WHAT HAPPENED AT THE 2015 SYNOD? PART O An Urgent and Disturbing Aside (Continued) We continue our analytical, diagnostic, and sociological look at our Church today in order to understand better what Pope Francis needs to do in order to make the Church better in God’s eyes (and in the eyes of all the people on our planet), and so that we can help him in every knowledgeable way we can in this God-given task. This also will help us better understand the considerable opposition Pope Francis faces because many people (both Catholic and not Catholic) do not like or appreciate what he is trying to do. The truth also is that most of us do not like change (even if it is needed) because it requires work and attention and shakes up the comfortable nests we all have built for ourselves. In sum, change is hard for most people! These are all good and urgent reasons for us to continue to do what we are doing and I ask you for your patience to continue on this journey which is truly a long one because the Catholic Church is quite a complex complicated phenomenon. I also thank you for undertaking this journey with me and I hope and pray that it is life-giving and grace-full for you! This journey really is a journey of coming to a new ecclesiology by understanding and following our Holy Father. And, therefore, it also requires a great deal of praying. Please pray for all of us who are on this journey and I especially beg you for prayers for myself and my work/ministry. Thank you! At this point I would like to return to the comments made about one of my recent homilies (outlined earlier) that had to do with our Muslim brothers and sisters. I am appalled and frightened by the growing anti-Islam thinking and feeling in our Western culture including Catholics (Islamophobia). Simply put, if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Risen Brother and His salvation-giving gospel, we cannot be Islamophobes! It is that simple! Those Catholics who oppose the Pope and his stance of respect for Islam and his opposition to Islamophobia are really ignorant about today’s Church and the Church of the last fifty years! Francis’ stance towards Islam is not something he initiated and so it is very unfair to blame him because he is following the Church’s tradition since the Council of Vatican II (1962-1965). Here is what Vatican II says about Islam: “Upon the Muslims, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to men/women. They strive to submit wholeheartedly even to God’s inscrutable decrees, just as did Abraham, with whom the Islamic faith, is pleased to associate itself. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin mother; at times, they call on her, too, with devotion. In addition they await the day of judgment when God will give each person his/her due after raising him/her up. Consequently, they prize the moral life, and give worship to God especially through prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. “Although in the course of the centuries many quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Muslims, this most sacred Synod [Vatican II] urges all to forget the past and to strive sincerely for mutual understanding. On behalf of all humankind, let them make common cause of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral values, peace, and freedom.” (Paragraph #3 of the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, The documents of Vatican II in a New and Definitive Translation, Father Walter M. Abbott, S.J., General Editor and theologian) 1 Please understand, and especially those of us who do not know our Church history, that this Declaration was promulgated by the then-Pope, Blessed Pope Paul VI. Paul prepared for the implementation of this Decree/Declaration by establishing on May 17, 1964, a secretariat for development of relations with non-Christian religions, headed by Paolo Cardinal Marella. “The Secretariat for Non-Christian Religions has an episcopal committee of bishops from all parts of the world, consultors in Rome, and consultors throughout the world, including laity. The secretariat’s aims are to create a climate of cordiality between Christians and followers of other religions, to dissipate prejudice and ignorance, especially among Catholics, and to establish fruitful contact with members of other religions concerning questions of common interest.” (ibid., footnote 1) (emphasis added) The second footnote here has relevance to our present investigation and so does the third footnote. The second reads: “The stress on what men/women have in common was one of Saint Pope John’s [Saint Pope John XXIII who convoked Vatican II] operative principals. As he often made clear, this approach does not deny or neglect differences; it simply gives primary consideration – as this Declaration says – to common goals and interests.” (ibid., footnote 2) The third footnote reads: “The solidarity of humankind was another of Saint Pope John’s operative principles, evident from the very beginning of his pontificate and in his first encyclical. The teaching of this sentence of the Declaration has a detailed history in papal statements running back for decades [the year of this being written is 1966].” (ibid., footnote 3, emphasis added) Paragraph three of this important Vatican II document has a very interesting and informative footnote: “Students of the history of relations between Christians and Muslims will find this section a remarkable change in the Church’s approach. One thinks inevitably of the Crusades (but note that there were Muslim crusaders as well as Christian). Those were ideological wars. This Council [Vatican II], as it also makes clear in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, wants to disassociate itself from war. “Many readers will no doubt find it surprising to see how much Christians and Muslims actually have in common in their beliefs. Many Christians have thought of Muslims as fanatical followers of a religion of power and ignorance, sexually excessive (polygamy, ideas about heaven) etc. [However, this thinking is not correct in regards to Islam!].” (ibid., footnote 13) There is another place in the Vatican II documents where Islam is mentioned favourably and this is in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). Here it is: “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adores the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge humankind. Nor is God Himself/Herself [or GodSelf] far distant from those who in shadow and images seek the unknown God, for it is God who gives to all persons life and breath and every other gift (cf. [see] Acts 17:25-28), and who as Savior wills that all people be saved (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4): [Here the Constitution is moving into the situation of people who have “primitive” religions or who have no clear communal religion like Islam or Judaism, etc.].” (paragraph #16 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, The Documents of Vatican II in a New And Definitive Translation, Father Walter M. Abbott, S.J., General Editor and theologian) 2 In the preceding reference, Doctor Claud Nelson gave a response to this document (this is done for all the individual Vatican II documents included in the above reference). His response was interesting. Here are his comments on the part of the document that speaks about Islam. These comments are preceded (and followed) by his comments about the document’s views on Judaism; for him this was a mixed bag. Here is what he said about the document’s view of the other world religions including Islam: “In a very long run, those sections of the Declaration dealing with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and primitive religions may prove to be even more important than the section on the Jewish religion. One is grateful for their inclusion, and for their respectful and cordial tone … [Overall,] the Declaration calls forth our commendation and gratitude.” (Doctor Claud Nelson, official Religious News Services correspondent at Vatican II for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and a theologian) All of the above gives us the historical background needed to understanding how Pope Francis today relates to Muslims and the Islamic Faith. Maybe at this time the following needs to be said loudly and strongly and clearly: if a person does not know the above history and if the same person has not done his/her homework or any digging in regards to the question, maybe he/she should simply keep quiet instead of blaming Francis for continuing Catholic tradition and development in this area. Simply put, if a person does not understand an area like this from the Catholic context, please just keep quiet and not make ignorant statements about the matter. Thank you! Not to do this is to expose yourself to becoming a non-Gospel Islamophobe who stereotypes and scapegoats! And yes, I do feel strongly about this! A good modern look at this question is to read the short exposition of Islam put out by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops last year (2015). It is available at www.cccb.ca Let us now bring this investigation/reflections to the modern period of Francis’ papacy – to today.