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