Crazy Catholic Question #167 - Oneness

I heard you are offering a class on “Our Catholic Approach and Understanding of the Bible” on Monday night, March 4th at 7PM. Is there really a “Catholic” approach or is this just a manufactured division between denominations? For goodness sake, can’t we even agree on the Bible?!?

I hear you. I really do. Ever since I was a little girl, I have had an abiding desire to foster a sincere “oneness” with our Protestant brothers and sisters. I regularly take my three daughters to St. John Episcopal church to hear some rockin’ female preaching, my spiritual director of 13 years is also Episcopal. Three of my very favorite authors, who have changed me in countless, monumental ways are: Baptist, born-again Anne Lamott, ELCA Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber and Quaker Parker Palmer, to name just a few of the biggies.

I have many Protestant friends and even close family members (like my Mom!) who deeply revere and study the bible regularly and I would love nothing more than to find unfailing common ground with them about the meaning of our shared sacred texts. I pray, along with most of you I’m sure, in the words that Jesus gave us “Father, that all may be one.” And surely there are MANY places of SIGNIFICANT agreement to be celebrated! Which will be part of our discussion on the 4th.

However! However. however. I cannot simply make myself “NOT believe” some of the things I believe (that are distinctively “Catholic” in nature) simply because I desire unity. And, frankly, I don’t think we do ourselves or our Protestant pals any favors by glossing over our theological differences. Conflict CAN be a route to deeper truth. Uncomfortable? Absolutely, but also tried and true. So I say, rather than avoid these difficult conversations, let’s get a good handle on what we DO believe so that we can enter into true dialogue (not argument rooted in defensiveness or insecurity, but rather mutual transformative dialogue) with those who think differently than us. Sometimes this is actually the PROCESS of discovering what we actually do believe, right? How many of you in conversation with other Christians have had that feeling like “Hmmm…I don’t buy that…I don’t think that is what Jesus meant,” etc. That is part of our shared discovery of truth, no?

Sometimes it is only by pulling away what we are certain we DON’T believe that we come to discover and arrive at those truths which we hold most dear; the “via negativa” so to speak. Like Michelangelo once said “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

Sometimes our “Catholic common sense” only kicks in when we are in the heat of prickly dialogue with those who disagree with us and we are stumbling around, trying to find the right words to communicate exactly where the difference lies, right? Well, I say let’s poke around that place of dissimilarity and become articulate. We simply MUST model this practice of peaceful, prayerful, loving dialogue as a route to uncovering truth. It will serve our children well.

Our four-step process is to: Gather – Share (listen and talk. Give and take.)– Dialogue – and be transformed. That is the original program. Everybody wins if we stick to the original program.

It seems our most acute theological differences come to the fore when we discuss two topics: namely 1) the Bible and 2) Redemption (aka HOW we are saved by the cross of Christ). So, those are the topics we are going to address:

1. Our Catholic Approach and Understanding of THE BIBLE on Monday, March 4th at 7PM and
2. HOW ARE WE SAVED BY THE CROSS on Thursday, April 11th at 7PM.

ALL are welcome! Send your Crazy Catholic Question to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com