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PAGE 5 - December 7,1972
Civil Society Reflects Concerns
BY DOCTOR LAWRENCE LOSONCY
All of us are probably philosophers and theologians at heart.
When people like us go fishing or walking or partying, we also
talk or think about “things.” We, in front of our fireplace or
alone with our thoughts, begin to do what the philosopher and
the theologian do: we begin to ponder the meaning and the
makeup of our lives. We begin to think about the order of
things. We begin to reflect on the style and the manner in which
we are living out our lives.
Without much effort, we begin to realize that our lives are
made up of relationships with God and others, mostly others;
we begin to note friendships; we ponder our love, love
relationships, marriage, family, career, health, the past and the
future. As Bishop Sheen noted long ago, we are the only
creatures who suffer and enjoy in 3-D, for both our memories
and our fears or hopes for the future crowd in upon the present.
Our civil society, for all of its structures and functions, is
composed essentially of us, people. It reflects our essential
concerns, which are needs for stable food and shelter, security,
love, dignity, and a voice in what is to be done and how it is to
be done.
Although we have fought many wars for the right to control
our own destiny, we really cannot control our own destiny. We
cannot even choose to be born nor when we shall die; we have
no choice about the necessity of death nor about the many
needs which constantly arise in us and around us.
In the face of such little freedom and such little control over
ourselves as frail created humans, civil society can be viewed as
our best attempt to do together what we cannot do alone. That
is, through civil society, we meet collectively, if only
temporarily, some of the most basic needs which confront us
all. We establish a certain level of food supply, shelter and legal
protection; we set affairs into sufficient enough order to allow
predictions and reasonable assurance about what will happen
tomorrow and thereafter. Enough stability is created through
civil society to support the love which is always springing up
among people, and to make families and the rearing of children
possible.
Each time violent change occurs, as it is now for most of the
world, civil societies find themselves deeply threatened. When
they are threatened we are threatened. Fragile though civil
society might be, it is humanity’s only barrier against chaos and
total helplessness.
In our own case, it has taken centuries to advance to the
point wneic an men, including our rulers, are subject to the law
and equal under the law. As law breaks down, we fear the
violence which could result. Civil society comes and goes in
direct proportion as its citizens work to make it come or go.
There is nothing eternal or even necessary about any one civil
society. It will, in the last analysis, be what the people make it
to be.
The experience of civil society can teach us things about
God’s People, a reality which is eternal and which is not entirely
at the mercy of people. Experiences of living in a changing
society can help us better understand ourselves as God’s People,
called through the Spirit of Christ to work for the creation of a
more human society.
As we ponder our thoughts and stare into our fireplaces, a
new, ever fearful fact will keep intruding upon our mind:
human society does not just happen, we make it. This is not an
option but a necessity. The kind of civil society which we make
will be a great factor in what kind of people we will be as God’s
People. The kind of people we are as God’s People will be a
great factor in what kind of civil society we make, for the
vision, wisdom, and understanding we bring to the task is gained
from being God’s People.
The question civil society poses to us is not whether to be or
not to be, but how to be.
“OUR CIVIL SOCIETY . . reflects our essential concerns dignity ...” A fire company tries in vain to save a home, no
which are needs for stable food and shelter, security, love, longer shelter for a family. (NC Photo by Barry Fitzgerald)
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J (All Articles On This Page Copyrighted 1972 by N.C. News Service.)
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Music
In Catholic
Society and Religious Education
BY FATHER CARL J. PFEIFER, S.J.
Several weeks before the recent national elections I heard a
memorable homily at my parents’ parish in St. Louis. The
young priest began very realistically. “If I were to preach today
on my political views concerning the presidential candidates,
I’m sure that hundreds of angry letters and phone calls would
come to the rectory before evening.” There was immediate
attention. People listened to what was to come next.
Without lauding or lamenting the fact that such a reaction
was fairly predictable to the apparent mixing of religion and
politics in the pulpit, he simply reflected with us on the Gospel
for that Sunday.
Matthew (22:15-22), Mark (12:13-17), and Luke (20:20-26)
all recount an incident of tense confrontation between Jesus
and the Pharisees, who joined by the Herodians, approached
Jesus one day in an attempt to trap him into giving them
grounds for discrediting him. They asked a seemingly honest
question: “Is it lawful for a Jew to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
However Jesus answered, whether yes or no, he would alienate
either the Pharisees or the Herodians who held opposite views
on the subject.
Jesus’ simple, direct response left them with nothing
incriminating. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God
what is God’s” (Mt. 22:21). There were no grounds here for
either political or religious accusations. Publically embarrassed
the questioners quietly “went off and left him.”
The priest made one simple point from this Gospel Story. He
did not go into the rather complex religious and political
background implied in the account, nor did he comment on the
contemporary American presidential campaign. He drew
attention to what many of us had failed to notice.
Jesus may be seen as pointing out the serious social
obligations borne by the individual citizen. In fact he may be
understood as stating that social obligation is as weighty as
religious observance. In other words, you can’t truly serve
Caesar while losing sight of God, nor can you serve God
genuinely without social involvement.
The balanced parallelism of Jesus’ phrase - give to Caesar,
give to God - seems to draw attention to the fact that religious
observance implies social obligation, while commitment to civil
society implies dedication to God. The priest’s interpretation
was pointed and meaningful, Particularly in the light of the
national elections.
In many ways it may have been easier for Jesus’ first century
Jewish listeners to grasp the close link between service of God
and service of one’s neighbor in civil society than for us
twentieth-century American Catholics. Unlike the Jews who
saw, and still sees, God’s love coming to him because of his
membership in the society of God’s chosen people, the average
American Catholic adult grew up with a more individualistic
view of religion. Priority was perhaps given to private devotions
and personal obedience to the commandments as the means of
saving one’s own soul.
The Second Vatican Council, while respecting the many
values preserved in the individualistic religious orientation of the
past century or two, stresses the social aspects of Christian faith
and life. Viewing the Church primarily as a “people,” sharing
with the rest of mankind the challenges of our times, the
Council places greater emphasis on the believer’s participation in
the life of the Church community and in the civil society in
which he lives.
This social emphasis is found in relation to religious
education as well as in the areas of liturgy, ethics, doctrine and
organization. “For a true education aims at the formation of the
human person with respect to his ultimate goal, and
simultaneously with respect to the good of those societies of
which, as a man, he is a member, and in whose responsibilities,
as an adult, he will share . . .They should be trained to take their
part in social life, so that by proper instruction in necessary and
useful skills they can become actively involved and be willing to
act energetically on behalf of the common good.” (Education,
1)-
Effective religious education needs to reflect the Church’s
present insight into its own identity as a community of believers
working together to build up the common society of all men.
Fortunately the newer religion texts attempt to translate the
Council’s ideal into a practical guide for teachers and parents
alike. They attempt to guide young and old alike to a more
responsible service of God and their brothers - and this in terms
of contemporary social and political realities. “Give to Caesar
what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.”
“MUSIC KNOWS NO LANGUAGE BARRIERS.” A violin
student and his teacher communicate without words. (NC Photo
by Erv Gebhard.)
The Story of Christianity and Civil Society
BY FATHER QUENTIN QUESNELL, S.J.
The story of God’s people runs through thousands of years of
history, in the course of the story kingdoms and empires, tribes
and nations and peoples pass across the stage of the world, rise
and fall, come and go. Each one has its day -- and disappears.
The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians; the Persians
under Cyrus, the Greeks under Alexander, the Syrians under
Antiochus.
Israel herself passes through many stages. From a barbarian
league to a petty kingdom, to a beginning of empire, to collapse
and exile.
Later she languishes for centuries as an insignificant province
within larger political arrangements, until finally taken over by
the Romans; then rebelling against them, she is finally destroyed
at their hands.
The Bible watches the long procession of civil societies and
the ever-shifting patterns and strategies by which they continue
to function. From the patriarchs to the kings, from nobles and
elders, from wealthy oligarchical tyrannies to the rule of mobs
running disorderly through the cities. There is rule by foreigners
and by domestics, there are some few good rulers and many,
many bad. The Bible has seen them all.
And the result? As was to be expected, a long enough look at
any good-sized stretch of history produces some inclination to
feeling above it all. “The sun rises and the sun sets; and there is
nothing new under the sun.”
Men work out as best they can their little political
arrangements for living in some semblance of peace with other
men. Some of the arrangements are better than others, of
course. But, so far, none of them is anywhere near perfect.
“There will be wars and rumors of wars; and on the earth
distress of nations . . .but do not worry. This is not yet the
end.”
And so the Christians of the New Testament tell one another
to pray ior princes and rulers in all lands that they may leave us
to live our lives undisturbed. They do this even when the rulers
over the earth at that time were men like Nero, Caligula,
Domitian: men whom they knew only as tyrants and murderers,
blasphemers and persecutors. Nevertheless, “Give Caesar,” they
wrote in the words of the Lord himself, “what belongs to
Caesar.”
The only arrangements for maintaining good order and peace
which the first Christians had experienced were those which
necessity forced on them. The question of who was to rule over
what territory was settled by the force of arms in those days,
with the rule of the stronger prevailing. The question of who
was to benefit most under a given regime was settled in terms of
wealth and influence, as favors were bought and sold, and the
rich became ever richer, while the poor were crushed by taxes.
Under such a system, it is not suprising that the details of
government became largely a matter of indifference to people.
There was no reason to expect that the next person to win
power would be any better than the last ones had been. There
was no cause for hope that simply throwing out one unjust
invader would bring the kingdom of God in his place. War bred
war and injustice bred injustice. So it had ever been.
What if the New Testament authors had envisaged the
possibilities of a true democracy, where everyone cooperated
for the good of all? Would they then perhaps have written more
about the responsibility of good men to play an active role in
the political process? We don’t know.
What we do know is that the New Testament authors seem
more conscious of people than of governments. The Bible wants
all who possess the power and wealth of this world to realize
that they are not true owners and masters, but only caretakers
for God. It pleads for a fair share for all men of the gifts which
God has given for the good of all. But, as to what system of civil
society will best achieve this, it remains silent. It lets us know
tnat we are our brothers' keepers, and leaves us to draw our own
conclusions.
Worship
BY FATHER JOSEPH M. CHAMPLIN
“BOOST THE BODLEY BAND!” This slogan appeared
constantly on car bumpers, in newspaper advertisements, over
radio stations - everywhere - around Fulton during the past
year. G. Ray Bodley is the local public high school and the
community spent those months raising around $50,000 to send
its talented band, one of the United States’ best, to Europe for
an international music festival in Vienna.
The sponsoring committee, rather remarkably, did reach that
goal and last July 4 busloads of some 80 teenage
instrumentalists with their adult guides left our city for
Kennedy airport in New York and a 747 trip to Germany. They
returned three weeks later with stories and slides about journies
via bus through several countries, the huge band congress in
Austria, and occasional concerts in cities along the way.
The people of Cortina, Italy stole their hearts away. They
performed in the city square there and the citizens of that
northern Italian city liked everything they heard, then cried for
more. Our youthful ambassadors left Cortina with happy hearts,
aware, perhaps unconsciously, that music knows no language
barriers, that it is international by nature.
Good, quality music can dissolve other differences, too; it has
the power of bringing classical and contemporary oriented
Catholics together in one united act of worship. Moreover,
instrumental melodies and appropriate songs can get to us,
permeate our feelings, lift up our spirits when we pray.
A new document, “Music in Catholic Worship,” published by
the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy (United States Catholic
Conference Publications Office, 1312 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20005) makes those points in these words:
“Among the many signs and symbols used by the Church to
celebrate its faith, music is of predominant importance . . .Music
should assist the assembled believers to express and share the
gift of faith that is within them and to nourish and strengthen
their interior commitment of faith. It should heighten the texts
so that they speak more fully and more effectively. The quality
of joy and enthusiasm which music adds to community worship
cannot be gained in any other way.”
“Music in addition to expressing texts, can also unveil a
dimension of meaning and feeling, a communication of ideas
and intuitions which words alone cannot yield . . .Ideally every
communal celebration of faith, including funerals and the
sacraments of baptism, confirmation, penance, anointing and
matrimony, should include music and singing.”
“Music in Catholic Worship” is an excellent text and deserves
reading, or better, study by every priest who celebrates and by
every musician (organist, choir director or member,
instrumentalist) who employs personal talents and training to
enhance the liturgy. It represents an updating of the 1967
document, “The Place of Music in Eucharistic Celebrations,”
with the work of revision done by a committee on music for the
newly formed National Federation of Diocesan Liturgical
Commissions.
Section headings indicate the scope of these guidelines: The
Theology of Celebration, Pastoral Planning for Celebration, The
Place of Music in the Celebration, General Consideration on
Liturgical Structure, Application of the Principles of
Celebration to Music in Eucharistic Worship, Music in
Sacramental Celebrations.
I will be quoting various portions of this publication often in
the months ahead. However, its concluding paragraph sums up
particularly well, I think, what congregations with good liturgies
are uoing now ana what all worshipping communities will be
we hope, in the very near future.
“We find today a vital interest in the Mass as prayers and here
lies the principle of synthesis. When everyone with one accord
strives to make the Mass a prayer, a sharing and celebration of
Faith, then there will be unity - many styles of music, a broad
choice of instruments, a wide variety of forms of celebration,
but a single purpose: that men of faith may proclaim and share
that faith in prayer and that Christ may grow among us.”
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