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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1987)
PAGE 10 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 19, 1987 ART FOR AUCTION — Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles displays page from a Gutenberg Bible and other items from the exten sive Carrie Estelle Doheny collection which the archdiocese plans to auction. The anticipated $20 million the auction is expected to raise will be used to establish an endowment fund for seminary education, tuition and faculty. (NC Photo from Wide World) Monograph Analyses Role Of Vatican In Middle East THE PAPACY AND THE MIDDLE EAST, by George E. Irani. University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, Ind., 1986). 218 pp., $22.95. REVIEWED BY CHARLES DESNOYERS NC News Service “How many divisions has the pope?” Stalin once ask ed in a fit of rhetorical cynicism. The answer, of course, is “none.” Yet as George Irani, director of in ternational student advise ment at the University of Southern California, shows in his surprising mono graph, "The Papacy and the Middle East,” this lack of destructive power has not kept the Holy See from being an active, if discreet, player in the Arab-Israeli struggle. Indeed, as this carefully constructed, closely rea soned analysis of Vatican documents, newspaper documentation and inter views shows, it is precisely because of the perceived neutrality and moral prestige with which the papacy is held by all par ties that it can pursue the role of honest broker. Yet in its quest for a solu tion to the Middle Eastern Gordian knot based on the formula of “peace through justice,” the Holy See has not been entirely neutral, although its actions have been impartial. As Irani clearly shows, the papacy has consistently asserted its duty of championing the rights of Eastern Catholics, the majority of whom are Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian. Naturally, this has led to charges of bias from the Israelis. Particularly galling have been the church’s in sistence on the interna tionalization of Jerusalem and the meetings of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II with Yasser Arafat. While most of the members of the interna tional community still refuse to recognize Jerusa lem as the Israeli capital the Israelis feel that the church has utilized a dou ble standard in this regard and often intimate that it points up Catholicism’s vestigal anti-Semitism. For instance, in attacking a statement by Pope Paul VI calling for “convergence'' among the groups in the Holy Land, Israel’s chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren. re plied rather heatedly that: “We are astonished by the fact that the Vatican never issued the slightest protest when the holy places in Jerusalem were in Jordanian hands.... The world must know that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, that it is the soul of the Jewish people, and that it is our duty to defend the city with our lives.” The Holy See’s policy of meeting with all concerned parties on an equal basis is a further source of conster nation to the Israelis who feel that it legitimizes the Palestine Liberation Or ganization and other “ter rorists" bent on Israel's destruction. For their part. Arab groups complain that the papacy’s evenhandedness in the face of the Palesti nians' “legitimate de mands” is a consequence of Catholic guilt, cleverly exacerbated by the Israelis, over past anti- Semitism and what they say was Pope Pius XII's failure to speak out against the Holocaust. Irani has done a commen dable job of research and has produced a first-rate piece of work, mercifully free of academic jargon. Because of its style, though, the casual reader may find it slow going. For those will ing to make the effort, however, the reward will be the story of a powerful, con certed effort to steer a dif ficult course toward peace through justice. v Author Carefully Links Miracles To Faith Truths MIRACLES: A CATHOLIC VIEW, by Dr. Ralph M. Mclnerny, Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, Ind.) pp. 153+. $6.95. BY FATHER LOUIS NAUGHTON The author is Grace Professor of Philosophy and director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. His treatment of miracles is truly Catholic both from the point of view of Roman Catholicism and from the broad perspective which he covers very well within the limited range of 153 pages. After a brief introduction, Part One of his work deals with miracles in sacred scripture with particular focus (as one would expect) on the Gospels. Part Two is a treatment of miracles in the life of the Church. In this section, separate chapters are devoted to the following topics: Pilgrimages and Shrines, Relics and Uncorrupted Bodies, and the Appari tions of Mary. Part Three, consisting of five chapters, covers such areas as the magisterium and miracles, Saint Thomas Aquinas on miracles, and miracles from the perspective of skepticism and creduli ty. The author reminds the' readers of Vatican II’s references to miracles (Lumen gentium nn. 5 and 58, Dignitatis luimanae. n.ll). Throughout this work. Dr. Mclnerny constantly reminds us. as the Gospels in particular relate, that miracles are not to be divorced from faith (p. 16). They are linked to the truths of faith. Their purpose is to direct us to the good news of Jesus. In this way, they differ from all kinds of marvels and wonders and (it seems hardly necessary to state) from the performances of magicians (p. 22). While making no attempt to give a watertight definition, the author (availing of Saint Thomas Aquinas) describes a miracle in terms of some imposing and unusual observable event which in the cir cumstances can only have beeen caused by God, the purpose of the event in ques tion being to draw the mind beyond the natural to the supernatural (p. 131). Regarding the phenomenon which is a miracle the main thing is that the result is not one which would be produced by natural causes alone and in the ordinary course of events (p. 132). The miraculous event is one that is impossible from any point of view other than that of divine in tervention ; the effect is not one that can be explained in the usual way (p. 137). Dr. Mclnerny cautions against an unhealthy interest in strange phenomena which would send people hurrying off in hot pursuit whenever there is news of a private revelation and which causes peo ple to greet enthusiastically any claim that a miracle has taken place and to consult reports of apparitions as others do astrology charts (p. 149). The reviewer would regard this book as one which a discerning reader of the Georgia Bulletin would read with advan tage. The Church's magisterium's treat ment with caution of any claim to the miraculous is consistent with the purpose of miracles which, as the author keeps reminding the reader, is to turn o.ur minds to God (p. 149). In the words of Dr. Mclner ny: ' ‘ Miracles must be seen in terms of the purpose of the incarnation itself (p. 152)." Father Naughton. is a member of the staff at the Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Talbot Faulted For Seeing Spiritual Life As All Joy THE FIRE OF GOD, by John Michael Talbot. Crossroad (New York, 1986). 158 pp., $7.95. REVIEWED BY MARGARET O’ CONNELL NC News Service This reviewer had wanted to give at least a qualified positive review of John Michael Talbot’s “The Fire of God." That has proved impossible because of the serious errors and judgmentalism of cer tain sections of his book. The mechanistic attitude toward grace and the action of the Holy Spirit, a fault of his previous book, “The Lover and the Beloved,” has become more pronounced. That the charismatic gifts (speaking in tongues, for example) are pure gift is unknown. We can make ourselves available to the usual and unusual gifts of the Spirit. But can we control the action of the Spirit? That contemplation (tire prayer of union, the imageless, wordless resting in God) is also and especially pure gift, neither easily sought nor obtained from the Giver of all good gifts, is also unknown. And, as in his previous book, Talbot makes the spiritual life sound all sweetness and joy. Would that it were so! I could have glossed over “Perhaps we need a new Christian socialism” or “If neither the Democrats nor the Republicans express the necessary morality, then it is time to come with another option” or “Who is to say God doesn’t have yet a better form of govern ment ...” I might even have ignored “God’s just wrath on a habitually obstinate and sinful people (nuclear war) ... will come as a kind of just recompense for both our in dividual and collective sins as a modern people” as an attitude left over from Talbot’s evangelical days. But I could not ignore these glaring er rors in morality: “Scripture speaks of both heterosexual and homosexual relation ships that are holy and good” and “God even blessed non-genital homosexual love as long as it did not stir up homosexual temptation and lust.... This kind of love is spoken of between David and Jonathan.” Talbot, a lay man and member of the third Franciscan order, the Secular Fran ciscans, is moving in the direction of religious life in community and with public vows. As he does so I pray that he will abandon the fire-breathing, judgmental God of his non-CatholiC past whom he quotes as saying, “On judgment day peo ple will be held accountable for every unguarded word they speak." Talbot owes that to himself and his readers as the spiritual son of a most non- judgmental saint, Francis of Assisi. He also owes it to himself and his readers to learn the authentic position of the Catholic Church on issues of sexual morality. Then it will be possible to excavate the good advice contained in “The Fire of God." Ms. O'Connell is an associate editor at The Christophers in New York, a free lance writer and reviewer, and a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
