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Vol. 64 No. 30
Thursday, September 6,1984
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Vatican Critiques Marxist Elements Of Liberation Theology
BY AGOSTINO BONO
VATICAN CITY (NC) - A major Vatican statement
ordered by Pope John Paul II said branches of liberation
theology which use “concepts uncritically borrowed from
Marxist ideology” are incompatible with Catholicism.
The document, issued Sept. 3, criticized the theory of
class struggle and other theories which put liberation from
material poverty above liberation from sin.
The currents of liberation theology using Marxist
concepts reduce theology to a political program, the
document said. By applying the doctrine of class struggle
they often regard church authorities as part of the
oppressor class, added the document.
The liberation theology text was issued by the Vatican
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church
agency responsible for monitoring theological orthodoxy.
The document is titled, “Instruction on Certain Aspects
of the ‘Theology of Liberation.”’ Its purpose is to draw
attention to the “risks of deviation, damaging to the faith
and to Christian living, that are brought about by certain
forms of liberation theology which use, in an
insufficiently critical manner, concepts borrowed from
various currents of Marxist thought.”
The text was approved “by His Holiness Pope John
Paul II, who ordered its publication,” the document said.
The document said that there is a valid theology of
liberation which reflects on the biblical theme of freedom
in light of humanity’s spiritual slavery caused by sin and
the consequences of this in the social order. It also
strongly reaffirmed church social teachings on the need to
overcome injustice caused by the vast gap between rich
and poor in Third World countries and the economic
imbalances between the developed and underdeveloped
countries.
The document did not name any theologian and did
not issue a general condemnation of all liberation
theology. Instead it defined what aspects of some
branches of liberation theology are incompatible with
Catholicism.
A leading liberation theologian whose thought
incorporates aspects of Marxism, Brazilian Franciscan
Father Leonardo Boff, was scheduled to discuss his
Rev. Michael E. Roverse
writings Sept. 7 with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect
of the doctrinal congregation. In April the Peruvian
bishops said they were formally studying the works of
Peruvian Father Gustavo Gutierrez, another leading
liberation theologian. At the time of the publication of
the Vatican document the bishops had not yet issued a
public judgment on the content of Father Guitierrez’
waitings.
Both theologians have said that they draw on Marxist
social analysis to help them understand the causes of
poverty, but that Marxism does not influence their
Related Story -- Pg. 4
theological reflections.
Liberation theology sprang up in Latin America in the
1960s as a theological reflection on the material poverty
of people and the need to provide concrete aid to the
poor as part of the evangelization process. Since then its
influence has spread to other Third World regions.
An uncritical use of Marxist concepts to analyze social
situations is unacceptable in a Christian theology because
all of Marxism is tied to its atheistic and materialistic
philosophy, said the Vatican document.
It said theologians are obliged to submit any method of
analyzing social reality to a theological critique to
determine its suitability for Catholic use.
“This preliminary critical study is missing from more
than one ‘theology of liberation,”’ said the document.
Regarding Marxism, “a preliminary critique is all the
more necessary since the thought of Marx is such a global
vision of reality that all data received from observation
and analysis are brought together in a philosophical and
ideological structure,” it added.
“This is the case with ‘class struggle.’. This expression
remains pregnant with the interpretation that Marx gave
it, so it cannot be taken as the equivalent of ‘severe social
conflict,”’ it said.
The Marxist concept of class struggle means use of
violence as this struggle is seen as the driving force of
history without which social change is impossible, said the
document.
For many liberation theologians “participation in the
class struggle is presented as a requirement of charity
itself. The desire to love everyone here and now, despite
his class, and to go meet him with the non-violent means
Michael E. Roverse, who will be ordained to the
priesthood by Bishop Raymond W. Lessard on September
8, is the son of an Army officer and has lived in many
different parts of the nation since his birth in 1958 at
Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, N.C. It was while his family
was living in Augusta, Ga., that he first joined the
Diocesan program of seminary training and took the first
steps on the long road leading to the priesthood.
Michael attended Augusta College and was a member of
St. Teresa of Avila parish when he made his first
application for admission to the program. Msgr. Felix
Donnelly, then pastor at St. Theresa’s, encouraged his
interest and Father Michael Smith helped him consider
the priesthood as a definite vocation.
Completing his first year at Augusta College, Michael
went to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and then to St.
Meinrad’s in Indiana, subsequently transferring to the
American College at the University of Louvain, Belgium,
his father being stationed in Belgium at the time.
He completed his studies at Louvain in the Spring of
this year, and has been undertaking a period of internship
as a deacon at St. Joseph’s, Macon, this summer. During
previous summers he spent four sessions as a camp
counsellor at Camp Villa Marie and also worked at Blessed
Sacrament, Savannah.
of dialogue and persuasion is denounced as
counterproductive and opposed to love,” the document
said.
“Every affirmation of faith or of theology is
subordinated to a political criteria, which in tum depends
on class struggle, the driving force of history,” it said.
In applying class struggle to the church, these branches
of liberation theology question whether “the participation
of Christians who belong to opposing classes at the same
Eucharistic table still makes sense,” it added.
“There is a denunciation of members of the hierarchy
and the magisterium as objective representatives of the
ruling class which has to be opposed. Theologically, this
position means that ministers take their origin from the
people who therefore designate ministers of their own
choice in accord with the needs of their historic
revolutionary mission,” the document said.
It criticized these branches of liberation theology for
engaging in a “political re-reading of the Scriptures.”
“A major importance is given to the Exodus event
inasmuch as it is a liberation from political servitude,” it
said of the flight of the Jews from their slavery in Egypt.
“The mistake is not in bringing attention to a political
dimension of the readings of Scripture, but in making this
one dimension the principal or exclusive component,” the
document said.
In its document, the Vatican sympathized with the
desire of liberation theologians to seek solutions to social
problems. It said that this desire has led to a positive
liberation theology.
“The expression ‘theology of liberation’ is a thoroughly
valid term: it designates a theological reflection centered
on the biblical theme of liberation and freedom, and on
the urgency of its practical realization,” it said.
The document added, however, that this has not led to
a unified body of thought and that the Vatican is
criticizing only certain liberation theologies which use
“concepts uncritieially borrowed from Marxist ideology,”
it said.
“As with all movements of ideas, the Theologies of
liberation’ present diverse theological positions. Their
doctrinal frontiers are badly defined,” the document said.
It asked theologians to remain faithful to the church’s
teaching authority and warned that Marxism so far has
produced totalitarian governments.
“Millions of our contemporaries legitimately yearn to
recover those basic freedoms of which they were deprived
by totalitarian and atheistic regimes which came to power
(Continued on page 2)
His first decision to become a priest was prompted by
the contact he had as a child with priests in different
places in which he lived. “To a single man, each one was
willing to help me,” he wrote when he first applied for
admission to the seminary program.
Just before ordination, he reinforced that view. “So
many things have come together in the last eight years
that the only logical conclusion is priesthood,” he said. “I
see it specially since I have been here at St. Joseph’s. Not
so much as something I did but something the
community, in the infinite wisdom of the Spirit, has
done.”
Michael is the son of Eugene and Mary Roverse, of
Alexandria, Va. He has two sisters, Carla and Colleen, and
three brothers, Mark, Matthew and Eugene, Jr.
The ordination ceremonies are scheduled for 11:00
A.M. on Saturday, September 8th, at Blessed Sacrament
Church, in Savannah. At the same ceremonies,
Bishop Lessard will install as lectors the group of men
who are currently preparing for the Permanent Diaconate.
A reception will follow. Father Roverse will say his first
Mass the next day, at 11:15 A.M. at Blessed Sacrament.
All friends and well wishers are cordially invited to
attend these ceremonies.
Roverse Ordination Scheduled Sept. 8th