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

Crazy Catholic Question #166 - Bible

I have a friend who attends a “non-denominational” Christian church who says that Catholics don’t believe in the literal, infallible and inerrant truth of the Bible. Is this true?

Well, your friend is both right and wrong. It sounds like your pal supports a fundamentalist approach to our scriptures which declares verbal inerrancy, infallibility, and literal truth of the Bible in every detail. In this the words of the Bible are believed to be plain and simple: their meaning is self-evident and does not need to be interpreted. All that is required is that it be read in faith, with prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Now, if we take this to mean that anyone asking for an accurate interpretation will be given one without any research necessary, then the multiplicity of interpretations, even among fundamentalists themselves, should give people a gnawing sense that the Holy Spirit is not doing its job very effectively.

We run into all sorts of problems when we read the Bible literally, that is, without trying to interpret its meaning. Noted Catholic Scripture scholar Fr. Eugene Laverdiere once said “Fundamentalism is not a particular interpretation of the Bible, but rather the lack of any interpretation.”

As Catholics understand the bible as more of a library than a single book and we do not adhere to the literal truth of all the books in our sacred library, because not all were written to be understood that way. Just as in any library, we find several different genres of writing, so too in the bible.

The church states that the Bible is "humankind's experience of God" written down. We recognize that there was a long, complex process from the original inspiration to the written words found in the Bible today and if we are going to discover the meaning of our ancient sacred texts we need to be as informed as possible of their context, literary form, and the author’s historical situation, style of writing and original intention.

The church states that:

Revelation is first and foremost God revealing God’s self in human history, and Jesus is the high point of this revelation of God to human beings.

Only secondarily is revelation to be understood as the written expression of and witness to God's revealing of God’s self.

In other words, our faith is in a living God not slavish adherence to words on a page.

So, in short, we DO believe scripture to be the "inspired" and “inerrant” revelation of God to which human beings have given expression and witnessed to in words. Scripture is not apart from tradition but rather a privileged moment WITHIN our tradition, for truly it is the Church which gave us the Bible, and not the Bible which gave us the Church.

The bible may indeed hold all truths, but not everything in the bible is “literally true” in our modern understanding of the word.

If this topic interests you, please consider yourself invited to attend (and maybe even bring your protestant pals!) a little class I’m giving on:

Our Catholic Approach and Understanding of Sacred Scripture

Monday, March 4th at 7PM in Bethany.

All are invited. It is free, as is childcare. Hope to see you there!

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

Crazy Catholic Question #165 - Big Bang & Evolution

Do Catholics believe in the “big bang” and evolution?
YES! A resounding YES! Catholics DO in fact support the best suppositions held by our most intelligent scientists regarding the development of our species and our universe. In short, Catholics do not quarrel with fossils or astronomers. In fact, we have our very own Vatican Observatory that is dedicated to the most cutting-edge astronomical research and education!

We readily admit that what we solidly know about our origins is a pittance. “Our brains are too small to grasp fully the expansiveness, diversity, and surprise of the universe, never mind what lies beyond its furthest edges. It is as if reality is a bazillion-volt charge and our brains are sixty-watt bulbs.” (Garrido, Redeeming Conflict). But the little we DO know indicates that the notion that our world was created in seven, 24-hour, literal “days” is simply nonsensical and ridiculously egocentric. We Catholics fully embrace “mystery” but, we don’t deny the reality of fossils for goodness sake! Our current reigning scientific theories may not be “the complete” truth, but they undoubtedly point us in the right direction for further discovery.

I went to my kid’s public school last week to introduce a secular version of the La Fettuccia/Ribbon lesson. While the kids were at recess I was chatting with my daughter teacher, explaining how the 50 yards of grosgrain ribbon is designed to represent the span of time since the Big Bang and how in order for the lesson to remain relatively “concrete” we tell the children that each ridge represents only 1000 years, but if the ribbon were to accurately represent the 14 billion years plus that our universe has been expanding, each ridge would actually represent closer to 100,000 years! I laughed light-heartedly with awe and amazement and said “even the metaphor needs to be ‘dumbed down’ for us because 100,000 years for each ridge is too much for our little brains to even imagine!”

In response, Viv’s teacher said “Yes, but if one takes biblical truth into consideration; namely that God created the world in seven days, that would make our earth much younger” and then she looked at me like I was on her team on this issue. I honestly was so dumbstruck I was speechless for a moment (and those that know me well, know also how difficult it is to render me genuinely wordless).

One of the main reasons young people are leaving organized religion is because of the cognitive dissonance between bad religion and good science. Now, you might say “But we believe in a man who was raised from the dead!” I know. That seems rather far-fetched, right? True. I’m not entirely sure what Jesus’ resurrection “looked like” – no epistemologically humble person would propose to know such a thing. Without question, we do profess some crazy stuff - BUT we don’t dispute fossils folks. We don’t dismiss our best scientists.

Regarding the resurrection, I have no idea what happened in that upper room, but it’s for darn sure something happened, because the people in that room were changed. Before this weird and wild upper room encounter with the Risen Christ the disciples were all tucked away, huddled in fear. But after this upper room experience they all go out and boldly preach the good news until almost every one of them met with a martyr’s death. I don’t understand martyrs either, but I find them very convincing.

Look. God has blessed us with the gift of reason. We would be foolish to neglect or ignore this gift. There is no conflict whatsoever between good theology and our admittedly limited understanding of Science. As with all of life, the more we learn, the less we know. If this wasn’t so, then God would not be worthy to be called God.

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

Crazy Catholic Question #164 - Healing

Why are some people healed and others not?
This past week a majority of our daily gospel readings feature Jesus healing people, which begs this CCQ question, right? We all know people who suffer chronic pain, pray fervently, and yet no relief comes and others who are healed. This disparity reminds me of this excerpt from Fr. James Martin’s book Jesus: A Pilgrimage:

“I’m writing these lines in the middle of a painful bout with carpal-tunnel syndrome, something that I’ve had for the past 20 years…the onset came suddenly during my studies to become a Jesuit. Within the space of a few days, I developed stabbing pains in my hands and arms, and for the next two months could barely turn a doorknob or hold a pencil without feeling like someone was plunging a knife into my wrists.

At the beginning of this minor medical saga, many doctors found the condition a diagnostic challenge. After a year of visiting a variety of hospitals, clinics and physical therapists, it was determined that I had either ‘repetitive strain injury,’ ‘carpal tunnel syndrome’ or an ‘autonomic nerve disorder.’ ‘Or some combo,’ said one doctor with a shrug ‘surgery wouldn’t work and the symptoms probably wouldn’t subside.’

These days I deal with this persistent problem, as do many who live with far more serious chronic illnesses: by managing it…This decades-long struggle is an entrée to the world of sadness, discouragement and even the despair that attends illness…What can compare to a person’s desperate desire to be healed from a serious illness or the unquenchable thirst for the end of physical pain?’

A few years ago I might have said that God is equally present to each of us, but it seems that God somehow moves closer to those who need help. Perhaps we are more open to God’s presence in our lives when we are more vulnerable; with our defenses down God can more easily break into our lives. One friend, at the beginning of her cancer treatment, reported a palpable sense of God’s presence, which manifested as a sudden onset of calm. She said she found it helpful to return to that “place” in herself where God had given her calm, and try to “live from” there. Rather than move towards discouragement over her illness, she would return to the calm that she felt was a gift from God.

There is, however, another place for the sick person. There are times when the suffering person feels that nothing can change, that all is hopeless, that the pain will never end, that a “normal way of life” is no longer possible. Even though I have not suffered from a terminal illness or a life-threatening condition, I do know that dark place. I have spent time there.

Jesus asks the paralytic ‘Do you want to be made well?’ Jesus might be saying to him, ‘Are you ready to let go of your identity as ‘the paralyzed man’? ‘Have you given up hope or do you still have faith?’

God asks the same question to those who may have given up in other areas. A broken marriage, a miserable work environment, and overwhelming financial difficulties, can lead us to despair. We can experience a spiritual paralysis that needs to be healed. But buried deep down under the despair is hope.

Hope is like the Pool of Bethesda. For years it was covered by dirt, gravel and trash - thought to be lost – or a myth. But it was always there, waiting to be uncovered, waiting to be restored, waiting to be seen again. It took work, but it was found. This is how God comes to us—asking if we still want healing, if we still believe, if we still have faith. Even while we dwell in despair, God excavates our hope and asks us, ‘Do you want to be made whole?’”

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