Vatican reverting back to medieval age

April 3, 2009

Call it a shift in focus, call it the clash of tradition with progress—regardless of how you spin it, it seems that the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI have been taking some questionable turns in direction lately.

Besides following Pope John Paul II’s lead and bringing back the practice of “indulgences” in certain Catholic Dioceses, Pope Benedict XVI recently revoked the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson and several other fervent Holocaust-denying bishops, and then claimed to not have been aware of the clergyman’s beliefs at the time he allowed him back into the church.

Of course, religious controversy is nothing new to the Church. From the rocky, revolutionary era of Martin Luther and the schism that formed Protestantism to the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI in a speech that inflamed the Muslim community, events pitting the church against all sorts of dissenters have filled both history books and headlines.

But for many Catholics and non-Catholics alike, the Vatican’s activities under Pope Benedict XVI’s administration have been a cause for concern.

The practice of the “indulgence,” essentially a glorified form of confession intended to excuse the practitioner from punishment for a certain sin in Purgatory (the world between heaven and hell), was prevalent in the church’s earlier years until it began to be routinely abused by corrupt church officials, who charged for them. This eventually led to Martin Luther condemning the practice in 1517 at the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Near the end of his papacy, Pope John Paul II spoke in an encyclical of the indulgence as a way to get Catholics to come back to confession. However, some Catholics doubt the usefulness of the indulgence—and even more dispute its validity, confused by its past history.

“Personally, I think we’re beyond the time when indulgences mean very much,” said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at Notre Dame, as quoted in the New York Times on February 2. “It’s like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube of original thought. Most Catholics in this country, if you tell them they can get a plenary indulgence, will shrug their shoulders.”

Just as well, the word “reintroduction,” commonly used in regard to indulgences, is erroneous. What’s happening isn’t truly a reintroduction; it is a significant modification of the old practice under the same name.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines the indulgence as “a grant… of remission the temporal punishment in purgatory still due for sins after absolution.” But if the purpose of an indulgence isn’t to allow the sinner to “indulge” in sinning but to fulfill penance rites, one wonders why the old name—and its reeking-with-corruption connation—has been kept the same.

It seems painfully apparent that if any institution wants to further dialogue between opposing sects and beliefs, the last thing they would want to do is alienate themselves from their own progress and re-identify with negative stereotypes of their past, particularly the stigma of indulgences. Although the sale of indulgences was banned by Pope Pius V in 1567, the reputation of indulgences has been mixed among Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and has made an impact amongst those in the Moreau community.

“I am concerned that the effect of proclamations and policies like this is that they create culture wars, dividing the ‘true believers’ and the ‘apostates’ into ever more separate camps,” said English teacher David Prisk.  “The forcing of the faithful to ‘pick sides’ troubles me because it undermines our willingness to work together as a community.”

However, some Catholics do see the positive side of bringing indulgences back to the mainstream of their faith—not without reservations, of course.

“The value of indulgences for me is that they encourage Catholics to be in a sacred place that may make God more accessible to them,” said Fr. Tito Bonoan. “The danger for me is that the practice of indulgences measures grace in a quantitative manner. I do not think that is a mature way of looking at our faith. It’s almost like making a bargain with God.”

Despite his disagreements with certain aspects of indulgences, Bonoan does not think that the current Vatican administration under Pope Benedict XVI will cause a rift amongst the faithful.

“I think Catholics will not be driven from the Church because of indulgences,” Bonoan said. “For me, I have a historical perspective about it. I try to see the positive in it—other than that, it does not affect my faith in any way.”

The current Vatican papal administration, under Pope Benedict XIV, clearly emphasizes a highly conservative view of Catholicism. Whether or not this will help the Catholic Church find its place in modern society and in a turbulent, conflicted world is unsure. After the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which revolutionized many concepts regarding the practice of Catholic Christianity, Catholic divisions with Lutherans prompted a long dialogue of healing between the two Christian sects, but since then, many steps have been taken in the reverse direction by the Vatican administration of Pope Benedict XVI.

It seems that the Pope’s recent blunder of re-admitting Holocaust deniers into the Church is especially a concern considering the pope’s German heritage—he was a Hitler youth for a time during the Nazi regime. One would think he would take special care to avoid issues like these. But Pope Benedict XIV had already taken some harsh criticism from the Jewish community before, regarding the Vatican’s choice to allow the Tridentine Mass to again be practiced, a Catholic ceremony in Latin which includes a liturgical segment calling Jews “perfidious”—a word meaning “deceitful” and “untrustworthy.”

The bigger problem behind the revival of indulgences, as well as with the Pope’s own Holocaust-denial affiliations, isn’t the actions in themselves. Isolated, these issue seem less significant, although still disconcerting. What’s more troubling is that they are symbolic of a larger, more widespread change within the Catholic Church that pulls it away from the progress made during the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

In an age where religious separation seems to spur much of the conflict we see in the headlines and broadcasts of our everyday news, it seems dubious to think we can allow these changes to go largely unquestioned or unnoticed. Even non-Christians and other Christian denominations should take note. According to a 2008 article in the United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian, Catholics make up roughly 17.4% of the world’s population. Chances are that changes in their leading administration may very well affect the rest of the world, most notably the chemistry between religious groups already experiencing difficulties in getting along.

History has repeatedly shown that no matter how many steps are taken forward, backward steps are still possible. Young Catholics increasingly find themselves caught in a division between the identity personal faith and the institution of the Church. How much longer can the divide be widened before the two dissociate—and at what cost? And considering the recent changes in the Catholic Church, the question remains: Is the Vatican, under Pope Benedict XVI, causing more concern than progressing the church through the modern age?

It’s something every person, Catholic or not, will have to ask themselves.

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