Books Ryans case for loyal dissent shows deep love for
church
PRACTICING CATHOLIC:
THE SEARCH FOR A LIVABLE CATHOLICISM By Penelope J. Ryan Henry
Holt and Company, 216 pages, $23, hardback |
By MAUREEN
FIEDLER
If a bedraggled Catholic asked me how to
hang in there with the church while disagreeing with basic
teachings, Id recommend this book. If a skeptic wanted to know how a good
Catholic can advocate church reform, Id recommend this book. If a
long-suffering reformer wanted to know if change is a pipe dream or if
its really possible, Id recommend this book.
And if someone were -- as I was -- born and reared before Vatican
II, Id recommend the first few pages for pure rosary-thumbing, Latin-
reciting nostalgia.
In Practicing Catholic, Penelope Ryan tackles the
hot-button church issues: authority and infallibility, the nonordination of
women, celibacy and the priesthood, birth control, abortion, fertility
procedures, divorce, remarriage and annulment, gay and lesbian rights,
conscience and dissent. She approaches them not as an iconoclast but as a
critical lover who wants change without destroying the best of what exists.
She discusses the teachings as a wise interpreter approaches
scripture, in context. No teachings are sterile or sanitized. All of them are
shaped and conditioned by scriptural understandings, historical situations and
theological or philosophical schools of thought. Indeed, many teachings have
changed, signaling that further change is possible.
Ryan also interprets teachings in their contemporary context --
how they are received, or more often not received, in the church today. She
relates stories from her own and others lives to show how many current
teachings cause pain and lead to loss of faith among contemporary Catholics. In
her view, serious dialogue needs to be grounded in such experiences. She makes
a strong case that the sensus fidelium, or sense of the faithful, must
be integral to any reformulation of teaching.
In gentle, lucid prose that speaks volumes about her love for the
church, she assumes the role of loyal dissenter, rooting her positions in
scripture, church history and the theology of the Second Vatican Council.
Her discussion of divorce, remarriage and annulment is a case in
point. It begins with stories of her own parents divorce and her
mothers remarriage. She salts this with the experiences of people who
have been shocked by the annulment process. Then she traces church teaching on
the indissolubility of marriage, showing how scriptural passages, long used to
bolster such teaching, may have a deeper or different meaning in context.
Jesus words in Mark 10, for example (Whoever divorces his wife and
marries another, commits adultery against her), may have less to do with
Jesus view of divorce than with his reaction to the social injustices
that divorce caused for women in his age.
Ryan then catapults centuries of church history in a few lucidly
written paragraphs to show how notions of marriage as a loving covenant gave
way to its treatment as a juridical, legalistic act. She puts these issues in
an interfaith context, noting the differing scriptural understandings and
practices of the Orthodox and Reformation traditions. Her citations of official
pronouncements in the modern era provide a backdrop for the alternative views
of theologians such as Herbert Doms who calls for a person- centered,
relational theology of marriage. Her own experience feeds insightful
reflections, such as: Perhaps indissolubility is something that a
marriage grows into. She makes a strong case that married women and men
must be co-creators of a renewed theology of marriage and sexuality.
In the final chapter, Ryan proposes a church for the new
millennium. Her vision calls for a new liturgical reform, a broadly based
collegiality that includes the laity and in-depth religious education,
especially for adults. It suggests a World Council of Youth where the church
listens to the ideas, hopes and questions of young people and a faith that
embraces the diversity of global cultures. It would put an end to growing
sacramental starvation with the welcoming of a married clergy and
women priests.
Ryan speaks for the generation of Catholics nourished on Vatican
II and grounded in struggles for civil rights, peace and justice. I found
myself saying repeatedly, Uh-huh, as I read the chapters. I have
often voiced similar sentiments about the same issues.
If I were to fault the book for anything, it is its occasional
lapse into sexist language. Although Ryan stresses the importance of inclusive
language in more than one chapter, I was occasionally jarred by a non-inclusive
translation of the documents of Vatican II and words like kingdom,
Lord, and even man.
However, the problem is minor in the larger context of the message
of the book.
Most NCR readers will find it to their liking. Some might
want to launch the new millennial program of adult religious education and make
it a gift for their favorite pastor, bishop or cardinal!
Loretto Sr. Maureen Fiedler is a co-director of the Quixote
Center where she serves as national coordinator of Catholics Speak Out.
National Catholic Reporter, August 28,
1998
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