The Portal Archive May 2013 | Page 20

THE P RTAL May 2013 Page 20 F a t h e r P e t e r ’s P a ge Seeker or Finder? One has only to visit a modern largish bookshop to notice that there continues to be a phenomenal interest in things ‘Spiritual’. On the assumption that owners of bookshops only stock their shelves because of ‘supply & demand’, one must presume that there are continuous substantial sales. They are presumably fulfilling what that famous sociologist of religion, Max Weber, called a “disenchanted world”: an acknowledgement that in every human being there is a hunger and thirst for the ‘spiritual’ to be satisfied. everything depends on the supernatural gift of divine revelation, i.e. God coming in search of us! And that by the act of faith – itself made possible by supernatural grace – we may be set on the path of salvation. Such a ‘radical’ analysis of the contrast between ‘modern’ spirituality and Catholicism is argued forcefully in the latest book by George Weigel, Evangelical Catholicism. deeply subjective Such an approach to the proclamation of the Gospel to a modern world requires a costly and sacrificial reorientation of the whole Body of Christ (pace Pope Francis?). Theoretically, this should come as no surprise to products of the Anglo-Catholic movement whichever side of The Tiber they are currently on! For in that, (so-called), ‘non-theological’ book of John Henry Newman – which actually is steeped in theology – Loss and Gain – published in 1847, the essential, radical quality of the Catholic conviction of the act of faith being ordered by divine revelation, in contrast to the tepid, culturally transmitted religiosity of Newman’s age, is clearly set out. Like so much of his inspired writings, it could easily have been written for our age! Usually, all the books offer various ‘solutions’ to the human ‘search for God’. The word ‘Seeker’ appears in many of the titles and has become part their (and our?) current religious vocabulary. But this anthropocentric, and deeply subjective, searching for the divine is the exact opposite of Catholic thought and teaching, not least as expounded in Vatican II. God’s search for us costly and sacrificial reorientation That Council clearly (re-)taught – especially in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – that our faith is based on the fact that God has ‘revealed’ Himself to us, not least in Christ. Christianity, by contrast to the human search for God of modern ‘spirituality’, is actually about God’s search for us. Postmodern a touching gentleness ‘spirituality’ is for seekers; whereas Catholicism is for “Individuals may display a touching gentleness, or a ‘Finders’. conscientiousness which demands our reverence; still, till they have faith, they have not the foundation and Our response their superstructures will fall. They will not be blessed, Our whole spirituality, therefore, should be based they will effect nothing in religious matters, till they not on the human search for God; but on the fact of begin by an unreserved act of faith in the word of God God’s search for us: the dynamic of God’s revelation . . . . till they go out of themselves.” through history from Abraham and his descendants, via the Jewish people to the Christian Community. the gospel is a given Our response in faith to this truth has the most weighty That is the current challenge: Do we allow the ‘world’ consequences. to dictate our agenda (Parliament?), claiming that we are ‘seeking’ the gospel in our present climate; or do specifically challenged we boldly proclaim – often contra the world – that the By placing the revelation of the Gospel – and Christ gospel is a given and we challenge everyone to find it? – at the very centre, ‘modernity’ and ‘post-modernity’ have been specifically challenged: For they deny that THE challenge there is any such thing as ‘Revelation’. That is THE challenge – and distinction – for Christianity in the 21 st century. God coming in search of us! In contrast, Catholicism asserts the conviction that Father Peter Geldard