THE CASE FOR THE COMMONWEAL CATHOLIC

THE CASE FOR THE COMMONWEAL CATHOLIC

In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014

Reference: Commonweal, October 24, 2014 issue, Celebrating 90 Years of Debate: excerpts from the excellent article by Luke Timothy Johnson, The Commonweal Catholic - It Started with Origen

    "The space Commonweal (and its faithful readers) seeks to occupy is a tight one, and difficult to maintain in a world that insists we either mindlessly adhere to received teachings or reckless reject the wisdom of the past in the name of enlightenment....                                                         

 If the religiously liberal regard traditionalists as dumb sheep, the latter regard the former as wolves out to ravage the flock....

    Hiding one's faith, or abandoning it altogether, is increasingly the price of citizenship in the world of free inquiry. Thus, in the university department of religion, it is a matter of pride to study religion rather than to practice it; some professors of religious studies understand their mission to be the demystifying of traditional beliefs and practices among their students....

    "Political correctness" is an overused term, yet it accurately designates a complex academic "right-thinking" that emphasizes an apocalyptic vision of climate change; the evils of tobacco (but not pot); the oppressive character of late capitalism; the malignancy of "europhallic" thought; and the embrace of all forms of human diversity except those representing religious traditions....    

More than ever, the world needs a place where "liberal convictions" and "Catholic tradition" are in conversation. For ninety years, Commonweal has provided that place....

    The fact that Commonweal frequently infuriates both sides of a such hot-button issues as abortion and same-sex marriage suggests a genuine independence. If there is one area where "liberal convictions" tend to lead to predictable positions, it is in the editorial pages - especially when the topic is national and international politics. Here, I think the magazine has accepted the premise that righteousness and goodness surface more regularly among Democrats than Republicans, and that the interventions of big government can create social justice. ...

    If, in defense of liberalism, Commonweal has found it necessary to privilege some voices more than others, because these voices explicitly seek to maintain a universe of open conversation, the editors have nonetheless managed to include many less-than-liberal writers in its pages, and I applaud for that.... The magazine in recent years has represented that deep tradition with its vigorous examination of Catholicism's historical sources in Scripture, in patristic authors, and in the writings of mystics and theologians through the centuries..

    "What more can Commonweal do to communicate even more effectively its sense of the church? The first is to bring back the voices of such early reformers as Wycliffe, Huss, and Marsilius of Padua agents for change whose powerful arguments issues from within the Catholic tradition....The second project is to investigate empathically the views of those who seek to return to a Tridentine church. What are the values they see as having been lost? What forms might best embody those values?

    The third thing Commonweal can do to represent the Catholic tradition more comprehensively is to devote greater attention to the demands of discipleship in the broadest sense; the moral entailments of the Gospel, the shape of piety, the call to holiness. Finally, although Commonweal correctly refuses to identify the Catholic tradition primarily with the Vatican or the papacy, like all media it gives more attention to the Church's central authority than it does to the many manifestations of the tradition in parishes, monasteries, and convents."...

GEORGE H. KUBECK

    The Catholic Church is a universal Church.