30

COMPASS

and in their identity as Catholics, may it betime to call for a reduction in the frequencyof the international gatherings so thatoccasional mini-WYD's may be held atnational or state level?

This is not the place to canvass all theimplications of such a move. It is to proposehowever that a national forum where youngCatholics who take their faith seriously mightcome together to further explore andcelebrate their faith is worthy of consideration.This could be done in the context of a nationalCatholic youth festival of sacred and churchmusic. True, such a gathering would lack theattraction of travel and international flavourbut it would have the potential to be a definingstep for many in a journey of Catholic faithand identity. With variations, such a modellends itself to trial at regional and diocesan

1 Pope Francis in an address to the bishopsof Brazil, Rio de Janiero, WYD, August 2013.

Our young pilgrims loved the spiritual parts of the week more than they didthe touristy or pop music dimensions.

The silence after Holy Communion and the reverence it indicated waspalpable.

Our young pilgrims are ready now for their mission.2

levels, and could make provision for seniorprimary students.

A look at the scoreboard indicates thatrecent generations of Catholic youth have, inthe main, disengaged from the institutionalchurch. Are there some reasons withinpresent church/school policies and practicesthat contribute to this scenario?

NOTES

2 Archbishop Anthony Fisher, http://mediablog.catholic.org.au/?p=2212

Will Catholic Schools be Catholic in 2030? is available atcatholicschools2030@gmail.com at a cost of $44 plus postage.There is also information about this publication on the web: http://catholicschools2030.weebly.com/

‘Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and breakdown evil and violence, to destroy and overthrow the barriers ofselfishness, intolerance and hatred, so as to build a new world.Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! ThePope is counting on you!’

—Pope Francis to the youth at Rio.

Aengus Kavanagh is aPatrician Brother whohas been actively involvedin Catholic schooleducation for over fiftyyears. He is on the staff ofthe Catholic EducationOffice, Parramatta.

31

LET US BEGIN by reflecting on whatwe mean by 'religion'. According to theclassical etymology, religion is that

which binds a community back (Latin 're' and'ligare') to what it is that holds the communitytogether, to its centre. A community can getout of touch; it can be distracted. Religionbinds us back. It is the same with an individual.Genuine religion binds a person back to hisor her centre. If it doesn't then it is notgenuine, and our world is cluttered withinstitutions, ideas and experiences that claimto be religious, but are not.

What is the centre that religion binds usto? Every culture has a word for it. The Englishword is 'God'. God is the name we give to thatwhich we find at the centre, holding a persontogether, holding a community together,holding the cosmos together. God isdiscovered at the centre (at the heart) ofreality. Our experience is that the closer weget to the heart—to our own heart, or the heartof another, or the heart of matter—the morewe discover mystery. That to which we givethe name 'God' (other cultures have differentnames) is the heart and the beyond ofeverything. That to which we give the name'God' is a reality that is beyondcomprehension. We cannot lock it into asatisfactory concept. It remains essentiallymysterious, sacred.

Any religion that 'works' binds us toreality outside, and to reality within. It bindsus to the heart of the world and to our ownheart. Religion 'happens' when heart speaksto heart. It seems true, however, that certainreligions place something of an emphasis onthe outer world (the numinous aspect ofreligious experience), while others placesomething of an emphasis on the inner world(the mystical aspect of religious experience).

Is Judaism an example of the former, with itsinterest in the prophet (Moses), the Word ofGod mediated through nature and history, thesacred book (the Torah), and obedience to theouter word? Of course, Judaism does notneglect the heart, but is it true that a strongemphasis is put on God coming to a personand a community through an outer revelation?Is Islam another example, with its interest inthe prophet (Muhammad), the sacred book(the Qur'an), the word of God mediatedthrough a religious leader, and obedience(submission) to God's revelation? Judaismand Islam do put a strong emphasis on thenuminous aspect of religious experience.

Buddhism, by contrast, has holy people,but not like Moses or Muhammad. It hassacred writings, but not like the Torah or theQur'an. Buddhism emphasises the mysticaldimension of religious experience. Its focusis on enlightenment and inner transformation.

When people look at Christianity as livedin the Western world, they could be forgivenfor likening it to what I have just said aboutJudaism and Islam, but they would beseriously mistaken. Jews do not claim Mosesto be the revelation of God. He is the prophetthrough whom God revealed himself and hiswill. The revelation is found primarily in theTorah. Moslems do not claim Muhammad tobe the revelation of God. He is the prophetthrough whom God revealed himself and hiswill. The revelation is found in the Qur'an.Christians, on the other hand, see Jesus theperson as God's revelation. The NewTestament is the book in which we find theinspired reflections of first centuryChristians. The New Testament is not therevelation, it points to the revelation. Therevelation is the person, Jesus. That is whywe can (and must) interpret the New

TRULY 'CATHOLIC'MICHAEL FALLON MSC

32

COMPASS

Testament using the same instruments we usefor other first century Hellenistic writings.We do this for we want to know what theymeant by their writings. We want to know howthey saw Jesus and what they thought as a resultof the way in which Jesus revealed God tothem.

Christians see Jesus as the perfect humanexpression of God, as THE way in which Godis revealed, as THE way God has chosen tocommunicate Godself to us in a human way.

If we understand 'Word' as the traditionalexpression for God's self-communication,Christians see Jesus as 'THE Word madeflesh', for in his actions and his teaching hebrought to a perfect fulness what other words(creation, history, holy people) have saidabout and for God. He clarified the various'words' that people experienced as givingpartial expression to the mystery that theydiscovered as the heart and the beyond of theirworld. He made God's Word flesh for us,showing us what God is when God revealshimself in a human way. Jesus is the human'word'(self-expression and self-communication of God) that reveals thenuminous, and reveals God as love.

But there is much more to Christianitythan this. Christians believe that it is theSpirit of love that binds Jesus to God thatalso binds ('ligare') the Christian communitytogether. In the words of Paul: 'God's lovehas been poured into our hearts by the HolySpirit that has been given to us' (Romans5:5). That is why Paul can also say: 'I live,no longer I, it is Christ living in me'(Galatians 2:20). Christianity is essentiallyabout the heart. The numinous and themystical are both central. For revelation tooccur heart needs to speak to heart. Jesusshowed us that the outer world is sacred, asis the inner world of every person. Evil iswhat happens when we ignore the heart ofthe outer or the inner world.

To grasp the essence of Christianity it isessential, too, that we examine the profoundinsight that is expressed in genuine

monotheism. Polytheism is a naturalphenomenon, very understandable andbasically healthy. People experience thepresence of the sacred in a stream, a grove oftrees, the sun, the moon, a storm, fire, a hill,anything. This experience invites us to wonderand to worship. However, people do notnecessarily identify the sacred presence inthe tree with the sacred presence in the stream,and so are polytheists. Monotheism (when itis genuine) is an extraordinary insight. Amonotheist has come to see that one and thesame mystery is at the heart of everything. Amonotheist sees that everything belongs toeverything else; that there is only one sourceholding everything in existence.

A person or a group that says that there isonly one God, and then goes on to restrictGod to their group, is certainly not amonotheist in any real sense of the term. Agenuine monotheist will talk to a Samaritanwoman at a well, will embrace a leper, willeat with sinners, and will be able to say to acriminal dying on the next cross: 'Today youwill be with me in paradise.' We know a truemonotheist by the way he or she treats everyperson, indeed, everything. A genuinemonotheist sees one and the same sacredmystery at the heart of everything, and knowsthat this mystery is love.

Since religious experience is universal,since everyone is graced by the One who isthe source of all existence, we should expectto find elements of truth, elements ofinspired revelation, in the varied ways inwhich people have responded to the divine

Fr Michael Fallon hasa licence in SacredScripture from thePontifical BiblicalInstitute (Rome), and iscurrently assisting inthe Retreat House atSaint Mary’s Towers,Douglas Park. Hismany publications arelisted on his website:mbfallon.com

33

and have given expression to their religiousexperience. We should expect to findelements of truth, and so to be enlightened,by the Vedas and the Upanishads, by thesayings of K'ung-fu-Tsu (Confucius), Lao Tzuand Gautama the Buddha. We should listenfrom the heart to the oracles of the Hebrewprophets and the writings of Paul of Tarsusand the Christian writers of the Gospels.

This is not to say that all these are equallyrevelatory of God. Equality is a mathematicalterm that measures quantity. A Christian whohas come to believe that God is revealed inJesus cannot expect people who lived beforeJesus or those living now who do not knowhim to see God as God was revealed in Jesus.But they will see 'seeds of the word' wherevertruth has been spoken, wherever religiousexperience has found expression in words, inart, in architecture, and in the inspired loveof ordinary people in every culture of theworld. Every culture, every people, has 'saints'who are a 'word of God' to theircontemporaries, connecting them in aremarkable way with their own hearts and withreality, and so with God.

Christianity that is narrower than thecosmos, Christianity that is self-consciously

denominational, Christianity that is in any waybigoted, or blind to the revelation of thesacred wherever that revelation may surpriseus, is a contradiction in terms. A Christianmust needs be 'Catholic' in the best sense ofthat word. A Catholic Christian must be aperson who lives by Jesus' Spirit and so learnsto see with Jesus' eyes and love with Jesus'heart. A Christian must be one whose heartbleeds to see anyone not belonging. ACatholic Christian must be one who opposesviolence because he or she knows that theheart is sacred, that everyone's body is anexpression of the divine. A Christian must beone whose arms are open to welcomeeveryone. A Catholic Christian is one whosevision is universal, all-embracing. A CatholicChristian is one who has come to see thateveryone has something to say, that revelationcomes wherever a person speaks the truthfrom the heart. A Catholic Christian is not forconformity but for a harmony that rejoicesin difference wherever there is sensitivity tothe other and a humble awe before theunfolding of the mystery. He or she knowsthat only the embrace of everyone welcomingthe fire of divine love can bring about theparadise that God wants for our world.

The word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective,katholicos, meaning ‘universal’ , and from the adverbialphrase, kath’holou, meaning ‘on the whole’.

The term was first used by St Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.107) in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans: ‘Where the bishopis to be seen, there let all his people be; just as whereverJesus Christ is present we have the Catholic Church’(n.8).

—Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism, p.3

TRULY ‘CATHOLIC’

32

COMPASS

Testament using the same instruments we usefor other first century Hellenistic writings.We do this for we want to know what theymeant by their writings. We want to know howthey saw Jesus and what they thought as a resultof the way in which Jesus revealed God tothem.

Christians see Jesus as the perfect humanexpression of God, as THE way in which Godis revealed, as THE way God has chosen tocommunicate Godself to us in a human way.

If we understand 'Word' as the traditionalexpression for God's self-communication,Christians see Jesus as 'THE Word madeflesh', for in his actions and his teaching hebrought to a perfect fulness what other words(creation, history, holy people) have saidabout and for God. He clarified the various'words' that people experienced as givingpartial expression to the mystery that theydiscovered as the heart and the beyond of theirworld. He made God's Word flesh for us,showing us what God is when God revealshimself in a human way. Jesus is the human'word'(self-expression and self-communication of God) that reveals thenuminous, and reveals God as love.

But there is much more to Christianitythan this. Christians believe that it is theSpirit of love that binds Jesus to God thatalso binds ('ligare') the Christian communitytogether. In the words of Paul: 'God's lovehas been poured into our hearts by the HolySpirit that has been given to us' (Romans5:5). That is why Paul can also say: 'I live,no longer I, it is Christ living in me'(Galatians 2:20). Christianity is essentiallyabout the heart. The numinous and themystical are both central. For revelation tooccur heart needs to speak to heart. Jesusshowed us that the outer world is sacred, asis the inner world of every person. Evil iswhat happens when we ignore the heart ofthe outer or the inner world.

To grasp the essence of Christianity it isessential, too, that we examine the profoundinsight that is expressed in genuine

monotheism. Polytheism is a naturalphenomenon, very understandable andbasically healthy. People experience thepresence of the sacred in a stream, a grove oftrees, the sun, the moon, a storm, fire, a hill,anything. This experience invites us to wonderand to worship. However, people do notnecessarily identify the sacred presence inthe tree with the sacred presence in the stream,and so are polytheists. Monotheism (when itis genuine) is an extraordinary insight. Amonotheist has come to see that one and thesame mystery is at the heart of everything. Amonotheist sees that everything belongs toeverything else; that there is only one sourceholding everything in existence.

A person or a group that says that there isonly one God, and then goes on to restrictGod to their group, is certainly not amonotheist in any real sense of the term. Agenuine monotheist will talk to a Samaritanwoman at a well, will embrace a leper, willeat with sinners, and will be able to say to acriminal dying on the next cross: 'Today youwill be with me in paradise.' We know a truemonotheist by the way he or she treats everyperson, indeed, everything. A genuinemonotheist sees one and the same sacredmystery at the heart of everything, and knowsthat this mystery is love.

Since religious experience is universal,since everyone is graced by the One who isthe source of all existence, we should expectto find elements of truth, elements ofinspired revelation, in the varied ways inwhich people have responded to the divine

Fr Michael Fallon hasa licence in SacredScripture from thePontifical BiblicalInstitute (Rome), and iscurrently assisting inthe Retreat House atSaint Mary’s Towers,Douglas Park. Hismany publications arelisted on his website:mbfallon.com

33

and have given expression to their religiousexperience. We should expect to findelements of truth, and so to be enlightened,by the Vedas and the Upanishads, by thesayings of K'ung-fu-Tsu (Confucius), Lao Tzuand Gautama the Buddha. We should listenfrom the heart to the oracles of the Hebrewprophets and the writings of Paul of Tarsusand the Christian writers of the Gospels.

This is not to say that all these are equallyrevelatory of God. Equality is a mathematicalterm that measures quantity. A Christian whohas come to believe that God is revealed inJesus cannot expect people who lived beforeJesus or those living now who do not knowhim to see God as God was revealed in Jesus.But they will see 'seeds of the word' wherevertruth has been spoken, wherever religiousexperience has found expression in words, inart, in architecture, and in the inspired loveof ordinary people in every culture of theworld. Every culture, every people, has 'saints'who are a 'word of God' to theircontemporaries, connecting them in aremarkable way with their own hearts and withreality, and so with God.

Christianity that is narrower than thecosmos, Christianity that is self-consciously

denominational, Christianity that is in any waybigoted, or blind to the revelation of thesacred wherever that revelation may surpriseus, is a contradiction in terms. A Christianmust needs be 'Catholic' in the best sense ofthat word. A Catholic Christian must be aperson who lives by Jesus' Spirit and so learnsto see with Jesus' eyes and love with Jesus'heart. A Christian must be one whose heartbleeds to see anyone not belonging. ACatholic Christian must be one who opposesviolence because he or she knows that theheart is sacred, that everyone's body is anexpression of the divine. A Christian must beone whose arms are open to welcomeeveryone. A Catholic Christian is one whosevision is universal, all-embracing. A CatholicChristian is one who has come to see thateveryone has something to say, that revelationcomes wherever a person speaks the truthfrom the heart. A Catholic Christian is not forconformity but for a harmony that rejoicesin difference wherever there is sensitivity tothe other and a humble awe before theunfolding of the mystery. He or she knowsthat only the embrace of everyone welcomingthe fire of divine love can bring about theparadise that God wants for our world.

The word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective,katholicos, meaning ‘universal’ , and from the adverbialphrase, kath’holou, meaning ‘on the whole’.

The term was first used by St Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.107) in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans: ‘Where the bishopis to be seen, there let all his people be; just as whereverJesus Christ is present we have the Catholic Church’(n.8).

—Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism, p.3

TRULY ‘CATHOLIC’

34

COMPASS

Pope Francis published his first ApostolicExhortation in which he presented the resultsof the Synod of Bishops held last year on thetopic of the New Evangelisation. PopeFrancis entitled his Exhortation: 'The Joy ofthe Gospel'. In it he has taken the opportunityto present some key elements of the agendahe has for his Papacy and for the CatholicChurch. I have chosen to reflect on whatappear to me some key points.

In the opening paragraph Pope Franciswrites: 'The joy of the Gospel fills the heartsand the lives of all who encounter Jesus.Those who accept this offer of salvation areset free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness andloneliness.' He is asking us to examine ourlives. Do we cherish the freedom we areoffered as disciples of Jesus and membersof the Church? If we do, we must want othersto share this freedom and this joy, for surelywe realise that it is meant for everyone, nomatter how lost we might be, however sinful.Christ, the Pope assures us, never tires offorgiving (par. 3). He goes on to ask: 'if wehave received the love which restoresmeaning to our lives how can we fail to sharethat love with others?' (par. 8).

He speaks of three groups who need tohear the Gospel of God's love. The first groupis 'the faithful who regularly take part incommunity worship. Importantly, he includesin this group 'those members of the faithfulwho preserve a deep and sincere faith,expressing it in different ways, but seldomtaking part in worship.' This is veryencouraging to us, for we all have people whoare close to us, who identify as beingCatholic, but who do not come regularly toMass. The second group are people who havebeen baptised but have no connection with theChurch, and the third group are those whoignore or even reject God, for they, too,experience a yearning for love and a yearningfor meaning. They need to hear the GoodNews and surely we want to share it with them.

He reminds us of the privilege we have toshare the joy we have and to point others towhat he calls 'a horizon of beauty and adelicious banquet'. Surely we want to attractothers to the life we are privileged to knowand live (par. 14).

In Chapter One of his Exhortation, PopeFrancis issues a challenge to each of us andto us as a parish. 'Go out to others', her writes,seek those who have fallen away, stand at thecrossroads and welcome the outcast' (par.24). The Church is in constant need of reform.This is obvious because it is a Church ofsinners. During his life on earth Jesus ate withsinners. It has always been this way. What thePope wants to stress in this exhortation is theneed for the Church to change so that it trulyis a missionary Church.

We must concentrate on what he calls theessentials, 'on what is most beautiful, mostgrand, most appealing, and at the same timemost essential.'(par. 35). This is true of whatwe are to believe, but also of what we are todo (par 36). So often we get caught up onmatters which, however important they maybe, are nevertheless secondary (par 34).

As regards the Eucharist he reminds usthat 'it is not a prize for the perfect, but apowerful medicine and nourishment for theweak' (par. 47).

In Chapter 5 he speaks of 'Spirit filledevangelizers'. If we are going to take seriouslythe call that comes with baptism to share thefaith with others, if we are truly committedto building a new world: 'we do so, not froma sense of obligation, not as a burdensomeduty, but as the result of a personal decisionwhich brings us joy and gives meaning to ourlives.'The fundamental point Pope Francis makes,is that we enjoy intimacy with Jesus, and thatwe make our contribution to bringing this joyto our needy, yearning, and often confused,but beautiful world.

—Michael Fallon MSC

‘THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL’—SOME POINTS

35

WHEN YOU REGARD 'faith' as 'thedevil's masterpiece' as Sam Harrisdoes, it is not surprising that you

also consider it is going to play havoc witheverything to do with morality.1 Faith,according to Harris, fails all ethical tests:

Faith is what credulity becomes when it finallyachieves escape velocity from the constraints ofterrestrial discourse—constraints likereasonableness, internal coherence, civility, andcandour.2

Despite science being about 'facts', notvalues, about objects, not subjective states,he puts his faith in science as our aid to moralimprovement:

A scientific understanding of the link betweenintentions, human relationships, and states ofhappiness would have much to say about thenature of good and evil and about the properresponse to the moral transgressions of others.3

Harris throws into his moral mix 'biology','love', 'compassion', 'reason' and 'happiness',and draws from it the rather lame conclusionthat 'we discover that we can be selfishtogether.'4

Similarly, Christopher Hitchens observesthat 'the order to 'love thy neighbour as thyself'is too extreme and too strenuous to beobeyed', and from the same mix as Harrisdraws his own conclusion that 'By a nicechance', we discover that 'cupidity and avariceare the spur to economic development.'5

Daniel Dennett also rehearses the sins of'faith', such as infantile motivation, absolutistmorality, intolerance, and crimes againsthumanity—it is a long list.6 What he advocatesin its place is:

an open-minded ('ambivalent') stance thatpermits rational dialogue to engage the issues

between people, no matter how radicallydifferent their cultural background.7

It is not at all clear how all the adherents ofreligious faiths around the world will be ableto take part in this dialogue given his view offaith, although in spite of it he claims that 'thegood news is that people really do want to begood.'8

A.C. Grayling echoes what is beginningto sound like a mantra: 'religious belief doesnot rest on rationality but on emotions—hope, fear, feelings of absolute certainty oragonising doubt, psychological needs ofvarious and importune kinds', all of which,unsurprisingly, is prone to lead to violencetowards the opponents of faith9; and, incontrast, humanist morality 'is aboutbehaving like the best of civilised,thoughtful, responsible, considerate moralagents'.10

Most of these statements have the sniffof a gentleman's club about them, a clubwhere all the members are totally reasonableand well behaved. Very little, if any, attentionis ever paid to the unruly mob of hopes, fears,needs, sufferings, failures, and frailty, howlingat the door.

We know from history and from currentevents that religion too can fall victim to thesame mob rule—we forget that at our ownperil. Religion deals in these dark realitiesof life, so it is always vulnerable. Yet it doesgo where others, particularly the NewAtheists, do not care to go, which is one ofits strengths, as well as being a constantdanger.

Sam Harris confidently asserts that 'allthat is good in religion can be hadelsewhere.'11 The answer, of course, depends

FAITH AND / OR REASONIN ETHICS

NEIL BROWN