don’t know.

 

 

It’s like this:  When someone is very sad about the death of their pet and they ask me if they are going to see the animal in heaven I say (and this is where Fr. Pfeiffer and I butt heads) God guarantees you absolute happiness in heaven and IF you your absolute happiness depends on your pet being there, he will be there.”  Now that “IF” is a mighty powerful word and gets me out of a lot of theological trouble.  “I guarantee to make you pope IF another arm suddenly grows out of the top of my head at 2 o’clock today.”

 

ALL THIS GOES TO SAY don’t believe everything you read about the pope or the Church in popular media.  Don’t fly off the handle or start complaining to everyone in ear shot about the latest stupid thing someone in the Church did especially since the chances are it is exaggerated, mis-focused, or, as in this case, not true.  (Remember a couple of Easters ago they found the coffin of Jesus?)  This is just the latest in a long string of false or misleading reports AND IT IS GOING TO GET WORSE AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE POPE’S VISIT AND AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE 5OOTH ANNIVERSARY OF PROTESTANTISM IN 1017.  I beg you to exercise great prudence, patience, and fact checking when you hear something that sounds plausible, but just a bit off.

SIT ANATHEMA! SIT! GOOD DOG.

If you are not good at something it is best to admit it and move on to more constructive things. The same advice would do well for the Church.

We are not good at marketing ourselves.

We aren’t.

We are not good at wording things. Well, that is not exactly true. We are very, very good at wording things as long as you agree with the definition of the words that the Magisterium uses and understand the concepts behind certain phrases that are used in Church circles. Those who write most of the official things for the Church could never get a job in a local newspaper. Half of every paper would be apologies and corrections for the previous edition. Not that what they say was incorrect, but the way in which something is said is open to misinterpretation by those not using language in quite the same way.

One perfectly good word (that I happen to like) that does not work so well anymore is dogma. To the kennel with it! Perhaps the reason it does not seem to go down the collective gullet so well is because we have not explained it properly. If someone said they did not believe in a particular dogma they might be told, “But you have to or you cannot be Catholic!” “Who says?” might be the response to which the very well intentioned, budding apologist might say, “Because Rome said so!”

Is it any wonder people mislabel dogma as “man made laws, rules, and ideas?” But dogma is not a bunch of guys sitting around deciding what everybody needs to believe. It is the collective knowledge that we have of God. It is formal stating of revelation (God revealing Himself and His mission to us.) It is the result of the careful study of Scripture and Tradition. (Tradition being another word that is wildly misunderstood. See how we get into trouble?)

For example, our central dogma is the dogma of the Trinity. Thus did God reveal himself to us. To not believe in the Trinity is to put one’s self outside of not only the Catholic Church but Christianity in general.

Problem number 2: Say you do not believe in a particular dogma. It is said that you are anathema. You are kicked out of the club. The natural reaction might be, “Says who?” To which our earnest budding apologist might respond, “The pope!” Well, that is not exactly true (while at the same time sorta true.)

Look at it this way: One of my favorite professors in the seminary said, “You can only change the rules of the game so much until you find you are playing another game.” So you want to play basketball. But you want to play it with a ball with pointy ends, so that means you can’t dribble, and you decide that to make a point you have to run the ball into an end zone. You can call it basketball all you want but the expert in basketball will say, “You have changed the essence of the game so much that you are playing a different game.”

Dogma is our basic knowledge of God. To reject that revelation of Him is to change the rules to such a degree that you are playing a different game. Rome does not decide this, the pope does not decide this, this is the treasure that the Church has been given of which an individual has chosen not to partake. The big bad Church did not kick them out. They left even if they did not realize it. Dogma helps them (us) realize it. As Russell Shorto said of it, “Dogma wasn’t a dirty word – it was ground. Dogma was conceived not as an external shackle but as the living source that made knowledge of truth possible in the first place.”

Fixing our language. This is where you come in. The Church cannot change her language at society’s whim or one document would not be able to speak to another document without being thoroughly confusing. But we who love her as God’s instrument for His mission on earth must come to understand her language and interpret it for others.

MAN'S BEST FRIEND

Was it not fascinating to see how something meant as a compliment could be construed as a negative and so put those who meant only to be complimentary on the defensive? Such was the case over the last day in the comment section after a simile was used between the pope and a German shepherd. Once a term is thus attacked, the choice for the user is either to distance himself from such a statement (and perhaps the idea behind it) or to defend it as perfectly fine despite the brouhaha that may ensue.

A similar instance has taken place on a large scale over the word (and the concept behind) dogma. Poor creature! The once proud and noble beast has fallen into disfavor in many circles and been chased to kennel where it need not bother anyone. It is a sad state of affairs since dogma is not a bad beast at all despite the protestations of those who are allergic to its dander. That some may be allergic to her in no way makes her not useful even to the very ones that have a dislike for her.

In last Sunday’s NY Times Magazine article on Pope Benedict the XVI it stated that for him growing up, “’Dogma’ was not a dirty word – it was the ground. ‘Dogma’ was conceived not as an external shackle but as the living source that made knowledge of truth possible in the first place.” It is the very means by which man can advance in understanding and truth for if we must begin over again with every person in every generation, we will never move forward. If every man must reinvent the wheel in his own time, we will never have bicycles.

In the “Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis, a senior tormentor writes to his nephew, “Since we cannot deceive the whole human race all the time, it is most important thus to cut every generation off from all others for where leaning makes for free commerce between the ages, there is always the danger the charictoristic error of one will be corrected by the charictoristic truth of another. But thanks be to our father and the historical point of view, great scholars are as little nourished by the past as the most ignorant mechanic who holds that history is bunk. Your affectionate Uncle, Screwtape.”

Dogma is another name for discovered truth. That others find that idea appalling or a detriment to their freedom is a non-issue. Allow such to reinvent the wheel if they so choose. But true freedom is to venture from this lofty point ever further into truth built upon revelation and the mighty shoulders of the great minds that have been before us. Do not be afraid or ashamed of dogma. It is a serviceable beast!

John W. Dixon Jr. says, “Christians stubbornly clung to their language even when it could be said that they really didn’t understand it. (And the sad thing is that, now when we are about to acquire the intellectual means for understand the terminology, a failure of nerve has set in and many Christians are abandoning the terminology.)”

But it need not be that way.

IN OTHER NEWS

“Into Great Silence” opens this week at the Cedar Lee. (I hope it is as good as all of the hype it has been receiving. I’ll be there this Friday at the 7:45 showing. See you there!