Newspaper Page Text
February 19,1981
PAGE 5
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Making Your Connections
POPE JOHN PAUL II meets the king of the Ashanti tribe
on his visit to Kumasi, Ghana, in May, 1980. The pope’s
visit to Africa as well as his other international travels is a
reminder of the world character of the church and that,
while there is unity under the pope, there also is great
diversity within the church. (NC Photo by Arturo Mari)
IN A TELEPHONE INTERVIEW with Father Enda
McDonagh, Irish theologian presently teaching at Notre
Dame University, he said part of his job is “to open people
up to the claims of the poor, to convince people they
should share their goods.” That “has a double-barreled
advantage: it enriches people and helps the poor as well.” A
Manila slum is a sharp contrast to modern apartment
buildings nearby. (NC Photo)
BY FATHER PHILIP J. MURNION
Parishes and their people are part of a
worldwide church, though they might not
always feel like it. No parish is ever
self-contained. Indeed, the international
character of the church is a fact of life that
is getting clearer all the time.
But how can anyone say that the people
of the church in other nations are part of
our life here and now?
A lot has happened recently to help make
people aware of just how international the
church is. Newspaper reports that tell of the
threats to life many missionaries face in
turbulent Third World nations are perhaps
the most dramatic examples. The reports
have heightened concern for these “other”
people - people of the church who seem so
far away.
One time, Father Karl Rahner, the
well-known German theologian, was talking
about the Second Vatican Council. He said
that in the council the church was trying to
act as truly a world church for the first time.
Father Rahner was referring to the fact
that so many cultures were represented in
this council. At an earlier date, the
representatives of Asian and African
churches might all have been bishops born in
Europe and America.
With Vatican II, the church’s people got a
good glimpse of something intended from
the start of the church. On the first
Pentecost, when the apostles set out to
proclaim the good news, their message was
received by people speaking every language.
The church is multicultural and
transnational. This is reflected, every three
years, when bishops from all parts of the
globe meet in Rome for a Synod of Bishops
-- as happened in October 1980 when the
synod’s discussions of marriage and the
Christian family’s role attracted a great deal
of media attention. Whenever a synod takes
place in Rome, the participants develop an
awareness that their unity must be forged
from considerable differences.
The travels of Pope John Paul II also
bring the world character of the church into
view. This traveling pope has already visited
Latin America, Africa, the United States,
France, West Germany. As he travels, it
becomes clear that, while there is unity
under the pope, there is also great diversity
in the church from culture to culture.
Actually, it is not just in geographical or
national or cultural terms that the church is
universal. The universality of the church also
means that there is nothing in human life
that lies outside the range of the church’s
concern. It means we believe it is important
to try to think as a church and not simply as
individuals.
The universality of the church reminds us
of something important for our personal
lives as well. For, just as people are tempted
to isolate themselves from strangers or from
foreign people and cultures, they are
tempted to compartmentalize their personal
lives. This happens, for example, when
people keep religious convictions separate
from parts of life - perhaps from daily life
or family life.
If we compartmentalize our lives in such
ways, we imply that our beliefs have little to
do with our work or our private lives or with
the laws and policies of society. It is
important that we struggle with this. It is
important to keep drawing the connections
among all the parts of our lives.
This brings me back to the main point.
One thing a parish does is to help people
make the connections in their lives. We all
know that parishes want to help people
connect Sunday worship with the other
parts of their lives.
And more and more parishes want to help
bring to life a concern for the church in
other parts of the world, particularly a
concern about the poor of the world, about
peace and about justice.
The assassination of four U.S. women in
El Salvador in December 1980 brought
home to many people in a tragic, vivid way
the unity of the international church. In
plenty of parishes at that time, parishioners
spoke out their prayers for the people of El
Salvador, as they have done also in recent
months for the troubled people of Poland.
There is a sense in which the whole
family is mysteriously present in each family
member. And, each member is part of the
whole family.
It’s like that for the church. The whole
church is somehow present in each parish
and the parish is very much part of the
whole church.
Discussion Points And Questions
1. Why does Father Philip Mumion feel that Christians in this
country are part of the universal church? How can parishes help people
make this kind of connection with other people?
2. Father Mumion quotes German theologian Father Karl Rahner.
What is the point he is making? Do you agree?
3. In the article by Katharine Bird, Father Enda McDonagh says it is
not enough to refer to God as our Father; we also have to consider all
Christians as our brothers and sisters. Why?
4. How does Father McDonagh try to convince people of their
obligation to share their material goods? Do you find this convincing?
5. According to Father John Castelot, why did St. Paul find it
necessary to warn the Corinthians so severely?
6. Do you know a person or a family from another country? What is
your connection? In what ways are you similar? in what ways do you
differ?
A Passionate
Interest In Others
BY KATHARINE BIRD
Father Enda McDonagh, professor of
moral theology at St. Patrick’s College,
Maynooth, Ireland, currently teaches at
Notre Dame University. In an interview,
Father McDonagh discussed Christian
responsibility for people in other countries.
Q. Father McDonagh, why should
Christians be passionately interested in
people who live so far off - like those in the
Sahel of Africa? Is this kind of interest
possible for people in a land of plenty -
plenty of material things and plenty of its
own problems?
A. As Christians, we call God our
“Father.” We consider ourselves his sons and
daughters. We have a sense of being a family
-- the family of God. But if God is our
Father, this basic family reality has to
extend to all whom he created and
redeemed. If we exclude some humans, we
can’t genuinely and honestly call God our
Father.
Jesus showed us that care for the poor is
a priority. Look at Chapter 25 of Matthew.
Here, discussing the Last Judgment, Jesus
clearly indicates that we serve him in feeding
the hungry and clothing the naked.
As in any family, those with the
opportunity to do more also have an
obligation to do so. One hundred years ago
people could know and help only those who
lived down the road.
Today, with vast improvements in
technology, we can know what is happening
to people thousdands of miles away. So, we
have an obligation to do more.
Q. Why is it all such a problem?
A. Sometimes, it is simply that we are
unaware of the great needs of people in
other countries. But it is also because we are
selfish. We don’t want to give up our goods.
We are reluctant to share what is ours; we
find it painful. This is part of our sinfulness.
Q. How did you develop your special
interest in social justice, especially in
Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)?
A. In 1973 I was asked to visit Zimbabwe
as an adviser on moral issues facing the
church during the prolonged conflict
between blacks and whites there. During m>
extensive travels in the country, I often met
wealthy, powerful people in conversation
and in conferences.
In Zimbabwe, I met many whites
entrenched in their search for more power,
more goods. They were consumed with
getting greater security by buying more guns
and building better defense systems. As a
result, however, they became more and more
insecure.
In contrast, I often encountered lay
people and Religious living with poor blacks
in the bush country, who were far more
secure even though materially they had very
little. Content in serving others, they found
the only true security.
Q. If a family came to you for help in
educating their children for justice, what
would you recommend?
A. Part of my job as a priest and teacher
is to try to open people up to the claims of
the poor, to convince people they should
share their goods - that doing so has a
double-barreled advantage: It enriches them
and helps the poor.
This may lead to a different lifestyle for
families - one where they are not so
consumed in gathering goods but are
interested instead in people. I’ve seen this
lead to simpler lives for people but lives rich
in relationships with others.
More concretely, I suggest:
1. Parents should give children
appropriate information about how people
in other countries live. Perhaps they could
start scrapbooks from media accounts.
2. To help children feel personally
involved, make direct contact, perhaps as a
pen pal, with a particular family or group.
Even young children can sympathize with
the starving in sub-Sahara Africa. Perhaps a
local Catholic Charities office or the Foster
Families organization can help.
3. Start children giving small sums
regularly to the poor.
4. As children grow, update and increase
the kinds of information provided. For
instance, teen-agers might take an interest in
the structure and organization of poor
countries, perhaps in an area such as
agricultural reform.
BY FATHER JOHN CASTELOT
It was all too evident to St. Paul that a
chief fault of some Corinthians was
exaggerated self-confidence. They fancied
themselves supremely wise and so spiritual
that they did not have to be concerned
about what they did with their bodies.
They felt they could eat and drink
whatever and wherever they wished; they
could sleep with anyone they pleased. What
difference did those mundane things make?
They thought they had all the answers and
this gave them the freedom to look down on
fellow Christians who were less
magnificently endowed.
In Chapter 10 of First Corinthians, Paul
brings the people up short with a sober
warning: “Let anyone who thinks he is
standing upright watch out lest he fall.”
Before he issues this warning, he gives some
well-known examples of people who grew
complacent and fell flat on their faces.
The examples are all from the past
history of God’s people, a history Paul
presumes the Corinthians know. Many of the
people were Jews; others were gentiles who
had come to Christianity by way of the
synagogue. Apparently the early instruction
of all converts ...included a thorough
grounding in the Old Testament.
The particular events he calls to their
attention are connected with the story of
the Exodus - the journey of the Israelites
out of Egypt to a new land. It is not
surprising that the Corinthians should know
the narrative of this central event. But Paul
can also allude to later legends with which
the basic account had been embellished.
Nor does he hesitate to exploit the
figurative meaning of the events. For
instance, he begins .with this reminder:
“Brothers, I want you to remember: Our
fathers were all under the cloud and all
passed through the sea; by the cloud and the
sea all of them were baptized into Moses.”
It is not hard to see the connection
between the waters of the sea and the waters
of baptism by which the Corinthians were
baptized into Christ. Less clear, but still
recognizable, is the cloud as a symbol of the
Spirit.
The spiritual food and drink were, of
course, the providential manna and the
water from the rock in the desert by which
God satisfied the hunger and slaked the
thirst of the Jews. The strange little
parenthesis in verse 4 with its reference to
the rock that was following them reflects a
later popular legend to the effect that God
actually supplied them with a mobile
drinking fountain, a stream or even a moving
well!
The identification of this rock with Christ
is mysterious, to say the least. Obviously
Christ was not with the Israelites in the
desert 13 centuries before Christ. Perhaps
Paul is trying to suggest that the eternal God
is the master of all history.
At any rate, the allusion to the
Corinthians’ own baptism is unmistakably
clear, as is the reference to the Eucharist
they now enjoy.
Paul’s main point is that, in spite of the
gifts God showered on his people of old,
they fell into all sorts of sins and “were
struck down.” This should be a warning to
smug Corinthians. Their enjoyment of God’s
gifts must not blind them to their own
weakness.
If they have fallen in the past, that should
remind them that they are only human after
all. They have succumbed to the temptations
which befall everyone. For the future they
should be careful; perhaps even greater
temptations lie in store for them.
But the people should not be
discouraged: “He will not let you be tested
beyond your strength. Along with the test
he will give you a way out of it so that you
may be able to endure it.”
KNOW
YOUR FAITH
(All Articles on This Page Copyrighted 1981 By N.C. News Service)
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Falling On Your Face In Corinth