Pope Ratzinger, in Memoriam
I read and commented on numerous articles about the recent death of Pope Benedict XVI. I understand that he was a decent and good man totally dedicated to the defense of his RC Church. The writers of the obituaries and the many comments by readers demonstrate the deep divide within the Roman Catholic Church and many Christian churches that parallels with the polarization in governance in the US, Europe, and beyond.
During Vatican II when I was active in the RC church having been born and bred in its history and teachings and having studied history and been exposed to the have-nots of American society, I and colleagues embraced the possibility of major reforms based upon history not only of the RC church but also the Catholic social justice teachings that contradicted church history and dogmas. We spoke out against the autocratic, male dominance in the church. I met great clergy and joined lay leaders who were trying new ways to build their communities as participatory and democratic. I read and studied progressive theologians who taught what the church could be in contemporary society, secular, humanistic, inclusive, multicultural, science-savvy, ever-inquiring, and democratic. I studied philosophy — especially ethics and society, thinking and action in the contemporary world. I met leaders in religious orders and other religious organizations working for political and economic justice for the have-nots in our society. We participated in the civil rights movements of black and indigenous peoples, the woman’s movements, and the anti-Vietnam War movement. I made the Cursillo that trained lay people for leadership and followed the progress of the base-community movement in the Philippines and Latin America and the community organizing movement in North America. The church and especially my Jesuit community seemed the best place for me to do this. I was proud of my church.
Many church leaders in the clergy and many reactionary laymen’s leagues claimed we were destroying the RC Church with our liberation theology, anti-clerical and social justice activities. Our thought heroes were considered heretical, our action leaders were considered communists. We realized that the authoritarians on the RC Church were threatened by our thoughts and behavior. But we tried to be polite. Nevertheless we went forward believing change in church and society not by violent revolution but through rebellion in thought and behavior, especially through the organization of those left out. We realized that they were the source and instruments of change.
At that time Cardinal Ratzinger was the most esteemed Roman Catholic theologian in the Vatican. He saw well the shakeup of Vatican II and the rebellion it fostered. He saw rightly that this could lead to rebellion against settled dogma and the authority of male dominant clergy well trained in the dogmas of tradition. And after both Pope John XXIII who convened Vatican II and Pope John Paul, who was trying to carry out its reforms, died, he became the voice of the reaction to liberation theology and action. When he was made Pope Benedict XVI, he appointed many like-minded bishops to rule dioceses, to set up orthodox seminaries to train priests, and to return to true doctrine and practice through out the church. He gained many followers from those who wanted to retain the old time religion.
Though the separation of Church and state politics was accepted in principle, the RC Church reserved the power to approve or condemn anything in the realm of faith and morals. And bishops, “princes of the Church,” were appointed and expected to maintain the traditional interpretation as blessed by Rome and to disallow dissent. This was like Trump appointing conservative judges to the U.S Supreme Court (many of them Roman Catholic) to prune the buds of the progressive movement in America. The growing partisanship in America influenced and became influenced by progressives and traditionalist in the RC Church and perhaps all Christian churches. Polarized partisanship in the citizenry was mirrored by the division in the churches.
With the triumph of church reactionaries, I no longer felt at home in the RC church. I joined alternative Catholic churches run by liberal priests and lay people. And my family and I were at home in these communities where we could find them. But in traditional churches I knew I was a heretic that would be condemned as an apostate in mortal sin. I was excommunicated by now because I married a divorced woman without the supervision of an RC ordained man. I also disagreed with the Roman Catholic doctrine that the soul is implanted by God at conception. I also disagreed with the notion of the existence of preternatural beings. My study and imagination taught me that Jesus would not like to be made a god or king. But I understand how the enthusiasm of his followers led them to name him that. And I don’t think he wanted to start a new religion.
Pope Ratzinger, once head of the Holy Inquisition, would not permit me to say these things if I was still formally in the Church or in the Jesuits. Ratzinger was an absolutist. His theology began with a God above nature, the One Good for all creation, who uttered absolute Truth, and Justice from on high, trickling downward from Him, ruler of the universe to the authorities that He has chosen to those who take the one right way to salvation. Extra ecclesiam , nullus salus, “no salvation outside the Church.”
But once a Catholic always a Catholic, I guess. I am immersed in the tradition that did carry with it some outstanding men and women of deep spirituality, learning and service to others. And still does. I stay close to my relatives and friends who remain practicing Catholics. I work with Catholics Churches, as I do with Protestant Churches, Muslim Mosques, Unitarian Universalist congregations, Jewish Synagogues, other Temples and especially their people when they want to practice their mission, that I imagine as that of Jesus, to the left-outs, the poor, the little ones, the powerless.
The Catholic tradition has always included rebels and reformers as well as reactionary, authoritarian people like Ratzinger. I can argue in friendship with the Ratzingers and his defenders regarding our beliefs and doctrines. I praise all those who stay in the Church to criticize and use its good practices like Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, Faith in Action, Nuns on the Bus or Network to change the organization and the world from within. But I can no longer identify with the RC Church as shaped by Ratzinger and his disciples.
I’m with Pope Francis on his support of clerics and opposition to clericalism. Clerics are the educated class trained to keep an organization going. But I disagree with him on denying female and married priests and bishops. I disagree with him on maintaining the autocratic and oppressive structure of RC church policy that defines its clericalism. The female clerics who have been and are now keeping the RC organization together and carrying out its social justice mission in the world need to be recognized. And clericalism, the rule by clerics, needs to be supplanted by decentralization or what Catholic social doctrine calls subsidiarity. Local clerics need to be subject to and foster lay leadership to run the churches..
That means the RC Church along with all other institutions, religious and secular, must democratize. I’ve heard many times Catholics say “well the church is not a democracy.” I say why not. “Catholic” once meant universal. But universal like “equal” can can mean the same, absolute, static, unchanging.. It can also mean inter-related, pluralistic, dynamic, developing. I acknowledge that my faith and its practice grew in my interaction with people in society though the RC Church and the Jesuit order. The expression of my faith, e.g., my beliefs, are continually changing which is evident of faith which continually transcends it beliefs.
I hope that Pope Francis, now unleashed from his predecessor will continue the renewal started by Pope John XXIII. May he accept the tension of human existence but not the polarization of humanity. May he appoint more thoughtful, progressive bishops. May he encourage women to join the priesthood. May he allow priests and their parishioners to marry whomever they love. May he instruct his bishops and priests to be good clerics and organizers; to teach and further the leadership of the laity (the people) to act in faith, hope, love to build communities both within and outside their ecclesia (assemblies) on the principles of freedom and justice for all. And may he declare the RC Church in solidarity and communion with all congregations that support humanity’s aspiration and action for the transcending spirit of love — whatever their beliefs. I realize this is a lot to hope for. But I certainly declare it as my faith and I feel that most humans do also however they express it. In that sense, nullus salus extra eccesiam or “no salvation outside the people acting together ” is so.
Eternal rest, Pope Ratzinger. You and we the living deserve it.