Ongoing Renewal in the Church: Reflections from Patristic Tradition, Vatican II, and Pastoral Practice 9789042945388, 9789042945395, 9042945389

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Ongoing Renewal in the Church Reflections from Patristic Tradition, Vatican II, and Pastoral Practice

Edited by

Paul Pulikkan, Mathai Kadavil, and Peter De Mey

PEETERS

ONGOING RENEWAL IN THE CHURCH

ANNUA NUNTIA LOVANIENSIA

LXXXII

Ongoing Renewal in the Church Reflections from Patristic Tradition, Vatican II, and Pastoral Practice Essays in Honour of Mathijs Lamberigts on the Occasion of his Retirement as Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven

Edited by

Paul Pulikkan, Mathai Kadavil, and Peter De Mey

PEETERS LEUVEN – PARIS – BRISTOL, CT

2021

Cover illustration: Smrti Arts, Trichur, Kerala, India A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without written permission from the publisher © Uitgeverij Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 󰀁󰀅󰀃, B-󰀃󰀀󰀀󰀀 Leuven (Belgium) ISBN 󰀉󰀇󰀈-󰀉󰀀-󰀄󰀂󰀉-󰀄󰀅󰀃󰀈-󰀈 eISBN 󰀉󰀇󰀈-󰀉󰀀-󰀄󰀂󰀉-󰀄󰀅󰀃󰀉-󰀅 D/󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀁/󰀀󰀆󰀀󰀂/󰀇󰀈

Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Patristic Tradition Martin Sebastian Kallungal An Interactive Map of the Human Will: Conversing on Grace and Free Choice with Augustine and Others as Interlocutors. . . . . . . .

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Aashu Alexander Mattackal The Journey of Perfection: Deification as the Soul’s Final Destination in Origen’s and Augustine’s Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 . . . . . . . . . . . .

󰀂󰀃

Paul Fernandes The Ascent of the Soul in the Confessions of Saint Augustine . . . .

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Scaria Kanniyakonil A Comparative Study of the Theology of Marriage in the Writings of Augustine and in the East Syrian Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The Second Vatican Council and the Ongoing Renewal Mathai Kadavil Post-Conciliar Trends in Indian Ecclesiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Henry Jose Kodikuthiyil Karl Rahner’s Contribution to Vatican II and Its Impact on PostConciliar Theology: An Appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

󰀈󰀇

Bilju Vazhappilly Inculturation in the Formation of Liturgical Texts of the SyroMalabar Church since Vatican II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

󰀉󰀇

Maryann Madhavathu Plenam, consciam atque actuosam (SC 󰀁󰀄): A Study of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy of the Hours in the Light of the Second Vatican Council . .

󰀁󰀁󰀃

Saji Mathew Kanayankal Human Ecology from Vatican II to Laudato si’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀁󰀂󰀇

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CONTENTS

Maria John Costa Vatican II: Interfacing the Theology of the Person and the Social Concern for the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀁󰀄󰀃 Patricia H. Santos Vatican II: An Impetus for Women in India to Claim Their Voice and a Rightful Place in the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀁󰀆󰀁 Thomas Padiyath A Rediscovery of the Gospel and Discipleship: New Evangelization in the Vision of Pope Francis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀁󰀇󰀇 Creative Conversation between Theology and Practice Mathew Illathuparampil Teacher and Shepherd in Conversation: The Creative Interface between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Concerns . . . . . . . . . . 󰀁󰀉󰀅 Joseph Pamplany The Judeo-Christian Foundations of the Pastoral Magisterium . . . 󰀂󰀀󰀉 Jobi Patteruparampil Patristic Perspectives on the Dynamics between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀂󰀂󰀅 Alex Kalathikattil The Sacrament of Reconciliation: Lessons from History and Prospects for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀂󰀃󰀉 Tony Neelankavil The PAROC Model: An Experiment in Interfacing Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀂󰀅󰀅 Johan De Tavernier Laudato si’: The Eco-Theology and Eco-Praxis of Pope Francis . . 󰀂󰀆󰀇 Kurian Kachappilly A Call to Citizenship for the Common Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀂󰀉󰀁 List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 󰀃󰀀󰀇

Introduction Paul Pulikkan, Mathai Kadavil, and Peter De Mey On January 󰀁󰀇-󰀁󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀 ILAAM (Indian Leuven Alumni Association Meeting) organized its biennial symposium in Kottar in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. A suggestion was proposed to prepare a Festschrift in honour of Prof. Mathijs Lamberigts. Over the last three decades, the students who had spent their days in Leuven have always remembered Prof. Lamberigts with gratitude. Besides being an efficient professor and a prolific writer, the name Lamberigts brings to our mind the picture of an academician with a warm heart and witty spirit. His students acknowledge him to be a great promoter and guide. We express our deep appreciation and gratitude for his constant support to ILAAM and the continued research collaborations among the alumni. Lamberigts initiated academic cooperation between Marymatha Major Seminary and the Institute of Theology in Trichur, the Missionary Orientation Centre in Kottayam and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven. He has travelled many times to India to give scholarly presentations. He is also an editorial member of Indian journals such as Encounter: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Reflections of Faith and Life and Eastern Journal of Dialogue and Culture. Our beloved professor loves the truth and serves it with love: rightly St. Augustine said, non intratur in veritatem, nisi per caritatem. The academic fame of our beloved professor is spread into two areas, Augustinian studies and Vatican II studies. Like the stalwarts of the Council, with a profound knowledge of patristics and church history, Prof. Lamberigts has served the church and the academic world with great success. The essays in this volume, in three parts, reflect also the scholarly journey of Prof. Lamberigts. Augustine loved Christ and his Church: a reformed Church ever seeking and being open to the whispers of the Spirit is clearly visible in Augustinian theology. The Second Vatican Council is the kairos of divine grace that reformed the Church, a process which is continued by Pope Francis today. The Council itself was a pastoral one and its reception calls for an authentic harmony between the dogmatic and the pastoral, between theology and praxis.

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Part I: Patristic Tradition The first article in this section is by Martin Sebastian Kallungal, “An Interactive Map of the Human Will: Conversing on Grace and Free Choice with Augustine and Others as Interlocutors.” The author discusses here the interrelation of grace and freedom. Augustine’s theology of grace gave primacy to grace over human will but he does not deny the contributive role of will in the realization of grace. The author persuasively reflects on grace and human will not within a binary but within a healthy dynamic of responsible interaction. God imparts grace and still he respects our freedom and he wants us to take a decision to receive the grace. Aashu Alexander Mattackal writes on “The Journey of Perfection: Deification as the Soul’s Final Destination in Origen’s and Augustine’s Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈.” The author makes a comparative study of Origen and Augustine on the deification of the human person, the ultimate journey of the human person to the Divine, based on Origen’s two Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉) and Augustine’s exposition on Psalm 󰀃󰀈. Both of them considered Scripture as the great motivating factor in the human soul’s journey to God. In the process of deification, both found harmony, with nuances of course, in the following realms: the human sufferings that open us to divine grace, imitatio Christi where the human person is transformed into an alter christus, and single-mindedness in the journey. The author articulates well that both of them present a genuine theology, being faithful to Scripture, Tradition, and real concerns of the people. A similar theme is addressed by Paul Fernandes in the following article, “The Ascent of the Soul in the Confessions of Saint Augustine.” The spiritual journey of the soul to God is explained from the personal life story of Augustine, as narrated in his Confessions. The author insightfully remarks that Augustine reflects each one of us in our journey to God. The Confessions offer a humble and sincere portrayal of the human soul before its Creator who in his mercy helps the seeking soul to reach him. We are called to be with God, know him and love him. Each soul must die in the love of divine fire in order to live the new life in God. Scaria Kanniyakonil offers the readers an interesting study in “A Comparative Study of the Theology of Marriage in the Writings of Augustine and in the East Syrian Tradition.” A chief difference between the two traditions lies in the aim of the conjugal act: while Augustine’s focus is on procreation, and even disapproves of the conjugal act in the absence of procreation, the East Syrian, Syro-Malabar tradition focuses on the communion of the couples which better reflects the Trinitarian and

INTRODUCTION

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Eucharistic communion. On the other hand, both Augustine and the East Syrian, Syro-Malabar traditions together focus on the friendship of couples as a precious good of marriage, inseparable from the sacrament. The author observes that both Eastern and Western traditions need not be seen in mutual exclusion but in complementarity in our reflections on the procreative dimension of marriage, mutual love, unity, indissolubility, communion of the couples etc. Part II: The Second Vatican Council and the Ongoing Renewal In the first article in this section, Mathai Kadavil makes a clear reflection on “Post-Conciliar Trends in Indian Ecclesiology.” He makes a detailed overview of the ecclesiological trends in India after Vatican II. The Council, in which Indian fathers played an important role in the formation of the pastoral documents, became a defining moment for Indian theologians to come up with an Indian ecclesiology. The author pertinently observes that in post-conciliar ecclesiology, the aspect of mystery, the multi religious contexts and the hard socio-political realities of India, the collaboration and communion of the individual churches in the catholic communion as well as with the sister churches in India are important topics. The next article, by Henry Jose Kodikuthiyil, is entitled “Karl Rahner’s Contribution to Vatican II and Its Impact on Post-Conciliar Theology: An Appraisal.” Karl Rahner’s unique role in shaping post-conciliar Catholic theology is reflected on by the author here. Rahner wanted the language of the Council to be positive and pastoral, not condemnatory and isolationist. His insights into the salvific value of other religions and his optimistic reflections on God’s universal plan of salvation are still very relevant. His balancing between Christ’s unique role in the divine work of salvation and every human person being open to the divine supernatural grace given through Christ has been largely well received in post-conciliar theology. Bilju Vazhappilly writes on “Inculturation in the Formation of Liturgical Texts of the Syro-Malabar Church since Vatican II.” After a glimpse of the position of the Catholic Church on inculturation, based on conciliar and post-conciliar documents, the author gives a clear overview of the efforts towards inculturation in the official liturgical forms used by the Syro-Malabar Church. Thereafter, he skilfully discusses how the formation of new liturgical texts happens “by translation, restoration and revision” and argues that a symbiosis between faith and culture is needed

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for a true liturgical inculturation in the Syro-Malabar Church. A proper cultural discernment is urgently needed for a meaningful liturgical reform. Maryann Madhavathu’s article is entitled “Plenam, consciam atque actuosam (SC 󰀁󰀄): A Study of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy of the Hours in the Light of the Second Vatican Council.” The author reflects on the implementation of the liturgical renewal at Vatican II, especially in view of promoting the active participation of the entire people of God in the Liturgy of the Hours. The author correctly notes that a complete, conscious, and active participation occurs only when liturgy is experienced as “an epiphany of ecclesial communion” and that this communitarian dimension is an essential feature of the Liturgy of the Hours – something neglected in the liturgical renewal of the Syro-Malabar Church. The author is hopeful that the public prayer of the Church can have an inherent power for nurturing the unity within the Church and communion between humanity and the cosmos. Saji Mathew Kanayankal writes on “Human Ecology from Vatican II to Laudato si’.” In this article, the author clearly points out that the plea for a human ecology in Laudato si’ is in line with the theological anthropology of Gaudium et spes. Being open to the ideals of human ecology, the Catholic Social Teaching upheld the dignity of human beings, at the same time without diminishing the importance of the ecological crisis. In the vision of Pope Francis, there is a strong relationship between the deterioration of nature and the culture that shapes human coexistence. One should respect one’s fellow human beings, only then can one respect the creatures of the earth. An ‘integral ecology’ is needed for an authentic understanding of the human condition, rather than only looking at it through the prisms of science, technology, and the market. The next article is by Maria John Costa on “Vatican II: Interfacing the Theology of the Person and the Social Concern for the Family.” The author makes a pertinent reflection on the rediscovery of the ideal of human dignity by the Council. The underlying principle of imago Dei calls for the inviolable human dignity of all persons, irrespective of any distinctions of color, sex, religion, class etc. The inseparable link of human dignity and the human rights of the family was a clear theme of Catholic Social Teaching in post-conciliar times. The church continues to address the questions of the annihilation of human dignity and the rights of the family, so prevalent in today’s world of market and competition. Patricia H. Santos reflects on “Vatican II: An Impetus for Women in India to Claim Their Voice and a Rightful Place in the Church.” The author makes a remarkable study on the role of women in the Church,

INTRODUCTION

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starting with the women auditors in the Council hall. The various movements in India that addressed women’s equal rights and participation in Church and society are studied, especially the gender policy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, published in 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉. The author calls for more changes, especially in the patriarchal mindset and power dynamics that still keep women in marginal places in Church and society. Reform should envisage the leadership role of women in India and fight against abuses. Our final article in this section is by Thomas Padiyath who writes on “A Rediscovery of the Gospel and Discipleship: New Evangelization in the Vision of Pope Francis.” In this article, the author reflects on the call for a new evangelization given by Pope Francis, especially in his magna carta Evangelii gaudium. The Pope calls all the disciples of Christ for a pastoral conversion. It is an invitation for a personal and committed self-renewal which would very much help to revise the identity, lifestyle and ecclesial mission of discipleship. The author has developed a ‘Decalogue’ for Christian discipleship from the writings of Pope Francis, chiefly based on Evangelii gaudium. Part III: Creative Conversation between Theology and Practice The third part of the book almost exclusively consists of papers presented at the 󰀁󰀀th biennial conference of ILAAM 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀 (Jan 󰀁󰀇-󰀁󰀉) held at the Animation Centre of the diocese of Kottar on The Conversation between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice. It is generally accepted that pastoral situations make theological formulations necessary and that the dogmas of the Church serve as signposts in shepherding the Church. The equilibrium between dogma and praxis was and continues to be an important task of theology. It was always a challenge to keep this equilibrium between the scholastic approach of precise definitions and formulations of dogma from an academic milieu and theologizing with a pastoral anthropological turn in the post-Vatican era. The latter aspect is accentuated recently with the rise of the pastoral magisterium propounded by Pope Francis. Mathew Illathuparampil’s “Teacher and Shepherd in Conversation: The Creative Interface between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Concerns” gives a clear overview of the creative tensions between theology and pastoral practice from the time of the Apostolic Church till today. He calls our attention to the ‘Franciscan church’, where one often notes

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a dissonance between doctrinal perfection and pastoral sympathy. In order to overcome this impasse, he stresses the need for an in-depth study on the dynamics of the relation between systematic theology and pastoral practice. The approach of Pope Francis is to place systematic theology and pastoral practice in mutual critical tension, so that both become more creative and mutually enriching. Furthermore, the author calls for a progressive conversation between systematic theology and pastoral demands, as an integral way of doing theology as well as an ineluctable way of offering pastoral service. Bishop Joseph Pamplany poignantly reflects on the crux of the problem of the conversation between dogma and praxis by looking at the root meaning of magisterium from a biblical perspective. His article “The Judeo-Christian Foundations of the Pastoral Magisterium” starts with the recent ‘tensions’ with regard to magisterial teaching from the dogmatic and pastoral perspectives. He justifies the legitimacy of Pope Francis’ proposal to engage in pastoral magisterium and argues that there is strong evidence for this in both the Old and New Testament and in the Patristic tradition. Moreover, he argues that the right use of pastoral magisterium will strengthen the Church to grow in harmony. Jobi Patteruparampil’s study, “Patristic Perspectives on the Dynamics between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice,” introduces the teaching of the Church Fathers on dogma from a pastoral perspective. He underscores the importance of the socio-cultural background of the Fathers in understanding the formulation of dogmas and creeds of the early Church. In his opinion, the creative tension seen in the writings of the Fathers in articulating and defending the Christian faith against the critiques of Christianity should serve as a model for us in transmitting the Christian faith from generation to generation. Alex Kalathikattil’s study, “The Sacrament of Reconciliation: Lessons from History and Prospects for the Future,” though not part of the seminar, serves as a good model of transforming the tension between dogma and praxis. The history of the sacrament of reconciliation that was celebrated down through the centuries shows the steady progress in both the theology and the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation in Christian life. He has beautifully illustrated how the Church has adapted her practices, or rather the practices have evolved in dialogue with the changing circumstances of the world. Furthermore, he argues that our effort for renewal must take cognizance of this interaction between faith and culture. Bishop Tony Neelankavil makes an insightful study on how to converse theology in the pastoral situations, through his article entitled “The

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PAROC Model: An Experiment in Interfacing Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice.” The pastoral leadership needs to practice the process of synodality where all the faithful, including the hierarchy and the laity are companions on the journey. The PAROC model, based on the research conducted at Marymatha Major Seminary Trichur, is a method of participatory pastoral leadership. It seeks the help of tools from social sciences, especially sociology. The success of this innovative model relies very much on the transformation of clergy, religious, laity, and the pastoral leadership of the Church. The ongoing dialogue between the ecclesial leadership and the faithful is vital in the evolution of this model in stimulating the growth and renewal of the Church. Johan De Tavernier’s “Laudato si’: The Eco-Theology and Eco-Praxis of Pope Francis” is a systematic study of Laudato si’ placing it in continuum with the previous magisterial teachings on ecology. It deals with the theological traditions and contexts that have possibly influenced the drafting of the encyclical. Interestingly, De Tavernier also notes that Pope Francis has quoted seventeen local or regional bishops’ conferences which is a good example of developing dogma in dialogue with the local Churches. The author notes that the encyclical flows from the heart of Pope Francis and advocates an ‘integral ecology’ based on the intrinsic link between (in)justice and ecology. Kurian Kachappilly’s “A Call to Citizenship for the Common Good” is an attempt to make a theological response to the Citizenship Amendment Act of India 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. He exposes the notion ‘common good’ from philosophical as well as theological perspectives. Relying on Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Heidegger, the author calls for a better understanding of true citizenship. He has also analyzed the gradual development of the theme in the social teaching of the Church beginning with Rerum novarum (󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀁). Actualizing the well-articulated theory of the common good is the task of theologians and a ‘radical conversion’ is inevitable to overcome the hurdles. The editors are very thankful for the editorial help offered by Dr. Viorel Coman, Rita Corstjens and Prof. Dr. Leo Kenis, for the highly appreciated linguistic revisions by doctoral student Sarah Whitear, and for the willingness of Prof. Anthony Dupont to include this volume into the Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia series. While we wish that Professor Mathijs Lamberigts may continue to serve the Church, his Alma Mater, and the wider academic community in the coming years, following his example, we pledge to theologize relevantly and work committedly for the renewal of Church and society.

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Prof. Dr. Mathijs Lamberigts, the then dean with the participants of the ninth ILAAM Conference held from 󰀆 to 󰀈 February, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈 at Niveditha, Aluva, India.

Patristic Tradition

An Interactive Map of the Human Will Conversing on Grace and Free Choice with Augustine and Others as Interlocutors Martin Sebastian Kallungal The call each Christian has received is a pure gift from God, and in that sense, every Christian is already a graced person. Yet, Christians sin! Even very learned and responsible leaders in the Christian world seem to remain in sin for long periods of time. Why do Christians sin? Is it not a pertinent question anymore? Given the specially graced status of Christians, sin, understood as falling short of grace, is a very important category in Christian thought. No self-conscious Christian can ignore the question of sin. Right from the New Testament times, Christian thinkers have been addressing the question of sin in relation to law, grace, and human will. In the Letter to the Romans, we see St. Paul standing stunned at the perception of an inner conflict in him: “For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate” (Rm 󰀇:󰀁󰀅).󰀁 Soon, he comes to the sad realization that sin dwells in him (Rm 󰀇:󰀂󰀀). Augustine was also terribly shocked to see a similar inner conflict, which he qualified as “monstrous” in his early years.󰀂 Augustine discovered the powerlessness of his will to perform an action which he truly knew was the right action to be performed.󰀃 This self-discovery happened soon after a casual conversation with Ponticianus who visited Augustine and his friend Alpius while they were living in Milan. Unlike Paul, Augustine was not formally a Christian when this self-discovery happened, 󰀁

 All biblical citations are from the New English Translation (NET).  Augustine, Confessions 󰀈.󰀉, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁), 󰀂󰀁. 󰀃  Augustine is concerned about the question of the committal of evil as well as the ability to do good. In this article, I am focusing on the role of human will in doing good. For an excellent treatment of the theme of transgression, see, Bart van Egmond and Anthony Dupont, “Augustine’s Use of the Concept of Praeuaricatio: A Case Study in the Recent Debate on Continuity in Augustine’s Doctrine of Grace,” Sacris Erudiri 󰀅󰀁, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀁󰀉󰀅-󰀂󰀁󰀃, available at https://doi.org/󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀄󰀈󰀄/J.SE.󰀁.󰀁󰀀󰀃󰀁󰀇󰀃 [accessed on August 󰀂󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀂

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notwithstanding the fact that he had already begun to frequent the Church whenever he had time. In addition, by that time, he also knew that he was tightly bound by sexual desires and that he desired to be chaste. Ponticianus narrated the stories of the sudden conversion of Antony of Egypt and two royal officials in Italy. Augustine was astonished to note the unwavering decision of these three men to lead a monastic life the very moment they felt attracted to it by inner call from Christ. Traumatized by a comparative consideration of his personal story full of inner conflicts with the story of the three young men who readily joined the monastery with mysterious easiness, Augustine cried to his companion Alypius: “What is wrong with us? What is this that you have heard? Uneducated people are rising up and capturing heaven (Mt 󰀁󰀁:󰀁󰀂), and we with our high culture without any heart – see where we roll in the mud of flesh and blood.”󰀄 As we can see, in both these cases, the source of conflict is between the faculty of knowing and the faculty of willing. One might, then, ask: does the failure in doing right things come from a failure in understanding or failure in willing? Put differently, where does sin lie: in intellect or in will? A sustained examination of the inner life, made in light of Paul’s text on law and sin in the seventh chapter of the Letter to the Romans, led Augustine to identify the limit of knowledge and the decisive role of free will in human actions. Paul’s epistles, especially his Letter to the Romans, have a very significant place in the life and thought of Augustine.󰀅 In the history of theology, as Alister E. McGrath rightly states, “so forceful was Augustine’s defense of grace that he later became known as ‘the doctor of grace’ (doctor gratiae).”󰀆 Augustine’s theology of grace, which emphasized the primacy and priority of grace over the human will to act, is widely discussed in relation to Pelagius’s controversial views on human will’s self-sufficiency.󰀇 This has, however, eclipsed an important  Augustine, Confessions 󰀈.󰀈.󰀁󰀉.  The inspired words that led to Augustine’s immediate conversion were Rm 󰀁󰀃:󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀄, and the preliminary language and conceptual framework of Augustine’s theology of grace and free will, which, of course, were uniquely shaped by Augustine’s own experience of sudden conversion in the garden of Milan, are evidently Pauline. See, Judith Chelius Stark, “The Pauline Influence on Augustine’s Notion of the Will,” Vigiliae Christianae 󰀄󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉): 󰀃󰀄󰀅-󰀃󰀆󰀁. 󰀆  Alister E. McGrath, Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought, second edition (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀇󰀃. 󰀇  Anthony Dupont and Giulio Malavasi, “The Question of the Impact of Divine Grace in the Pelagian Controversy: Human posse, uelle et esse according to Pelagius, Jerome, and Augustine,” Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique 󰀁󰀁󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀅󰀃󰀉-󰀅󰀆󰀈, available https://www.brepols online.net/doi/󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀄󰀈󰀄/J.RHE.󰀅.󰀁󰀁󰀄󰀄󰀈󰀃 [accessed on August 󰀂󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀄 󰀅

AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE HUMAN WILL

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aspect of Augustine’s theology of grace: the contributive role of will in the realization of grace. Grace is given, but in its reception, human will has an irreplaceable role to play. In order to bring out this aspect of theology, one has to examine Augustine’s answers to Simplicianus’ questions about some passages in Paul’s epistles, which he also takes up further in the Confessions.

󰀁. The Power and Powerlessness of Human Will In contrast to his philosophical interpretations of Christianity during his early life in Milan, in To Simplicianus he offers clear and distinct theological interpretations of the Christian life. In this work, Augustine addresses the question of the freedom of human will; but, in the course of the search he answers it with the grace of God. As he said elsewhere, he “labored in defense of the free choice of the human will; but the grace of God conquered.”󰀈 This does not mean that will has nothing whatsoever to do; rather it says that the distinct contributive role of will does not in any way deny the priority and necessity of grace. In order to understand Augustine’s theological arguments for the priority of grace over human willpower in choosing to act rightly, we need to have a clear picture of his understanding of the historical situation of humankind. In his reading, there are four stages in human life: (i) ante legem, which refers to the human condition before the law is known; (ii) sub lege, ante gratiam, which refers to the human condition in which one knows the law and yet remains without the grace that empowers one to observe the law; (iii) sub gratia, which refers to the human condition where one is empowered by grace to perform good works; and, (iv) post mortem, which refers to the human condition after death where one experiences no tension between good and evil.󰀉 The human condition narrated by Paul in Rm 󰀇:󰀇-󰀂󰀅 is that of sub lege, ante gratiam. The discrepancy one experiences between one’s will and one’s actions – in Paul’s own words, “For I do not do the good I want” (Rm 󰀇:󰀁󰀉) – occurs because one knows what the law demands and yet one does not feel 󰀈  Augustine, The Retractions, trans. M. Inez Bogan, Fathers of the Church 󰀆󰀀 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈), 󰀁󰀂󰀀. 󰀉  Augustine, Expositio ad Romanos, in Patrologia Latina 󰀃󰀅, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne (Paris: Petit-Montrouge, 󰀁󰀈󰀄󰀁, repr. 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄), 󰀂󰀀󰀆󰀅. Cited in Stark, “The Pauline Influence on Augustine’s Notion of the Will,” 󰀃󰀄󰀆-󰀃󰀄󰀇.

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empowered by grace to do it. Using the Pauline categories of spiritual and carnal, Augustine explains that one fails to fulfill the law, which one truly knows to be spiritual, because one continues to be carnal.󰀁󰀀 What is driving a person to do what the law forbids even while the person approves what the law demands? According to Paul, the sin that lives in our flesh is the cause of this pitiable situation. Augustine goes a step further to explain the meaning of sin that lives in our flesh, and states that sin in this text refers to concupiscence (cupiditas). In order to make this point clear Augustine clarifies the generic term sin in reference to the original sin of the first parents (peccatum originale) and the repeated actual sins of the individual (peccatum frequentatum). While the former has brought about hereditary mortality to all human beings, the latter intensifies the inclination to pleasures each time one commits a sin.󰀁󰀁 These two things work as nature and habit, and together constitute, what Augustine calls, concupiscence (cupiditas).󰀁󰀂 Now, what happens to will when concupiscence becomes active? As Paul clearly says, the willing is still in the capacity of the individual (Rm 󰀇:󰀁󰀈) despite the evil inclinations that are active inside the individual. Although the individual can continue to will, ever since concupiscence began to coexist with will, any act of willing is destined to end up futile because will is deprived of the power to execute what it wills. In order to clarify this, Augustine makes an innovative distinction between the will that chooses and the will that fails to realize what it chooses.󰀁󰀃 So long as one is infected by concupiscence, willing directed towards itself is not a fruitful exercise. On the other hand, like a person thrown headlong has no difficulty in hitting the bottom, a person in the second stage (sub lege, ante gratiam) experiences an easiness in doing the evil he/she hates. The point Augustine is driving home is that a person who is under the law and, not yet under grace cannot rely on himself/herself for salvation. Grace alone can save such persons. What does grace do in such people? That is the point of inquiry in the next section. 󰀁󰀀  Augustine, Ad Simplicianum Quaest. I,󰀇. Cited and discussed in Stark, “The Pauline Influence on Augustine’s Notion of the Will,” 󰀃󰀄󰀇-󰀃󰀄󰀈. 󰀁󰀁  Not all scholars of Augustine accept this view on original sin. See Lenka Karfíková, Grace and the Will according to Augustine, trans. Markéta Janebová (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀄󰀄󰀃. 󰀁󰀂  Augustine, Ad Simplicianum Quaest. I,󰀁,󰀁󰀀. Cited in Karfíková, Grace and the Will according to Augustine, 󰀈󰀈-󰀈󰀉. 󰀁󰀃  Stark, “The Pauline Influence on Augustine’s Notion of the Will,” 󰀃󰀅󰀀.

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󰀂. The Grace that Empowers Will In the laborious process of writing the Confessions, Augustine made a good effort, first, to recall all interior movements of his heart as well as all external events related to his conversion, and, second, to put them all into writing in a manner convincing, at least, to his own erudite mind. Thanks to this exercise, Confessions is capable of giving its sympathetic readers an opportunity to know what happens to the will of a person sub lege, ante gratiam, and what the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is able to achieve in the soul of a helpless, fallen person who relies on him. In the following, we will briefly bring out the dynamics of a will that is infected by concupiscence and a will that is healed by grace. Prompted by concupiscence, the will chooses to commit one or another evil act; and when repeated, a habit is formed. The will has, thus, the capacity not only to choose to act but also to form a habit, which in the course of time will become a necessity if not resisted. Will, habit, and necessity together create, what Augustine calls, a chain of habit. When one or another chain of habit binds a person, that person will be led by a new perverse will in respect to his/her unwholesome attachment. From this moment, the new perverse will will compete with the old spiritual will. For instance, a lustful person will experience a constant inner conflict between spiritual aspirations and sensual desires. What will happen when the self relates with these two wills in conflict? Normally, the self identifies with the spiritual will it approves and retreats from the perverse will it disapproves. But, since a habit of doing evil has already been formed by the perverse will, the force of habit will drag the self to its side frequently. Thus, fallenness becomes an aspect of the nature of the self; or to use a modern psychological terminology, one becomes an addict. Ironically, Augustine makes the most momentous discovery when he finds himself deep at the bottom of his fallenness. Having been informed about the conflict between the old spiritual will and the new perverse will, Augustine, now, narrows down the focus of his attention to the way the will works with itself as well as with the body. With great surprise, he notices that the body readily obeys whatever the will commands while the will resists when the will commands to itself. This observation leads him to discover that the capacity of the human will to resist its own command when directed to itself is the reason why the perverse will persists. Put simply, will cannot turn on itself and command it to function otherwise than its usual bad course. This implies that a sinner cannot save himself/herself by an act of will (free choice). One might will to

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perform one or another religious act; but, no amount of religious act will do any good if the will of the sinner remains unchanged. Although Augustine used to qualify this situation as “monstrous,” in his Confessions, he recognizes this as “a morbid condition of the mind” whereby one becomes unable to will whole-heartedly: The mind commands the hand to move, and it is so easy that one hardly distinguishes the order from its execution. Yet mind is mind, and hand is body. The mind orders the mind to will. The recipient of the order is itself, yet it does not perform it. What causes this monstrosity and why does this happen? Mind commands, I say, that it should will, and would not give the command if it did not will, yet does not perform what it commands. The willing is not wholehearted, so the command is not wholehearted. The strength of the command lies in the strength of will, and the degree to which the command is not performed lies in the degree to which the will is not engaged. For it is the will that commands the will to exist, and it commands not another will but itself. So the will that commands is incomplete, and therefore what it commands does not happen. If it were complete, it would not need to command the will to exist, since it would exist already. Therefore there is no monstrous split between willing and not willing. We are dealing with a morbid condition of the mind which, when it is lifted up by the truth, does not unreservedly rise to it but is weighed down by habit. So there are two wills. Neither of them is complete, and what is present in the one is lacking to the other.󰀁󰀄

That there are two wills does not mean “that there are two minds with two distinct natures, one good, the other bad”;󰀁󰀅 rather it means that it is the same mind which is willing and unwilling at the same time. In Augustine’s own words: “So also when the delight of eternity draws us upwards and the pleasure of temporal good holds us down, the identical soul is not wholehearted in its desire for one or the other. It is torn apart in a painful condition, as long as it prefers the eternal because of its truth but does not discard the temporal because of familiarity.”󰀁󰀆 However, even while held back by the old loves and put down by the overwhelming force of habits, Augustine feels attracted by the Lady Continence, who shows him numerous examples of chaste men and women, entices him in an honourable manner, and encourages him to stop relying on himself and make a leap towards God: Are you incapable of doing what these men and women have done? Do you think them capable of achieving this by their own resources  Augustine, Confessions 󰀈.󰀉.󰀂󰀁.  Ibid., 󰀂󰀂. 󰀁󰀆  Ibid., 󰀂󰀄. 󰀁󰀄 󰀁󰀅

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and not by the Lord their God? Their Lord God gave me to them. Why are you relying on yourself, only to find yourself unreliable? Cast your-self upon him, do not be afraid. He will not withdraw himself so that you fall. Make the leap without anxiety; he will catch you and heal you.󰀁󰀇

Moved by such divine enticement, Augustine whole-heartedly desired for a change, perhaps, for the first time in his life: “Why not an end to my impure life in this very hour?”󰀁󰀈 Such were the debates in Augustine’s heart; and the rest is history: (i) he “heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl; (ii) he interpreted the chanting “Pick up and read, pick up and read” as a “divine command” to him to open the Bible and read the first chapter he might find; (iii) he “opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: ‘Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts’ (Rm 󰀁󰀃:󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀄);” and (iv) “At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into [his] heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled.”󰀁󰀉 In summary: (i) Sin that lives in human beings (both the original sin as well as actual sins) deprives them of their innate capacity for doing good; at best, human will can only recognize the good, beautiful and sublime as worth pursuing. (ii) Due to sin a new perverse will emerges, with which the old good will has to fight all the time. (iii) Since the will is spilt into two with the entry of sin, a person in sin is incapable of gathering one’s whole will in commanding one’s own will. For this reason, a sinner is doomed to suffer the pain and humiliation of having a will that is resisted by itself. Nevertheless, a sinner’s will is capable of commanding the body and making it obey, though it is of no good in effecting any change in the vicious will. (iv) However, a fallen person’s will has the capacity to desire and turn towards a transcendent domain which exists beyond the biological, psychological and rational levels of his/her existence. (v) The transcendent reality, namely God, offers a gracious invitation to turn towards Him, and the will that accepts the call from God is freed from the chain of habit and empowered to enjoy the unadulterated freedom of choice. Thus, grace reinstates its willing recipients as free and responsible agents.  Augustine, Confessions 󰀈.󰀉.󰀂󰀇.  Ibid., 󰀂󰀈. 󰀁󰀉  Ibid., 󰀂󰀉. 󰀁󰀇 󰀁󰀈

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󰀃. A Methodological Interlude When a sinner turns towards God, as Paul and Augustine did, his/her will is making a turn which is unfamiliar to it. The will under the regime of sin cannot even imagine such a turn on its own, for it is in a quarrel with the will of God. This is why a totally transcendent element is found present in all genuine conversions. We call that element, grace. The first thing an aspirant of conversion has to do is to let it happen, which involves, primarily, a gracious bestowal of power from the part of God, and subsequently, a very distinct act of will from the part of the aspirant. In other words, one has to willfully allow God’s will to prevail in one’s inner life. Human cooperation is an essential aspect in the effectuation of grace because, as Pope Francis says, “God’s gifts are interactive.”󰀂󰀀 Our next effort is to understand the interactive nature of the gift of grace with special reference to the distinct role of human will in it. As we have seen previously, inclination to evil, which is initiated by the original sin and intensified by each actual sin, is the ultimate explanation Paul and Augustine give for the helplessness of the will of a fallen person. Some might eschew ‘sin’ as a Christian speculative postulate that lacks any real referent. But, this does not solve the problem of will’s powerlessness. Paul and Augustine neither explained sin away by locating it in the realm of knowing nor underestimated the immense negative power of sin, which they experienced in their lives. On the other hand, both of them admittedly received the grace to turn from their sin-induced lifeways towards the saving power of God in Jesus Christ. Their hearts found something more attractive and compelling in grace than in the lure of sin. The will does not turn towards God as a result of any logical reasoning; it is a free choice the will makes between truths, goods, beauties, or in one word, loves. Up until the moment of the definitive turning, the person sub lege, ante gratiam will be struggling unsuccessfully to hold fast to truth, to do good, and to make everything beautiful. But, grace opens the eyes of one’s heart to see where all truth, good, and beauty take birth. At this insight, the will turns from all loves, goods, and beauties towards the one who is love, all-good, and most beautiful. Once this saving 󰀂󰀀  Pope Francis, Christus vivit: Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, available at http:// www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_ esortazione-ap_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀃󰀂󰀅_christus-vivit.html [accessed on July 󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀], no. 󰀂󰀈󰀉: “God’s gifts are interactive; to enjoy them we have to be ready to take risks. Yet the demands they make are not an obligation imposed from without, but an incentive to let that gift grow and develop, and then become a gift for others.”

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exercise is performed by the will, which may be expressed variously, change happens suddenly. Although the change happens suddenly, the choice the will makes when it is empowered by grace is in concurrence and continuity with the heart’s choices. This calls for a shift of the primary focus of our attention from reasons of the mind to desires of the heart. The will is moved because the heart is attracted. Evidence of God, be it even his real physical presence, cannot always assure the movement of heart and will because God so respects human freedom of choice that he does not take a decision for human beings. In brief, human beings cannot order grace. Grace is a gratuitous gift from God, and yet, as said earlier, it is an interactive gift. The interactive nature of grace allows us to look for the distinctly human side of the interaction. This is not in any way an attempt to repeat the pagan and Pelagian mistakes of asserting human self-sufficiency. Although, for the time being, we are talking about the part played by the humans at the receiving end of God’s self-giving, we are not positing humans against God who gives the grace that is both sufficient and efficient. We are only redirecting the focus of grace-and-will-talk from the level of reasons of the mind to the level of desires of the heart. Instead of offering more justificatory methodological accounts, let us see how a person can prepare oneself for a life in grace (sub gratia) by contributing one’s share in the transformation of desires. Conversations initiated in the following may not seem to comply with the strict parameters of the exclusivist dogmatic rationality of traditional theology of grace; but rather pastoral and practical theological institutions will guide the discussion.

󰀄. Renewal of Will through Refinement of Desires To say that one acts as one desires and that one acts as a desire moves one to act are not same.󰀂󰀁 The role of will in the two instances is different. The former refers to acting out of attachment while the latter refers to thoughtful actions. In this section, we are concerned more about desires that work in relation to will than desires that are hardly connected to will. The desires that move humans to act may be conveniently grouped 󰀂󰀁  I am indebted to Brian Looper for this distinction, which he makes at the very outset of his article, “Free Will and Desire,” in Erkenntnis (forthcoming). Published online on February 󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, available at https://link.springer.com/article/󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀀󰀀󰀇/s󰀁󰀀󰀆󰀇󰀀󰀀󰀁󰀈-󰀀󰀀󰀈󰀀-y [accessed on July 󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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into four classes: (i) desires related to bodily possibilities for enjoyment or avoidance of danger, (ii) desires for asserting one’s ego over others, (iii) desires for making selfless contributions to others, (iv) desires that are purely spiritual. These desires are powered by respective capabilities inherent in every human being, namely, (i) internal and external sensibility, (ii) self-consciousness, (iii) self-transcendence, and (iv) spiritual awareness about a transcendent reality.󰀂󰀂 Among these desires, the fourth one in which God as a transcendent reality can be its object, is what concerns us in our grace-and-will-talk about moving from the second stage of human condition, namely, sub lege, ante gratiam, to the third stage, namely, sub gratia. A person who aspires for a life in grace has to desire, or at least, desire to desire, closeness with God, of whose call one is intuitively aware. Such an act of desiring must involve not merely an operation of mind but more importantly a movement of heart and will.󰀂󰀃 A sinner’s positive response to God’s interior invitation does not create grace; rather, thanks to one’s yearning and willing to enter into a relationship with God, grace becomes explicit in one’s life in various ways. Recall how Augustine counts the unexpected visitation from Ponticianus, the casual narration of the conversion stories of Antony of Egypt and two young Italian officials, the accidental prompting from a child nearby to take and read, the spiritual inspiration to read from the Letter to the Romans, etc., as favors from God. Indeed, as Spitzer puts it succinctly: “Grace is interactive because God comes to us in our failings and needs, and also in our desires and strengths. God knows what we need, respects our freedom, works through both strength and suffering, integrates our needs with those of others, and is capable of real surprises.”󰀂󰀄 If this is one of the ways how grace works, then, “we must concentrate on being open to the inspiration of God more than following a set of prescriptions or techniques.”󰀂󰀅 In order to practice such openness, it is sufficient to lead a normal spiritual life that befits, to use 󰀂󰀂  Robert J. Spitzer, Finding True Happiness: Satisfying our Restless Hearts (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), 󰀂󰀇. In Spitzer’s own words: “󰀁. Desires connected with biological (instinctual) opportunities and dangers. 󰀂. Ego-comparative desires. 󰀃. Contributiveempathetic desires. 󰀄. Transcendental-spiritual desires. These four kinds of desire or happiness come from the following faculties (internal powers or capabilities): 󰀁. The brain and sensory faculties (giving rise to the first kind of desire); 󰀂. Self-consciousness (giving rise to the second kind of desire); 󰀃. Empathy and conscience (giving rise to the third kind of desire); 󰀄. Transcendental awareness (giving rise to the fourth kind of desire).” 󰀂󰀃  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀀. 󰀂󰀄  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀁. 󰀂󰀅  Ibid.

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Spitzer’s terms, “dialogue and journey,” which he clarifies as follows: “[A] dialogue where God is calling us and we are responding, or we are calling upon God and He is responding; a journey where we may be moving in a counterproductive direction and God is trying to tell us to change that direction. Or, we are moving in a productive direction and God is encouraging us in that direction.”󰀂󰀆 In making an open response to God’s invitation, one is actually making a little leap of faith. An interior sense of the presence of God is what inspires a sinner to take such a leap; one immediately feels that God is near, just a leap away. But, what exactly does a sinner interiorly sense? Does one sense anything more than what science and philosophy can tell us about God? Yes, it seems so. If a person, who is not moved by rational knowledge about God’s existence and omnipresence, is moved, however, by an interior sense of the presence of God, then we have reasons to think that something extra-cognitive takes place in such interior sensing. According to Spitzer, it is familiarity with the heart of God, which God alone can offer through his self-disclosure, that happens in such interior sensing.󰀂󰀇 Indeed, sensing of an empowering presence in one’s orbit of inner awareness, which is otherwise shadowed by one’s powerlessness, and the little leap of faith one makes are both powered by grace. Only in retrospect, one will be able to understand everything as grace. Before and during the event of conversion, at best, every effort may be felt as an exercise in hope; but, a will that is split in itself, as we have learned from Augustine, cannot totally command an act of hope. In that case, how, when, and where does this interior sensing happen? Perhaps, it happens indistinguishably together with one’s awareness of powerlessness and emptiness. An interior sensing of the self by the self (which is graced in a way unknown to it) and an interior sensing of the Divine are distinct, but inseparable. For, at least, two reasons, I trust that this crucial step can be taken only individually: first, the situation of sub lege, ante gratiam is a personal bondage; and second, unconditional acceptance of powerlessness and emptiness is an act of will, which has to be made by the individual. In the case of the persons sub lege (which means that they know the law they should have observed and the God who has given the law), the act of will involved in the acceptance of emptiness cannot be a movement  Spitzer, Finding True Happiness, 󰀁󰀃󰀁.  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀂-󰀁󰀃󰀃.

󰀂󰀆 󰀂󰀇

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towards some dark void. When a person sub lege accepts one’s vulnerability and emptiness, one is already in relation to one’s God. The God who has given the law is a God who creates ex nihilo and who is near to the broken-hearted. Therefore, an effort to accept the self as it is and God as savior might lead one to peace and personal deliverance. From a pastoral theological perspective, one may call the will-grace interaction that happens in people sub lege, ante gratiam a simple contemplative prayer. Simple contemplation “deepens our awareness of God’s presence and love and enables us to communicate and interrelate with the Being who has not only opened Himself to us, but has done so in unconditional love.”󰀂󰀈 In a contemplative relationship, the exchanges between our heart and God’s heart may escape our active consciousness. The things that a person, who accepts one’s vulnerability, keeps one’s deep emptiness completely open, and thus remains totally present, prays to God may not come from one’s conscious mind. Yes, as Brother Lawrence rightly said, “people would be surprised if they knew what the soul said to God sometimes.”󰀂󰀉 Conclusion As Edward T. Oakes rightly commented, “few topics in dogmatic theology can be more Hydra-headed, vexatious or indeed downright wearisome than the issue of grace.”󰀃󰀀 In this paper, we have made an attempt to shift the focus of the debate on the issue of grace and free will from the question of competition between grace and will to the possibility of interaction between the two. After examining how Augustine experienced an existential and spiritual anguish similar to that of Paul in the Letter to Romans, elaborated on the power and powerlessness of human will without any prejudice to the sufficiency and efficiency of God’s grace, and made the little step of faith that led him to the experience of conversion, we made an attempt to develop a pastoral practical theology of grace and will. Since God respects our freedom, he expects us to take a decision to receive his grace. “The Lord is near to all who cry out to him, all who cry out to him sincerely” (Ps 󰀁󰀄󰀅:󰀁󰀈).  Spitzer, Finding True Happiness, 󰀁󰀆󰀈.  Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, trans. Sr. Mary David (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀈), 󰀈󰀉. 󰀃󰀀  Edward T. Oakes, A Theology of Grace in Six Controversies (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀇. 󰀂󰀈

󰀂󰀉

The Journey of Perfection Deification as the Soul’s Final Destination in Origen’s and Augustine’s Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 Aashu Alexander Mattackal The theological insights of Origen and Augustine on the foundational aspects of Christian life markedly influenced later theologians and continue to do so. Although they lived in entirely different time periods, their shared love for Scripture and philosophical discussions contemporary to their times draws the two close together. One common doctrine in their theological system was the deification of the human person, the fruition of the soul’s journey to its divine source. In this journey, the soul passes through various stages, growing steadily, before it is perfected and deified. Origen and Augustine considered the Psalms as a mirror which reflects the progress one has made in the journey towards God.󰀁 So, their homilies on the Psalms offer an interesting avenue to further our understanding of their thinking on the spiritual life and the journey of the soul towards perfection. Quite some research on the theme of deification in Origen and Augustine has been done over the years.󰀂 However, a comparative study 󰀁  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀃: “Et videntes tamquam in speculo nosmetipsos intueamur si possumus tales esse aut si multum nobis deest aut certe iam proximi sumus, licet nondum plene assecuti sumus.” The Sources chrétiennes edition will be used for all future references from Origen’s Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉). Origène: Homélies sur les psaumes 󰀃󰀆 à 󰀃󰀈, ed. Henri Crouzel and Luc Brésard, Sources chrétiennes 󰀄󰀁󰀁 (Paris: Cerf, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅); Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀁󰀀󰀆.󰀁/CCSL Cl. 󰀀󰀂󰀈󰀃, SL 󰀄󰀀, psalmus 󰀁󰀀󰀆, par. 󰀁, linea 󰀄: “…sed populo Dei conscriptus est, et ad se agnoscendum tamquam in speculo propositus.” The edition of Dekkers and Fraipont will be used for all future references from Augustine’s Expositions on the Psalms. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, ed. E. Dekkers and J. Fraipont, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 󰀃󰀈-󰀄󰀀 (Turnhout: Brepols, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀆). 󰀂  Research on Origen’s idea of deification is rather fragmentary. Some guiding works include (in chronological order): Norman Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄; reprint 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉), 󰀁󰀄󰀀-󰀁󰀅󰀄; Peter Martens, “Divinization,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, ed. John Anthony McGuckin, The Westminster Handbooks to Christian Theology (London: Westminster John Knox Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄), 󰀉󰀁-󰀉󰀃; Mark Edwards, “Deification in the Alexandrian Tradition,” in Visions of God and Ideas on Deification in Patristic Thought, ed. Mark Edwards and Elena Ene D-Vasilescu,

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of their understanding of deification is still lacking. This paper will provide one stepping-stone towards such a comparison in that it analyses the reflections on deification in Origen’s two Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉) and Augustine’s Exposition on Psalm 󰀃󰀈. There are two reasons for the adoption of this strategy. Firstly, the homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 contain appropriate references to the idea of perfection and will offer us a clear picture of the soul’s journey as visualized by Origen and Augustine. Secondly, it will show us how the two Church Fathers developed their ideas using the same pericope.󰀃 That being so, this paper will only be a small contribution to much broader topics such as the doctrine of deification, the history of the interpretation of Psalm 󰀃󰀈, and the theological thinking of Origen and Augustine. 󰀁. The Journey to Perfection in Origen’s Homily on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉) Most of Origen’s extant works can be classified as homilies on Scripture. As a preacher, he tried relating to the lives of his audience through his sermons.󰀄 For him, the task of a homilist was to reveal the hidden mysteries of Scripture and to instruct the faithful in practical ways to achieve the union with God.󰀅 As a result, Origen’s homilies focus on the perennial journey of the soul that begins with conversion and translates to a Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World (London and New York, NY: Routledge, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇), 󰀇󰀄-󰀈󰀈; Lorenzo Perrone, “‘Et l’homme tout entier devient dieu’: La déification selon Origène à la lumière des nouvelles homélies sur les Psaumes,” Teologia y Vida 󰀅󰀈 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀁󰀈󰀇-󰀂󰀂󰀀. Scholarship on Augustine’s notion of deification is better placed with a key monograph and a few articles. In chronological order, significant studies include Gerald Bonner, “Augustine’s Concept of Deification,” Journal of Theological Studies 󰀃󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆): 󰀃󰀆󰀉-󰀃󰀈󰀆; Henry Chadwick, “Note sur la divinization chez saint Augustin,” Revue des sciences religieuses 󰀇󰀆 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂): 󰀂󰀄󰀆-󰀂󰀄󰀈; David Meconi, The One Christ: Saint Augustine’s Theology of Deification (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃); Ron Haflidson, “‘We Shall Be That Seventh Day’: Deification in Augustine,” in Deification in the Latin Patristic Tradition, ed. Jared Ortiz (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉), 󰀁󰀆󰀉-󰀁󰀈󰀉. 󰀃  It should be noted that the two theologians used different versions of Scripture. While Augustine worked with a Latin Bible, Origen used the Greek Septuagint. Furthermore, Origen’s Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉) are available only in the Latin translations of Rufinus, which makes it difficult to sketch a perfect picture of the Scriptural text used by Origen. 󰀄  Ronald E. Heine, Origen: Scholarship in the Service of the Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), 󰀁󰀇󰀃. 󰀅  Jean Daniélou, “Great Preachers. 󰀁. Origen,” trans. Montgomery Belgian, Theology 󰀅󰀄, no. 󰀃󰀆󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀁): 󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀅, at 󰀁󰀁-󰀁󰀂; Joseph T. Lienhard, “Origen as Homilist,” in Preaching in the Patristic Age: Studies in Honor of Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., ed. David G. Hunter (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉), 󰀃󰀆-󰀅󰀂, at 󰀃󰀈.

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steady progress on the path to perfection. Rufinus of Aquileia begins his translation of Origen’s Homilies on Psalms by prefacing that the homilies teach about conversion and penitence, about purification and progress.󰀆 In a sense, this is Origen’s handbook on the journey of the soul. Before analysing the Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉), we need to introduce the overall structure of the soul’s journey according to Origen. He believed that the rational soul was created in the image of God. It possesses the capacity to attain knowledge, imitate the divine Logos, achieve perfection, and be deified.󰀇 Having lost the primordial purity on account of its fall, the soul was ordained to cleanse itself and undertake a journey to return to its original state.󰀈 Torjesen notes that Origen’s journey of the soul mirrors the tripartite economy of the Trinity and summarises the entire journey into three stages: “purification, knowledge and perfection.”󰀉 Origen was convinced that the journey towards perfection begins when a person moves from their earlier sinful ways and starts growing as a child of God. Thus, purification from sin sets the journey in motion.󰀁󰀀 However, the process of spiritual growth requires knowledge about divine virtues.󰀁󰀁 It is knowledge that facilitates the journey and allows the person to reach perfection.󰀁󰀂 In this final state, God dwells in the individual and everything that one does is inspired by God.󰀁󰀃 󰀆  “…psalmi expositio tota moralis est, instituta quaedam vitae emendatioris ostendens, et nunc conversionis ac paenitentiae, nunc purgationis et profectuum semitam docet…” Origène: Homélies sur les psaumes 󰀃󰀆 à 󰀃󰀈, 󰀄󰀆. 󰀇  Antonia Tripolitis, “Return to the Divine: Salvation in the Thought of Plotinus and Origen,” in Disciplina Nostra: Essays in Memory of Robert F. Evans, ed. Donald F. Winslow, Patristic Monograph Series 󰀆 (Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉), 󰀁󰀇󰀁-󰀁󰀇󰀈, at 󰀁󰀇󰀁-󰀁󰀇󰀃. Lyman notes that, for Origen, Christians are called to strive for the moral perfection Jesus achieved through his rootedness in God. J. Rebecca Lyman, Christology and Cosmology: Models of Divine Activity in Origen, Eusebius, and Athanasius (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀇󰀆. 󰀈  Heine, Origen: Scholarship in the Service of the Church, 󰀁󰀈󰀄-󰀁󰀈󰀅; Karen Jo Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Method in Origen’s Exegesis, Patristische Texte und Studien 󰀂󰀈 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆), 󰀇󰀀-󰀁󰀀󰀇; Éric Junod, “Wodurch unterscheiden sich die Homilien des Origenes von seinen Kommentaren?,” in Predigt in der Alten Kirche, ed. E. Mühlenberg and J. van Oort (Kampen: Kok Pharos Publishing House, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀆󰀅-󰀈󰀁. 󰀉  Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure, 󰀇󰀂. 󰀁󰀀  By participating in the Holy Spirit who is the source of holiness, the soul is cleansed and sanctified. Ibid., 󰀇󰀁. The journey of perfection merely begins with cleansing. To become perfect, one has to continue doing good. Origen, C. Rom. 󰀂.󰀁󰀂.󰀂. 󰀁󰀁  Origen, Hom. Ez. 󰀁.󰀇.󰀂. Wisdom and illumination are gifts of participating in Christ. Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure, 󰀇󰀁. 󰀁󰀂  By participating in the perfection of the Father, the soul attains perfection and is deified. Ibid., 󰀇󰀁-󰀇󰀂. 󰀁󰀃  Origen, Hom. Gen. 󰀁.󰀁󰀃. In De Princ. 󰀃.󰀆.󰀃, Origen stresses that in the final state of perfection, God is all in all in the human person (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀅:󰀂󰀈). He says, “it will think

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󰀁. Scripture, Prayer, Free Will, and Purification from Sins Constant introspection of oneself has a significant place in Origen’s two Homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉). Such emphasis on introspection springs from his belief that it helps in the recollection of sins.󰀁󰀄 By being aware of one’s sinfulness, a person comes to true repentance.󰀁󰀅 Given that repentance involves self-awareness, penitent sinners recall their divine origin, regret their earlier actions and change their manner of life. Such a change is critical in the soul’s progress as Origen considered sin to be an impediment for spiritual growth.󰀁󰀆 Free from sin and truly repentant, the person receives forgiveness from God. This act of cleansing the person highlights the role of divine grace in the soul’s journey.󰀁󰀇 Accordingly, the soul’s journey begins with the process of introspection which leads to repentance, conversion, and spiritual progress.󰀁󰀈 In the Second Homily on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉), Origen indicates the role of Scripture on the journey. Firstly, meditation on Scripture constantly reminds the person of their true identity. Secondly, as an agent of purifying, God, see God, hold God; God will be the mode and measure of its every movement; and thus God will be all to it.” Moreover, the person who climbs to the peak of perfection will remain in God. Origen, C. Rom. 󰀃.󰀁󰀀.󰀃. Using Stephen, Moses, and Paul as models of perfection, Origen describes the rewards that await such a person. Like Stephen, they will see Christ in his glory; they will stand with God like Moses and will be crowned like Paul at the completion of their race. Origen, C. Rom. 󰀅.󰀈.󰀁󰀄. 󰀁󰀄  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀂: “Omne ergo quod agitur a nobis per singulas horas vel momenta, imaginem aliquam deformat: et ideo per singula scrutari debemus actus nostros et nosmetipsos probare in illo opere vel in illo sermone, utrum caelestis an terrena imago in anima nostra depingitur.” In Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀇, he suggests that recollection of sins and the subsequent prick of conscience are beneficial for the soul’s progress. 󰀁󰀅  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀇. 󰀁󰀆  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀄. In the context of one’s denial of faith during persecution, Origen posits that it is the devil who tries to impede one’s journey towards perfection by defiling the individual with thoughts that are not conducive to one’s perfection. In this context, it is through imitatio Christi that the individual can overcome such temptations. Origen, Mart. 󰀉. 󰀁󰀇  Ibid.: “Si paenitentes pro malis gestis convertamur ad Deum, suscipiens a nobis Deus conversionem nostram, absolutionem iniquitatum donat secundum mensuram conversionis.” In De Princ. 󰀃.󰀁.󰀁󰀉, Origen uses the analogy of the farmer bringing a plant to perfect maturity. Using this he suggests that although the human person needs to be active and work hard to reach perfection, eventually, it is God who brings the journey to a successful completion. In De Princ. 󰀃.󰀁.󰀁󰀂, Origen clarifies the form of divine assistance that the soul requires. The soul is in need of “gratia et misericordia dei.” However, the role of the human person is equally important since it is perfect and complete penance that allows one to offer God a pure heart, which brings about a complete abolition of one’s sins. 󰀁󰀈  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀇.

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it kindles one’s heart with the love of God and prevents them from returning to their earlier ways. Origen states, “[T]hose whose heart is kindled by the fire of the divine word will no longer endure being polluted by material or worldly dross … this is the fire which drives away the chill of sin and invites the heat of the Spirit.”󰀁󰀉 To Scripture, Origen adds prayer as a medium that inspires people to recollect their sinfulness and repent. He interprets Idithun’s (cf. 󰀁 Chr 󰀂󰀅:󰀃) prayer of tears as something that emerges from one’s innermost being (Ps 󰀃󰀈:󰀁󰀂).󰀂󰀀 Origen was convinced that such prayer reinforces belief in the final judgment and leads the person to repentance.󰀂󰀁 Within the parameters of the soul’s journey, human free will also has a consequential function. Origen notes that it is not the observance of the Law which transforms the person, but the mere fact that they have chosen to observe it. When the human person freely chooses to undertake the spiritual journey, they are already transformed into a blessed state, thereby becoming fit to journey forward.󰀂󰀂 These arguments reveal a crucial nature of the overall journey. It involves a collaboration between God and the human person. God cooperates with the repentant person who freely chooses to return to God.

󰀁󰀉  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀇. English translation, Michael Heintz, “The Pedagogy of the Soul: Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms” (PhD diss., University of Notre Dame, IN, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈), 󰀂󰀇󰀆, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. 󰀂󰀀  The usage lîdûtûn suggests that Jeduthun was the author of Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉) or that it was addressed to him. Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈), 󰀆󰀁󰀉-󰀆󰀂󰀀. Nonetheless, Origen and Augustine employ him as a literary character in order to illustrate various facets in the soul’s journey. In the homilies analysed, Idithun represents every human person who is on the pilgrimage towards God. 󰀂󰀁  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀁󰀀. 󰀂󰀂  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀃. According to Lyman, Origen has a tripartite division of the human person – spirit, soul, and body. The soul, in its middle position, uses the power of discernment to choose whether the will of the spirit or that of the flesh is to be followed. In this sense, Lyman suggests that, for Origen, it is the spirit which contains the image of God. She adds that the soul’s decision to pursue moral perfection is not merely an obligation that arises out of its discernment of the good. The soul chooses to completely immerse itself in the imitation of God because it has an intense desire to be united to him. Thus, the human person is deified by channelling their free will to fulfil this inner desire. However, Lyman also notes that in Origen’s theological system, free will was a symbol of one’s devotion to God and their progress towards the spiritual life, and so, “One does not become perfect by will alone; divinization consists not in habit, but rather will and love directed toward God.” Lyman, Christology and Cosmology, 󰀆󰀂-󰀆󰀃; 󰀆󰀇.

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󰀂. Progression through Levels of Suffering The journey towards God becomes progressively onerous as the path is filled with sufferings and temptations.󰀂󰀃 Citing the Israelite journey in the desert, Origen notes that the Law was enhanced as the congregation advanced; standards and expectations were raised higher. Similarly, the soul’s journey becomes more demanding as it progresses. However, these challenges are used by God for the benefit of the person. Origen argues this by referring to the spiritual progress exhibited by Idithun as he held his peace when tempted by the wicked (Ps 󰀃󰀈:󰀁-󰀂). Just as Idithun was able to proceed further by practising virtues, one can progress on the journey by overcoming obstacles, exhibiting their true character and spiritual growth.󰀂󰀄 Origen observes that people advancing on the journey are constantly tormented by temptations. He uses the example of a wound in its healing process to illustrate the soul’s plight of trials and sufferings. Sufferings are like blows experienced by the soul even before it has been healed from those suffered earlier. When thus provoked, if the soul remains humble and calm, then, its progress is not disturbed. This mechanism of wounding, healing, and further wounding continues till the soul reaches perfection where it is no longer disturbed by similar afflictions.󰀂󰀅 What distinguishes the perfect from those who are progressing on the journey is single-mindedness. The ones still progressing suffer when tempted, while the perfect ones are so focused on their goal that they become impervious to pain.󰀂󰀆 󰀃. Perfection through the Imitation of Christ and the Father In the First Homily on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉), Origen exhorts his audience to imitate the spirit of Christ. Such imitation requires the person to bear the cost of discipleship. They will be provoked and abused by sinners, just as Christ was by Roman soldiers. However, in the midst of such hostility, the individual is called to remain humble, calm, and unresponsive to the onslaught of evil. By imitating the virtues of Christ, enduring similar temptations and exhibiting the attitude of Christ, the person 󰀂󰀃  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀁. In Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀆, he repeats that the soul will have to suffer much on the journey. 󰀂󰀄  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀆. 󰀂󰀅  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀅. In Hom. Num. 󰀂󰀀.󰀃.󰀈, Origen develops the notion of divine grace in the midst of sufferings. The Son defends the soul from its opponents and comforts it during its trials. He writes, “Ipse ‘Vnigenitus’ ipse, inquam, Filius Dei adest, ipse defendit, ipse custodit, ipse nos ad se trahit.” 󰀂󰀆  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀆.

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becomes an alter Christus. It is no longer they who live but Christ who lives in them (Gal 󰀂:󰀂󰀀). Every facet of such a person’s life is transformed by Christ and they are called just and perfect.󰀂󰀇 In the Second Homily on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 (󰀃󰀉), Origen clarifies what Scripture implies when it says that man walks in an image (Ps 󰀃󰀈:󰀇). He reminds his audience that Christ alone is the image of the invisible God (Col 󰀁:󰀁󰀅). The one who walks in the image of the heavenly man is called just. Such a person strives for the perfection of the Father (Mt 󰀅:󰀄󰀈) by appropriating his virtues.󰀂󰀈 By obtaining heavenly virtues, the human person wipes away corporeal elements in the soul. The soul is no longer fettered and it receives a refined understanding of heavenly realities.󰀂󰀉 Not only does such a person receive a share among the citizens of the heavenly city, but they come to know God face to face (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀃:󰀁󰀂).󰀃󰀀 This vision of God is the fruit of one’s perfection which can only be relished with God in heaven.󰀃󰀁

󰀂. The Notion of Perfection in Augustine’s Exposition on Psalm 󰀃󰀈 As a preacher, Augustine believed it was his responsibility to teach and persuade the congregation. For him, this was successful only when the audience was convinced about his message and started leading a moral Christian life.󰀃󰀂 Augustine composed the Enarrationes in Psalmos over a long period of his life, and therefore they offer crucial insights into his theological thinking.󰀃󰀃 The underlying theme of these sermons is the 󰀂󰀇  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀄; II.󰀈. Origen makes a similar argument to highlight the transformation of martyrs into Christ through complete obedience. Thus, the journey to perfection can be seen as a form of martyrdom. The perfect one is a martyr who dies to the ways of the world and lives in Christ alone. Origen, Mart. 󰀁󰀁. 󰀂󰀈  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀁. 󰀂󰀉  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀈. In similar vein, Augustine believed that corporeal life could never be free from sin. He argued that the corporeal body burdens the soul so that it cannot ascend. However, through faith, the human person can ascend to the contemplation of God. Anthony Dupont, Gratia in Augustine’s Sermones ad Populum during the Pelagian Controversy: Do Different Contexts Furnish Different Insights? Brill’s Series in Church History 󰀅󰀉 (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), 󰀃󰀁󰀂. 󰀃󰀀  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀁; II.󰀂. 󰀃󰀁  Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 I.󰀈. Origen believed that only God is said to truly and always exist. Hence, existence comes from God alone. As long as the human person participates in God, they have existence. Thus, the journey of the soul is a matter of existence. Origen, Hom. Ps. 󰀃󰀈 II.󰀁󰀂. 󰀃󰀂  Mark Vessey and Shelley Reid, eds., A Companion to Augustine, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀃󰀀󰀅-󰀃󰀀󰀇. 󰀃󰀃  Michael Fiedrowicz, “General Introduction,” in Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms III/󰀁󰀅, ed. John E. Rotelle (New York, NY: New York City Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), 󰀁󰀈.

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journey of the human person towards God.󰀃󰀄 Augustine exhorts his audience to keep striving towards their true dwelling place. He notes that Psalm 󰀃󰀈 speaks of Idithun’s journey towards God and invites his audience to participate in this journey.󰀃󰀅 Consequently, Augustine’s Exposition of Psalm 󰀃󰀈 becomes a personal story of the congregation’s journey towards God. At this juncture, it becomes relevant to introduce Augustine’s general thinking about the soul’s journey. Gerald Bonner’s study reveals that Augustine had two key notions about human deification – it is sonship through adoption and participation in God through the human economy of Christ.󰀃󰀆 Ron Haflidson believes that, for Augustine, participation in God means partaking of the eternal Sabbath rest as experienced by the holy ones in heaven.󰀃󰀇 As far as what pertains to our concern here, the analysis of De Quantitate Animae by Roland Teske and Anthony Dupont are most significant. Their inquiries reveal seven steps in Augustine’s ascent of the soul, of which the final four get right to the heart of the issue. Augustine believed that in the fourth stage, the soul is gripped by the fear of death and starts cleansing itself from sin. In the following stage, free from impurity, the soul is filled with joy. Next, it starts moving towards God and is able to contemplate the truth. In the seventh and final stage, the soul is welcomed into its true dwelling place.󰀃󰀈 Here, the soul transcends itself and enters into a union with God, whilst retaining its unique identity. Augustine stresses that throughout this pilgrimage, the soul is aided by divine grace, the example of Christ and the teachings of the Church.󰀃󰀉  Vessey and Reid, eds., A Companion to Augustine, 󰀃󰀀󰀇-󰀃󰀀󰀈.  McLarney notes that a similar technique is used by Augustine in the sermons on the Psalms of Ascent. He engages with the congregation in such a way that they become active participants with the holy ones in their ascent towards God. Gerard McLarney, St. Augustine’s Interpretation of the Psalms of Ascent (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀁󰀂󰀃. 󰀃󰀆  Bonner, “Augustine’s Concept of Deification,” 󰀃󰀈󰀁-󰀃󰀈󰀂. 󰀃󰀇  Haflidson, “We Shall Be That Seventh Day,” 󰀁󰀆󰀉-󰀁󰀈󰀉. 󰀃󰀈  Roland J. Teske, “St. Augustine and the Vision of God,” Augustine of Hippo: Philosopher, Exegete and Theologian, ed. Roland J. Teske, Marquette Studies in Philosophy 󰀆󰀆 (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉), 󰀁󰀄󰀆-󰀁󰀄󰀈; Anthony Dupont, “Mystical Experiences and Mystical Theology in Augustine of Hippo? A Reconsideration of the Sources (conf. 󰀉, an. quant. 󰀃󰀃, doctr. chr. 󰀂),” Medieval Mystical Theology 󰀂󰀇, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀃󰀆-󰀅󰀉, at 󰀄󰀇-󰀄󰀈. 󰀃󰀉  Dupont, “Mystical Experiences and Mystical Theology in Augustine of Hippo?,” 󰀄󰀉. Augustine lays an extra emphasis on the role of divine grace in the soul’s journey. It would appear that such conviction stemmed from his personal mystical experience at Ostia. Anthony Dupont and Mateusz Stróżyński, “Augustine’s Ostia Revisited: A Plotinian or Christian Ascent in Confessiones 󰀉?,” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 󰀇󰀉, nos. 󰀁-󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀈󰀀-󰀁󰀀󰀄, at 󰀈󰀄, 󰀉󰀀. 󰀃󰀄 󰀃󰀅

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󰀁. Conditions to Reach the Final State of Perfection Psalm 󰀃󰀈 is a testimony to Idithun’s progress on the journey towards God. Augustine begins his exposition by noting that Idithun means “Transiliens eos / one who leaps across.”󰀄󰀀 The protagonist of the Psalm is singing to God with joy because he has leaped over those who cling to worldly things. This is what the congregation must aspire to accomplish.󰀄󰀁 The question then arises, is such a leaping over enough to realize this mission? Augustine certainly did not believe so. He exhorts his audience that one must be vigilant and not return to the earlier state from which one has progressed.󰀄󰀂 Leaving the past behind, one must actively strive for a better state until one reaches the final end (Phil 󰀃:󰀁󰀃).󰀄󰀃 After interweaving the journey of Idithun and Paul, Augustine asserts that the final end which they strived for is the same that all the apostles sought; the vision of God through Christ (Jn 󰀁󰀄:󰀈).󰀄󰀄 The soul that follows God’s call and strives for this goal receives what it has been promised (Phil 󰀃:󰀁󰀂-󰀁󰀄).󰀄󰀅 When the journey is complete, God will invite the perfected soul to enter the Lord’s house (Mt 󰀂󰀅:󰀂󰀁) and it can start contemplating God.󰀄󰀆 In that moment, the soul will experience God as an ally. It is in this everlasting contemplation of God that the soul will realise its potential of becoming friends with God (Jn 󰀁󰀅:󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀇).󰀄󰀇 Once  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁. All English translations of the Exposition of Psalm 󰀃󰀈, Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms III/󰀁󰀆, ed. John E. Rotelle (New York, NY: New York City Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀). 󰀄󰀁  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁. 󰀄󰀂  In Letter 󰀁󰀈󰀉, Augustine writes, “Make daily progress, then, in this love, both through prayer and through doing good. Then, with the help of God, who both commanded and granted that love, it may be nourished and grow, until it is perfect, and makes you perfect.” Augustine, Ep. 󰀁󰀈󰀉.󰀂. English translation, Augustine: Political Writings, ed. E. M. Atkins and R. J. Dodaro, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁), 󰀂󰀁󰀅. Augustine notes that it is love which makes the human person perfect. However, what is important for our consideration is his emphasis on the need to make continuous progress. For this, he provides two means – prayer and performing good. This is what helps the soul to progress in its journey towards God. 󰀄󰀃  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀆. In En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁󰀄, he states that humility is a crucial aspect in the journey. One must be humble and accept that there will always be something better to strive for regardless of the progress that one has made on the journey. 󰀄󰀄  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀆. 󰀄󰀅  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀈. 󰀄󰀆  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀅; 󰀃󰀈.󰀆. 󰀄󰀇  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀆. In the backdrop of Ps 󰀈󰀂:󰀆, Augustine suggests that the person who truly loves God becomes god. He continues, “But he who does the will of God abides forever, just as God also abides forever.” Thus, one is deified through participation in God’s immortality by loving God and doing his will. Augustine, Hom. 󰀁 󰀄󰀀

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the soul enters its true and eternal dwelling place, it will experience rest like never before. Here, the soul “would not have to suffer,”󰀄󰀈 there will be “sine peregrinatione, sine seditione, sine tentatione / no journeying, no unrest, no temptation.”󰀄󰀉 Thus, when the soul has ascended the peak of perfection, it will finally experience the zenith of life and truth.󰀅󰀀 󰀂. The Role of Scripture, Suffering, and Single-Mindedness on the Journey Augustine reminds his congregation that Scripture has an important role in the soul’s journey. Not only does it motivate the person to strive towards God, but it also creates a profound thirst for God within the person. Such an inspired one seeks shelter in God, far away from the commotion of the world. Augustine conceived this to be a holy desire and exhorted his listeners to strive for it.󰀅󰀁 Nonetheless, the journey commences with punishments. These sufferings are brought by human sinfulness. God wants the suffering ones to confess their sins, their shortcomings. This painful experience is required because it reminds the person that God’s grace is what makes the journey possible (󰀁 Cor 󰀁:󰀃󰀁). However, this moment of vulnerability that the human person endures in confession is transformed into an experience of strength which helps them undertake the rest of the journey (󰀂 Cor 󰀁󰀂:󰀁󰀀).󰀅󰀂 Thus strengthened, the person journeys further but is still bothered by sufferings. In this situation, sinners speak to the Lord and humbly say that they have leapt from their earlier state to a better state. They bear in mind that the final end is still away and that they should continue striving for it. But now, the person requests God for a vision of the final end. The person expresses a desire for something beyond the Jn. 󰀂.󰀁󰀄. English translation, Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, trans. Boniface Ramsey (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈), 󰀅󰀁. 󰀄󰀈  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀅. 󰀄󰀉  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀈. Augustine notes that the true home of the person is heaven. Reaching this place is the objective of all the struggle. This is where the soul will have an eternal dwelling place. Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀂󰀁. 󰀅󰀀  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀂󰀂. This final state is further described in Trin. 󰀁󰀄.󰀁󰀇.󰀂󰀃. Augustine writes, “[H]e will be received by the holy angels, in order that he may be brought to the God whom he has worshiped, and by whom he is to be brought to perfection; and at the end of the world he shall receive an incorruptible body, not for punishment but for glory. For the likeness to God in this image will then be perfect when the vision of God will be perfect.” English translation, Augustine: On the Trinity: Books 󰀈-󰀁󰀅, ed. Gareth B. Mathews, Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), 󰀁󰀆󰀃. 󰀅󰀁  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀆. 󰀅󰀂  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁󰀇; 󰀃󰀈.󰀁󰀈.

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refreshments that are provided to the soul on the journey.󰀅󰀃 The vision of the final end becomes an agent of motivation which allows the person to keep striving in the midst of sufferings. This is what inspires the person to persevere single-mindedly in the journey towards God. 󰀃. Imitatio Christi as the Means to Perfection In Ps 󰀃󰀈:󰀁 Idithun declares that he will guard his tongue in the presence of the wicked so that it will not lead to sin. Augustine uses the idea of imitatio Christi to flesh out the idea of perfection in Idithun’s assertion.󰀅󰀄 He notes that people on their journey are always surrounded by two kinds of people – sinners and devout. The devout and faithful seek matters concerning the Spirit of God; they are willing to forgive and learn from others. However, the wicked ones encircle those who are progressing with evil intentions – to accuse, misrepresent and lead them to sin. Augustine encourages the audience to be silent in the presence of the wicked because this is the sign of a “perfectus est vir / a perfect man”󰀅󰀅 (Jas 󰀃:󰀂). Thus, not only does silence become a meaningful and powerful weapon against the language of evil, it prepares the person on the journey for their transformation into an alter Christus, who stood speechless before his persecutors (Is 󰀅󰀃:󰀇).󰀅󰀆 Nonetheless, the one who leaps is duty bound towards God and his people. They must not be silent in the presence of the devout.󰀅󰀇 They are obliged to stand in the presence of God, listen to God’s words, and convey them to the devout.󰀅󰀈 Thus, not only does imitatio Christi transform the human person into an alter Christus, but it qualifies them to a higher standing before God. Firstly, one gains a newly found intimacy with God and is able to stand in God’s presence. Secondly, one gains an intermediary role between God and his people. They are suited to serve as God’s voice to the people.  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀅.  Ellingsen notes that Augustine deploys the theme of imitatio Christi as a means to make progress in one’s spiritual life. Mark Ellingsen, The Richness of Augustine: His Contextual and Pastoral Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀁󰀀󰀂. 󰀅󰀅  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀃. 󰀅󰀆  Ibid. 󰀅󰀇  The person has an obligation towards the Church. This is because the Church has nourished them with pure milk and made them worthy to be seated at the Lord’s table. Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀃. 󰀅󰀈  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀄. 󰀅󰀃

󰀅󰀄

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󰀄. Perfection as a Cosmic Battle Augustine transforms the path of the one journeying towards God into a space with cosmic dimensions. The person stands midway between things that are illusory and those that are true.󰀅󰀉 They become a point of contact between heavenly and earthly realities. Augustine adds that such a person has become a spectacle to the world, both angels and mortals (󰀁 Cor 󰀄:󰀉). His observation that angels and mortals praise or ridicule the person depending on their progress suggests that the person is stationed right below the heavens and exactly above the lower realms. This “medio positus”󰀆󰀀 then, becomes a cosmic arena where a battle is waged between the person journeying towards God and the forces of evil.󰀆󰀁 Such an individual is equipped to fight the devil with weapons – the praises and ridicule of various hosts watching their progress. When success on the journey does not make the person proud and when ridicule does not cause them to falter, the praises and ridicule become weapons with which they can attack the evil one and progress further on the journey.󰀆󰀂 Like silence then, humility becomes a weapon which silences the forces of evil and allows the person to continue their march towards God. Conclusion For this study, it was of interest to briefly evaluate the notion of the soul’s journey towards God in Origen and Augustine’s homilies on Psalm 󰀃󰀈. The above analysis permits a realistic comparison between their thinking due to the common features discovered in their arguments. The first is Origen and Augustine’s emphasis on the role of Scripture. Origen’s argument that Scripture inspires love for God within the human person so that they do not return to their earlier ways and continue to progress mirrors Augustine’s position that Scripture animates an intense desire within the person so that they are willing to leave everything and abide in God. It is clear that the two Church Fathers considered Scripture as a cradle of motivation that coaxes the human soul towards God.  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁󰀃.  Ibid. 󰀆󰀁  Augustine, En. Ps. 󰀃󰀈.󰀁󰀅. 󰀆󰀂  Ibid. 󰀅󰀉

󰀆󰀀

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The second similarity in their understanding of the soul’s journey is the role of sufferings. Both theologians believed that sufferings are unavoidable on the journey. For Augustine, sufferings arise from human sinfulness. However, divine providence works through these experiences as God favours the one who confesses their weaknesses in the midst of sufferings. God reshapes such experiences into those of strength such that the person can continue their journey onward. Origen, in contrast, does not explicitly blame human sinfulness for these experiences. For him, it is in the nature of the journey to contain sufferings. The journey is devised thus that sufferings intensify in every stage. The person is expected to use these experiences and demonstrate the growth of their character. Overcoming these challenges qualifies the person to progress from one stage to the next and continue further in their journey towards God. However, the presence of divine grace binds the two Church Fathers in their thinking about sufferings on the soul’s journey. A third similarity in these two Church Fathers is the idea of imitating God. Both, Origen and Augustine, believed that people on the journey are called to imitate the spirit of Christ. Through imitatio Christi, the person is transformed into an alter Christus and is able to overcome all opposing forces. Both of them considered this as a mark of perfection. Nonetheless, there are certain differences in the two Church Fathers. Origen develops the idea of imitating the virtues of God the Father and striving for his perfection. For him, this allows the person to know God in an intimate way. He does not develop this newborn intimacy between God and the person. By contrast, Augustine goes beyond Origen and develops the position of the person undertaking this journey using the dynamics of imitatio Christi. The person is able to achieve a nearness to God which positions them in the upper echelons of the kingdom. Like the prophets of old, such a person is qualified to serve God as his messenger. In the fourth place there is the prominence of single-mindedness on the journey. For Origen, single-mindedness functions as a mark of perfection. This is what differentiates those who are still on the journey from those who are already perfect. It deters one from being overwhelmed by challenges on the journey and advance further in their pursuit for perfection. In contrast, Augustine believed that single-mindedness came with a vision of the final end. However, this vision is given by God, once again establishing the necessity of divine grace on the soul’s journey. To conclude, are these teachings on the soul’s journey still applicable today? The close parallels between Origen and Augustine on the journey

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of the soul and deification confirm that these ideas were not their selfconstrued opinions. Both were men of Scripture who firmly believed that God continues to speak to his people through every word of the Scriptures. It is Scripture which instructs that the goal of human life is to journey towards God, be perfected and deified. And so, they elucidated Scripture accordingly, in order to guide the Church towards the pursuit of this ultimate human goal. Furthermore, Origen and Augustine were men of tradition. They believed that these ideas had been unanimously embraced by the Church and that they were responsible to pass them down to the next generations. Hence, what stands out in these homilies is their consideration for the Church and more importantly, its people. Such genuine concern for the wellbeing of people is something that mirrors the spirit of our present theological endeavours, making their ideas on the soul’s journey applicable even in our present times.

The Ascent of the Soul in the Confessions of Saint Augustine Paul Fernandes Augustine wrote the Confessions around 󰀃󰀉󰀇 AD, after his conversion, baptism and his joining the Catholic Church in 󰀃󰀈󰀆 which was in the 󰀄󰀄th year of his life, “still burning in the ardor of his first love,” and “full of the fire and unction of the Holy Spirit.”󰀁 In this original work, Augustine confesses the sins of his youth without reserve and wonderfully crafts a hymn of praise to God who led him out of darkness into light, and called him to service in the kingdom of Christ. In doing so, he provides the reader with an understanding of how fallen humanity can know and find God and be found in Him. Augustine takes a spiritual approach by putting away from himself all honor, all greatness, all merit, and by laying all of these gratefully at the feet of the all-merciful God. This paper is an attempt to summarize the ascent of the soul as found in Augustine’s Confessions, summarizing the many ways humanity can know God and be found by Him. Though many spiritual writers have written about the ascent of the soul from a Catholic spiritual point of view, helping people to advance spiritually in the love of God and to find fulfillment in God, this paper focuses only on Augustine as he represents a kind of “everyone” who is searching for truth finding it in God. It also summarizes in a somewhat different way how Augustine approaches the ascent of the soul in his Confessions. 󰀁. Why Did Augustine Write the Confessions?󰀂 Saint Augustine (󰀃󰀅󰀄-󰀄󰀃󰀀), wrote the Confessions around 󰀃󰀉󰀇. He disclosed himself publicly with the aim that his life might be of service to 󰀁  Augustine, The Confessions and Letters of St Augustine, with a Sketch of His Life and Work, vol. 󰀁, ed. Philip Schaff, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀄), 󰀈. 󰀂  Paula Fredriksen, “The Confessions as Autobiography,” in A Companion to Augustine, ed. Mark Vessey and Shelley Reid, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂).

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readers who seek the truth of God, and as a service in the kingdom of God. However, it is also said that he wrote the Confessions to defend himself against all those who doubted his conversion to Christ and to Christianity because of his past and to show that his newly found faith in Christ and the doctrines he defended after his conversion are in accord with those of Christianity. Did he write this only to defend himself or was he writing an examination of his heart as a pilgrim inflamed with the love of God and in the light of faith to dispel any trace of darkness or hindrances for knowing and praising God? Maybe he was hoping that readers might adventure along that path and believers would be confirmed in their own faith in Christ and come to believe in a loving God transcending all thinking and knowing. With the Confessions, Augustine made a radical break from the world, and from that point on devoted his rare gifts of intellect and writing exclusively to the service of Christ and the Church. In 󰀃󰀉󰀅 he was elected bishop, he lived with his clergy and converted his house into a formation house for future priests. His work produced abundant fruits for the Church strengthening its life and truth. It is fair to say that on his spiritual journey, Augustine never doubted the truth of salvation in Christ or the existence of God. In fact, he kept praising God who so mercifully directed his path through the rubble of error, misery, ambition, misplaced trust, etc. All of the things he got wrong in his life he openly wrote about in his Confessions with humility. The first nine books paint the 󰀃󰀃 years of his life prior to his conversion in its fallen state. This is the story of his ascent to God whom he had been searching for all along and how he finally found Him. Thereafter, in the last four books, Augustine presents a set of contemplations and examinations on memory, time, spiritual and material creation, revelation, the Church, redemption, and finally the return of all of fallen humanity and of all Creation to God in order to give us several means of knowing God. Augustine ends the Confessions with an evocation of the eschatological Last Day. As such, it is not merely an autobiography or a story of his conversion but a story of fallen humanity knowing God and finally returning to Him on the last day, reminding the reader that all who believe in Christ will be raised up in God’s glory on the last day. Some have called the Confessions “one long prayer.” However, there may be several senses in which Augustine uses the word “Confessions”󰀃 󰀃

 Carolyn Hammond, “Title, Time, and Circumstances of Composition: The Genesis of the Confessions,” in The Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confessions, ed. Tarmo Toom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀), 󰀁󰀁-󰀂󰀇.

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and each is interesting in itself. First, to confess is to confess or admit one’s sins to God. This he does when he confesses his ambitions in life, his lusts, his intellectual pride, his misunderstanding of Christianity, his misplaced faith in Manicheanism, and the evil forces that are at play in his life which prevent him from coming closer to true faith and knowledge of God. Second, Confessions is also a confession of true faith in God and Christ and of knowing who we are in the light of knowing God. Third, Confessions means to praise God which is a constant activity of the spirit which is the gift of God to the baptized. Augustine does this beautifully from the beginning to the end of his confessions. He praises God who mercifully directed him to know and to love God Himself in Christ Jesus who is the only mediator between God and Man. Augustine provides a first reflection on the life of all human beings, who have fallen under the weight of their sins and are found by God’s grace, on how to return to God in an ascent of love and faith in a loving God. Augustine writes: “because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”󰀄 To the saint’s mind, the soul longs for peace and it finds peace only by resting in God, and hence the ascent of the soul to God consists of a deep yearning or longing for God. He employs the events of his own life, in his Confessions, to extol the goodness of God and to make an honest examination of his own heart. He desires for the love of God to fill his heart so completely that by its strength he is enabled to reject his former sinful life and is able to embrace the new life of freedom in Christ and by trusting in the goodness of God he is able to find the peace his soul longs for in this life and in the life to come. The praise of God, the Confessions, becomes the prayer of his heart to the loving God. Augustine acknowledges the purpose of his book, to be first a praise of God and second, a confession of his sins. It is also a confession of his faith in God. It is a sincere, honest examination of his heart. He believes that his praise of God will lead him to love God ever more and to become ultimately loved by God. He proclaims the greatness of God and believes that God is in us and we are in Him. Everywhere God fills all things and He is not limited by anything, neither on heaven nor on earth. 󰀄  Confessions 󰀁.󰀁. For the translation we follow Saint Augustine, Confessions, translated with and Introduction and Notes by Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁), 󰀃. See also Edward B. Pusey, The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Four Oaks, UK: My Mind Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉). This gives a concise theme of each chapter making it easy to follow the translated text.

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Augustine discerns a trinitarian image in man which gets obscured by the fall and gets restored by God’s gift of grace in Christ. For him, being, knowing, and loving are the trinitarian core images reflected in humanity before the fall. He demonstrates the Trinitarian imagery starting from a reflection on God’s human image and then discusses his own fallenness, and how in his baptism he is dying to his old life in the world and starting a new life in the Church. He ends the Confessions with a vision of the eschatological rest awaiting the redeemed believer. He already referred to this rest in the opening line: “because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you,”󰀅 and returns to it in the closing lines: “we also may rest in you for the sabbath of eternal life,”󰀆 as “you will rest in us.”󰀇 Generations have remembered Augustine and have found inspiration from his Confessions and from what he has written. He surely hoped that through his writings many would come to a deeper and closer relationship with God and Jesus Christ, who in His love drew him to His service. 󰀂. Why Do Human Beings Want to Rest in God? Augustine was aware that he did not find rest in this life in the world. As a young man he developed a fever and seemed close to death. He tells us that he cried out to be baptized but on recovery his baptism was deferred: You saw, my God, … with what fervour of mind and with what faith I then begged for the baptism of your Christ, my God and Lord, urging it on the devotion of my mother and of the mother of us all, your Church. My physical mother … hastily made arrangements for me to be initiated and washed in the sacraments of salvation … But suddenly I recovered. My cleansing was deferred on the assumption that, if I lived, I would be sure to soil myself; and … the guilt would be greater and more dangerous.󰀈

Therefore, it would appear that the Confessions contrast his life in the world before baptism where he does not find rest and his life after baptism in the Church, the mystical body of Christ, where he finds rest in the service of Christ the King. Rest in God means to find eternal life in God. The seeking and the search for rest in God prior to baptism is 󰀅

 Confessions 󰀁.󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃.  Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀆, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃󰀀󰀄. 󰀇  Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃󰀀󰀄. 󰀈  Confessions 󰀁.󰀁󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀄. 󰀆

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marred by sin and he does not seem to find the strength to give up his sinful life and turn to God. He finds that strength finally as a grace of God. Reflecting on the Confessions it appears that the Triune God has opened the door into eternity with God in accord with the redemptive act in Jesus Christ. We divide the Confessions into two parts while not forgetting its unity: he starts with telling the story of his life before baptism in which the separation between himself and God becomes unbearable. After baptism, through which God lifts him up to put on Christ, his Confessions become the story of knowing God more and growing in the revealed wisdom of God. He enters deeply into the revealed truth of the Bible from creation to redemption which eschatologically opens the door to all humanity and creation. This story, told in the last four books of his Confessions, is the story of service to Christ the King.

󰀃. Augustine’s Life Before Being Baptized: Being and Knowing Augustine was born in 󰀃󰀅󰀄 in Thagaste to Patricius, a pagan father and Monica, a Christian mother.󰀉 He recalls the memory of being an infant, praising the eternal providence of God, but also reflecting on examples which show that even infancy is prone to sin. Reflecting on his early life, Augustine acknowledges how from the moment of birth a child can do grave harm to oneself and to others. Reflecting on his early education as a boy and youth, he acknowledges his own mistakes and also those of his teachers, his family and society and disapproves of the mode of educating the youth. He concludes that men desire to observe the rules of learning but neglect the eternal rules of everlasting safety. Reflecting on human sinfulness, Augustine recalls examples from his own young life and tells us that it is only by God’s grace that anyone can reject sin and avoid the life of sin. He deplores the wickedness of his youth. The real sin is not sin itself but putting oneself above God and God’s law. He demonstrates this with examples from his own life, in particular the “pear theft,”󰀁󰀀 which he did for no apparent reason except a certain distaste for doing well and for moral law. What makes this theft evil is that he finds delights in it, the appearance of good leading to vice. 󰀉  For an account of his life and times, see Chapter 󰀁 of Gerald Bray, Augustine on the Christian Life: Transformed by the Power of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅). 󰀁󰀀  Confessions 󰀂.󰀄; see Chadwick, 󰀂󰀈-󰀂󰀉.

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He loved the company of his fellow youth with whom he had stolen the pear and together with them enjoyed laughing while they were seriously deceiving others. He gives thanks to God for the remission of the sins of his youth. He recognizes that the Church offers one the possibility to limit sin and to make an end to sinful living by a life in accord with God’s life-giving word. Augustine’s point appears to be that, due to sin, our being and knowing have been deeply affected and lack the original being and knowing as found in the image of the Triune God. 󰀄. Augustine’s Life in the World: Knowing and Loving Augustine recalls how he is attacked by a troublesome spiritual disease as he is moved by empty compassion. He lost his father when he was seventeen. He was deceived by his own fault and fell into the errors of the Manichaeans, who glory in the true knowledge of God and in a thorough examination of things. He even rejected the Sacred Scriptures as being too simple. Augustine joined the Manichean sect which offered ascetic practices to overcome the temptations of the body. It appealed to his sense of pride that through the efforts of one’s own will, it was believed that one could overcome bodily temptations and attain salvation. Augustine was glad, however, for having left his Manichaean beliefs behind, and attacked their doctrine concerning evil, God, and the righteousness of the Patriarchs. He then realized that by his own reason and knowing, or by his own will or the power of his loving, he was unable to save himself from the power of sin. Reflecting on his studies as a young scholar, Augustine realized that the pursuit of truth in the divine scriptures requires humility, which he at the time lacked. Led by Cicero’s Hortensius he turned to philosophy in order to know God and acquire a better mode of thinking. He hoped to pursue the truth by reason alone. This is evident in his claim that Cicero’s works set him on fire to take up and read, while the Bible failed to inspire him. While all of this happened to him in his attempt to ascent or rise from his sinful state, he dimly recognized how God’s hand was at work in bringing him to faith. He referred to the tears of his mother and the memorable dream concerning her son God granted to her. He recalled the unhappy time in which he was deceived, and was deceiving others. He became very successful as a teacher of rhetoric. He also devoted himself to the vanity of astrology. But the only thing

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that distressed him was his friend being snatched away by death. He grieved and wept for his friend and was troubled by restlessness. After gaining relative high success and much wisdom in life and society, Augustine recalled how he found himself in misery at the death of his much-loved friend. It left him inconsolable. Augustine acknowledged that the root cause of his misery was that he had loved his friend with the kind of love that is reserved for God alone, something like an immortal love. But now his friend was gone, dead. He missed the satisfaction of the faith that his friend would now live in God. Reflecting on this, Augustine contrasted human love with the love of God: he says that human love perishes but he who loves God never loses a friend. And thus, his conversion began, but his pride and success still dominated and prevented him from finding answers within the Church. In his continued search into Manichean beliefs, Augustine did not find satisfaction, until, under the influence of Ambrose of Milan, he found the Catholic faith as having satisfactory answers to all his intellectual questions. He began to embrace the Catholic Church and rejected Manichean beliefs and practices. Convinced by Ambrose to think of God and the soul spiritually, he joined the Catholic faith as a catechumen, taking the first step on the road to salvation though not immediately becoming a committed Catholic. His mother followed him to Milan wanting to see her son embrace the Catholic faith. Amazed by God’s grace, Augustine took the first steps of entering a new life troubled by his grievous errors. He believed that God would take him up from this first step which he had taken and lead him on. Augustine realized that relying totally on ourselves we sin, but if we rely on God, God will ultimately save us by his grace. Augustine gave himself to the pursuit of truth, and by God’s assistance he arrived at the truth. He compared the doctrine of the Platonists concerning the Logos with the doctrine of Christianity and found the Christian doctrine more excellent. He was glad that he started from Plato moving on to the Holy Scriptures since what he found in the sacred books was not to be found in Plato. Augustine narrated his attempt to experience the spiritual vision of the divine under the influence of the writings of the Neoplatonists, who believed in the goal of life as union with a supremely good and spiritual God. He writes that with God as his guide: I entered into my innermost citadel, and was given power to do so because you had become my helper (Ps. 󰀂󰀉:󰀁󰀁). I entered and with my soul’s eye, such as it was, saw above that same eye of my soul the immutable light higher than my mind – not the light of every day,

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obvious to anyone, nor a larger version of the same kind which would, as it were, have given out a much brighter light and filled everything with its magnitude. It was not that light, but a different thing, utterly different from all our kinds of light. It transcended my mind, not in the way that oil floats on water, nor as heaven is above earth. It was superior because it made me, and I was inferior because I was made by it. The person who knows the truth knows it, and he who knows it knows eternity. Love knows it.󰀁󰀁

It is thus the attempt by Augustine’s soul to know God, a mystical ascent in which he is given a vision of God who is light, meaning beyond any material being. He recognized that above his changeable mind, he discovers the unchangeable author of truth. His hope that his soul would be able to return to God through a mystical ascent turns into a failure because of his own pride inflated by Neoplatonist readings that could not be sustained. He discovered that only with God’s help he could hope to remain in God. Augustine realized that the ideas of the Neoplatonists were close to many ideas of Christianity except for that they did not acknowledge Christ. They believed that by the exercise of virtue and contemplation of the spiritual, the human soul can ascend from the lower material realm toward the higher good, the absolute beauty and perfection of the transcendent immaterial One. His attempt at ascent in the Platonic sense failed. For him this failure affirmed the need for Christ as the mediator. It affirmed the need for divine grace to attain the blessedness of seeing a vision of God. Augustine employed that experience to repudiate other erroneous philosophies and beliefs. Augustine’s point appears to be that life in the world of sin, however successful it may be, affects so deeply our sense of knowing and loving that we are unable to know God truly, to love God spiritually and return to God in whom we have our being. 󰀅. Augustine’s Conversion and Baptism: Life in the Service of Christ Augustine found his life anything but happy or fulfilling at that time. He was disappointed with his life choices, and he felt his life empty, even to the point of despair. He also found himself entangled by the lusts of love and sinfulness. He needed to talk to someone and finally found help 󰀁󰀁

 Confessions 󰀇.󰀁󰀀, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀂󰀃.

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in the counsel of Simplicianus,󰀁󰀂 father of St. Ambrose. Simplicianus listened to Augustine and shared experiences of his own. Simplicianus gave the example of the conversion of Victorinus󰀁󰀃 to demonstrate that God rejoices the return of one sinner more than many just persons. Augustine sought the guidance of Simplicianus who recommended that he follow the example of Victorinus and became a member of the Church thus giving up his pride. Augustine was set on fire by these examples,󰀁󰀄 and though he wanted to place himself at the mercy of Christ by becoming himself a member of the Church, he struggled with his divided will, one part wanting to be chaste according to the law of Christ, the other part wanting to desire and keep his lustful feelings satisfied rather than extinguished. The example of Ponticianus󰀁󰀅 and friends, giving up their will and becoming members of the Church made him wonder why they were able to let go of their own will while he was completely unable to do so. Augustine writes: “the more ardent my affection for those young men of whom I was hearing, who for the soul’s health had given themselves wholly to you for healing, the more was the detestation and hatred I felt for myself in comparison with them.”󰀁󰀆 Torn by conflict within his conscience between the monastic ideal or the pleasures of this world, and having to choose one and abandon the other, he threw himself under a fig tree in a garden and in desperation pleaded for divine assistance. He heard the voice of a child from a nearby house saying ‘tolle, lege’ (“pick up and read”).󰀁󰀇 He took this as a divine command to open the book and read the first passage that he came upon: “‘Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lust’ (Rom. 󰀁󰀃:󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀄).”󰀁󰀈 He recalled that he had no wish to read further, there was no need to. His heart was filled with a light of confidence and all the shadows of doubt were swept away. He shared this with his friend Alypius󰀁󰀉 and they both went to tell this to his mother. Prior to this Augustine narrated a moment of utter helplessness 󰀁󰀂

 Confessions 󰀈.󰀂.  Ibid. 󰀁󰀄  “As soon as your servant Simplicianus told me this story about Victorinus, I was ardent to follow his example” – Confessions 󰀈.󰀅, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀃󰀉. 󰀁󰀅  “This was the story Ponticianus told. But while he was speaking, Lord, you turned my attention back to myself” – Confessions 󰀈.󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀄󰀄. 󰀁󰀆  Confessions 󰀈.󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀄󰀅. 󰀁󰀇  Confessions 󰀈.󰀁󰀂, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀅󰀂. 󰀁󰀈  Ibid., trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀅󰀃. 󰀁󰀉  Ibid. Alypius is mentioned several times earlier: Confessions 󰀆.󰀉, 󰀁󰀂, 󰀁󰀆, 󰀈.󰀆, 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀃

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due to the conflict within his soul (“soul sick” he calls it). He related a vision of Continence (lady Continence herself, appearing with a multitude of youth) smilingly mocking him to let go of his deviant loves which took him away from God.󰀂󰀀 He shared that experience of this healing encounter also with Alypius. Augustine, with his friend Alypius, decided to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be baptized.󰀂󰀁 Augustine makes it clear that one needs to admit that one is sick and helpless to cure oneself and that one needs to rely totally and exclusively on the divine physician’s care to be cured. He recalls that Victorinus and Ponticianus’ sole virtue lay in giving themselves up to God in order to be cured and thus experienced liberation from the slavery of their respective habits. All of them had the weight taken from their backs and had been given wings to fly. Recalling how he was inspired to take up and read the writings of St. Paul in order to pursue the more biblical and ecclesial approach to happiness rather than the philosophical one, Augustine acknowledged that the right attitude of humility towards God’s grace in the Church enables one to remain in God. At this stage of his conversion he was deeply influenced by the letters of Paul which explain how the Christian community can remain in God. He knew now that the possession of a humble contrite spirit, an attitude of penance, humility and submission to the legitimate authority is essential to seeing and knowing God and remaining in Him. This is what the Neoplatonists did not have. He submitted himself to an external authority, the Church, to provide a remedy for his pride. This was to acknowledge his own sinful state and his inability to follow God’s law on his own. Both Augustine and Alypius decided to put aside thoughts of marriage, and a secular career, to enter the Church during the baptismal ceremony in the Easter night of 󰀃󰀈󰀇 and to prepare for a new life in Christ. He disclosed the divine favor to his mother. As divine providence would have it, Augustine’s experience of divine grace was a sense of inner peace and joy that overtook him almost immediately as a burning to follow God’s law. His heart was filled with divine charity and hope in divine mercy. And so, Augustine was baptized in Milan, and thereafter, moved to a life of celibacy in the Church and 󰀂󰀀

 Confessions 󰀈.󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀆, 󰀂󰀇.  “Alypius also decided to join me in being reborn in you. He had already embraced the humility that befits your mysteries” … “we were baptized, and disquiet about our past life vanished from us” – Confessions 󰀉.󰀆, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀆󰀃-󰀁󰀆󰀄. 󰀂󰀁

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sacrificed his lucrative career as teacher of rhetoric for the sake of his new faith. He was better able to order the temporal goods in life, and began to discover the joy that comes from loving all things in God rather than in themselves. Augustine finally found what he had been seeking all along, the truth of God and a personal knowledge of God. He tells the story of being with his mother overlooking a garden in Ostia discussing the nature of the reward met by the saints in the afterlife. In an attempt to conceive of this paradise, he and his mother had a vision of the afterlife. Mother and son reached a kind of eternal wisdom about this. He recalled this quest for truth infused by love as a visionary ascent.󰀂󰀂 Following the vision, Monica told Augustine that she felt she had done all she had to do on earth. When she fell ill and died, Augustine decided not to grieve over her death because she was going to be with God. He recalled feeling a great deal of pain at the loss of his mother, but despite the sorrow, he was consoled in the hope of receiving her in the kingdom of God. He closes with a prayer for his mother’s soul.

󰀆. From the Beginning to the End: Return to God and Rest in God Augustine does not conclude his Confessions by merely giving an account of his life and the confession of his sins (according to some in the spirit of Psalm 󰀅󰀁), rather he goes on to write four more books as part of his Confessions. After narrating how he had committed himself to the service of Christ in the Church through baptism, he next provides an account of his search for ways of knowing God. In the Confessions, Augustine has a conversation with God, using the I-Thou form to describe the relationship between them. Through the form of a spiritual dialogue, the most important listener or reader is the loving God he now knows. This then completes the story of Confessions which is a story of the return to God of Augustine and of the whole of creation. The Confessions obviously represent Augustine’s return to God. But it is also an expression 󰀂󰀂

 “But with the mouth of the heart wide open, we drank in the waters flowing from your spring on high, ‘the spring of life’ (Ps. 󰀃󰀅:󰀁󰀀)” … “there life is the wisdom by which all creatures come into being,” … “but only being, since it is eternal … and while we talked and panted after it, we touched it in some small degree by a moment of total concentration of the heart. and we sighed and left behind us ‘the firstfruits of the Spirit’ (Rom. 󰀈:󰀂󰀃) bound to that higher world, as we returned to the noice of our human speech” – Confessions 󰀉.󰀁󰀀, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀇󰀁.

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of deep faith articulated through his life story and the story of creation from the beginning. “When I love you [God],” he asks, “what do I love?”.󰀂󰀃 Since he is aware that the physical senses are of no use, he turns to the spiritual senses and looks inward at his own soul to “sense” God. In Book 󰀁󰀀 he goes into an examination of memory with a prayer: “May I know you, who know me. May I ‘know as I also am known’ (󰀁 Cor. 󰀁󰀃:󰀁󰀂). Power of my soul, enter into it and fit it for yourself.”󰀂󰀄 As he continues his search for truth, he realizes that he can find no safe place for his soul except in God. Having examined memory in Book 󰀁󰀀, he feels he has had to do this examination to find protection against the attacks of sin from all sides. He is aware that he will find no resting place except in God,󰀂󰀅 and that God will have mercy on him and save him.󰀂󰀆 Book 󰀁󰀀 of Confessions marks a transition from reflecting the story of a soul’s return to God to the story of the return to God of the whole creation. He then in Book 󰀁󰀁 turns to an analysis of time noting that any confession he makes must be ordered in time and in praise of God. After having understood the sinfulness of humanity and the remedy fashioned by God in Christ, Augustine turns to the existence of the world in God. He expands his realm of inquiry to now include Genesis and the creation of the world. He is faced with the problem of the apparent separation of the eternal God from his creation which is trapped in temporality. After a deep analysis of the nature of time, Augustine compares his own existence in temporality with God’s existence in eternity. After having examined ideas of memory and time in Books 󰀁󰀀 and 󰀁󰀁, he brings them to bear on the story of creation and distills the precise meaning of Genesis in Books 󰀁󰀂 and 󰀁󰀃. Augustine affirms that all of creation wants to return to God. After his axiomatic interpretation of Genesis, he continues the interpretation of Genesis in Book 󰀁󰀃. By the time his confessions come to an end in Book 󰀁󰀃, he has found several answers to the question with which he started the last four books, 󰀂󰀃  Confessions 󰀁󰀀.󰀆, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀈󰀃. “What then do I love, when I love my God? Who is he who is higher than the highest element in my soul? Through my soul I will ascend to him” – Confessions 󰀁󰀀.󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀈󰀅. 󰀂󰀄  Confessions 󰀁󰀀.󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀁󰀇󰀉. 󰀂󰀅  “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. and see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you” – Confessions 󰀁󰀀.󰀂󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀂󰀀󰀁. 󰀂󰀆  “My entire hope is exclusively in your very great mercy” – Confessions 󰀁󰀀.󰀂󰀉, trans. Chadwick, 󰀂󰀀󰀂.

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i.e. what are the means of knowing Him that God has provided humanity with: they are physical creation, Scripture, the Church and its head, the divine Son, the Holy Spirit, and the human mind itself which God made according to his own image and likeness in the beginning. It is God who created the human person and the person is so constituted to naturally long to know God. And this ties very well with his opening statement: “because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”󰀂󰀇 He concludes the Confessions praising God and in the manner of a prayer repeats Jesus’ instruction on prayer: “Only you can be asked, only you can be begged, only on your door can we knock (Matt. 󰀇:󰀇-󰀈). Yes indeed, that is how it is received, how it is found, how the door is opened.”󰀂󰀈 Augustine’s humility in writing the Confessions separates him from others who extol the sinful and fallen nature of humanity. Written after his baptism, with a single eye to the glory and praise of God, the Confessions raise humanity from the dust of repentance to a new and imperishable life of Spirit, and therefore, make it clear that the ascent of the soul means leaving our sinful past and returning to God to live the new life of faith. The Confessions start with praising God as only an ascended soul can do: “You are great, Lord, and highly to be praised.”󰀂󰀉 These words remind us that “in seeking him they find him, and in finding they will praise him.”󰀃󰀀 With deep faith in God’s presence in his soul, Augustine weaves his story into the Confessions in the form of prayer and dialogue with God in faith: “Lord, I would seek you, calling upon you – and calling upon you is an act of believing in you.”󰀃󰀁 And Augustine seeks His presence everywhere throughout his story and that of creation, and seeks the original trinitarian image of humanity, which is that of being, knowing, and loving one’s Creator and Lord. If we follow a spiritual reading of it, we recognize that our souls are made with the capacity to love and be united with God. In the question of union with God, the soul must die in the fire of love in order to live the new life in God. This is the capacity to love and be united with God that Augustine has been seeking all along and the Confessions thus are an inspiration to those coming after him.

󰀂󰀇

 Confessions 󰀁.󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃.  Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀈, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃󰀀󰀅. 󰀂󰀉  These are the opening lines of the Confessions: Confessions 󰀁.󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃. 󰀃󰀀  Confessions 󰀁.󰀁, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃. 󰀃󰀁  Ibid. 󰀂󰀈

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Augustine continued in the service of Christ and his Mystical Body, the Church, through his writings, preaching, and teaching. In 󰀃󰀉󰀅, Bishop Valerius persuaded the church of Hippo to consecrate Augustine to be its successor bishop and he remained there until his death on August 󰀂󰀈, 󰀄󰀃󰀀. He wrote the Confessions after being consecrated as bishop. He left a large corpus of writings many of which survived and some of which are still very influential today. Thus, we see the spiritual development in Augustine which clearly indicates that his Confessions are a means to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Augustine sought God in his life to find rest in God.󰀃󰀂 In his own words: “Only you can be asked, only you can be begged, only on your door can we knock (Matt. 󰀇:󰀇-󰀈). Yes indeed, that is how it is received, how it is found, how the door is opened.”󰀃󰀃 Conclusion A first conclusion is that the Confessions is Augustine’s confession to God. Like each humble prayer, a humble confession to God lifts the human soul. The form of the Confessions as prayer is that of a dialogue with God: what Augustine is going through in his soul in terms of thoughts, feelings, emotions are freely expressed to God. We learn that dialogue with God is prayer that leads to the ascent of the human soul as the soul comes to know God and itself more truly. It is not just Augustine speaking to God, but more importantly, as Augustine quotes from Scripture, it is also God speaking to Augustine. Prayer as dialogue is listening to God speaking to us in and through the Scriptures permitting us to know Him, nourishing us by His word and sustaining us so that the soul lives by God’s word. The Confessions teach that honest dialogue with God is humble prayer that elevates and illuminates the human mind and soul endowing it with divine knowing, being, and loving. Second, as Augustine explains it, the human soul is existentially troubled by evil influences and experiences deep conflicts, sadness, darkness, 󰀃󰀂

 “‘Lord God, grant us peace; for you have given us all things’ (Isa. 󰀂󰀆:󰀁󰀂), the peace of quietness, the peace of the Sabbath, a peace with no evening” – Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀅. “The seventh day has no evening … This utterance in your book foretells for us that after our works which, because they are your gift to us, are very good, we also may rest in you for the sabbath of eternal life” – Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀆. “There also you will rest in us, just as now you work in us…” – Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀇, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃󰀀󰀄. 󰀃󰀃  Confessions 󰀁󰀃.󰀃󰀈, trans. Chadwick, 󰀃󰀀󰀅.

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temptations, and sickness, etc. As a broken heart, it expresses pain, suffering, and sorrow, while longing for happiness. The Confessions are helpful for in them one finds the remedy as well, confessing to God in prayer. Augustine explains the remedy for the ascent of the soul, that is, mercy and forgiveness in Christ. Human sinfulness is forgiven by Christ and this forgiveness is offered in the Church first in baptism and the sacraments of initiation. It is the soul’s spiritual rebirth. This ascent is a remedy and it is followed by a spiritual life and by service of Christ. The ascent of the soul takes place in Christ, the mediator who reconciles the broken heart, and by raising the human nature in its humble form with his divine nature heals the wounded heart. Third, the ascent of the human soul, healed by rebirth in Christ, experiences knowing God by listening to His living word which lifts up the soul to know more and be closer to God and fully filled with God. The soul will find rest in God. Hence, the conversion experience that Augustine describes in the Confessions is portrayed as a triumph of grace. The Confessions are praises of God’s merciful love for lifting up the soul from the grave and for the new creation. The ascent is complete in his prayer for the ever-joyful Easter rest overcoming the limits of the evening and with God resting in the soul. The ascent of the human soul to God is clearly one theme among many others in the Confessions. It is as relevant today as it was in Augustine’s time. Other research themes hopefully will enlighten on other related philosophical or theological points such as nature and existence, origin and final destination, immortality, and the relationship of the soul to God. A recent publication offers a critical examination of some of the main themes of Augustine’s Confessions such as “aversion and conversion,” “creation and recreation,” “pride and humility,” “soul, self, and interiority”󰀃󰀄 which have been used in this text to support the idea that the Confessions can be regarded as work of spiritual ascent. The Confessions as ascent of the soul to God provides a pathway in our times and it can fruitfully be asked why should we confess and by confessing what is it that we are confessing today. When Augustine writes, he writes as one who knows the grace and mercy of God, as one who experienced it already in his life and conversion. He is also full of 󰀃󰀄  Toom, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confessions. See Chapter 󰀄 on “Aversion and Conversion,” by Marie-Anne Vannier, 󰀆󰀃-󰀇󰀄; Chapter 󰀅 on “Creation and Recreation,” by Matthew Drever, 󰀇󰀅-󰀉󰀁; Chapter 󰀁󰀃 on “Pride and Humility,” by Notker Baumann, 󰀂󰀀󰀈-󰀂󰀂󰀆; and Chapter 󰀁󰀄 on “Soul, Self, and Interiority,” by Philip Cary, 󰀂󰀂󰀇-󰀂󰀄󰀁.

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the fire and unction of the Holy Spirit. But, as Augustine desired, the Confessions provide sufficient light to anyone who is searching for God, searching for meaning, happiness, and for more energy in our similarly deeply troubled times of darkness, sin, sadness, and even pandemic fears, to search for these things in the right place of the human soul so as to find it in the One who created it and continues to give life to it. He assures us, that in Christ we are assured of the ascent of the human soul to God. The soul that lives unto God is a loving soul loved by God. And just as Augustine’s praise of God in the Confessions is his perpetual prayer of thanksgiving, so it will praise God continually for the ascent to God.

A Comparative Study of the Theology of Marriage in the Writings of Augustine and in the East Syrian Tradition Scaria Kanniyakonil The contribution of Augustine to the theology of marriage is salient in Western Catholicism. He proposes that procreation of children (bonum prolis), the virtue of fidelity (bonum fidei), and the sacrament (bonum sacramenti) are goods of marriage, and with a procreative intention sexual intercourse is not sinful within marriage. According to him, the primary end of marriage is procreation while love the secondary end. Augustine also gives adequate space for friendship between husband and wife. Eastern Christianity, including the East Syrian Tradition (Syro-Malabar Church), has a deep theological understanding of marriage and family life. There is no specific mention of primary and secondary ends of marriage. However, the Trinitarian communion and the Eucharistic communion are the models and cornerstone for the communion of couples including the conjugal act. Professor Mathijs Lamberigts, a well-known scholar of Augustine, has explored the richness of the Augustinian theology on marriage.󰀁 His work has inspired me to conduct a comparative study on the similarities and differences regarding the theology of marriage in the writings of Augustine and the East Syrian Tradition. This paper is divided into three sections. The first part elucidates the theology of marriage in the teachings of St. Augustine; the second part discusses the theology of marriage in the East Syrian Tradition. The third part crafts a comparative study between Augustine’s and the East Syrian Tradition’s understanding of the theology of marriage.

󰀁  Mathijs Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage: A Comparison of De bono coniugali and De nuptiis et concupiscentia,” Louvain Studies 󰀃󰀅 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁): 󰀃󰀂-󰀅󰀂, at 󰀃󰀄; id., “Julian of Aeclanum: A Plea for a Good Creator,” Augustiniana 󰀃󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈): 󰀅-󰀂󰀄.

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󰀁. The Theology of Marriage in the Writings of Augustine 󰀁. Background Augustine’s view on marriage can be traced from his works The Good of Marriage (󰀄󰀀󰀁), On Marriage and Concupiscence (󰀄󰀁󰀈-󰀄󰀂󰀀), On Adulterous Marriage (󰀄󰀁󰀉), Commentary on the Literal Meaning of Genesis (󰀄󰀀󰀁-󰀄󰀁󰀄), and Original Sin (󰀄󰀁󰀈). His approach towards sexuality was influenced by three theological currents: i) Manichaeism, which basically denied the goodness of sexuality; ii) the Pelagian idea of concupiscence;󰀂 and iii) Stoic thinking.󰀃 According to Stoic Philosophy, in order to act reasonably one has to follow nature. The ultimate aim of human life is to live according to reason. There is a universal reason inherent in all things. In the case of sexuality, they used the same idea. Stoics identified the purpose of sexuality as procreation. Any sexual action that does not lead to procreation is evil, e.g. masturbation. Sexual pleasure is immoral because there is no element of reason in it. Thus, we get two trends of reasoning: i) sexuality is only for procreation; and ii) intercourse except for procreation is evil. A number of Augustine’s works were written in response to specific pastoral or theological problems. For instance, De coniugiis adulterinis basically concentrates on the issue of divorce and remarriage in Scripture and related pastoral problems. In his later work on marriage, De nuptiis et concupiscentia, he argues against the teaching of people who said that concupiscence is not evil but something normal within a marriage.󰀄 On the contrary, others argued that marriage and sex are evil. So Augustine reacted against the above mentioned ideas on sexuality and marriage.󰀅 Furthermore Augustine’s first systematic work on marriage, De bono coniugali, was a response to a monk, Jovinian, who lived in Rome, and argued that “Christian marriage and virginity were to be put on the same level.”󰀆 Jovinian published a book on this theme and sent it to Jerome and to the bishop of Rome around 󰀃󰀉󰀃. He was not only criticized by both Church Fathers but also condemned by a local synod convened by 󰀂

 Cf. Lisa Fullam, “Toward a Virtue Ethics of Marriage: Augustine and Aquinas on Friendship in Marriage,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀆󰀆󰀃-󰀆󰀉󰀂, at 󰀆󰀆󰀉. 󰀃  Bonnie Kent, “Augustine’s On the Good of Marriage and Infused Virtue in the Twelfth Century,” Journal of Religious Ethics 󰀄󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀁󰀁󰀂-󰀁󰀃󰀆, at 󰀁󰀁󰀅. 󰀄  Fullam, “Toward a Virtue Ethics of Marriage,” 󰀆󰀆󰀉. 󰀅  Ibid.; see also Kent, “Augustine’s On the Good of Marriage,” 󰀁󰀁󰀉. 󰀆  Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀃󰀄.

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Pope Siricius in Rome. Moreover, he was also convicted by the civil authorities and sent into exile.󰀇 󰀂. Goods of Marriage Augustine argues that marriage is good because it is God’s creation. For him, marriage includes three types of good, which are the procreation of children (bonum prolis), the virtue of fidelity/conjugal love (bonum fidei), and the sacrament (bonum sacramenti). In the Commentary on the Literal Meaning of Genesis (Book 󰀉, Chapter 󰀇, n. 󰀁󰀂) he explains these goods of marriage. Fidelity can be explained as being when “one avoids all sexual activity apart from one’s marriage.”󰀈 The good of procreation can be understood as when “a child is accepted in love, is nurtured in affection, and is brought up in religion.”󰀉 Marriage is a sacrament, the reason for this is that it mirrors the deep relationship between Christ and the Church, and it is also known as a covenant. The vow of fidelity of the husband and wife is broken when one of the partners dies.󰀁󰀀 Similar concepts can be traced in his work On Original Sin (Book 󰀂, chapter 󰀃󰀉). a) Bonum prolis In Augustine’s view, marriage is created for procreation (De bono coniugali XVIII, 󰀂󰀂). Sometimes, it is presented as the only reason for marrying (De bono coniugali XXIV, 󰀃󰀂). In another place, Augustine noted that procreation is not the essence of marriage. The essence is the love between the spouses (De bono coniugali III, 󰀃).󰀁󰀁 Lamberigts observes that “according to the bishop of Hippo the procreation of children is part of our mortal life. Christian marriage is therefore meant for procreation, while Christian abstinence of such nuptial intercourse is already a prefiguration of the life to come” (De bono coniugali VIII, 󰀈).󰀁󰀂 The 󰀇  Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀃󰀄; id., “Julian of Aeclanum.” For a detailed study on the Jovinian issue see David G. Hunter, “Resistance to the Virginal Ideal in Late-Fourth-Century Rome: The Case of Jovinian,” Theological Studies 󰀄󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇): 󰀄󰀅-󰀆󰀄. 󰀈  Theodore Mackin, Marriage in the Catholic Church: What Is Marriage? (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀂), 󰀁󰀂󰀉. 󰀉  Ibid. 󰀁󰀀  David Robinson, “Augustine on the Good of Marriage (Part 󰀁),” Jubilee Journal (Spring 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃) available online at https://www.ezrainstitute.ca/resource-library/articles/ augustine-on-the-good-of-marriage-part-󰀁/ [accessed on August 󰀂󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀁  Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀃󰀇. 󰀁󰀂  Ibid., 󰀃󰀅.

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sexual intercourse between man and woman is ordered for the purpose of marriage (De nuptiis et concupiscentia 󰀁, 󰀅).󰀁󰀃 The preference to have children and to feed and train them belongs to the order of nature (De nuptiis et concupiscentia 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀇). According to Daryl Ellis, procreation has a twofold meaning for Augustine: “(󰀁) the primacy of ‘spiritual’ children in the Christian dispensation and the corresponding elevation of virginity; and (󰀂) the application of 󰀁 Corinthians 󰀇 as an argument that the only justification for Christian marriage is the formation of a contractual relation in which each partner agrees to be a transactional outlet for the other’s sexual lust.”󰀁󰀄 b) Bonum fidei Any sexual intercourse that deceives fidelity is certified as adultery. In other words, fidelity sleeps in the essence of marriage. Even in a scenario in which couples desire to have sexual intercourse without the cause to procreate, “the fidelity to the wife or husband in a sense is the idea of, and excuse for, such an act” (De bono coniugali V, 󰀅).󰀁󰀅 Furthermore, Augustine writes of fidelity in two senses. Firstly, fidelity, in a narrow way of understanding, is something that is violated in adultery. Secondly, in broader sense, it is understood in the context of friendship between husband and wife. Lisa Fullam elucidates that “normally the two senses cohere, but in cases of tension, the broader sense triumphs. A violation of the good of sexual exclusivity should be forgiven in light of the broader fides that shapes the relationship overall. Marriage and its particular goods are instrumental to the larger good of the friendship of spouses.”󰀁󰀆 c) Bonum sacramenti Augustine places adequate emphasis on the good of the sacrament (the permanent character of a Christian marriage), which is specific to the people of God. Procreation and fidelity are common to all people. However, the holiness of the sacrament belongs only to Christians (De 󰀁󰀃

 Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀄󰀃.  Cf. Daryl Ellis, “The Ambivalence and Lust of Marriage: With and beyond Augustine towards a Theology of Marriage as Consecrated Sacrifice,” Scottish Journal of Theology 󰀆󰀆 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀃󰀀-󰀄󰀉, at 󰀃󰀄. 󰀁󰀅  Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀃󰀈. 󰀁󰀆  Cf. Fullam, “Toward a Virtue Ethics of Marriage,” 󰀆󰀇󰀄. 󰀁󰀄

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bono coniugali XXIV, 󰀃󰀂). Augustine connects the close relationship between fides (fidelity) and sacramentum. It is further argued that “the bond of marriage is so holy, that it never can be destroyed through separation: every new relation, even in case a woman is repudiated by her husband, is to be qualified as adultery” (De bono coniugali VII, 󰀆).󰀁󰀇 According to Augustine, it is “forbidden for a man to remarry as long as his adulterous wife lives” (De bono coniugali VII, 󰀇).󰀁󰀈 In the city of God, Augustine asserts that “once a marriage has been contracted, it can never be dissolved as long as the two spouses live, for the marriage is characterized by quoddam sacramentum” (De bono coniugali XV, 󰀁󰀇).󰀁󰀉 In the opinion of Augustine, the sacramentum of marriage has a theological meaning. Christianity understands marriage as sacramentum which means that “monogamous indissoluble marriage symbolizes the eschatological unity of all in the City of God, who are faithful to one God, not to many gods. Switching one’s allegiance from God to another god is likened to adultery.”󰀂󰀀 Augustine also sees the sacramentality of marriage in terms of a contract. It is the constitutive aspect of marriage, which is indisputably intrinsic to the marital life. For Augustine, “the marriage ‘contract’ is itself indissoluble and thus cannot be ‘annulled’ even if the moral prohibitions that mark its constitution are violated” (Marriage and Desire 󰀇.󰀇).󰀂󰀁 Moreover, in Marriage and Desire Augustine argues that “marriage continues to exist ‘as long as [husband and wife] are living’” and is something that “neither separation nor intercourse with another can destroy” (Marriage and Desire 󰀁.󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀁). The foundational element for marriage is rooted in Christology itself, and essentially is a “non-voidable contract” in the Christian tradition.󰀂󰀂 󰀃. The Conjugal Act as Moral Right The Goods of Marriage chapter 󰀆 discusses the sinful dimension of sexual intercourse. According to Augustine, i) “intercourse can be without sin only within marriage, … if it is motivated by the desire of conceiving a 󰀁󰀇

 Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀄󰀀-󰀄󰀁.  Ibid., 󰀄󰀁. 󰀁󰀉  Ibid. 󰀂󰀀  Cf. Fullam, “Toward a Virtue Ethics of Marriage,” 󰀆󰀇󰀄. 󰀂󰀁  Ellis, “The Ambivalence and Lust of Marriage,” 󰀃󰀇. 󰀂󰀂  Theodore Mackin, Marriage in the Catholic Church: Divorce and Remarriage (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄), 󰀅󰀁󰀅. 󰀁󰀈

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child, and the consent is given only for this;”󰀂󰀃 ii) intercourse would be “a venial sin within marriage … by concupiscent passion or if there is an accompanying subsequent consent to the carnal pleasure attending the act;”󰀂󰀄 and iii) intercourse becomes mortal sin “if it is with any person other than one’s spouse.”󰀂󰀅 󰀄. The Nature of Concupiscence Concupiscentia comes from two Latin words: con- (pointing to intensity) and cupid- (desiring) – meaning an intense desire, usually sensual. Augustine employs three words to identify the meaning of sexuality, namely libido, voluptas, and concupiscentia. Libido refers to “the unbecoming or shameful stirring of the sexual organs … It is beyond the control of reason and will.”󰀂󰀆 Libido is a rebellious law of its own in relation to genital anatomy, stirring the genitals to be active in “disobedience to reason and will.”󰀂󰀇 Voluptas is slightly different from libido. Augustine asserts that “the semen of both men and women is aroused and released”󰀂󰀈 by voluptas and it is, of course, sinful. According to Augustine, seminations take place only at the command of the will. Concupiscentia refers to the “body’s tendency to rebellion, its refusal to obey the command of the will. Therefore, if one would categorize it, it is more in the domain of disobedience and perverted right other than of bodily urgency or emotional compulsion.”󰀂󰀉 In the opinion of Augustine, lust is always evil. However, one can overcome it through the angle of “future parenthood. This evil can only be used within the context of a legal marriage in view of procreation” (De bono coniugali III, 󰀃).󰀃󰀀 Augustine reasons that “the use of the evil of lust is acceptable within marriage when the spouses have the intention to procreate. When one uses this evil but without the intention to procreate, it is, because of marriage, a venial sin” (De bono coniugali VI, 󰀆; VII, 󰀆; X, 󰀁󰀁; XI, 󰀁󰀂; XIII, 󰀁󰀅; XIV, 󰀁󰀆).󰀃󰀁 Concupiscence is always related to gluttony. In a broader sense concupiscence is also linked to  Cf. Mackin, Marriage in the Catholic Church: What Is Marriage?, 󰀁󰀃󰀀.  Ibid. 󰀂󰀅  Ibid. 󰀂󰀆  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀅. 󰀂󰀇  Ibid. 󰀂󰀈  Ibid. 󰀂󰀉  Ibid. 󰀃󰀀  Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀃󰀇. 󰀃󰀁  Ibid., 󰀃󰀈. 󰀂󰀃

󰀂󰀄

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irrationality, agitation, and desire towards self-fulfillment and to be away from God.󰀃󰀂 󰀅. Secondary Goods of Marriage Apart from the three goods of marriage, Augustine also presents secondary goods of marriage such as the husband-wife relationship which is a natural tie. He describes marriage in the context of friendship and mutual help or support of one another. Augustine speaks of friendship as an essential component for marriage and sexual intercourse. It is the premise for procreation and is to be taken into consideration as a wonderful societal good (De bono coniugali IX, 󰀉). The couples have to foster their love spiritually. If they are spiritually mature, they will abstain from sexual intercourse. “Such an attitude is described as the chastity of souls.”󰀃󰀃 Further we read that procreation also fosters growth in the bond of husband and wife.󰀃󰀄 Fides and sacramentum is very close to the idea of the friendship of spouses. For Augustine, fides pertains to sexual exclusivity and adultery is an abuse of fides.󰀃󰀅 Although procreation is the primary end of marriage, Augustine also asserts that “marriage is an instrumental good, directly serving the good of friendship between husband and wife, and indirectly serving friendship when marriage produces children who may grow up to be friends with one another.”󰀃󰀆 󰀂. The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition (Syro-Malabar Church) Drawing from two liturgical texts of marriage as used by the Syro-Malabar Church,󰀃󰀇 we explore the theology of marriage in the tradition of the Malabar Church. 󰀃󰀂

 Lamberigts, “Augustine on Marriage,” 󰀄󰀆.  Ibid., 󰀃󰀇. 󰀃󰀄  Cf. Fullam, “Toward a Virtue Ethics of Marriage,” 󰀆󰀇󰀂. 󰀃󰀅  Ibid. 󰀃󰀆  Ibid., 󰀆󰀇󰀅. 󰀃󰀇  The Syro-Malabar Church traces its origin to the ministry of Thomas the Apostle in the first century. The Seleucia-Ctesiphon tradition has influenced the Church in its theology as well as in its linguistic, commercial, and cultural spheres, reflecting a SumeroDravidian affinity. Cf. Michael Geddes, History of the Church of Malabar (London, 󰀃󰀃

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The first text, the East Syrian Marriage Rite (Chaldean Rite), was used by the Thomas Christians of India until the sixteenth century. This rite is still in use in the Chaldean Church and the Assyrian Church.󰀃󰀈 The rite can be divided into six parts: “󰀁. Rites preceding the Betrothal; 󰀁a. The rite of the consent or rite of sending the ring: the priest sends the ring of the groom through a woman to the bride; 󰀁b. Rite of joining the hands of the stewards, conducted in the house of bride in the presence of priest and witnesses; 󰀁c. Blessing the vestments and crowns: in the house of fiancée; priest and deacons are present; blessing with prayers; 󰀂. Celebration of Betrothal: liturgical celebration in the church; 󰀂a. Introductory rites: the priest asks the consent of the spouses and the guardians; the priest asks the groom about the reason for his invitation of the bride; the priest asks the consent of the father or the guardian of the bride; 󰀂b. Prayers; 󰀂c. Blessings: of the chalice, of the ring, of the chalice with the cross, and of the hnana; 󰀂d. Participation in the ‘sacrament’: blessing the spouses with the chalice, ‘the rite of communion’; drinking from the chalice; 󰀃. Celebration of Wedding; 󰀃a. Prayers of crowning: prayers, putting crowns on the heads of groom and bride; 󰀃b. Liturgy of Word; 󰀃c. Blessings: of the groom; of the bride; of the groomsman; of Bridesmaids; of the assembly; 󰀄. Leading the bride to the house of bridegroom; 󰀅. Wedding banquet; 󰀆. Rites subsequent to the celebration of wedding; Erection of bridal chamber; with prayers of the priest.”󰀃󰀉 󰀁󰀆󰀉󰀄), 󰀁󰀆-󰀄󰀅; Louis Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, Mar Thoma Yogam Publications 󰀆 (Rome: Leoniana, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀇󰀀. 󰀃󰀈  George Bader, The Nestorians and Their Rituals, vol. 󰀂 (London: Gregg International Publishers, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉), 󰀂󰀄󰀄-󰀂󰀇󰀆; Ananta Krishna Ayyer, Anthropology of Syrian Christians (Ernakulam: Cochin Government Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀆), 󰀁󰀈. 󰀃󰀉  Pauly Maniyattu, “Inculturation of the East Syrian Liturgy of Marriage by the St. Thomas Christians in India,” available online at http://dukhrana.in/inculturation-of-theeast-syrian-liturgy-of-marriage-by-the-st-thomas-christians-in-india [accessed on June 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. For a detailed study of the rite of marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, see K. M. Jomon, T’aks’a D-‘Al R’az’a Q’adish’a D-zuw’ag’a: A Textual and Theological Analysis

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The second text, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the SyroMalabar Church, was promulgated on January 󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅. There is a long history behind the formulation of this text. It is an adaptation of the Latin rite and the Chaldean rite.󰀄󰀀 It has the following parts: (󰀁) introductory hymn and the word of God, (󰀂) hymn of Ps 󰀉󰀈 and Ps 󰀄󰀅, (󰀃) nuptial covenant, blessing of the thaali, blessing of the rings, blessing of the manthrakodi, hymn, and (󰀄) concluding prayers and final blessing. 󰀁. Goal of Marriage Both the East Syrian Marriage Rite and Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church portray a balanced view on the procreative and unitive dimension of marriage. For instance, the Synod of Mar Iso’yahb I mentioned that mutual love and procreation are the galvanization of the marriage.󰀄󰀁 a) Procreation The East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy reflects the procreative dimension of marriage; there are prayers that ask the blessing of good offspring for the spouses. The priest prays for the blessing of fertility for the couples in one of the prayers at the rite of betrothal.󰀄󰀂 Prayer in connection with of the Order of Marriage in the East Syriac Tradition, Doctoral Dissertation (Kottayam: Mahatma Gandhi University, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), available at http://www.mgutheses.in/page/?q=T%󰀂󰀀 󰀂󰀈󰀉󰀃&search=&page=&rad=# [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈]. 󰀄󰀀  A significant consequence of the Synod of Diamper was a change in the marriage liturgy. A synod in Goa in 󰀁󰀅󰀈󰀅 had already made the decision to translate the Rituale Romanum into Syriac for use in India. This was accomplished by Jesuit Father Francis Roz, who incorporated the practices of the diocese of Braga in Portugal into the rite. This was approved at Diamper and became the official text of the Syro-Malabar Church. Dissatisfaction with the use of the Latin liturgy in India emerged in the early twentieth century, and on December 󰀁, 󰀁󰀉󰀃󰀄, Pius XI approved the restoration of the ancient liturgy. Committees were formed to prepare the text, but the Malayam translation of the sacraments of confession, anointing of the sick, and marriage were not issued until November 󰀁󰀇, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅. The marriage liturgy underwent subsequent changes and was promulgated by the Syro-Malabar Synod on January 󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅. Cf. Thomas Mannooramparampil: “The New Text of the Sacraments in the Syro-Malabar Church” 󰀁, available online at https:// nelsonmcbs.files.wordpress.com/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄/󰀀󰀄/the-new-text-of-the-sacraments-syro-malabarchurch-fr-thomas-mannooramparambil.pdf [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈]. 󰀄󰀁  Jean-Baptiste Chabot, Synodicon orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀂), 󰀁󰀈󰀉-󰀁󰀉󰀀/󰀄󰀄󰀈-󰀄󰀄󰀉; Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, 󰀇󰀅. 󰀄󰀂  T. Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church–Malayalam (Trichur: Mar Narasai Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈), 󰀃󰀇.

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the blessing of the chalice states that the Holy Spirit gives life.󰀄󰀃 During the time of the blessing of the crowns, the priest prays that “God may crown the couple with good offspring to praise his name.”󰀄󰀄 The same sense can be found in the blessing bestowed to the groom󰀄󰀅 and bride󰀄󰀆 at the formal celebration of the wedding. Similarly, during the rite of the erection of the bridal chamber, the priest asks that “the spouses be blessed by God with happiness and fecundity.”󰀄󰀇 The same concept is stated in the rite of dismantling the bridal chamber.󰀄󰀈 b) Sexual Union Sexual union has a rich meaning in the East Syrian liturgical text of marriage. Zuwāgā and shawtaputha are the two Syriac words that are used in the texts to denote the idea of sexual union. The marriage rite is called zuwāgā in Syriac. The noun zuwāgā, uniting in marriage, comes from the Syriac verb zaweg which means to join together or to unite in marriage – literally uniting with a yoke.󰀄󰀉 Zuwāgā is the act of marriage where the act itself may be considered as someone uniting the couples. In Syriac theology, it is God who unites the couples. It has also the meaning of communion resulting from sexual union. The use of the word evokes the union of life which the couple undertakes and can also bring to mind the sexual union which will be a part of this.󰀅󰀀 Related to zuwāgā, shawtaputha󰀅󰀁 is another word used in the liturgical text of marriage in the Syro-Malabar Church. Generally, in the Syriac tradition, it has the meaning of the Trinitarian communion, Eucharistic communion, communion of marriage, and conjugal union. According  Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church, 󰀂󰀃.  Ibid., 󰀃󰀈-󰀃󰀉. 󰀄󰀅  Ibid., 󰀄󰀉-󰀅󰀂. 󰀄󰀆  Ibid., 󰀅󰀅-󰀅󰀆. 󰀄󰀇  Ibid., 󰀆󰀈. 󰀄󰀈  Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, 󰀁󰀉󰀁. 󰀄󰀉  Jomon, A Textual and Theological Analysis, 󰀁󰀄󰀅; J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀), 󰀁󰀁󰀁. 󰀅󰀀  Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church, 󰀃. 󰀅󰀁  The word shawtaputha derives from the root ‘shawtep’ which means ‘to make a partaker’, ‘to communicate’, ‘to associate with’. Cf. Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, 󰀅󰀆󰀉. The verb has the meaning ‘to receive Holy Communion’ and ‘to have conjugal intercourse’. The noun shawtaputha has the sense of ‘participation’, ‘partnership’, ‘fellowship’, ‘communion’, ‘communicating’ (especially with Holy Communion), ‘charitable contribution’, ‘intercourse’, ‘familiarity’ (especially conjugal intercourse), ‘marriage’. Cf. Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, 󰀅󰀇󰀀. 󰀄󰀃

󰀄󰀄

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to Pauly Maniyattu, in the East Syriac liturgical and theological tradition, the notion of shawtaputha is of wider significance. It is the communion instituted in the Holy Trinity. It is the same communion of the Eucharist, allowing the faithful to share in the communion of the Trinity and in the communion with other beings. A Christian is called to have shawtaputha with the body and blood of Christ. The communion between Christ and the Church functions as the foundation of the communion between the bridegroom and the bride. It might be substantiated that the Trinitarian communion and the Eucharistic communion are the foundation for the conjugal act.󰀅󰀂 In short, shawtaputha is the result of zuwāgā. The prayer of the betrothal speaks about the one body of man and woman.󰀅󰀃 The priest prays that man and woman become one body through their unity.󰀅󰀄 In the East Syrian Marriage Rite we see that the water and wine mixed within the chalice is considered as the blood of Christ and sharing from it symbolizes the communion of the love of the couples.󰀅󰀅 Prayers for the blessing of the chalice speak about undivided love.󰀅󰀆 Additionally, before the coronation of the spouses, “the priest prays to bless them with the happiness promised in the Gospel, with the fortunes of their union of love.”󰀅󰀇 󰀂. Properties of Marriage This part describes the properties of marriage such as unity and indissolubility from the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church. a) Unity Unity means that it is an exclusive relation between husband and wife. It excludes all other possible partners. It is unlike all other forms of friendship. In order to achieve perfect psychological unity with each other, only one man can be joined to one woman in marriage at one time. 󰀅󰀂

 Pauly Maniyattu, “East Syrian Marriage as Celebration of Shawtaputha or Communion,” Journal of St. Thomas Christians 󰀃󰀀, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉): 󰀂󰀉-󰀄󰀂, at 󰀃󰀆-󰀃󰀉. 󰀅󰀃  Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church, 󰀃. 󰀅󰀄  Ibid., 󰀆. 󰀅󰀅  Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, 󰀁󰀈󰀉. 󰀅󰀆  Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church, 󰀂󰀇. 󰀅󰀇  Ibid., 󰀄󰀂.

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Unity in marriage is opposed to polyandry (one woman – several husbands) and polygamy (one husband – several wives). The prayers of both texts treat the unity between the husband and wife. The East Syrian Fathers speak clearly of the unity of the couples. For instance, the Synod of Mar Isoyahb I states that “Christ showed the perfect example for the spouses by maintaining exclusive union with the Church, his bride.” He lists “quarrels, jealousy and other conflicts as the outcome of polygamy.”󰀅󰀈 Similar ideas were expressed in the Synod of Mar Aba, Iso Bokt, Abdiso, Abdiso Bar Briha, Mar Simon of Rewardasir, Mar Abdiso Bar Bahriz, the Synod of Mar George I.󰀅󰀉 The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church depicts the theology of unity, and it is emphasized in the prayer following the Lord’s Prayer: “You have called these servants to be united in matrimony and to live in the unity of their hearts.”󰀆󰀀 The scriptural readings (Eph 󰀅:󰀂󰀀-󰀃󰀃; Mk 󰀁󰀀:󰀂-󰀉) illustrate the same idea. The prayer over the joined hands of the spouses highlights the bond signified: “May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be with you. May Jesus Christ, our Lord, unite you with the bond of marriage in order to lead a family life with love and with unity of mind.”󰀆󰀁 b) Indissolubility Indissolubility means that the couple’s relationship is permanent, and the bond exists until one of them dies. This actually demands a shared responsibility in conjugal love, procreation, and education of children. This is from the total and unique commitment that they make at the time of marriage. The prayers of the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy reflect the indissolubility of marriage. For instance, the endurance of the marriage union is first evoked during the betrothal prayers, where the texts of Gn 󰀂:󰀂󰀄 and Eph 󰀅:󰀂󰀁-󰀃󰀂 are used to frame the promises of the man and woman, with the exhortation “Let your endeavor succeed!”󰀆󰀂 Various other aspects of the marriage rite evoke the unity and indissolubility of the marriage: 󰀅󰀈  Chabot, Synodicon, 󰀁󰀄󰀉-󰀄󰀁󰀀. As quoted in Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, 󰀁󰀉󰀂. 󰀅󰀉  Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition. 󰀆󰀀  Holy Matrimony: Knanaya Catholic Mission, Chicago, IL, available online at https:// nelsonmcbs.files.wordpress.com/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄/󰀀󰀄/holy-matrimony-booklet.pdf [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀁  Ibid. 󰀆󰀂  Jomon, A Textual and Theological Analysis, 󰀁󰀀󰀂.

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the rite of joining hands before the betrothal, the drinking from the same chalice at the betrothal, the reading from Mt 󰀁󰀉:󰀃-󰀁󰀁, and the prayer at the erection of the bridal chamber.󰀆󰀃 Moreover, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church also affirms the indissolubility of marriage. For instance, the prayer of the faithful explicitly remarks on the indissolubility: “O Christ, who has taught about the indissolubility of marriage, help this couple to lead a happy life with mutual faithfulness and chastity.”󰀆󰀄 The blessing of the thaali󰀆󰀅 symbolically reflects the permanence of the marriage bond and the text of the blessing points out its significance: “May this Thaali which is a symbol of unity, unite them in unbreakable love and total faithfulness.”󰀆󰀆 The blessing of the rings touches on the “symbol of their mutual love and fidelity.” The marriage vows demonstrate clearly that only death can break the bond: “We do promise, making the Holy Gospel the witness, that from today onwards until our death, we will live together with one mind, in mutual love and fidelity in joy and sorrow, in prosperity and poverty, in health and ill health. May God Almighty help us to live according to this promise.”󰀆󰀇 The concluding prayers also underline permanence: “Protect them under the shade of your providence. O God, who has blessed Abraham and Sarah, we thank you for your mercy which has inseparably united this couple.”󰀆󰀈 c) Adultery as Threatening the Indissolubility of Marriage The East Syrian Tradition admitted the teaching of the NT as the criteria for the indissolubility of the marriage. However, East Syrian Fathers also discussed that the husband has the right to separation on the ground of adultery.󰀆󰀉 According to L. Edakalathur, “they took literally the exception granted by our Lord and considered adultery a certain ground for separation. Thus a divergence crept in between theory and practice on the stability and indissolubility of marriage.”󰀇󰀀 Currently the Syro-Malabar 󰀆󰀃  Maniyattu, “Inculturation of the East Syrian Liturgy of Marriage” [accessed on June 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀄  Holy Matrimony: Knanaya Catholic Mission [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀅  Koonammakkal, “Traditions of Mar Thoma Nasranis,” available online at http:// www.nasrani.org/articles/traditions.hml [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈]. 󰀆󰀆  Holy Matrimony: Knanaya Catholic Mission [accessed on February 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀇  Ibid. 󰀆󰀈  Ibid. 󰀆󰀉  Edakalathur, The Theology of Marriage in the East Syrian Tradition, 󰀁󰀉󰀄-󰀁󰀉󰀅. 󰀇󰀀  Ibid., 󰀁󰀉󰀃.

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Church follows Catholic theology on the indissolubility of marriage. We may note that with the arrival of the Portuguese, Syro-Malabar practice was brought in line with the Latin practice, which was formalized at the Synod of Diamper. “The canons of the synod exclude any possibility of remarriage when the marriage is valid and the two spouses are still alive. Likewise, the liturgy made no mention of any possibility of the bond breaking down.”󰀇󰀁 󰀃. Communion (shawtaputha) of Couples One of the salient features of the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy is that marriage is the celebration of communion.󰀇󰀂 This is very clear in the ritual of the rite of sending the ring. The sending and reception of the ring stand for the communion of couples, a communion facilitated through Christ. Similarly, “the rite of joining the hands of the stewards of the spouses is another moment for conveying the idea of communion.”󰀇󰀃 This speaks not only of the communion of the couples but also of the communion between two families. It is also noticed that the expression of consent by the stewards makes it “clear that marriage is not just the affair of two individual believers. The members of the Church have a great role to play in the communion between the spouses.”󰀇󰀄 Further, the rite of the blessing of the vestments too manifests the dimension of the intimacy of the couples. The prayers of this blessing focus on two things: “i) the renewal in life with the garment of immortality, and ii) the robe of love and concord the spouses put on each other.”󰀇󰀅 In the ceremony of betrothal, the priest prays for communion of couples and conjugal communion (shawtaputha) of the spouses. As we saw already, the communion aspect is further elucidated in the rite of the chalice. Thus the couples “drinking from the same chalice signifies the perfect communion of life.”󰀇󰀆 In addition, the concept of communion is expressed in the rite of crowning which aims to represent the crucified love.󰀇󰀇

󰀇󰀁  Scaria Kanniyakonil, “The Indissolubility of Marriage in the Syro-Malabar Church,” Marriage, Families and Spirituality 󰀂󰀄, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀁󰀀󰀆-󰀁󰀂󰀀, at 󰀁󰀁󰀉. 󰀇󰀂  Maniyattu, “Inculturation of the East Syrian Liturgy of Marriage” [accessed on June 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀇󰀃  Ibid. 󰀇󰀄  Ibid. 󰀇󰀅  Ibid. 󰀇󰀆  Ibid. 󰀇󰀇  Maniyattu, “East Syrian Marriage as Celebration of Shawtaputha or Communion,” 󰀃󰀁.

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In the rites following the celebration of the wedding, we can also see the meaning of the communion aspect. The erection and the dismantling of the bridal chamber point to the conjugal act as the communion of couples. Here the priest prays that “God may render the couples worthy of being united one to another by the bond of love.”󰀇󰀈

󰀃. Theology of Marriage in St. Augustine and in the Syro-Malabar Tradition: A Comparison a) The purpose of marriage is clearly expressed both in the text of Augustine and the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church. According to Augustine, the primary good of marriage is procreation and the secondary good is the mutual love of the husband and wife. But in the East Syrian tradition, there is no separation between life and love, and there is no mention of primary and secondary ends of marriage. The Bible speaks of the dignity of both ends. Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀇-󰀂󰀈 reveals the procreative meaning of marriage (increase and multiply). Gn 󰀂:󰀂󰀄 presents the unitive aspect of marriage: “therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” However, we find a shift in the biblical understanding of the conjugal act during the time of the Church Fathers which continued till Vatican II: the emphasis was put on procreation as the primary end and love as the secondary end. The teaching of Augustine was prominent until Vatican II. b) The conjugal act without having the intention of procreation is considered as evil in the teaching of Augustine. But the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the SyroMalabar Church makes it clear that the aim of the conjugal act is to express the communion of couples. In short, the Trinitarian, Eucharistic, marital communion leads to sexual communion. So the conjugal act has a rich theological meaning. c) The sacramental nature of marriage is adequately emphasized both in the teaching of Augustine and East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy. Polygamy and polyandry are condemned both in the eastern and western Christian tradition.  Dharmo, The Text of the Matrimony of the East Syrian Church, 󰀅󰀈-󰀆󰀈.

󰀇󰀈

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d) Adultery is not an exception to the indissolubility of marriage in the writings of Augustine and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the SyroMalabar Church. But it is an exception to the indissolubility of marriage in the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy. e) Both St. Augustine and the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy narrate friendship of couples. Augustine speaks of the friendship of couples as secondary goods of the marriage. The East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy points out the deep communion of couples as a good of marriage. Conclusion We have conducted a brief study of the theology of marriage in the writings of St. Augustine, the East Syrian Matrimonial Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony of the Syro-Malabar Church. The sacramentality of marriage is highly emphasized in the Latin and the East Syriac Tradition. Although one finds nuances in the Augustinian and East Syrian theology of marriage, in general they complement each other and help us to understand the richness of the theology of marriage. Finally, one could observe that the procreative dimension, mutual love, unity, indissolubility, and communion of the couples – the salient features of this theology – are relevant not only in the period of Augustine and the Eastern Syrian Fathers, but also today as they help the Church and especially couples in a fruitful reflection in the theology of marriage.

The Second Vatican Council and the Ongoing Renewal

Post-Conciliar Trends in Indian Ecclesiology Mathai Kadavil The post-conciliar discussions in Indian theology made various attempts in articulating the self-hood of the Indian Church. The incarnation and inculturation of Christianity in the socio-cultural context of India and the emergence of an Indian Church were common threads underpinning the ecclesiological discussions in Indian theology. In this short article, we shall discuss some of the important thrusts of Indian ecclesiology. 󰀁. Indian Ecclesiology and the Quest for Identity ‘Quest for identity’ was an important concern of the Indian Renaissance. It had its impact on Christians which resulted in the foundation of indigenous Christian communities like Hindu Church of the Lord Jesus (󰀁󰀈󰀅󰀇), National Church of India (󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀆), Calcutta Christo Samaj (󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀇), Church of New Dispensation (󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀁), and so on. There was also an attempt to formulate the Christian faith from the matrix of Indian culture as the Fathers had attempted from the matrix of Greek philosophy.󰀁 This identity consciousness was foundational in building up an indigenous theology for India. This tendency was accentuated with the radical call of the Second Vatican Council to incarnate into local cultures (GS 󰀅󰀈), since “the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is truly and fully present in the Local Church” (LG 󰀂󰀆, CD 󰀁󰀁). This Council’s paradigm shift “from the Universal Church to the local churches, from the hierarchical Church to the People, from the Institutional Church to the Mystery of the Church, and from Monarchical Papacy to the Collegiality of Bishops” strengthened it.󰀂 It was a transition from the Scholastic ecclesiology to an ecclesiology 󰀁  Joseph Mattam, “Interpreting Christ to India Today: The Calcutta School,” Indian Journal of Theology 󰀂󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄): 󰀁󰀉󰀁-󰀂󰀀󰀅. 󰀂  Kuncheria Pathil, “Theological Reflections on the Church from India,” Asian Horizons 󰀆, no. 󰀄 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀆󰀇󰀇-󰀇󰀀󰀆, at 󰀆󰀈󰀃. See also id., “Vatican II and Paradigm Shift in the Theology of the Church,” in id., Theology of the Church: New Horizons (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆), 󰀂󰀉-󰀅󰀁.

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from anthropological and cultural perspectives which Roger Haight calls a transition of the ‘ecclesiology from above’ to the ‘ecclesiology from below’ or ‘historical ecclesiology’.󰀃 This paradigm shift is echoed in the “All India Seminar on the Church in India Today” conducted under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in Bangalore on May 󰀁󰀅-󰀂󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉.󰀄 CBCI’s joint pastoral letter announcing the seminar made this clear: “The Church in India, … if it is true to its essential mission, must be a Church rooted in Indian soil, thoroughly at home in her various languages, culture, and way of life, intimately sharing the ‘joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties’ (GS 󰀁) of the Indian people.”󰀅 The conference was a landmark, rejuvenating the Indian Church in the post-conciliar time. The quest for the identity of Indian Church continued at various levels. The CBCI General Body meeting in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄 stated: “The Church in India must realize her genuine Indian identity and rid herself of the slur of being foreign which clings to her because of leaning too heavily on foreign support and the style of life adopted by some of the Christian communities.”󰀆 The Indian Theological Association (ITA) founded in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆 carried over the quest for the identity of the Indian Church. On the occasion of the 󰀄󰀀th anniversary of ITA, Kuncheria Pathil wrote: The Indian Theologians have a dream of an Indian Church: ‘We dream of an Indian Church that is authentically local, autonomous and participative, committed to the promotion of the Kingdom. Such a Church will be community of hope, guided by the Spirit, exercising its prophetic function, fully convinced that it is in a pilgrim state, ever involved in dialogue with people of other faiths and ideologies, and with a special attention to the needs of the oppressed and marginalized’.󰀇

󰀃  Roger Haight, Christian Community in Historical Ecclesiology, vol. I (London: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄). 󰀄  CBCI, All India Seminar – Church in India Today (Bangalore: CBCI, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉). Preparatory seminars were conducted in 󰀁󰀄 regions, 󰀄󰀈 dioceses, 󰀁󰀅 seminaries, 󰀁󰀄 special groups, and 󰀉 consultations which ran for three years. CBCI, Preparatory Seminars – An Assessment (Bangalore: CBCI Organizing Committee, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉). 󰀅  CBCI Evaluation Committee, CBCI Evaluation Report – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India: Retrospect and Prospects (New Delhi: CBCI, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), no. 󰀁󰀉󰀁. Hereafter CBCI Evaluation Report. 󰀆  CBCI, Report of the General Meeting (Calcutta, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄), 󰀁󰀂󰀈. 󰀇  Kuncheria Pathil, “Journey of Indian Theological Association: Walking Down the Memory Lane,” in Doing Theology in India – 󰀄󰀀 Years of Indian Theological Association: Milestones and Sign Posts, ed. Jacob Parappally MSFS and Vincent Kundukulam (Bangalore: Indian Theological Association & Asian Trading Corporation, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀇-󰀂󰀉, at 󰀂󰀉. Pathil quoted the ITA statement of 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆, no. 󰀃󰀇.

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The themes of the 󰀇th (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃) and 󰀁󰀉th annual meeting (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆) of ITA, Searching for an Indian Ecclesiology and The Church in India – In Search of a New Identity respectively also reveal this quest for identity.󰀈 Indian theologians developed an ecclesiology rooted in the cultural, philosophical, and religious background of India. They were engaged in translating the Christian faith and the doctrines from a scholastic mode into Indian cultural, philosophical, and religious categories understandable to the Indian psyche.󰀉 Archbishop Henry D’Souza, addressing the all India seminar conducted by the CBCI Commission for Seminaries in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀈, underscored fides quaerens intellectum as an effort to understand faith and also to make others understand, hence the importance of cultural patterns and thought structures of diverse people and nations.󰀁󰀀 While appreciating such efforts, Felix Wilfred believed one could go further in using Indian categories.󰀁󰀁 The Indian Church is often criticized that they “are either Roman or Syrian or Antiochean or German Lutheran or British Methodist and so on. They are mere extensions or transplantations from outside.”󰀁󰀂 In order to overcome this criticism, many argued for the incarnation of the Church in the socio-cultural context of India and thus for the emergence of local churches. The communion of these pluralistic Churches will make the Indian Church.󰀁󰀃 Similarly, the Indian Oriental churches are also engaged in the quest for identity. Placid Podipara has articulated this well in the dictum: “Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Oriental in worship.”󰀁󰀄 Though they are divided into various denominations, all of them are engaged in developing their ecclesiology with a triple identity: faith depending on their denominational affiliations, Indian culture, and oriental liturgy.󰀁󰀅  For the proceedings of both seminars see: Gerwin van Leeuwen, ed., Searching for an Indian Ecclesiology (Bangalore: ATC 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄); Kurien Kunnumpuram, Errol D’Lima, and Jacob Parappally, eds., The Church in India – In Search of a New Identity (Bangalore: NBCLC, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇). 󰀉  Pathil, “Theological Reflections on the Church from India,” 󰀆󰀈󰀅-󰀆󰀈󰀆. 󰀁󰀀  Michael Amaladoss et al., eds., Theologizing in India (Bangalore: TPI, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁), 󰀁󰀄. 󰀁󰀁  Felix Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations (Madras: University of Madras, Department of Christian Studies, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀁󰀉󰀈-󰀁󰀉󰀉. 󰀁󰀂  Pathil, “Journey of Indian Theological Association,” 󰀁󰀆. 󰀁󰀃  Kurien Kunnumpuram, “The Autonomy of the Indian Church,” in The Church in India – In Search of a New Identity, 󰀁󰀅󰀅-󰀁󰀇󰀆, at 󰀁󰀅󰀆-󰀁󰀅󰀇; Kuncheria Pathil, “Introduction,” in Searching for an Indian Ecclesiology, 󰀈. 󰀁󰀄  Placid Podipara, The Thomas Christians (Bombay: St. Paul Publications; London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀀); id., “Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental in Worship,” in The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menacherry, vol. II (Trichur: B.N.K. Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃), 󰀁󰀀󰀇-󰀁󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀅  Mathai Kadavil, “Why It Is Important to Develop Syro-Oriental Theology in India Now,” in Quo Vadis, Theologia Orientalis? Actes du colloque “Théologie orientale: contenu et 󰀈

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In short, as Mundadan has rightly observed: One major pre-occupation today of Indian Christians – Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox – is how to convert the Church in India into a real Indian Church of the Indian people, sensitive to the country’s cultural and spiritual past and the needs of emerging modern secular India. This quest for an Indian Church incorporates into itself the ethos of both the earlier and more recent attempts to build up a Christian identity and selfhood.󰀁󰀆

󰀂. The Mystery Dimension of the Church The mystical dimension of Indian religiosity and the institutional and hierarchical nature of Christianity were important concerns of an Indian ecclesiology. Indian religions are rooted in the experience of God (anubhava).󰀁󰀇 Western theologians generally follow a doctrinal approach to theology, whereas the Indian approach is “experience-based, praxis oriented, dialogical and interdisciplinary.”󰀁󰀈 Hinduism does not have any rigorous system of membership but rather follows different “margas or paths like bhakti (way of devotion), jnana (way of knowledge) and karma (way of involvement and service).”󰀁󰀉 The understanding of theology also stems from one’s experience of God. From this perspective, it is argued that the classical definition of Western theology as “faith seeking understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum) is not an adequate description of theology in the Indian context. From an Indian perspective, theology is not “a progression from the obscurity of faith to the intelligibility of the logos but a movement from the twilight of faith to the binding brightness of an inner vision.”󰀂󰀀 In other words, “While the Western approach importance” (TOTT) Ain Traz, avril 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅 (Beyrouth: Cedrac Université St. Joseph, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈), 󰀂󰀃󰀉-󰀂󰀅󰀄; John B. Chethimattom, “Indian and Oriental Christian Context of Theologizing,” Jeevadhara 󰀁󰀅 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅): 󰀃󰀅󰀅-󰀃󰀈󰀃; Jeevadhara 󰀃󰀃, no. 󰀁󰀉󰀆 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃); 󰀃󰀄, no. 󰀂󰀀󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄). 󰀁󰀆  A. Mathias Mundadan, “Selfhood of the Indian Christians,” in Orthodox Identity in India: Essays in Honour of V.C. Samuel, ed. M. K. Kuriakose (Bangalore, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈), 󰀄󰀈-󰀅󰀈, at 󰀄󰀈-󰀄󰀉. 󰀁󰀇  Felix Wilfred has made a beautiful distinction between experience (anubhava) understood in the ontological order and in the epistemological order. The latter is an empirical knowledge of experience through the senses and the former is knowledge through realization. Here God experience is God realization. Here, experience of God is realization of God. Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀁󰀇󰀅-󰀁󰀇󰀆. 󰀁󰀈  Ibid., 󰀁󰀈󰀀-󰀁󰀈󰀁. 󰀁󰀉  Ibid., 󰀂󰀀󰀀. See also Raimundo Panikkar, “The Hindu Ecclesial Consciousness – Some Ecclesiological Reflections,” Jeevadhara 󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄): 󰀁󰀉󰀉-󰀂󰀀󰀅. 󰀂󰀀  John B. Chethimattam, “The Spirit and Orientation of an Indian Theology,” Jeevadhara 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁): 󰀄󰀅󰀂-󰀄󰀆󰀂, at 󰀄󰀅󰀂. Similarly, Robert Murray from the Eastern Christian

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emphasizes hierarchical authority, doctrinal formulations and definitions, the Eastern approach and method give more emphasis to personal experience (anubhava: becoming one with the object) celebration and community.”󰀂󰀁 ITA went further and said “Theology should spring from the anubhava of both the staff and the students.”󰀂󰀂 Taking into account this experiential dimension of Indian religiosity, Felix Wilfred believed that “The starting point for the budding forth of Indian ecclesiology is the inner experience.”󰀂󰀃 He also argued that the ecclesial leaders should be like a guru possessing spiritual power and moral authority which comes from a deep experience of the Divine.󰀂󰀄 Similarly, ITA recommended that theologians draw inspiration from models like Acharya, Guru, Pandit.󰀂󰀅 The 󰀁󰀄th annual meeting of ITA stated: “Approaching Jesus from our Indian context, we meet him as the spiritual teacher who awakened his disciples to the presence in the depth of their own being of the Mystery by which he himself lived and in the awareness of which he taught them to call God ‘Our Father’. The specificity of Christian spirituality is its rootedness in the mystery of Jesus the Saviour.”󰀂󰀆 The 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆 meeting of CBCI declared: “Within our own dioceses, we find that we are expected to be the center of unity and coordination, the source of life and strength for our priests, religious and laity, and the builders of an apostolic community, whose main concern will be not in buildings and structures – however necessary – but the growth of persons, to bring them to full maturity in Christ.”󰀂󰀇 Keeping the mystical tradition of India, the Indian Church had focused on rediscovering images like Church as sacrament, mystical body of Christ etc. The evaluation report of CBCI has stated this clearly: perspective rephrased Anselm’s phrase as fides adorans mysterium. Robert Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅), 󰀈󰀉. 󰀂󰀁  Kuncheria Pathil, “Chethimattam’s Contributions towards a Theology of the Church,” in John Britto Chethimattam – A Pioneer in Indian Christian Theology, ed. Kuncheria Pathil and Shaji George Kochuthara (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀂󰀅󰀉-󰀂󰀇󰀃, at 󰀂󰀆󰀈. 󰀂󰀂  󰀈th ITA Final Statement, 󰀂󰀃/iii, in Theologizing in Context – Statements of the Indian Theological Association, ed. Jacob Parappally MSFS (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), 󰀉󰀈. 󰀂󰀃  Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀁󰀉󰀇-󰀁󰀉󰀈. 󰀂󰀄  Ibid., 󰀂󰀀󰀁. 󰀂󰀅  󰀁󰀅th ITA Final Statement, 󰀉, in Theologizing in Context, 󰀁󰀉󰀀. 󰀂󰀆  󰀁󰀄th ITA Final Statement, 󰀉, in Theologizing in Context, 󰀁󰀇󰀇. 󰀂󰀇  Donald H. R. De Souza, ed., Final Statements of the General Body Meetings of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆-󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂) (New Delhi: CBCI Centre, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃), 󰀄󰀂. Hereafter Final Statements of CBCI 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆-󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂.

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The Church sees herself not primarily as an organized institution but as a “mysterium,” or a “sacrament,” i.e., as a true social reality with laws and structures, which, however, have only one purpose: to embody God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ and his saving love for all human beings. It is the “visible organization through which God communicates truth and grace to all men” (LG 󰀈). Hence all ecclesial structures are essentially subordinate to the service of its sacramentality, to embody Christ’s saving mission.󰀂󰀈

The mystical approach of Saint Thomas Christians is well rooted in the cultural situations of India.󰀂󰀉 Felix Wilfred opines that their “practice of fasting as well as theological vision animating it, responded to the sensibilities of Hinduism which has always ascribed a great value to fasting and penance, and has believed in the power and efficacy deriving from tapas – ascetic practices.”󰀃󰀀 Bishop Thomas Dabre also underscored the importance of the spiritual orientations of Oriental churches in building up an Indian theology.󰀃󰀁 It is also evident in the ecclesial administration of Saint Thomas Christians. They made a clear demarcation between the spiritual and temporal administration. The bishops were like Indian gurus attending only to the spiritual aspects of the ecclesial life. The administration of temporal matters was administered by the Archdeacon. They also stressed anubhava, deification or theosis through liturgical and sacramental celebrations. 󰀃. Mission Ecclesiology in a Multi-Religious Context The mission ecclesiology of India was developed in the multi-religious context of India. The missionary ecclesiology based on Extra ecclesiam nulla salus focused more on conquering people for Christ.󰀃󰀂 After the Second Vatican Council it was altered with the recognition of “the rays of truth in other religions” (NA 󰀂). The new understanding led to a  CBCI Evaluation Report, no. 󰀅󰀄.  James Aerthayil, The Spiritual Heritage of the St Thomas Christians (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁). 󰀃󰀀  Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀇. 󰀃󰀁  Bishop Thomas Dabre, “Towards an Indian Theology: Contribution of SyroMalankara Theology,” in Theologizing in the Malankara Catholic Church, ed. J. Puthuparampil (Pune: Bethany Vedavijnana Peeth, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀂󰀆-󰀃󰀃, at 󰀂󰀈. 󰀃󰀂  It is called a ‘conquest approach’ based on the mission reports of Franciscans and Jesuits (Paulo de Trinade OFM, Conquesta espiritual do Oriente; Francesco de Souza, Oriente Conquistado a Jesus Christo) of this period. A. Mathias Mundadan, Paths of Indian Theology (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈), 󰀅󰀀-󰀅󰀇. 󰀂󰀈

󰀂󰀉

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radical shift in the mission of evangelization. It was a shift from radical conversion to the proclamation of the kingdom of God. Some theologians even questioned the necessity of the Church in a multi-religious context󰀃󰀃 and raised the question: “Mission without the Church?”󰀃󰀄 Similarly, the necessity of baptism is also questioned on the basis of Council’s teachings on the salvation of the unbaptized (LG 󰀁󰀆; NA 󰀁; AG 󰀇; GS 󰀁󰀀. 󰀂󰀂).󰀃󰀅 Instead, they conceive baptism as participation in the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection and in relation to the Kingdom of God.󰀃󰀆 The final statement of the seminar Sharing Worship (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈) stated: Formerly baptism automatically implied alienation from one’s community; today we would like to describe its meaning as a celebration of one’s conversion from individualism to sharing with others in the model of Jesus, from bondage to self to commitment to the Kingdom of God, where freedom, fellowship, justice, and responsible love reign, where we work with others for a truly human society for all.󰀃󰀇

Based on such arguments, a new tendency started to arise. Many people do not become members in the Church through baptism. They call themselves kristbhaktas and try to live Christianity in their own way.󰀃󰀈 Brahmabandhab Upadhyay’s distinction between Samaj dharma – the way of life of the society – and sadhana dharma – the spiritual path and thus the freedom to their ishta devata – was foundational to such arguments. While such tendencies are promoted in the multi-cultural context of India, participation in the sacramental life of the Church is possible only through proper membership in the Church.󰀃󰀉 The Oriental churches were often criticized for not actively engaging in the mission of evangelization. It was mainly because of their approach to salvation based on oikonomia.󰀄󰀀 They generally promote the notion of 󰀃󰀃  Cornelius Ernst OP, “The Necessity of the Church in the Context of Non-Christian Religions,” in Service and Salvation – Nagpur Theological Conference on Evangelization, ed. Joseph Pathrapangal (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃), 󰀂󰀆󰀇-󰀂󰀈󰀁. 󰀃󰀄  Jacob Kavungal, “Mission without the Church?” Jeevadhara 󰀂󰀄, no. 󰀁󰀄󰀂 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀂󰀈󰀂-󰀂󰀉󰀂. 󰀃󰀅  Pathil, “Theological Reflections on the Church from India,” 󰀇󰀀󰀃. 󰀃󰀆  Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀂󰀀󰀂-󰀂󰀀󰀃. 󰀃󰀇  Paul Puthenangadi, ed., Sharing Worship-Communicatio in Sacris (Bangalore: NBCLC, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈), 󰀇󰀉󰀄-󰀇󰀉󰀅. 󰀃󰀈  Pathil, “Theological Reflections on the Church from India,” 󰀇󰀀󰀂-󰀇󰀀󰀄. Jerome Sylvester IMS, “Ashramas Incarnational Approach to Christian Spirituality of Social Involvement for Transformation in the Indian Context: An Appraisal of Matridham Ashram at Varanasi,” Aykyasameeksha 󰀁󰀅, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀇󰀇-󰀉󰀈. 󰀃󰀉  Kavungal, “Mission without the Church?,” 󰀂󰀈󰀂-󰀂󰀉󰀂. 󰀄󰀀  Georges Khodr, “Christianity in a Pluralistic World – the Economy of the Holy Spirit,” The Ecumenical Review 󰀂󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁): 󰀁󰀁󰀈-󰀁󰀂󰀈.

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evangelization by permeation and witness.󰀄󰀁 In the post-conciliar period, Indian theologians promoted mission through presence.󰀄󰀂 The Ashram movement was yet another attempt to promote Christian witness in the multi-religious context of India.󰀄󰀃 Soares Prabhu argues that the aggressive mission during the colonial period, which aimed at the growth of the Church based on the Great Commission (Mt 󰀂󰀈:󰀁󰀆-󰀂󰀀), is to be “balanced and corrected by mission as witness, by the Church being and becoming the salt and the light based on the mission text of Mt 󰀅:󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀆.”󰀄󰀄 󰀄. Ecclesiology in the Socio-Political Context Influenced by liberation theology, Indian theologians tried to articulate Church in the socio-political context of India.󰀄󰀅 As Mundadan notes, it “is an attempt to evolve a theology not from a certain predefined set of ecclesiastical principles, but from the very context in which the Church in India is engaged in her task of evangelization.”󰀄󰀆 In the words of J. B. Chethimattom, it is a shift from “metaphysics and questions of belief to the secular problems that affect human existence itself.”󰀄󰀇 Influenced by liberation theology, they viewed the life of their people as loci theologici. Theology must emerge from the life situation of the people (sensus fidei, sensus fidelium).󰀄󰀈 Jacob Parappally even says that the poor are the hermeneutical key to understanding the mystery of God.󰀄󰀉 󰀄󰀁  Alexander Schmemann, “The Missionary Imperative,” in id., Church, World, Mission: Reflections on Orthodoxy in the West (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉), 󰀂󰀀󰀉-󰀂󰀁󰀆. 󰀄󰀂  Three papers were presented on the Apostolate of Presence and Evangelization in the Nagapore conference on evangelization (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁). See, Joseph Pathrapankal, ed., Service and Salvation – Nagpur Theological Conference on Evangelization (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃), 󰀄󰀀󰀅-󰀄󰀃󰀄. 󰀄󰀃  Vandana, Gurus, Ashrams and Christians (Madras: Christian Literature Society, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁). 󰀄󰀄  George M. Soares-Prabhu, “The Church as Mission: A Reflection on Mt 󰀅:󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀆,” Jeevadhara 󰀂󰀄, no. 󰀁󰀄󰀂 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀂󰀇󰀁-󰀂󰀈󰀁. 󰀄󰀅  Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀈󰀅-󰀉󰀈; 󰀁󰀃󰀈-󰀁󰀇󰀂; Mundadan, Paths of Indian Theology, 󰀁󰀆󰀄-󰀂󰀄󰀂. See Joseph Pathrapankal, ed., Service and Salvation; F. Wilfred, ed., Leave the Temple – Indian Paths to Human Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂). 󰀄󰀆  Mundadan, Paths of Indian Theology, 󰀁󰀆󰀅. 󰀄󰀇  John B. Chethimattom, Dialogue in Indian Tradition (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉), 󰀉󰀄. 󰀄󰀈  Kuncheria Pathil, “Theologizing in Context,” in Indian Theology Seeking New Horizons, ed. Kuncheria Pathil and Mathew Paikada (Bombay: St. Paul, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀅󰀄-󰀆󰀃, at 󰀆󰀁. See also Errol D’Lima, “Doing People’s Theology,” ibid., 󰀆󰀄-󰀇󰀅; Vandana RSCJ, “Indian Theologizing: The Role of Experience,” in Theologizing in India, 󰀈󰀁-󰀁󰀁󰀅. 󰀄󰀉  Jacob Parappally MSFS, “The Contribution of Indian Theology to the Universal Church,” in Doing Theology in India, 󰀇󰀅-󰀉󰀃, at 󰀈󰀉.

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Here one sees a major shift in the approach to society. Earlier, the intervention in society of the missionaries was mainly for conversion. They converted the poor fisherman and other villagers and supported them financially. Schools and other social institutions like hospitals were considered as a preparation for evangelization. Later, they intervened in the struggle for independence and also in nation building. In the postconciliar period, the Indian theologians were more involved in a fight for justice.󰀅󰀀 For example, from the time of independence, CBCI was in the forefront fighting for the rights of the Dalit Christians.󰀅󰀁 Shalini Mulackal, reviewing the theological method of ITA, notes that the involvement of theologians in the struggle of the people was the first step towards theologizing in India.󰀅󰀂 This was evident in the 󰀅th annual meeting of ITA which reflected on the Gospel in the socio-political context of India.󰀅󰀃 Similarly, the 󰀉th and 󰀁󰀀th annual meeting tried to articulate an Indian theology of liberation by analyzing the Indian sociocultural and political situation and appropriated a Gandhian vision along with other modes of liberation.󰀅󰀄 Issues like Dalits, civil society, economy, secularism, violence, corruption, inclusive development, etc., were addressed in the ITA meetings from 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆 to 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂.󰀅󰀅 󰀅. A Participatory Church – the Role of the Laity The role of laity and their participation in the building up of the Church is another important theme of Indian ecclesiology. In continuity with the call for the participation of the laity by the liturgical movement and the recommendation of Catholic Action by Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno (󰀁󰀉󰀃󰀀), Vatican II gave due importance to the participation of laity in the life of the Church. Lumen gentium laid the foundation for a theology of the laity. The separate decree on the mission of the laity is another major achievement. Canon Law, both Latin and Oriental, was modified on the basis of Second Vatican’s teachings on laity. Later, the post-Synodal exhortation on the laity Christifideles laici made concrete steps towards its implementation.  Wilfred, Beyond Settled Foundations, 󰀇󰀀-󰀈󰀄.  CBCI Evaluation Report, 󰀁󰀉󰀇-󰀁󰀉󰀉. 󰀅󰀂  Shalini Mulackal, “Theological Method of ITA,” in Doing Theology in India, 󰀃󰀀-󰀄󰀈, at 󰀄󰀄. 󰀅󰀃  Parappally, ed., Theologizing in Context, 󰀆󰀃-󰀆󰀆. 󰀅󰀄  Ibid., 󰀁󰀀󰀁-󰀁󰀂󰀈. 󰀅󰀅  See the overview on the ITA website (www.itanet.in) under “publications” and “statements.” 󰀅󰀀 󰀅󰀁

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The notions ‘people of God’, ‘royal priesthood’, ‘participation in the tria munera’ of Christ, etc., have become catchwords in the post-conciliar discussions on the laity in India. CBCI’s Delhi meeting (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆) declared: “It is the decisive task of the years to come to strengthen the sense of Christian vocation of all the faithful, the sense of responsibility and sacrifice and service; the realization of our oneness in Christ.”󰀅󰀆 The same meeting has also constituted the National Council of the Lay Apostolate. The Ernakulam meeting (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀀) appreciated the lay representatives for their effective participation and involvement in the deliberations of the All India Seminar.󰀅󰀇 The Nagpur (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄) and Goa (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆) meetings of CBCI have taken the theme “The Church’s Response to the Challenges of Contemporary Society with Special Reference to the Role of Laity” and “Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World” respectively.󰀅󰀈 They all express the Church’s deep commitment in building up the lay faithful for the mission of the Church. The Church has also taken keen interest in training the lay faithful.󰀅󰀉 The ITA meeting of 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆 has critically analyzed the role of the laity in the Indian Church. While appreciating many of the efforts initiated by the Church, it critically observed the systematic exclusion of the laity in the building of a participatory Church.󰀆󰀀 In their observation, parish and pastoral councils at diocesan, regional, and national levels are handicapped because of the consultative character, ‘nomination’ culture, and irregularity of meetings.󰀆󰀁 It advocated indigenous models like Gramasabh, the egalitarian community model of the tribal-communities and fisher-communities, and the palliyogam model adopted by the Saint Thomas Christians.󰀆󰀂 Earlier on they had already suggested that “The ancient practice of Church Assemblies (palliyogam) could be revitalized in such a way that the modern parish councils do not remain merely consultative bodies, but truly participate in the building up of the Body of Christ (LG 󰀃󰀂, 󰀃󰀃).”󰀆󰀃  Final Statements of CBCI 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆-󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂, 󰀃.  Ibid., 󰀈; CBCI Evaluation Report, no. 󰀂󰀀󰀄. 󰀅󰀈  Final Statements of CBCI 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆-󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂, 󰀈󰀆-󰀁󰀁󰀂. 󰀅󰀉  NBCLC (National Biblical Catechetical and Liturgical Centre) has organized training programs in English and in other regional languages. They also published a text for the study of the teachings on laity. See NBCLC, Anointed for Others – Vocation & Mission of the Laity (Bangalore: NBCLC, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃). 󰀆󰀀  Final Statement, 󰀁󰀄-󰀁󰀉; see A. Pushparajan and X. D. Selvaraj, eds., Laity in the Church – Identity and Mission in India Today (Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation & Indian Theological Association, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), 󰀂󰀁󰀆-󰀂󰀁󰀉. 󰀆󰀁  󰀂󰀉th ITA Final Statement, 󰀂󰀁, in Laity in the Church, 󰀂󰀂󰀀. 󰀆󰀂  󰀂󰀉th ITA Final statement, 󰀂󰀆-󰀃󰀀, in Laity in the Church, 󰀂󰀂󰀂-󰀂󰀂󰀄. 󰀆󰀃  󰀁󰀆th ITA Final Statement, 󰀄󰀀, in Theologizing in Context, 󰀂󰀀󰀉. 󰀅󰀆 󰀅󰀇

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The participation of women in the life of the Church also received due attention. Stella Baltazar argued that the Church should give a partnership role to women.󰀆󰀄 The women’s commission of CBCI was established to ensure their participation in the life of the Church. As a result of their mission they produced a document on the gender policy of CBCI. The ecclesial administration of Saint Thomas Christians, which was often presented as a model for India, distinguished between spiritual and temporal matters. The former was done by the bishops coming from the Middle East and the latter under the leadership of the Archdeacon in collaboration with palliyogam.󰀆󰀅 The Malankara Catholic Church regained spiritual and temporal authority after the koonan cross oath. However, under the influence of Protestant missionaries palliyogam had undergone a metamorphosis, transforming it into trusts.󰀆󰀆 󰀆. Communion Ecclesiology The ecclesiology of communion received special attention in the teachings of Vatican II. The phrase has a wide range of meanings: first of all, it refers to communion with Christ and thus to the Trinity (LG 󰀄, UR 󰀂). It also points to the horizontal and vertical dimension of communion with God and with one another (LG 󰀁). Secondly it speaks of communion 󰀆󰀄  Stella Baltazar FMM, “Women and the Church: A Search for Identity,” in The Church in India – In Search of a New Identity, 󰀂󰀀󰀈-󰀂󰀆󰀄, at 󰀂󰀃󰀆. 󰀆󰀅  Kuncheria Pathil, “Laity in the Church,” Jeevadhara 󰀂󰀆, no. 󰀁󰀅󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆); K. T. Sebastian, The Era of the Lay People: Reflections on the Role of the Lay People in the Church and in the World (Bangalore: NBCLC, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉), 󰀉󰀉-󰀁󰀀󰀆; Scaria Zacharia, “Palliyogam as the Church Assembly – Possibilities of Translation and Transformation,” in Laity in the Church – Identity and Mission in India Today, 󰀉󰀁-󰀉󰀇; George Nedungatt SJ, Laity and Church Temporalities – Appraisal of a Tradition (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀). 󰀆󰀆  Since the conflict with Protestant missionaries after the Synod in Mavelikkara (󰀁󰀈󰀃󰀆), there have been lots of litigations in the Church for the rights of ownership for properties and other assets first with the missionaries and later with the revivalists. The disputes were settled through the court verdicts: Cochin award (󰀁󰀈󰀄󰀀), Quilon Panchayat Verdict (󰀁󰀈󰀄󰀈), Royal court verdict (󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀉) and so on. As per these court verdicts, the Church property should be administered by a trust representing Bishop, priests and laity. In order to avail ownership, the non-Catholic Churches in Malankara have drafted new laws. Gradually, in the place of palliyogam, new legal bodies were formed as per the Society/Trust act. Things including the election of Bishops are conducted on the basis of the newly drafted rules and not on the basis of the Hudoyo canon. For a detailed study on various litigations see K. Mathen, Malankara Sabha Kesukalude Samagra Samaharam (Kottayam: Kottackal Publishers, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉); Kurian Kaniamparambil, Samudayakesile Sakshimozhikal (Chenganacherry: MorAdai Center, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅).

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between the universal Church and particular churches (LG 󰀂󰀃) which was developed further in the extraordinary synod of 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅. Thirdly, it speaks of Church as a communion of individual churches (OE 󰀂). Finally, it is also used in its relationship with the separated brethren (UR 󰀁). The Indian Oriental churches stressed the third meaning of Church as a communion of individual Churches (OE 󰀂).󰀆󰀇 At the same time, taking inspiration from the call for the indigenization of local churches, the All India Seminar of 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉 strived to become an ‘Indian Church’ and passed a resolution for an inter-ritual ministry of evangelization.󰀆󰀈 While emphasizing its status as a consensus document,󰀆󰀉 Mar Gregorios said: I only place before you one consideration. After very long deliberations, after surpassing almost impossible hurdles, we have mutually agreed on one proposal. I can tell you that I had the greatest difficulty to convince the few members of my community to accept this proposal that has been made by Fr Jonas [in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀇, Fr Jonas Thaliath became bishop of Rajkot]. Because, if you go into detail there are various propositions which may be explained in a different way, which may be considered as an appeal for the independent growth of the Eastern Churches; but in view of the general approval, I have convinced the members of my community to accept with grace, this great proposal.󰀇󰀀

Meanwhile, some Indian theologians promoted the notion “one territory, one jurisdiction” in India.󰀇󰀁 It was widely criticized by Oriental theologians.󰀇󰀂 It also led to the call for an ‘Indian Mass’.󰀇󰀃 󰀆󰀇  Xavier Koodapuzha, ed., Communion of Churches (Kottayam: Oriental Institute of Religious Studies, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃); id., “Communion of Churches in the Indian Context,” Jeevadhara 󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀇): 󰀃󰀄󰀁-󰀃󰀅󰀆; id., “The Inter-Ecclesial Relations in the Indian Context,” Christian Orient 󰀅 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄): 󰀆󰀂-󰀇󰀇. 󰀆󰀈  All India Seminar, Church in India Today, 󰀂󰀀󰀄-󰀂󰀁󰀈; 󰀂󰀇󰀂-󰀂󰀇󰀄. 󰀆󰀉  Eroll D’Lima, “Ritual Reality in the Indian Church,” in The Church in India – In Search of a New Identity, 󰀁󰀉󰀃-󰀂󰀀󰀇, at 󰀁󰀉󰀈. 󰀇󰀀  All India Seminar, Church in India Today, 󰀂󰀇󰀂. 󰀇󰀁  CBCI, The Inter-Ritual Dialogue (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃-󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄); Archbishop Henry D’Souza, A Concise Report of 󰀂󰀅 Years of the Inter-Ritual Question 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉-󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄. 󰀇󰀂  N. A. Thomas, One Territory – One Bishop? Or Shall the Syrian Rites Die? (Vidyanagar: Denha Services, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁); Geevarghese Chediath and Thomas Vellilamthadam, eds., Ecumenism in Danger (Kottayam: Denha Services, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆). 󰀇󰀃  Accordingly, the ‘Indian Mass’ was also started in all the three rites. Dharmaram College had prepared a text to be used during the All India Seminar. Later at the initiative of the liturgists of the Latin Church, NBCLC had prepared a text. Later, the liturgical center of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam prepared a text with the title ‘Bharatheeya Pooja’. Francis Kanichikattil, To Restore or to Reform? – A Critical Study on Current Liturgical Renewal in the Syro-Malabar Church in India (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂), 󰀇󰀄. The texts are given in the appendix, 󰀁󰀃󰀉-󰀂󰀂󰀇. Kurisumala Ashram in the

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The rite issue raised serious problems in inter-ecclesial relations. Pope John Paul II during his visit to India addressed the issue. Later in June 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆, he appointed a Pontifical commission to study the issues. After thorough study, the matter was settled with the Papal letter of May 󰀂󰀈, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇. Accordingly, the CBCI which was founded in 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀄 was restructured as a federation of three Bishops Conferences (ritual) focusing more on national and supra-ritual interest.󰀇󰀄 The ‘rite issue’ had weakened CBCI and three Episcopal conferences of individual churches started developing independently. At the same time, there was some effort to strengthen CBCI as a common platform in the supra-ritual level.󰀇󰀅 In this effort, one shall not forget the early Church which set a good model for collaboration and co-operation.

󰀇. Ecumenical Ecclesiology The ecumenical thrust of the Second Vatican Council led to the development of an ecumenical ecclesiology. It is a step forward from the Praeclara gratulationis publicae of Leo XIII in 󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀄 which called the schismatics to return to unity under the Vicar of Christ. Unitatis redintegratio on the other hand, called our attention to the reunion of all Christians. Terms as ‘subsists in’ (LG 󰀈) and the distinction between Eastern churches (UR 󰀁󰀄-󰀁󰀈) and ecclesial communities for others (UR 󰀁󰀉-󰀂󰀄) were positively appreciated. Furthermore, it has accepted the validity of baptism of other churches (LG 󰀁󰀅, UR 󰀃), it emphasized that the Holy Spirit is working outside the boundaries of the institutional Church (UR 󰀃), and paid attention to the role of the Saints and Martyrs (UR 󰀄, UUS 󰀈󰀄). There are different churches in India – three individual churches in the Catholic tradition, Oriental Orthodox churches, Marthomites, Protestant United churches (CSI and CNI),󰀇󰀆 Protestant churches, and Pentecostal churches. While united or affiliated with other churches in the world, they Malankara Church also used such a text. See Bharathiya Pooja (Vagamon: Kurisumala Ashram, n.d.) for use at Kurisumala only. 󰀇󰀄  CBCI Evaluation Report, 󰀂󰀁󰀄-󰀂󰀁󰀇. 󰀇󰀅  Ibid., 󰀂󰀃. George Nedungatt, “A New Era for the Church in India,” Vidyajyoti 󰀅󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉): 󰀉-󰀂󰀈; Kuncheria Pathil, “The Rite Question in India: Is There No Way Out?,” Jeevadhara 󰀂󰀂, no. 󰀉 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂): 󰀂󰀈󰀇-󰀂󰀉󰀈. 󰀇󰀆  The Church of South India (CSI) is a union of four Churches – Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregational Churches and Methodists – and came into existence in 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀇. Prior to the formation of CSI, there was already an effort towards unification within the groups. The Church of North India (CNI) was formed in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀀 with seven Churches

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share a common identity in India and face more or less the same sociopolitical realities. Most of them are connected with others from an ecumenical point of view.󰀇󰀇 While keeping their individual identity, the Christians in India as a whole are working together to withstand the common enemies of Christianity. There are different organs working in India for ecumenical collaboration. The National Christian Council of India started already in 󰀁󰀉󰀁󰀄. The Christian Council of Asia (CCA) under the WCC started in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃. The Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) started in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆 and so on. These bodies made a commendable service for ecumenical collaboration. Regarding the involvement of Catholics, Kuncheria Pathil argues that while safeguarding the identity and true autonomy, the Bishop of Rome should foster the unity and communion of all the churches.󰀇󰀈 He also suggests that besides ecumenical dialogues, bible studies and prayer groups, theological education is also needed. It includes study on ecumenism as well as joint ventures in theological education.󰀇󰀉 The Indian Oriental churches are also seriously engaged with ecumenical ventures. The dialogue commission between the Catholic Church and various Oriental churches could come to an agreement on various doctrinal and practical matters separating them.󰀈󰀀 The ecumenical Church built at Nilackal and institutes like Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute (SEERI) in Kottayam are good examples of the ecumenical endeavors of Indian Oriental churches. Since the Indian Oriental churches are sharers of Indian culture and of the Syriac liturgical tradition, intercultural ecumenism seems viable in the Indian context.󰀈󰀁

– Besides the four in the CSI, the Baptists, the Disciples, and the Brethren. They are generally following a federal system of administration. 󰀇󰀇  In 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀂, the CSI and CNI churches came in communion and in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄 the Marthoma Church also joined them. 󰀇󰀈  Kunnumpuram, “The Autonomy of the Indian Church,” 󰀁󰀅󰀇. 󰀇󰀉  Kuncheria Pathil, Trends in Indian Theology (Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀁󰀇󰀃-󰀁󰀇󰀇. 󰀈󰀀  See Xavier Koodapuzha and John Panicker, eds., Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church: Papers and Joint Statements 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉-󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀 (Kottayam, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁); id., Called to Be United: Ecumenical Directory of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church (Kakkanad: Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇), 󰀉󰀉-󰀁󰀄󰀀. 󰀈󰀁  Mathai Kadavil, “Intercultural Ecumenism: Culture as a New Paradigm for Ecumenism among St Thomas Christians,” Eastern Journal of Dialogue and Culture 󰀁󰀂, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉): 󰀃󰀉-󰀅󰀉.

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Conclusion The Second Vatican Council was a gateway for the Indian Church to redefine its identity befitting to the Indian cultural and socio-economic context. Indian bishops and theologians, who made a substantial contribution in formulating various teachings of the Second Vatican Council,󰀈󰀂 initiated the process of aggiornamento of the Church in India. The All India Seminar and a number of studies and seminars immediately after the Council set the Indian Church on fire for renewal. The post-conciliar discussions in Indian ecclesiology were consistent in ascertaining its identity fitting to the mystical world view of India. It was done in the multi-religious and the socio-political contexts of India. They ensured a greater participation of the laity and the communion of local and individual churches. They also sought collaboration with sister Churches and other religions. In this process, the Indian Church had refined and redefined its notions and continues its mission of ecclesiogenesis. It is a challenge for the Indian Church to continue the work of ecclesiogenesis in the third millennium. The Christian presence, though small, in the multi-religious context of India in the twenty-first century has the potential to stir Indian theologians in molding the Indian Church. The enthusiastic missionaries both Catholic and Protestant, who sowed the seeds of Christianity in every nook and corner of India, shall be another source of inspiration stimulating the Indian Church. The ecclesial renewal initiated in the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar discussions in ecclesiology are to be deepened for a bright Indian Church. In this process, one shall not forget to learn from the mistakes of enthusiastic groups leaving the foundational principles of ecclesiology. Keeping the wide experience of living and theologizing the Word of God in the Indian soil, the Church should continue her journey witnessing the Kingdom of God. The proposed theme for the next synod of Bishops in 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀂 – For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission – may shed more light on the Indian Church in her way forward.

 Paul Pulikkan, Indian Church at Vatican II – A Historico-Theological Study of the Indian Participation in the Second Vatican Council (Trichur: Marymatha Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁). 󰀈󰀂

Karl Rahner’s Contribution to Vatican II and Its Impact on Post-Conciliar Theology An Appraisal Henry Jose Kodikuthiyil Karl Rahner (󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀄-󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄) is globally recognized as a towering figure among twentieth-century Catholic theologians.󰀁 In the words of Johann Baptist Metz, “Karl Rahner has renewed the face of our theology. Nothing is quite as it was before him. Even those who criticize him or reject him still live on his insights, his acute and sensitive perceptions in the world of life and faith.”󰀂 Undoubtedly, Rahner made a significant impact on Vatican II as he was one of the periti (theological experts) in the Council.󰀃 As Rahner’s lifetime effort was to make the Christian faith meaningful and relevant to the modern world, his participation in the Council brought about a new paradigm shift in Catholic theology especially in the postconciliar period. This paper is an attempt to highlight the significant contributions of Karl Rahner in some of the Council documents as well as the post-conciliar theology in general.

󰀁  According to Harvey D. Egan, “Not only did Rahner write on almost every significant theological topic, but he also entered into dialogue with atheistic, Buddhist, Jewish, Marxist, Muslim, Protestant, and scientific thinkers the world over. His unanswered questions have provided fresh points of departure for a host of theological thinkers. Add to this his significant impact upon the Second Vatican Council, his fourteen honorary doctoral degrees, and the large number of doctoral students he directed, and one can see why he is aptly called ‘the quiet mover of the Roman Catholic Church’ and ‘the Father of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century’.” Karl Rahner, The Content of Faith: The Best of Karl Rahner’s Theological Writings, ed. Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt, trans. Harvey D. Egan (New York, NY: Crossroad, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), xi. 󰀂  As quoted in Paul D. Murray, “The Lasting Significance of Karl Rahner for Contemporary Catholic Theology,” Louvain Studies 󰀂󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄): 󰀈-󰀂󰀇, at 󰀁󰀂. 󰀃  In 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂, Rahner was appointed as a peritus by Pope John XXIII for the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Koenig in Vienna selected Rahner as his private adviser on the Council documents. Regarding the influence of Karl Rahner on the Vatican II documents, see Taraneh R. Wilkinson, “Rahner’s Kindred: The Legacy of Finitude in Comparative Theology,” in Catholicism Engaging in Other Faiths: Vatican II and Its Impact, ed. Vladimir Latinovic et al. (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀁󰀃󰀈-󰀁󰀅󰀀; Declan Marmion, “The Influence of Karl Rahner at Vatican II,” in Vatican II in Ireland, Fifty Years On: Essays in Honour of Pádraic Conway, ed. Dermot A. Lane (Bern: Peter Lang, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), 󰀂󰀆󰀁-󰀂󰀈󰀃.

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󰀁. The Theological Vision of Rahner Rahner was aware of the fact that divine revelation is addressed to the human person, the subject of fundamental anthropological experiences which remain constant, and of transient or “epochal” experiences. He believed that revelation could address itself to the human being in a convincing manner only when these “epochal” experiences were taken into account. Accordingly, Rahner’s theological thrust developed the anthropological method, i.e., an analysis of the thought-pattern of contemporary humanity as the starting-point of the theological investigation in which human beings encounter the unutterable mystery which is God.󰀄 For Rahner “man is the mid-point suspended between the world and God, between time and eternity, and this boundary line is the point of his definition and his destiny.”󰀅 Another basic notion in Rahner’s transcendental󰀆 theological anthropology is his “supernatural existential” (das übernatürliche Existential) which serves as a link between his philosophy and theology.󰀇 With the concept “supernatural existential”󰀈 as the key concept of his theology, Rahner  Karl-Heinz Weger, “The Theology of Karl Rahner: In Memoriam,” Vidyajyoti 󰀅󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀁󰀇󰀈-󰀁󰀇󰀉. For Rahner’s notion of mystery, see “Mystery,” Sacramentum Mundi, vol. IV, 󰀁󰀃󰀃-󰀁󰀃󰀆; “Über den Begriff des Geheimnisses in der katholischen Theologie,” Schriften zur Theologie, vol. IV (Zürich: Benziger Verlag, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀄), 󰀅󰀃-󰀅󰀈 [hereafter: ST]; English translation: Theological Investigations, vol. IV (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀁), 󰀃󰀆-󰀇󰀃 [hereafter: TI]. 󰀅  Karl Rahner, Spirit in the World, trans. W. Dych (London and Sydney: Sheed and Ward, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈), 󰀄󰀀󰀇. 󰀆  The term ‘transcendental’ comes from the Latin word ‘transcendere’ which means to exceed, to surpass, to go beyond etc. Nevertheless, for Rahner this has an altogether different meaning. Rahner uses the term ‘transcendental’ to refer to the human person’s transcendentality which concerns itself with the a priori conditions that make knowledge of an object possible. He freely employs this term in connection with the “transcendental method” (transzendentale Methode), “transcendental-anthropological questions” (transzendental-anthropologische Fragestellung), “transcendental experience” (transzendentale Erfahrung), “transcendental reflection” (transzendentale Reflexion), “transcendental reduction” (transzendentale Reduktion), “transcendental subject” (transzendentales Subjekt) and so on. See Lorenz B. Puntel, “Zu den Begriffen ‘transzendental’ und ‘kategorial’ bei Karl Rahner,” in Wagnis Theologie: Erfahrungen mit der Theologie Karl Rahners, ed. Herbert Vorgrimler (Freiburg, Basel, and Vienna: Herder, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉), 󰀁󰀈󰀉-󰀁󰀉󰀈; Nikolaus Knoepffler, Der Begriff “transzendental” bei Karl Rahner: Zur Frage seiner Kantischen Herkunft (Innsbruck: Tyrolia-Verlag, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃). 󰀇  Joseph H. Wong, Logos-Symbol in the Christology of Karl Rahner (Rome: Las, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄), 󰀇󰀄, n. 󰀅. 󰀈  For Rahner’s concept of supernatural existential, see “Über das Verhältnis von Natur und Gnade,” ST, I, 󰀃󰀂󰀃-󰀃󰀄󰀅 (TI, I, 󰀂󰀉󰀇-󰀃󰀁󰀇); “Existenzial, übernatürliches,” in Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. Karl Rahner and Josef Hoefner, vol. 󰀃 (hereafter: 󰀄

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tries to answer some basic questions concerning faith.󰀉 The background of his theory can be traced back to the concept of God’s universal salvific will󰀁󰀀 as well as Henri de Lubac’s Surnaturel.󰀁󰀁 Rahner’s theory of the “supernatural existential” first appeared in his article “Ein Weg zur Bestimmung des Verhältnisses von Natur und Gnade.”󰀁󰀂 Rahner has adapted both scholastic theological vocabulary and the philosophical terminology of Martin Heidegger in coining the term “supernatural existential.”󰀁󰀃 It is supernatural because it is a result of God’s free self-gift; and it is existential because it permeates the whole of human existence.󰀁󰀄

󰀂. Rahner’s Involvement in the Second Vatican Council Rahner played a significant role in the theological preparations and discussions during the Council. As a member in the liturgical preparatory commission, along with other theologians, he worked on the theme of the permanent diaconate and made an important contribution.󰀁󰀅 As Cardinal Koenig’s personal theological adviser, Rahner was instrumental in bringing about a paradigm shift in the many discussions and deliberations in the Council. Rahner wanted “the language of the Council to be more positive and encouraging – helping people rather than denouncing them LThK), col. 󰀁󰀃󰀀󰀁; “Existenzial, übernatürliches,” in Kleines Theologisches Wörterbuch, 󰀁󰀂󰀃󰀁󰀂󰀄 (Theological Dictionary, 󰀁󰀆󰀁); “‘The Existential’ B. Theological,” in Sacramentum Mundi, vol. II, 󰀃󰀀󰀆; Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith, trans. William V. Dych (New York, NY: Crossroad, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀁󰀂󰀆-󰀁󰀃󰀃. 󰀉  Karl-Heinz Weger is of the opinion that the supernatural existential is Rahner’s most important theological concept, and that it provides the basis for his theory of the anonymous Christian. See Karl-Heinz Weger, Karl Rahner: Eine Einführung, in sein theologisches Denken (Freiburg: Herder, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅), 󰀁󰀁󰀃. 󰀁󰀀  “He [God] wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth.” 󰀁 Tm 󰀂:󰀄. 󰀁󰀁  See Henri de Lubac, Surnaturel: Études historiques (Paris: Aubier, 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀆); “Le Mystère du surnaturel,” Revue des sciences religieuses 󰀃󰀆 (󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀉): 󰀈󰀀-󰀁󰀂󰀁. 󰀁󰀂  See Orientierung 󰀇󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀀): 󰀁󰀄󰀁-󰀁󰀄󰀅. 󰀁󰀃  Rahner’s use of the words existenziell and existenzial can be explicated in the following way: “Existenziell” refers to a person’s concrete situation and free decisions, including his or her self-understanding and self-appropriation. Whereas “existenzial” is a generic term applied to the structural characteristics and capacities of Dasein such as selftranscendence, self-consciousness, and freedom which make it specifically human and distinguishes it from other modes of existence. 󰀁󰀄  See John P. Galvin, “The Rahner Revolution: Grace for a New Generation,” Commonweal 󰀁󰀁󰀂 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅): 󰀄󰀀-󰀄󰀂, at 󰀄󰀁. 󰀁󰀅  Declan Marmion, “Karl Rahner, Vatican II, and the Shape of the Church,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀈 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀂󰀅-󰀄󰀈, at 󰀂󰀆.

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… his hope was that the Council would proclaim the ‘liberating consolation of the Gospel’ in a dynamic and attractive way.”󰀁󰀆 As regards Rahner’s involvement in Vatican II and his plea for a renewed ecclesiology, Declan Marmion writes: He [Rahner] was active in many of the subgroups of the theological commission which worked on the draft De Ecclesia. He wanted the Council to say something positive about the reintroduction of the permanent diaconate, and the Council ultimately decreed that the “diaconate in the future could be restored as a particular and permanent rank of hierarchy.” He also argued for a greater integration of Mariology and ecclesiology. In the second session of the Council, he focused on the relationship between the pope and the College of Bishops, namely, the theme of collegiality, and on the theological significance of the local Church. He was involved in the discussions of the famous Schema XIII, on the relationship between the Church and the world today, which culminated in Gaudium et spes. Finally, he had a part in the discussions on the themes of revelation … and on religious life.󰀁󰀇

Another important and noteworthy contribution of Rahner is his deep interest in non-Christian religions and traditions. In the words of Taraneh R. Wilkinson, “The Second Vatican Council marked a significant shift in how the Catholic Church cultivated its relationship with other Christians and non-Christians, and Rahner’s pervasive theological influence played no small part in this shift.”󰀁󰀈 The document that strongly bears his mark is Nostra aetate, the Church’s declaration on its relationship to non-Christians.󰀁󰀉 That ground-breaking document remains the cornerstone of post-Vatican II Catholic inclusivist theologies. According to Alister E. McGrath, “In its decree on other faiths (Nostra aetate, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅), 󰀁󰀆

 Marmion, “Karl Rahner, Vatican II, and the Shape of the Church,” 󰀂󰀉-󰀃󰀀. Elsewhere he writes: “For a good part of his life, Rahner worked against a backdrop of change in the Church. Vatican II was the benchmark here, and he strove to promote its reception whenever and wherever possible. Rahner saw the Council as a watershed marking the transition from a European and western Church to a world Church. Moreover, Vatican II wished to speak in a different idiom, moving away from a traditionally defensive neoscholastic theology towards a more missionary style aiming to speak to those for whom Christianity had become alien. For the so-called ‘new Churches’ in Africa and Asia, adaptation to local cultures was endorsed.” Declan Marmion, “Some Aspects of the Theological Legacy of Karl Rahner,” in Karl Rahner: Theologian for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Padraic Conway and Fainche Ryan (Bern: Peter Lang, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), 󰀃-󰀂󰀂, at 󰀄. 󰀁󰀇  Marmion, “Karl Rahner, Vatican II, and the Shape of the Church,” 󰀃󰀀. 󰀁󰀈  Wilkinson, “Rahner’s Kindred,” 󰀁󰀅󰀅. 󰀁󰀉  Todd E. Johanson, “Karl Rahner’s ‘Anonymous Christianity’ in the Light of Pluralism and Contemporary Theology of Religions in Asia,” in Understanding Religious Pluralism, Perspectives from Religious Studies and Theology, ed. Peter C. Phan and Jonathan Ray (La Vergne: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄) (Kindle edition).

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the Council followed Rahner in affirming that rays of divine truth were indeed to be found in other religions. However, where Rahner allowed other faiths to have soteriological potential, the Council maintained the distinctiveness of the Christian faith at this point.”󰀂󰀀 Following Vatican II, Rahner was instrumental in the structural, spiritual, and intellectual renewal in the Church.󰀂󰀁 󰀃. God’s Universal Plan of Salvation In the post-conciliar period, a number of theologians acknowledge that Karl Rahner is the major architect of the post-conciliar Catholic contribution to the recognition of the salvific value of the non-Christian religions, in other words, his inclusivist approach to other religions.󰀂󰀂 Even at the earlier stage of his theological career, Rahner was not unaware of the challenges of religious pluralism. For he says, “pluralism is a greater threat and a reason for greater unrest for Christianity than for any other religion.”󰀂󰀃 Hence, he attempted to articulate that if we wish to be Christians, we must profess our belief in the universal salvific will of God towards all people.󰀂󰀄 As Rahner writes: In more than a millennium of struggle, theology has overcome Augustinian pessimism in regard to the salvation of the individual and reached the optimism of the Second Vatican Council, assuring 󰀂󰀀  Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇), 󰀈󰀇󰀇. 󰀂󰀁  Marmion, “Some Aspects of the Theological Legacy of Karl Rahner,” 󰀈. 󰀂󰀂  See Alan Race, Christians and Religious Pluralism: Patterns in the Christian Theology of Religions (London: SCM Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀄󰀅. See also Paul Knitter, No Other Name? A Critical Study of Christian Attitudes towards the World Religions (London: SCM Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅), 󰀁󰀂󰀅; Gavin D’Costa, Theology and Religious Pluralism: The Challenge of Other Religions (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆), 󰀈󰀀ff., Peter C. Phan, Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue (New York, NY: Orbis, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄); Phan and Ray, eds., Understanding Religious Pluralism, Perspectives from Religious Studies and Theology. 󰀂󰀃  “Das Christentum und die nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST, V, 󰀁󰀃󰀆-󰀁󰀅󰀈, at 󰀁󰀃󰀇 (TI, V, 󰀁󰀁󰀆). Concerning Rahner’s writings on the theology of non-Christian religions, see “Das Christentum und die nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST V, 󰀁󰀃󰀆-󰀁󰀅󰀈 (TI, V, 󰀁󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀃󰀄); “Die anonymen Christen,” ST, VI, 󰀅󰀄󰀅-󰀅󰀅󰀄 (TI, VI, 󰀃󰀉󰀀-󰀃󰀉󰀈); “Atheismus und implizites Christentum,” ST, VIII, 󰀁󰀈󰀇-󰀂󰀁󰀂 (TI, IX, 󰀁󰀄󰀅-󰀁󰀆󰀄); “Anonymes Christentum und Missionsauftrag der Kirche,” ST, IX, 󰀄󰀉󰀈-󰀅󰀁󰀅 (TI, XII, 󰀁󰀆󰀁-󰀁󰀇󰀈); “Bemerkungen zum Problem des ‘anonymen Christen’,” ST, X, 󰀅󰀃󰀁-󰀅󰀄󰀆 (TI, XIV, 󰀂󰀈󰀀-󰀂󰀉󰀄); “Der eine Jesus Christus und die Universalität des Heils,” ST, XII, 󰀂󰀅󰀁-󰀂󰀈󰀂 (TI, XVI, 󰀁󰀉󰀉-󰀂󰀂󰀄); “Jesus Christus in den nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST, XII, 󰀃󰀇󰀀-󰀃󰀈󰀃 (TI, XVII, 󰀃󰀉-󰀅󰀀); Foundations of Christian Faith, 󰀁󰀃󰀈-󰀁󰀇󰀅. 󰀂󰀄  See “Das Christentum und die nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST, V, 󰀁󰀄󰀄 (TI, V, 󰀁󰀂󰀂).

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supernatural salvation in the immediate possession of God to all those who do not freely reject it through their own personal fault; our question now must be whether theology can regard the non-Christian religions with the same optimism.󰀂󰀅

Rahner is convinced of the fact that “the salvific will of God … is proclaimed as so universal and effective that it can be restricted only by a person’s decision made with a bad conscience and at no other point.”󰀂󰀆 Rahner believes that salvific grace exists outside the visible Church. Following Rahner, Gavin D’Costa underlines: if salvific grace exists outside the visible Church, as he believes it does in the history of Israel, and in creation and through conscience, then this grace is causally related both to Christ (always and everywhere – as prime mediator) and to his Church. Furthermore, given the socio-historical nature of men and women, grace must be mediated historically and socially. The incarnation is paradigmatic in suggesting this. Hence, if and when non-Christians respond to grace, then this grace must be mediated through the non-Christian’s religion, however imperfectly.󰀂󰀇

Thus recognizing the salvific value of other religions, Rahner coins the term ‘anonymous Christian’ and ‘anonymous Christianity’.󰀂󰀈 The former 󰀂󰀅

 “Über die Heilsbedeutung der nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST, XIII, 󰀃󰀄󰀄 (TI, XVIII,

󰀂󰀉󰀁). 󰀂󰀆  “Theologische Grundinterpretation des II. Vatikanischen Konzils,” ST, XIV, 󰀂󰀉󰀂󰀂󰀉󰀃 (TI, XX, 󰀈󰀂). 󰀂󰀇  Gavin D’Costa, “Christian Theology and Other Faiths,” in Companion Encyclopaedia of Theology, ed. Peter Byrne and Leslie Houlden (London and New York, NY: Routledge, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), 󰀃󰀀󰀀. 󰀂󰀈  According to Eamonn Conway, “the idea of ‘anonymous Christian’ rests on the conviction that every human being has the possibility of accepting or rejecting God’s free, unmerited and forgiving self-communication. This possibility is realised in selfless acts of love, truth and goodness, acts which, being grounded in God who is Love, are implicit acts of acceptance of God’s gracious self-offer. These implicit acts of acceptance take place in the daily struggle to let go into the mystery of life in all its incalculability, unpredictability and unknowability. As salvation is realised in history in and through the Christ event, people who make such implicit acts of faith may be referred to as ‘anonymous Christians’.” Eamonn Conway, “‘So As Not to Despise God’s Grace’: Re-assessing Rahner’s Idea of the Anonymous Christian’,” Louvain Studies 󰀂󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄): 󰀁󰀀󰀇-󰀁󰀃󰀀, at 󰀁󰀁󰀃. For a synthetic presentation of Rahner’s theory of anonymous Christianity, see D’Costa, Theology and Religious Pluralism, 󰀈󰀀-󰀁󰀁󰀆; Jacques Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇), 󰀁󰀄󰀃-󰀁󰀄󰀉. It should be noted that Rahner was not unaware of the difficulty in the use of the terms like ‘anonymous Christian’ and ‘anonymous Christianity’. Against those who criticize the use of Rahner’s terminology, he says, “If we are unwilling to go on from this, and to speak of an anonymous Christianity, then I will raise no protest against this refusal. All that is involved here is simply a question of what constitutes the terminology that best suits the purpose and so a question of judgement of which I have no fixed opinion whatever. Admittedly I do regard the term ‘anonymous Christian’ as inescapable as long as one suggests a better term to me” (TI, XIV, 󰀂󰀉󰀂).

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mentions the source of saving grace that is responded to and the latter is pointing towards the definitive expression and practice of faith in the Church.󰀂󰀉 Therefore, the expressly Christian revelation becomes the explicit expression and incarnation of the revelation of grace which man always experiences implicitly in the depths of his being.”󰀃󰀀 Even in his later writings Rahner emphasized the universal salvific will of God as well as the unity of all humanity irrespective of any particular religion, culture, and tradition.󰀃󰀁 As Gavin D’Costa rightly observes, “Rahner attempts to balance the solus Christus principle with that regarding the universal salvific will of God, so as to maintain that Christ is the sole cause of salvation in the world, but that this salvific grace may be mediated within history without an explicit confrontation with Christ.”󰀃󰀂 Furthermore, Rahner underscores, If on the one hand, we conceive salvation as something specifically Christian, if there is no salvation apart from Christ…; and if on the other hand God has really, truly and seriously intended this salvation for all men- then these two aspects cannot be reconciled in any other way than by stating that every human being is really and truly exposed to the influence of divine supernatural grace.󰀃󰀃

We can notice the endorsement of Rahner’s theory of the anonymous Christian in some of the conciliar documents. For example, according to Lumen gentium, “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the gospel of Christ or his Church, but nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will 󰀂󰀉  Gavin D’Costa, “Theology of Religions,” in The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology in the Twentieth Century, ed. David F. Ford, vol. 󰀂 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀂󰀇󰀉. 󰀃󰀀  Gavin D’Costa, “Karl Rahner’s Anonymous Christian – A Reappraisal,” Modern Theology 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅): 󰀁󰀃󰀁-󰀁󰀄󰀈, at 󰀁󰀃󰀂. 󰀃󰀁  “Einheit der Kirche – Einheit der Menschheit,” ST, XIV, 󰀁󰀆󰀁. 󰀃󰀂  Gavin D’Costa, “Christian Theology and Other Faiths,” in Companion Encyclopaedia of Theology, 󰀂󰀉󰀁-󰀃󰀁󰀃, at 󰀃󰀀󰀀. Although Gavin D’Costa defends Rahner’s inclusivist position, he, however, notes that Rahner “does not seem to give enough attention to the formative function of the Word (fides ex auditu) in eliciting and shaping the response to grace. He stresses continuity and minimizes the discontinuity, the overturning of previous worldviews and the new forms of life enjoined by a Christoform pattern of worship and practice.” Further he says: “The problem with Rahner … is his emphasis on continuity at the cost of discontinuity. The tragic self-deceit and self-destruction that can cause impediment are not taken as seriously as they should be … The discontinuity between explicit and implicit Christianity is obscured in the term anonymous Christianity, although it may appropriately designate elements of continuity regarding the presence of grace.” D’Costa, “Theology of Religions,” 󰀂󰀈󰀂-󰀂󰀈󰀄. 󰀃󰀃  “Das Christentum und die nichtchristlichen Religionen,” ST, V, 󰀁󰀄󰀅 (TI, V, 󰀁󰀂󰀃).

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as they know it through the dictates of their conscience-those too may achieve eternal salvation.”󰀃󰀄 Again in Ad gentes we read: This universal plan of God for the salvation of mankind is not carried out solely in a secret manner, as it were, in the minds of men, nor by the efforts, even religious, through which they in many ways seek God in an attempt to touch him and find him, although God is not far from any of us (cf. Acts 󰀁󰀇:󰀂󰀇); their efforts need to be enlightened and corrected, although in the loving providence of God they may lead one to the true God and be a preparation for the Gospel.󰀃󰀅

The Church’s openness to accept and recognize the salvific value of other religions is clearly expressed in the following words of the Council: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless, often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men.”󰀃󰀆 󰀄. The Reception of Rahner’s Theology in the Post-conciliar Period Today more than ever before in the context of interreligious dialogue as well as theology of religions, Rahner’s inclusivist theology has been appropriated by many a theologian of the post-conciliar period.󰀃󰀇 His inclusivism is also evident in the post-Vatican II magisterium.󰀃󰀈 According to Todd E. Johanson, “Although Rahner brought an unprecedented openness to the Church via his ‘liberal’ push for renewal and modernization as reflected in Vatican II in general and Nostra aetate in particular, his inclusivist stance of ‘anonymous Christianity’, while novel and significant, is nonetheless Christocentric, Eurocentric, and largely dogmatically deferent to the Church’s tradition.”󰀃󰀉 Rahner can be called a pioneer in developing an inclusivist theology of religions. It is noteworthy that “Asian theologians have been influenced by Rahner’s thought, and in their 󰀃󰀄

 LG 󰀁󰀆.  AG 󰀃. See also AG 󰀉. 󰀃󰀆  NA 󰀂. 󰀃󰀇  See the works of the above-mentioned theologians like Gavin D’Costa, Jacques Dupuis, Peter C. Phan, Francis X. Clooney, Declan Marmion and so on. 󰀃󰀈  See Dialogue and Proclamation. 󰀃󰀉  Todd E. Johanson, “Karl Rahner’s ‘Anonymous Christianity’ in Light of Pluralism and Contemporary Theology of Religions in Asia,” https://www.academia.edu/󰀉󰀉󰀇󰀄󰀃󰀉󰀅/ Chapter_󰀁󰀉_Karl_Rahners_Anonymous_Christianity_in_Light_of_Pluralism_and_Contemporary_Theology_of_Religions_in_Asia [accessed on November 󰀂󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀃󰀅

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interaction with it in that pluralistic context, they have both appropriated his theology and challenged it and its limitations for the Church in Asia today.”󰀄󰀀 Todd E. Johanson further observes that “Rahner’s thought has found a fresh reception in the Church in Asia, promoting considerable creative appropriation. Rahner’s theology has had a significant influence on the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, including in issues around inculturation, interreligious dialogue, and the option for the poor.”󰀄󰀁 Today some Rahnerian scholars note that Rahner’s theological project as well as his vision of the Church is resonant with Pope Francis’s current project of ecclesial reform.󰀄󰀂 Conclusion From our analysis of the theological contribution of Karl Rahner it is clear that he has inspired many scholars and others to recognize the salvific value of other religious traditions and culture. He was a person who dialogued with followers of other religions and even atheists. Even those who have reservations regarding some of his ideas and opinions hold him in high esteem. He has opened up new vistas of theology and new ways of practicing our Christian faith without diluting the fundamental Christian values. There was a perfect blending of Christian tradition and modernity in his whole theological project. The Second Vatican Council seemed to embrace many of the ideas and changes that Rahner was advocating. As Paul D. Murray rightly suggests, “Rahner’s true lasting significance for contemporary Catholic theology comes down to the way in which he showed in his life what it means for theologians to commit themselves to the radical risk of having faith in the wintry seasons of the Church.”󰀄󰀃 In today’s postmodern and globalized world, there is so much of emphasis given to plurality of cultures, faith traditions, religious practices, etc. Hence we need to act on the changes that the Council had developed and we need to go beyond Rahner as Pope Francis does in leading and guiding the Church today. 󰀄󰀀  Johanson, “Karl Rahner’s ‘Anonymous Christianity’.” The above-mentioned theologians like Gavin D’Costa and Peter C. Phan to name a few. 󰀄󰀁  Johanson, “Karl Rahner’s ‘Anonymous Christianity’,” 󰀄; See also George E. Griener, “Rahner and the Pacific Rim,” in Rahner beyond Rahner: A Great Theologian Encounters the Pacific Rim, ed. Paul G. Crowley (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀅󰀃-󰀇󰀂. 󰀄󰀂  See Marmion, “Karl Rahner, Vatican II, and the Shape of the Church,” 󰀄󰀄-󰀄󰀇. 󰀄󰀃  Murray, “The Lasting Significance of Karl Rahner for Contemporary Catholic Theology,” 󰀂󰀇.

Inculturation in the Formation of Liturgical Texts of the Syro-Malabar Church since Vatican II Bilju Vazhappilly The present article mainly focuses on the place of inculturation in the formation of liturgical texts of the Syro-Malabar Church since Vatican II. Before entering into the main theme of the article, I highlight important Church documents that reflect considerably upon the theme of inculturation and its place in the liturgy in general. Then I describe the history of the process of inculturation regarding the liturgy in the Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) from Vatican II onwards. Finally, I illustrate how inculturation has played a prominent role in the liturgical texts of the Syro-Malabar Church from its formative stage onwards.

󰀁. Church Documents on Inculturation in Liturgy since Vatican II After Vatican II, the magisterium formulated and interpreted the concept of inculturation in many writings, speeches, messages, etc., especially in connection with liturgy. This has been clearly attested by the scholarly studies in the field of inculturation.󰀁 There are several texts on inculturation in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.󰀂

󰀁  Aylward Shorter, “The Second Vatican Council and Inculturation,” “Inculturation in the Teaching of Paul VI,” and “John Paul II and Inculturation,” in id., Toward a Theology of Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇), 󰀁󰀉󰀁-󰀂󰀀󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀆-󰀂󰀂󰀁, and 󰀂󰀂󰀂-󰀂󰀃󰀈 respectively; Dennis M. Doyle, “The Concept of Inculturation in Roman Catholicism: A Theological Consideration,” U.S. Catholic Historian 󰀃󰀀, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀁-󰀁󰀃; Michael Amaladoss, “Inculturation of the Liturgy in the Documents of the Church,” in Research Seminar on Inculturation in Liturgy: A Search into Modes of Celebrating and Encountering Faith in Indian Culture (NBCLC, Bangalore, June 󰀆-󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), ed. Sagaya John (Bangalore: NBCLC, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀃󰀄-󰀄󰀈. 󰀂  Among the conciliar texts on inculturation, Gaudium et spes 󰀄-󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀂, 󰀃󰀈, 󰀄󰀄, and 󰀅󰀃-󰀆󰀂; Lumen gentium 󰀈, 󰀁󰀃, 󰀁󰀇, and 󰀄󰀈; Ad gentes 󰀁, 󰀁󰀀, 󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀁-󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀆, and 󰀄󰀁; and Sacrosanctum concilium 󰀃󰀇-󰀃󰀉 deserve to be mentioned. All the references to the Second Vatican Council are in accordance with the Constitutions, Declarations and Decrees Second Vatican Council. See http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ index.htm [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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Important teachings of Pope Paul VI on this theme can be found in Ecclesiam suam and Evangelii nuntiandi.󰀃 The Message to the People of God of the Synod of Bishops stated on October 󰀂󰀈, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀇: As the Second Vatican Council indicated and Paul VI recollected in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, the Christian message must be planted in human cultures by assuming and transforming them. In this sense, catechesis is an instrument of inculturation, that is, it develops and at the same time illuminates from within the lifestyles of those whom this instrument is directed to.󰀄

Among the key documents of Pope John Paul II, we may list the following: Catechesi tradendae, Familiaris consortio, Christifideles laici, Redemptoris missio, Pastores dabo vobis, Ecclesia in Africa, and Ecclesia in Asia. He gave considerable “freedom and encouragement to express [one’s] faith, and to do so imaginatively.”󰀅 Pope Benedict XVI asserted that “the synthesis with Hellenism achieved in the early Church was an initial inculturation;” at the same time, each culture has “the right to return to the simple message of the New Testament prior to that inculturation, in order to inculturate it anew in their own particular milieu.”󰀆 Pope Francis, in Evangelii gaudium, gives great attention to the Challenges to Inculturating the Faith (nos. 󰀆󰀈-󰀇󰀀):󰀇 “An evangelized popular culture contains values of faith and solidarity capable of encouraging the development of a more just and believing society, and possesses a particular wisdom which ought to be gratefully acknowledged” (no. 󰀆󰀈). In Amoris laetitia,󰀈 Francis declared: “Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions  Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Ecclesiam suam (August 󰀆, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄), 󰀃󰀃; Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi (December 󰀈, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅), 󰀁󰀉-󰀂󰀀, and 󰀆󰀃. 󰀄  Synod of Bishops, Message to the People of God – Cum iam ad exitum (October 󰀂󰀈, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀇), no. 󰀅: EV 󰀆/󰀃󰀈󰀅. 󰀅  Dietmar Lenfers, M. Afr., Faith and Cultures in Ethiopia, A Symposium on How to Evangelize Cultures and Inculturate Faith, on 󰀅-󰀉 February, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆, in Adigrat Seminary, Ethiopia, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/cultr/documents/rc_ pc_cultr_󰀀󰀁󰀀󰀆󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆_doc_ii-󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆-ple_en.html [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆  Pope Benedict XVI, Lecture during the Meeting with the Representatives of Science in the Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg, Germany (September 󰀁󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆). See in this respect, Doyle, “The Concept of Inculturation in Roman Catholicism,” 󰀁󰀂-󰀁󰀃. 󰀇  Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium (November 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_ esortazione-ap_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃󰀁󰀁󰀂󰀄_evangelii-gaudium.html. 󰀈  Pope Francis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia (The Joy of Love), (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), nos. 󰀃, 󰀇󰀇, 󰀁󰀁󰀅, and 󰀂󰀆󰀇. See in this respect, R. Jared Staudt, “‘Amoris laetitia’ and Vatican II’s Project of 󰀃

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and local needs.” For “cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle … needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied” (no. 󰀃). Recently, in Querida Amazonia, the Pope spoke of inculturation in liturgical and ecclesial life:󰀉 “The inculturation of Christian spirituality in the cultures of the original peoples can benefit in a particular way from the sacraments, since they unite the divine and the cosmic, grace and creation” (no. 󰀈󰀁); “Inculturation should also be increasingly reflected in an incarnate form of ecclesial organization and ministry” (no. 󰀈󰀅). The documents published by different Congregations, Pontifical Councils, and Commissions have highlighted the theme of inculturation in connection with faith, liturgy, and evangelization since Vatican II.󰀁󰀀 However, it is to be noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church has only a nominal discussion of the theme of inculturation in the liturgy (nos. 󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀅-󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀆), in the Catechumenate (no. 󰀁󰀂󰀃󰀂), and in the mission of the Church (no. 󰀈󰀅󰀄).󰀁󰀁 FABC has in the post conciliar years developed an Asian theology of liturgical inculturation.󰀁󰀂 󰀂. History of the Process of Inculturation in the Syro-Malabar Church (SMC) since Vatican II Let us now have a glimpse at the historical evolution of the process of inculturation in the SMC’s liturgy after Vatican II.󰀁󰀃 Cardinal Joseph Parecattil, a great pioneer of inculturation in SMC, reflects: Inculturation,” https://www.catholicworldreport.com/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆/󰀀󰀅/󰀂󰀆/amoris-laetitia-andvatican-iis-project-of-inculturation/ [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀉  Pope Francis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia (February 󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀), nos. 󰀈󰀁-󰀈󰀄 speak of Inculturation of the Liturgy and nos. 󰀈󰀅-󰀉󰀀 deal with Inculturation of Forms of Ministry. Cf. Daniele Palmer, “Querida Amazonia: A Call for Authentic Inculturation,” https://www.catholicoutlook.org/querida-amazonia-a-call-for-authenticinculturation/ [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀀  For a detailed study on these documents, see Nassar, “The Usage of the Inculturation Definition in the Church’s Documents,” 󰀁-󰀃󰀇. 󰀁󰀁  Catechism of the Catholic Church (New Delhi: TPI for the Catholic Hierarchy of India, sixth reprint 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂). 󰀁󰀂  Jonathan Yun-Ka Tan, “Towards Asian Liturgical Inculturation: Investigating the Resources in the Documents of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) for Developing an Asian Theology of Liturgical Inculturation,” FABC-󰀈󰀉.pdf (jonathantan.org) [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀃  Cyprian Illickamury OFM, “Inculturation and Liturgy,” in Inculturation and Liturgy, ed. Antony Nariculam (Alwaye: STAR Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂), 󰀇󰀃-󰀉󰀇; Paul Puthanangady SDB, “Inculturation of Liturgy in India,” ibid., 󰀉󰀈-󰀁󰀁󰀃; Paul Pulikkan, “Inculturation

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Wherever they (the Apostles) preached the gospel, they have given shape to liturgical worship in the local languages, making use of symbols borrowed from local cultures. This is how different Rites originated. Our Father St. Thomas too must have thus established the nucleus of an indigenous Rite in India … Although we do not know any details of this early form of worship, we can, all the same, safely say that St. Thomas, while planting the seed of the gospel in the Indian soil, must have taken the initiative in setting the liturgical ball rolling in the Indian way.󰀁󰀄

Inculturation and organic growth go together. In the process of organic growth there are three periods: “the period of acclimatization, the period of growth and the period of supply.”󰀁󰀅 For instance, in the process of growing, “a plant absorbs and assimilates the various elements of the soil in which it is planted, manure and water from the earth obtained in that place, also from the atmosphere in which it stands, light and heat from the sun as it shines in that place. All these become part of the entity.”󰀁󰀆 Naturally, “Liturgy has to grow as people and their circumstances grow.”󰀁󰀇 Accordingly, Syro-Malabar liturgy has grown over the course of time. “When we examine the period after Vatican II, attempts are not lacking in continuing the process of inculturation. There have been several experiments of inculturation. In this process, the Liturgy has been a main focus of attention.”󰀁󰀈 And we can reasonably say that liturgy did adapt in the past. The result being, as the great Syro-Malabar theologian Placid Podippara said, the church was “Hindu in culture, Christian in religion and Syro-Oriental in worship.”󰀁󰀉 and Liturgy: Some Conciliar and Post Conciliar Reflections from India,” in The Church and Culture in India, Inculturation: Theory and Praxis, ed. Paul Pulikkan and Paul M. Collins (Madras: ISPCK, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), 󰀆󰀈-󰀈󰀉; and Antony Nariculam, “Liturgy and Inculturation,” ibid., 󰀉󰀀-󰀁󰀀󰀃. 󰀁󰀄  Joseph Parecattil, Syro-Malabar Liturgy as I See It (Ernakulam, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇), 󰀄󰀆ff. See also, Gratian Mundadan, “The Syro-Malabar Liturgy: Growing over the Chaldean Tradition,” in Living the Syro-Malabar Identity Faith and Faithfulness: Cardinal Parecattil Birth Centenary National Symposium, ed. Antony Nariculam, Cardinal Parecattil Series 󰀃 (Alwaye: STAR Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀃󰀃. 󰀁󰀅  Mundadan, “The Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀁󰀃󰀄-󰀁󰀃󰀅. 󰀁󰀆  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀄. 󰀁󰀇  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀉. 󰀁󰀈  Thomas Elavanal, “Influence of Vatican Council II on the Liturgical Life of the Syro-Malabar Church,” in Syro-Malabar Church: Forty Years after the Vatican Council II, ed. Pauly Kannookadan (Kakkanad: LRC, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀁󰀀󰀃. 󰀁󰀉  Jacob Vellian, “Encounter of the West with the East in Malabar,” in The Romanization Tendency, ed. Jacob Vellian (Kottayam: K. P. Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅), 󰀇󰀀. See also, Placid J. Podipara, “Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental in Worship,” Ostkirchliche Studien 󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀉): 󰀈󰀄-󰀁󰀀󰀄; and “Hindu in Culture, Christian in Religion, Oriental

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In the Syro-Malabar tradition, as Robert Taft mentions, “the process of renewal had barely begun when Malayalam was introduced into the liturgy with the publication at Alwaye of the bilingual Missal of July 󰀃, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂.”󰀂󰀀 Unfortunately, in the following years, under the pretext of renovation, modernization, pastoral adaptation, and inculturation, unauthorized liturgical texts began to appear, neglecting the traditions of the Syro-Malabar Church as an Oriental Apostolic Church and even the teachings and instructions of the Councils and the Holy See.󰀂󰀁 On November 󰀁󰀇, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅 the Congregation for the Oriental Churches (COC) gave the Latin translation of the texts of the sacraments of Confession, Anointing of the Sick and Marriage with their explanation and their Malayalam translation for further study. The Syro-Malabar bishops asked the Central Liturgical Committee (CLC) to study the 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅 texts and to prepare the texts in a manner proper to the Syro-Malabar Church. As a result, there began the attempt to revise the texts into the vernacular.󰀂󰀂 A Latinized text for the Mass, prepared with the help of Fr Abel, CMI came into effect in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈. The text was vehemently opposed to by those who gave importance to restoration due to three reasons. First, this text was entirely different from the text given from Rome in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅; secondly, this text did not agree with the early draft; and thirdly, it differed from the Chaldean structure of the sacraments.󰀂󰀃 After Vatican II, the plea for inculturation was echoed on Indian soil. The Church in India Today seminar held in Bangalore, May 󰀁󰀅-󰀂󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉, re-launched the process of inculturation in the SMC. In addition to that, in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃 the SMC bishops appointed “a committee under the chairmanship

in Worship,” in Thomapedia II, ed. George Menachery (Trichur: The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), 󰀈󰀄-󰀁󰀀󰀄. 󰀂󰀀  Robert F. Taft, “The Syro-Malabar Liturgical Controversy,” in Acts of the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church Held in the Vatican, from 󰀈 to 󰀁󰀆 January 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆, ed. Jose Porunnedom (Kakkanad: The Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆), 󰀁󰀂󰀂-󰀁󰀃󰀈, at 󰀁󰀂󰀆. 󰀂󰀁  See in this respect, John Madey, “The Reform of the Liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church and the Holy See of Rome,” Ostkirchliche Studien 󰀃󰀀 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁): 󰀁󰀃󰀀-󰀁󰀆󰀈, at 󰀁󰀄󰀆-󰀁󰀄󰀇; Prasanna Vazheeparampil, The Making and Unmaking of Tradition: Towards a Theology of the Liturgical Renewal in the Syro-Malabar Church (Rome: Mar Thoma Yogam, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈), 󰀁󰀄󰀅-󰀁󰀅󰀀; and Lonappan Arangassery, Holy Baptism in the Syriac East (Satna: Ephrem’s Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), vi. 󰀂󰀂  Thomas Mannooramparampil, “The New Text of the Sacraments in the SyroMalabar Church,” 󰀂-󰀃; http://nasrani.net/wp-content/uploads/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁/󰀀󰀁/New_Text_of_the_ Sacraments_Syro_Malabar_Church_Rev_Fr_Thomas_Mannooramparambil.pdf [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀂󰀃  Ibid., 󰀁󰀈-󰀁󰀉.

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of a bishop to start experimentation in liturgical adaptations.”󰀂󰀄 Both events accentuated the process of preparing an inculturated text of the Holy Qurbana in 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀄. The attempt to go on with the Indianization reached its climax in the preparation of the text of an ‘Indian Mass’ and of an ‘Indianized Mass’. Such attempt to Indianize the Chaldean Liturgy or the restored Qurbana of 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂 strived “for a greater adaptation of the liturgy to the Indian mentality” due to the consideration of the objections brought against an absolute return to the pure Chaldean Rite.󰀂󰀅 Under the guidance of Dharmaram College, Bangalore, a text for an Indianized Mass (Indian Liturgy) was produced (at the NBCLC, the National Biblical Catechetical Liturgical Centre of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Bangalore). An Order of the Mass for the Indian Church had been prepared for the Latin Church as well. Cardinal Joseph Parecattil prepared the Indian Mass (Bharatha Pooja) and a short Mass for the ferial days for the Ernakulam Archdiocese.󰀂󰀆 All of them were used ad experimentum in some churches in SMC until their prohibition by the Congregation for the Eastern Churches (COC) in 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀.󰀂󰀇 The COC initially appreciated the good intentions of the attempt at Indianization. However, due to some of its glaring failures, COC disapproved the requests for “the so-called Indianization”󰀂󰀈 on August 󰀁, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀. Objecting to the Indian Mass and the Indianized Mass, the COC observed 󰀂󰀄

 Elavanal, “Influence of Vatican Council II on the Liturgical Life,” 󰀁󰀀󰀃.  Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy (Updated and Enlarged Edition), (Kottayam: OIRSI, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉), 󰀂󰀃. On account of the objections against the text of the restored Qurbana of 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂, ad experimentum a new Missal was approved on August 󰀇, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈. See in this respect, Antony Nariculam, “The Holy See, the Syro-Malabar Bishops’ Conference and the Syro-Malabar Bishops’ Synod on the Inculturation of the SyroMalabar Liturgy: A Study,” in Inculturation and the Syro-Malabar Church, ed. Bosco Puthur (Kakkanad: LRC, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀇󰀀; Elavanal, “Influence of Vatican Council II on the Liturgical Life,” 󰀁󰀀󰀆-󰀁󰀁󰀀; and Mathew Kochupurackal, “Liturgical Development in the Syro-Malabar Church,” in Syro-Malabar Church since the Eastern Code: An Evaluation and Future Prospects, Particular Laws, Statutes, Decrees, Bibliography – Festschrift in Honour of Prof. George Nedungatt S. J., ed. Francis Eluvathingal (Trichur: Marymatha Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃), 󰀁󰀄󰀇. 󰀂󰀆  Nariculam, “The Inculturation of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀇󰀂-󰀇󰀃; Vazheeparampil, The Making and Unmaking of Tradition, 󰀁󰀅󰀇-󰀁󰀅󰀈; Francis Kanichikattil, To Restore or to Reform? A Critical Study on Current Liturgical Renewal in the Syro-Malabar Church in India (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂), 󰀁󰀃󰀉-󰀂󰀂󰀇; and Jose Kochuparampil, “How Far Inculturated Is the Syro-Malabar Liturgy? Further Possibilities of Inculturation,” in Inculturation and the Syro-Malabar Church, ed. Bosco Puthur (Kakkanad: LRC, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀁󰀁󰀅, note 󰀄󰀀. 󰀂󰀇  Elavanal, “Influence of Vatican Council II on the Liturgical Life,” 󰀁󰀀󰀃-󰀁󰀀󰀄. 󰀂󰀈  Nariculam, “The Inculturation of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀇󰀀. The ‘Report on the State of Liturgical Reform in the Syro-Malabar Church’ given by the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Rome, on August 󰀁󰀂, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀, deals with a period of 󰀂󰀅

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that “(a)mong many other things, there are seen in it expressions taken from the Holy Bible, placed side by side with expressions taken from the sacred books of the Hindus.”󰀂󰀉 The COC explained its reservations on the proposed Indianized texts: “Some expressions have been criticized, not because they are theologically erroneous, but because they are liturgically or historically indefensible, or because they derived from improper texts, or because the general context renders them dangerously ambiguous.”󰀃󰀀 This observation did not imply that the Indian Mass and the Indianized Mass were wrong or unacceptable. Rather, the COC found in the so-called Texts of Indian Mass, “the ‘danger’ in integrating the non-Christian scriptures with Christian prayers, in offering flowers to God, in the use of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 󰀁󰀃, 󰀂󰀈, in using the Indian terms ‘Guru’, in calling God ‘Fullness of Reality’, in the use of ‘OM’, ‘Saccidananda’, and ‘Dharma’.”󰀃󰀁 However, as Nariculam observed, the COC “does not leave aside the need of adaptation as dictated by pastoral exigencies.”󰀃󰀂 On the other hand, “Rome is not against Indianization, rather it is against abusive and arbitrary experimentations without the supervision of the competent authority.”󰀃󰀃 Further, there was a genuine concern not to fall into religious syncretism while formulating new texts.󰀃󰀄 Fruitful discussions continued in the Church. Notable among them are: Further Inculturation of the Liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church (held on January 󰀂󰀇-󰀂󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄, Kakkanad),󰀃󰀅 conducted by the Syro-Malabar Liturgical Research Center – they could not however make a unanimous agreement on the question of inculturation in the Syro-Malabar 󰀁󰀈 years – from 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃 to 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀. See its details in Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy (Updated and Enlarged Edition), 󰀂󰀀-󰀅󰀅. 󰀂󰀉  Nariculam, “The Inculturation of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀇󰀁. See in this respect, Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy (Updated and Enlarged Edition), 󰀂󰀅. 󰀃󰀀  Madey, “The Reform of the Liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church,” 󰀁󰀃󰀇. See also pp. 󰀁󰀃󰀄-󰀁󰀃󰀈 for the documentation. 󰀃󰀁  Nariculam, “The Inculturation of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀇󰀃. See in this respect, Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy (Updated and Enlarged Edition), 󰀃󰀈-󰀄󰀆; Vazheeparampil, The Making and Unmaking of Tradition, 󰀁󰀅󰀆-󰀁󰀅󰀇; and Kochuparampil, “How Far Inculturated Is the Syro-Malabar Liturgy?,” 󰀁󰀁󰀆-󰀁󰀁󰀇. 󰀃󰀂  Nariculam, “The Inculturation of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀇󰀂. 󰀃󰀃  Ibid., 󰀇󰀀, note 󰀂󰀀. 󰀃󰀄  Kochuparampil, “How Far Inculturated Is the Syro-Malabar Liturgy?,” 󰀁󰀁󰀆-󰀁󰀁󰀇. For a detailed study in this respect, see Bilju Vazhappilly Francis, A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Syro-Malabar Christian Identity in Dialogue with Louis-Marie Chauvet, Doctoral Dissertation (Leuven: Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), 󰀁󰀀󰀅-󰀁󰀀󰀆. 󰀃󰀅  The papers and responses presented during the 󰀁󰀈th LRC Seminar were published in Inculturation and the Syro-Malabar Church, ed. Bosco Puthur (Kakkanad: LRC Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅).

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Church.󰀃󰀆 The research seminar on Vatican Council II and the Syro-Malabar Church under the auspices of the LRC (on March 󰀂󰀁-󰀂󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆, at Kakkanad) was also significant. The divide on the nature of inculturation continued. To put it briefly, both of the extreme positions which evolved around the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church led to reservations and perplexities in many quarters of the Church, yet at the same time, they opened the door to certain experiments in liturgical matters. The polarization along the lines of restoration and adaptation brought forth divisions in the Church. While some resorted to unauthorized liturgical texts, some wanted to continue without any reform. 󰀃. The Place of Inculturation in the Formation of Liturgical Texts Liturgy as public worship has three elements in its process of formation: “God who reveals, those who become a medium for this revelation, the people to whom God reveals.”󰀃󰀇 The first element is the Revelation of God, which “consists of Eternal Truths that do not change. That is the content of our faith.”󰀃󰀈 This is what is understood as lex credendi (the law of faith). The second element is worship as “a response to God who reveals.”󰀃󰀉 This is the lex orandi (the law of prayer). The worship can be seen as the expression of the content of faith. The third element is the people themselves (the Church) and their day to day life. In and through their lives the people give response to God who reveals. This is what is called lex vivendi (the law of Life). A harmony of these 󰀃 principles must be shown in the formation of liturgical texts which arise by translation, restoration, and revision. Mundadan cautions that: “If a well formed liturgy, which has been formed against the background of a certain group of people, with their customs and culture, their way of life, their symbols and signs of communication, is handed over to a new group of people it cannot become their public worship.”󰀄󰀀 With these points in mind, one may explore how far 󰀃󰀆

 Antony Nariculam, “Influence of Vatican Council II on the Liturgical Life of the Syro-Malabar Church: Response,” in Syro-Malabar Church Forty Years after the Vatican Council II, ed. Pauly Kannookadan (Kakkanad: LRC Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀁󰀃󰀄-󰀁󰀃󰀅. 󰀃󰀇  Mundadan, “The Syro-Malabar Liturgy,” 󰀁󰀃󰀂. 󰀃󰀈  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀃. 󰀃󰀉  Ibid. 󰀄󰀀  Ibid.

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inculturation has been taken into account in the formulation of the liturgical texts of SMC. 󰀁. Translation of the Liturgical Texts In the first instance, through translation, i.e., from the original liturgical language (Greek, Latin, and Syriac), the liturgical texts come to exist. In the case of the Syro-Malabar Church it is from East Syriac since the Church belongs to the East Syrian liturgical family. According to the Instruction on Translation of Liturgical Texts, “A faithful translation cannot be judged on the basis of individual words: the total context of the specific act of communication must be kept in mind, as well as the literary form proper to the respective languages” (no. 󰀆).󰀄󰀁 In the translation of the Syro-Malabar liturgical texts this norm has not received considerable attention. However, the ancient Syriac texts are used as far as possible. In this context, we have to praise the attempt to publish the Editio typica (Typical Edition) of the Order of the Mysteries in Syriac on August 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇.󰀄󰀂 󰀂. Restoration of the Liturgical Texts Another instance of the formation of liturgical texts is by restoration. This is an attempt to restore the suppressed or blurred parts or rites of the present liturgical texts. The restoration of the Raza text of the SyroMalabar Church thus came to completion in 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈.󰀄󰀃 In this regard, we can see that, in the Syro-Malabar Church, two Qudashas (anaphoras) were restored recently. Before the Synod of Diamper (󰀁󰀅󰀉󰀉), the Church of St. Thomas Christians used the Qudasha of Mar Addai and Mar Mari, of Mar Theodore, and of Mar Nestorius. The Synod of Diamper banned the use of the Qudashas of Mar Theodore and Mar Nestorius.󰀄󰀄  Consilium ad Exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia, Instruction on Translation of Liturgical Texts (January 󰀂󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉) (Kakkanad: LRC Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀). 󰀄󰀂  Editio typica: Order of the Mysteries with the First Qudasha that is the Qudasha of the Blessed Apostles Mar Addai and Mar Mari Preceptors of the Orient according to the Use of the Syro-Malabar Church (Kakkanad: Secretariat Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇). 󰀄󰀃  The Qurbana of Syro-Malabar Church – Raza came into effect on July 󰀃, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉. The modifications and additions like Propria were made to the existing Taksa in different years (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅, and 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇). 󰀄󰀄  Second Qudasha: The Order of Mar Theodore and Third Qudasha: The Order of Mar Nestorius (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀅-󰀆. 󰀄󰀁

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In the restoration of the 󰀂nd and 󰀃rd Qudashas, the Council’s instruction to keep the liturgy simple, to have the rites short and clear, without much repetition, with easy comprehensibility, etc. (SC 󰀃󰀄) were taken into account. A few modifications were introduced in the prayers, however, remaining faithful to the original text. Some sections of long prayers were kept as optional while care was taken to avoid repetitions of the same idea and to introduce simple words in the place of complicated expressions. In order to avoid confusion among the faithful, some elements common to all the three Qudashas are retained as found in the Qudasha of Mar Addai and Mar Mari (e.g. prayer requests and exhortations of the deacons and the responses of the Assembly).󰀄󰀅

Likewise, the restoration has been complete with regard to The Sacraments of the Syro-Malabar Church,󰀄󰀆 The Pontifical Rites (Rite of Ordination of Karoya, Heupdiakona, and M’samsana, Rite of Priestly Ordination, Rite of Episcopal Ordination, Rite of Installation of Archbishop/Bishop, Rite of Installation of Major Archbishop, and Rite of Blessing the Oil),󰀄󰀇 the Taksa of the Consecration of the Church, the Consecration of the Deppa and the Re-dedication of the Church,󰀄󰀈 and Lectionaries (Evangelion, Engartha, and Qeriane). In all these restorations, attempts were made to ensure that the faithful understood the texts with ease. The faithful were helped to take part in the restorations fully, actively, and in a way that befits them as a community (SC 󰀂󰀁). 󰀃. Revision of the Liturgical Texts After having restored all of the liturgical texts of the particular Church, the process of revision began. The Raza Qurbana Taksa, The Liturgy of the  Second Qudasha, 󰀆.  The Sacraments of the Syro-Malabar Church: Infant Baptism and Chrismation, Adult Baptism and Chrismation, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅). The use of vernacular language is “of considerable help to the people” (SC 󰀆󰀃). The Liturgical Text of Betrothal came into effect on January 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈. The Rite of the Marriage with a non-Christian Partner also came into effect on January 󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃. 󰀄󰀇  The Pontifical Rites of the Syro-Malabar Church (Malayalam) (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇). 󰀄󰀈  Taksa of the Consecration of the Church, the Consecration of the Deppa and the Re-dedication of the Church (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄). 󰀄󰀅

󰀄󰀆

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Hours, and Sacramentals󰀄󰀉 are currently in the process of revision. The revision of the texts is being done in accordance with the norms given in Sacrosanctum concilium and subsequent documents: 󰀁) they should “be revised carefully in the light of sound tradition;” and 󰀂) they should give “new vigour to meet the circumstances and needs of modern times” (SC 󰀄). The second principle sheds light on the importance of inculturation in all realms of the formation of the liturgical texts. We may bear in mind the Council’s caution that the revision must manifest “the intrinsic nature and purpose of” each part and “the connection between them” (SC 󰀅󰀀). Secondly, it should help the faithful to participate devoutly and actively in the Mass. Therefore, while simplifying the rites, preservation of their substance; discarding of duplicated, added or little advantageous elements; and restoration of the injured elements through the accidents of history󰀅󰀀 must be taken into consideration. 󰀄. Formation of the New Liturgical Texts As per the norms of Sacrosanctum concilium, the innovations or new forms are only welcomed if they genuinely point to “the good of the Church” and “grow organically from the already existing forms” (SC 󰀂󰀃). In addition, we have to carefully avoid “as far as possible, notable differences between the rites used in adjacent regions” (SC 󰀂󰀃). In this regard, the Rite of the Marriage of a Catholic Partner with a non-Christian Partner may be seen as a new liturgical text with the adaptations of cultural elements.󰀅󰀁 󰀄󰀉  With regard to the Sacramentals, the Rite of General Reconciliation, Vibhoothi (Rite of Penance during Lent), Rite of Palm Sunday, Rite of Maundy Thursday, Rite of Good Friday, Rite of Great Sunday, Rite of Easter, Rite of Nativity, Rites of Year End and Beginning were revised and came to use in 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅. The Rite of the First Profession of the Religious, Rite of the Final Profession of the Religious and the Rite of the Profession of the Members of Secular Institutes were published on January 󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀. The Liturgical Text of Betrothal came into effect on January 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈. The Rite of the Marriage of a Christian Partner with a nonChristian Partner also came into effect on January 󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃. 󰀅󰀀  Along with SC 󰀅󰀀, the Council Fathers also exhorted that the unclear and meaningless elements which “crept into the rites of the sacraments and sacramentals” during the course of history are to be carefully changed or modified since it is “necessary to adapt them to the needs of our own times” (SC 󰀆󰀂). 󰀅󰀁  Rite of the Marriage of a Catholic Partner with a non-Christian Partner (Malayalam) (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂). Tying of the Thaali, Adorning the Manthrakodi, Exchanging the Rings, Garlanding, and Lighting the Lamp (Nilavilakku) are the cultural elements adapted to this Rite.

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󰀄. Examples of Inculturation in the Liturgical Texts of SMC The Syro-Malabar Christian faithful celebrate the Divine Liturgy (Holy Qurbana) at the command of Christ for the benefit of the community. For instance, in the Syro-Malabar Qurbana, one finds a request, or pukdanakon, which is a unique feature of the Qurbana.󰀅󰀂 The Syriac word pukdanakon means “your command” and the congregation responds by saying “pukdane d’Mishiha” meaning “command of Christ.”󰀅󰀃 This refers to the divine mandate of Christ to those who assemble in his name and celebrate his mysteries (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀁:󰀂󰀃 and Lk 󰀂󰀂:󰀁󰀉). This is reflected in the opening words of the Qurbana: “Let us begin this Qurbana as the Lord has commanded us. It is indeed in accordance with the command of Christ that we offer this Qurbana.”󰀅󰀄 It is very pertinent to note that there was a social custom among the Keralites to ask permission before starting a ceremony or a rite. This social custom has a deeper meaning of showing the whole-hearted involvement of the community present. This custom reminds the faithful of their role in discerning God’s will, in sanctifying and glorifying the Triune God by means of liturgical celebrations. Another example of inculturation is the significant use of procession in the Syro-Malabar liturgical celebrations. In every celebration of the sacraments of the SMC, we can see a number of processions as part and parcel of the celebration. Procession is a theme dear to the Indian mind and it is the chief feature of pilgrimage (tīrthayātrā or tīrthādanam).󰀅󰀅 This custom of pilgrimage is a process of sanctifying oneself through prayer, penance and abstinence. In addition, it reminds the liturgical participants of the encounter between heaven and earth in the Christian worship.󰀅󰀆 󰀅󰀂

 John Thekkanath, “Pastoral Aspects of the Introductory Rites of Syro-Malabar Qurbana,” in LRC Seminar X (April 󰀉-󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂): Pastoral Aspects of the Prayers of Our Qurbana from the Beginning up to Laku Mara (LRC Archives, no. 󰀁󰀀), 󰀃. See in this respect, Thomas Mannooramparampil, “Enarxis and Liturgy of the Word in the SyroMalabar Qurbana,” Christian Orient 󰀂󰀂, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁): 󰀅󰀈-󰀅󰀉; Jose Kochuparampil, “The Theology of the Rites of Enarxis of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana,” in LRC Seminar X, 󰀁󰀂; and Vazhappilly, A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Syro-Malabar Christian Identity, 󰀃󰀈󰀃. 󰀅󰀃  Thekkanath, “Pastoral Aspects of the Introductory Rites,” 󰀃. 󰀅󰀄  The Order of the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅, reprint 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀁󰀃. 󰀅󰀅  Jose Mathew Kakkallil, The Sacraments of Initiation into the Way/Margam: An Inculturated Understanding of the Theology of Christian Initiation in the Syro-Malabar Church, Doctoral Dissertation (Leuven: Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈), 󰀄󰀁󰀁. 󰀅󰀆  Kakkallil, The Sacraments of Initiation, 󰀄󰀁󰀁. See also, Naiju Jose Kalambukattu, “Some General Features of Eastern Liturgies,” Ephrem’s Theological Journal 󰀁󰀆, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀆󰀉, where the author claims that liturgical processions express the symbolic nature of the

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Baptism by immersion symbolizes the death of a child together with Jesus and the rising up with Jesus. This ritual enactment is well articulated in the ceremonial bath (Rakkuli) done on the eve of the Feast of Epiphany. This ceremonial bath in the rivers, taking place in central Kerala, not only symbolizes the baptism of Christ but also reminds the faithful of their own baptism.󰀅󰀇 Another instance of inculturation is in regard to the oil used in the Rite of Baptism for Infants as well as for the adults (General Instructions, nos. 󰀃 and 󰀁󰀁). The oil is to be blessed with Myron (Chrism). Vegetable oil like olive oil, coconut oil and gingili oil can be used. Though the Myron is already blessed by the bishop, the text allows the priest to bless the oil with the Myron. This oil needs not be olive oil; any vegetable oil can be used for this purpose.󰀅󰀈 Taking into account the directives of the Sacrosanctum concilium that “praiseworthy customs and ceremonies when celebrating the sacrament of matrimony,” are to be retained (SC 󰀇󰀇), the Syro-Malabar Church has retained a number of such customs and ceremonies in the Rite of Matrimony, such as, lighting the lamp, candle or Nilavilakku; blessing the Thaali, the rings, and the Manthrakody; tying the Thaali around the bride’s neck; exchanging the rings; giving rosaries to the bride and the groom; garlanding; and spreading the Manthrakodi on the bride’s head.󰀅󰀉 The Syro-Malabar Church has also given due importance to the use of Indian music and has adapted it for the worship using Indian ragas. In all these measures, the Church hopes to “adapt worship to their native genius” (SC 󰀁󰀁󰀉). 󰀅. SMC Liturgical Commission as the Facilitator of Inculturation One of the tasks of the Liturgical Commission is “to promote studies and necessary experiments whenever there is question of adaptations to be proposed to the Apostolic See” (SC 󰀄󰀄). This highlights how much the pilgrim Church and signify the descending of God to humans and the ascending of humans to God. 󰀅󰀇  Jacob Vellian, “The Development of the Baptismal Font,” in Selected Studies, ed. Jacob Vellian (Kottayam: Deepika Book House, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆), 󰀄󰀉󰀃. See in this respect, Vazhappilly, A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Syro-Malabar Christian Identity, 󰀂󰀉󰀄. 󰀅󰀈  The Sacraments of the Syro-Malabar Church, 󰀉-󰀁󰀀. 󰀅󰀉  “The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony,” in The Sacraments of the Syro-Malabar Church (Kakkanad: Secretariat, Commission for Liturgy Major Archiepiscopal Curia, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀁󰀃󰀂, 󰀁󰀄󰀅-󰀁󰀄󰀇.

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process of inculturation is taken into account in the formation of the liturgical texts in the Church. Thus, under the guidance of the Liturgical Commission of the Syro-Malabar Church, the Liturgical Research Center at Kakkanad, conducts seminars, workshops and conferences nationally and internationally and publishes the results via an international journal entitled the Journal of St. Thomas Heritage as well as via many edited books. In this regard, LRC’s 󰀅󰀈th Seminar on Inculturation in the SyroMalabar Church in the Context of Globalization (held on March 󰀉-󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀) prominently discussed the theme from theological, liturgical, biblical, missiological, and global perspectives. In addition, each diocese in the Syro-Malabar Church also has “a commission on the sacred liturgy under the direction of the bishop” with the same task (SC 󰀄󰀅). The convenor and secretary of this commission from each diocese, the nominees of the Major Archbishop, elected lay member from each Metropolitan Province, representatives from the Syro-Malabar Religious Conference, and a member from each Synodal Seminary will form “one single commission,” in the case of the SyroMalabar Church, known as Central Liturgical Committee (CLC), “to promote the liturgy by common consultation” (SC 󰀄󰀅) wherever the liturgy of the SMC is introduced. The long road of liturgical renewal and inculturation thus calls for a continuous process of contextualization, which must be “theologically sound, pastorally relevant and open to new situations.”󰀆󰀀

Conclusion We need great pioneers like Cardinal Joseph Parecattil, who held that “the process of restoration, revision and adaptation of the liturgical texts should go hand in hand.”󰀆󰀁 The examination of the Church documents on inculturation and its place in the liturgy calls for the symbiosis between faith and culture. Such a process of inculturation enables the 󰀆󰀀  Francis Kanichikattil, “Liturgical Reform Movement: Some Observations,” in Church in Context: Essays in Honour of Mathias Mundadan CMI, ed. Francis Kanichikattil (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆), 󰀂󰀉󰀇. See also, Vazhappilly, A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Syro-Malabar Christian Identity, 󰀃󰀈󰀀. 󰀆󰀁  Thomas Bishop Chakkiath, “A Word of Introduction to the Symposium,” in Living the Syro-Malabar Identity Faith and Faithfulness: Cardinal Parecattil Birth Centenary National Symposium, ed. Antony Nariculam, Cardinal Parecattil Series 󰀃 (Alwaye: STAR Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀂󰀀.

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Syro-Malabar Christians to look at liturgical celebrations as their faith expressions received from tradition and adapted in relation to the context in which they live. This implies that, only through a proper cultural discernment, the Syro-Malabar Church can have a solid theology of liturgical inculturation and meaningful praxis. In restructuring, revising, and creating liturgical texts, one must follow sound principles. Cardinal Joseph Parecattil observes quite relevantly: If ecclesia est semper reformanda, liturgy is much more so. Liturgia est semper reformanda, but that must be done with due respect for the principle of unity in faith and diversity in its expressions in various cultures and races. It is only then the Church can be said to be one and Catholic in a meaningful manner.󰀆󰀂

󰀆󰀂  Joseph Parecattil, “Foreword to the Book Towards an Indian Christian Funeral Rite,” in Joseph Parecattil: His Vision on Church, Inculturation and Inter-religious Dialogue, ed. Antony Nariculam (Alwaye: STAR Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀂󰀀󰀈.

Plenam, consciam atque actuosam (SC 󰀁󰀄) A Study of the Syro-Malabar Liturgy of the Hours in the Light of the Second Vatican Council Maryann Madhavathu For every generation of Christians, the task waiting is to spread among the people of God the splendor of the living mystery of the Lord, the paschal mystery, manifest in the liturgy. This anticipates a liturgical formation intended to enable everyone to become aware of the indispensable role of the liturgy in and for the Church.󰀁 Living in a time when public worship is restricted due to pandemic (COVID-󰀁󰀉), the participation in and living of the paschal mystery demand a more internal and real death to one’s self and selfish interests, and resurrection with a purified social and ecclesial consciousness, respecting the life of fellow beings and co-creatures. Worship in spirit and truth󰀂 liberates human souls and reorders the priorities of values in life when humanity realizes its helplessness. In this situation, the paschal mystery of Christ invites humanity for a celebration that is full, active, and conscious in its complete sense. The real spirit and function of the liturgy, in light of current theological reflections, is explained in the first part of the article. The soul of Sacrosanctum concilium󰀃 in its exhortation for full, active, and conscious participation is analyzed in the second part. We would like to state that a complete, conscious, and active participation occurs only when the liturgy is experienced as “an epiphany of ecclesial communion.”󰀄 Though 󰀁  Letter of His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin for 󰀇󰀀th National Liturgical Week, 󰀁󰀆 August 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. Full text available at https://zenit.org/articles/letter-of-cardinal-secretaryof-state-parolin-for-󰀇󰀀th-national-liturgical-week/ [accessed on May 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀂  Jn 󰀄:󰀂󰀂-󰀂󰀄. On this, see the discussion on worship in spirit and truth, Lambert Leijssen, “‘When the Spirit of Truth Comes, He Will Guide You into All the Truth…’ (John 󰀁󰀆:󰀁󰀃). Sacraments: God’s Revelation in Word and Spirit,” Questions Liturgiques / Studies in Liturgy 󰀉󰀄 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀇-󰀂󰀆, at 󰀁󰀂. 󰀃  Sacrosanctum concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Hereafter it is referred to as SC. Available at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_ council/documents/vat-ii_const_󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀄_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html [accessed on March 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀄  Pope Francis, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 󰀁󰀄 February 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. Available at

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the communal nature is self-evident, the Liturgy of the Hours has not received sufficient attention in the liturgical renewal of the Syro-Malabar Church.󰀅 The third part of the study discusses the renewal of the Liturgy of the Hours from a theoretical as well as a pastoral perspective. I argue that this public prayer of the Church has an inherent power for nurturing the unity within the Church and communion between humanity and the cosmos. 󰀁. The Spirit and Function of the Liturgy More than a revitalization in the way of celebration, the liturgical reform of Vatican II was a crucial moment in the self-understanding of the Church.󰀆 SC 󰀂 describes: “[F]or the liturgy … is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church.” Thus, liturgy is the self-expression of the Church. According to Massimo Faggioli the “most important ecclesiological shifts operated by Sacrosanctum concilium – from a juridical ecclesiology to one based on communion” was not received by later documents.󰀇 SC further states that “the liturgy builds up the members of the Church … as the holy temple of the Lord, … to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ, … as a sign lifted up among the nations … under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together until there are one sheepfold and one shepherd.”󰀈 Therefore, the purpose of all liturgical services is unity in the body of Christ and communion with the creation. The Church, filled with the holy presence of God and growing in the spirit of Christ’s love, gathers all her children to her sheepfold through the celebration of the liturgy. SC teaches that the entire liturgy has its role in the Church as a theologia prima, as locus theologicus, and as culmen et fons (summit and source).󰀉 http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉/february/documents/papafrancesco_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀂󰀁󰀄_cong-culto-divino.html [accessed on March 󰀁󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀅  The Roman Church (also called the Latin Church) and the Syro-Malabar are both sui iuris churches. The Roman Church follows the Western liturgical tradition whereas the Syro-Malabar follows the East-Syrian liturgical tradition. 󰀆  Massimo Faggioli, True Reform: Liturgy and Ecclesiology in Sacrosanctum concilium (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀉󰀀. 󰀇  Ibid., 󰀈󰀈-󰀈󰀉. 󰀈  SC 󰀂. 󰀉  SC 󰀉-󰀁󰀀. Andrea Grillo, La nascita della liturgia nel XX secolo: Saggio sul rapporto tra movimento liturgico e (post-) modernità (Assisi: Cittadella, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃), 󰀁󰀄󰀃.

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Changing worship practices calls for a theological rethinking of ecclesiology. Criticisms against liturgical reform and its application originated from a misunderstanding or refusal of renewed ecclesiology. Liturgy is not only the summit but also the source of the Church’s life and energy. This implies that there exists a series of operational principles linked to the role and form of the liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours is called the school of prayer which has a formational as well as a transformational role to play in the life of the Church.󰀁󰀀 Andrea Grillo claims that the most prophetic intuition of the liturgical movement was the discovery that the real subject of the liturgical reform is liturgy itself and the real object is the Church.󰀁󰀁 Therefore, it must be recognized that liturgy can form, transform, and reform the Church. 󰀁. Encounter with the Paschal Mystery Every liturgical celebration has one ultimate objective: the full, conscious, and active participation of all in the paschal mystery: the content of which refers to one’s dying to self and rising with the Lord.󰀁󰀂 For Alexander Schmemann, liturgy is the main business of the Church.󰀁󰀃 Life in Christ is very hard without liturgical participation.󰀁󰀄 While awaiting the fullness of the divine life at the end of time, the Church already enjoys the first fruits of that life here and now.󰀁󰀅 Liturgy provides the context and means for the faithful to grow in the divine life through the mysteries of salvation. One cannot simply reduce liturgy to some rituals to be performed since it is a dynamic reality that celebrates a lived and living mystery. In other words, liturgy is about encountering the living and saving God. It is also about the transformation and salvation of 󰀁󰀀  On the formational capacity of the Liturgy of the Hours see the article, Maryann Madhavathu, “Being Formed at the Church’s School of Prayer: Role of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Ongoing Formation of Christian Faithful,” Studia Liturgica 󰀄󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀁󰀉󰀇-󰀂󰀀󰀉. 󰀁󰀁  Andrea Grillo, Beyond Pius V: Conflicting Interpretations of the Liturgical Reform (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), 󰀆󰀄. 󰀁󰀂  Kathleen A. Harmon, The Ministry of Music: Singing the Paschal Mystery, Collegeville Ministry Series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄), 󰀃. 󰀁󰀃  Alexander Schmemann, Church, World, Mission: Reflections on Orthodoxy in the West (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉), 󰀁󰀃󰀁. 󰀁󰀄  See for a commentary, “Why the Liturgy? What Does ‘Liturgy’ Mean? Commentary on nos. 󰀁󰀀󰀆󰀆-󰀁󰀀󰀇󰀀 of the Catechism,” at http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/ details/ns_lit_doc_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁󰀁_perche-liturgia_en.html [accessed on April 󰀁󰀇, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀅  Richard R. Gaillardetz and Catherine E. Clifford, Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀇.

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humanity effected by the faithful’s participation in the celebrated mystery.󰀁󰀆 Liturgy is one’s encounter with the triune God in word and sacrament, offering praise and thanksgiving, enacting the paschal mystery, celebrating God’s love and care for us. At the heart of this mystery, then, is God, the Creator, and Savior of humankind.󰀁󰀇 Encounter with the presence of God in liturgy leads to participation in the saving mystery. For Schmemann, to be a Christian implies that one is a communicant who participates in the death of Christ to rise with Him into eternal life.󰀁󰀈 Personal death in the life of a Christian is necessary to live the paschal mystery in daily life. There is a paradox involved in the paschal mystery: the paradox of a death that leads to a life that is closely related to Jesus’ earthly life.󰀁󰀉 The inner unity and dialectic that exists between dying and rising is the core of the paschal mystery. The Liturgy of the Hours orders each day with a rhythm of dying and rising and it draws the participants into the depth of the paschal mystery.󰀂󰀀 The ultimate end is that all are conformed into God’s image and likeness as his holy people, through Christ’s paschal mystery, living the converted lives on earth until entering the eternal liturgy.󰀂󰀁 A Christian by nature has to practice the implications of the paschal mystery by sharing in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ through one’s life. 󰀂. Binding in Perfect Harmony The paschal mystery is a call to live according to the great commandment of love. Love demands death to one’s selfish motives and commitment to care for others. This requires a paschal movement of dying to personal sinfulness.󰀂󰀂 It is an ongoing process until the perfect union with God  Joyce Ann Zimmerman, “Editor Notes,” Liturgical Ministry 󰀈 (Summer 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉): 󰀁󰀅󰀆.  Ibid. 󰀁󰀈  Alexander Schmemann, “The Mystery of Easter,” St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly 󰀂, no. 󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀄): 󰀁󰀆-󰀂󰀂, at 󰀁󰀇. 󰀁󰀉  This is the paradox of power in weakness and of life in death. Dermot A. Lane, “The Paschal Mystery,” The Furrow 󰀃󰀀, no. 󰀅 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉): 󰀂󰀈󰀆-󰀂󰀉󰀆, at 󰀂󰀈󰀈. Death presupposes a radical change, described in concepts like to be born anew and lose life to gain it (Jn 󰀃:󰀃-󰀅; Mt 󰀁󰀆:󰀂󰀅). The parable of the grain of wheat that falls and dies to bear more fruit displays the logic of this change (Jn 󰀁󰀂:󰀂󰀄). See Lane, “The Paschal Mystery,” 󰀂󰀈󰀈. 󰀂󰀀  Joyce Ann Zimmerman, “Liturgical Notes,” Liturgical Ministry 󰀂 (Summer 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃): 󰀁󰀁󰀈. 󰀂󰀁  Kevin W. Irwin, “Liturgical Theology: What Do the East and West Have to Say to Each Other?,” Studia Liturgica 󰀃󰀀 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀): 󰀉󰀄-󰀁󰀁󰀁, at 󰀁󰀀󰀄. 󰀂󰀂  Lane, “The Paschal Mystery,” 󰀂󰀉󰀀. Fagerberg calls asceticism the art of practicing death and resurrection ahead of the final judgment. It is preemptive mortification. David Fagerberg, On Liturgical Asceticism (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America 󰀁󰀆 󰀁󰀇

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happens in the eschaton. Consequently, the paschal mystery is lived out in terms of Christian hope. The paschal mystery experienced in Christian life produces a certain tension between that which is and that which is yet to come, between the present and the future, and between being and becoming.󰀂󰀃 Any eschatological understanding of the liturgy presumes a communal basis for the kingdom of God to be realized here and now among humans.󰀂󰀄 The liturgy is simply the highest and most perfect way in which Churches show their true character. It is the sacred expression of a human community at the moment when Christ enables it to join in the priestly action by which he takes humankind with him to the Father.󰀂󰀅 The communal aspects of eschatology remind us of the relation between liturgy and social justice. As a pilgrim community journeying to the divine kingdom, the Church is on the way of realizing God’s kingdom on earth. There is a contradiction to see the unequal status and discriminatory distribution of resources of the earth in real life. What liturgy is and does is an aide-mémoire to the children of God to live with equal dignity and equal rights. Liturgy evokes a concrete response to re-establish God’s kingdom by challenging to live what it celebrates. If social justice is not constitutive of the liturgy, it can be self-deluding and truly a falsification of what it is by its nature.󰀂󰀆 In this kingdom of God celebrated in liturgy, one cannot ignore God’s creatures and the whole universe. Liturgy uses the primal elements of the world in the celebrations. It articulates an incarnational theology of worship. The Church uses things of and from this earth to worship God and in using them offers praise to God the Creator.󰀂󰀇 The children of God must hold creation in harmony with love and respect. Through the worship of God, all are invited to embrace the world on a different plane.󰀂󰀈 The awareness Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), 󰀁󰀀󰀀-󰀁󰀀󰀁, 󰀁󰀂󰀁. Bouyer says that Christ’s death makes a Christian capable of dying efficaciously. Louis Bouyer, The Paschal Mystery: Meditations on the Last Three Days of Holy Week (Chicago, IL: Regnery, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀀), xiv. 󰀂󰀃  Lane, “The Paschal Mystery,” 󰀂󰀉󰀀. 󰀂󰀄  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀁󰀀. 󰀂󰀅  Irénée H. Dalmais, The Eastern Liturgies (London: Burns and Oates, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀀), 󰀃󰀄. 󰀂󰀆  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀁󰀀. 󰀂󰀇  “Water, oil, fire and colors are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise.” LS 󰀂󰀃󰀅. Pope Francis, Laudato si’, encyclical letter on care for our common home, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/ papa-francesco_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅󰀀󰀅󰀂󰀄_enciclica-laudato-si.html. [accessed on April 󰀁󰀇, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. Also see, Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀁󰀁. 󰀂󰀈  LS 󰀂󰀃󰀅. The Pope further says that “The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration… ‘creation is projected towards divinization, … towards unification with the Creator himself’. Thus, the Eucharist is

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about God as the Creator of heaven and earth must lead to a genuine concern for the environment. 󰀃. A Counter-Cultural Challenge The culture of liturgy acts as a counter-cultural challenge to individualism and anthropocentrism. There we learn to focus on personal growth in prayer, virtues, and God experience. “The ecclesiology derived from the liturgy is always one of the Church’s belonging and commitment.”󰀂󰀉 Thus, liturgy offers a different way of considering and caring for others in God. The liturgical culture is incompatible with entertainment culture. Entertainment culture is a system that affirms and encourages individualism, self-centeredness, and desire for self-gratification which leaves one indifferent to the well-being of others.󰀃󰀀 The self that is shaped by the individualistic practices is at odds with the self that is formed from a life of faithful discipleship. Selfish interests will not lead to genuine fulfillment and the bliss of loving one another. The context of the liturgy teaches growing to God together, always being of, by, and for the whole Church.󰀃󰀁 Liturgical practice shapes the members of the worshiping community to see the relationship with all of God’s creation and to understand daily life as a means of sacramental cooperation with God’s ongoing creative activity.󰀃󰀂 Liturgy operates on both anthropology and cosmology and it is against the utilitarian culture of the present times.󰀃󰀃 The anthropology of worship meets cosmology, and so liturgy must respect the God-given world where the elements of the world are used in the prayer-response of humans to God.󰀃󰀄 The isolation of individuals leads to a utilitarian mindset and also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.” LS 󰀂󰀃󰀆. 󰀂󰀉  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀅. Christian solidarity was weakened by the effect of individualistic culture on the Catholic piety and worship. Keith F. Pecklers, The Unread Vision: The Liturgical Movement in the United States of America, 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀆-󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈), 󰀇󰀇. 󰀃󰀀  Paul J. Wadell, “Risking a Redeemed Self: Moral Formation in an Entertainment Culture,” Liturgy 󰀂󰀈, no. 󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀃󰀃-󰀄󰀁, at 󰀃󰀃. 󰀃󰀁  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀅. 󰀃󰀂  Margaret R. Pfeil, “Liturgy and Ethics: The Liturgical Asceticism of Energy Conservation,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 󰀂󰀇, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇): 󰀁󰀂󰀇-󰀁󰀄󰀉, at 󰀁󰀃󰀄. 󰀃󰀃  Timothy Brunk, The Sacraments and Consumer Culture (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀). Brunk examines the negative effects of consumer culture on the seven sacraments and checks the possibilities of worship resources for responsible Christian discipleship. 󰀃󰀄  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀄.

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unethical consumerism bereft of social or ecological awareness.󰀃󰀅 The Church as a community has the responsibility to integrate what one prays, believes, and lives in the liturgy. The participants must be open to experience and welcome the countercultural, paradoxical, and confounding realities in the liturgy.󰀃󰀆 The celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours is to be recommended because praying it in common would help the Church to reestablish the consciousness of the social, vital, and objective character of Christianity. The focus of the Church members will move from personal to the common good by the corporate worship of the body of Christ.󰀃󰀇 Liturgy aims to restore the undistorted, proper, and ordered relationship between God, spirit, body, and cosmos.󰀃󰀈 Accordingly, the Liturgy of the Hours challenges the contemporary consumeristic and individualistic cultures. 󰀂. Full, Conscious, and Active Participation The fullest expression of the Christian life is reached when assemblies gathered for the liturgy are continually reshaped and reformed into God’s image and likeness.󰀃󰀉 SC repeats its call for active and full participation and there are twenty instances in the document that explicitly mention the call for qualitative participation in the liturgy.󰀄󰀀 Analysis of these paragraphs shows the nature of the participation envisioned by the Council Fathers. 󰀁. Full and Active Participation in the Community From a close observation, we see that ‘fully and actively’ means wholeheartedly, with devotion, actively, and with ease. Full participation according to SC presupposes both an individual and communal level. The full participation of the individual demands the attention of all senses – both internal and external. Also, as one body, the community will be full or complete when there is the participation of every member of the assembly. It demands full collaboration of all members and the full involvement of each individual. 󰀃󰀅

 LS 󰀂󰀁󰀉.  Kevin W. Irwin, Context and Text: A Method for Liturgical Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀆󰀂󰀄. 󰀃󰀇  Pecklers, The Unread Vision, 󰀇󰀇. 󰀃󰀈  Fagerberg, On Liturgical Asceticism, 󰀁󰀀󰀂. 󰀃󰀉  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀃. 󰀄󰀀  See SC 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀇, 󰀁󰀈, 󰀁󰀉, 󰀂󰀁, 󰀂󰀇, 󰀃󰀀, 󰀄󰀁, 󰀄󰀈, 󰀄󰀉, 󰀅󰀀, 󰀅󰀉, 󰀇󰀉, 󰀉󰀀, 󰀁󰀁󰀃, 󰀁󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀁󰀈, and 󰀁󰀂󰀁. 󰀃󰀆

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One significant fact noticed here is that SC always associates the full and active participation with the presence of community. The celebration is complete or perfectly active only when all members of the people of God are present in the service. SC 󰀂󰀇 mentions “communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful.” SC 󰀃󰀀 elaborates on the active participation by responses in prayers, by actions, gestures, and bodily postures. The full active participation of all God’s holy people is the “pre-eminent manifestation of the Church” according to SC 󰀄󰀁. SC 󰀅󰀀 adds another adjective ‘devout’ to the participation of the faithful. SC 󰀁󰀁󰀄 and 󰀁󰀂󰀁 underscore that full means “the whole body of the faithful” or “the entire assembly of the faithful” explicitly. SC 󰀁󰀁󰀃 and 󰀁󰀂󰀄 repeat the need for selection of sung offices and a proper church building to ensure active participation. Active participation is not simply external in nature, but it is internal and more intelligent participation. It is more internal and contemplative participation as the Latin word actuosa suggests.󰀄󰀁 󰀂. Conscious Participation SC implicitly or explicitly refers to conscious participation in the liturgy in ten paragraphs.󰀄󰀂 Looking at them closely, one can infer what the Council Fathers meant by conscious participation in the liturgy. It is to be “fully aware of what they are doing” (SC󰀁󰀁 & 󰀁󰀈). To understand the sacred rites means to easily recognize the meaning of sacramental signs, and prayers as well as the liturgy and scripture used (SC 󰀁󰀇, 󰀄󰀈, 󰀅󰀉, 󰀉󰀀). This will help them to participate in the liturgy more intelligently (SC 󰀇󰀉 & 󰀁󰀁󰀈). That is why SC 󰀄󰀈 teaches about the active participation that the faithful should take part in “per ritus et preces id [=eucharisticum mysterium] bene intelligentes (that they may well understand through the rites and prayers).” Thus, SC made ritual form and prayer inseparable, which was not the case before.󰀄󰀃 This is an inclusive approach to all elements of the liturgy which makes the action of the Church integral. SC 󰀁󰀁󰀈 says, “Religious singing by the people is to be intelligently fostered.” Liturgical songs must be congruent with the liturgical theology 󰀄󰀁  Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), 󰀁󰀇󰀁-󰀁󰀇󰀇; Alcuin Reid, “Sacrosanctum concilium and the Organic Development of the Liturgy,” Antiphon 󰀁󰀀, no. 󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆): 󰀁󰀉󰀈-󰀂󰀁󰀅, at 󰀂󰀀󰀀. 󰀄󰀂  See SC 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀇, 󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀁, 󰀄󰀈, 󰀅󰀉, 󰀇󰀉, 󰀉󰀀, and 󰀁󰀁󰀈. 󰀄󰀃  Grillo, Beyond Pius V, 󰀂󰀃-󰀂󰀅.

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of what is being celebrated.󰀄󰀄 Only when one takes part in the liturgical celebration, the Church ‘lives out’ her mystery as a human community, and the living and effective word of God makes the Church as the mystical Body of Christ.󰀄󰀅 Grillo analyses the instruction of the Council about the participation and underlines that conscious participation is not only about the rational understanding of meaning but about the people getting the meaning of the sign and the corporate act. Consequently, what Vatican II aimed at was not a better intellectual understanding but a change of perspective and an experiential recovery of a new and fundamental way of understanding the truth of liturgy and sacraments in a balance between sensibility and comprehension. So full pastoral efficacy results from ritual form.󰀄󰀆 Therefore, reform must be motivated by the need to recover fully the liturgical understanding of the ritual-prayer. 󰀃. Ensuring Effective Participation SC 󰀁󰀁 clarifies that liturgy produces its full effects only when the faithful come with proper dispositions. For that, they must tune their minds with their voices and cooperate with divine grace.󰀄󰀇 The Council encourages that liturgy must be “celebrated with the assistance of faithful” so that it “may become pastorally efficacious to the fullest degree” (SC 󰀄󰀉). SC 󰀅󰀉 teaches that the effective celebration of the sacraments “disposes the faithful to receive the grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly and to practice charity.” The collective formation of the congregation in faith results in the celebration of the liturgy itself.󰀄󰀈 The priests must be trained so that they can receive aid to live the liturgical life and share it with the faithful entrusted to their care (SC 󰀁󰀈). So, priests and religious must be given liturgical formation so that they acquire the spirit of liturgy from seminaries and religious houses (SC 󰀁󰀇). Pastors are responsible for the liturgical formation of the people so that internally and externally they participate actively in the liturgy (SC 󰀁󰀉). It is to be done considering the age, condition, way of life, and standard of religious culture. 󰀄󰀄

 Since liturgy engages mind and imagination, music used at liturgy must be truly beautiful and also participated in, aesthetically pleasing and at the same time truly native to the liturgy. Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀇. 󰀄󰀅  Dalmais, The Eastern Liturgies, 󰀁󰀀. 󰀄󰀆  Grillo, Beyond Pius V, 󰀂󰀆. 󰀄󰀇  SC 󰀉󰀀 repeats this idea while discussing the divine office. 󰀄󰀈  Irwin, “Liturgical Theology,” 󰀁󰀀󰀇.

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Undeniably, the paschal mystery is the heart of the Christian life as well as the liturgy. All liturgical celebrations, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, facilitate the participation in the paschal mystery many times a day.󰀄󰀉 Though containing rich references to the paschal mystery, this liturgy of the Church has not yet received adequate attention in liturgical reforms. SC does not give many practical guidelines for the implementation of the Liturgy of the Hours in parishes. Chapter IV is titled “The Divine Office” and devotes only eighteen sections to it (󰀈󰀃-󰀁󰀀󰀁). Although described as “the public prayer of the Church” (󰀉󰀀), the focus is on priests (cf. 󰀈󰀄, 󰀈󰀆, 󰀉󰀀, 󰀉󰀆, 󰀉󰀈) and those required to pray it (cf. 󰀈󰀄, 󰀉󰀅, 󰀉󰀈, 󰀁󰀀󰀁). There are oblique references to others who are not clerics or members of religious congregations (󰀈󰀄, 󰀉󰀀), and only one clear reference to its restoration as a parochial prayer (󰀁󰀀󰀀). There is no explicit emphasis that the Liturgy of the Hours is the daily prayer of all the baptized. The Roman rite had the IGLH󰀅󰀀 which provided an opportunity to study and prepare for those who use the revised liturgy when implemented. This document revealed the profound theological and liturgical content, being the best official teaching on the prayer and the Liturgy of the Hours.󰀅󰀁 But in the Syro-Malabar Church, the revision of the Liturgy of the Hours is still in progress. The old editions of unapproved texts are used still in many parts of the Church. The exhortation of Vatican II to promote the communal celebration of LH is not yet realized fully. What is needed for an effective renewal of the Liturgy of the Hours is discussed in the following section. 󰀃. The Renewal of the Liturgy of the Hours SC 󰀁󰀀󰀀 calls for the renewal of the Liturgy of the Hours and its more frequent use by the people of God.󰀅󰀂 There is still a practical tension 󰀄󰀉  On this connection see, Maryann Madhavathu, Liturgy as a Sacrament of the Paschal Mystery: A Theological Analysis of the Relations between the Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman and in the Syro-Malabar Rites, Doctoral Dissertation (Leuven: Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆). 󰀅󰀀  Institutio Generalis de Liturgia Horarum (IGLH) is the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours released on February 󰀂, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁, which preceded the revised editio typica by two months. See, Aimon M. Roguet, The Liturgy of the Hours: The General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours with a Commentary, trans. Peter Coughlan and Peter Purdue (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁). 󰀅󰀁  William G. Storey, “Parish Worship: The Liturgy of the Hours,” Worship 󰀄󰀉, no. 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅): 󰀂-󰀁󰀂, at 󰀆. 󰀅󰀂  Zimmerman wonders “why a liturgical rite as important as the Liturgy of the Hours could end up with such a poor revision in face of all the good work that followed Vatican II.” Zimmerman, “Liturgical Notes,” 󰀁󰀁󰀇.

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between understanding the Liturgy of the Hours as the private prayer of the clergy or religious communities, and parochial prayer. The revision of the rite and texts demands different styles for praying alone and in the community.󰀅󰀃 We read in SC 󰀂󰀁: “[I]n this restoration, both texts, and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community.” This instruction indicates two vital areas to be attended to while revising and restoring liturgical texts. Kees Waaijman distinguishes two related fields important for liturgical spirituality.󰀅󰀄 He speaks of the texts and rites as the liturgical form. He calls for a renewal of the liturgical form concerning its meaning (the significance of the form) and about the Christian community (the actual participation in the form).󰀅󰀅 Any renewal of the liturgical form must consider its meaning in itself as well as its appropriateness for conveying that meaning to participants. Here I focus more on the renewal of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Syro-Malabar Church. 󰀁. Renewal in Relation to the Meaning of the Liturgy By its very nature, the Liturgy of the Hours has been a solemn and communal celebration from its very beginnings. The Church is a communion of the people of God sharing the priesthood of Christ.󰀅󰀆 Being the prayer of the whole Church, the Liturgy of the Hours must be solemnly celebrated with the participation of the laity.󰀅󰀇 SC recommends the communal celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the Church and a sacrifice of praise and intercession for the salvation of all.󰀅󰀈 In the euchology of the Syro-Malabar Church, public 󰀅󰀃  For a discussion on the history of the reform of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Syro-Malabar Church see, Maryann Madhavathu, “The Reform of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Syro-Malabar Church in Light of Vatican II” in Revisiting Vatican II: 󰀅󰀀 Years of Renewal, ed. Shaji G. Kochuthara, vol. 󰀂 (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), 󰀃󰀉󰀉-󰀄󰀁󰀂. 󰀅󰀄  Waaijman describes these as two dimensions of Catholic liturgy, the liturgical form and the actual execution of it. Kees Waaijman, Spirituality: Forms, Foundations, Methods, trans. John Vriend, Studies in Spirituality Supplement 󰀈 (Leuven: Peeters, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), 󰀁󰀃󰀈-󰀁󰀃󰀉. 󰀅󰀅  Ibid. 󰀅󰀆  See LG 󰀁󰀀. “Lumen gentium,” available at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_ councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄󰀁󰀁󰀂󰀁_lumen-gentium_en.html [accessed on March 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀅󰀇  Roguet, The Liturgy of the Hours, 󰀈󰀈. 󰀅󰀈  Paul F. Bradshaw, Reconstructing Early Christian Worship (London: SPCK, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉), 󰀁󰀁󰀆.

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nature is obvious.󰀅󰀉 The Sapra (Morning Prayer) displays the cosmic nature of the prayer. Several prayers show that humanity is praising the creator God along with all creatures.󰀆󰀀 The everyday morning hymn starts with praises to the Savior of all creation.󰀆󰀁 Although the cathedral tradition could be seen as the authentic expression of Christian daily prayer, in the twenty-first century the daily assembly of people is not a real possibility.󰀆󰀂 When celebrated occasionally on Sundays or solemnities, it will not fit with the nature of daily prayer. Therefore, there should be a consensus regarding the form of the Liturgy of the Hours to be restored.󰀆󰀃 The Cathedral form may be suitable for a parochial celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, but any adequate revision of texts must consider the circumstances of the local community.󰀆󰀄 󰀂. Renewal in Relation to the People of God Rediscovering the internal logic of the Liturgy of the Hours and its theological foundations will lead to a better appreciation of its power and beauty. It is high time that at least the Morning and Evening Prayers be restored in parish worship.󰀆󰀅 Furthermore, the Divine Praises are a perfect 󰀅󰀉  In every prayer (slotha), the plural pronoun ‘we’ is used and all graces are asked for ‘us’ and ‘our’ needs. For example, a daily common prayer of Ramsa (Evening Prayer) states the public nature of it. “Lord our God, we thank you … have bestowed on us. We offer you unending glory and praise in the Church…” Commission for Liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours (Ujjain: Synodal Committee of Bishops for the English Version of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Syro-Malabar Church, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀅-󰀆. 󰀆󰀀  “Lord, with joy, the entire creation praise and adore you as their Creator. With infinite and ineffable mercy, you miraculously sustain them. Lord, as you called the creatures into existence, preserve our souls.” Commission for Liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours, 󰀄󰀃; “Lord, because of your infinite and immeasurable mercy, the whole creation owes you its praise and adoration” Commission for Liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours, 󰀅󰀀. 󰀆󰀁  Ibid., 󰀅󰀅. 󰀆󰀂  Bradshaw, Reconstructing Early Christian Worship, 󰀁󰀀󰀁. 󰀆󰀃  Reform demands that liturgy is developed organically, without breaking the continuity of tradition which may be called organic progression. Anscar J. Chupungco, “Inculturation and the Organic Progression of the Liturgy,” Ecclesia Orans 󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀): 󰀇-󰀂󰀁. Also see Zimmerman, “Liturgical Notes,” 󰀁󰀁󰀉. 󰀆󰀄  For a detailed study on the reform of texts see, Maryann Madhavathu, “Reform Hermeneutics of the Liturgy of the Hours in the Syro-Malabar Church,” Studia Liturgica 󰀄󰀅 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): 󰀁󰀅󰀈-󰀁󰀇󰀅. 󰀆󰀅  Bryan Cones, “Mass Instruction: Fr. Robert Taft on Liturgical Reform,” U.S. Catholic 󰀇󰀄, no. 󰀁󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉): 󰀂󰀇. After Vatican II, a genuine vision of the Liturgy of the Hours as a possible model of daily worship was not well communicated in the Church. Graham Woolfenden, “The Ancient Cathedral Office and Today’s Needs,” Worship 󰀆󰀇, no. 󰀅 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃): 󰀃󰀈󰀈-󰀄󰀀󰀇, at 󰀃󰀈󰀉.

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remedy to overcome the dependence on the cults and devotions which seek to focus on favors rather than giving glory to God.󰀆󰀆 This Liturgy ensures that one’s piety agrees with the intentions of the Church community. The people of God must be made aware of their duty and privilege to pray the public prayer of the Church to practice authentic ecclesial piety and liturgical spirituality. The Oriental Churches had a strong tradition of a communal celebration of the Divine Praises in parishes. OE 󰀂󰀂 demands the restoration of the ancient communal celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours.󰀆󰀇 There should be a true mystagogical program󰀆󰀈 to make the faithful understand the meaning and value of this prayer.󰀆󰀉 To restore the parochial celebration there is an urgent need for appropriate prayer texts. They should be simple as well as comprising the rich praying tradition of the Church with a fixed psalmody and scripture readings and be easy to follow for the laity. Catechetical classes, popular as Sunday school classes in the Syro-Malabar Church, provide the best context for faith formation from one’s childhood. Chanting prayers and singing the psalms and suitable intercessory prayers will help to ensure the faithful’s full and active participation. To build up family spirituality, popularizing this prayer would be very suitable.󰀇󰀀 In short, Liturgy of the Hours must be promoted as the prayer of the domestic Churches󰀇󰀁 and also as the daily prayer of the 󰀆󰀆  In the tradition of the Eastern Churches, the Liturgy of the Hours is known as the “Divine Praises.” Instruction, 󰀉󰀆 Instructions for applying the liturgical prescriptions of the CCEO for Eastern Churches, 󰀉󰀈. Available at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/orientchurch/Istruzione/pdf/istruzione_inglese.pdf [accessed April 󰀁󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy, Updated and Enlarged Edition, OIRSI 󰀁󰀇󰀃 (Kottayam: OIRSI, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉), 󰀂󰀄󰀇. 󰀆󰀇  “Orientalium Ecclesiarum,” http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_ council/documents/vat-ii_decree_󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄󰀁󰀁󰀂󰀁_orientalium-ecclesiarum_en.html [accessed on March 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀈  The term mystagogy means catechetical instruction on the sacraments. But in a broader sense, it means the explanation of liturgical rites. For the Greek Fathers, mystagogy was 󰀁) the performance of a sacred action and 󰀂) the oral or written explanation of the mystery hidden in the Scriptures and celebrated in the liturgy. Enrico Mazza, Mystagogy: A Theology of Liturgy in the Patristic Age (New York, NY: Pueblo, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉), 󰀁-󰀂. 󰀆󰀉  Instructions for applying the liturgical prescriptions of the CCEO for Eastern Churches, 󰀉󰀈. OIRSI, Roman Documents on the Syro-Malabar Liturgy, 󰀂󰀄󰀉. “Letter of His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin” [accessed March 󰀁󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀇󰀀  For an elaborated discussion see Maryann Madhavathu, “The Liturgy of the Hours as a Celebration of the Paschal Mystery,” Christian Orient 󰀃󰀈, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀇󰀅-󰀉󰀅. 󰀇󰀁  LG 󰀁󰀁. See also, Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi, Gerard Mannion, and Peter De Mey, eds., The Household of God and Local Households: Revisiting the Domestic Church, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 󰀂󰀅󰀄 (Leuven: Peeters, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃).

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local Churches.󰀇󰀂 Restoring this age-old prayer tradition of the Church will undoubtedly charge the lives of Christians with new vigor and energy in the times to come. Conclusion Being a celebration of the communion, both ecclesial and cosmic in nature, the liturgy presupposes persistent attention on the neighbor. The Church as the mystical body of Christ is to be in unity to offer complete worship to God. Full communion happens only where there is no discrimination and marginalization among the faithful. That means the Church will become one body of Christ when all members are equally respected and accepted. An effective catechesis of the liturgical assembly is a prerequisite for meaningful and active daily worship. Practically, communities need help to internalize and to love liturgical prayers as an experience of encounter with the Lord and with fellow beings. The Church will be active when lively participation urges going beyond the church building to the world outside with charity. The active life demands an ethical and respectful response towards fellow brethren, co-creatures, and responsible behavior with the eco-system and the earth in which they live. I hope that the revision of the Liturgy of the Hours, urgently needed for the contemporary Church will be completed soon in the Syro-Malabar Church.

󰀇󰀂  It is noteworthy that the non-Catholic St. Thomas Christians in Kerala, like the Orthodox Syrians and Jacobites, regularly pray the Liturgy of the Hours in their families.

Human Ecology from Vatican II to Laudato si’ Saji Mathew Kanayankal The ‘dignity of the human being’ is one of the most important themes recurring throughout Catholic Social Teaching. Whenever it is threatened or diminished, the Church is keen to intervene as a corrective force with proper guidelines and a clear vision that helps to form new attitudes. Human ecology, a relatively new term that is used in the context of the present ecological crisis, promotes the dignity and value of human beings at a time when it is challenged in various ways. The modern discussions on ecology began with the publication of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃, where she pointed out the dangers to human beings and to wildlife from toxic pesticide residues and warned about the effects of the use of them on animals, ecosystems and human health. Within a short time, different movements became concerned about ecology and most of them have seen it as a question of science, politics, and sociology. With the incorporation of certain philosophical insights, it became the concern of justice and different value theories were formulated to substantiate it. However, most of these analyses ignored many challenges of the human society and failed to relate the ecological issues with the ethical challenges of humanity. By incorporating the idea of human ecology, Catholic Social Teaching protects the dignity of human beings without diminishing the importance of the ecological crisis. This article traces the roots of human ecology back to the humanism of Vatican II󰀁 and analyzes its present relevance, especially in the context of the encyclical Laudato si’.

󰀁  At the time of Vatican II, the ecological crisis was not a major issue. So, the Council had not directly dealt with it. However, some authors see the traits of contemporary discussions on ecotheology in the documents of Vatican II. Kevin W. Irwin opines that Gaudium et spes is more notable for what it does not say or for what it says cryptically. According to him, the anthropological and ethical perspective of GS 󰀁󰀂 urges human beings to be responsible for creation and to respect it (GS 󰀉, 󰀃󰀆, 󰀃󰀃, 󰀃󰀉). Kevin W. Irwin, A Commentary on Laudato si’ (New York, NY and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀁.

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󰀁. Openness towards the Enlightened Values of Modernity Though we do not see the term ‘human ecology’ in the documents of Vatican II, it is undeniable that the attention of the Council has been absorbed with the needs of humanity. The Council was convoked at a time which was very much influenced by the thoughts of humanism.󰀂 In fact, the traits of humanism can be traced back to the ancient philosophical schools of Athens and Rome.󰀃 By giving ample importance to human reason, humanism became an important stream of thought in modernity and many conventional ideas were side-lined or ignored. In his article, John W. O’Malley explains the influence of this renaissance in the theological frame of the Vatican II. Accordingly, the Second Vatican Council was an attempt to merge the ideologies of modernity with the traditional Christian theological insights.󰀄 One of the important concerns of the Council was to regain the authentic value of the human being in the context of its inexorable degradation 󰀂  Peter Kwasniewski in his analysis points out that Paul VI’s concluding message of the Second Vatican Council is a clear indication of the emergence of Christian humanism, wherein he emphasised the adapting to modern humans, accommodating them and re-interpreting the Gospel in a new light. Peter Kwasniewski, “󰀅󰀀th Anniversary of the ‘Christian Humanism’ of the Council,” Rorate Caeli (July 󰀁󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅) [accessed on May 󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. However, some scholars have the opinion that the Second Vatican Council is influenced not by renaissance humanism, but by the theology of Thomas Aquinas. Paul Krause, “The Thomistic Roots of Vatican II Humanism,” Voegelin View (December 󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉), https://voegelinview.com/the-thomistic-roots-of-vatican-ii-humanism/ [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀃  Though in general, humanism is viewed as a product of modernity, some authors would trace back its roots to ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient philosophers’ affirmation of human autonomy and their insistence on human goods and their persuasion to esteem and respect the human person are the foundation of humanism. It placed man rather than God at the center of its literary and philosophical project. See, William Schweiker, “Theological Ethics and the Question of Humanism,” The Journal of Religion 󰀈󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃): 󰀅󰀃󰀉-󰀅󰀆󰀁, at 󰀅󰀄󰀆; Jay David Bolter, “Posthumanism,” in The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆) [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. According to John W. O’Malley, humanism was a “cultural and educational movement that sought wisdom from the literary texts of classical antiquity.” John W. O’Malley, “Theology before the Reformation: Renaissance Humanism and Vatican II,” Theological Studies 󰀈󰀀 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉): 󰀂󰀅󰀆-󰀂󰀇󰀀, at 󰀂󰀅󰀉. 󰀄  O’Malley, “Theology before the Reformation,” 󰀂󰀆󰀃-󰀂󰀆󰀆. The article of Jean Daniélou on ‘New Theology’ (󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀆) suggested that theology, which encompasses great mysteries of faith, should be able to provide spiritual nourishment. Influenced by this article, in 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀄 Henri de Lubac published his book, Méditation sur l’église (The Splendour of the Church), which had a strong influence on the Council Fathers. The title of chapter one of Lumen gentium is taken from one of the chapters in the aforementioned book of Lubac. According to O’Malley, many modern thinkers, like Erasmus who dealt with many spiritual and pastoral themes, also contributed to Vatican II.

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in the modern age. Through the fascist regimes, the fundamental freedom of the human person was denied, and their identity was defiled. The introduction of gas chambers and racial genocide, the building up of killing fields and rape camps, and the two world wars are only a few examples showing the destructiveness of human powers in a period when human beings were considered as mere objects for self-satisfaction and experimentation. Apart from many intolerable attacks and political gymnastics, certain philosophical and social theories were developed to support the anti-human systems. The distinctive value of human beings and their role in the society was challenged. In the Second Vatican Council, “the modern world’s values were not only respected but honoured, its efforts approved, its aspirations purified and blessed.”󰀅 In it, “the monolithic, absolutist monarchy with a hierarchical infrastructure supported by a curial oligarchy and ruled by an autocratic pope of the medieval era is replaced with many values of modernity.”󰀆 According to O’Malley, the paradigmatic shift in Vatican II is not an unexpected and sudden change. It is the net result of many sermons, articles, theological discourses, and philosophical interactions as well as various forms of arts, literature, and paintings of many scholars and theologians. The theological and pastoral activities in the postTrent era were very much influenced by the renaissance thinkers. The subject matter of theology, the emphasis on the sermons and homilies, and the orientation of pastoral activities were formulated and enriched in the light of modernity. However, these ideas were not quite new, rather, they were hidden in Scripture as well as in the works of the Fathers. The Council has shown a keen interest in the Fathers of the Church and Scripture, and with a renewing spirit and critical approach, it refocused its attention to those treasures. As a result, “the dignity of the human person emerged as a consistent and to some extent unifying theme” in those discourses.󰀇

󰀅

 Kwasniewski, “󰀅󰀀th Anniversary.”  Michael S. Patton, “The Coup against Vatican II,” The Humanist (September/ October 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅): 󰀃-󰀅, at 󰀃. 󰀇  O’Malley, “Theology before the Reformation,” 󰀂󰀆󰀅. See also the following fragment of the inaugural address of Vatican II: “Every day they are more convinced that the dignity of the human person, as well as their perfection and the consequent obligations, is a matter of the utmost importance.” John XXIII, “Address of His Holiness John XXIII on the Solemn-Opening of the Second Vatican Council (December 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇),” https://fwdioc. org/solemn-opening-of-council-󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀁-󰀆󰀂-john-XXIII-english.pdf [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆

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󰀂. The Anthropological Vision of Vatican II One can witness radical changes in the theological frame of Vatican II. There was a shift from who God is to what he has done. Here the great deeds of creation and incarnation were considered seriously. O’Malley argues that “as much as the humanists admired both the wisdom and the eloquence of the ancients, they saw that the ancients’ understanding of humanity was incomplete and needed fulfilment with the Christian mysteries of Creation and the Incarnation.”󰀈 Grounded in its deep faith and theological richness, the Council accepted the progressive cultural and social movements of modern history and optimistically described them as the building of the human community. The recurrence of many modern terms such as ‘peace’, ‘justice’, ‘solidarity’, ‘human dignity’, ‘full humanity’, ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’, ‘equality’, ‘equal opportunity’, and ‘human freedom’, shaped the Council documents within a new frame and situated it in a broader horizon. The enhanced vision of human beings and their dignity is underlined in various documents of Vatican II.󰀉 However, the rich anthropological theology of the Council is clearly manifested in Gaudium et spes.󰀁󰀀 This document is unique and it is “principally concerned with the question ‘quid sit homo’; ‘What is man?”󰀁󰀁 In Gaudium et spes the Council addresses its cardinal questions, the question of the relationship of the Church to the world, to cultures, and to non-Catholics and non-Christians.󰀁󰀂 In the first part of the document, it gives the teaching of the Church on the world and on the human being, and their relationship to their companions. Its second part is an elaborative discourse on the various aspects of modern life and human society with a special emphasis on the questions and problems of society.󰀁󰀃 Unlike other documents, Gaudium et spes very specifically seeks to address “the question of humanity outside of the confines of sacramental soteriology.”󰀁󰀄 In fact, the Council deals with humans as humans, thereby paying attention to all dimensions of the 󰀈

 O’Malley, “Theology before the Reformation,” 󰀂󰀅󰀉.  LG 󰀉, 󰀃󰀁-󰀃󰀃; DH 󰀁, 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀂 are some examples. 󰀁󰀀  Kenneth R. Overberg, “Aggiornamento as Healing: Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Vatican II,” The Way 󰀅󰀃, no. 󰀁 (January 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄): 󰀈󰀉-󰀉󰀉, at 󰀉󰀆 exemplifies Gaudium et spes, the “significant document that clearly expresses and symbolises the spirit of Vatican II,” as the best example of the new radical change. 󰀁󰀁  Krause, “Thomistic Roots.” 󰀁󰀂  Gilles Routhier, “Vatican II: Relevance and Future,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀄 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀅󰀃󰀇-󰀅󰀅󰀄, at 󰀅󰀃󰀇-󰀅󰀃󰀉. 󰀁󰀃  Ibid., 󰀅󰀃󰀆-󰀅󰀃󰀇. Overberg, “Aggiornamento as Healing,” 󰀉󰀆. 󰀁󰀄  Krause, “Thomistic Roots.” 󰀉

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human person. In it we can see the trajectory of the human person, their hidden beauty with an invincible serenity. The Council always emphasises the two-fold facet of being human: the wretchedness and greatness of human beings, their weakness and strength. At the same time topics such as the scientific advancement, religious experiences, the mystery of the human person as a created being, their sacredness as well as innocence, the possibility to sin and the capacity to transform etc., are considered within the frame of an optimistic vision.󰀁󰀅 The anthropological vision developed in Gaudium et spes is based on the premise that the human person as a social being and various sociological themes like universal brotherhood, fellowship, and unity between nations and peoples etc., are linked with the theology of creation.󰀁󰀆 As James F. Keenan observes, “even though the subject of sin pervades the document, the vision is fundamentally positive as the church stands with the world in joy and hope. Here the church conveys a deep sympathy for the human condition, especially in all its anxieties, and stands in confident solidarity with the world.”󰀁󰀇 Any kind of national, religious or ethnic grouping is to be evaded in the greater frame of “human solidarity in the one family of humankind.” More than any social phenomenon, “the universality of God’s saving love in the grace given to all” is the foundation of this solidarity.󰀁󰀈 By its teaching that “all men are called to this union with Christ” and “all men are called to salvation by the grace of God,”󰀁󰀉 the Council says, in effect, that, “by the very fact of being born a member of the human race, everyone is at least potentially part of the Christian community and, in terms of grace, belongs to it by his or her acceptance of the call.”󰀂󰀀 By dealing with themes like fundamental human rights and religious freedom in a clear and unambiguous manner, the Council invites the entire human community “to celebrate the radical freedom, creativity and autonomy of humanity.”󰀂󰀁 However, after the Council we can see a kind of diminution of many of the values it fostered. 󰀁󰀅

 Kwasniewski, “󰀅󰀀th Anniversary.”  Daniel Schwindt, Catholic Social Teaching: A New Synthesis (New York, NY: Barnes and Noble, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), 󰀂󰀇. See GS 󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀇  James F. Keenan, “Vatican II and Theological Ethics,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀄 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃): 󰀁󰀆󰀂-󰀁󰀉󰀀, at 󰀁󰀇󰀂-󰀁󰀇󰀃. 󰀁󰀈  Jane Khin Zaw, “The Spirit Blows Where It Chooses: Simone Weil, The Church and Vatican II,” The Way 󰀅󰀆, no. 󰀂 (April 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀈󰀉-󰀁󰀁󰀀, at 󰀉󰀆. 󰀁󰀉  LG 󰀃. 󰀂󰀀  Zaw, “The Spirit Blows Where It Chooses,” 󰀉󰀁. 󰀂󰀁  Schweiker, “Theological Ethics and the Question of Humanism,” 󰀅󰀄󰀁. 󰀁󰀆

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󰀃. From Imago Dei to Imago sui The postconciliar era has witnessed a lot of revolutionary and progressive changes in Church and society. Among many others, the concerns of the ecological crisis received special attention in Catholic theology. Through its teaching on the dignity of the human person, Vatican II made an important attempt to respond to the shadowy side of modernity, since an exaggerated emphasis on human autonomy, along with individualism, relativism, and consumerism had entered the thought of academics and the social arena.󰀂󰀂 After the industrial revolution, the “sense of co-agency between Christ, Church, and cosmos” was lost and replaced by Cartesianism and Baconianism that promoted scientific enquiry and technical power over nature. Thus a “newly secular politics and natural science” have become the dominant forces of contemporary society.󰀂󰀃 In fact, the post-enlightenment period and its secular and social scientific turn, forsook the true root of humanity and alienated them from their essence. As a result, a secularised form of anthropology has emerged. Margaret S. Archer underlines two major limitations of secular humanism that places humankind at the centre of the universe. “On the one hand, secular humanism is a standpoint that puts human beings in a position of ‘mastery’ over nature, entitling them to ‘subdue’ it in any manner deemed useful to the human race or some group within it. … On the other hand, there is nothing in the beneficial effects of this ‘mastery’ to ensure that fellow humans even share in such benefits, let alone that the benefits are shared fairly between them.”󰀂󰀄

󰀂󰀂  In fact, these ideas are not the effect of Vatican II. Rather it is a net result of many developments in the modern century: the Copernican promethean philosophy, the scientific worldview of Francis Bacon, the anthropological insights of René Descartes, the Kantian philosophy of the human subject, the mechanic interpretation of nature by Isaac Newton, the political philosophy of John Locke, the utilitarian vision of John Stuart Mill and the economic theory of Adam Smith etc., have influenced the world from different perspectives. Sheldon S. Wolin, Politics and Vision, Expanded Edition (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄), 󰀃󰀁󰀄 and Ian G. Barbour, Technology, Environment and Human Values (New York, NY: Praeger Publishers, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀), 󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀈. 󰀂󰀃  Michael S. Northcott, A Political Theology of Climate Change (Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃), 󰀄󰀈. He also discusses the influence of the Copernican revolution and its defence of the Promethean self as well as the Kantian philosophy of the human subject on modernity. Ibid., 󰀂󰀈󰀁-󰀂󰀈󰀂. 󰀂󰀄  Margaret S. Archer, “Caritas in veritate and Social Love,” International Journal of Public Theology 󰀅 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁): 󰀂󰀇󰀃-󰀂󰀉󰀅, at 󰀂󰀈󰀃.

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This anthropocentric and dualist approach ignored the ‘creator’ from the main stream of thought.󰀂󰀅 Forsaking its religious roots and transcendent values, humanity has become an economically driven society.󰀂󰀆 In spite of an open and sincere attempt to look at the reality in a wider horizon, a materialistic, anthropological vision and the ideologies of self-interest have crept into social harmony. The dependence of the human being on the progress of science and technology led to the formation of the modern technocratic society. Due to the manipulative influence of different scientific, economic, and technological theories, autonomous self-determination and individualism became a part of the present culture. Though we can see some humanitarian or ecological movements in the contemporary world, the influence of neoliberalism and its economic traits have a tremendous impact in society. As Pope Francis observes, “such unhealthy dualisms, nonetheless, left a mark on certain Christian thinkers in the course of history and disfigured the Gospel.”󰀂󰀇 Instead of the harmonic vision of the Gospel, the world is governed by “a schism between inwardness and reality, mind and nature, subject and object.”󰀂󰀈 As a result, nature is understood as a thing or an object, which humans may dispose of at will.󰀂󰀉 The idea of unbridled personal liberty that prioritises the material dimension of human beings negated the authentic place of being human in the world. “As soon as man began to consider himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.”󰀃󰀀 In short, as Deane-Drummond observes, “we forgot what makes us human: our relationships with other beings, with each other, and with 󰀂󰀅  Sean McDonagh, On the Care of our Common Home: Laudato si’ Commentary (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀃. 󰀂󰀆  Bernard Laurent, “Catholicism and Liberalism: Two Ideologies in Confrontation,” Theological Studies 󰀆󰀈 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇): 󰀈󰀀󰀈-󰀈󰀃󰀈, at 󰀈󰀁󰀂. 󰀂󰀇  Francis, “Laudato si’ (May 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅),” http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅󰀀󰀅󰀂󰀄_enciclica-laudato-si.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀], 󰀁󰀀󰀂, discusses the achievements of technology in detail. One of the important consequences is the immense change of living conditions. However, these achievements entail new dangers. 󰀂󰀈  Carl Schmitt, Political Romanticism, trans. Guy Oakes (Cambridge: MA: MIT Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆) 󰀅󰀂 as quoted by Northcott, A Political Theology of Climate Change, 󰀂󰀁󰀈. 󰀂󰀉  Reinhard Marx, “Everything Is Connected: On the Relevance of an Integral Understanding of Reality in Laudato si’,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀂󰀉󰀅-󰀃󰀀󰀇, at 󰀂󰀉󰀉. 󰀃󰀀  Vaclav Havel, Disturbing Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala (New York, NY: Knopf. 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀), 󰀁󰀁; as quoted by Schweiker, “Theological Ethics and the Question of Humanism,” 󰀅󰀄󰀃.

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God. It is the dense interconnectedness with the natural world and our evolutionary process that made us human.”󰀃󰀁 The idea of human ecology is an attempt to bring back the authentic sense of being human in the context of the contemporary crisis of society. Human ecology reinterprets the present view of development in the frame of responsible progress considering and respecting the boundaries of both nature and human beings. It considers human beings in their integrity, including intellectual, spiritual, religious, economic, cultural, and social aspects in the prospects of human development. 󰀄. The Comprehensiveness of Human Ecology The term ‘human ecology’ is a dense expression where the ecological issues are connected with the very fundamental life issues of human community. In Catholic Social Teaching this term first appeared in Centesimus annus, the encyclical of Pope John Paul II where it is used to explain the multifaceted cultural crisis of contemporary humanity. According to him, though people are worried about preserving their natural habitat, they make little effort to safeguard the moral conditions of an “authentic human ecology.”󰀃󰀂 Here the ecological problem is situated, not only as a problem of the depletion or the contamination of natural resources, but, also, as a problem that threatens the human environment.󰀃󰀃 He writes, “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given to him, but man too is God’s gift to man. A person must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.”󰀃󰀄 In his view, without countervailing cultural values that teach individuals to use their freedom for the common good of society, the materialistic gains would lead to hedonism, individualism, and consumerism. By using the term ‘human ecology’, John Paul II incorporates the ideas of the dignity of the human person, sanctity of life, ingenuity of family, sacredness of marriage and 󰀃󰀁  Celia Deane-Drummond, “What Grounds Our Faith: Caring for the Earth Isn’t Optional, Says This Theologian,” US Catholic 󰀈󰀃, no. 󰀇 (July 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀃󰀄-󰀃󰀇, at 󰀃󰀅. 󰀃󰀂  John Paul II, “Centesimus annus (May 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁),” http://www.vatican.va/content/johnpaul-ii/en/ encyclicals/documents/hfjp-ii_enc_󰀀󰀁󰀀󰀅󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁_centesimus-annus.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀], 󰀃󰀈. 󰀃󰀃  Jorge Maria Mejia, “Centesimus annus: An Answer to the Unknowns and Questions of Our Times,” The Ecumenical Review 󰀄󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁): 󰀄󰀀󰀁-󰀄󰀁󰀀, at 󰀄󰀀󰀆. 󰀃󰀄  John Paul II, Centesimus annus 󰀃󰀈.

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the supremacy of the ethical and religious values above economic values and the market.󰀃󰀅 For Pope Benedict XVI, ‘human ecology’ is a very comprehensive term that asserts both the dignity of human beings and the value of nature simultaneously, because we cannot separate the protection of the environment from the protection of human life.󰀃󰀆 He is against those ideologies that absolutize nature, technology, and human power without giving due importance to the human person.󰀃󰀇 For him, respect for human beings and respect for nature have to go hand in hand and “both can grow and find their right measure if we respect in the human being and in nature the Creator and his creation.”󰀃󰀈 He asserts that “the book of nature is one and indivisible; it includes not only the environment but also individual, family and social ethics. Our duties towards the environment flow from our duties towards the person, considered both individually and in relation to others.”󰀃󰀉 Human ecology thus affirms the inviolability of human life, the family and respect for nature profoundly.󰀄󰀀 According to Benedict XVI, the Church has the duty to “protect mankind from self-destruction.” He writes, “Just as human virtues are interrelated, such that the weakening of one places others at risk, so the ecological system is based on respect for a plan that affects both the health of society and its good relationship with nature.”󰀄󰀁 In his message for the World Day of Peace, he asserted the necessity “to safeguard the human patrimony of society. This patrimony of values originates in and is part of the natural moral law, which is the foundation of respect for  John Paul II, Centesimus annus 󰀃󰀈-󰀄󰀀.  The teaching of Benedict XVI on human ecology can be seen in his various addresses, homilies and writings. For a comprehensive reference, Wooden König-Bricker, The Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out for Creation and Justice (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉); Pope Benedict XVI, The Garden of God: Toward a Human Ecology (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂); id., The Environment (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂). 󰀃󰀇  Benedict XVI, “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace (January 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ mes_󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀈_xliii-world-day-peace.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀], § 󰀁󰀃. 󰀃󰀈  To students participating in Sorella Natura, November 󰀂󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁. See, Benedict XVI, The Environment, 󰀁󰀇󰀄. 󰀃󰀉  Benedict XVI, “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” § 󰀁󰀂. 󰀄󰀀  Irwin, A Commentary on Laudato si’, 󰀃󰀁. 󰀄󰀁  Pope Benedict XVI, “Caritas in veritate (June 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉),” http://www.vatican.va/content/ benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉󰀀󰀆󰀂󰀉_caritas-in-veritate.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀], 󰀅󰀁. 󰀃󰀅

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the human person and creation.”󰀄󰀂 For him, “the central point of reference for all scientific and technical applications must be respect for human person, who in turn should treat other created beings with respect.”󰀄󰀃 All other values, like responsibility to the environment and future generations, derive from it. The environment is to be understood as the gift of the Creator, “containing a ‘grammar’󰀄󰀄 the rules of which rather induce an imitation of the Creator’s creativity than deliver detailed rubrics.”󰀄󰀅 Any kind of theory that weakens the primacy of human beings “brings existential bewilderment and a loss of meaning of life. For a vision of the human person and of things without reference to transcendence uproots man from the earth and fundamentally impoverishes his very identity.”󰀄󰀆 In a nutshell, in viewing the disintegration of the environment, one should not ignore the different factors that encompass it. The idea of human ecology in Laudato si’ is to be understood against this broader background. By using the term ‘human ecology’ Pope Francis underlines the relationship between the deterioration of nature and the culture that shapes human coexistence. In other words, the existence and life system of the earth cannot be separated from the different views of human life. Here, he recognises and extends the statement of his predecessor, “the way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa.”󰀄󰀇 God gave us not only the world, but human life itself as a gift. Therefore, it is imperative to defend it from various forms of debasement. Human wellbeing cannot be limited within the frame of mere material wellbeing or scientific and technological progress, rather it includes “the way to a better future.”󰀄󰀈 In our effort to protect and improve the world around us, we have to make profound changes in our lifestyles and models of production and consumption as well as the established structures of power.󰀄󰀉 Without respecting fellow human beings, one may not be able to respect the other creatures on the earth. When there is respect to ‘human ecology’ other ecological systems are also respected and benefited. Through the incorporation of human ecology in his 󰀄󰀂

 Benedict XVI, “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” § 󰀁󰀂.  König-Bricker, The Ten Commandments for the Environment, 󰀆󰀅. 󰀄󰀄  Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate 󰀄󰀈. 󰀄󰀅  Philipp Gabriel Renczes, “Grace Reloaded: Caritas in veritate’s Theological Anthropology,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀): 󰀂󰀇󰀃-󰀂󰀉󰀀, at 󰀂󰀈󰀆. 󰀄󰀆  Benedict XVI, The Garden of God, 󰀇󰀄. 󰀄󰀇  Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate 󰀅󰀁. 󰀄󰀈  Francis, Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀁󰀃. 󰀄󰀉  Ibid. 󰀅. 󰀄󰀃

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encyclical, Francis reiterates the call to avoid all kinds of absolutization, not only of the environment, but equally the absolutization of human autonomy or of the economy. Human Ecology in Relation to the Createdness and Bodiliness of the Person In view of the strong impact of secular anthropological visions based on materialism, idealism, individualism, and collectivism, the strong pillars of our society like motherhood, fatherhood, marriage, religion, and other mediating structures are in trouble and the sanctity of the human body as well as the sacredness of life is challenged. Along with it, the intrusion of the ideas of neoliberalism, its consumerist traits, selfabsorption and greed for profit have deteriorated the cultural frame of the present generation. With the incorporation of ‘human ecology’ Francis emphasises the interconnectedness of human moral life with the other dimensions of the society. It implicitly assumes the existence of a ‘moral law’ written in the heart of every human being. In reference to the concept of ‘ecology of man’ of Benedict XVI, Francis entreats us to respect the ‘nature’ of every human being and not to manipulate it.󰀅󰀀 According to the traditional Catholic teachings, the nurturing and protection of moral law is the foundation of the happiness and goodness of the entire creation. The different hypothesis of postmodernism projects the autonomous individual person as an independent being and fragments them from the rest of nature. With the developments and experiments in nanotechnology, information technology, and genetic engineering, we are on the move towards ‘posthumanism’. Challenging the totalising practices and rhetoric of modernity and all its categories with a new epistemology, posthumanism captures the ambivalent conditions of contemporary human beings and offers a new vision that merges both science and technology, separating the human from and over the natural world with the dream to make the cyborgs stronger, smarter, faster; in general other than conventional human beings.󰀅󰀁 However, in fact, the human being is much more fragile than the idea of the self-defining and self-sufficient being of post-modernity. Even though we speak of the enhancement of the human person towards the trans-human realm, in reality it is impossible to overcome human limitations. From the very moment of our  Francis, Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀅󰀅.  Bolter, “Posthumanism.”

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existence, human beings are embedded, and our existence depends on many other factors that we do not presume in our daily life. Though human beings are embodied with different possibilities, they are also limited because of their creatureliness. Being created, human beings are placed within an ecosystem, and are intimately related with the environment that ‘conditions’ them. In his analysis on human createdness, Philip Hefner narrates the different creaturely dimensions of being human. According to him, human beings are placed within an ecosystem, and are intimately related with the environment that ‘conditions’ them.󰀅󰀂 Though human beings are born as individuals, they are also significantly influenced by community and cultural heritage, as well as by the laws of genetics and evolution. Being created, human beings are in all respects ‘conditioned’ in various ways. We are conditioned by “the ecosystem in which we emerged, the genome and culture inherited and in the human group to which we belong.”󰀅󰀃 Apart from these multifaceted realities one cannot truly understand the authentic human existence. These realities open our eyes to an important dimension of the human being. On the one hand, they are created, but their choices and aptitudes create them as well. Similarly, though human beings are influenced by many socio-cultural and historical facts, they also influence other persons, history, and culture. Though the environment and circumstances influence them, they are capable of transcending them. When the human persons are ‘adequately considered’, their historicity and corporeality in relation to the world, to other persons, to social structures and to God are to be taken seriously.󰀅󰀄 In a nutshell, humans can never make an independent existence separated from rest of the earth and history. They have to accept their bodily limitations as well as their possibilities in one and the same way. In Laudato si’, Francis insists that we accept our bodies as God’s gift. According to him, “the acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.”󰀅󰀅 This kind of valuing the human body will help us to accept 󰀅󰀂  Philip Hefner, The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture and Religion (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀃󰀆. 󰀅󰀃  Ibid., 󰀃󰀅-󰀃󰀆. See also, Manuel G. Doncel, “The Kenosis of the Creator and of the Created Co-Creator Concept,” Zygon 󰀃󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄): 󰀇󰀉󰀁-󰀈󰀀󰀀, at 󰀇󰀉󰀅. 󰀅󰀄  For details see, Louis Janssens, “Personalist Morals,” Louvain Studies 󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀀): 󰀅-󰀁󰀆. 󰀅󰀅  Francis, Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀅󰀅.

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our identity as masculine or feminine which helps us to respect each other in our sexual differences as well. In his address to the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Francis gives a deeper insight into the concept of ‘human ecology’, by focusing on the fundamental and irreversible dignity of the human person. According to him, the wisdom that must inspire your approach to ‘human ecology’ demands a consideration of the ethical and spiritual quality of life at each of its phases. Think of human life at its conception, human life growing in the womb, life newly born, life as a child, a teenager, an adult … Think of life that has grown old and is ready to pass away – and eternal life! Life that is family and community, life that prays and hopes. Life that is frail and sick, wounded, insulted, humiliated, marginalized and cast aside. All this is human life, the life of human persons who live on God’s earth and share our common home with every living creature.󰀅󰀆

In our experiments in the laboratory, we explore the physical, chemical and mathematical dimensions of life with the help of instruments. Though this is important, we have to see the broader and deeper perspectives of life, its spiritual and creative qualities, including “the love found in the family and community, caring for the weak and the wounded.” While agreeing that there is a threat to the natural environment, we have to accept the threat to the moral environment as well. Working for the protection of the rights of the natural environment without considering the challenges to the moral environment will not help us to acclaim a sound moral order. In this address Francis correlates human ecology with his favourite scheme of ‘integral ecology’ in order to have “a harmonious and comprehensive understanding of the human condition.” Primarily, one should learn to value each creature proper to itself and to criticise the new paradigms of the powers of technology and economics. Secondly, there is a need to develop a “holistic vision of the person,” with a deep respect to our own bodies. Thirdly, “it is necessary to undertake a careful discernment of the complex fundamental differences present in human life: between man and woman, fatherhood and motherhood, filiation and fraternity, various social factors and the different ages of life.” This 󰀅󰀆  Francis, “Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life (February 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉),” http://www.vatican.va/ content/francesco/en/speeches/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈/june/documents/papa-francesco_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈󰀀󰀆󰀂󰀅_accademia-provita.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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invites us to take “an ethical and courageous moral resistance” in the midst of all the difficult conditions and dangerous situations of everyday life, respecting the sacredness of life in all its forms. Fourthly, he calls us to “engage with wisdom in a profound and objective discernment of the value of individual and community life.” It is an invitation for a “responsible human closeness” to promote justice and human dignity. Finally, life should be understood in relation to the ultimate destination, i.e., to see and value human being’s existence towards a “horizon that surpasses” him/her. This awareness and acknowledgment will fill us with the sense of gratitude and responsibility that leads towards a life in God that surpasses all material realities. 󰀅. The Integral Vision of Human Ecology For Francis, human ecology is a term that blends rather than separates environmental and social concerns. While viewing the human person in their totality, it is necessary to articulate all the concrete connections and differences of human conditions and existence. In Laudato si’ he integrates human impoverishment with the different kinds of deteriorations like the degradation of planet, the social disintegration, the dysfunctionality of the global economic system, the idolatry of money, the gap between the rich and the poor and the abuse of the human body.󰀅󰀇 The ecological questions are also the sociological questions and the sociological concerns must be the anthropological concerns. If the ‘human ecology’ is respected, the environmental ecology is benefited. Therefore, Francis incorporates different concerns of society in one and the same segment. For him, lack of housing and the life of the poor in unsanitary slums of dangerous tenements are also the part of the human ecology. It affects the dignity of a person as well as the growth of families.󰀅󰀈 Since “everything in the world is connected,”󰀅󰀉 we cannot and should not separate crises in various spheres of humanity, as environmental or social. Rather it is one complex crisis.󰀆󰀀 In his discussion on integral ecology, Francis integrates environmental, economic, and social ecologies and 󰀅󰀇  For details see, Sean McDonagh, On Care for Our Common Home, Laudato si’: The Encyclical of Pope Francis on the Environment with Commentary (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀇. 󰀅󰀈  Francis, Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀅󰀂. 󰀅󰀉  Ibid. 󰀁󰀆. 󰀆󰀀  Ibid. 󰀉󰀂.

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pleads for a ‘humanism’ which is “capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge.”󰀆󰀁 Echoing St. Francis of Assisi and St. Bonaventure, Francis sees all creatures as our brothers and sisters. After exemplifying the symbolism of the stories of Abel and Cain and the flood from the book of Genesis, he underlines the interrelatedness of everything, and states that “our relationship with nature is inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others.”󰀆󰀂 Since the “different aspects of the planet – physical, chemical and biological – are interrelated,”󰀆󰀃 strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating all dimensions of the human being. In fact, his integral approach is a critique on the current technocratic-neoliberal visions that see the reality through the prism of science, technology and market, ignoring the fundamental connection and forgetting the richer dimensions of mutual indebtedness of humanity and cosmos.

Conclusion The history of Catholic Social Teaching shows its constant attempt to ‘read the signs of times’ and to ‘see, judge, and act’ appropriately. While accepting the changes in the world and society, enlightened by the growth of science and technology and in fidelity to the rich deposit of scripture, traditions, and theology, the Church continually reflects on the different issues that affect human beings and society and engages in fruitful dialogue with the changing historical and cultural scenarios. The Second Vatican Council, while interacting with many socio-cultural and political changes of the last century, focused on the dignity of the human person. The different papal teachings followed by it are the timely interventions as per the needs and changes of the time in order to help the faithful to be more alert and responsible in the face of different challenges. When the Church had to address the ecological crisis, it confronted the waves of postmodern relativistic ideologies through the scheme of human ecology. In fact, it is a correction to the ‘misguided anthropocentrism’󰀆󰀄 of the past and blends both humanism and ecocentrism. The interconnection between the uprightness and dignity of human beings and the  Francis, Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀃󰀈-󰀁󰀄󰀂, 󰀁󰀄󰀁.  Ibid. 󰀇󰀀. 󰀆󰀃  Ibid. 󰀁󰀃󰀈. 󰀆󰀄  Ibid. 󰀁󰀁󰀈, 󰀁󰀁󰀉. 󰀆󰀁

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formation of a healthy natural environment is highlighted in this scheme of thought. Without protecting the dignity of our fellow human beings, humanity will not be able to protect nature. When human hearts are opened to the cosmic communion authentically, we can sense the fragrance of fraternity and intimacy everywhere excluding no one and no thing.

Vatican II: Interfacing the Theology of the Person and the Social Concern for the Family Maria John Costa The Second Vatican Council (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂-󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅) is one of the most important events that took place in the twentieth century in the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed it can be considered the first “international, intercultural and intercontinental” Council of the Church.󰀁 The Council replaced the juridical, hierarchical definition of the Church with more biblical and symbolic images, and gave a new understanding of the Church – a Church in service of the world, “taking its form and function from its relationship to the kingdom of God.”󰀂 In the convocation of the Council, “Pope John XXIII invited the Church not only to renew herself but also to renew her relationship to the world so as to be of better service to the entire human family on its journey to God.”󰀃 The Council was to do this by reading the ‘signs of the times’ – the historical events shaping the life of the entire human family– and discerning the message, activity, and presence of God to the world and the Church through them.󰀄 In this  Mathijs Lamberigts and Leo Kenis, “Preface,” in Vatican II and Its Legacy, ed. Mathijs Lamberigts and Leo Kenis, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 󰀁󰀆󰀆 (Leuven: Leuven University Press and Peeters, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), vii-xii, at vii. 󰀂  David J. O’Brien and Thomas A. Shannon, “Vatican II and Post-Conciliar Catholic Social Teaching,” in Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary Heritage, ed. David J. O’Brien and Thomas A. Shannon (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃), 󰀁󰀆󰀃. See Lamberigts and Kenis, “Preface,” ix. Campion observes this “as a highly significant step toward a rethinking of conventional ecclesiological images, e.g., that of the Church viewed as a ‘perfect society’, standing over against the society of the Civitas.” See Donald R. Campion, “The Church Today,” in The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbot (London and Dublin: Geoffrey Chapman, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆), 󰀁󰀈󰀃-󰀁󰀉󰀈, at 󰀁󰀈󰀅-󰀁󰀈󰀆. 󰀃  Anthony J. Cernera, “Reading the Signs of the Times: An Ongoing Task of the Church in the World,” in Vatican II: The Continuing Agenda, ed. Anthony J. Cernera (Fairfield, CT: Sacred Heart University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇), 󰀂󰀄󰀉-󰀂󰀇󰀄, at 󰀂󰀄󰀉. The challenging intervention of Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens of Belgium at the close of the first session of the Council on the role of the Church ad extra, of how it conceived its relation to the world of today, set the tone for the Church’s mission to the world as an important agenda of the Council that was translated into the text of Gaudium et spes. See Joseph A. Selling, “Gaudium et spes: A Manifesto for Contemporary Moral Theology,” in Vatican II and Its Legacy, 󰀁󰀄󰀅-󰀁󰀆󰀂, at 󰀁󰀅󰀂; Campion, “The Church Today,” 󰀁󰀈󰀄. 󰀄  See John XXIII, Humanae salutis, December 󰀂󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀁. M.-D. Chenu remarks: “The purpose of the Council from beginning to end, according to the explicit and 󰀁

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the Pope gave a new vision and direction to the Council in combining renewal of the Church and discernment of historical events as interrelated, broadening the horizon of the Church to perceive the providence of God in the evolving realities of the world. In its introductory statement, Gaudium et spes affirms: “To discharge this function [i.e., to continue the work of Christ who came into the world to give witness to the truth, to save and not to judge, to serve and not to be served], the church has the duty in every age of examining the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the gospel,” in order to offer the human quest direction “on the meaning of this life and the life to come and on how they are related.”󰀅 Following the lead of Pacem in Terris, a methodological breakthrough emerged in the light of which Gaudium et spes took seriously the signs of the times as a source of, and point of departure for any theological reflection.󰀆 This paradigm shift in the approach of the Church and the consequent theological statements in the Council focused on the human person rooted in the realities of the world here and now and the journey beyond. Consequently, the family as the smallest unit of human society was adequately considered and its problems were looked into by the Council in its documents. In this essay it will be highlighted how the Council envisioned the human person per se in society which led to the emergence of social concern for the family and in brief, the impact it had on the later teaching of the Church. 󰀁. Gaudium et spes and the Theology of the Human Person Greatly influenced by Pope John XXIII, the Second Vatican Council assigns the human person a central place in its theology. This is explicit persistent wishes of John XXIII, was to take a discerning look at worldly values; by taking a real look at these values, the Church, the People of God, would achieve her aggiornamento. It is remarkable that the same Pope John XXIII preached aggiornamento and taught us the meaning of the ‘signs of the times’.” See M.-D. Chenu, “The Signs of the Times,” in The Church Today: Commentaries on the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, ed. Group 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀 (New York, NY: Newman Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈), 󰀄󰀃-󰀅󰀉, at 󰀄󰀃. 󰀅  GS 󰀄; See Norman P. Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils: Volume Two – Trent to Vatican II (London: Sheed & Ward and Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀), 󰀁󰀀󰀆󰀉-󰀁󰀁󰀃󰀃. The English texts of the Council’s documents are cited from this volume of Tanner. The text in bracket is from Gaudium et spes 󰀃. 󰀆  Cernera, “Reading the Signs of the Times,” 󰀂󰀅󰀆-󰀂󰀅󰀇.

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in its documents Gaudium et spes and Dignitatis humanae.󰀇 The conciliar document Gaudium et spes presents a vision of the human person and society that is profoundly biblical in its roots and expressions but at the same time grounded in the concrete reality of the human person in society.󰀈 The anthropology of Gaudium et spes takes into account the whole person in every aspect. This is clearly articulated at the outset: “For it is the human person that is to be saved, and human society to be restored. It is around humankind therefore, one and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will, that our whole treatment will revolve.”󰀉 󰀂. The Dignity of the Human Person The first chapter of the first part of Gaudium et spes (󰀁󰀁-󰀂󰀂) treats the dignity of the human person.󰀁󰀀 The Council Fathers teach that the greatness and worth of the human person are derived from God because every person is God’s image.󰀁󰀁 This is the basis and foundation of human dignity in Gaudium et spes.󰀁󰀂 In the document, the concept of the image of God is seen from the vertical as well as horizontal relational capability of the human person. The theological significance of the theme of the 󰀇  Selling observes that both these documents “exhibit a profound sense of person, and both of them utilize a concept of person for developing their fundamental principles.” See Joseph A. Selling, “Introduction,” in Personalist Morals: Essays in Honor of Professor Louis Janssens, ed. Joseph A. Selling (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈), 󰀁-󰀇, at 󰀃. Also see id., “Gaudium et spes: A Manifesto for Contemporary Moral Theology,” 󰀁󰀄󰀉. For Dignitatis humanae (December 󰀇, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅), English title – Declaration on Religious Freedom, see Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils: Volume Two – Trent to Vatican II, 󰀁󰀀󰀀󰀁-󰀁󰀀󰀁󰀁. 󰀈  See Louis Janssens, “Artificial Insemination: Ethical Considerations,” Louvain Studies 󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀-󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁): 󰀃-󰀂󰀉, at 󰀃-󰀁󰀅; Charles E. Curran, Catholic Social Teaching, 󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀁–Present: A Historical, Theological and Ethical Analysis (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), 󰀃󰀂-󰀃󰀄. 󰀉  GS 󰀃. 󰀁󰀀  For a commentary on this chapter see Joseph Ratzinger, “The Dignity of the Human Person,” in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. V, ed. Herbert Vorgrimler (New York, NY: Herder & Herder, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉), 󰀁󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀆󰀃. Also see Jose Koodapuzha, Human Dignity in the Teachings of Vatican II (Kottayam: Oriental Institute of Religious Studies, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀈). 󰀁󰀁  To the question “what is humanity itself?” GS 󰀁󰀂, answers: “Scripture teaches that humankind was created ‘in the image of God’, with the capacity to know and love its creator, and was divinely appointed with authority over all creatures, to rule and use them and glorify God.” 󰀁󰀂  GS 󰀁󰀇, 󰀁󰀉, 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀄.

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image of God in the Pastoral Constitution is vital not only for its content but also for the whole conciliar approach.󰀁󰀃 Through this concept the Council attempts to address humankind from the viewpoint of an adequate Christian anthropology. As Moeller puts it, the concept of the human person as the image of God found its way into the texts of the Council “precisely with the perspective of man’s dominion over the world, which is expressly connected with the divine image which irradiates his countenance.”󰀁󰀄 Placing thus imago Dei at the core of its teaching, the Pastoral Constitution describes human dignity in terms of Christian anthropology, namely in the tripartite context of the human person: in relationship to God, to one’s social nature, and to the created universe.󰀁󰀅 󰀃. Human Dignity in Relation to God Gaudium et spes declares: “The outstanding feature of human dignity is that human beings have been called to communion with God.”󰀁󰀆 Campion remarks: “This affirmation contains the essence of the Council’s teaching on the dignity of the human person.” As Gregory Baum puts it, “the root of human dignity lies in man’s call to communion with God.”󰀁󰀇 While its approach to the question of human worth is strongly positive and optimistic, the Council stresses “the Christian understanding of man’s dignity in consequence of his creation ‘in the image of God’.”󰀁󰀈 The 󰀁󰀃  The concept was present in the initial text submitted to the Coordinating Commission on May 󰀂󰀃, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃 which later underwent revisions. Commenting on paragraph 󰀁󰀂 of Gaudium et spes which is on the image of God, Ratzinger writes that “the text of this article was particularly hotly disputed precisely because it involved a decision about the whole theological approach and therefore the structure of the entire schema.” See Ratzinger, “The Dignity of the Human Person,” 󰀁󰀁󰀉. The human person as the image of God has many references in Gaudium et spes, namely paragraphs 󰀃, 󰀁󰀂, 󰀁󰀇, 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀉, 󰀃󰀄, 󰀄󰀁, 󰀅󰀂, 󰀆󰀈. The Council found imago Dei as the common denominator to open up dialogue with the world. Imago Dei was unanimously accepted and retained as the basis of dialogue with the world by the Council, for the concept is biblical, patristic, and contemporary. See Charles Moeller, “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: History of the Constitution,” in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. V, 󰀁-󰀇󰀆, at 󰀃󰀅. 󰀁󰀄  Moeller, “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” 󰀅. 󰀁󰀅  Here we follow the pattern of arguments presented by Anthony O. Erhueh, Vatican II: Image of God in Man (Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇). 󰀁󰀆  GS 󰀁󰀉. 󰀁󰀇  Gregory Baum and Donald R. Campion, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Commentary (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇), 󰀁󰀇. 󰀁󰀈  Campion, “The Church Today,” 󰀁󰀈󰀆.

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document continues: “From its first moment a human being is invited to encounter God. It exists solely because it is continually kept in being by the love of the God who created it out of love, and it cannot live fully and truly unless it freely acknowledges that love and commits itself to its creator.”󰀁󰀉 The Christian anthropology of the Council defines the human person as absolutely rooted in God. Without God the person cannot be authentically human. To understand human dignity therefore one needs to accept the “creatureliness” of the human person and his/her absolute dependence on God. When atheists deny God’s existence, they deny not only God but also the authentic meaning of the human person, human freedom and dignity. Firstly, the human person is constantly being invited by God to communion with him: “God has called women and men and is calling them to cleave to God with all their being in the everlasting communion of an incorruptible divine life.”󰀂󰀀 In this way the human person becomes a partner with God in dialogue continuing to respond as the invitation from God continues. To this invitation, the human person is absolutely free to respond in the affirmative or negative since God does not coerce anyone. The document explains: “Genuine freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine image in humans. For God willed to leave them in the hands of their own counsel, so that they would seek their creator of their own accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God.”󰀂󰀁 As the Council Fathers affirm, the dignity of the human person requires that he/she act through conscious and free choice.󰀂󰀂 It is as though the human person were the author of his/ her own salvation, although each and every person is ordained for eternal communion with God. The document thus portrays the human person enjoying an interpersonal relationship with God. Ratzinger expresses this: “The faith that man is a partner speaking with God, called to enter into a community of love, created to see and love him, guarantees man a dignity which no one else can give him. It does not lower him but says the highest about him that could possibly be conceived.”󰀂󰀃 The second aspect of the dignity of the human person derives from the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. By becoming a human person, 󰀁󰀉

 GS 󰀁󰀉.  GS 󰀁󰀈. 󰀂󰀁  GS 󰀁󰀇. 󰀂󰀂  Ibid. 󰀂󰀃  Ratzinger, “The Dignity of the Human Person,” 󰀁󰀄󰀆. 󰀂󰀀

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Jesus Christ united himself with each individual human person and raised human dignity individually and collectively. Through his incarnation, Christ has bridged the gap between the human person and God the Creator. The Pastoral constitution affirms: He who is ‘the image of the invisible God’ (Col. 󰀁:󰀁󰀅), is the perfect human being who has restored to the offspring of Adam the divine likeness which had been deformed since the first sin. Since the human nature which was assumed in him was not thereby destroyed, it was by that fact raised to a surpassing dignity in us also. For by his incarnation the Son of God united himself in some sense with every human being.󰀂󰀄

Thirdly, by his death and resurrection, Christ has restored the divine life to the human person and perfected the tarnished image of God. By the covenant of His blood, Christ has re-established the human person’s communion with God. Freeing the human person from his/her sins, Christ has conferred upon them the dignity of the sons and daughters of God. Human persons experience the elevated dignity in time and are conformed to the perfect image of the Son through sharing in the first fruits of the Spirit given by Jesus Christ. The culmination of the dignity will however be achieved only in the resurrection of the dead on the last day. The Council very clearly affirms that this elevated dignity and its culmination is possible for all people of good will since all are created by God and Christ died for everyone. It is the Holy Spirit that can make this possible in a manner known only to God.󰀂󰀅 Schillebeeckx comments: “Here the Council affirms most emphatically that humanity renewed in Christ is not a monopoly of Christians.”󰀂󰀆 Since all are created in God’s image and enjoy this divine calling and destiny, all human beings are equal before God,󰀂󰀇 and have the fundamental rights of the person.󰀂󰀈 It is remarkable that the Council Fathers by proposing a Christian anthropology to view human dignity in three interrelated aspects (creation, incarnation and resurrection) present the culminating dignity as eternal communion with God. Although the Fathers have broadened the 󰀂󰀄

 GS 󰀂󰀂.  GS 󰀂󰀂. 󰀂󰀆  Edward Schillebeeckx, “Christian Faith and the Future of the World,” in The Church Today: Commentaries on the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 󰀆󰀀-󰀉󰀄, at 󰀆󰀉. 󰀂󰀇  GS 󰀂󰀉. 󰀂󰀈  GS 󰀃󰀀. 󰀂󰀅

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meaning of human dignity, elevating it to the highest degree possible they believe that its fullness can never be achieved on earth. Further, by means of human dignity the Council affirms authentic human freedom and responsible decision-making. Violations against human persons and their dignity, individually or collectively, are considered offenses against God and Christ himself who is united with the whole of humanity. Thus to the Council Fathers, the dignity of the human person becomes normative for all of their discussions both from a biblical and humanistic point of view.󰀂󰀉 󰀄. Human Dignity in Relation to the Social Nature of the Human Person The Pastoral Constitution presents a balanced understanding of human dignity from a horizontal perspective. In affirming the social nature of the human person, the document underscores two inseparable aspects, namely the person is both an individual and a social being at the same time. The statement reads: “God … did not create the human person a solitary: … For by natural constitution the human person is a social being who cannot live or develop without relations with others.”󰀃󰀀 Later the Constitution adds: “Since social life is not something accidental to us, it is through our dealings with others, mutual duties and exchange with our sisters and brothers that we grow in all our endowments and can respond to our vocation.”󰀃󰀁 The human person develops his/her personality and individuality in and through society. Otto Semmelroth articulates: The nature of man is social and, conversely, men’s common life in society is realized by consciously and deliberately leading a common

 See Erhueh, Vatican II: Image of God in Man, 󰀁󰀈󰀉-󰀁󰀉󰀈.  GS 󰀁󰀂. Louis Janssens in articulating the vision of Person according to Gaudium et spes, spells out eight fundamental aspects/dimensions of the Person. The fourth dimension is: “Human persons are essentially directed toward each other. To be man is to be fellow man. … Man becomes only by contact with those who have already become.” See Janssens, “Artificial Insemination: Ethical Considerations,” 󰀈. 󰀃󰀁  GS 󰀂󰀅. See the fifth dimension of Louis Janssens: “Human persons are not only essentially social beings because they are open to each other in the I-Thou relationship, but also because they need to live in social groups and thus in appropriate structures and institutions. We must live in society (GS 󰀂󰀃-󰀃󰀂). We need structures and institutions worthy of man (GS, 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀉).” See Janssens, “Artificial Insemination: Ethical Considerations,” 󰀉. 󰀂󰀉 󰀃󰀀

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life. Social life is not something adventitious for man. Man cannot first exist as an individual and then in addition endeavour to form social relationships. The fact is, rather, that the realization and development of his personal life require mutual relations with others in the mutual interaction of life in society.󰀃󰀂

The human person and society interact with each other and they are interdependent. Since human society is characterized by interpersonal relationships, human persons cannot be considered as merely parts of a whole or aggregate. The Council affirms: The social character of human beings indicates that the advancement of the human person and the growth of society are dependent on each other. For the origin, the subject and the purpose of all social institutions is and should be the human person, whose life of its nature absolutely needs to be lived in society.󰀃󰀃

As Semmelroth comments: “Person and society therefore stand in constant mutual interaction which results from the nature of each.”󰀃󰀄 It is abundantly clear that the Council Fathers affirm that human society exists for the promotion of the good of the person individually and collectively. Conversely, by serving the society the human person grows and becomes truly human.󰀃󰀅 In relation to society, the human person is the ‘origin’, ‘subject’, and ‘purpose’ of all social institutions. Therefore any political community or even the Church should treat persons with dignity, and cannot treat them as instruments. Any government that deprives its citizens of their civil and religious rights acts against the dignity of the human person.󰀃󰀆 It is a violation not only against the human person but also against God. On the other hand, the assertion of absolute individualism goes against the dignity of the human person.󰀃󰀇 Furthermore, since the person requires freedom to develop as a human being, there is also the obligation of  Otto Semmelroth, “The Community of Mankind,” in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. V, 󰀁󰀆󰀄-󰀁󰀈󰀁, at 󰀁󰀆󰀈. 󰀃󰀃  GS 󰀂󰀅. 󰀃󰀄  Semmelroth, “The Community of Mankind,” 󰀁󰀆󰀈. 󰀃󰀅  GS 󰀂󰀄. See also GS 󰀂󰀆. 󰀃󰀆  GS 󰀂󰀉 asserts: “Human institutions, whether they be private or public, should aim to serve the dignity and the goal of human beings, opposing any social or political slavery and safeguarding the basic rights of all under every form of government.” Also see GS 󰀂󰀁: “It [the Church] protests at the discrimination between believers and unbelievers unjustly applied by some governments which ignore the basic rights of the human person.” 󰀃󰀇  See GS 󰀃󰀀. 󰀃󰀂

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responsibility. While in freedom the person responds to God and affirms his/her dignity, that same freedom requires of the person to act responsibly and to seek the good for oneself and for others. However, due to the wounds of sin, human freedom often loses its orientation to responsible action. It is then that the person requires God’s grace to reorient oneself. Since God has endowed the human nature with freedom to respond to him freely and consciously and act responsibly in social relations, the human person is accountable to God.󰀃󰀈 Thus the Fathers of the Council teach that it will be difficult for people to attain a sense of responsibility “unless their conditions of life allow them to be aware of their dignity and to respond to their calling of applying themselves to God and to others.”󰀃󰀉 󰀅. Human Dignity in Relation to Created Things The Pastoral Constitution affirms in biblical terms that the human person is the crown and center of the universe and all things on earth are related to the human person who glorifies God through them.󰀄󰀀 In comparison with material things, the human person is “the only creature on earth whom God willed for its own sake.”󰀄󰀁 In other words, it is the human person who is the sole purpose of creation. In asserting human dignity, the Fathers of Vatican II proclaim that not only the purpose of creation but also of incarnation and redemption is the human person.󰀄󰀂 This implies that human dignity surpasses the excellence of all created things in the material world. In relation to the material world, the Council affirms the worth of the person for what one is (being) rather than what one has (having): “People are more valuable for what they are than for what they have.”󰀄󰀃 This implies that all created things should be subjected to the use of humankind for it to achieve its divine destiny both in this world and the next. Through its dominion over the world and the rightful use of  GS 󰀁󰀇. See Erhueh, Vatican II: Image of God in Man, 󰀂󰀀󰀀-󰀂󰀀󰀁.  GS 󰀃󰀁. 󰀄󰀀  GS 󰀁󰀂. See Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀆; Ps 󰀈:󰀅-󰀇. 󰀄󰀁  GS 󰀂󰀄. 󰀄󰀂  We have already indicated the three layers of human dignity – creation, incarnation and redemption. See GS 󰀂󰀂. 󰀄󰀃  GS 󰀃󰀅. The Latin text reads: “Magis valet homo propter id quod est quam propter id quod habet.” 󰀃󰀈

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creatures, humans give glory to God and cooperate with God in the work of creation and perfecting it. The Pastoral Constitution explains: Created in God’s image, humankind was commissioned to subdue the earth and all it contains, to rule the world in justice and holiness, and recognizing God as the creator of all things, to refer itself and the totality of things to God so that, with everything subject to God, the divine name would be admired throughout all the earth.󰀄󰀄

In secular activities that are per se good, the human person exercises his/ her God-given dominion over the world. Through such activities, accomplished with right purpose, humans work for the development and humanization of the entire humankind. When these activities lead to furthering humanization they give glory to God and enhance the dignity of the human person. The document expresses this succinctly: “The norm, then, of human activity is that, in accordance with God’s design and will, it should really be of benefit to the human race and should enable people, both individually and in society, to pursue and fulfil their total calling.”󰀄󰀅 Nevertheless it remains a painful acknowledgement that the task of dominion over the world entrusted to the human person with unbridled freedom and responsibility has done much harm to humankind and the environment for decades in history. The Council advocates that Christians should collaborate with other people in building the earthly society, thus carrying out the design of God. Through the temporal activities, the humans not only bring God glory but also serve their neighbors.󰀄󰀆 On the other hand, any negligence in the performance of one’s earthly duties is to fail in one’s duty to God and neighbor that ultimately jeopardizes one’s eternal salvation.󰀄󰀇 󰀆. Social Concern for the Family The entire teaching of the Council on the human person as inseparably intertwined with and interdependent on society would become meaningless if it were to exclude the pivotal role the family plays in bringing its vision to fruition. As Schillebeeckx puts it: “Christian anthropology would be no more than a headless torso if it did not attribute due importance 󰀄󰀄

 GS 󰀃󰀄.  GS 󰀃󰀅. 󰀄󰀆  GS 󰀅󰀇. 󰀄󰀇  GS 󰀄󰀃. 󰀄󰀅

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to the social dimension of man.”󰀄󰀈 From the time of Leo XIII the harbinger of social teaching “the starting point and foundation of the Church’s social teaching [has been] … the unconditional dignity of each human being.”󰀄󰀉 Consequently the rights of the family in a society emanate from the social nature of the human dignity. Family being an embryonic form of a society into which a human person is born has received adequate consideration from the Council. Of the several contemporary needs discussed under the title “Some urgent problems” in part two of Gaudium et spes, the issue of marriage and family takes priority and receives the immediate attention of the Council Fathers.󰀅󰀀 For, as Bernard Häring puts it: “Marriage and family are more decisive than anything for personal well-being and for that of human society and the Christian community.”󰀅󰀁 In delineating the mission of founding a family as the fruit of ‘community of love’,󰀅󰀂 the Council gives unprecedented importance to the responsibility of parents. It urges parents to discharge their task of transmitting human life with human and Christian responsibility discerning the material and spiritual conditions of their life and bearing in mind the good of the family, society and the Church.󰀅󰀃 Bernard Häring remarks that “the idea of responsible parenthood is introduced in the phrase ‘interpreters of God’s creative love’.”󰀅󰀄 This implies that God’s providence is no longer identified with a blind or unreflecting abandonment to chance or the functioning of biological laws. Moreover, the Council’s decision to leave the married couples to decide for themselves “emphasizes the maturity of the Christian 󰀄󰀈

 Schillebeeckx, “Christian Faith and the Future of the World,” 󰀆󰀉.  Walter Kasper, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life (New York, NY and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀁󰀈󰀆. See Rerum Novarum, 󰀄󰀀. 󰀅󰀀  Part Two of Gaudium et spes begins with an introduction (󰀄󰀆) followed by chapter one on “Marriage and the Family in the Modern World,” 󰀄󰀇-󰀅󰀂. 󰀅󰀁  Bernard Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. V, 󰀂󰀂󰀅- 󰀂󰀄󰀅, at 󰀂󰀂󰀉. See GS 󰀄󰀇 that states: “The wellbeing of the person and of human and Christian society is intimately connected with the healthy state of the community of marriage and the family.” 󰀅󰀂  See GS 󰀄󰀇. Marriage seen primarily from the Augustinian point of view of three goods with special emphasis on procreation has not been upheld by the Council. GS 󰀅󰀀 affirms: “Marriage … was not instituted just for procreation.” See Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀂󰀅- 󰀂󰀄󰀅. 󰀅󰀃  GS 󰀅󰀀. 󰀅󰀄  Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀄󰀀. See GS 󰀅󰀀, the second paragraph reads: “In the office of transmitting and bringing up human life, which should be considered their special mission, married couples know that they are the co-operators with the love of God the creator and in a sense its interpreters.” Emphasis added. 󰀄󰀉

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conscience.”󰀅󰀅 In short, the Council Fathers consider the married couples and parents both humanly responsible people and mature Christians, or at least expect them to be so, to decide on the size of their families trusting their sense of judgment and conscience. Furthermore, the responsibility of raising children is shared by both partners: husband and wife, father and mother. The document clearly asserts: The family is a school for a richer humanity. For it to find fulfilment in its life and mission, it needs openness and collaboration on the part of husband and wife and their committed cooperation in raising their children. The involvement of the father can contribute greatly to their formation, and the care of the mother in the home which younger children especially need must be safeguarded, without prejudice to the legitimate advancement of woman in society.󰀅󰀆

Bernard Häring rightly observes: “As opposed to one-sided older tendencies to describe the role of the wife exclusively as that of housewife and mother, stress is laid on the presence of the father and his importance for the children’s upbringing, as well as on the legitimate social progress of women.”󰀅󰀇 The Council has so carefully distinguished the significance of mother in the family that it may not hinder the social progress of women in society. 󰀇. Education and the Family Considering the supreme importance of education in human life and the Church’s mission to form people in Christian faith, a separate document has been issued by the Council with the title “Declaration on Christian Education.”󰀅󰀈 At the outset, the Declaration affirms the inalienable right of all people to education based on their human dignity. For the Council true education aims at “formation of human persons,” therefore all aspects of life should be focused on education for the good of society and towards the final destiny of human persons.󰀅󰀉 The Council reiterates the Church’s traditional teaching on education, emphasizing the parents’ right to educate, clarifying the State’s role 󰀅󰀅

 Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀄󰀁.  GS 󰀅󰀂. 󰀅󰀇  Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀄󰀄-󰀂󰀄󰀅. 󰀅󰀈  Vatican II, Gravissimum educationis (October 󰀂󰀈, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅). See Tanner (ed.), Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils: Volume Two – Trent to Vatican II, 󰀉󰀅󰀉-󰀉󰀆󰀈. 󰀅󰀉  GE 󰀁. 󰀅󰀆

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to assist the parents and calling for State’s assistance to both public and private schools. Acknowledged as “primary and principal educators” the parents are “bound by a very serious obligation to educate” their children. Moreover the family becomes “the first school of the social virtues” where personal and social education of children is imparted.󰀆󰀀 Next to the parents, the Council Fathers underscore the important obligation of the State to care for the education of its citizens “by safeguarding the duties and rights of parents and of others who play a part in education, and by providing them with aids.”󰀆󰀁 While emphasizing the subsidiary role of the State, the Declaration asserts that it has the right to intervene when the parents are incapable of performing their obligation so that common good may be protected.󰀆󰀂 In matters of education, the Council advocates the application of the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity that complement each other. In Dignitatis humanae, the Council accentuates that the right of religious freedom guarantees to the parents the right to educate their children in accordance with their own religious beliefs. Consequently, the Council asserts that the State should respect the rights of parents to choose the school for their children, and no unjust burdens should be imposed on parents for exercising this right.󰀆󰀃 Bernard Häring views that the goal of education as portrayed by the Council is to make “a person able and willing to assume responsibility and ready to take his or her place in society.”󰀆󰀄 While the family must be conscious of its social responsibility, the State and society must do their part in organizing social life in ways which further the family.󰀆󰀅 󰀈. Socio-Economic Life and the Family The Fathers of the Council devote a separate chapter (chapter three of part two) in Gaudium et spes to dealing with questions of socioeconomic life.󰀆󰀆 In their view, the “center and purpose” of socio-economic life is to advance the dignity of the human person and the good of society 󰀆󰀀

 GE 󰀃.  Ibid. 󰀆󰀂  Ibid. 󰀆󰀃  DH 󰀅. 󰀆󰀄  Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀄󰀅. 󰀆󰀅  Ibid. 󰀆󰀆  See GS 󰀆󰀃-󰀇󰀂. 󰀆󰀁

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as a whole.󰀆󰀇 Nevertheless, the prevalent reality in contemporary society, in their poignant observation, shows that there are immense economic inequalities existing in the world that are accompanied by individual and social discrimination.󰀆󰀈 Admittedly, in the midst of vast numbers of people deprived of the basic necessities of life, there are some who live in luxury and squander their wealth. The contrast is most evident between developing nations and the economically advanced countries.󰀆󰀉 Moreover, many difficulties of family life are “caused by a structure of economic life which is either directly hostile to the family or at least does not correspond to the fundamental position of the family.”󰀇󰀀 These become a concern for the Council. Taking into consideration all of these factors, the Council views the socio-economic welfare of the family as a foundation for a harmonious development of the world. The socio-economic welfare of the family has its roots in human labor. Because it proceeds from the person, “human labor takes precedence over any of the other elements which play a part in economic life.”󰀇󰀁 In reiterating the earlier teaching of the Church, the Council articulates the function of human work: “It is by their labor that people normally support their own and their dependents’ lives, unite with their brothers and sisters and serve them, and are able to express a genuine love of their fellows and cooperate in bringing God’s creation to its fulfilment.”󰀇󰀂 Through work the human person not only supports his family but is also united to the human family and with God by perfecting the work of creation. Moreover the remuneration for work should guarantee not merely the material needs of the human person and his/her family but their social, cultural and religious life, providing a dignified livelihood.󰀇󰀃 In making genuine theological affirmations that human labor “not only contributes to perfecting the work of creation but even shares in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ,”󰀇󰀄 the Council has built a theological 󰀆󰀇

 GS 󰀆󰀃.  GS 󰀆󰀆. 󰀆󰀉  GS 󰀆󰀃. 󰀇󰀀  Häring, “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family,” 󰀂󰀃󰀁. 󰀇󰀁  Oswald von Nell-Breuning, “Socio-Economic Life,” in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. V, 󰀂󰀈󰀈-󰀃󰀁󰀃, at 󰀂󰀉󰀇. See GS 󰀆󰀇. 󰀇󰀂  GS 󰀆󰀇. 󰀇󰀃  GS 󰀆󰀇. See, L. J. Lebret, “Economic and Social Life: The Community of Nations,” in The Church Today: Commentaries on the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 󰀁󰀅󰀄-󰀁󰀉󰀁, at 󰀁󰀇󰀈-󰀁󰀇󰀉. 󰀇󰀄  Von Nell-Breuning, “Socio-Economic Life,” 󰀂󰀉󰀈. See GS 󰀆󰀇. See, Lebret, “Economic and Social Life,” 󰀁󰀇󰀉. 󰀆󰀈

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basis to criticize any kind of abuse detrimental to the worker. Moreover, the person’s right to work and the duty of society to help citizens to find adequate employment flow from these theological assertions. In its entire treatment of human work, the Council focuses on the centrality of the human person and the family. Consequently it underscores that the entire process of human labor should be adapted to the needs of persons, their way of life, particularly home life, providing sufficient rest and leisure for their family, cultural, social, and religious life.󰀇󰀅 The Pastoral constitution takes a clear stance regarding emigration and foreign workers. Although the family needs a certain amount of stability, if compelling considerations of conscience should force a person to leave his/her country when it becomes impossible to provide for the welfare of the family, the individual has the personal right to emigrate. When foreign workers take jobs abroad because their own country does not offer sufficient opportunities, they should not be exposed to unfair discrimination. Civil authorities should help such workers to bring their families to join them and find suitable accommodation in the new country.󰀇󰀆 󰀉. Needy Families The Decree on the Laity, in its attempt to redress the dire conditions of poor families, recognizes charity as the core of the apostolate and the sign of Christ’s messianic mission. In this context, the Council has made the command of Christ the basis for calling the community to action on behalf of those who are most in need.󰀇󰀇 The document states: Charitable activity nowadays can and should embrace all people and all needs. Wherever there are those who lack food and drink, clothes, a home, medicine, employment, education or whatever is needed for living a truly human life, those who suffer from hardship or ill health, exile or imprisonment, they should be sought out by Christian charity, supported by solicitous care and provided with practical aid.󰀇󰀈

Directing their attention more specifically to the married couples, the Council Fathers describe as the ‘supreme task’ the obligation “to defend 󰀇󰀅

 GS 󰀆󰀇. See also GS 󰀈󰀇.  Von Nell-Breuning, “Socio-Economic Life,” 󰀂󰀉󰀆-󰀂󰀉󰀇. See GS 󰀆󰀆. 󰀇󰀇  See Daniel J. Dillabough, The Vatican Charter of Rights of the Family 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃: A Study of the Charter and the Historical Social Tradition of Family Rights (Rome: Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇), 󰀃󰀂󰀃-󰀃󰀂󰀅. 󰀇󰀈  Apostolicam actuositatem 󰀈. The paragraph cites Mt 󰀂󰀂:󰀃󰀇-󰀄󰀀; Mt 󰀂󰀅:󰀄󰀀; Jn 󰀁󰀃:󰀃󰀅. 󰀇󰀆

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the dignity and legitimate freedom of the family.”󰀇󰀉 The Council exhorts that all should cooperate to ensure that these rights are preserved and needs of the families are taken into consideration by the government. The needs of the families mentioned are: “housing, education of children, conditions of labour, social security and taxation; and that in the control of migration, the right of the family to live together is given the fullest protection.”󰀈󰀀 In Gaudium et spes, the Council highlights the basic needs of the family when treating human dignity and basic human rights.󰀈󰀁 It condemns everything that violates human dignity: “such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking of women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat laborers as mere instrument of profit and not as free responsible persons.”󰀈󰀂 󰀁󰀀. Expanding the Vision of Vatican II: A Glance Broadening the theology of the human person articulated by Vatican II, Pope John Paul II󰀈󰀃 opened up a new horizon focusing on the human person and human dignity through his Christian ‘personalism’.󰀈󰀄 For 󰀇󰀉

 AA 󰀁󰀁.  Ibid. 󰀈󰀁  Having asserted that the rights and duties of the human person are universal and inviolable, GS 󰀂󰀆 continues: “Consequently, everything should be rendered to a person which is required to lead a truly human life, such as food, clothing, shelter, the rights to free choice of one’s state of life and to found a family, to education, to work, to one’s good name … including religious freedom.” 󰀈󰀂  GS 󰀂󰀇. 󰀈󰀃  As a bishop and then as an archbishop, Karol Wojtyla took an active part in the shaping of the Council’s documents on Christian Revelation, the Church, the Church in the Modern World, the Liturgy, and Religious Freedom. The Pope’s involvement in the Council and his interventions are enumerated by Avery Dulles, The Splendor of Faith: The Theological Vision of Pope John Paul II (New York, NY: Herder & Herder / Crossroad Publishing Company, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉), 󰀅-󰀈. 󰀈󰀄  In The Acting Person, his major philosophical work, Karol Wojtyla expounds a theory of the person as a self-determining agent that fulfils itself through free and responsible action. As Avery Dulles puts it: “John Paul II has used personalism as a lens through which to reinterpret much of the Catholic tradition. He unhesitatingly embraces all the dogmas of the church, but expounds them with a personalist slant.” Avery Dulles, “John Paul II and the Mystery of the Human Person,” America 󰀁󰀉󰀀 (February 󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄): 󰀁󰀀-󰀂󰀂, at 󰀁󰀂-󰀁󰀃. In his inaugural encyclical Redemptor hominis, John Paul II spells out his theological and anthropological foundations. With human person and human dignity as the central ideas, this document clearly reflects his Christian personalism highlighted in The Acting Person. See John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, Encyclical on Redemption and the Dignity of the Human Race, March 󰀄, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉, AAS 󰀇󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉): 󰀂󰀅󰀇-󰀃󰀂󰀄. 󰀈󰀀

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him, the human person is “the primary and fundamental way for the Church” through the mystery of incarnation and redemption.󰀈󰀅 In his view: “This, and this alone, is the principle which inspires the church’s social doctrine.”󰀈󰀆 Addressing the fundamental significance of the work, John Paul II proclaims that “human work is a key, probably the essential key to the whole social question”󰀈󰀇 and thus portrays a prophetic vision of the dignity of human work and the human person. Further, enumerating various dimensions of work, the Pope affirms: “work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life”󰀈󰀈 and therefore demands a ‘family wage’ for the worker. In response to the prevailing social situations in the developing nations, the Pope decries the dehumanizing conditions faced by families and passionately appeals to social responsibility of all Christians for the “preferential option” for the poor and disadvantaged.󰀈󰀉 To sum up, the theology of the human person upholding human dignity as sacrosanct, though had its origin in Leo XIII, took deep roots only in Vatican II. Breaking away from the traditionally held concept of Church and civil society as two-layered societies, the Council for the first time looked at the world as a partner in dialogue with the Church journeying towards the kingdom of God. It was possible only because the Council viewed all human persons as image of God and their dignity inviolable. The emergence of social concern for the family took shape from this ground-breaking standpoint. With the affirmation of the inseparable link between human dignity and human rights of the family the Council raised the concerns of the family to a higher level. Since then the family-related issues took centre stage in papal documents as and when the problems threatening the welfare of the family surfaced in various parts of the world.󰀉󰀀 The multifarious issues related to the socio-economic  John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 󰀄󰀀. Cited again in id., Centesimus annus, 󰀅󰀃.  John Paul II, Centesimus annus, Encyclical on the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum novarum, May 󰀁, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁, AAS 󰀈󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁): 󰀇󰀉󰀃-󰀈󰀆󰀇, no. 󰀅󰀃. According to David J. O’Brien and Thomas A. Shannon, the Christian anthropology presented in Centesimus annus and which concludes the encyclical “grounds the church’s social vision and mission on the basis of a transcendent human dignity. See O’Brien and Shannon, eds., Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary Heritage, 󰀄󰀃󰀈. 󰀈󰀇  John Paul II, Laborem exercens, Encyclical on Human Work, September 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁, AAS 󰀇󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁): 󰀅󰀇󰀇-󰀆󰀄󰀇, no. 󰀁󰀁. 󰀈󰀈  Ibid., no. 󰀄󰀂. 󰀈󰀉  John Paul II, Familiaris consortio, Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, November 󰀂󰀂, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁, Origins 󰀁󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁): 󰀄󰀃󰀇-󰀄󰀆󰀈, no. 󰀄󰀇. See also John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis, Encyclical on Social Concerns, December 󰀃󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇, in Origins 󰀁󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈): 󰀆󰀄󰀁-󰀆󰀆󰀀, AAS 󰀈󰀀 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈): 󰀅󰀁󰀃-󰀅󰀈󰀆, no. 󰀁󰀈. 󰀉󰀀  On the theme of family, two post-synodal apostolic exhortations have emerged: John Paul II, Familiaris consortio, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁, and Francis, Amoris laetitia, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆. 󰀈󰀅

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welfare of the family and the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor in the Third World, have a pointer to ongoing annihilation of human dignity in the world of humans. Faced with the stark realities of the world that stare at the family today󰀉󰀁 the Church is challenged with the task of reaffirming and reinventing the aspects of creation, incarnation and resurrection in a meaningful way in the tarnished imago Dei of the human person.

 See Francis, Amoris laetitia 󰀃󰀁-󰀅󰀇. In this chapter II, the Pope enumerates the experiences and challenges families face in the world today. 󰀉󰀁

Vatican II: An Impetus for Women in India to Claim Their Voice and a Rightful Place in the Church Patricia H. Santos Prior to Vatican II, women could clean church sanctuaries, and after church hours they could come close enough to strip altars and spend long hours mending, washing, starching, ironing, and replacing linen altar cloths, priests’ amices, albs, and purificators (the last only after the priest had given them the initial rinse, lest, women’s hands should come in conflict with any residue of consecrated wine). Women sacristans could remove, clean, and polish the sacred vessels – chalice and ciborium – but only while wearing white gloves. They could arrange flowers, remove candle grease, and replace candles, especially in the long white metallic interior-sprung variety, which were lit mainly for High Mass, Benediction, and Forty Hours Exposition and were likely to jump from their moorings if not properly secured, much to the terror and dismay of unsuspecting altar boys. So what else had the revolutionary Paul VI in mind for women’s role in church?󰀁

Carmel McEnroy recounts in her book a statement made by the then Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (who went on to become Pope Paul VI), on February 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀁 that: “Women must come closer to the altar, to souls, and to the Church in order to gather together the people.”󰀂 What exactly did Cardinal Montini imply through his words? While aware of the discrimination and subordination meted out to women, was he envisaging any changes in their favor? Were there any chances for women who form more than half of the Church to be part of the august assembly of the Second Vatican Council? Surprisingly this was the first Council that did bring in women even though only halfway through its sessions. However, even before being admitted, women were involved in some of the discussions of lay movements and clergy concerning the role of the laity in the Church. Hence the absence of representation of the laity at the Council was noted by some of the 󰀁  Carmel E. McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁), 󰀂󰀂. 󰀂  Ibid., 󰀂󰀀.

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conciliar Fathers, which was the reason for bringing in some men as lay auditors to the second session of Vatican II. By looking at Vatican II, this article recounts the late admission of a small group of women to the council and the contribution their presence made in the Council halls and to some of the Vatican documents. Attention is then given to the impact of the Council on the Indian Church and in particular to the place and role of women. The last part of the chapter focuses on the present reality in India with the challenges, hopes and dreams of women in the Church. 󰀁. An Unconventional Council Who could ever have imagined that Pope John XXIII, just three months after his election as Pope, would call for an ecumenical Council that would drastically alter the thinking and functioning of the Magisterium as well as the entire people of God? Vatican II was indeed an extraordinary phase in the history of the Church bringing in fresh air for renewal and revitalization. Ralph Wiltgen reports that twenty-four hundred Council Fathers from every part of the world entered solemnly on October 󰀁󰀁, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂 into the main entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica to participate in the twenty-first ecumenical Council held in the Vatican.󰀃 The Council was exceptional in many ways. The bishops who attended the Council represented 󰀁󰀁󰀆 different countries and many were accompanied by a secretary or theologian as noted by John O’Malley.󰀄 The Council “was the biggest meeting in the history of the world” and most significant in terms of its intense preparation, amount of documentation, length of continuous sessions, spirituality, and changes in the form, style and content of discourse.󰀅 According to O’Malley, the change in style could be witnessed in the Council’s vocabulary: from commands to invitations, from laws to ideals, from threats to persuasion, from coercion to conscience, from monologue to conversation, from ruling to serving, from withdrawn to integrated, from vertical and top-down to horizontal, from exclusion to inclusion, from  Cf. Ralph M. Wiltgen, The Inside Story of Vatican II: A Firsthand Account of the Council’s Inner Workings (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀃; previously published as The Rhine Flows into the Tiber: A History of Vatican II (New York, NY: Hawthorne Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇). 󰀄  Cf. John W. O’Malley, “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” Theological Studies 󰀆󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆): 󰀃-󰀃󰀃, at 󰀁󰀁. 󰀅  Ibid., 󰀁󰀀 and 󰀁󰀈. 󰀃

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hostility to friendship, from static to changing, from passive acceptance to active engagement, from prescriptive to principled, from defined to open-ended, from behavior-modification to conversion of heart, from the dictates of law to the dictates of conscience, from external conformity to the joyful pursuit of holiness.󰀆

The Council was to be a pastoral Council and not one to focus on correcting heresies as was the main concern of earlier Councils.󰀇 Mercy and compassion were the hallmarks of the Council and this was evident in including some outstanding theologians, who had earlier been silenced, and some observers “who did not share many of the basic principles out of which the Catholic Church operated.”󰀈 Gerard Mannion thinks that the Council can be judged as “a decisive era when the Church sought to turn away (i.e., to embrace metanoia) from the monolithic worldrenouncing character and style of magisterium and the ecclesial mindset that had begun in the second half of the late eighteenth century” and move towards reform and renewal.󰀉 The Council dealt with issues concerning not just the clergy and Catholic faithful but the wellbeing of the whole of humanity.󰀁󰀀 A lot of interest in the proceedings of the Council was generated in people of all faiths by media persons and those involved in some way with work related to the Council. What was most noteworthy was that twenty-three women auditors for the first time in history made it to the Council even though it was only from the third session onwards.󰀁󰀁 How did this come to be and what was the effect of women’s presence at the Council? 󰀁. Creating Space for the Excluded Half of Humanity In attendance at the Council were cardinals, bishops, experts, and observer-delegates from other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, initially all men. Some of the Protestant and Anglican observers brought their wives along but the women were not invited to attend the 󰀆

 O’Malley, “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” 󰀂󰀉.  Cf. Helen R. Graham, “Vatican II and Women,” Landas: Journal of Loyola School of Theology 󰀂󰀆, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀇󰀉-󰀉󰀇, at 󰀈󰀀. 󰀈  O’Malley, “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” 󰀁󰀁. 󰀉  Gerard Mannion, “How a Church Opened Its Doors,” in Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions: Vatican II and Its Impact, ed. Vladimir Latinovic, Gerard Mannion, and Jason Welle (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀃-󰀁󰀄, at 󰀉. 󰀁󰀀  Cf. O’Malley, “Vatican II: Did Anything Happen?,” 󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀁  Cf. Graham, “Vatican II and Women,” 󰀈󰀁; See also McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀀. 󰀇

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opening of the first session of the Council.󰀁󰀂 They could however attend the opening of the second session where they took their places not alongside their husbands, but towards the back of the hall. There were also some Catholic men auditors who joined from the second session. The presence of Catholic women at the Council was inconceivable. Even before the opening of Vatican II, there were discussions on the inclusion of women. The headline of a Belgian Catholic newspaper in October 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂 read: “The church is not racist, but it does not admit women to its council.”󰀁󰀃 So too at a national meeting organized by the German bishops before the Council, Theresa Münsch a young woman asked one of the bishops: “I wonder if the women will be invited to the council.”󰀁󰀄 The journalist Eva Jung-Inglessis had noted the reactions among the people who thought that it was such a silly and stupid question since it “was self-evident that no woman could ever be invited to a council.”󰀁󰀅 The bishop however after much thought answered: “Now, to this council, no, but to the third Vatican Council, yes.”󰀁󰀆 Nonetheless, the signs of the times revealed the significance and immediacy of women’s inclusion in the Council. It was the Belgian Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens, as noted by Mary Luke Tobin, the then Mother General of the Sisters of Loretto and one of the key auditors at the Council, who raised a question at the end of the second session of the Council regarding the missing half of humanity.󰀁󰀇 The question that Cardinal Suenens asked his fellow bishops was: “Why are we even discussing the reality of the church when half of the church is not even represented here?”󰀁󰀈 This mediation led Pope Paul VI to send out invitations to a few women to attend the subsequent sessions of the Council, most of who were influential women present in and around Rome. In his plenary address at the opening of the third conciliar session  Cf. McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀉.  Ibid., 󰀁󰀉. 󰀁󰀄  Ibid., 󰀂󰀀. 󰀁󰀅  Ibid. 󰀁󰀆  Ibid. 󰀁󰀇  Cf. Mary Luke Tobin, “Women in the Church: Vatican II and After,” The Ecumenical Review 󰀃󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅): 󰀂󰀉󰀅-󰀃󰀀󰀅; see also McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀅󰀂. According to Mannion, although Cardinal Suenens deserves credit for his intervention to bring women auditors to the Council, there were also others who “had been canvassing for such change long before him” such as the executive committee of the World Federation of Female Catholic Youth and the International Union of Catholic Women. Mannion, “Women and the Art of Magisterium: Reflections on Vatican II and the Postconciliar Church,” in Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions, 󰀁󰀁󰀉-󰀁󰀄󰀇, at 󰀁󰀂󰀄. 󰀁󰀈  Tobin, “Women in the Church,” 󰀂󰀉󰀅. 󰀁󰀂 󰀁󰀃

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on September 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄, Paul VI created a sudden stirring in the audience when he announced: “We are delighted to welcome among the auditors our beloved daughters in Christ, the first women in history to participate in a conciliar assembly.”󰀁󰀉 This was because no women as yet could be sighted in the hall. However, Paul VI acting on the interventions made in the previous session, to invite women as auditors, had already sent out invitations to some religious and lay women to participate in the third session. Nevertheless, it was only from September 󰀂󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄 that the women came trickling in, beginning with Marie-Louise Monnet of France, president of the International Federation of the Independent Social Welfare Organization.󰀂󰀀 McEnroy notes that the Council Fathers realized how they could profit from the presence and involvement of a few women to represent the larger part of the laity. Next came the realization that women make up more than half of humanity and they were totally left out of church leadership, discussion, and policy-making, although they were the silent majority of churchgoers, fundraisers, childrearers, church cleaners, educators, health care workers, and missionaries. The Church was a predominantly female space dominated by males. So that the whole Church might be represented in council, the women too needed to be brought in visibly. Hence, Paul VI’s emphasis on the symbolic presence of a few women.󰀂󰀁

By the end of the Council there were “twenty-nine laymen and twentythree women present as officially invited auditors” and they were expected to “bring the world to the council and the council to the world.”󰀂󰀂 󰀂. From Silent Observers to Active Participants Initially the women who came to the Council were passive auditors with no voice or voting rights. While the lay men and women were both invited only as auditors, the men had a more prominent place than the women.󰀂󰀃 Patricia Madigan notes how the men could mix freely with the bishops at Bar-Jonah, the coffee bar for the men, while the women were restricted to Bar-None which was the coffee-bar for them.󰀂󰀄 The men  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀅󰀂.  Ibid., 󰀅󰀃. 󰀂󰀁  Ibid., 󰀁󰀁. 󰀂󰀂  Ibid., 󰀉 and 󰀁󰀃󰀀. 󰀂󰀃  Ibid., 󰀁󰀀. 󰀂󰀄  Cf. Patricia Madigan, “Women during and after Vatican II,” in Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions, 󰀇󰀉-󰀉󰀆, at 󰀈󰀂. 󰀁󰀉

󰀂󰀀

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were also allowed to speak at the Council. Pat Keegan, a leading layman, “presented the Decree on the Laity in English” and another layman conveyed the “mission of the laity in the modern world” in Spanish, whereas the “paper on world poverty and hunger by the famous economist Barbara Ward” was read by James Norris.󰀂󰀅 Although it was Cardinal Suenens who emphasized the need for bringing women to the Council, it was council expert and moral theologian Bernard Häring who “was responsible for getting women involved in the working commissions.”󰀂󰀆 McEnroy refers to “Häring the Daring” and states that it was due to him and Bishop Emilio Guano the chair, that “women played a significant role as full voting members of the mixed commission for Gaudium et spes” (GS).󰀂󰀇 Tobin, too, gives credit to the valuable insight of Häring who said that “if women were invited, they should have a place in the commissions formulating the documents.”󰀂󰀈 On account of this, she testifies in her own words that three of us – Rosemary Goldie, a lay leader from Australia, Mère Guillemin, a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul from France, and I – were invited to attend commission meetings. There we were allowed to speak as freely as we wished and in whatever language we chose; and each of us did speak. Although we did not create a countervailing current turning around the attitude towards women, our being present was noticed immediately by the press, and at least a few bishops began to see the problems more clearly.󰀂󰀉

The women played a major role in the commission for GS since it was not drafted before the Council. According to McEnroy, “it was the only text that originated on the council floor, so it had the advantage of starting from scratch and was not the cut-and-pasted product of a preconciliar text.”󰀃󰀀 Häring himself in his interview with McEnroy confessed how he had, with the permission of the chair, directly written to the women and invited them to the commission meeting where in a “very relaxed atmosphere, they participated just as the men did, talked frankly, and were listened to.”󰀃󰀁 Häring also acknowledged the excellent contributions made by the ladies in the commission “in preparing the text and in understanding a little bit better the world” of that time.󰀃󰀂 󰀂󰀅

 Madigan, “Women during and after Vatican II,” 󰀈󰀂.  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀂. 󰀂󰀇  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀁. 󰀂󰀈  Tobin, “Women in the Church: Vatican II and After,” 󰀂󰀉󰀆. 󰀂󰀉  Ibid. 󰀃󰀀  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀃󰀁. 󰀃󰀁  Ibid., 󰀁󰀃󰀃. 󰀃󰀂  Ibid. 󰀂󰀆

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Madigan notes that the women at the Council also contributed to the decree on the Apostolate on the Laity, Apostolicam actuositatem (AA). There are references to women in AA 󰀉 (“Since in our days women are taking an increasingly active share in the whole life of society, it is important that their participation in the various fields of the Church’s apostolate should likewise develop”) and AA 󰀃󰀂 (“centers of documentation and study not only in theology but also in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and methodology should be established for all fields of the apostolate, for the better development of the natural capacities of the laity – men and women”).󰀃󰀃 Wiltgen however observes that in all the conciliar texts there are very few references to women, at the most fourteen and even the language used is not inclusive.󰀃󰀄 He also points out that even though the religious Sisters present at the Council were either Superior Generals of their Congregations or heads of federations of sisters, they were not invited to the meetings of the Commission for Religious.󰀃󰀅 According to McEnroy, “the sisters knocked, and other friends in court petitioned for them, but Cardinal Antoniutti refused to open the door, so they were never permitted to work in commission on the document that was to affect their lives so radically.”󰀃󰀆 They could only speak to the members of the Commission and submit a proposal to them if they so wished. Some of the religious also received cold shoulders from a few bishops.󰀃󰀇 Nonetheless, the auditors “had many opportunities to discuss Council topics with the Council Fathers, periti, and observers from the separated Christian Churches.”󰀃󰀈 This is also affirmed by McEnroy who writes that the “women auditors were sought outside the council aula, as invitations, interviews, and meetings filled the few free moments they had between sessions.”󰀃󰀉 A striking feature of the Council was collaboration and this was evident in the relationships that emerged among the religious, between men and women, religious and laity as well as between the different rites and ecumenical participants, despite the occasional disagreements and rifts.󰀄󰀀 Women from the different denominational groups bonded to some extent with each other, and 󰀃󰀃  Madigan, “Women during and after Vatican II,” 󰀈󰀆; see also Apostolicam actuositatem 󰀉, 󰀃󰀂. 󰀃󰀄  Cf. Wiltgen, The Inside Story of Vatican II, 󰀁󰀅󰀅. 󰀃󰀅  Ibid., 󰀂󰀇󰀅. 󰀃󰀆  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀈󰀃. 󰀃󰀇  Ibid., 󰀁󰀈󰀉. 󰀃󰀈  Wiltgen, The Inside Story of Vatican II, 󰀂󰀇󰀅. 󰀃󰀉  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀃󰀇. 󰀄󰀀  Ibid., 󰀁󰀉󰀀 and 󰀂󰀁󰀂.

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women religious from different Congregations even met regularly at one of their motherhouses.󰀄󰀁 Thus, by the end of the Council most of the women auditors were sought out and taken seriously. 󰀃. New Windows Opened to Women Vatican II to some extent offered new possibilities for women even though women continue to be sidelined and excluded from certain functions in the Church. In his closing address to women at the end of the Council, Pope Paul VI told them that the time had come “when the vocation of woman is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquires in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved.”󰀄󰀂 In acknowledging their contribution and potential to be leaders and evangelizers in the Church, Paul VI entrusted to women the task of taking “the spirit of this council into institutions, schools, homes and daily life” and trying to “save the peace of the world.”󰀄󰀃 Jessica Coblentz thinks that it was not only the presence of some women at the Council that is significant, but the many ways in which women’s lives and experiences in the Church have been changed because of the Council.󰀄󰀄 Its liturgical initiatives increased opportunities for women to participate in Catholic liturgy by serving as eucharistic ministers and lectors. Inspired by the council’s call to renew religious life, many women’s religious congregations revised and revitalized their way of life. A number of Vatican II documents also set in motion the expansion of Catholic theology’s boundaries in ways no one could have predicted. The number of women studying theology quadrupled in the first twenty years following the council. Among these women were the foremothers of feminist theology, a fact that has led scholars to identify Vatican II as one of the catalysts for the emergence of the field.󰀄󰀅  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀁󰀈󰀃 and 󰀂󰀃󰀇.  Vatican Speeches, “Address of Pope Paul VI to Women: Closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,” Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅, available at http://www. vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/speeches/󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀈_epilogoconcilio-donne.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀄󰀃  Vatican Speeches, “Address of Pope Paul VI to Women.” 󰀄󰀄  See Jessica Coblentz, “Women in American Catholic Theology Fifty Years after Vatican II: Introduction,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 󰀃󰀃, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀈󰀇-󰀈󰀉, at 󰀈󰀈. 󰀄󰀅  Coblentz, “Women in American Catholic Theology,” 󰀈󰀈; see also Anne E. Patrick, “Tensions over ‘Feminism’, US Women Religious and the Contested Reception of Vatican II,” in Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions, 󰀁󰀀󰀇-󰀁󰀁󰀈, at 󰀁󰀁󰀃. While women had begun to study theology from the 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀀’s, especially since Holy Cross 󰀄󰀁

󰀄󰀂

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Anne Patrick too thinks that women were more involved in theological education and research from the time of Vatican II. She considers GS 󰀂󰀉, 󰀅󰀅, and 󰀆󰀂 as facilitating feminist thinking and affirming women’s rights in the church and society, and paving the way for women to also enter male dominated fields.󰀄󰀆 Some of the women played significant roles even before the Council and felt that they were experiencing the first two years of the Council from outside the Vatican walls.󰀄󰀇 Nonetheless, the Church became more sensitive to the concerns of women after Vatican II and some women were also entrusted with certain key responsibilities. Madigan reports that Goldie, “Executive Secretary of the Permanent Committee for International Congresses of the Lay Apostolate (COPECIAL) in Rome, became the only ‘curial woman’ when she was appointed as one of two Undersecretaries to the new Pontifical Council of the Laity created by Paul VI on 󰀆th January 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇, a position she held for nine years.”󰀄󰀈 Mannion also acknowledges the “increasing roles played by women of differing experiences, skills and background (both lay and religious) in the postconciliar church.”󰀄󰀉 Pro Vita Mundi reports that some religious women began to occupy minor positions in the Congregation for Religious from 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇, and women also began to be members of the Lay Council, the pontifical commission Justitia et Pax and the pontifical commission for the liturgy.󰀅󰀀 However, in all of these organizations women played a very restricted role. In many places women themselves took the initiative to form organizations and forums to reflect together and train other women. There were also protests organized by women because of the discrimination that women experienced in the Church and society even after the Council. For instance, The ‘Union Mondiale des Organisations Feminines Catholiques’ (U.M.O.F.C.) organized in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆 a vast enquiry ‘on the freedom of Sister Mary Madeleva Wolff had opened the first Graduate School of Sacred Theology in Indiana in 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀃, feminist theology was still in formation at the time of the Council. Cf. Mannion, “Women and the Art of Magisterium,” 󰀁󰀂󰀀. 󰀄󰀆  Cf. Patrick, “Tensions over ‘Feminism’,” 󰀁󰀁󰀂-󰀁󰀁󰀃. 󰀄󰀇  Cf. McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀄󰀀 and 󰀄󰀂. Mannion is of the opinion that women exercised leadership and other influential roles in their communities much before Vatican II and especially in the early church communities. See Mannion, “Women and the Art of Magisterium,” 󰀁󰀃󰀆. 󰀄󰀈  Madigan, “Women during and after Vatican II,” 󰀉󰀄. 󰀄󰀉  Mannion, “Women and the Art of Magisterium,” 󰀁󰀂󰀉. 󰀅󰀀  Cf. Pro Mundi Vita, “Men & Women in Partnership in the Church and in Society,” in Women in India and in the Church, ed. Engelbert Zeitler, Lucy Misquita, and Jessie Tellis Nayak (Indore, India: Divine Word Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀈), 󰀁󰀂󰀆.

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women in marriage, social and civic life and their participation in the life of the Church’. The congress held in Rome in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇 drew up, on the initiative of the St. Joan’s Alliance, a motion on the woman in the Church. This motion was taken up some days later, on 󰀁󰀇 October 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇, to form a large part of the 󰀅th resolution of the 󰀃rd World Congress for the Lay Apostolate. This resulted in the U.M.O.F.C. colloquium organized in Paris from 󰀁󰀆 to 󰀂󰀇 April 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉, on ‘The woman in the Church and canon law’, which published a memorandum followed by proposals demanding the reform of canon law. Following the world Congress of the laity in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇, a study group was constituted in the Netherlands for ‘Collaboration between men and women in the Church’.󰀅󰀁

These and many other initiatives by women pushed for equality, collaboration and better relations between men and women. Women were and continue to be interested in more access to and participation in the different ecclesial ministries. There is thus a strong need for the Church to open its doors and not just windows to women. The next section will look at some of the possibilities which opened up for women in the Indian context. 󰀂. Impact of the Council on Women in the Indian Church Some of the major changes effected on the Indian Church by Vatican II include a turn to the world and dialogue and collaboration with people of different denominations, religions, and cultures. According to Jacob Kavunkal, the “post Vatican Church in India is witnessing a shift from the ecclesiocentric mission to a Kingdom-centred approach to mission” with equality, justice, peace, and liberation as the key elements.󰀅󰀂 The aspect of interconnectedness that emerged from the Council is crucial in a country like India that is multi-religious, multi-linguistic, and multi-cultural. Pearl Drego identifies some shifts brought about by the Council from “institutionalizing to networking, from hierarchical models to participatory models of administration and worship” and from a triumphant, militant Church to a pilgrim Church at the service of the poor.󰀅󰀃 󰀅󰀁

 Pro Mundi Vita, “Men & Women in Partnership in the Church and in Society,” 󰀁󰀂󰀈.  Jacob Kavunkal, “Vatican II & the Mission of the Church in India,” in Quest for an Indian Church: An Exploration of the Possibilities Opened up by Vatican II, ed. Kurien Kunnumpuram and Lorenzo Fernando, Jesuit Theological Forum Reflections (Gujarat, India: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀄󰀂. 󰀅󰀃  Pearl Drego, “The Place and Role of Women in Church and Society in the Light of Vatican II,” in Quest for an Indian Church, 󰀁󰀅󰀉-󰀁󰀆󰀀. 󰀅󰀂

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The Council contributed to a new vision of women wherein women are recognized as full human beings with dignity, freedom, and equal rights, to be respected and upheld.󰀅󰀄 The Council, according to Drego, also denounced “all acts of violence against women, denial of their rights, situations which dehumanize women and treat them as objects, ways in which women are harmed physically or psychologically, in childhood or adulthood or even before birth.”󰀅󰀅 Striving for justice and liberation was encouraged by the Council. How did these new insights impact women in the Church in India? The vision of Vatican II, according to Drego, generated “a process of change which heralded a new theology of Woman, renewed hope for her freedom from ecclesial and social oppression and a global perception of her true presence and contribution to Church and society.”󰀅󰀆 Women theologians along with men theologians and the laity began to reflect theologically on humanitarian concerns as well as social and political issues of the country. They began to be actively involved in research, in inter-religious dialogue and networking with grassroots movements. In 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀂, WINA (Women’s Institute for New Awakening) was founded to promote women’s development and a number of theology workshops have been organized by them for Catholic women. In 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂, Uday Kiran was established to advance Indian women theologizing. A number of organizations and publications have been initiated to promote networking and bonding among Christian women and women of all faith for the development and implementation of women’s empowerment. In June 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁 at a meeting of women theologians in Pune, there was a felt need to form a forum of women theologians in India having a distinct feminist vision. This led to the foundation of the Indian Women Theologians’ Forum (IWTF).󰀅󰀇 In the initial stages only women theologians, mostly religious women, formed part of the IWTF but gradually women working at grassroots levels who were interested in reflecting theologically were also included. The first initiative of IWTF was to introduce feminist theology in most of the seminaries. One of the main 󰀅󰀄  Cf. Drego, “The Place and Role of Women in Church and Society in the Light of Vatican II,” 󰀁󰀇󰀀-󰀁󰀇󰀃. 󰀅󰀅  Ibid., 󰀁󰀈󰀁. 󰀅󰀆  Ibid., 󰀁󰀆󰀆. 󰀅󰀇  Cf. “Statement of The Indian Women Theologians’ Forum (IWTF) Annual Meeting,” International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT), available at https://insecttheology.wordpress.com/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇/󰀀󰀅/󰀂󰀅/statement-of-the-indian-women-theologians-forum-iwtf-annual-meeting/ [accessed on February 󰀂󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈].

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strengths of the IWTF, which meets annually, is to gather the voices of women at the margins and to reflect theologically on the experiences of these women. With the increase in violence against women at all levels, members of the IWTF have been reflecting on the roots of violence in religion, to see how they can respond theologically to this grave situation through publications, conferences, and networking with catholic, ecumenical, and other secular organizations across the country. A few women theologians are actively involved in inter-religious dialogue and networking with grassroots movements. Some of the members of the IWTF were instrumental in pushing for the Gender Policy of the Catholic Church.󰀅󰀈 This Policy, an offshoot of the 󰀂󰀈th Plenary Assembly of the CBCI (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India) held on the 󰀂󰀀th anniversary of the Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II Mulieris dignitatem, was officially accepted and published in December 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉. While underlining the equality and dignity of all persons, the policy endorses women’s equal rights and participation in the Church and society.󰀅󰀉 It is a fairly good representation of the diverse voices of women from the different ecclesiastical regions in India who worked in collaboration to draft the document. The policy has led to many changes in the Church with more women being trained theologically, more women engaged as ‘spiritual mothers’ or spiritual directors in the formation of seminarians, policies and norms formulated to address sexual abuse in the Church, and grievance cells initiated in parishes and religious houses. While in theory it is a well formulated document, having been meticulously prepared in four phases, and providing a comprehensive framework for analysis and action, in practice it has not been fully implemented in all the dioceses. A significant venture was the launching of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM) at the 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄 national conference on Vatican II organized in Bangalore.󰀆󰀀 󰀁󰀁󰀃 religious and lay women along with a few influential men holding responsibilities at national level participated in the 󰀅󰀈  Cf. CBCI Commission for Women, Gender Policy of the Catholic Church of India (New Delhi: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀), available at https:// cbci.in/downloadmat/gender_policy.pdf [accessed on May 󰀁󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀅󰀉  Cf. CBCI Commission for Women, Gender Policy of the Catholic Church of India. The Policy offers women equal representation in the various CBCI commissions, seminaries, parish and diocesan pastoral councils, finance committees, marriage tribunals and social service societies and envisages a world where both women and men can enjoy total freedom and equality to grow in the image and likeness of God. 󰀆󰀀  Cf. Streevani, “Indian Christian Women’s Movement (ICWM),” Birthing a New Vision: The Empowerment of Women Religious in India 󰀂󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄): 󰀁󰀁󰀉-󰀁󰀂󰀁.

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conference. The vision of the ICWM is to bring together Christian women from different denominations to collaborate in taking up issues of justice and human rights of women and other marginalized groups. To accomplish this, they saw the need to move from institution-centered to people-centered activities and to network with religious and lay organizations and movements across denominations. There are also many women’s organizations and groups in India working to counter violence against women and other forms of oppression. It is not possible here to give a full account of the diverse undertakings by women and for women after the Council. In the next section I present a brief overview of the status of women under the leadership of Pope Francis and offer some suggestions for a way forward. 󰀃. Contemporary Reality and Way Forward With the Pontificate of Pope Francis, more opportunities opened up for women in the Church. In 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄, Sr. Mary Melone was approved as the first woman rector of the Franciscan Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome and five women were selected to be part of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission.󰀆󰀁 Francis has also included a thirty-seven member Women’s Consultation Group to the all-male Pontifical Council for Culture which reflects on diverse global issues.󰀆󰀂 In February 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅, Francis addressing the participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture praised them for the theme they had chosen for their reflection and research: “Feminine cultures: equality and difference.”󰀆󰀃 While offering guidelines to develop the theme, Francis pointed out that the topic entails “studying criteria and new methods in order that women may not feel like guests, but full participants in the various spheres of society and Church life.”󰀆󰀄 Could Francis have been referring to McEnroy’s Guests in Their Own House? Whether or not it is implied, the need for 󰀆󰀁  Cf. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, “Women,” in A Pope Francis Lexicon, ed. Joshua J. McElwee and Cindy Wooden (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀁󰀉󰀃. 󰀆󰀂  Cf. ibid., 󰀁󰀉󰀃. 󰀆󰀃  “Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture,” Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅, available at http:// w󰀂.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅/february/documents/papa-francesco_ 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅󰀀󰀂󰀀󰀇_pontificio-consiglio-cultura.html [accessed on May 󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]; see also AAS 󰀁󰀀󰀇, no. 󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): 󰀂󰀆󰀄-󰀂󰀆󰀆. 󰀆󰀄  “Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture.”

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women to be full participants in the Church and society is vital. In 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆, Francis raised the liturgical commemoration of Mary Magdalene to a feast bringing it on par with the feasts of the apostles and affirming her as ‘apostle to the apostles’ in the preface of the Eucharist on her feast day.󰀆󰀅 He also appointed, in the same year, a Commission to study the possibility of permanent deacons for women and included six women of its twelve members to explore the historical development of the diaconate ministry of women. On July 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, Francis appointed seven women to the Vatican Congregation for Religious that oversees religious orders and sets policies for religious men, women and consecrated members of the laity.󰀆󰀆 Formerly this congregation included only cardinals, bishops, and heads of religious orders of men. Francis has also been advocating for equal wages for men and women.󰀆󰀇 One would imagine that with all these changes in favor of women, things have greatly improved in the Church. However, the patriarchal mindset and power dynamics continue to operate keeping the majority of women in their marginal places. In the introduction to the 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁 reprint of her book, McEnroy notes that although the inclusion of women in the third session of the Second Vatican Council sparked hope for women in the Church, not much has changed in general in the liturgical functions except for “a few altar girls to serve in some parishes.”󰀆󰀈 And to this are now added women Eucharistic ministers and lectors. In reflecting on the situation of women in the Church in the US through the eyes of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Tobin records that patriarchy continues to alienate women and privilege men.󰀆󰀉 Women are still given minimal roles in liturgy, worship, and ministry in the Church. They are also often trivialized and depersonalized “through humour, ridicule, metaphor” and exclusive language.󰀇󰀀 The LCWR report lists matters that call for an urgent response such as: need for changes in the education of the clergy, including study of the rightful role and dignity of women in the church; the importance of having women as well as men conduct these programmes; the problem of exclusive language in the documents and liturgies; positive 󰀆󰀅

 Cf. Mannion, “Women and the Art of Magisterium,” 󰀁󰀃󰀆.  Cf. Thomas Reese, “Pope Francis Gets It Right on Curia Reform and Women,” National Catholic Reporter, available at https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signstimes/pope-francis-gets-it-right-curia-reform-and-women [accessed on May 󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀆󰀇  Cf. Madigan, “Women during and after Vatican II,” 󰀉󰀁. 󰀆󰀈  McEnroy, Guests in Their Own House, 󰀂. 󰀆󰀉  Cf. Tobin, “Women in the Church,” 󰀃󰀀󰀁. 󰀇󰀀  Ibid., 󰀃󰀀󰀂. 󰀆󰀆

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affirmation of the vocation of single women; relative absence of women from advisory or decision-making bodies or positions in the church.󰀇󰀁

These are also some of the persistent issues and concerns of women in the Indian Church along with problems of sexual abuse, discrimination and all forms of violence. Despite the discrimination and inequality in the Church, lay and religious women are serving in many pastoral, educational, and administrative positions today. There is a strong need for more voice, visibility, and participation of women in order for them to have an impact on the Indian Church and society. There is also need for support and collaboration from ecclesiastical authorities and religious organizations to counter and challenge clericalism, patriarchy, gender stereotypes, binaries, and all forms of oppression and discrimination in the Church and society so that authentic partnerships may be established among women and men for a vibrant Church and life-promoting ministries. The current reality of the Covid-󰀁󰀉 pandemic which has affected the whole world stresses the interconnectedness of all reality. Women are at the forefront of humanitarian responses to the Coronavirus crisis. We need to move beyond spatial, gender, socio-cultural, religious, academic, and ministerial borders to work together for the good of humanity and the entire cosmos.

󰀇󰀁

 Tobin, “Women in the Church,” 󰀃󰀀󰀄.

A Rediscovery of the Gospel and Discipleship New Evangelization in the Vision of Pope Francis Thomas Padiyath The Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium,󰀁 is the Magna Carta of Pope Francis’ pastoral vision for the renewal of the Church, and more precisely for a new evangelization of the Church. In it he identifies three areas of new evangelization. a) The area of ordinary pastoral ministry where the focus is on the practicing and non-practicing faithful or Christians. b) The area of the baptized who fail to meet the demands of baptism; who do not have a proper relation with the Church. c) The area of non-Christians, who have never heard of Jesus Christ, and those who have always rejected him (EG 󰀁󰀅). Pope Francis adds that “many of them are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All of them have a right to receive the Gospel” (EG 󰀁󰀅). This suggestive observation of Pope Francis in view of promoting new evangelization reminds me of the blunt criticism of Whitehead:󰀂 “The modern world has lost God and is seeking him” (RM 󰀇󰀂).󰀃 He added further that “if the modern world is to find God, it must find him through love and not through fear, with the help of John and not of Paul” (RM 󰀇󰀃). Pope Francis’ critical observations and suggestive comments in Evangelii gaudium could help towards a re-discovering of the “Galilean origin of Christianity”󰀄 in Whiteheadian terms. 󰀁  Pope Francis, Evangelii gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃). Hereafter abbreviated as EG. 󰀂  Alfred North Whitehead (󰀁󰀈󰀆󰀁-󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀇), British mathematician, scientist, and philosopher, was the progenitor of process philosophy, a contemporary trend in western philosophy; depending on his thought, American thinkers like Charles Hartshorne and John Cobb developed a school of theology called process theology. 󰀃  Alfred North Whitehead, Religion in the Making (New York, NY: World Publishing, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀀), 󰀇󰀂. The book was first published in 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀆. 󰀄  By the phrase ‘Galilean origin of Christianity’, Whitehead refers to the simplicity of Christian discipleship, attested by the Galilean life of Jesus and his disciples as the Gospel testifies. In the words of Pope Francis, one has to rediscover ‘the heart of the

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The Pope has stirred up a radical re-thinking of discipleship which I see as the first condition for an effective new evangelization. Today discipleship of Jesus confronts great challenges not only from outside but also from the inside. On the one hand, many are puzzled and ask what is the point of this way of life? Is it a waste of human energies?󰀅 On the other hand, today the self-understandings of the consecrated have changed. For many, this way of life has become a profession just like any other. Many are looking for success at the cost of faithfulness (VC 󰀆󰀃). It is the Sitz im Leben that has compelled Pope Francis to call for a pastoral and missionary conversion in the life of the pastors which is a must for a fruitful discipleship. In this context this article aims to examine the creative suggestions of Pope Francis in Evangelii gaudium with regard to discipleship and ministry. It is hoped that this pastoral and missionary conversion in the life of the pastors would enhance the new evangelization task of the Church by being a catalyst for the often-highlighted clericalism and anti-gospel attitudes that muffle the spirit of the Gospel and discipleship. Therefore, in the light of the Evangelii gaudium a ‘decalogue’ is suggested to promote a pastoral and missionary conversion, which would eventually add impetus to the new evangelization.

󰀁. The Call for Personal Renewal The Second Vatican Council, which aimed to revive and revitalize the Church, focused on both aggiornamento and ressourcement. The Council Fathers judiciously realized that no revival can be possible without the rediscovery of the riches of the Church’s faith and spiritual traditions. This call of the Council for aggiornamento and ressourcement has resonance in the work of Pope Francis: “Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world” (EG 󰀁󰀁). Pope Francis invites the pastoral workers of the Church to rediscover the heart of the discipleship of Jesus that is disclosed in the Gospel’ (cf. EG 󰀃󰀄-󰀃󰀉). Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (Griffin and Sherburne, corrected edition. New York, NY: The Free Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅), 󰀃󰀄󰀃. The book was first published in 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀉. 󰀅  John Paul II, Vita consecrata, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆) 󰀁󰀀󰀄. Hereafter abbreviated as VC.

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Gospels. The reason is, as the product of his/her time, each one is “affected by the present globalized culture” (EG 󰀇󰀇) which has its positive as well as negative impacts on Christian life. Therefore, one needs to generate “spaces where pastoral workers can be helped and healed…” (EG 󰀇󰀇). Therefore, the urgency of the time is a “pastoral and missionary conversion” (EG 󰀂󰀅), for, any renewal of the Church greatly depends on the renewal and training of its pastors and ministers.󰀆 It is rightly observed that the evils of the world and the failures of the Church become a ground for diluting one’s commitment (EG 󰀈󰀄). For, “every period of history is marked by the presence of human weakness, self-absorption, complacency and selfishness … [and] concupiscence which preys upon us all” (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀃). In other words, disciples themselves are subject to the temptations of the body, self and the world.󰀇 It is in this context one has to situate the clarion call for a “pastoral and missionary conversion.” For Pope Francis, the point of departure of the new evangelization is the disciples. Now the question is, what is the relationship between discipleship and new evangelization? 󰀂. New Evangelization New evangelization is a concept that has been very lively in the thought, life, and proclamation of the Church, especially since the last five decades.󰀈 It again became a matter of lively discussion as the theme of the 󰀆  The Council fathers rightly set the tone of its vision regarding priestly formation when it stated that the aggiornamento and ressourcement depend greatly on priestly training. It is stated in the opening sentence that “this sacred synod is fully aware that the desired renewal of the whole Church depends to a great extent on the ministry of its priests.” Optatam totius, Second Vatican Council Decree on Priestly Training, 󰀁. Moreover, the Conciliar document on Consecrated Life Perfectae caritatis states that “adaptation and renewal depend greatly on the education of religious” (PC 󰀁󰀈). 󰀇  The Gospel and the Epistles of Paul give sufficient evidences for this. For example, the temptations of the Lord as reported by the Evangelist Luke give a clear picture of the three-fold temptations faced by every human being everywhere and at all times. St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans chapter 󰀁󰀂, also gives a picture of this three-fold temptation of human nature. 󰀈  It was Pope John Paul II who used the concept new evangelization for the first time during his Apostolic Visit to Poland on June 󰀉, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀉. However, the encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi of Pope Paul VI can be considered as the forerunner of this concept. In this way one can rightly say that the visionary of the new evangelization was Pope Paul VI, its prophet and the progenitor was Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI was the one who popularized it. Now Pope Francis is the herald of new evangelization, who gives a new hermeneutics to it by his word and deed. Cf. Instrumentum laboris for the XIII

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thirteenth ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in Rome from October 󰀇-󰀂󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂. New evangelization can be understood as the Church’s creative efforts to respond to the challenges faced by the Gospel and Christian culture in the contemporary world. In confronting these challenges, the Church does not give up or retreat into herself; instead, she undertakes a project to revitalize herself. It is fundamentally a spiritual activity “to reread the memory of faith and to undertake new responsibilities and generate new energies to joyously and convincingly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (Lineamenta 󰀅).󰀉 It is nothing but a new way of “Being the Church” in contemporary society in today’s ever-changing social and cultural situations (Lineamenta 󰀉). Moreover, it is understood as a vision for the Church of today and tomorrow. It is “to rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the Church’s beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardour of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost” (Lineamenta 󰀂󰀄). Therefore, it demands from the part of the disciples a return to the way of life of the first Christian community as highlighted in Acts 󰀁󰀂:󰀄󰀂. It is in the same vein that Pope Francis reminds the Church that she cannot engage in a fruitful new evangelization without a renewal and revitalization of the disciples. Hence the Pope calls for a pastoral and missionary conversion in the life of the disciples of Jesus. Therefore, nobody can “passively and calmly wait” (EG 󰀁󰀅) in the church buildings, but rather one has to go out from one’s own “comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel” (EG 󰀂󰀀). Therefore, in the vision of Pope Francis new evangelization has much to do with the personal renewal or pastoral conversion of the disciple of Christ Jesus. 󰀃. The Imperative of Pastoral Conversion There is an imperative for a pastoral and missionary conversion which cannot leave things as they are today (EG 󰀂󰀅). The Church must look with penetrating eyes within herself, ponder the mystery of her own being … This vivid and lively self-awareness inevitably leads to a comparison between the ideal image of the Church Ordinary Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂), 󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀄. 󰀉  Lineamenta for the XIII Ordinary Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁) 󰀅. Herewith abbreviated as Lineamenta.

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as Christ envisaged her … and the actual image which the Church presents to the world today (EG 󰀂󰀆; Ecclesiam suam 󰀉-󰀁󰀁).󰀁󰀀

In other words, it is a demand to overcome the dichotomy between the ideal and the real. The heart of this pastoral conversion is a self-renewal that is characterized by total fidelity to the Lord in the life of the entire Church. Therefore, it is basically an “ecclesial conversion” (EG 󰀂󰀆), which consists of a “constant self-renewal” (EG 󰀂󰀆). Moreover, it is a renewal demanded on the institutional level (UR 󰀆, cited in EG 󰀂󰀆);󰀁󰀁 not only a conversion of hearts but also a conversion that includes all the ecclesiastical institutions. I dream of a “missionary option,” that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light… (EG 󰀂󰀇).

For example, a renewal of the parish would make it a “Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters” (EG 󰀂󰀈), rather than making it an outdated institution. It is only by a radical conversion of the “disciples” and institutions that the Church can engage in a fruitful new evangelization. For this, the first condition is an encounter with Jesus that would make one “free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness” (EG 󰀁) which is a condition of possibility for serving others with the joy of the Gospel. In this respect one can formulate a ‘decalogue’ for Christian discipleship from the writings of Pope Francis, chiefly based on Evangelii gaudium. 󰀁. Discipleship Is a Re-birth Discipleship is a response to a loving call by God the Father. “It is about being reborn through vocation” (Rejoice 󰀄).󰀁󰀂 Every vocation is an invitation to surrender oneself, what one has and one is, to the Lord in order  Pope Paul VI, Ecclesiam suam, Encyclical, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀄.  Unitatis redintegratio, Second Vatican Council Decree on Ecumenism, ed. Austin Flannery, OP (Bombay: St. Paul, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), 󰀆. 󰀁󰀂  Rejoice, A Letter to Consecrated Men and Women, A Message from the Teachings of Pope Francis, Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄). Herewith abbreviated as Rejoice. The idea of discipleship as re-birth does not occur in EG. Since it manifests the core of a missionary disciple I have taken it from Rejoice. 󰀁󰀀 󰀁󰀁

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to become a new creation. In the Pauline version “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” (󰀂 Cor 󰀅:󰀁󰀇). In the command to be “born of water and Spirit” one has the biblical foundation of this re-birth (John 󰀃:󰀃-󰀅). Discipleship is a re-birth; and is always an initiative of God. This rebirth “has a name and a face: the face of Jesus Christ” (Rejoice 󰀅). It is a continuous ‘exodus’ in view of committing oneself to the service of the Church and the other based on the Gospel. In the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament one has clear examples of this. Abraham and St. Paul are the best candidates in this regard. The pastoral and missionary conversion demands a rebirth; only then will one be able to produce fruits. And the primary goal of any formation process is this rebirth. St. Paul who underwent this rebirth could say that “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 󰀂:󰀂󰀀). The radical criticism faced by discipleship in different parts of the world today is a clear indication of the absence of this rebirth. 󰀂. Discipleship and Permanent Conversion A discipleship worthy of its call demands a permanent conversion, for the disciples themselves are “wounded healers.” Apostles themselves were in need of this healing (Lk 󰀁󰀀:󰀃󰀅-󰀄󰀅; Mt 󰀂󰀀:󰀂󰀀-󰀂󰀈). Therefore, we need to “create spaces where pastoral workers can be helped and healed” (EG 󰀇󰀇). It is in this respect that the Pope refers to the temptations of the pastoral workers. a) Yes to the Challenge of a Missionary Spirituality Today many Christians are subject to the temptation of “an inordinate concern for their personal freedom and relaxation” and pastoral ministry becomes “a mere appendage to their life, as if it were not part of their very identity” (EG 󰀇󰀈). In other words, in many people one sees an undue love for autonomy and personal comforts that certainly diminishes one’s passion for evangelization. In most people this eventually leads to “a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervour” in spite of their good prayer life. And these “three evils … fuel one another” (EG 󰀇󰀈). Thus, even the pastoral workers become prey to a “practical relativism” characterized by a life consisting in “acting as if God did not exist, making decisions as if the poor did not exist, setting goals as if others did not exist, working as if people who have not received the Gospel did not exist” (EG 󰀈󰀀). This further leads them to

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an inordinate “attachment to financial security, or to a desire for power or human glory at all cost, rather than giving their lives to others in mission” (EG 󰀈󰀀). One may trace the reason for what is today characterized as clericalism to this aforementioned excessive love. To outlive these temptations the pastors and disciples are to say ‘yes’ to the challenge of a missionary spirituality. b) No to Selfishness and Spiritual Sloth Today, pastoral workers of the Church find themselves in a paradoxical situation: On the one hand we are living in a time “when we most need a missionary dynamism” and on the other, we see “some resist giving themselves over completely to mission and thus end up in a state of paralysis and acedia” (EG 󰀈󰀁). The problem is not that no work is done nor that there is an excess of work but rather there is “activity undertaken badly, without adequate motivation, without a spirituality which would permeate it and make it pleasurable.” The outcome is, “work becomes more tiring than necessary” resulting finally in an “unbearable fatigue” (EG 󰀈󰀂). Gradually the biggest danger takes shape: “the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the Church” (EG 󰀈󰀃). Thus the pastoral workers of the Church develop a “tomb psychology,” gradually turning the “Christians into mummies in a museum” (EG 󰀈󰀃). Thus, people who are called to “radiate light and communicate life” are “caught up in things that generate only darkness and inner weariness, and slowly consume all zeal for the apostolate” and they undergo “a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy” (EG 󰀈󰀃). Therefore, nobody shall be “robbed of the joy of evangelization” (EG 󰀈󰀃), but rather they have to say no to selfishness and spiritual sloth. c) No to a Sterile Pessimism Another major challenge confronted by pastoral workers is unproductive pessimism. The problem is that many fail to live the “Joy of the Gospel” which sets them free “from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness” (EG 󰀁). One needs a pastoral and missionary conversion in order to overcome the danger of a sterile pessimism. Therefore, one has to “discern how wine can come from water and how wheat can grow in the midst of weeds” (EG 󰀈󰀄). The evils of the world and the downside of the Church shall not be excuses for failing in one’s commitment but rather they are to be taken as “challenges which can help us to grow” (EG 󰀈󰀄).

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Today there are places where “spiritual desertification” has evidently taken place and attempts are made to build up societies “without God or to eliminate their Christian roots” (EG 󰀈󰀅). Therefore, the imperative today is that the disciples have to rediscover “the joy of believing”; so that they can be “living sources of water from which others can drink” (EG 󰀈󰀅). For this, no disciples should allow themselves to be robbed of hope! Then only “a committed missionary knows the joy of being a spring which spills over and refreshes others” (EG 󰀂󰀇󰀂). When we are impoverished by unproductive pessimism, it gradually leads to the stagnation of the Church (EG 󰀁󰀂󰀉) which is not desirable in view of an effective new evangelization. d) No to Spiritual Worldliness Today pastoral workers of the Church are victims of a two-fold secularization. On the one hand, for many the Gospel does not become the norm of life. On the other hand, many are prone to a “spiritual worldliness,” which is the second kind of secularization. The question is, how are we to explain this “spiritual worldliness”? What are its characteristics? The core of it consists in seeking one’s own glory rather than that of the Lord. However, it is noted for its spiritual outlook and it gives the impression that everything is fine and is in order. Therefore, it is “more disastrous than any other worldliness which is simply moral” (EG 󰀉󰀃). For, it often “hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church” (EG 󰀉󰀃). St. Paul reminds Timothy of this spiritual worldliness (󰀂 Tim 󰀃:󰀅); and it is “a tremendous corruption disguised as a good” (EG 󰀉󰀇). A disciple has no other norm for his life than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Christ of the Gospel. In other words, Jesus Christ is the ultimate norm for a disciple (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀆). But today, paradoxically, disciples of Jesus themselves are victims of secularization because they find themselves in a world which is very much led by principles of consumerism (EG 󰀂). Therefore, they are invited to say no to “spiritual worldliness.” There are two approaches that fuel this spiritual worldliness, namely gnosticism, a purely subjective faith “which ultimately keep[s] one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings” and the other is “the self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagianism” (EG 󰀉󰀄).󰀁󰀃 What would be a way out from this superficial and inauthentic spirituality? Only God  Pope Francis clarifies further the dangers of spiritual worldliness in Evangelii gaudium 󰀉󰀅-󰀉󰀇. 󰀁󰀃

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can heal his disciples from this. Therefore, one has to breath in “the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God” (EG 󰀉󰀇).󰀁󰀄 If the pastoral workers do not pay heed to the invitation for the pastoral conversion “the edifice of the Church’s moral teaching risks becoming a house of cards” and the “message will run the risk of losing its freshness and will cease to have ‘the fragrance of the Gospel’” (EG 󰀃󰀉). In the Lord’s view, the number one disqualification of his disciple is hypocrisy. Therefore, what is demanded is an exemplary faithfulness. 󰀃. Heart of Discipleship Is Faithfulness Not Success A unique and distinctive characteristic feature of Jesus’ disciple is faithfulness. Here one has to take into account the conciliar teaching that ecclesial conversion means “self-renewal born of fidelity to Jesus Christ” (cf. EG 󰀂󰀆). Moreover, it is highlighted that “Without new life and an authentic evangelical spirit, without the Church’s ‘fidelity to her own calling’, any new structure will soon prove ineffective” (EG 󰀂󰀆). The identity of the disciple is nothing other than the identity of the Master himself. The Apostle reminds us that “the one who called you is faithful” (󰀁 Thess 󰀅:󰀂󰀄). Pope Francis puts this as follows: “In calling you God says to you: ‘You are important to me, I love you, I am counting on you’” (Rejoice 󰀄). Therefore, faithfulness should be the identification mark of the disciple. Moreover, the joy of the gospel is “a faithful ‘yes’” (Rejoice 󰀆). So it is stated that “anyone who has met the Lord and follows him faithfully is a messenger of the joy of the Spirit” (Rejoice 󰀆). But today, what the disciple often lacks the most is the faithfulness itself. A faithful discipleship has different aspects: faithfulness to God, to others, to oneself, and to the Church, etc. Faithfulness is characterized as “the awareness of a love that points us towards the “Thou” of God and towards every other person … [and it is understood as] grace and love in action; it is the practice of sacrificial charity” (Rejoice 󰀆). In the mind of the Church the actual breakdown of discipleship today is not the decrease in number but rather the failure to “cling steadfastly to the Lord and to personal vocation and mission” (VC 󰀆󰀃). Therefore, “what is 󰀁󰀄  As part of the “pastoral and missionary conversion” Pope Francis adds the following as well: No to warring among ourselves (󰀉󰀈-󰀁󰀀󰀁), Yes to the new relationships brought by Christ (󰀈󰀇-󰀉󰀂), Yes to the challenge of a missionary spirituality (󰀇󰀈-󰀈󰀀), No to an Excessive clericalism (󰀁󰀀󰀂), etc.

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required of each individual is not success, but commitment to faithfulness” (VC 󰀆󰀃). Taking into account the contemporary challenges faced by discipleship in the global arena only a faithful life will light the lamp of new evangelization. 󰀄. Discipleship: Transformation from Individual to Person For Pope Francis mission means nothing but a passion for Jesus and his people (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀈). What is meant by this? In contrast to the postmodern individualism what is expected of a faithful disciple is self-emptying. For, a disciple who lives the “paradox of the Gospel”󰀁󰀅 realizes that “life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others” (EG 󰀁󰀀). Another characteristic of the pastoral and missionary conversion of the disciple is a transformation in self-understanding. A disciple with the joy of the gospel never understands himself as an individual who is closed on himself and content in himself. On the contrary, he understands himself as a person who is other-oriented and communitarian. The Magisterium is clear in this regard: “If the subject of formation is the individual at every stage of life, the object of formation is the whole person” (VC 󰀇󰀁). What is demanded of every disciple is a transformation from ‘individual’ to ‘person’. While the ‘individual’ does not have vertical and horizontal relationships – with God and with fellow human beings – a ‘person’ realizes that it is the vertical relation with God and horizontal relation with fellow human beings that gives meaning to existence. Therefore, Pope Francis exhorts the Church unceasingly: “Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel” (EG 󰀂󰀀). In this light, what follows is quite meaningful: “we become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being” (EG 󰀈). One of the effects of Pentecost is that the disciples became men for others (EG 󰀂󰀅󰀉). In and through formation one has to grow from an ‘individual’ to a ‘person’. Here ‘person’ has to 󰀁󰀅  The values and demands of the Gospel often go against the norms and criteria of the world. This is what paradox of the gospel means. A disciple of Jesus is to abide by this paradox and s/he has to be a witness of this paradox in the world. For example: The Beatitudes (Mt 󰀅:󰀃-󰀁󰀁).

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be understood as an ‘integral subject’ whose life is characterized by “a sound interior life, without divisions or contradictions.” The reason is that it is the “whole person, with all that he is and all that he possesses, who will be at the Lord’s service…” (RF 󰀉󰀂).󰀁󰀆 󰀅. Disciples in the Footsteps of the Good Shepherd For a disciple of Jesus, the first, the last, and the ideal form to be followed is the Master himself. Thus, the disciples are invited to search for the lost sheep, following the Good Shepherd (Lk 󰀁󰀅:󰀁-󰀇). Therefore, “missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity” (EG 󰀁󰀅). The pastoral workers of the Church “cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings;” but rather they are called to move “from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry” (EG 󰀁󰀅) that sets out in search of the lost sheep. [So] the Church must accompany with attention and care the weakest of her children, who show signs of a wounded and troubled love, by restoring in them hope and confidence, like the beacon of a lighthouse in a port or a torch carried among the people to enlighten those who have lost their way or who are in the midst of a storm. Let us not forget that the Church’s task is often like that of a field hospital (Amoris laetitia 󰀂󰀉󰀁).󰀁󰀇

Therefore, a disciple has to “leave the nest” (Rejoice 󰀁󰀀) of the comfort zones “when fragmentation justifies widespread sterile individualism and when the weakness of relationships breaks up and ruins the care of the human person…” (Rejoice 󰀉).󰀁󰀈 Only such an exemplary life will enhance the new evangelization process of the Church. In other words, every disciple has to be an embodiment of divine mercy. 󰀆. Dispensers of Divine Mercy Today Pope Francis envisions a Church whose doors are wide open for the ‘prodigal sons and daughters’, who will pour out the mercy of God 󰀁󰀆  Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, The Gift Priestly Vocation, Congregation for the Clergy (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇). Herewith abbreviated as RF. 󰀁󰀇  Pope Francis, Amoris laetitia, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation (Trivandrum: Carmel Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆). 󰀁󰀈  Cf. New Wine in New Wineskins, Guidelines, Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Trivandrum: Carmel Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇).

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(EG 󰀄󰀆). Only such a mother Church can be fruitfully engaged in new evangelization. The Church discloses her motherly love in and through her pastoral workers. However, institutionalization is deeply rooted in the ecclesial life today. Various concerns have reduced pastoral workers to the level of mere administrators. A pastoral and missionary conversion demands a radical shift in the self-understanding of the disciples. The disciple of the Church must be “bringing God’s embrace” to the people (Rejoice 󰀈). Moreover, one is reminded that the ministry in the Church “is to bring to the men and women of our time the consolation of God, to bear witness to his mercy” (Rejoice 󰀈).󰀁󰀉 It is in this vein, Pope Francis reminds the priests: “the confessional must not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best” (EG 󰀄󰀄). The Church should be a mother with an open heart; “a Church which ‘goes forth’ is a Church whose doors are open” (EG 󰀄󰀆). Therefore, “a missionary heart … never closes itself off, never retreats into its own security, never opts for rigidity and defensiveness. … it always does what good it can, even if in the process, its shoes get soiled by the mud of the street” (EG 󰀄󰀅). The disciples as dispensers of divine mercy should be like “the father of the prodigal son” (EG 󰀄󰀆) and “the Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open” (EG 󰀄󰀇). This is the pastoral and missionary conversion that Pope Francis has called for in view of new evangelization. 󰀇. Discipleship and Divine Discontent The life of a disciple should be characterized by a divine discontent, for s/he is called to grow into the perfection of the heavenly Father (Mt 󰀅:󰀄󰀈). What should rightly disturb a disciple who enjoys the joy of pastoral conversion is the fact that “so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light, and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life” (EG 󰀄󰀉). Therefore, what is proposed to the disciples is a divine discontent, a “restless searching … restlessness of seeking the truth, of seeking God, … restlessness to know him ever better and to come out of himself to make others know him. … precisely the restlessness of love” (Rejoice 󰀅). 󰀁󰀉  Here it is also in order to remember what St. John Paul II has reminded: “There is a need for people able to show the fatherly face of God and the motherly face of the Church, people who spend their lives so that others can have life and hope” (VC 󰀁󰀀󰀅).

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Only a restlessness of this sort would lead one to a spirit-filled evangelization, because “no words of encouragement will be enough unless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts” (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀁). For the Church grows not by proselytizing, but “by attraction” (EG 󰀁󰀅). For a fruitful evangelization, we need both prayer and work: ora et labora (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀂 & 󰀂󰀆󰀄). On the one hand, we need to pray because “without prayer all our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty” (EG 󰀂󰀅󰀉; 󰀂󰀆󰀂); and, on the other, “mystical notions without a solid social and missionary outreach are of no help to evangelization” (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀂). It is all the more vital that the evangelizers proclaim the good news with words and life transfigured by divine contemplation (EG 󰀂󰀅󰀉). This is the reason why the Church desires to begin a new chapter of evangelization, in fact a new evangelization “full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction” (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀁). This demands a pastoral and missionary conversion from the part of the disciples. 󰀈. Discipleship and Self-Criticism The old adage that the “Church must always be reformed” (Ecclesia semper reformanda est), is equally applicable for the ministers of the Church. Therefore, Pope Francis rightly says that we need to criticize ourselves in the light of the gospel. “This is the source of the Church’s heroic and impatient struggle for renewal: the struggle to correct those flaws introduced by her members which her own self-examination, mirroring her exemplar, Christ, points out to her and condemns” (EG 󰀂󰀆). Today what the Church in general and the disciples in particular lack is this self-criticism; a better self-understanding in view of renewal. What Socrates said millennia ago is ever relevant: “an unexamined life is not worth living.”󰀂󰀀 As the distance between ideal image and actual image increases in the church, crisis also augments. This logic is applicable in the case of both individuals and institutions. Therefore, Church as the chief agent of evangelization “ought to let others be constantly evangelizing” her (EG 󰀁󰀂󰀁). Pastoral workers, on the one hand, are invited to accompany the sheep in their spiritual journey, on the other, as disciples of the Lord, they have to grow in awareness that they themselves are “continually in need of being evangelized.”󰀂󰀁 The church needs a constant evangelization 󰀂󰀀  Robert C. Solomon, Introducing Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀁. 󰀂󰀁  Cf. Pastores dabo vobis 󰀂󰀆.

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(EG 󰀁󰀇󰀄). A life that ignores the demand for pastoral conversion is “nothing less than slow suicide” (EG 󰀂󰀇󰀂) which will be detrimental to any new evangelization efforts. 󰀉. Discipleship and the Ministry of Listening Another pastoral tip that Pope Francis suggests in view of promoting new evangelization is the art of listening. Today pastoral ministry demands accompaniment. Therefore, mother Church wants “to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this ‘art of accompaniment’” (EG 󰀁󰀆󰀉). Today we live in a paradoxical situation: on the one hand we are at the zenith of technological development and the world of social communication, with all kinds of gadgets and cyber possibilities, makes humans busy. On the other, the number of suicide cases and the victims of depression, loneliness, stress, etc are on the increase. In this context there is a great need for personal care and accompaniment. A condition of possibility for this fruitful accompaniment is the willingness to listen to others. Nevertheless, what is meant by the art of listening? It does not mean only an inter-personal communication, but also a conducive disposition for spiritual growth. …an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur. …Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has sown in our lives (EG 󰀁󰀇󰀁).

The art of listening has another positive outcome. In order to make a good homily a pastor should be a good listener, because a “preacher must know the heart of his community” (EG 󰀁󰀃󰀇). In the art of listening, the Lord himself is the model par excellence, because Jesus himself was a good listener (Lk 󰀂:󰀄󰀆). “A preacher has to contemplate the Word, but he also has to contemplate his people” (EG 󰀁󰀅󰀄). There is a double process involved here: hearing the Lord and hearing his people. One who does not hear the Lord in prayer cannot be a good listener (EG 󰀁󰀅󰀁) and for a fruitful community life and for the good exercise of the service of authority the art of listening is a must. Hence, “discussion among brothers and sisters and the listening of individual people becomes an essential place for the evangelical service of authority.”󰀂󰀂 Above all, contemporary  New Wine in New Wine Skins: The Consecrated Life and Its Ongoing Challenges since Vatican II, Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇), 󰀄󰀁. 󰀂󰀂

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consumerist society and individualism make the ministry of listening all the more relevant today. A motherly approach of the pastors will make the service of the Church more appealing to the faithful which will be advantageous to the new evangelization process. 󰀁󰀀. The Disciple and a Complacent Attitude A final point to be added in the list of attitudes and approaches that promote the new evangelization efforts of the Church in the light of Evangelii gaudium is a clear “no to complacency.” A true enemy of a pastoral and missionary conversion is a complacent mind and attitude. In a selfrighteous mind the “evangelical fervour is replaced by the empty pleasure of complacency and self-indulgence” (EG 󰀉󰀅). In a person motivated by spiritual shallowness, the “mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen, is not present” (EG 󰀉󰀅); on the contrary in some people, there is …a fascination with social and political gain, or pride in their ability to manage practical affairs, or an obsession with programmes of selfhelp and self-realization. It can also translate into a concern to be seen, into a social life full of appearances, meetings, dinners and receptions. It can also lead to a business mentality, caught up with management, statistics, plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the Church as an institution (EG 󰀉󰀅).

A complacent attitude manifests itself in “some people nowadays [who] console themselves by saying that things are not as easy as they used to be” and we should be aware that “every period of history is marked by the presence of human weakness, self-absorption, complacency, and selfishness, to say nothing of the concupiscence which preys upon us all” (EG 󰀂󰀆󰀃). Therefore, no disciple shall sit idle. But rather, s/he has to realize that “I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world. We have to regard ourselves as sealed, even branded, by this mission of bringing light, blessing, enlivening, raising up, healing and freeing” (EG 󰀂󰀇󰀃). Moreover, a pastoral ministry with the joy of the gospel and with a “missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: “We have always done it this way” (EG 󰀃󰀃). Therefore, disciples are “to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities” (EG 󰀃󰀃). Missionaries and visionaries of the Lord can neither be content with a complacent attitude nor can they indulge in self-righteousness. On the contrary, they are to live to the full their “dedication to God, so that this world may never be without a ray of divine beauty to lighten the path of human existence” (VC 󰀁󰀀󰀉).

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Conclusion Pope Francis maintains a clear vision of new evangelization. He is challenging Christian discipleship by word and deed. For him, new evangelization is nothing but a rediscovery of the Gospel and discipleship. Unless one rediscovers the sense of authentic discipleship as delineated in the Gospel all efforts of the Church for new evangelization will be futile. Hence the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium does say something to all of us; to the hierarchy, to the priests and the consecrated men and women, to the theologians, to the lay faithful and to the youth and the children. It is a document rich in content and filled with pastoral thrust, where heart speaks to the heart. But above all it gives an invitation to the disciples of Christ for a pastoral conversion. The call of Pope Francis for a personal and committed self-renewal would very much help to revise the identity, lifestyle and ecclesial mission of discipleship. It will give new momentum to the new evangelization mission of the Church.

Creative Conversation between Theology and Practice

Teacher and Shepherd in Conversation The Creative Interface between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Concerns Mathew Illathuparampil In the ‘Franciscan’ Church, the Church shepherded by Pope Francis, pastoral practices and spiritual concerns often override doctrinal precision and dogmatic affirmations. More often than not, it has led to a dissonance between doctrinal perfections and pastoral sympathies. Outwardly in ecclesiastical circles, it has projected two mutually exclusive camps of truth and mercy, theological accuracy and pastoral warmth, orthodoxy and heresy. But the heart of the issue consists of the gap or the apparent breach between systematic theology and pastoral charity. For individuals, it involves a struggle to become simultaneously a wellfounded theologian and an empathetic pastor. In this context, any pastorally sensitive theologian would easily make sense of the words of Walter Kasper: “My question is, and was always, how to translate the Christian tradition in the present context and the present context in the Christian tradition.”󰀁 Taking a closer view of the concrete situations, one may observe instances of conflict between systematic theology and pastoral practice. They include, for example, the property of the indissolubility of marriage and the claims of the divorced and remarried for full ecclesial communion; the existing theology of marriage and claims of gay and lesbian persons for marriage; the teaching of Humanae vitae on the methods of fertility regulation and couples in conflicting contexts to pursue that teaching; the Church’s social teachings on the common destination of the created goods and the claims attached to the right of private property; the teaching of the Church that Jesus is the only savior and the approach to people living in other religious faiths, etc. There are also issues that challenge the strong settings of systematic theology and traditional practices. 󰀁  As cited in Kristin M. Colberg, “The Task of Theology,” in The Theology of Cardinal Walter Kasper: Speaking Truth in Love, ed. Kristin M. Colberg and Robert A. Krieg (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀂-󰀂󰀀, at 󰀃.

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For example, the choice of adults not to get married, single parenthood, unavailability of brides or bridegrooms due to a huge disproportion in male-female population, struggles of couples to maintain indissolubility of marriage even at the cost of domestic violence, etc. Given the above-said broad array of issues, this paper seeks to expose the possible extent and nature of the distance between systematic theology and pastoral concerns. In this attempt, we shall not try to resolve any particular issue mentioned above; rather, we shall think about the prospect of keeping theology and pastoral practice closer to each other. This discussion is also a tacit admission that the faith community may sometimes run into error by a blind preference either for the ‘truth’ of the Gospel message or for its relevance to Christian life in its fullness. The crux of the problem consists in the Church’s failure to deal with conflicting claims contained in the Gospel truths particularly when applied to broad and divergent contexts. Overlooking this tension or eliminating it with unilateral and forceful solutions will only intensify our struggles with incoherence. Therefore, at the end, we propose to hold a progressive conversation between systematic theology and pastoral demands, as an integral way of doing theology as well as an ineluctable way of offering pastoral service.

󰀁. Legitimate Space for the Pastoral in Theology In the wake of Amoris laetitia, especially in view of no. 󰀃󰀀󰀅 and footnote no. 󰀃󰀅󰀁 where Pope Francis took an open and positive pastoral stance towards the divorced and the remarried, there was a number of cries against undermining the doctrine of marriage especially that of the indissolubility of Catholic marriage.󰀂 At the same time, the position of Pope Francis was hailed as one of merciful pastoral outreach to the excommunicated people. It has in effect resulted in two divergent reactions in the Church: either an unflinching adherence to the inflexible interpretation of the theology of marriage, with its ensuing canonical demands or a total disregard for the doctrinal formulation of marriage. In practice, certain people hastened to declare the Pope a heretic and antichrist, 󰀂  For a positive appreciation of the pastoral developments in the wake of Amoris laetitia see, Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi and Roger Burggraeve, “New Wine in New Wineskins: Amoris laetitia and the Church’s Teaching on Marriage and Family,” Louvain Studies 󰀃󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): 󰀂󰀈󰀄-󰀃󰀀󰀂.

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while others propagated that anything goes in marriage and church life in the name of mercy. People who craved sure answers for every context and case became ‘dubious’. Aside from the unsettled questions in this particular instance, it calls for identifying the much deeper issues regarding the nature of theology and church life. In an age of growing secularism, the Church has an added duty to make itself relevant to its members and more poignantly to the larger society. In different parts of the world a good number of Catholics vote with their feet declaring that the Church is irrelevant to them. But making the Church relevant to contemporary people shall not be at the cost of sacrificing the Christian identity of the Church, affirmed in its doctrines and explained by its theology. It involves a huge risk and challenge. Kasper makes clear the risk signified in this task: “when the Church tries to be relevant, it runs the risk of surrendering its unambiguousness for the sake of openness. Yet, whenever it tries to speak straightforwardly and clearly it risks losing sight of men and their actual problems. If the church worries about identity, it risks a loss of relevance; if on the other hand it struggles for relevance, it may forfeit its identity.”󰀃 Addressing pastoral concerns squarely is unavoidable not only for the efficacy of the ecclesial ministries but also for keeping the Church alive among the masses. Kasper holds that “it is the fundamental task of pastoral work to keep the Church alive into the future” and to perpetuate the “transmission of the faith to a continuous present.”󰀄 In more positive terms, there is a need to reimagine the relationship between systematic theology and pastoral practices or, as some people would like to call it, ‘practical theology’. As Ray Anderson suggests, “the discipline of practical theology extends systematic theology into the life and praxis of the Christian community.”󰀅 There is a persistent conviction in the Church that systematic theology as a whole remains detached from the influence of context on Christian thought. But what the Church actually requires is theology and ecclesial practices with collective responsibility towards developing a pastorally sensitive systematic theology and theologically informed pastoral practices. Such an integration between  Walter Kasper, Jesus the Christ, trans. V. Green (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅),

󰀃

󰀁󰀅. 󰀄  Walter Kasper, The Catholic Church: Nature, Reality and Mission, trans. Thomas Hoebel (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀉. 󰀅  Ray S. Anderson, The Shape of Practical Theology: Empowering Ministry with Theological Praxis (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁), 󰀂󰀃.

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pastoral practice and systematic theology is all the more mandatory given the philosophical attempts of the postmodern era to disdain the claims of theology.󰀆 The prospects of theology after postmodernity have been much discussed. Among many similar voices of social theorists, John Milbank emphasized the harm inflicted on Christian spiritual streams and theological reasoning by secular rationality. According to him, secular theory has incapacitated theological expressions making them null and void by discrediting their true sources. A thorough investigation of secular philosophy and social science, makes Milbank conclude that the resurgence of an invigorated Christian representation after modernity is possible only in the “renarration of practice.” According to him, what remains to be done is to re-locate Christian discourse in the practice (life and work) of the Church. This would surely amount to a return to a metanarrative of modernity, because, for Milbank, the Church is the “exemplary form of human community” which can accommodate various parts into a unified totality.󰀇 In sum, if his arguments are gleaned positively, in order for theology to gain its legitimate space in the contemporary world, it has to address the concern of “practices” which is typified in the expression, pastoral.

󰀂. Shift towards the Approach of Practices Defining the Church It is interesting to note that the pastoral practices or their underlying demands did not always define the identity of the Church. As a rule, at least in the second millennium of Christianity, dogma has been the defining mark of Christian identity, differentiating between the insiders and outsiders of the Church. In the Church, often fight was not between different ways of pastoral practices. But there were frequent fights between orthodox beliefs and heterodox positions to the point of persecuting and condemning the latter as heretics. But in this new era, especially that of 󰀆  For instance, Don Cupitt, in allegiance to the intellectual tradition of religious sceptics like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, rejects the transcendent God of Christianity. According to him, such a God is creation of Christian mythology which grew into dogma. Only when such gods are dismantled individuals’ spiritual searches can really commence. His attempt is to unsettle the bond between metaphysics and theology. Don Cupitt, After All: Religion without Alienation (London: SCM Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀉󰀂-󰀁󰀁󰀆. 󰀇  John Milbank, Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason, 󰀂nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃), 󰀁󰀀󰀅-󰀁󰀀󰀆, 󰀃󰀃󰀈.

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Pope Francis, greater emphasis has been laid on the standard of the good of souls. With renewed interest in evangelization, and greater understanding of dissenters and critics, openness to the so-called sinners and a welcoming attitude to people on the outskirts of society are becoming the decisive features of Catholic identity. It seems that the Church is re-discovering the core of Christian message: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Mt 󰀁󰀉:󰀁󰀀). One may note that the greater propensity for pastoral care as the center of Church life, without idolizing dogma, is greatly indebted to Pope Francis’ personal pastoral style. But one can observe traces of this trend already in the final years of the pontificate of John Paul II. This is however a contention to be challenged by some who argue that he was consistently less attuned for a ‘pastoral magisterium’. Nonetheless, in Ut unum sint (󰀉󰀅) he dared to think about reimagining the exercise of papacy in such a way, while being faithful to tradition, as to become “open to a new situation.” John Paul II has been criticized for certain hardline doctrinal stands that he used to uphold. However, he was aware of the sins which were “committed in service of the Truth,” that is orthodoxy. It is remarkable that during the Day of Pardon in 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀, in the presence of the Roman Curia, he begged God’s pardon for such offenses. He exhorted, “Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.”󰀈 Apparently casting a shadow on the dearly held role of dogma in defining Catholic identity, John Paul II upheld the idea of martyrial ecumenism. Both Catholics and Protestants were originally of the view that orthodoxy rather than heroic Christian acts determined who was a true martyr. Consequently, a Protestant martyr was not respected by Catholic communities and vice-versa. But sidelining the prevalent tradition, Pope John Paul chose also to pray at the tombs of Protestant martyrs. He was not hesitant to honor them in the Jubilee of the Martyrs in 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀. By this act John Paul affirmed that the baptism that unifies Catholics and Protestants prevails in Christian life over the doctrines that have historically divided them. He presented not a radically new, but a different version of Christianity in which asking forgiveness and reconciliation is 󰀈  Homily of the Holy Father, “Day of Pardon,” Sunday, 󰀁󰀂 March 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀, no. 󰀄. http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_ 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀󰀀󰀃󰀁󰀂_pardon.html [accessed on May 󰀂󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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counted as being more important than one’s theological soundness. How much momentum these kinds of steps had in the next Pontificate is a question to be addressed separately.

󰀃. Symbiosis between Theology and Pastoral Practice The discussion on the apparent gap between systematic theology and pastoral demands raises the important question, what kind of relationship is supposed to be between the two. Indirectly, it also asks, are theology and legitimate pastoral practices antithetical to each other? Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄 told a gathering of the International Theological Commission that division between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ of the faith would amount to a subtle ‘heresy’. Quoting the First Vatican Council he said that it had always been the teaching of Christianity that “knowledge of God” is ordered to “the ultimate end of man, for man’s salvation.” It simply rules out “a gap or a conflict between the understanding of faith and pastoral or practice of the lived faith.” According to him, the entire process of theologizing always has a profound pastoral dimension. Dogmatic, or other theological disciplines cannot be divorced from their own pastoral dimension.󰀉 In spite of his bold assertion of an ideal situation, one cannot overlook the widening space that has actually occurred between certain theologies and pastoral questions. In principle, the relationship between pastoral theology and systematic theology is to a great extent complementary. They actually share much of the same content, however, they are distinguished for the sake of convenience and task. Pastoral theology combines exegetical and historical materials with the theory and practice of ministry. It seeks to serve other theological disciplines, for example homiletics, liturgics, pastoral counselling or Christian education. In the words of Stanley Hauerwas, “Theological discourse is distorted when portrayed as a kind of primitive metaphysics. Theology is a practical activity concerned to display how Christian convictions construe the self and world.”󰀁󰀀 Johann Baptist Metz 󰀉  Hilary White, “Attempt to Divide Doctrine and Pastoral Practice Is a ‘Subtle Heresy’: Vatican’s Doctrine Chief,” https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/attempt-to-divide-doctrineand-pastoral-practice-is-a-subtle-heresy-vatican [accessed on February 󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀀  Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃), 󰀅󰀄-󰀅󰀅.

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went a step further and speaks about “practical fundamental theology,” suggestive of the integrated character of both disciplines.󰀁󰀁 There are a good number of examples in the Christian tradition of the development of theology from pastoral practice and pastoral practice governed by theology. Perhaps, the earliest example would be how the Church established theology and order in a Church animated by the free charismata of its pastoral practice. St. Paul was cautious about the charismatic activities. Among these were the charism of speaking in tongues (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀄:󰀃󰀉). He thought that an outpouring of glossolalia would threaten the focus of worship, despite the fact he himself possessed and used this gift. This approach eventually led to the exercise of ecclesiastical offices over against the free recourse to unrestricted charismatic figures. However, history in this regard is complex with counter examples as well. For instance, teachers such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, despite not being bishops, were recognized as having considerable authority in the early Church. That means, they also exerted spiritual leadership in the Church by virtue of their theological prominence. The opposition between local church leadership and the charismatic itinerant preachers precipitated the oldest efforts to create church order. This tension between the local church leaders and charismatic preachers was evident already in the Didachè, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (early second century). This text attempts to regulate the teachings and messages of the charismatic prophets by appointing bishops and deacons. Didachè states in chapter three, verse 󰀅: “Appoint, therefore, for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, … for they also render to you the service of prophets and teachers. Despise them not therefore, for they are your honoured ones, together with the prophets and teachers.”󰀁󰀂 The real issue was that the free charismatic figures used to invoke the authority of the Holy Spirit and they were not willing to subject the contents of their prophecies to theological scrutiny or ecclesiastical discipline. This tension was practically solved when the free charismatic figures were excluded from the leadership of the Church. The Church did not accept charismatic continuation of the revelation, in the form of new scriptures of revelation. In the long historical process of the formation of the biblical canon, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, in his 󰀃󰀉th Easter letter (󰀃󰀆󰀇), selected the “canonical” texts, thanks to their privileged apostolic origin. 󰀁󰀁  Johann Baptist Metz, Faith in History and Society: Toward a Practical Fundamental Theology (New York, NY: Crossroad, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀), 󰀅󰀃. 󰀁󰀂  Didache (Zeeland: Legacy Icons, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀃).

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This historical reference represents only one layer of the tense relationship between the pastoral and theological which led to a sort of mutual accommodation, integration and symbiosis in varying degrees in different cases and contexts. An elaborate treatment of this theme, in spite of its usefulness, stands beyond the scope of this study. 󰀄. The Changing Meaning of the Pastoral Pastoral practice has many meanings or associations such as the shepherding role of the pastor and clinical pastoral education and pastoral care. It also includes the practical disciplines of ascetical and spiritual theology. It usually covers works related to evangelization, catechesis, homiletics, church music, liturgy, etc. In the words of Peter Phan: “It is common knowledge that the nature and task of pastoral theology is highly controverted.”󰀁󰀃 However, the meaning of the category “pastoral” underwent significant transformation at the Second Vatican Council, a council that Pope John XXIII chose to qualify as a “pastoral council.” In the council the word “pastoral” was used to denote an ecclesial discourse covering the Church’s relationship to the world, most obviously in Gaudium et spes, the only constitution titled “pastoral.” According to the framers of this document, “pastoral” means a resting on doctrinal principles that seeks to set forth the relation of the Church to the world and to the men of today to address social issues and to enter into dialogue with the world about all these different problems.󰀁󰀄 Thus, admirably, Vatican II broadened the scope of “pastoral” beyond its traditional boundaries of ordained ministers to the extent of invoking the entire people of God transforming the world. The nature of Christian theology as systematic or pastoral was determined not only in terms of its contents but also on account of its social location.󰀁󰀅 What came out from the monastery or seminary context was deemed mostly pastoral and what the universities produced has been counted systematic. In a pastoral setting, theological activity consisted not in producing theological treatises, but in formulating catechisms,  Peter Phan, “Karl Rahner as Pastoral Theologian,” Living Light 󰀃󰀀 (Summer 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄):

󰀁󰀃

󰀅-󰀆.  Footnote 󰀁 of the Preface of Gaudium et spes.  A fruitful review of the history of the changing social contexts of theology and its subsequent effects can be found in Charles Davis, “Theology in Seminary Confinement,” Downside Review 󰀈󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃): 󰀃󰀀󰀇-󰀃󰀁󰀆, at 󰀃󰀁󰀀-󰀃󰀁󰀁. 󰀁󰀄 󰀁󰀅

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liturgies, commentaries, and spiritual-discipline manuals. They were actually pastoral responses to the needs and questions of Christian life, such as why should I go to Sunday Mass? Why marriage is called a sacrament? How to interpret certain difficult verses from the Bible? What does the Church say about this particular practice? etc.󰀁󰀆 Ellen Charry concludes, after going through the works of Paul, Athanasius, Basil, Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Dame Julian, and John Calvin, that right from the beginning of the Church up until the 󰀁󰀁th century, theology did not produce practical action. But theology itself was basically practical.󰀁󰀇 Congar meant the same when he said that up to the 󰀁󰀂th century theology in the West was biblical.󰀁󰀈 In the early medieval period, the social milieu of Western theology began to shift to the newly founded study centers, called universities. Most of such institutions originated from either a monastery or a cathedral and therefore, they did not relinquish pastoral concerns for long. By the 󰀁󰀂th century, however, the cathedral schools (an earlier version of universities) separated from their pastoral context and favored a model of theoretical science which was bent on building up rationally provable and systematic knowledge for its own sake. We cannot overlook the historical discussions on the nature of theology as to whether it is practical or speculative. To give two prominent differing voices: For St. Bonaventure, theology was a practical discipline, in spite of its speculative elements. But Thomas Aquinas was of the opinion that it was primarily a speculative science.󰀁󰀉 Aquinas’ view eventually had greater acceptance in the universities. Thus, serious theological activity began to adopt the format of detached objective study. The consequences of this shift included: (󰀁) the basic theological activity in different local centers became the preparation of comprehensive textbooks (summae) for university education; (󰀂) anthropological questions and their nuances made only a small part of the textbooks; (󰀃) logical consistency and philosophical approval had the last word in deciding theological issues; (󰀄) theology made merry in the useless subtlety of arguments; 󰀁󰀆  A classic example of such works is St. Basil’s text, On the Holy Spirit, trans. David Anderson (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀). In fact it was the question whether Christians should pray to the Holy Spirit that paved the way for the analysis of the interrelations of the Godhead. 󰀁󰀇  Ellen T. Charry, By the Renewing of the Minds: Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇), viii. 󰀁󰀈  Cf. Yves M.-J. Congar, A History of Theology (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀈), 󰀅󰀁. 󰀁󰀉  Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, q. 󰀁, a. 󰀄; Bonaventure, Commentary on the Book of Sentences, Preamble, q. 󰀃. Congar, A History of Theology, 󰀁󰀁󰀉, 󰀁󰀂󰀇-󰀁󰀃󰀀.

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(󰀅) theological reflections were crystallized into fortified systems which allowed few loopholes for theological foes and philosophical strangers to intrude into; and (󰀆) doctrinal clarifications proved to have meagre impact on liturgy, spirituality, etc. As a whole, such theology appeared to have little significance for human life.󰀂󰀀 But practical theology served as the territory of monasteries and later that of seminaries. Reformation was in part a reaction against the medieval idea of theology as a speculative science. For Luther, “True theology is practical … speculative theology belongs to the devil in hell.”󰀂󰀁 Such a theology was exclusively rational, objective, and abstracted to the extent of being divorced from the faith and life of Christians. As a response to this dominant trend, Luther worked within the standard format of theology/ discipline (liturgies, homilies, catechisms, commentaries, etc.), rather than the theology/science textbooks.󰀂󰀂 Catholic theology began to establish greater affinity with the university during the 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀀s, discarding the seminary context. Seminary education accepted pastoral theology as part of its curriculum but university-based theology did not lend space for it. Consequently, pastoral theology was practically left out since it had no respectable place in Catholic universitybased theology. In Christian ethics, there have been attempts to reduce the gap between doctrinal theology and ethical reflection. It calls into question the relationship of our perceptions of the nature of reality to our perceptions of what we should do. Thus, a renewed understanding of the relation between doctrinal theology and ethics represents an understanding of theology per se as practical.󰀂󰀃 󰀅. Conversation between Teacher and Shepherd For mutual enrichment and for establishing the credibility of both domains, what is required is a creative conversation between theology and pastoral practice. Proposed below are three anchor points for such a conversation.  Congar, A History of Theology, 󰀁󰀃󰀇-󰀁󰀄󰀂.  Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. T. G. Tappert, 󰀅󰀅 vols. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅-󰀈󰀆), 󰀅󰀄:󰀂󰀂. 󰀂󰀂  Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀂), 󰀅󰀄:󰀂󰀂. 󰀂󰀃  James Gustafson, Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective 󰀁: Theology and Ethics (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁), 󰀁󰀅󰀈-󰀁󰀅󰀉. 󰀂󰀀 󰀂󰀁

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󰀁. Participatory Language of Conversation Both the conciliar process and the documents of Vatican II give us some indications of the language to be adopted by theology in order to keep its conversation going within pastoral contexts. Obviously, the documents of Vatican II adopted a style and language different from previous ecumenical councils. Anathemas were left behind, making them a vestige of the past representing a theological hammer used against heretics. No formal dogma was announced. Vatican II, leaving behind the scholastic or systematic discourse, turned to more biblical, patristic, liturgical, and spiritual language. The rhetoric was aimed at providing conviction rather than at either condemnation or argumentation. Theology, to make itself relevant to the pastoral context in the wider sense, has to adopt a pastoral representation of the faith rather than formal statements or arid verbal gymnastics intelligible only to the members of the academy. In many ways, the language and style of the documents promulgated by Pope Francis seem to suggest a language of pastoral contexts. 󰀂. Sensus fidelium The works of John Henry Newman,󰀂󰀄 Karl Rahner,󰀂󰀅 and the documents of Vatican II suggest that a theology challenged and informed by the sensus fidelium in the local and global communities necessarily entails a conversation with history, cultures, and contexts. The importance of listening to lay men and women in the Church cannot be understated.󰀂󰀆 It will help them capture contemporary experiences of salvation with which, in a hermeneutical circle of search, they can interpret Scripture and allow Scripture to interpret their lives. One way to keep track of the sensus fidelium in doing theology is to engage in a dialogue with disciplines outside of and inside theology itself. Theology covers a broad network of mutually connected disciplines, but theologians at times prefer to work exclusively within the limits of their familiar area of specialization, especially when the borders of various 󰀂󰀄  John Henry Newman, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine (New York, NY: Sheed and Ward, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀁). 󰀂󰀅  Karl Rahner, “What the Church Officially Teaches and What the People Actually Believe,” Theological Investigations 󰀂󰀂 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁): 󰀁󰀆󰀅-󰀁󰀇󰀅. 󰀂󰀆  Lay people are specifically mentioned here only because they seem to be the category largely not consulted on theological issues.

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areas often intersect. Moral theology, for example, cannot dismiss the breadth of systematic theology and the contextuality of pastoral or practical theology. Systematic theology, as constructive theology, frequently analyses particular questions in terms of their biblical foundations, historical development, the teachings of the magisterium, and of course in the views of contemporary theologians. It is good to recall that John Paul II encourages theologians in Fides et ratio (no. 󰀁󰀀󰀅) “to be sure to reflect in their work all the speculative and practical breadth of the science of theology.” The institutional way to absorb the sensus fidelium in theology is to practice synodality in the Church, especially in preparing formal theological texts. We have a few such examples, including Amoris laetitia, the post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the pastoral care of the families released on 󰀈 April 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆. 󰀃. The Act of Progressive Conversation Every conversation need not always lead us to better results. It can even end up as a circular, fruitless exchange of ideas. But in order to make a meaningful conversation between theology and pastoral practice, perhaps, we can draw on the book of Job, a biblical book most of which is composed in the format of a long conversation. There are different layers of conversation taking place in the book of Job. First of all, God and the Satan discuss Job’s righteousness (󰀁:󰀆-󰀁󰀂; 󰀂:󰀁-󰀇). Next takes place the conversation between Job and his wife in the wake of the tragedies which he had to face (󰀂:󰀉-󰀁󰀀). This is followed by a conversation between Job and his friends (󰀃:󰀁–󰀃󰀇:󰀂󰀄). The core of this debate consists in the (lack of) correspondence between behavior and prosperity. In the final round, God speaks, first to Job, who replies twice very briefly, then to Job’s friends (󰀃󰀈:󰀁–󰀄󰀂:󰀈). God’s interlocution in the conversation is remarkable in two ways: firstly, the character God does not ascertain a definitive answer in the heated theological debate on retribution, thus declaring such a discussion relatively irrelevant; secondly, God bestows praises on Job, as he alone called on God himself in the discussion, making God his explicit partner for conversation. The emerging conclusion from this multi-layer conversation is that the characters in the book of Job are invited to shift from conversation about God to conversation with God, or, put differently, from theology to spirituality. Unless such a transition is made, conversations will be caught up in the whirlpool of words in which every position will be

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confronted by the other. A conversation in which God is also taken as a dialogue partner might advance us to better nuanced levels in theological understanding. It is good to note that dialogue about dialogue on theological questions with pastoral implications has taken place. For example, on July 󰀁󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀃, the three bishops of the ecclesiastical province of the Upper Rhine in Germany issued a pastoral letter calling for better dialogue with divorced and remarried Catholics. It was issued by Walter Kasper of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Karl Lehmann of Mainz, Oskar Saier of Freiburg. The letter openly said that a pastoral dialogue was needed to ascertain whether the “generally valid” prohibition against remarried receiving the Eucharist “applies also in a given situation.”󰀂󰀇 In the wake of this development, on October 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a letter to all bishops in the Catholic Church, namely, “Concerning the Reception of Holy Communion by Divorcedand-Remarried Members of the Faithful.”󰀂󰀈 This letter reasserted the existing ban on reception of the Eucharist for those living in irregular unions. The above said three German bishops responded to the CDF letter with a public message to the people of their dioceses. They held that in regard to their position and that of the CDF “we do not find ourselves in any doctrinal disagreement,” but “the difference has to do with the question of pastoral practice in individual cases.” They affirmed further that there does “exist room, beneath the threshold of the binding teaching, for pastoral flexibility in complex individual cases that is to be used responsibly.”󰀂󰀉 Reviewing this ecclesiastical exchange, one may wonder whether what has taken place was really a dialogue or presentation of their own views. We need to concede that conversation does not necessarily produce synthesis every time. It is an important measure to keep ethics and doctrinal theology in tension without truly integrating them.󰀃󰀀

󰀂󰀇  “Pastoral Ministry: The Divorced and Remarried,” Origins 󰀂󰀃 (March 󰀁󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀆󰀇󰀀-󰀆󰀇󰀃, at 󰀆󰀇󰀃. 󰀂󰀈  Origins 󰀂󰀄 (October 󰀂󰀇, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀃󰀃󰀇, 󰀃󰀃󰀉-󰀃󰀄󰀁. 󰀂󰀉  “Response to the Vatican Letter,” Origins 󰀂󰀄 (March 󰀁󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀃󰀄󰀁-󰀃󰀄󰀄, at 󰀃󰀄󰀁. For more details, Kenneth R. Himes and James A. Coriden, “Pastoral Care of the Divorced and Remarried (Notes on Moral Theology 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅),” Theological Studies 󰀅󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀆): 󰀉󰀇-󰀁󰀂󰀃. 󰀃󰀀  For more details, Wolfgang Thönissen, Das Geschenk der Freiheit: Untersuchungen zum Verhältnis von Dogmatik und Ethik (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈).

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Conclusion To wind up this open-ended account, two quick insights from history: pastoral practice is a fertile ground for theological developments. For instance, the concept of Mariology was the result of religious life in the monasteries. The dogma of the Assumption of Blessed Mary originated not from theological speculation but from the cradle of popular Marian devotions.󰀃󰀁 In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great wrote his Regula pastoralis, “Pastoral Guidance,” popularly known as “Care of Souls (Cura animarum).”󰀃󰀂 The first axiom of pastoral practice, according to Gregory, is that there is no one set solution to every case. This is indeed a reminder to all pastors of all times. To rely on theology as theoretical framework to apply to various aspects of Christian life is an unrealistic view of theology. “Because the ultimate reality in the Bible is personal … We are brought into conformity with this reality not by a two-step process of theory and practice … but by a single action comprised of hearing, believing and obeying.”󰀃󰀃 This step moves to the realm of spirituality. Learning from the context of liberation theology, Henry Nouwen words this eloquently: “‘theologia’ is not primarily a way of thinking, but a way of living. Liberation theologians do not think their way into a new way of living but live themselves into a new way of thinking.”󰀃󰀄 Bonaventure in his Itinerarium mentis in Deum speaks about the inadequacy of “reading without repentance, knowledge without devotion, research without the impulse of wonder, prudence without the ability to surrender to joy, action divorced from religion, learning sundered from love, intelligence without humility, study unsustained by divine grace, thought without the wisdom inspired by God.”󰀃󰀅 This is surely a fine warning to all theologians.

󰀃󰀁  Alister E. McGrath, The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundation of Doctrinal Criticism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀), 󰀁󰀁. 󰀃󰀂  The Great Gregory, Pastoral Care [Regula Pastoralis], trans. Henry Davis (New York, NY: Newman Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀈). 󰀃󰀃  Leslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), 󰀃󰀈-󰀃󰀉. 󰀃󰀄  Henry Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃), 󰀁󰀅󰀉. 󰀃󰀅  St. Bonaventure, Itinerarium mentis in Deum, Prologus, 󰀄: Opera Omnia (Florence, 󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀁, vol. V), 󰀂󰀉󰀆; as quoted in John Paul II, Fides et ratio 󰀁󰀀󰀅.

The Judeo-Christian Foundations of the Pastoral Magisterium Joseph Pamplany The idea of pastoral magisterium is widely discussed in Catholic circles, especially in the context of the reactions against the decisions of the supreme pontiff, even from the topmost leaders of the Church. What Pope Francis had written in Amoris laetitia on the pastoral care of the couples in “non-canonical” relationships (e.g., those who live divorced and remarried but did not annul their first marriage) invited severe criticism. Many began to accuse him of compromising the traditional teaching on the indissolubility and indivisibility of the marital bond. The ongoing criticism has taken various shades in the recent past. In 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇, moral theologians including clerics and bishops, had written a letter directly addressing the Pope and pointing out nineteen different passages in Amoris laetitia that were in tension with Catholic teaching on marriage.󰀁 Besides, four cardinals, who are supposed to be the closest collaborators of the Supreme Pontiff, expressed and shared their apprehension with Pope Francis regarding five points on the current church teaching and discipline regarding marriage in a so-called dubium. Even though the number of discrepancies pointed out by the cardinals were low in number when compared to those observed by the moral theologians, the mode of reaction of the cardinals was something unprecedented in the history of the church. Such dubia, as Gaillardetz points out, are relatively common, but what is uncommon is the reaction of the cardinals: “as they did not receive any response from the Vatican they took the provocative step of publishing them.” Many are tempted to interpret these movements in the Church as an attempt towards anarchy or at least indiscipline. The silence of Pope Francis in taking no disciplinary actions on these provocative steps, according to Gaillardetz reminds us of the inaugural speech at Vatican II by Pope John XXIII, who distanced himself from pronouncing the final word on every issue. Pope John “criticized the Church’s past reliance on 󰀁

 Richard Gaillardetz, “A More Pastoral Magisterium: Papal Authority in the Francis Era,” Commonweal 󰀁󰀄󰀄, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇): 󰀁󰀈-󰀂󰀁.

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formal condemnations, and insisted that the time had come to rely more on persuasion, dialogue, and ‘the medicine of mercy’. Church doctrine was not to be employed as a weapon; it should be a source of pastoral vitality. What the church needed, he insisted, was a teaching authority that was pastoral in character.”󰀂 Very often these differences of opinions are interpreted as doctrinal anarchy. However, we should bear in mind that such an ongoing dynamism is inevitable in the evolution of a pastoral magisterium. In what follows, we will bring forth the salient features and biblical foundations of a pastoral magisterium from a Judeo-Christian perspective.󰀃

󰀁. The Pastoral Magisterium and the Word of God The Church had never failed to insist that the magisterium is always at the service of the word of God. As the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation observes, “the Magisterium is not above the Word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed down, as … it listens to this, guards it scrupulously, and expounds it faithfully; and it draws from this one deposit of faith all that it proposes as being divinely revealed.”󰀄 The task of the magisterium includes the authoritative interpretation of the Word of God both written and traditionally handed down through generations. The hermeneutic intervention of the magisterium is always in view of safeguarding defined doctrines of the Church on faith and morals. However the on-going dynamism of magisterial interpretation often allows ample room for addressing the contemporary challenges and cultural differences. Magisterial definitions had confronted serious challenges in the context of post-modernity where particularity is emphasised over universality. Formulating a theologically synthesised statement that is valid universally, has turned to be a riddle in the postmodern context, where general truths are said to be arrived by integrating particular truths. Before entering into further details, we should bear in mind that magisterial teaching is different from the teaching of theological scholars. 󰀂

 Gaillardetz, “A More Pastoral Magisterium,” 󰀁󰀉.  For some of the points of this article, the author is indebted to the 󰀉th Quinquennium Statement of the International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/cfaith) [accessed on May 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀄  DV 󰀁󰀀. 󰀃

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Lumen gentium judiciously delineates the distinction by stating that magisterium derives its authority from sacramental ordination that enables the ordained with the threefold authority of sanctifying, teaching, and ruling (LG 󰀂󰀁). This “formal authority” of the magisterium is derived by sharing in the authority of Christ. By the term ‘magisterial teachings’ we prefer to include five levels of teachings in the Church: the pastoral letters written by diocesan bishops for their own folks, pastoral letters or instructions published by national or regional bishops’ conferences addressing the members of their jurisdiction, a major teaching of the Pope prepared with the advice of the bishops worldwide, papal encyclicals, and documents written at ecumenical councils. 󰀂. Doctrinal Humility in the Pastoral Magisterium By doctrinal humility we mean the renunciation of dogmatic radicalism that wounds the unity of the Church deeply and mortally. Collegiality and the openness to the ongoing dynamism of revelation are the salient features of doctrinal humility. Collegiality and communion engendered through the doctrinal humility constitute the heart of the pastoral magisterium. The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament clearly states that every human person irrespective of his/her distinctions like colour, caste, creed, and gender is created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀆-󰀂󰀈). The fact of divine likeness inherent in every human is the raison d’être of human desire for communion and co-existence in dignity. Collegiality is presented as the basis of human creation. The divinely designed and inherently possessed collegiality was distorted by sin and it destroyed the network of bonds which the creator had envisioned for his creatures. The divine determination to rebuild the broken bonds are obvious in the biblical narratives of covenants with Noah (Gn 󰀉:󰀈-󰀁󰀇), Abraham (Gn 󰀁󰀅:󰀁󰀇) and Israel (Ex 󰀁󰀉–󰀂󰀄; 󰀂 Sm 󰀇:󰀁󰀁). Pope Francis insisted at the outset of the bishops’ synod of 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄 that there shall not be any preemptive attempts to delete the topics that were disputed, as differences are not hindrances for collegiality. He challenged the synod fathers to face the disagreements courageously. Instead of following the traditional style of proclaiming the final statement, Pope Francis in Amoris laetitia observed: “The complexity of the issue that arose revealed the need for continued open discussion of a number of doctrinal, moral, spiritual and pastoral questions” (AL 󰀂). He went on

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affirming that not all doctrinal, moral, spiritual and pastoral issues must be settled by the intervention of the magisterium (AL 󰀃).󰀅 In Evangelii gaudium he argued that the complexity of doctrines should not become a hindrance for the pastoral care and missionary activity of the Church (EG 󰀃󰀅). Vatican II advocated for “doctrinal humility” rather than dogmatism. The idea of doctrinal humility was made obvious in the council teachings on divine revelation. The council insisted that Scripture is not a divine answer book that resolves all the problems confronted by humanity for all time. Gaudium et spes clearly states that Church or the revelation that it has received does not have instant answers to every problem, as it observes: “The Church guards the heritage of God’s word and draws from it moral and religious principles without always having at hand the solution to particular problems. As such she desires to add the light of revealed truth to mankind’s store of experience, so that the path which humanity has taken in recent times will not be a dark one” (GS 󰀃󰀃). 󰀃. Pastoral Context is Primary to Dogma The pastoral magisterium aims at God being the eternal pastor and earthly pastors as fulfilling the plan of the eternal pastor. In this pastoral approach everybody in the community shares his or her own role. Scripture presents ‫ק ַחל‬/‫דה‬ ָ ‫( ֵע‬qahal /‘edah) as the primary term that reveals the vocation for collegiality or synodality. The divine intention of a collegial leadership is made obvious through various actions. The people who had been called together by God was made in perfect communion during their exodus journey. In the Book of Numbers where the census of the people was ordered to be recorded, one can see a clear picture of synodality. Every tribe is given their own land and at the centre of the land that was allocated to twelve tribes the tent of meeting was set in which the Almighty God revealed his presence among the people. However, the presence of the Lord was made obvious to the people through the various activities of Moses, the leader whom the Lord has chosen (cf. Nm 󰀁–󰀂). Therefore ecclesial synodality is first and foremost a communion whose centre is God himself. The leadership of Moses was partially shared by the seventy elders whom Moses had chosen Elders (cf. Nm 󰀁󰀁:󰀁󰀆-󰀁󰀇.󰀂󰀄-󰀃󰀀), by the Judges (Ex 󰀁󰀈:󰀂󰀅-󰀂󰀆) and Levites (cf. Nm 󰀁:󰀅󰀀-󰀅󰀁) and later by  See Richard R. Gaillardetz, By What Authority? Foundations for Understanding Authority in the Church (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀁󰀃󰀂. 󰀅

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kings and prophets. The nature of the assembly of the people of God was inclusive as it was consisted of men, women, youth, and children (cf. Ex 󰀂󰀄:󰀇-󰀈; Jos 󰀈:󰀃󰀃.󰀃󰀅). The partnership of the collegiality initiated by God is renewed by him whenever it was endangered by human beings (cf. Dt 󰀂󰀇-󰀂󰀈; Jos 󰀂󰀄; 󰀂 Kg 󰀂󰀃; Neh 󰀈). It means that before entering into a covenant the Almighty was insistent on listening to the people and taking their pastoral context seriously into account. In the concept of pastoral magisterium we can observe a gradual development starting from Pope St. John XXIII enriched by the Second Vatican Council and developed in the papacy of Francis. The basic principle of pastoral magisterium is to overcome the unnecessary compartmentalisation made in traditional theology between what is doctrinal and what is pastoral. No doctrine can be defined or pronounced without addressing its pastoral implications. Similarly every genuine pastoral approach is solidly founded on the doctrines of the Church. As John O’Brien observes, with the work of the Council, “the pastoral had regained its proper standing as something far more than the mere application of doctrine but as the very context from which doctrines emerge, the very condition of the possibility of doctrine, the touchstone for the validity of doctrine and the always prior and posterior praxis which doctrine at most, attempts to sum up, safeguard, and transmit.”󰀆 The root cause of the problem as Litonjua observes, is the marginalized position of pastoral theology in Catholic circles. In the traditional understanding of theological studies, it occupies the third, and subordinate, rung after dogmatic and moral theologies. “Because theological reflection is primarily deductive, pastoral theology is simply the practical application of what has been arrived at in dogmatic theology and what has been decided in moral theology.”󰀇 The pastoral magisterium demands the perfect reciprocal consultation of dogmatic, moral, and pastoral branches of theology before formulating concrete doctrinal stances. It is in pastoral work and practice that we learn whether traditional doctrine is still understood and found meaningful, whether religious symbols continue to wield imaginative force and significance, whether changed human and societal conditions, new secular and sacred realities demand updating them.󰀈  John O’Brien, “Ecclesiology as Narrative,” Ecclesiology 󰀄 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈): 󰀁󰀄󰀈-󰀁󰀆󰀅, at 󰀁󰀅󰀀.  M. D. Litonjua, “Pope Francis and Karl Rahner: The Pastorality of Doctrine/ A Formal Existential Ethics” (https://www.academia.edu/󰀃󰀇󰀀󰀃󰀃󰀉󰀂󰀃) [accessed on May 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀈  Ibid., 󰀇. 󰀆 󰀇

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󰀄. Decentralization of Authority The pastoral magisterium advocates for the decentralization of the teaching authority. A pastoral problem emerging within a specific region or locality is more profoundly discerned and could be properly addressed by the local bishop rather than the Pope. In Evangelii gaudium Pope Francis confesses the necessity and inevitability of the decentralisation of authority (EG 󰀁󰀆). Undue concentration of authority in one person might be good for effective administration; however it endangers and complicates the ever vibrant dynamism and the missionary zeal of the church (EG 󰀃󰀂).󰀉 The aspect of shared leadership as a salient feature of the pastoral magisterium is something central to the divine revelation. The council of seventy were appointed by God to help Moses in resolving secular disputes and to lighten his tiresome liabilities. This event of sharing the authority is a clear reference to the pastoral magisterium (Ex 󰀁󰀈:󰀂󰀅; Nm 󰀁󰀁:󰀁󰀆). The council that was convened assisted Moses in all aspects including religious matters. In helping Moses and resolving tensions they did use not only the ordinary gifts of wisdom and calibre but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as well. It is easily deducible from the context of the narrative that the same seventy people were accompanying Moses in facing the God of Israel and sharing the covenantal meal. The pastoral magisterium envisions that decisions are taken and doctrinal interpretations are given in a collegial way. The Jewish practice of Sanhedrin was another trace for the praxis of the pastoral magisterium in Judaism. The Sanhedrin functioned as an appeal court where the lower courts disputed to arrive at a decision.󰀁󰀀 As is noted down in the Mishnah, “collegial decision was inevitable for important events like reacting to accusations, sending out an army, enlarging the Temple courts, etc.”󰀁󰀁 The procedures followed in the Sanhedrin also point towards its collegiality: Criminal cases were brought before a commission of twenty-three members under the presidency of the Ab Beth-Din. Again, the questions to be submitted to the plenary sessions were scrutinised by two more councils, each constituted of twenty-three members.󰀁󰀂 󰀉

 Being sympathetic to the pastoral urgency of the current priest shortage, he suggested that a proposal for married priests should not come from the Pope but from regional episcopal conferences. See David Gibson, “Are Married Priests Next on Francis’ Agenda,” National Catholic Reporter (May 󰀉-󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄): 󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀀  Sanh., vii.󰀁; xi.󰀂. 󰀁󰀁  Sanh., i.󰀅; ii.󰀄; iii.󰀄. 󰀁󰀂  Mishna, Peah, ii.󰀆; Eduyoth, vii.󰀄.

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󰀅. Sensus fidei/fidelium and the Pastoral Magisterium The concept of pastoral magisterium reveals new semantic dimensions of the concept of sensus fidei/fidelium which is well founded in the New Testament. The believers share in the power (δύναμις) and authority (ἐξουσία) of Jesus by means of baptism. It is through the same power that the believers are raised to the level of the “children of God” (cf. Jn 󰀁:󰀁󰀂). The same Holy Spirit is dynamically present in every believer starting from the newly baptized to the supreme pontiff. The baptismal grace that every believer obtains at the reception of the sacrament empowers the believer with the authority of being anointed by the Holy Spirit (cf. 󰀁 Jn 󰀂:󰀂󰀀,󰀂󰀇), which means being taught by God (cf. Jn 󰀆:󰀄󰀅) and being led “to the complete truth” (cf. Jn 󰀁󰀆:󰀁󰀃).󰀁󰀃 The statement of the International Theological Commission makes this fact more obvious: “The magisterium and theologians are both bound by the sensus fidei (supernatural appreciation of the faith) of the Church of this and previous times. For the Word of God pervades history in a living manner through the supernatural appreciation of the faith (communi sensu fidei) of the whole people of God,” in which “the whole body of the faithful, anointed by the Holy One, cannot err in believing,” if “in maintaining, practicing, and confessing the Faith that has been handed down, there is a harmony between the bishops and the faithful.”󰀁󰀄 󰀆. Ecclesial Synodality and the Pastoral Magisterium The entire mission of Jesus’ paschal mystery and of the Church is the building up of communion among the people of God. Being the new Moses of the New Covenant Jesus leads the new exodus journey to gather everyone in the unity (συναγάγῃ εἰς ἕν) of the Church (cf. Jn 󰀁󰀁:󰀅󰀂). In this journey, the sacrament of baptism offers the new red sea experience that every believer should pass through and the Eucharist provides the new Manna experience that empowers the travellers on the path. Creating the unity among the believers was the ultimate end of Jesus’ paschal mystery. It is clearly made obvious in his priestly prayer: “May they all be  Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 󰀇.  International Theological Commission Statement, “The Ecclesiastical Magisterium and Theology,” Thesis 󰀃.󰀂. See http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/ cti_documents/rc_cti_󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅_magistero-teologia_en.html [accessed on May 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀁󰀃

󰀁󰀄

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one, Father, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us so that the world may believe it was you who sent me” (Jn 󰀁󰀇:󰀂󰀁). By synodality we mean that all the members of the Church are on the way, journeying towards the final destination. Nobody other than Jesus could ever claim of having reached the destination. Both the hierarchy and the laity are on the same path travelling through the same destination that Jesus had revealed to humanity. The kingdom that Jesus professed carries the synodal vision of the pastoral magisterium in its very essence. Jesus is the pilgrim, Christus viator, who did not only proclaim the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God but also became the “door” (Jn 󰀁󰀀:󰀇) and the “way” (Jn 󰀁󰀄:󰀆) of the kingdom. As He Himself becomes “the way” to the Father and to the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 󰀁󰀆:󰀁󰀃) the Christological dimension of the Christian journey is emphasised here. The idea of pastoral magisterium becomes more luminous in the light of the Pauline imagery of the Church as the Body of Christ. This imagery rightly explains both the unity of the organism and the diversity of its members and it explains the pastoral magisterium more meaningfully. The imagery clearly explains that the dynamism of diversity is not only not a hindrance to unity but it is the very foundation of unity as well. In spite of the differences of the organs, the body as a whole functions as a single unit. Just as in the human body where each member inevitably fulfils its function for the smooth running of the bodily organism every member of the Church must fulfil his or her responsibility in the Church. As the non-functioning or malfunctioning of an organ endangers the entire body, the non-cooperation, indifference and the spirit of divisiveness among the believers endangers the entire church. Just as every organ within the human anatomy enjoys equal dignity every believer in the church enjoys the equal dignity by virtue of baptism (cf. Gal 󰀃:󰀂󰀈; 󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀂:󰀁󰀃). Nobody is exempted from their responsibility to contribute towards the salvific plan of God “according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 󰀄:󰀇). The Emmaus event is another striking example of the collegial nature of magisterium. In his account of the Emmaus journey, the two disciples represent the people of God and they are led by the stranger (the risen Lord) on the way. The Word of God and the Bread of Life function as the hermeneutical key for unlocking the mystery of the identification of the risen Lord with the Church (Lk 󰀂󰀄:󰀁󰀃-󰀃󰀅). The message of the resurrection which was received by the two disciples was brought back to the college of apostles and together they profess the faith in resurrection.

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In the concept of pastoral magisterium the difference between the ecclesia docens or teaching church, and the ecclesia discens or learning church gets alleviated, and paves the way for mutual listening.󰀁󰀅 󰀇. Pastoral Dialogue The Acts of the Apostles documents the nature and structure of the pastoral magisterium through its various narratives. The hero of the Book which is also known as “the Gospel of the Holy Spirit” is the Holy Spirit himself who guides the path of the disciples (cf. Acts 󰀂:󰀂-󰀃). What is being prompted by the Spirit is discerned and acted out by the disciples. The individualism and egoism is paving the way for communion with the Holy Spirit who guided each apostle to carry out the divine plan of salvation(Acts 󰀅:󰀁󰀉-󰀂󰀁; 󰀁󰀂:󰀆-󰀁󰀇; 󰀁󰀃:󰀁-󰀃; 󰀁󰀆:󰀆-󰀇.󰀉-󰀁󰀀; 󰀂󰀀:󰀂󰀂). Besides, the pastoral magisterial mode of functioning is obvious in Acts especially in the election of the seven deacons who shared the responsibility of the apostles to lighten their burden (cf. Acts 󰀆:󰀁-󰀆). Moreover, when there arose dispute over the question of the inclusion of gentiles to the church they not only did listen to the Spirit (cf. Acts 󰀁󰀀) but also discussed the issue in detail in a synod (Acts 󰀁󰀅). Pope Francis in Evangelii gaudium, asked bishops to follow the example of the apostles by broadening their practice of consultation: “The bishop … will have to encourage and develop the means of participation proposed in the Code of Canon Law, and other forms of pastoral dialogue, out of a desire to listen to everyone and not simply to those who would tell him what he would like to hear” (EG 󰀃󰀁). Pastoral dialogue in the Church is enhanced by the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is through these spiritual gifts that every member of the Church becomes capable of participating in the magisterium of the Church. As the Holy Spirit is the real magister of the Church, the idea of a pastoral magisterium becomes obvious “in the variety of spiritual gifts (τὰ πνευματικά) or charisms (τὰ χαρίσματα) that the Spirit shares out among the people of God for the up-building of the one Body of Christ.”󰀁󰀆 As we observe the gifts of the Holy Spirit judiciously we can discern a kind of hierarchy existing among the gifts/charisms envisioned 󰀁󰀅  For more details, see Luc Forestier, “Le pape François et la synodalité: Evangelii gaudium, nouvelle étape dans la réception de Vatican II,” Nouvelle Revue Théologique 󰀁󰀃󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): 󰀅󰀉󰀇-󰀆󰀁󰀄. 󰀁󰀆  Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 󰀁󰀈.

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in Scripture. The apostleship, within this hierarchy of gifts, occupies the first place as the apostles are directly called and trained by Jesus and again, within the college of apostles Simon Peter is entrusted with a preeminent place by Jesus (Mt 󰀁󰀆:󰀁󰀈f., Jn 󰀂󰀁:󰀁󰀅-󰀂󰀀). The priority of apostleship is given in view of guiding the Church and safeguarding the depositum fidei (󰀁 Tm 󰀆:󰀂󰀀; 󰀂 Tm 󰀁:󰀁󰀂.󰀁󰀄). The term charisma (χάρισμα) is often used to denote the gift which the Holy Spirit grants to individual believer in view of the general good of the church (cf. 󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀂:󰀄󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀉-󰀃󰀀; Eph 󰀄:󰀇). Of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit the greatest is the gift of love (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀃). The gift of love invites us for mutual submission and generous service of the church (cf. 󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀂:󰀂󰀅). Pastoral magisterium is an attempt to live and lead the church in the charism of love that evokes the dynamism of dialogue.

󰀈. Pastorality of the Doctrine The concept of the “pastorality of a doctrine,”󰀁󰀇 as suggested by Christoph Theobald is helpful for understanding pastoral magisterium. Separating certain statements from its living pastoral context may result in scandal and confusion. For example, the comment of Pope Francis on gay people really invited severe criticism. However the tension was alleviated as the Pope himself explained the pastorality of his statement in his conversation with Andrea Tornielli, I said this: If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person? I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized. I am glad that we are talking about “homosexual people” because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity. And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies: let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love. I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together. You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way, and accompany them along it.󰀁󰀈 󰀁󰀇  Christoph Theobald, “The Principle of Pastorality at Vatican II: Challenges of a Prospective Interpretation of the Council,” in The Legacy of Vatican II, ed. Massimo Faggioli and Andrea Viccini (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅), 󰀂󰀆-󰀃󰀇. 󰀁󰀈  Pope Francis, Name of God Is Mercy: Conversation with Andrea Tornielli (New York, NY: Random House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀄󰀅.

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It means that the pastoral context in which a statement was made or an act was performed must be adequately understood before making doctrinal judgments on it. As observed above, the Jerusalem council convened in the context of the dispute over the inclusion of Gentiles to the Church (cf. Acts 󰀁󰀅, and also Gal 󰀂:󰀁-󰀁󰀀) explains the modus operandi of the pastoral magisterium. Apostles opened the doors to “elders” for a wider consultation (󰀁󰀅:󰀂) of the problem. Paul and Barnabas present the pastoral strain that they face in their missionary work among the Gentiles. What is significantly noteworthy in this council is that “lively and open discussion follows (ἐκζητήσωσιν: 󰀁󰀅:󰀇a). They listen particularly to Peter’s authoritative witness and profession of faith (󰀁󰀅:󰀇b-󰀁󰀂).”󰀁󰀉 Open and sincere discussions decide the efficacy of pastoral magisterium. However, the discussion does not end up with Peter’s intervention rather it moves on to the final decision made by James. The unanimous decision of the council to welcome the Gentiles to the Church was written down a decree and some envoys were elected to read out the decisions in the local bodies including Antioch, who receive it gladly (󰀁󰀅:󰀂󰀉-󰀃󰀁). In the council everyone plays an active part, though with varied roles and contributions. The first step was to present the problem before the whole Church in Jerusalem (πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος: 󰀁󰀅:󰀁󰀂). Even though the problem is presented to the whole church, the primary consultants were the apostles, who eventually included the elders. The apostles Peter and James were the main speakers. As all the participants were seeking exclusively the will of God, and were inspired by the promptings of the Spirit, it was easier for them to come to a consensus. The canon of the council was beautifully phrased: “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves” (󰀁󰀅:󰀂󰀈). As the decisions of the council were unanimous and prompted by the Holy Spirit the people in the local Churches found it easier to accept and practice them (󰀁󰀅:󰀃󰀀-󰀃󰀁). The Council of Jerusalem warns us against offering premature statements on disputed doctrinal issues. Determination for an open and sincere discussion with concerned parties and earnest desire to listen to the promptings of the Spirit are inevitable dimensions of the pastoral magisterium. The spirit of the Council of Jerusalem was deliberately retained in the extraordinary and ordinary synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis. He insisted for open discussions without fearing anyone. Pope Francis is of the opinion that a genuine and open discussion is the arena where God reveals  Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 󰀂󰀀.

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his mind and the Holy Spirit inspires the individuals. This papal attitude is quite in tune with that of the apostles present in the Council of Jerusalem, even though it may invoke criticism of creating anarchy. 󰀉. Recontextualization and Interpretive Autonomy Richard Gaillardetz considers that Pope Francis is recontextualizing the doctrines from a pastoral point of view. Even his severe critics would agree that there is not even the slightest indication in the teachings of Pope Francis of altering any of the pronounced doctrines of the Church. Very often his pastoral recontextualizing of the dogma creates ambiguity among the traditionalists. Gaillardetz is of the opinion that this re-contextualisation of doctrine in service of the pastoral mission of the Church is Pope Francis’ distinctive contribution to the Church’s doctrinal tradition.󰀂󰀀 What pastoral magisterium demands is that theological reflection must be primarily inductive. Theology must be competent enough to enter into effective conversation with “the signs of the time,” as suggested by Pope John XXIII in the inaugural speech at Vatican II. Pastoral magisterium could be better understood in the light of the idea of the “uniqueness of positive individual ethical reality” as suggested by Karl Rahner, which is untranslatable into a material universal ethics. This conviction of Rahner is explained by Gerard McCool as follows: “there are situations in which the subject is confronted with an obligatory expression of the will of God whose ground is not a universal law but the demands of his unique and utterly personal situation.”󰀂󰀁 This approach is somehow akin to the concept of “interpretive autonomy,” as suggested by Michele Dillon.󰀂󰀂 It means that the believers sometimes take an autonomous interpretive stance vis-à-vis Church authority, whether on religious or on secular matters. The prime example of this is artificial birth control by contraceptives, which for most Catholics is a settled matter of personal morality, even when the official Catholic stance given in Humanae vitae remains unaltered. 󰀂󰀀  Richard Gaillardetz, “Beyond Dissent: Reflections on the Possibilities of a Pastoral Magisterium in Today’s Church,” Horizons 󰀄󰀅 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈): 󰀁󰀃󰀂-󰀁󰀃󰀆. 󰀂󰀁  Gerard McCool, The Theology of Karl Rahner (Albany, NY: Overview Studies, Magi Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀉), 󰀂󰀄. 󰀂󰀂  Michele Dillon, Postsecular Catholicism: Relevance and Renewal (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈), 󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀆.

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󰀁󰀀. Early Evolution of the Pastoral Magisterium We shall not be tempted to say that pastoral magisterium was invented by Pope St. John XXIII and revamped by Pope Francis. The concept was already there at the very heart of the early Church. As the International Theology Commission document points out, Ignatius of Antioch describes the understanding of the pastoral magisterium of the various local Churches. In his Letter to the Ephesians Ignatius describes believers of the Church as “companions on the journey” (σύνοδοι).󰀂󰀃 Presenting the believers as fellow travellers journeying towards the same destination Ignatius is pointing towards the etymological concept of synodality. The Greek term for synod (synhodos/σύνοδος) is the combination of the preposition “syn” (σύν = together) and the noun “hodos” (ὁδός = path or way) which literally means ‘together on the way.” Therefore synodality of the church literally means that all the believers are journeying on the same path led by Jesus to the same destination. Following a similar train of thought, Cyprian of Carthage towards the middle of the third century is of the opinion that certain ecclesial principles of communion must be observed both locally and universally by the bishops and the people. Those principles are: the first principle is, “nothing should be done in the local Church without the bishop – nihil sine episcopo.” This principle emphasises the importance of hierarchy and the bishop. However, the second principle which is equally valid emphasizes the spirit of synodality that must be maintained in the church. The second principle was that “nothing should be done without your council.” Here, the council means consultation with the priests, deacons, and lay leaders (nothing without the consensus of the people – et sine consensu plebis).󰀂󰀄 Cyprian repeatedly holds the view that each believer has a share in the episcopate of the bishop (episcopatus unus est cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur – the episcopate is one, of which each member has an undivided share in it).󰀂󰀅 The post-Constantine era is marked by the emergence of ecclesiastical provinces with clear boundaries. The practice of convening local synods has its history hailing from the fourth/fifth centuries. Provincial synods are considered to be a serious step of progress in the history of 󰀂󰀃  Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Ephesios IX, 󰀂, in Patres apostolici I, ed. F. X. Funk (Tübingen: Laupp, 󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀁), 󰀂󰀂󰀀. 󰀂󰀄  Cyprian, Epistula 󰀁󰀄, 󰀄 (CSEL III, 󰀂, p. 󰀅󰀁󰀂). 󰀂󰀅  Cyprian, De catholicae ecclesiae unitate 󰀅 (CSEL III, 󰀁, p. 󰀂󰀁󰀄).

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the evolution of the pastoral magisterium. Important decisions were taken not by individual bishops but in the koinonia of the regional bishops. The concept of pentarchy or the communion between the five apostolic sees (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople) recognizing the pre-eminence (πρεσβεία) of Rome is another sign of pastoral magisterium. Certain early Christian documents are of the opinion that all the decisions regarding the faith are not within the competency of individual bishops. For example, in third century apostolic canon no. 󰀃󰀄 argues that any decision that is beyond the competency of the local bishop must be taken by a synod: “The bishops of each nation (ἔθνος) must recognize the one who is first (πρώτος) among them and consider him their head (κεφαλή), doing nothing significant without his agreement (γνώμη) … but the first among them (πρώτος) must do nothing without the consensus of all.”󰀂󰀆 The various ecumenical Councils were emphatic evidences of a pastoral magisterium. The guiding principles of these councils were noteworthy: “the symphony (συμφωνία) of the heads of the various Churches, the co-working (συνεργεία) with the bishop of Rome, the communion (συμφρόνησις) of the other patriarchs and the agreement of its teaching with that of preceding Councils.”󰀂󰀇 Conclusion Cardinal Newman always insisted that “truth is the daughter of time.”󰀂󰀈 The truth is understood as the result of continuous discussions and ongoing debates for centuries. Failure to discern this fact would eventually result in premature doctrinal pronouncements in controversial issues. The pastoral magisterium does not claim to have definitive answers to every controversial issue. It provides the normative way of current ecclesial teaching while keeping the door open for the dynamism of further discussions. From our discussions so far, we can bring forth certain concrete conclusions.  Canons of the Apostles (Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio I,

󰀂󰀆

󰀃󰀅). 󰀂󰀇  Cf. Ecumenical Council of Nicea II, DH 󰀆󰀀󰀂. For details see, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, 󰀂󰀉. 󰀂󰀈  John H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉), 󰀄󰀇.

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The pastoral magisterium aims at the idea of sentire cum Ecclesia: that is, to think with the church, to experience God in the Church, to sense communion in the church, to journey with the Church and live our faith with the church. Besides, the pastoral magisterium values consultation in every field of decision making as inevitable. The basic principle is that of the medieval ecclesial principle: quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus tractari et approbari debet. It means that what affects everyone should not be decided by the authorities alone rather it must be discussed among those who are affected and must be approved by them. The participation of “all” could be put in motion through the widening of the consultation process. Each body of ecclesial consultation is a perfect arena of divine revelation, because the presence of the Holy Spirit in the individuals prompts them to share the will of God in the given context. However, this consultation is neither conciliarism that denies the right of the hierarchy to take decisions apart from the council, nor political parliamentarianism where the ruling and opposing parties debate to disagree. Moreover, within the pastoral magisterium hierarchical and charismatic gifts in the Church are revered equally as they both hail from the same Holy Spirit. Last but not the least, the full active participation of all God’s holy people including the laity, religious, and the priests in the liturgy of the Church is the most effective and efficacious expression of the pastoral magisterium of the Church.

Patristic Perspectives on the Dynamics between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice Jobi Patteruparampil Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his apostolic letter Porta Fidei of October 󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁, reminds us what is of decisive importance namely, that one should retrace the history of our faith in all traditions in the Greek East and Latin West and in the Syriac Orient.󰀁 When we investigate the history of faith and the development of dogmatic or systematic theology, we can observe that every dogma or creed has a unique historical context that has contributed to the methodology involved and the formulation and definition of the creed or of dogmas. The understanding of a dogma or a creed in its particular historical and theological context, thus, becomes a necessity in their study and reception. From this point of view, the study of the patristic perspectives on the dynamics of the relation between systematic theology and pastoral practice rightly underlines one of the major theological concerns of our time. This paper is an attempt to highlight these dynamics in the patristic period. In order to attain this goal, we will analyze first pastoral practice in the patristic period and secondly certain creative tensions in the development of systematic theology in the patristic period. Finally, a critical reflection on the dynamics of the relation between systematic theology and pastoral practice will be offered.

󰀁. Pastoral Practice in the Patristic Period It is beyond the scope of this paper to elaborate on the pastoral practice in the entire patristic period, that is, from the first century until the middle of the eighth century. We will limit our analysis to certain common trends in the pastoral practice in the patristic period. These common trends are based not only on the historical and theological contexts of the patristic period but also on the general audience of the patristic Fathers. 󰀁

 http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_benxvi_motu-proprio_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁󰀁󰀀󰀁󰀁_porta-fidei.html, § 󰀁󰀃 [accessed on August 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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󰀁. The Historical and Theological Context and the General Audience of the Fathers In the beginning of the patristic period the Fathers had to defend the Church against enemies from “outside” of the Church mainly the pagans and their accusations. They accused Christians of leading an immoral life, and of antinationalism and cannibalism.󰀂 But in the second and third centuries, Fathers had to fight against the enemies from “within” the Church, namely the heresies of the early centuries. Moreover, Church Fathers had to engage the broader Greco-Roman culture with the Christian message.󰀃 While speaking about the reception of the preaching of the word of God, Augustine identifies three different types of audience. Although he classified three groups, it does not mean that they are unrelated to each other and tightly compartmentalized. These general categories help the preacher discern where their emphasis should be.󰀄 His first category is the hostile audience, that is those who are either hostile to or ignorant of Christian faith. In his work De Doctrina Christiana, he calls the preacher “the defender of right faith and the hammer of error.” It means that the preacher has the duty to teach what is good and to deconstruct what is bad. It is a militant approach to preaching. However, the goal is not to threaten the hostile audience but to win over their hearts. It is meant to stir up those hesitating, to reveal the truth to those who do not know it, and to teach the way to heaven. The analogies are to be used with mercy. For example, the analogy of the hammer of error does not mean the sledgehammer that destroys objects under it but more like the hammer in the hands of a goldsmith that fashions fine jewelry out of raw material. He appeals to the bishops that, just because the audiences are hostile, we should not ignore our responsibility to preach to nonChristians using various forms.󰀅 The second category of the audience is the catechized audience. The preachers’ focus is not to be limited to winning the hearts of the hostile people. He should be concerned about 󰀂  Raphael Ambadan, An Introduction to the Fathers of Church (Aluva: SH League Publications, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉), 󰀄󰀄. 󰀃  Brayan M. Litfin, Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀇), 󰀆󰀂. 󰀄  Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana 󰀄.󰀄.󰀆. See Augustine, The City of God, Christian Doctrine, trans. J. F. Shaw, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (NPNF) 󰀂 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), 󰀅󰀇󰀆. 󰀅  Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana 󰀄.󰀄.󰀆.

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those who are catechized and baptized as well. The preacher has to lead this audience into the deeper understanding of the mysteries of the Christian faith by clear explanation. The third category of audience is called the engaged audience. The ultimate aim of the preacher is to inspire the people to live out their Christian faith actively and to put it into practice.󰀆 󰀂. Philosophical and Apologetic Approach Especially in the second and third centuries the Church Fathers made profusive use of Greek philosophy to explain theology. The best example could be Justin the Martyr who was among the first to engage the broader Greco-Roman culture with the Christian message. His predecessors like Ignatius of Antioch had proclaimed the simple essence of the Gospel with great boldness. But Justin attempted “to correlate the claims of Jesus or the Scriptures with the philosophical principles of their times”󰀇 and hence he is called the first Christian philosopher in history. Justin’s works are not merely pastoral letters but they were meant to defend faith based on reason and for this purpose he followed the path of many Christian apologists. In order to win over/convince the pagan audience he tried to conform Christian message to that of the existing cultural concepts. In this process he could find many connecting points between the Church’s teaching and available intellectual concepts.󰀈 It is to be noted that Justin, while employing philosophy, did not compromise Christian faith like many other heretical sects.󰀉 He clearly understood that it was not enough to express Christian theology in philosophical jargon. Before his conversion to Christianity, Justin experimented with several schools of thought like Stoic, Aristotelian, and Platonic philosophy, for his teacher had no knowledge of God. Justin’s view was: “truly the duty of philosophy is to investigate the deity.”󰀁󰀀 In order to find the absolute truth he started investigating divine things 󰀆  Augustine, Sermon 󰀂󰀁󰀁 for Lent. Cf. Augustine, Sermons, Volume 󰀃 (󰀁󰀈󰀇-󰀂󰀃󰀈), trans. Mary Magdeleine Mueller, The Fathers of the Church 󰀆󰀆 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃), 󰀉󰀈-󰀁󰀀󰀁. 󰀇  Brayan M. Litfin, Getting to Know the Church Fathers, 󰀅󰀃. 󰀈  Ibid., 󰀅󰀃-󰀅󰀄. 󰀉  Ibid., 󰀆󰀈. 󰀁󰀀  Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 󰀁. Cf. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, trans. George Reith, Ante-Nicene Fathers (ANF) 󰀁 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀅), 󰀁󰀉󰀄.

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which finally brought him to Platonism. Justin advocated a platonic method whereby God was focused on through inner reasoning in the mind’s eye. But this method was not successful because philosophers had contradictory opinions on spiritual matters. At this point he was directed to the Scriptures. Thus we find in Justin a philosopher who grounded his philosophy in Jesus Christ who is the source of all truth As Eusebius puts it: “In the guise of a philosopher he [Justin] preached the divine word.”󰀁󰀁 Since Justin identified philosophical logos with the incarnate Son of God, for him Jesus Christ was the one and only path between the earthly and spiritual realms. In so doing he used chapter one of the Gospel of St. John as a biblical precedent: “In the beginning was the word.” But Justin went further than John. Justin’s logos Christology served him in two main ways. First, it could establish that Christian teachings displayed important similarities with accepted philosophical truths. Second, Justin could now offer a formal theological way to conceptualize the relation of the Son to the Father, while still preserving belief in one Supreme Being.󰀁󰀂 Justin experienced success in his apologetic ministry because of two reasons: firstly, he studied all the philosophies of his area and he could speak their language fluently. His First Apology is one of the foremost examples of Christian apologetics in all of Church history. He even wore the right kind of clothing to fit into the community he was trying to reach. Secondly, Justin had never been afraid to speak out against the tyrannical regime of Rome when he believed the rights of Christians were being trampled.󰀁󰀃 Although this boldness brought him enter into confrontation with Crescens, a teacher who followed the philosophy of Cynicism, it helped him compose his Second Apology which deals with anti-Christian discrimination. In this work he claims that Christians worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom the Jews also worship. Justin spells out the essential differences between Judaism and Christianity and shows how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.󰀁󰀄 Thus the theological and historical  Eusebius, Church History 󰀄.󰀁󰀈.󰀆. Cf. Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History from A.D. 󰀁󰀃󰀂󰀄, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine, trans. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, NPNF Series II 󰀁 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀀), 󰀁󰀉󰀆. 󰀁󰀂  Justin, Second Apology 󰀁󰀃. Cf. ANF 󰀁:󰀁󰀉󰀃. 󰀁󰀃  Justin, First Apology 󰀁󰀄; Cf. ANF 󰀁:󰀁󰀆󰀇. 󰀁󰀄  Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 󰀂. Cf. ANF 󰀁:󰀁󰀉󰀅. 󰀁󰀁

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context of Justin helped him develop an apologetic method to defend Christianity and he effectively employed this method because he was a philosopher and he was never afraid to speak out regarding his convictions. Justin’s use of the logos Christology had great apologetic value. He borrowed a well-known philosophical concept to demonstrate that Christian doctrine solved the great conundrum of the day. Furthermore, he could establish that Christianity was not totally at odds with pagan learning, but instead it could complete the intellectual journey that Greek philosophy had only initiated.󰀁󰀅 Justin’s logos Christology permitted him to accept everything good from Greek philosophy and make it suitable for the Church. The best example is his idea of logos spermatikos (the seed of the logos). According to him God was like a sower who had sown the ‘seeds’ of his own divine reason amidst all people.󰀁󰀆 󰀃. Basis for Orthodoxy Although the Church Fathers responded to their context and received and adapted many elements from other cultures, they upheld orthodoxy based on the tradition of the Church. To determine orthodoxy, patristic Fathers especially Irenaeus and Tertullian expected three things of a Catholic Church: In order to support their authority, its leaders were to follow the same doctrine as that of the apostles; Christians had to accept the unity of the Old and the New Testament and the interpretation of the Bible had to be done in the light of the apostolic preaching summarized in the early creeds and not be based on cosmic mythology and fanciful narratives.󰀁󰀇 Using these three concepts (bishop-canon-Creed) Irenaeus combated Gnosticism. Tertullian followed the same threefold strategy of his predecessor Irenaeus, namely apostolicity, Creed, and Bible. The books which were to be read as authoritative must bear an intimate connection with the apostles. This was the way to guarantee that heretical ideas would be excluded.󰀁󰀈  Litfin, Getting to Know the Church Fathers, 󰀆󰀇.  Ibid., 󰀆󰀆. Cf. Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Apostolic Fathers in English, 󰀃rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆). 󰀁󰀇  Irenaeus, Against Heresies 󰀁. Preface 󰀃. Cf. ANF 󰀁:󰀃󰀁󰀆; cf. Litfin, Getting to Know the Church Fathers, 󰀇󰀉. 󰀁󰀈  Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics, 󰀇. Cf. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian. I. Apologetic; II. Anti-Marcion; III. Ethical, trans. Peter Holmes, ANF 󰀃 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀅), 󰀂󰀄󰀆. 󰀁󰀅

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󰀄. Interpretational Techniques One of the main challenges in the early days of Christianity was how to interpret the Old Testament in reference to the person of Christ. This challenge could be faced only by a special hermeneutical method. In this task, a number of interpretational techniques which had already been developed by the Jewish world were employed.󰀁󰀉 Scholars generally identify five such methods: (a) Halakaha – practical application, (b) Haggada – aimed at the edification of the faithful (c) Targum – a kind of paraphrase (d) Midrash – a special kind of interpretation that applied the Old Testament to the present by combining various passages and (e) Pesher – an explanation which served to actualize a biblical text, usually a prophetic type by connecting it with historical experiences of Palestine.󰀂󰀀 The first Christians were acquainted with the use of these techniques. This is evident from the Old Testament citations found throughout the New Testament.󰀂󰀁 Although the use of the Old Testament references are found in several New Testament writings, it is the Pauline letters and the letter to the Hebrews that give special attention to the use of the Old Testament. 󰀅. The Subjectivity of the Interpreter By the end of the second century there emerged various methods of interpretation based on different schools of thought like literal, typological, and allegorical. The danger of any kind of method was the interpreter’s subjectivity and freedom. Origen allowed freedom in the use of the allegorical method, but this freedom is not unlimited. Therefore, Origen proposes three safeguards to deal with the problem of the interpreter’s subjectivity.󰀂󰀂 First, Origen fully embraced the Catholic Church’s rule of faith as a theological guide. An interpreter’s conclusion had to be congruent with what the Christian Church believed and taught. Origen’s second safeguard against the allegorical method was grounded in the very 󰀁󰀉  Enrico Mazza, Mystagogy: A Theology of Liturgy in the Patristic Age, trans. M. J. O’Connell (New York, NY: Pueblo Publishing Company, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀉), 󰀈. 󰀂󰀀  Manlio Simonetti, Profilo storico dell’esegesi patristica (Rome: Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀁), 󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀁. 󰀂󰀁  Joseph Lionel, Homiletics: History and Theology of the Ministry of Preaching in the Church with Contemporary Communication Skills (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄), 󰀄󰀁. 󰀂󰀂  Richard P. C. Hanson, Allegory and Event: A Study of the Sources and Significance of Origen’s Interpretation of Scripture (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀉), 󰀃󰀇󰀁.

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nature of the Bible itself. He understood it to be at its heart a message about the logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ. Not only was it about him, it was also from him. The third safeguard against frivolous allegory was the upright character of the exegete. Origen believed that gaining insight into the deepest meaning of scripture required moral excellence. Vision of God requires purification from sin according to Origen.󰀂󰀃 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Mt 󰀅:󰀈). 󰀆. Different Methods of Preaching It was Jesus who established the Christian interpretation of the Scriptures which continued during the early patristic period where we can observe various modes of preaching namely, kerygmatic, typological, and mystagogical. A brief study of the preaching during the second and third centuries indicates that for those who received the preaching of the apostles, that Jesus is the risen Lord and the savior of the world, worship broke into a new and deeper reality.󰀂󰀄 When Christians met together for worship, they continued to read the law and the prophets as many who had belonged to the synagogue had done before. The same scriptures were read and preached but the difference was that now the law and the prophets were understood in a different sense. Therefore, it became the primary responsibility of the Church’s ministry of the word to make this new understanding clear. It was Jesus himself who initiated this ministry of giving new understanding in the light of his own resurrection when he met the disciples on their way to Emmaus. “They said to each other, ‘wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us’?” (Lk 󰀂󰀄:󰀃󰀂) For the first converts of Christianity especially from Judaism the typological interpretation was the most appropriate method because they were familiar with OT typologies and could see the fulfillment in Christ. They did not hesitate to give Christian interpretations to already existing rites whether religious or otherwise. This kind of creative adaptation by the Fathers of the Church was not arbitrary but they often made recourse to biblical typology i.e., “cultural elements were interpreted in the context 󰀂󰀃  Origen, First Principles 󰀈. Cf. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Part First and Second, trans. Philip Schaff et al., ANF 󰀄 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 󰀁󰀈󰀈󰀅), 󰀂󰀄󰀁. Cf. Karen Jo Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Method in Origen’s Exegesis, Patristische Texte und Studien 󰀂󰀈 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀆). 󰀂󰀄  Lionel, Homiletics, 󰀃󰀇-󰀆󰀁.

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of biblical personages and events.”󰀂󰀅 For example the ancient Roman practice of feeding the newly born with milk and honey symbolized a child’s acceptance into the family. But in the third century it was reinterpreted by the Apostolic Tradition as the promise of God that He would lead the chosen people to the Promised Land where milk and honey flowed. The cup of milk and honey in the context of the rite of communion assured the Church’s newborn sons and daughters that by passing through the waters of baptism they had crossed over to the new land of promise.󰀂󰀆 The advantage of this method is that it offers a wide range of possibilities for inculturation especially in the liturgical rites. A question to be answered in this context is why the Church Fathers felt that typology alone was not enough but that there was also the need of a mystagogical explanation. Mystagogical preaching refers to the initiatives of the Fathers of the Church to explain through their homilies the deeper meaning of the mysteries they celebrated especially the sacraments such as baptism and Eucharist.󰀂󰀇 The word mystagogy is derived from the Greek verb mueo which was used in a liturgical context. It means to teach doctrine and therefore, to initiate into the mysteries. Here we can remember the great personalities like St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Their purpose was to highlight to the neophytes or the newly baptized the meaning and nature of the liturgical actions involved in baptism and the Eucharist. Only from the 󰀄th century we see a regular and systematic catechesis on liturgical rites, namely mystagogical catechesis. Mystagogy is a method where liturgy is a source of theologizing. Therefore, the catechetical instruction is not a mere commentary on some liturgical action but it demonstrates the theology of every liturgical action in the celebrations of sacraments.󰀂󰀈 Although during the early days of typological homilies they received significant importance (e.g. Melito of Sardis), the Fathers of the Church in the subsequent centuries thought that typological explanations alone do not suffice as the explanation needed to sustain the faith of the people, especially in the context of heresies and apostasies. Therefore, they took the dynamics of homiletic preaching and applied them to the mystagogical homilies (e.g. Ambrose of Milan and Cyril of Jerusalem). This shift was to give a more profound explanation of the mysteries celebrated in the liturgy.  Lionel, Homiletics, 󰀅󰀀.  Ibid., 󰀅󰀁. 󰀂󰀇  Ibid., 󰀅󰀅. 󰀂󰀈  Ibid. 󰀂󰀅

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The shift to mystagogical preaching from what existed before namely, kerygmatic and typological preaching indicates that there can be new possibilities of explaining the sacraments according to the needs of the time without deviating from the tradition of the Church.󰀂󰀉 The mystagogical catechesis gives two perspectives for theologizing in the present time: a retrieval of theology in the mysteries we celebrate during the liturgy and finding their deeper meaning in the light of the word of God. Such methodology will prevent us from deviating from authentic theology drawn from Tradition. 󰀇. Symbolic Theology Our discussion of the pastoral practice in the patristic period will be incomplete without mentioning the Syriac Fathers and their contribution to systematic theology. Contrary to western theology the Syriac Fathers,󰀃󰀀 especially Ephrem, preferred to express their theology in poetry and, therefore, in images. For Ephrem, poetry was the least inaccurate way to describe the Christian mystery and any theology which “constitutes itself into a system is always dangerous.”󰀃󰀁 According to Sebastian Brock “poetry can prove to be an excellent medium for creative theological writing” and “Ephrem’s writings still retain a great freshness and immediacy for the modern reader.”󰀃󰀂 Ephrem’s theological method is often known as symbolic theology, “which is an intricate weave of parallelism, typology, names and symbols.”󰀃󰀃 Instead of the dogmatic definitions in theology which he regards as boundaries (fines) that impose limits, his method is to proceed by way of paradox/types and symbols.󰀃󰀄 For Ephrem, as Edmund Beck observes, “visibility belongs to the essence of the symbol, although it does not exhaust its essence.”󰀃󰀅 The concreteness of the narrative symbols in Ephrem’s poetry is such that “the symbol and the reality can occasionally be interchanged.”󰀃󰀆 Types on the other hand are those persons or events  Lionel, Homiletics, 󰀅󰀇.  Among the many Syriac Fathers, attention is given only to Ephrem the Syrian. 󰀃󰀁  Vladimir Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀈), 󰀁󰀅. 󰀃󰀂  Sebastian Brock, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of St. Ephrem the Syrian, Cistercian Study Series 󰀁󰀂󰀄 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publication, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂), 󰀁󰀆󰀁. 󰀃󰀃  Ibid., 󰀁󰀄. 󰀃󰀄  Ibid. 󰀃󰀅  Edmund Beck, “Symbolum-Mysterium bei Aphraat und Ephräm,” Oriens Christianus 󰀄󰀂 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀈): 󰀁󰀉-󰀄󰀀; id., “Das Bild vom Spiegel bei Ephräm,” Orientalia Christiana Periodica 󰀁󰀉 (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀃): 󰀅-󰀂󰀄. 󰀃󰀆  Beck, “Symbolum-Mysterium bei Aphraat und Ephräm,” 󰀃󰀀. 󰀂󰀉 󰀃󰀀

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found in the Old Testament that prefigure Christ as depicted in the New Testament. Ephrem takes the dynamic convergence of the Old and New Testaments for granted. The bond that unites these two testaments is so intimate that there is virtually no incident or detail in which one does not have its typological parallel in the other.󰀃󰀇 Types and symbols are to be found throughout creation simply because of the fact that the world was created by God.󰀃󰀈 Types and symbols operate for Ephrem on two distinct planes: horizontally between the Old and New Testaments, and vertically, between this world and paradise. All these types and symbols find their fulfilment in Christ, who is “the Lord of the Symbols” (Hymn on Faith 󰀉:󰀁󰀁). It is this ability of Ephrem to see the presence of Christ in everything that gives his symbolic theology such richness.󰀃󰀉 There is scarcely anything in the world which cannot serve Ephrem as a symbol of Christ.󰀄󰀀 Each symbol offers its own unique insight into God and our proper attitude toward Him.󰀄󰀁 Therefore, symbols, for Ephrem are those things in creation that point to the creator.󰀄󰀂 Ephrem proposes three things to counter the heresies: to uphold the unity of the scriptures, to have a child-like faith and to accept the limitation of reason.󰀄󰀃 Against the Marcionites, the followers of Bar Daysan and the Manicheans it was important for Ephrem to defend both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Against prying and investigation Ephrem proposes the nurturing of a childlike faith.󰀄󰀄 As this faith grows,  Edward G. Mathews, “St. Ephrem, Madrashe on Faith, 󰀈󰀁-󰀈󰀅: Hymns on the Pearl, I-V,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 󰀃󰀈 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄): 󰀄󰀅-󰀇󰀂, at 󰀅󰀃. 󰀃󰀈  Kathleen McVey, ed., St. Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Prose, The Fathers of the Church 󰀉󰀁 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀄), 󰀄󰀈. 󰀃󰀉  Mathews, “St. Ephrem, Madrashe on Faith, 󰀈󰀁-󰀈󰀅,” 󰀅󰀄. 󰀄󰀀  In his genuine Syriac poetic works Ephrem makes use of numerous such images like the pearl, light, tree, mirror, oil etc. Probably his most famous symbol is the pearl which he contemplates in a series of five hymns. He is no less inspired by the olive tree, its properties and products, by the sun, its light and warmth (HF 󰀇󰀃), and by mirrors. Cf. Robert Murray, “The Theory of Symbolism in St. Ephrem’s Theology,” Parole de l’Orient 󰀆-󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅-󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆): 󰀁-󰀂󰀁, at 󰀈. Cf. also Beck, “Das Bild vom Spiegel bei Ephräm,” 󰀅-󰀂󰀄. 󰀄󰀁  Brock, The Luminous Eye, 󰀃󰀇-󰀉󰀁. 󰀄󰀂  Mathews, “St. Ephrem, Madrashe on Faith, 󰀈󰀁-󰀈󰀅,” 󰀅󰀂-󰀅󰀃. 󰀄󰀃  Corrie Molenberg, “An Invincible Weapon: Names in the Christological Passages in Ephrem’s ‘Hymns on Faith’ XLIX-LXV,” in Symposium Syriacum 󰀅, ed. René Lavenant, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 󰀂󰀃󰀆 (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈), 󰀁󰀃󰀅-󰀁󰀄󰀂, at 󰀁󰀃󰀅-󰀁󰀃󰀆. 󰀄󰀄  He also proposes the example of Simon Peter. “Auf der Suche nach den (verborgenen) Tiefen, warf er die Wahrheit des Geoffenbarten weg. Simon zeichnete dir (ein Vorbild); ahme ihn nach.! … Lasst uns alle zum Sohne sagen: Du bist der Sohn des lebendigen Gottes. Dieses Wort übersteigt die Himmlischen und die Irdischen. Es werde dir zum täglichen Brot! Lass es dich nicht verdriessen, es jeden Tag (zu sprechen)! Selig, 󰀃󰀇

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the eyes of the seeker receive more clarity to see and recognize God’s symbols more clearly. According to Ephrem, deep faith, reverence, and humility without scrutiny, open the great treasury of the mysteries to Him.󰀄󰀅 As Brock explains, only the eye of faith can move from the historical person of Jesus to the incarnate Christ and only the eye of faith can penetrate inward to discover something of “the interior meaning of the scripture.”󰀄󰀆 Faith is a ‘second soul’ to the body, and “Just as the body keeps alive by means of the soul, so too does the life of the soul depend on faith; if it denies, or becomes divided by doubt it becomes a mere corpse.”󰀄󰀇 Finally, Ephrem underlines the fact that it is only the Son who can comprehend God, the Father, because they are of the same nature.󰀄󰀈 Because of the radical transcendence of God creatures are excluded from this relationship of connaturality.󰀄󰀉 Ephrem concludes that we cannot even understand the mysteries of nature, of our birth and death of our own soul and so it should not surprise us that we cannot reach the heavens.󰀅󰀀 󰀂. Creative Tension between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice 󰀁. The Struggle to Reach Orthodoxy The first pastoral problem or creative tension for the Church Fathers was to attain doctrinal orthodoxy in the context of paganism and Greek wer nur (Sohn Gottes) ihn nennt.” Edmund Beck, Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Sermones de Fide I-IV, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 󰀂󰀁󰀂-󰀂󰀁󰀅 (Leuven: Peeters, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃), 󰀉󰀅-󰀁󰀀󰀈; Murray, “The Theory of Symbolism in St. Ephrem’s Theology,” 󰀆. 󰀄󰀅  Cf. Peter Yousif, “Approach to the Divine Reality in the Thought of St. Ephrem of Nisibis,” in The Church I Love: A Tribute to Rev. Placid J. Podipara CMI, ed. J. Madey and G. Kaniarakath (Kottayam: Ecumenical Biblical & Oriental Study Centre, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄), 󰀅󰀄-󰀆󰀉; Sebastian Brock, “The Poet as Theologian,” Sobornost 󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀇): 󰀂󰀄󰀃-󰀂󰀅󰀀; id., “The Poetic Artistry of St. Ephrem: An Analysis of H.Azym III,” Parole de l’Orient 󰀆-󰀇 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀅󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆): 󰀂󰀁-󰀂󰀈; Murray, “The Theory of Symbolism in St. Ephrem’s Theology,” 󰀁-󰀂󰀀; Beck, “Symbolum-Mysterium bei Aphraat und Ephräm,” 󰀁󰀉-󰀄󰀈. 󰀄󰀆  Brock, The Luminous Eye, 󰀄󰀇. 󰀄󰀇  Ephrem, Hymn on Faith, 󰀈󰀀, 󰀁. The original Syriac version of the Hymns on Faith is found in the classical edition of E. Beck. Cf. Edmund Beck, ed., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Fide, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 󰀁󰀅󰀄-󰀁󰀅󰀅 (Leuven: Peeters, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅). 󰀄󰀈  Ephrem, Hymn on Faith, 󰀁󰀁, 󰀇-󰀁󰀁. 󰀄󰀉  Seely J. Beggiani, Early Syriac Theology: With Special Reference to the Maronite Tradition (New York, NY: University Press of America, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃), 󰀂. 󰀅󰀀  André de Halleux, “Mar Ephrem Théologien,” Parole de l’Orient 󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀃): 󰀃󰀅-󰀅󰀄, at 󰀄󰀃-󰀄󰀄.

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philosophy. The search for the Christian doctrine of God especially in the first four centuries can be understood as the story of how a certain ‘orthodoxy’ was reached; it is not the story of how ‘orthodoxy’ was maintained because on the subject of the Christian doctrine of God ‘orthodoxy’ did not simply exist at first.󰀅󰀁 It was not an easy process because there existed inadequate equipment for understanding the Bible and the semantic confusion was not yet clarified.󰀅󰀂 For example, on the subject of the divinity of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit a long way of formulation and reformulation had to be made. However, one could say that at the Council of Constantinople a satisfactory answer was found to the great questions which won not only imperial support but also a wide consensus throughout the Church in East and West. So, the first creative tension was how to reach orthodoxy and the Church Fathers could contribute much to overcome this tension by articulating the real faith employing different techniques. 󰀂. The Problem of the Articulation of Faith Another pastoral problem that the Church Fathers faced was regarding the articulation of the Christian faith because the theologians of the third and fourth centuries had to manage the very necessity of doing theology by using the terminology of Greek philosophy. For them it became impossible to interpret the doctrine of God only in the words of the Bible. Therefore, they sought an ‘alternative’ vocabulary, which they could find in philosophy. All the technical terms of Trinitarian theology were ‘Greek’: hypostasis, ousia, homoousios, homoiousios, tautousios, heterousios, hyparxis, prosopon, perichoresis and so on. In addition to borrowing the Greek vocabulary, they thought Greek thoughts.󰀅󰀃 Therefore, the process of Hellenization of the ‘Christian gospel’ may be interpreted in such a way that “Christianity in order to achieve an understanding of itself has always been compelled to borrow, where and as it could, the materials of contemporary philosophy.”󰀅󰀄

 Cf. Richard P. C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy 󰀃󰀁󰀈-󰀃󰀈󰀁 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅), 󰀈󰀇󰀀. 󰀅󰀂  Ibid., 󰀈󰀇󰀅. 󰀅󰀃  Richard P. C. Hanson, Studies in Christian Antiquity (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀅), 󰀂󰀄󰀆-󰀂󰀄󰀇. 󰀅󰀄  Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God, 󰀈󰀇󰀁. 󰀅󰀁

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󰀃. The Confrontation with Pagan Philosophers and Writers An important pastoral problem that the Church Fathers had to confront was the influence of pagan philosophers and writers. The rapid growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire was a matter of concern and disturbance for the pagan philosophers and writers. One way of attacking Christians was to spread calumnies against them: Christians were leading an immoral life by practicing adultery, fornication, and incest in their secret gatherings; they were cannibals, atheists, anti-nationals, as they refused to worship the emperor and were not ready to render military service.󰀅󰀅 When the pagan literary men questioned the very raison d’être of the Christian faith, Christian writers (apologists) counteracted with their literary contributions. Apologists challenged the pagan calumnies against Christianity and explained what the truth was. They tried to show that Christianity was a revealed religion and not merely a human one. Christian truth was not attained by human reason but was revealed by God and therefore, it was far superior to the pagan philosophy which is founded on mere human reason.󰀅󰀆 In order to show their superiority they made use of Greek philosophy and other pagan literature for the explanation of Christian theology and rejected what was incongruent with Christian theology. Conclusion In the light of the above discussion on the creative tension between pastoral practice and systematic theology, the following implications can be observed. First of all, for the gospel to be understood today, it has to be put into terms that the modern audience can comprehend. The distance between the culture of Jesus of Nazareth and our own culture is vast. Effective evangelists have learned that they can make the Gospel message come alive by appealing to the concepts that the secular can understand. But in doing so care must be taken, like the Church Fathers, not to deviate from the basis of orthodoxy. Secondly, those who engage in the ministry of the word should be sensitive to the needs of the audience. Church Fathers have highlighted different kinds of audience and they applied different methods of preaching to deepen their faith. So too in  Ambadan, An Introduction to the Fathers of the Church, 󰀄󰀄-󰀄󰀅.  Ibid., 󰀄󰀅.

󰀅󰀅

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the multi-religious context we should be sensitive to the audience. Thirdly, Church Fathers have already set an example for us how to adopt good elements from other cultures and philosophy. John Paul II in his encyclical Redemptoris missio 󰀅󰀂 explains the meaning of inculturation as “the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their insertion in Christianity in various human cultures. She transmits to them her own values, at the same time taking the good elements that already exist in them and renewing them within.” Finally, the Church Fathers were men of integrity and the community recognized them as holy persons. Their teaching became acceptable to many because they were practicing what they preached and preached what they practiced. Furthermore, the Church Fathers had the boldness and courage to defend their faith against enemies both from within and outside of the Church.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation Lessons from History and Prospects for the Future Alex Kalathikattil Experience shows that who we are today is also the result of a lot of influences. Influences both positive and negative have played a role in shaping us. The same can be said also of the Church and its sacraments. Surveying the history of the sacrament of reconciliation we come to realize that the history of this sacrament is punctuated by developments that are healthy as well as unhealthy. A journey from the New Testament times to date can refresh our memory of almost twenty centuries. We will come across many changes and different models. The discipline is never definitive, prompting us to say that the development of the sacrament of reconciliation down through the centuries can be best described as a process of organic development. In this paper we shall attempt a survey, albeit brief, of the history of the sacrament of reconciliation, cull out the lessons that we can glean from it, and suggest a few lines of action for the renewal of the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation, which is generally accepted to be in a state of crisis. 󰀁. Reconciliation: A Sacrament in Crisis The present situation of the sacrament of reconciliation can aptly be characterized as a situation of crisis. Addressing the Canadian bishops on the occasion of their five-yearly visit to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI observed that this “sacrament is often considered with indifference.”󰀁 No one can “deny that this sacrament no longer occupies the place in the lives of Catholics it once did.”󰀂 The fact that there is scant appreciation for it – at least in the way it is administered today – is borne out by the 󰀁  Benedict XVI, Papal Address to Bishops of Western Canada: “Human Need to Confront Sin Never Goes Away,” 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆, available from https://initium-sapientiae.blogspot. com/󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆_󰀁󰀀_󰀀󰀉_archive.html/. 󰀂  Richard M. Gula, To Walk Together Again: The Sacrament of Reconciliation (New York, NY and Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀄), 󰀄. Lambert Leijssen notes that we have entered a third period of crisis in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. See, Lambert Leijssen,

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reluctance shown, even by practicing Catholics, to frequent it today.󰀃 The disenchantment with the sacrament of reconciliation began already before the Second Vatican Council. In fact, the Reformed Rite was envisaged as a response to the crisis. However, experience shows that the renewal of the rite has not had the desired effects. The numbers of those who frequent the sacrament continued to dwindle even after the new rite of penance had been introduced. We would not be far wrong if we were to agree with James B. Dunning that we are witnessing, “tragic times of alienation even in a sacrament aimed at reconciliation,”󰀄 and with Richard M. Gula who opines that the sacrament which was considered as a sacrament of the dead – the spiritually dead – is itself dying.󰀅 󰀂. A Bird’s-Eye View of the History of the Sacrament of Reconciliation It is commonly accepted that the “sacramental activity of the Church has entered a new phase” with the liturgical renewal initiated by the Second Vatican Council. The nearly two-thousand year old history of this sacrament can be broadly divided into two periods: the period of canonical penance and the period of private penance.󰀆 This of course is only a very broad division. And in fact, most of the books that deal with the history of this sacrament will divide them further. The present form of the celebration of the sacrament of penance – private, auricular, individual – is something that can be traced back only to the 󰀁󰀃th century. We have come to the present practice through a process of evolution, starting with the early period of one-time public penance and gradually evolving through the Celtic form of penance. In the course of the almost 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀 year old history of the Church we can identify individuals as well as groups that tried to understand the mystery of divine forgiveness and make it meaningful to the people of With the Silent Glimmer of God’s Spirit: A Postmodern Look at the Sacraments (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆), 󰀇󰀄. 󰀃  NCCB Pastoral Research and Practices Committee, “Sacrament of Penance Study,” Origins 󰀁󰀉 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀): 󰀆󰀁󰀃-󰀆󰀂󰀄, at 󰀆󰀁󰀇. 󰀄  James B. Dunning, “Foreword,” to To Walk Together Again, 󰀂. 󰀅  Gula, To Walk Together Again, 󰀃. 󰀆  Peter E. Fink, “Introduction,” to Alternative Futures for Worship, vol. 󰀄, ed. Peter E. Fink (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇), 󰀁󰀄.

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their time. Jesus became the embodiment of the Father’s offer of forgiveness. The apostolic Church and the early Church already struggled with the question of forgiveness without limits. The tension between the Christian call to perfection, on the one hand, and the reality of Christian life, on the other, is already in evidence in two texts from the first epistle of John: “whoever is born of God does not sin” (󰀁 Jn 󰀃:󰀉); “if we say that we are without sin we are fooling ourselves and the truth is not in us” (󰀁 Jn 󰀁:󰀈). This tension is evident also in the history that follows. While insisting on the non-compatibility of Christian life and sin, the Church makes the offer of forgiveness in the form of a second plank. The Church, however, continued to insist on the non-repeatability as well as the laborious nature of this offer of forgiveness. By the end of the canonical period of penance, between the fifth and the sixth centuries, the sacrament of penance had become rare and those who really needed it were distanced from it leading to, probably, the most critical period for the sacrament of reconciliation. The reform process was set in motion through the tariff penance. We should not underestimate the great contribution of the Celtic form of penance even while recognizing the negative impact that this form has had on the later developments of the practice of the sacrament of reconciliation. The medicinal character of penance is perhaps the greatest strength of the Celtic form of penance. The whole system was aimed at securing a cure for the soul and as such penances were seen as medicinal rather than expiatory.󰀇 The penitential practice continued to be a means of metanoia rather than the performance of a good deed to appease a vengeful God. Sin continued to be an affront to the community and the prescribed penances tried to restitute the harm done. Particularly significant is also the possibility of frequent reconciliation offered by the Celtic penance. Häring puts it tersely: “They [the Celtic monks] broke the ancient rule that absolution for gravely scandalous sins could be given only once during lifetime.”󰀈 The doors were opened now to those desirous of re-incorporation into the community without having to postpone it to the far end of their life. 󰀇

 The healing dimension of the sacrament of Reconciliation was emphasised by Pope Francis on several occasions. See for example, Pope Francis, Wednesday Audience, “Be Courageous, Go to Confession” February 󰀁󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄, available from https://www. catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-be-courageous-go-to-confession [accessed on May 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀈  Bernard Häring, The Sacraments in a Secular Age: A Vision in Depth on Sacramentality and Its Impact on Moral Life (Slough: St. Paul, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆), 󰀂󰀂󰀉.

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The Celtic Form of penance, although it had initial success, eventually degenerated through the practice of commutations and redemptions, which undermined the very value of penance and conversion. At the turn of the millennium, the Celtic Form of penance, which worked well for almost five centuries, did not work anymore; it did not respond to the requirements of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. Penance, which was the external sign of the interior conversion for a millennium, had become obsolete. The community was forced to look for other signs of conversion. The role of penance continued to decline through the evolution to the period of modern private penance. A new perspective is seen from the Fourth Lateran Council which introduced the practice of the obligatory annual confession. The annual confession became a means of verifying the allegiance of an adult member to the Church. During this period, we see the emphasis being placed on contrition and eventually on confession and absolution over against the need for penance. Despite the efforts of Thomas Aquinas to keep in balance the four constitutive elements of the sacrament, the focus eventually rested entirely on confession and absolution. Finally, in the teaching of John Duns Scotus, when he distinguished between the sacramental way and the non-sacramental way, the gratuitous nature of the sacrament became most evident. The sacrament of reconciliation became the easier and the surer way to reconciliation with God. These changes had far-reaching consequences on the nature and effect of the sacrament. A sacrament that was meant for those Christians who had seriously compromised their Christian vocation was eventually turned into an obligatory practice and a practice of devotion. Indeed, the sacrament was for the ancients a second baptism, a second plank after the shipwreck, in order to be reconciled with the Church, the visible sign of salvation. What began as a process, a journey of conversion under the watchful care of the community, tended to be reduced to a momentary and mechanical ritual which worked ex opere operato. The sacrament which was meant for the conversion and subsequent reconciliation of an erring member, in short, had become a sacrament of forgiveness. It is this move from conversion and reconciliation as the rationale of the sacrament, to forgiveness of sins as the purpose of the sacrament which augmented the privatization of the sacrament of reconciliation. One of the major drawbacks of the private penance is the marginalization of the ritualized moment of reconciliation, making the whole process of reconciliation “liturgical and private.” The side-lining of the

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liturgical dimension and the communitarian dimension tends to make the system of private penance mechanical. The sacrament that was meant to heal the underlying attitudes that lead one to particular acts finally ends up being overly legalistic in its expression. The healing dimension of the sacrament recedes to the background and the judgmental dimension comes to the fore.󰀉 Christian moral life itself comes to be measured quantitatively rather than qualitatively. This development also leads to the decline of a strong sense of the community, which characterized the ancient celebration of penance. Both sin and reconciliation became strictly individualistic. With the notion of sin as an affront to the community being lost, reconciliation too became a matter of individual concern. It is actually this loss of the sense of the community that would lead to a questioning of the mediatory role of the Church. If sin and consequently reconciliation are considered in individualistic terms, it is only logical to exclude a third party in the process. If it is something between me and God alone, then of course I could settle it with God alone. Forgiveness of sins can indeed be a private affair, but reconciliation by its nature can never be a private affair. The rediscovery of the communitarian dimension of this sacrament is hinged on recognizing the sacrament as the sacrament of reconciliation. If this is realized, then, as Dallen argues, the sacrament will once again signify the conversion into the community,󰀁󰀀 underscore the commitment of the community to her members,󰀁󰀁 and become a celebration in community.󰀁󰀂

󰀃. Lessons from History We have, in our discussion above, already indicated some of the lessons that could be learnt from the history of the sacrament of reconciliation. What more can we learn from the history of this sacrament? The history of the sacrament of reconciliation reveals that in every period of the history of the Church, the reconciliation of sinners was a ministry of the 󰀉  Gula, To Walk Together Again, 󰀂󰀀󰀉-󰀂󰀁󰀀, quotation at 󰀂󰀀󰀉. See also, Declan Marmion, “The Unloved Sacrament: The Demise of the Sacramentum Paenitentiae,” Milltown Studies 󰀄󰀃 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉): 󰀄󰀀-󰀆󰀂, at 󰀅󰀀-󰀅󰀁. 󰀁󰀀  James Dallen, “Initiation and Reconciliation: Conversion into Community,” in Removing the Barriers: The Practice of Reconciliation, ed. James Dallen and Joseph A. Favazza (Chicago, IL: Liturgical Training Publications, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁), 󰀄󰀉-󰀅󰀇, at 󰀄󰀁-󰀄󰀈. 󰀁󰀁  Ibid., 󰀄󰀉-󰀅󰀆. 󰀁󰀂  Ibid., 󰀅󰀇-󰀆󰀄.

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Church. The Church never left sinners without a sacrament of pardon and reconciliation. The modalities could have changed and, in fact, they have changed, but the door of pardon always needed to remain open. If the Church does not offer reconciliation, it cannot be the Church of Christ and the Church of the gospels. The history of the sacrament of reconciliation also reveals that the Church always had to strike a balance between two extreme views: rigorism on the one hand and laxity on the other.󰀁󰀃 The Church, in the beginning, convinced of the incompatibility of Christian life and sin, was reluctant to open her doors to the sinners for fear that the sanctity of the community would be compromised. The utopian notion of sanctity, however, gave way to realism and the doors were finally opened to the apostate, the adulterer, and the murderer. This did not happen without fierce resistance and would continue to characterize every change of form of the sacrament of reconciliation. A pattern is visible in the change: a practice that was relevant and acceptable becomes irrelevant and unsatisfactory over a period of time and it eventually changes and gives way to a new form. The temptation to maintain the status quo was always there but the will to change ultimately triumphed. Another obvious lesson taught by the history of the sacrament of reconciliation is that there could be a variety of ways in which this sacrament can be celebrated. There is not only progressive diversity but also simultaneous diversity in the celebrations. Without underestimating the value of the private celebration, we need to be open to more ways in which human beings can experience the forgiveness of God. In other words, private penance should not become a master-narrative that encompasses all other narratives. For our times, it is important to realize that the private penance is but one of the ways of experiencing God’s forgiveness and the reconciliation with the community. The history of the sacrament of reconciliation further highlights the fact that the Church has adapted her practices, or rather; the practices have evolved in dialogue with the changing circumstances of the world, in a dialogue between the Church and the world. Christopher Kiesling warns us against the temptation to consider the practice of penance as a static “given,” instituted by Christ. He notes that the sacrament, even in its earliest occurrences has also been shaped by human and cultural considerations. Elements and practices of secular culture were incorporated into the liturgical celebrations meant to provide an experience of the 󰀁󰀃

 Marmion, “The ‘Unloved Sacrament’,” 󰀄󰀃.

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reconciling grace of God.󰀁󰀄 Even a cursory look at the development of the Celtic Form of penance furnishes evidence to the process of contextualization. The new form, although a legitimate development from the earlier practice, is also influenced by the culture of the place where it developed. The system of penance that developed in the British Isles is definitely the result of a fruitful dialogue between Christian faith and Celtic culture. When it went to Europe, it again adapted itself. Today’s efforts at renewal cannot but take cognizance of this interaction between faith and culture. The innovation of the monks, although not without their limits, was a response to the pastoral needs of the time. This is indeed a lesson that we need to learn from these monks. Instead of blaming the past innovation for the present ills what is needed today is the pastoral sensitivity and the creativity to adapt the rite to meet the needs of the people today. We see that the changes were initiated neither by the hierarchy nor by the theologians; they rather evolved from the pastoral field. Once developed, the hierarchy gave its approval and the theologians furnished the theological justification for the practice. Confronted as we are with a crisis situation in the sacrament of reconciliation, akin to that of the early Middle Ages, we need to possess the same openness and flexibility to the present culture. The Church needs to look around, see where the faithful turn to when confronted by the weight of sin, and judge if such process can indeed become experiences of conversion and reconciliation. If the present system does not work, and we know that for many it does not work, the Church should have the courage and the vision to look for alternate ways, keeping intact, of course, the integrity of the sacrament. The early practice of penance shows that confession was not the most important element of the process, but rather was the striving for conversion that followed the confession – a process in which the entire Christian community accompanied the repentant sinner. What was important in the whole process was the recognition of oneself as a sinner, be it through a confession or through public penance. The purpose of the whole exercise was re-integration of the sinner in the community.󰀁󰀅 Sins were confessed and acts of penance were performed to externalize this process of conversion. In contrast to this, in the present form of the celebration of the sacrament, the entire concentration is centered on the  Christopher Kiesling, “Reform of Penance,” America 󰀁󰀂󰀂 (June 󰀂󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀀): 󰀆󰀅󰀂-󰀆󰀅󰀇.  José Ramos-Regidor, “Reconciliation in the Primitive Church and Its Lessons for Theology and Pastoral Practice Today,” Concilium 󰀇, no. 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁): 󰀇󰀆-󰀈󰀈, at 󰀈󰀇. 󰀁󰀄 󰀁󰀅

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moments of confession and absolution. Conversion is relegated to the background. The sacrament, instead of being a process that leads to personal conversion and reintegration into the community, has been reduced to “a form of psychological liberation,”󰀁󰀆 freeing oneself from the sense of guilt and in this sense has been reduced to a reconciliation with oneself and one’s conscience rather than with the community.󰀁󰀇 Unfortunately, we see that during the course of the centuries, the means became the end. That is, confession which was the means for reintegration became the whole sacrament. Penance and confession of sins, no doubt, served as symbols of the interior conversion in the first millennium and the second millennium respectively. Should we not now be open to other symbols that could externalize the conversion? There are also other features that differentiate the current practice from the practice of the early Church. Particularly missing in the current form of the celebration are the community dimension of sin, the exercise of the priesthood of Christ by the whole Christian community and the whole process recognized as a way of life – ordo paenitentium – that acts as a sign of the need for the continuous conversion of the whole community.󰀁󰀈 The role of the community has dramatically varied in the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. As Favazza would say, “involvement of the community in the ministry of reconciliation has fluctuated in the tradition from feast to famine.”󰀁󰀉 One of the factors that played an important role in the progressive evolution from canonical penance to private penance is the understanding of sin. Canonical penance was centered on the understanding of sin as something that disrupted the communal life of the Church. When it comes to the period of private penance however, sin would be seen more and more as a violation of the law. A change in the notion of sin leads to a change in the form of the celebration of the sacrament. That being the case it would not be wrong to conclude that any worthwhile attempt at renewal of the sacrament will have to be keenly aware of the evolving notion of sin.󰀂󰀀 󰀁󰀆

 Kiesling, “Reform of Penance,” 󰀈󰀅-󰀈󰀆.  Christian Duquoc, “Real Reconciliation and Sacramental Reconciliation,” Concilium 󰀇, no. 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁): 󰀂󰀆-󰀃󰀇, at 󰀂󰀆; Paul Puthanangady, “The Sacrament of Reconciliation: A Critical Examination,” Vidyajyoti (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀃): 󰀁󰀇-󰀃󰀃, at 󰀁󰀈. 󰀁󰀈  Ramos-Regidor, “Reconciliation in the Primitive Church,” 󰀈󰀆. 󰀁󰀉  Joseph A. Favazza, “The Fragile Future of Reconciliation,” Worship 󰀇󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇): 󰀂󰀃󰀆󰀂󰀄󰀄, at 󰀂󰀃󰀈. 󰀂󰀀  Fink, “Introduction,” 󰀁󰀄. 󰀁󰀇

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If there is anything that the study of the history of the sacrament has proved without any doubt, it is that crisis is not new to this sacrament. The sacrament has had its ups and downs over the nearly 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀 year old history. There has never been a golden age for this sacrament, devoid of tensions, misunderstandings and controversies.󰀂󰀁 The history of the sacrament shows how the various crises were overcome. We are once again at a crisis situation and the history beckons us to forego the temptation to maintain the status quo. Despite the variety of forms, it took on through the centuries and despite the fact that certain aberrations have crept into the celebration of the sacrament, we could say that conversion and reconciliation have remained central to the celebration of the sacrament. Lambert Leijssen articulates this well, when, borrowing the hermeneutical terms of Paul Ricœur, he states: a certain “figure” is identifiable in the act of reconciliation, prefigured (préfiguré) in fundamental patterns from the biblical message and history. These form the basis for a new figure for our contemporary thought-world (configuration) that fulfils the real intention of this sacrament, namely, the conversion and reconciliation of the faithful (réfiguration).󰀂󰀂

󰀄. Prospects for the Future We shall now turn our attention to the prospects for the sacrament of reconciliation. No matter what form the sacrament of reconciliation takes today, it should help the faithful to experience conversion from sin and reconciliation with God, others, self, and nature. In the course of its nearly 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀 year old history, the Church has been carrying out the ministry of reconciliation, pre-eminently through the sacrament of reconciliation, in diverse ways and with varying levels of success. Admittedly the sacrament of reconciliation is in a period of transition. We do not know as yet what form it will assume in the future. From our discussion so far, we could suggest the following for a fruitful renewal of the celebration of this sacrament. 󰀂󰀁  This is a view shared by many authors. See for example, Owen F. Cummings, “Reconciliation and Penance: Some Needed Distinctions,” Chicago Studies 󰀃󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅): 󰀁󰀄󰀅󰀁󰀅󰀇, at 󰀁󰀄󰀅. 󰀂󰀂  Leijssen, With the Silent Glimmer, 󰀆󰀂. The author in pages 󰀆󰀁-󰀆󰀂 and 󰀇󰀅-󰀇󰀇 argues that a certain continuity is visible in the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation, despite the alterations in the form of celebration.

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󰀁. We Should Not Lose Hope in the Ability of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to Bounce Back No doubt that there is a decline in the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation. Some positive signs, however, can be discerned in the current disaffection for the sacrament of reconciliation. The distancing of the faithful from the present form of celebration of the sacrament may be seen as a reaction against the mechanical view of reconciliation, leading to the production of ‘cheap grace’. The longing of the faithful for genuine reconciliation, therefore, may be seen as a sign of a more mature spirituality. It could be an invitation, perhaps, to take seriously the gravity of sin and its remission. Sin is not something that can be simply wiped away by a private acknowledgment to a third party. There should be an effort to reach out to the victims of sin, bringing them healing and restitution. In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that the effect of sin goes beyond the realm of relationship with God and the Church alone. There are concrete individuals and human situations that bear the consequences of human malice and sin. We should not, moreover, forget that even fewer people received the sacrament during the crisis of canonical penance. For that matter, the official teaching even recommended the postponing of the sacrament especially for the young. We need not, however, take comfort in the comparison that we make with another difficult period in the history of the sacrament. After the first major crisis in the sacrament of reconciliation, when the renewal finally came, the impetus for that change came not so much from the hierarchy, but rather from the monastic experience and the faithful who shunned the existing practice. In effect, the existing modality or practice was rejected by the faithful and the sacrament bounced back in a new form. We could even say that the official Church, with much reluctance eventually accepted the practice that had been welcomed wholeheartedly by the faithful. The present crisis, therefore, may be seen as a call to a metamorphosis of the sacrament of reconciliation. A way out of the present crisis may lie in the conspicuous preference among the pastors and the faithful for the community celebrations. 󰀂. Openness Towards a Plurality of Celebrations Individuals and societies are experiencing alienation, though the intensity, and the way it is experienced vary. What is more, today more than ever before, we are conscious of the plurality present in the world and

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the Church. Even within a given community, the levels of alienation and consequently the need for reconciliation differ. That being the case, the symbols by which one can overcome the estrangement from individuals, community and God also could vary. Variety in ways of dealing with alienation is not alien to the tradition of the Church. We need to appreciate once again the need for a plurality of celebrations. The different forms should be seen as complementing one another rather than competing with each other. We should not forget that even the private form of the celebration has a value. It, in fact, arose out of a certain need: the need to hear a human word, a word of counsel, when faced with the burden of guilt. This form does still have a value and need not be swept under the carpet. Individual Confession has not run its course; it is still relevant as it can bring immense consolation to the sinner. It is, however, not the only way that one can experience the forgiveness granted by God. Communal celebrations too are helpful and are to be encouraged whenever possible. But one need not be promoted at the expense of the other; both have their legitimate place and role to play. It is important that the Church be able to offer to the faithful diverse ways in which they can experience the forgiveness of God and the acceptance of the community. While it is important not to trivialize the sacrament and make it an occasion for cheap grace, it is equally important to offer the sacrament as a means to lighten the burdens of those who cannot experience the forgiveness from those whom they have hurt, for whatever reason: death, it may not be convenient, distance etc. There is, besides, the need to situate the sacrament of reconciliation in its broader context; it is one of the sacraments of reconciliation, baptism, and Eucharist being the other two. A greater appreciation of the rite of Christian initiation for adults and the recognition of the centrality of the Eucharist in reconciliation could help reverse the downward trend. A plea for making the Eucharist, community celebrations, penitential services, pilgrimages etc., the ordinary ways of reconciliation may not be beside the point. 󰀃. The Need for Liturgies That Are Glocalized Related to the point that we have made above is the need to have glocalized celebrations of the sacrament of reconciliation. In other words, the celebration of the reconciliation in symbols, in addition to bringing alive the reconciliation already realized, and spurring us on to deeper levels of reconciliation, should make it possible for us to experience conversion

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and reconciliation. In order that this may become a reality, we need symbols that can externalize the conversion and reconciliation. Conversion could be symbolized by contrition, confession, and satisfaction taken together or even independently,󰀂󰀃 and reconciliation by the absolution with the imposition of hands. We should not, however, stop with these traditional symbols alone. An effort should be made to appropriate symbols that embody conversion and reconciliation from other cultures. Unless we have a relevant symbol, the discrepancy between our day-today experiences and the symbolic celebration of reconciliation is bound to increase. The possibilities that can be offered by glocalized forms of celebration should not be underestimated; this of course without crossing the threshold of hieratism and trivialization. Hieratism could result in the ritual becoming foreign and strange to the community and trivialization could result in a ritual that is profane.󰀂󰀄 The camino to Santiago de Compostela and the pilgrimage that continues to Finis terrae, the bath in the springs of Lourdes etc., are conversion experiences whose sacramentality could be explored and recognized. We should, in other words, be able to recognize the sacramentality of the popular experiences of conversion and reconciliation. Liturgy, no doubt, is not something that can be created and thrown away at will. It is something that has to grow out of the life of the community. The celebration of penance in the Church, being a sacrament, is a liturgical celebration wherein the Church expresses her faith in the paschal mystery. Besides being an act of faith and worship, it is also a means whereby the repentant sinner accepts the offer of forgiveness gratuitously given and resolves to complete the process of conversion by living an ethical life – loving God and the whole of creation. The process of conversion thus involves the gift of forgiveness, the reception of the gift and the return gift. A sinner’s conversion finds its expression and is made real in the liturgical celebration of the sacrament. We should, however, be careful not to make the mistake of identifying life and liturgy. Sacramental celebrations cannot be a substitute for life experiences nor vice versa. The sacramental celebrations should enable us to relate the two without reducing one to the other. In other words, the 󰀂󰀃  Ladislas Örsy, “The Revival of the Sacrament of Penance: A Proposal,” Chicago Studies 󰀃󰀄 (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅): 󰀁󰀃󰀆-󰀁󰀄󰀃, at 󰀁󰀃󰀉-󰀁󰀄󰀀. 󰀂󰀄  Louis-Marie Chauvet, Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Existence, trans. Patrick Madigan and Madeleine Beaumont (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅), 󰀃󰀃󰀀-󰀃󰀃󰀉; id., The Sacraments: The Word of God at the Mercy of the Body, trans. Madeleine Beaumont (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁), 󰀁󰀀󰀆-󰀁󰀁󰀀.

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celebration of the sacraments while not substituting for human experiences should be “our way of deepening an experience already going on in our lives by lighting up the religious dimensions that are already there.”󰀂󰀅 When this is done in the sacraments we will truly be celebrating what we are and what we are becoming. 󰀄. From Penance and Forgiveness to Conversion and Reconciliation All those who wished to be incorporated into Christ were called to a radical conversion. No incorporation into Christ was possible without conversion. This was a constant teaching of the Apostolic Church. Conversion, however, cannot be seen as a once-and-for-all event. This becomes all the more important on account of the reality of sin experienced by the Christians who are already converted. The Christian is always in need of a reconversion: a constant reconfiguration to Christ. What is true of the individual is equally true of the Christian community as a whole. That it is the whole Church that is in need of continual conversion has to be rediscovered. Realization of this could lead to the whole community praying together and journeying together toward reconciliation. Such a notion has the advantage of resituating the mediatory role of the priest within the mediatory role of the Church and not independently of the rest of the Church. Post-baptismal conversion, as a result, cannot be understood as a once-and-for-all event, taking place at a magical moment – the moment of confession and absolution. We need to situate conversion within a process – a process in which, what went on before the ritual celebration and what happens after the ritual celebration are important. It will be pointless to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation if it is not preceded by concrete experiences of reconciliation and does not lead to greater reconciliation and communion. The question: “what is essential to the celebration of the sacrament?” would be a wrong one. The whole celebration has to be seen as one process in which the healing and reconciliation take place. An emphasis on this sacrament as a sacrament of conversion can help us better appreciate the different dimensions involved in the notion of satisfaction – medicinal as well as restorative. In sum, we could say that the sacrament has to become a moment of celebration: celebration of the conversion and reconciliation that is in process and the conversion that has already been experienced.  Gula, To Walk Together Again, 󰀁󰀃-󰀁󰀄, quotation at 󰀁󰀄.

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󰀅. Retrieval of the Ecclesial and Social Dimension of the Sacrament The world that we are living in is marked by a deep yearning for reconciliation and healing. Given this urgent need for reconciliation, no stone should be left unturned towards the realization of this goal. If the Church claims that the sacrament of reconciliation is for her the preferred way of effecting reconciliation, then there is the need to explore the usefulness of this sacrament in fostering the horizontal reconciliation. There is, therefore, the need to retrieve the ecclesial and social nature of the sacrament which characterized this sacrament until the Scholastic and Tridentine interpretation. The old maxim, ‘reconciliation with the community is the sign or sacrament of the reconciliation with God’ has to become the norm. If, in the early practice of the Church, the maxim was, ‘reconciliation with the Church is the sign of reconciliation with God’, it is equally important to say that the reconciliation with God has to be expressed in the reconciliation with the community. Recognition of the ecclesial and social dimension of the sacrament could make the sacrament once again a sacrament of reconciliation rather than a sacrament of forgiveness. In order for the Church to be the sacrament of reconciliation, as she claims to be, what is needed is decisive Christian action. The Church needs to become the leaven in the world, sow the seeds of reconciliation and peace and collaborate with likeminded people. With a view to this, we need to acknowledge our own “unloving attitudes and actions, genuinely repent, request and receive forgiveness, sow the seeds of reconciliation, and work with others to bring justice and peace to our relationships in the world.”󰀂󰀆 In other words we need something more than mere words and exhortations. As Thomas Merton observes, “Clear and decisive Christian action explains itself and teaches in a way that words never can. Now above all it is the time to embody Christian truth in action even more than in words. No matter how lucid, how persuasive, how logical, how profound our theological and spiritual statements may be, they are often wasted” if they are not backed up by life witness.󰀂󰀇

󰀂󰀆  Robert L. Browning and Roy A. Reed, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Moral Courage (Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄), 󰀂. 󰀂󰀇  Thomas Merton, Thomas Merton on Peace (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co, 󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀆), 󰀁󰀂󰀂. Thomas Merton was, here, referring to the Catholic teaching on the issue of “Just War.”

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Conclusion The Sacrament of reconciliation figures in the list of seven sacraments and rightly so, but the all-important question would be: what significant role is it going to have in the lives of Christians? It may be recognized as a sacrament, but is it going to play a vital role in the lives of the people? What do we want today: a sacrament that is primarily restricted to the pages of the book or a sacrament celebrated by the people? To make the sacrament of reconciliation appreciated as well as celebrated by the people through a process of recontextualization of the sacrament is the challenge that faces us today. It is my hope that we will be able to arrive at the articulation of a liturgical rite that reflects, not only the theology of the sacrament, but also one that celebrates the reconciliation already experienced as well as leading to deeper reconciliation – a rite that links lex credendi, lex orandi, and lex vivendi.

The PAROC Model An Experiment in Interfacing Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice Tony Neelankavil

󰀁. An Experiment The Marymatha Major Seminary, Trichur, India (hereafter, Seminary, unless otherwise specified) is the first affiliated institute of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium (hereafter, Faculty, unless otherwise specified) in Asia, thanks to the initiative taken by the then Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. Mathijs Lamberigts. The process of affiliation was launched in 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀁 and was completed on June 󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈, the day on which the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Vatican approved the affiliation of the Seminary with the Faculty. The Congregation issued a decree to this effect on July 󰀂󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈. PAROC (Pastoral Animation Research and Outreach Centre – hereafter, PAROC) is the research wing of the seminary. The seminary as well as the PAROC research institute was born out of the conviction that the Church today is in dire need of ordained and lay ministers who are able to scientifically and intelligibly communicate the Christian message with the saeculum. Theology has become public today. The questions on religious life, Christian identity, etc. have become matters of public debate. The objective of contemporary theology is “to account for the hope that is in you, yet to do with gentleness and reverence…” (󰀁 Pt 󰀃:󰀁󰀅). This goal of theology brought us close to the Leuven Faculty of Theology, a faculty which tries to scientifically give an account of its Catholic identity in the midst of a post-confessional context. We have a common goal, though its particulars differ very much respective of the context. Within a university atmosphere, the priority of the Faculty is more on the scientific and systematic character of theology than on the pastoral practices in the Church, while the priority of the Seminary in its highly pastoral context is more on the pastoral practices in the lives of the faithful. The collaboration between the two entities resulted in an interface of systematic theology and pastoral practices, the outcome of which is the PAROC. The following paragraphs

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aim at articulating this journeying together, which itself is a theological enterprise with accompanying pastoral sensitivities. 󰀂. Methodological Reflections 󰀁. Bridging the Gap between Systematic Theology and Pastoral Practice PAROC evolved in the matrix of the Archdiocese of Trichur (hereafter, Archdiocese, unless otherwise specified), belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church. Most of the Catholic families in the Archdiocese still foster a Christian atmosphere in their everyday life. Family practices still serve as a means to hand over the faith to the following generation in many families and hence, they function as family catechesis. This atmosphere in the families cultivates a certain set of Christian values in the family and a connection with the parish community to which they belong. As a result, most of the parishes are full of life, enthusiasm, and vigour in pastoral practices. Churches are well attended. The parish celebrations are all the more spectacular. The faithful give great importance to sacraments, sacramentals, and pious practices. They have a hunger for spiritual renewal, which is expressed in large masses flocking together for retreats and novenas and watching spiritual television and social media channels. The credit for the active participation of the laity in the parishes is often attributed to the age-old structures of participation in the SyroMalabar Church such as Yogam. Yogam is the gathering of representatives from all the families in a parish, who discuss and deliberate in matters of pastoral administration and in areas of temporal administration. Today, the involvement of Yogam is often overwhelmed by the financial and temporal administration in the churches, relegating the core pastoral ministry to priests and religious. The primary goal of Yogam, namely, the participation of the laity in the pastoral ministry of the Church, has to be reinstated. In spite of the fact that the pastoral practices in general make the parishes dynamic and vibrant, we often encounter sporadic offshoots of resistance and protest against pastoral leadership. PAROC did some initial investigation into some such instances and came to the conclusion that these did not happen all too suddenly. Lack of proper evaluation and assessment of these pastoral practices and absent or weak participatory approaches of the leadership result in the dissatisfaction among the faithful, which gets accumulated and galvanized at certain triggering incidents in the

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parishes. PAROC also realized that the parish life is the least assessed and evaluated unit in the Church. Hence, it wanted to develop a sociopastoral methodology through which we could promote a culture of assessment. An initial benchmark study also revealed that the ecclesial and pastoral developments in the Church have not been disseminated into the pastoral life of the Church. Francis X. Gannon has taken note of a gap between the actual theological research and the pastoral practices of the Church after the Second Vatican Council already in 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇.󰀁 Theologians tended to distance themselves from the actual life of the Church in the name of objectivity and become mere academicians, while the pastorally minded Church leaders and those in decision-making bodies tend to see little sense in “the theological jargon and tentative conclusions of the scholarly theologians” and remained mere pastoral activists. Instead of academic theologians and pastoral practitioners blaming each other, what is needed is to bridge the gap between theology and praxis in order to improve the quality of our Christian life and ministry. Pastoral/practical theology has to be the way systematic theology articulates itself as Church ad intra and ad extra. Pastoral/practical theology is a forum where theological reflections are tried and tested. Being a research centre exploring the pastoral practices in the church, PAROC opted for a pastoral-practical theological approach to bridge the gap. As researchers, we need to do theology pastorally. It is a “form of theological reflection in which pastoral experience serves as a context for the critical development of basic theological understanding … Here Pastoral Theology is … a way of doing theology pastorally.”󰀂 Theology and life should be mutually informing and enriching of each other. Hence, PAROC envisages a theological methodology where theologians participate in pastoral life and pastoral practitioners participate in the advancement in theological reflections. 󰀂. Participation – the Key Challenge in PAROC Methodology The clerical leadership in the Archdiocese in general still enjoys a privileged position in the society and among the faithful. Indian cultures and thought traditions generally cherish a vision of the universe in which God, 󰀁  Cf. Francis X. Gannon, “Bridging the Research Gap: CARA, Response to Vatican II,” Review of Religious Research 󰀉, no. 󰀁 (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇): 󰀃-󰀁󰀀, at 󰀃. 󰀂  Rodney J. Hunter, ed., Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀), 󰀈󰀆󰀇.

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humans, and cosmos are in harmony. However, the clerics, who are still considered as representatives of God, often succumb to the pre-modern temptation to ‘rule over’ the other two dimensions of reality. Hence, the priestly office is often considered as the seat of unquestionable power󰀃 and infallible authority, a label which is either implicitly claimed by them or attributed to them by the laity. People generally do not react negatively against the clergy because of their particular sense of the sacred, which the clerics often take as a sign of their total loyalty to them.󰀄 Unfortunately, one does find, not infrequently, among bishops, priests, and the religious, those who present themselves ‘almost like divine beings’ who should not act like human beings and should not/do not make errors. As a result, the behaviour and attitudes of priests and religious often seemed a mere exercise of ‘power’. PAROC tries to make the clergy aware that the members in the parish are no more the unquestioning faithful of pre-modernity; they are living in a culture of suspicion of modernity and even moving towards a post-modern rejection of any kind of authority. Steps have been taken to focus on lay participation in the Church immediately after the Second Vatican Council. As a result, the Archdiocese has given birth to several lay leaders in the Church. However, it is important to evaluate how we have incorporated lay participation in the life of the Church. As Pope Francis reminds us, clericalism has generated a minority ‘lay elite’ who are committed to work in the matters “of priests.”󰀅 Though very much exaggerated, it is jokingly commented that such lay leaders often stand up and respond to the cleric: ‘It would be easier to discuss about this issue if you first reveal your mind on it or tell us your plans’. Clericalism allows participation mostly of such laity, ignoring the vast number of baptized Christians who give witness to their faith in the public life. Pope Francis reminds us that the “visibility and sacramentality of the Church belongs to all the People of God, not only to the few chosen and enlightened.”󰀆 The Holy Spirit empowers every baptized faithful to 󰀃

 Once a learned professor commented on the sermon of priests as follows: “This is the only audience you get in the whole world where they do not react against what you say.” 󰀄  This attitude is extended to other areas of priestly ministry. Even if there are fifty engineers in a parish, some priests demand to have the ‘final word’ on construction in the parish, as if priestly training confers on them the mastery of all skills – electric, managerial, business, civil, etc.! 󰀅  Cf. Pope Francis, Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to Cardinal Marc Ouellet President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, http://w󰀂.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ letters/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆/documents/papa-francesco_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆󰀀󰀃󰀁󰀉_pont-comm-america-latina.html. 󰀆  Cf. Pope Francis, Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to Cardinal Marc Ouellet. The Pope here refers to the notion of People of God in Lumen gentium 󰀉-󰀁󰀄.

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proactively respond to the mission of the Church in the world. Therefore, the hierarchy needs to consult the laity at all levels “without ignoring the role of the hierarchy.”󰀇 The ministry of priests is not to rule over the laity but to motivate them to take up their responsibilities in the Church. “Clericalism is more concerned with dominating spaces than with generating initiatives.”󰀈 Felix Wilfred notes two unfavorable implications of this over-dependence on the clergy on pastoral matters. First, the Church has become, what Wilfred calls, a ‘maintenance Church’. “Maintenance Church is a bureaucratic Church where business is as usual – meetings, committees, commissions, appointments, transfers, fund-raising, management, etc. For this kind of Church which repeats the same kind of activities routinely, vision is anathema.”󰀉 Another effect of a mechanistic Church, according to him, is that we become “burn-out” Church – “burned-out priests and religious, superiors and bishops, with strong resentments, frustration, disappointments and ultimately unhappy with themselves and a burden to everyone around.”󰀁󰀀 They are skeptical of new ideas, cynical about changes, full of apathy and lack motivation, inspiration, and energy. They simply survive in the system.󰀁󰀁 As a result, our approaches often distance ourselves from the people and cause people to distance themselves from the original Gospel message. The Bible, especially the gospels, invite us to opt for synodality or ‘walking together’ as the way forward. During the journey of Israel to the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses, we see a practical lesson for synodality. Moses’ leadership was always accompanied by complaints from the people. When people complain, Moses pleads before the Lord for their needs and brings back YHWH’s answers to the people. They complained that they were thirsty; Moses took it on himself, pleaded to 󰀇  International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, March 󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈 (Hereafter, Synodality in the Life and Mission); http://www.vatican. va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈󰀀󰀃󰀀󰀂_sinodalita_en.html. 󰀈  Cf. Pope Francis, Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to Cardinal Marc Ouellet. 󰀉  Felix Wilfred, “Merging the Borders: Pastoral Relationship of the Church in the World,” Jeevadhara 󰀄󰀂, no. 󰀂󰀅󰀀 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀂󰀇󰀂-󰀂󰀉󰀁, at 󰀂󰀇󰀄. This article is based on an address Felix Wilfred delivered at the National Pastoral Colloquium organized by the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of the Latin Church in India (CCBI) at NBCLC, Bangalore, June 󰀂󰀀-󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂. 󰀁󰀀  Ibid., 󰀂󰀇󰀄-󰀂󰀇󰀅. He also refers to the empirical study done in this regard by Eugene Newman Joseph, the results of which is published in his article, Eugene Newman Joseph, “Are the Indian Catholic Clergy Burned out or Engaged?,”Indian Theological Studies 󰀄󰀈 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁): 󰀆󰀂-󰀇󰀆. 󰀁󰀁  Wilfred, “Merging the Borders,” 󰀂󰀇󰀅.

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the Lord and brought back the means to get water. The same happened when they were hungry and he returned with the divine solution of Manna. People again complained: Now they demanded meat! Moses got angry and began to burst out before the Lord, not because they placed their needs before him, but because he was tired of taking on the responsibilities of the people: “Why have You brought this trouble on Your servant? … You have laid upon me the burden of all these people? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, so that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant’…” (Nm 󰀁󰀁:󰀁󰀁-󰀁󰀂). God’s response was with regard to how Moses approached his leadership. He asked Moses to bring seventy elders from Israel, known as leaders and officers of the people. The Lord came down amidst them and took some of the Spirit given to Moses and put that Spirit upon them. Moses understood that he had to share the burden of the people with them. It was his conversion from a clericalized leader to a participatory pastor. He even responded to Joshua who was worried about his master’s loss of power as follows: “I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would place His Spirit on them!” (Nm 󰀁󰀁:󰀂󰀉). Like Moses, the pastoral leadership needs to practise the process of synodality where all the faithful, including the hierarchy and the laity, are “súnodoi, companions on the journey.”󰀁󰀂 Sharing the one priesthood and receiving various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the faithful walk together in a journey to fulfill the mission entrusted to the Church. According to Pope Francis, synodality invites us to walk together. He teaches that, to walk together is the constitutive way of the Church; the figure that enables us to interpret reality with the eyes and heart of God; the condition for following the Lord Jesus and being servants of life in this wounded time. … only in this way can we address the complexity of this time, thankful for the journey accomplished thus far, and determined to continue it with parrhesia.”󰀁󰀃

Now, the challenge to PAROC is to initiate a method of participatory pastoral leadership, to which PAROC sought the help of tools from social sciences, especially from sociology.  Cf. Synodality in the Life and Mission, no. 󰀃.  Pope Francis, Address at the Opening of the 󰀇󰀀th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference, May 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀇, quoted in Synodality in the Life and Mission, no. 󰀁󰀂󰀀. Parrhesia could mean speaking boldly and frankly. 󰀁󰀂 󰀁󰀃

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󰀃. Some Reflections on a PAROC Study Programme 󰀁. Objectives and Initial Steps of a PAROC Study in Parishes PAROC conducts a benchmark study in parishes, which is named as ‘Know Your Parish and Grow together with that Knowledge’. One of the first steps is to study the existing structures of participation. Hence, one of the objectives of the study is to strengthen the existing statutory bodies to prepare the parish for wider participation. We cultivate a better atmosphere of listening among various stakeholders of the existing structures of participation. We not only have to listen to the parish priests, the kaikars (trustees) of the parish, but also have to empower these responsible men and women in the parish to listen to the faithful at large who come together as family units and pious associations under their guidance. This communication at various levels strengthens the communion in the parish and promotes a sense of belonging to the Church. Another objective of the PAROC benchmark survey is to make sure that the parish is known to all the members of the parish. It is an attempt to describe the parish from within. The question asked is: Who are we? The survey encourages all stakeholders to introspect how they envision their parish. It also brings in a culture of learning, assessment, and planning in the parish. Hence, the need for a lot of awareness programs before we actually start launching a survey. Usually it is done through Sunday homilies delivered by PAROC resource persons and seminars conducted at various levels in the parish. Often, the formative strategies of Jesus in pastoral commitment (e.g. “you give them something to eat” – Mt 󰀁󰀄:󰀁󰀆) and participatory ministry (e.g. There is a lad here with five loaves and two fish” – Jn 󰀆:󰀉) are themes of such homilies and shared reflections. The pastoral impact expected of such dynamics is to transform the parish from a crowd to a community. The function of the parish leadership is not merely passing information about the decisions already taken; it implies a process of deciding and acting together. Training is an important prerequisite for a successful scientific sociopastoral study. We need to transform the representative bodies of the parish and the core leadership team of laity, religious, and priests into a research team of listening, study, analysis, discernment, and action. A lot of training is needed at various levels in order to change the leaders from power-seekers to initiators, from dictators to facilitators and from managers to self-sacrificing pastors of the flock. The survey core team evolves from these training programs with the dispositions and skills mentioned

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above so that they are capable of handling pastoral issues in a scientific manner. In order that the survey be successful, we train investigators – one for every five to seven families. They are taught how to connect with the entire family – including women and children –, how to introduce each question and how to extract data from the responses. Several trained investigators are involved in the study which also helps to facilitate communication among the faithful. Through family visits and sharing facilitated by the investigators, we are able to listen to all in the parish community. It also motivates the investigators to be more involved in the pastoral issues they encounter in these conversations. 󰀂. Further Steps and Pastoral Implications of a Parish Study Statisticians and data specialists interpret the data received using statistical tools like SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The PAROC core team provides such expertise from their resource pool whenever experts in these areas are not available in parishes. Responses to the questionnaire are converted to numbers and further to Excel sheets. When interpreted and presented in graphics and charts, they are self-explanatory. Since these are based on the data given by the faithful, it is easy for them to identify these findings and inferences from such sociological and statistical analysis and accept the action plans as their own. This naturally takes us to the importance of the dissemination of the data as well as the findings in the basic family units and the parish pastoral leadership. The discussions in small groups, based on graphic presentations of the data, inferences from the data and findings from the data analysis help the participants to arrive at their own strategies and action plans to respond to. These action plans respond to both the strengths and weaknesses of the group revealed in the study. It is important also to prioritize the action plans, schedule them systematically and entrust them to various committees. Dissemination should also happen at the macro-level, in our case, at the parish level. Certain actions, though suggested by micro-level discussions, can be taken up only at the parish level. Several action plans might have been commonly suggested by various individual units. The coordination of such action plans can be transferred to the parish level pastoral leadership. The action plans can be classified into long-term and short-term pastoral plans for the parish.

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Further reflections on the pastoral action plans at the macro and micro levels can take us to prepare a pastoral policy for the parish, which requires also a study of the pastoral policies at the diocesan level. Monitoring and following-up of pastoral plans are very important in order to ensure the sustainability of the action-oriented parish pastoral ministry. Follow-up committees monitor the executive committees of the respective action plans. Further tools of evaluation have to be used to ensure the implementation of the pastoral plan. Concluding Remarks As the PAROC model and its realization in parishes and other structures of the Church are still in their infancy stage, it is quite early to judge, or even to draw conclusions on the PAROC initiatives. PAROC learns and enhances its vision and mission along with the steps we take to interact with pastoral structures as well as various aspects of family life. One can, however, sense certain ramifications of the method reflected in the church life in Trichur and elsewhere at family, parish, and archdiocesan levels. Let me enumerate a few of them in the light of what we have discussed above. The very process of undergoing PAROC programs in parishes is a course of transformation among the clergy, the religious, the pastoral leadership and the lay faithful. Since the procedure itself provides space at all these levels to think, walk, and work together, a ‘conversion’ to participation at each respective level happens if they approach the process with a genuine openness. We find more and more spontaneous initiatives taken to ensure participatory role for all stakeholders in the decision-making as well as in implementation and subsequent review of the pastoral plan. The reception of the PAROC model in many parishes has its influence at the archdiocesan level. The parishes where the PAROC study was well-received called for implementing the PAROC model in the proposed Archdiocesan Assembly󰀁󰀄 of Trichur, already announced in 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅. They requested the Archbishop, not to fix the theme of the Assembly based on a few responses from the faithful or from the college of consulters; rather, a PAROC method can ensure listening to every family in the Archdiocese before celebrating the Assembly. Accordingly, a questionnaire 󰀁󰀄

 The Diocesan Synod in the Latin Church is called Diocesan Assembly in the Oriental Churches.

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was prepared and sent to all families of the Archdiocese, the themes were analyzed, prioritized, and finalized based on around 󰀇󰀈,󰀀󰀀󰀀 responses out of around 󰀈󰀅,󰀀󰀀󰀀 questionnaires sent. The questionnaire was prepared in such a way that each parish could identify their own particular pastoral issues and suggest priorities for the Archdiocese. To this effect, parish level assemblies were conducted in all 󰀂󰀁󰀄 parishes with the help of over a hundred trained resource persons (trained by PAROC research institute) from among the clergy, the religious, and the laity. Though the Archdiocesan assembly had to be postponed for another one and half years to fulfill the PAROC procedure, the actual assembly was very fruitful because it was mostly a valedictory deliberation of the pastoral action plans discussed and proposed ‘from below’, from the parishes. The Archdiocesan Assembly, therefore, became the manifestation of the gift of discernment, a gift of the Holy Spirit and final attestation of what the Holy Spirit wanted from the Church of Trichur (Rev 󰀂:󰀂󰀉; 󰀃:󰀂󰀂). Another impact of the PAROC model was the evolution of a Pastoral Animation and Coordination Team (PACT) in every parish. This was in response to the deliberations of the Assembly to empower the Parish Council, Yogam, to function as a truly participatory and responsible body. Important matters discussed in the Council are not right away either voted through or voted out; they are entrusted to PACT, a sub-committee of Yogam, – its members think, analyze, deliberate, and propose plans in response to the issues discussed. The formation of PACT has a structural impact on pastoral ministry in the parishes. A similar structural change has also evolved at the archdiocesan level. Based on the deliberations of the Assembly, the Archdiocesan PACT prepared a five-year Pastoral Plan and pastoral policy, which has been in place for two years and is now in the process of further adaptation in the face of Covid 󰀁󰀉 crisis. The PAROC Model has attracted other dioceses in Kerala to review their participatory pastoral structures. PAROC organized two training programs on PAROC Methodology for pastoral leaders/animators from other dioceses and one training program for all the thirty young priests in a diocese in their diocesan pastoral center. Thus, the PAROC model is slowly making inroads in the way the churches in Kerala envision their pastoral ministry. The path of PAROC is not always smooth and bright. It is a fact that we encounter serious obstructions from one or more stakeholders who are not open to self-transformation. Having acknowledged this challenge as a ‘necessary evil’ in any process for paradigm shift, PAROC is still

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groping to find ways to overcome such situations of standstill. Some of the steps we have taken have shown positive results: For example, every year PAROC organizes short term courses for priests in small groups (eight or nine sessions to groups of twenty to thirty priests), which have been well accepted. The themes discussed in the previous three years were a) participatory pastoral ministry, b) skills for pastoral accompaniment and c) family pastoral accompaniment. Another program which we offer is training in participatory dynamics in yogams of each parish. We have completed a video input session followed by symposia in every parish. A second part of the module has been prepared to reach out every parish through the PAROC resource team, which will be launched after the Covid 󰀁󰀉 lockdown.

Laudato si’ The Eco-Theology and Eco-Praxis of Pope Francis Johan De Tavernier The second encyclical of Pope Francis Laudato si’, mi’ Signore (literally “Praise be to you, my Lord”) is a masterly text. Bruno Latour regards this encyclical as a cry from the heart of a Pope who has long been worrying about the melting of the ice in Antarctica during his earlier life in southern Argentina.󰀁 The encyclical describes in a passionate way the new position of the Catholic Church on ecology. It removes a number of ambiguities of previous ecclesial documents with regard to environmental issues. Since the first mention of the concern about ecology in the apostolic exhortation Octogesima adveniens (󰀁󰀉󰀇󰀁), a long road has been followed.󰀂 The key message of Laudato si’ is that there is a Christian perspective of its own in the environmental debate that can be described as an ellipse with two focal points that keep each other in balance, namely ‘co-humanity’ and ‘co-creaturality’, summarized in the notion of ‘integral ecology’ or the intrinsic link between (in)justice and ecology.󰀃 The Pope analyzes the imminent climate crisis caused by the human person and its impact on the living conditions of billions of poor people in the global South and thereby takes into account the key point of any ecclesiastical social thought that poverty is injustice. The poverty of so many people on earth is linked to the fragility of the planet – the climate refugees. The encyclical recognizes that all fellow creatures, precisely because of their created nature, have an intrinsic value. By this, our faith in creation 󰀁  Bruno Latour, “The Immense Cry Channeled by Pope Francis,” in Commentaries on Laudato si’, ed. Mgr. Beau, Collège des Bernardins (September 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅). See: http://www. environmentandsociety.org/mml/immense-cry-channeled-pope-francis. 󰀂  With regard to the evolution of ecological concern in Catholic social thought, see Celia Deane-Drummond, “Joining the Dance: Catholic Social Teaching and Ecology,” New Blackfriars 󰀉󰀃 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀁󰀉󰀃-󰀂󰀁󰀂. 󰀃  Latour, “The Immense Cry,” states: “And yet, if the power of innovation of the Laudato si’ is so strong, it is because […of], it seems to me, two major innovations, namely: the link between ecology and injustice and the recognition of the power of the earth itself to act and to suffer.”

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receives an ethical translation – the Pope speaks of the connectedness in creation as a ‘sublime communion’ and refers to the ‘cry of the earth’ and the ‘groan of creation’. He also points to the urgency of a transition that is needed and appeals to each of us for what he calls an ‘ecological conversion’ because neither techno-fix solutions nor current economic models will suffice to solve the gigantic problem. Known visions about ‘progress’ will fall short. Finally, he presents the environmental crisis as a serious matter of conscience for both Christians and people of goodwill and shows his willingness to look for lasting answers to the environmental crisis with a ‘coalition of the willing’. In the meantime, he insists that the old virtue of ‘temperance’, refusing a disposable culture by drastically reducing consumption needs, is a part of this answer. The new accents in ecclesial social thinking are: the inclusion of future generations in the discussion about general well-being and thus a much broader definition of responsibility and the common good than what is usual; the affirmation that all creatures have an inherent value and not only human beings; the extension of the concept of ‘universal common good’ – previously only applied to people – to other species, ecosystems, and even planet earth; the interplay of what is good for human beings with what is good for creation and vice versa through the core message of any ecological thoughts that sounds as a chorus: ‘everything is interconnected’ (the air we breathe, the quality of the water we drink, etc.) and finally the call to take seriously the impact of climate change on the poor by strengthening the social virtue of solidarity. 󰀁. See, Judge, Act “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (LS 󰀁󰀆󰀀). The question of the quality of the living conditions on earth for future generations touches the heart of Laudato si’. The care for the earth, presented as our ‘common home’, should not be looked at in terms of isolated ecological discussions, but rather, as a much more fundamental question on how we deal with the biotope in which we live and on which we depend for our survival. Without this deeper questioning about the impact of our wasteful style of living, any commitment to sustainability will yield insufficient results. The encyclical takes its name from the invocation of Saint Francis ‘Laudato si’, mi’ Signore’ from his canticle of the sun. The essence of the

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Franciscan philosophy reminds us that we are biologically dependent on the earth with whom we share life as a mother who opens her arms to nurture her child (“Praise my Lord for our sister mother earth, by whom we are fed and cared for”). All too often people forget the importance of the biophysical conditions on our bodies. Translated in a spiritual way: people are reckless if they forget that they are dust from the earth (Gn 󰀂:󰀇). Our body consists of biological elements that we have in common with other life forms and functions largely like other mammals: bodies need oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Energy is needed daily and incineration releases waste materials that are disposed of. Both gas and metabolism are under the control of the nervous and hormone system and the body interacts with the external environment through the senses. In short, we are the result of a very long biological evolution that is completely dependent on external climate conditions that are preferably disrupted as little as possible so as not to jeopardize our homeostasis. The fact that the biophysical conditions deteriorate on a planetary level is interpreted spiritually with the image that the earth is being ‘mistreated and neglected’. Pope Francis invites us to listen to ‘the cry of the earth’ that begs individuals, families, local communities, nation states, and the international community for an ‘ecological conversion’. This passage illustrates how Pope Francis balances between traditional ecclesial social thinking and liberation theology. In LS 󰀄󰀉 he mentions the well-known work of Leonardo Boff Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇) (“…a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (italics in the text of LS) but does not name Boff by name and the Pope further shows that he does not appreciate his uncritical takeover of James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis.󰀄 Laudato si’ is a compelling invitation to change course and to take responsibility for stopping the deterioration of the biophysical living conditions of the earth. The Pope therefore greatly welcomes the everincreasing awareness of the need for nature conservation and the rapidly growing concern about the climate problem and resolutely supports them (LS 󰀁󰀉). The idea that runs through the encyclical is that it is not too late: “Men and women are still capable of intervening positively” (LS 󰀅󰀈). 󰀄  Leonardo Boff, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀇). In an uncritical way, Boff refers to James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis. This holistic theory describes the earth as a “living super-organism” (pp. 󰀁󰀂 and 󰀁󰀆) and sees as highest ethical criterion the stability of planet earth. As a consequence, humans are considered as parasites. For Lovelock the ideal number of people is maximum 󰀁 billion.

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Although the situation can be called dramatic, he believes that people are still able to rise above themselves and turn the tide and are now prepared to make ecologically responsible choices (LS 󰀂󰀀󰀅). The encyclical is primarily addressed to Christians: “Christians realize that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith” (LS 󰀆󰀄).󰀅 But in line with Pacem in terris, the Pope also emphasizes the dialogue with everyone who is concerned about the future of the earth. This dialogue with all those people of good will runs like a red thread through the text and in chapter five it is even presented as the most effective instrument for tackling climate problems. The dialogue also includes ecumenical efforts. In that context, much attention is paid to the ecological efforts of other churches and Christian communities (LS 󰀇). The ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, who is considered as the ‘green patriarch’, is mentioned by name in paragraphs seven, eight, and nine. Bartholomew’s message can be summarized as a demand to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, and asceticism which entails “learning to give, and not simply to give up” (LS 󰀉). Pope Francis also acknowledges that the fundamental reflections of many scientists, philosophers, theologians, and even individual citizens have enriched ecclesial thinking about ecology. He, in turn, asks that others do also recognize that religions can make their own contribution to the much-needed ecological action (LS 󰀆󰀂). The six chapters of the encyclical follow Joseph Cardijn’s ‘see, judge, act’-methodology (LS 󰀁󰀅). 󰀂. The Ecological Crisis: What Happens to Our Common House? The first chapter presents the recent scientific research results. The Pope fully accepts and supports the 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄 findings of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). He speaks of a ‘solid consensus’. The serious warnings of the scientists are presented as a description of the ‘scream of creation’. It is very remarkable and at the same time gratifying that the Magisterium in the best Catholic tradition connects very accurately with scientific data and even defends it against anyone  LS refers to John Paul II’s message on the annual Peace Day 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀 (no. 󰀁󰀅, AAS 󰀈󰀂 [󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀀]: 󰀁󰀅󰀆). 󰀅

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who still denies that the climate crisis cannot be (even not partly) explained by human behavior. Climate change has anthropogenic causes and this conviction is used as a foundation for further theological and ethical argumentation (LS 󰀂󰀃: “…yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity”).󰀆 Laudato si’ puts an end to climate skepticism and blind belief (‘obstructionist attitudes’) in techno-fix solutions among Catholics (LS 󰀁󰀄.󰀂󰀃). It is explicitly stated in LS 󰀁󰀆󰀁 that the doomsday scenario can no longer be met with irony or disdain. It rarely or never happens that in church documents so much attention goes to a description of the situation and analysis (the ‘see’ aspect of Joseph Cardijn). The importance of reading carefully the ‘signs of the times’ is underlined by the presence of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and chairperson of the German Advisory Council on Global Change, at the Laudato si’ press presentation in Rome and of climatologist Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, then vice-president of the IPCC, at the press conference in Brussels. Many aspects of the ecological crisis are discussed in which extensive consideration is given to the role of persons (LS 󰀁󰀅). Human pollution of the soil, air and water, with global warming as a result, is said to have serious consequences and is rightly considered as one of the most important challenges facing humanity (LS 󰀂󰀅). Numerous problematic issues are mentioned: the massive use of fossil fuels (LS 󰀁󰀆󰀅), insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, the storage of non-biodegradable waste, such as nuclear waste, and the largely nonrecyclable production of these things (LS 󰀂󰀀-󰀂󰀁). By way of example, reference is made to the fact that more than half of the paper used worldwide is not yet recycled and to the still large annual loss of tropical rain forest. The massive discharge of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide) will lead to a deterioration in climatic conditions. The greatest impact will be felt by the poorest who use all kinds of ecosystem services in their struggle for survival. The expected rise in sea level, for example, will mainly hit unprotected coasts where tens of millions of poor people try to survive from local fishing along the coast 󰀆  Paul Scherz, “Laudato si’ and the Use of Scientific Research in Theology and Public Policy,” The Heythrop Journal (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆) 󰀃 – online: May 󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆; https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/abs/󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀁󰀁󰀁/heyj.󰀁󰀂󰀃󰀃󰀇.

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(Bangladesh, India, Indonesia).󰀇 Those who have the resources and are economically and politically powerful, are able to protect themselves against the impact of global warming. For example, the KNMI (Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands) states that with the reduction of greenhouse emissions to zero between now and 󰀂󰀁󰀀󰀀 and with a temperature increase of maximum 󰀂 degrees, the rise in sea level would be limited to an extra 󰀇󰀀 cm in 󰀂󰀁󰀀󰀀.󰀈 If we are not able to drastically reduce emissions in the coming decades, a significant proportion of the ice caps in the South Pole are in danger of collapsing and the frost of Greenland will melt away. Prevention is better than cure! Laudato si’ believes that it will be difficult to tackle the source of pollution directly. People are tackling some symptoms here and there and operate in the margins (LS 󰀂󰀆). However, climate control should be considered as the highest common good. With regard to water, the Pope states that accessibility of safe drinking water is a universal basic right and as such a condition for the exercise of other human rights. In traditional ecclesial thought, socio-economic rights have priority over individual freedom rights without, of course, excluding them. Therefore, Laudato si’ could say: whoever denies the poor access to water, denies their right to life (LS 󰀃󰀀). As water becomes more scarce, food production will become more expensive, thereby reducing accessibility to food (LS 󰀃󰀁). The loss of biodiversity, the annual loss of thousands of plants and animal species partly due to anthropogenic causes, means that our children will never see the lost species again (LS 󰀃󰀃: “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right”). We can therefore no longer consider the richness of the species as material to be exploited because every tree, plant, insect or animal also has value in itself. On the other hand, we must be grateful for the efforts made by scientists and engineers to find solutions to environmental problems. The search for more efficient renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels and the creation of ‘sanctuaries’ for the sake of the conversation of biodiversity are concrete examples that ‘conservationists’ will be 󰀇

 Robert M. DeConto and David Pillard, “Contribution of Antarctica to Past and Future Sea-Level Rise,” Nature 󰀅󰀃󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀅󰀉󰀁-󰀅󰀉󰀇, at 󰀅󰀉󰀁: “Antarctica has the potential to contribute more than a meter of sea-level rise by 󰀂󰀁󰀀󰀀 and more than 󰀁󰀅 meters by 󰀂󰀅󰀀󰀀, if emissions continue unabated. In this case atmospheric warming will soon become the dominant driver of ice loss, but prolonged ocean warming will delay its recovery for thousands of years.” 󰀈  Newsletter Delta Programme, May 󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆.

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delighted with. The Pope resolutely chooses to preserve the remaining area of the tropical rain forests in the Amazon and the Congo basin. He argues in favor of no longer cutting down primeval forests (LS 󰀃󰀉) and is an advocate of sustainable fishing and the preservation of coral reefs (LS 󰀄󰀀-󰀄󰀁). He warns of techno-fix solutions (‘irrational trust’) because the proposed solutions and technological interventions are often short-term measures and serve purely financial speculation and thereby contribute even more to consumerism, which can cause even more damage to the earth (LS 󰀃󰀄). Regarding the difficult point of demographic growth and the fact that the Church is often blamed for its position on birth control contributing to the ecological crisis, the Pope says that demographic growth cannot identify the culprit without referring to the extreme consumer behavior of a minority which believes that they have the right to consume the environment in a way that can never be universalized. He also calls attention to the unbalanced density of the population (LS 󰀅󰀀). On this point criticism can rightly be given and much criticism has been given. It also exposes a tension in the encyclical. Laudato si’ gives the impression that it is easily possible to keep the earth livable without mortgaging the human dignity of everyone. All salvation is expected from less consumption and moderation of consumption needs, in sum a less wasteful lifestyle. However, anyone who is familiar with demographic evolution, realizes that it will not be easy because there is also truth in the story of those who point to an exponential demographic growth as the main threat to the carrying capacity of the earth, certainly in the future. We are currently 󰀇.󰀄󰀄 billion people and the forecast (medium variant) states that there will probably be 󰀁󰀀 to 󰀁󰀁 billion people between 󰀂󰀀󰀆󰀀 and 󰀂󰀀󰀇󰀀. Both factors, population growth and consumption level, are important. In that sense, it is certainly a missed opportunity that even the positive appreciation of ‘responsible parenting’ mentioned in Caritas in veritate (󰀄󰀄) is not mentioned. A lot of attention is paid to global inequality in the use of energy and matter. The resource debate illustrates the ‘ecological debt’ (LS 󰀅󰀁) that the North has vis-à-vis the South. From the perspective of climate change, there are different responsibilities (LS 󰀅󰀂) and those of the more developed countries are much larger. The South often supplies raw materials (metals such as copper, minerals, oil, etc.) that is accompanied by coarse pollution during extraction and receives toxic and other waste from the North. Multinationals use practices in the South that they can

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no longer afford in the countries of the North. Conscious of the very large differences in environmental and climate impact and the urgent need to make agreements about the environmental usage space, Pope Francis is genuinely surprised with the ‘weak’ answers of the North to the dramas that affect and will affect hundreds of millions of people in the South. It is perhaps no coincidence that the publication of Laudato si’ (May 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅) happened two days before World Refugee Day. Not only the violence of war in Syria and Iraq but also the growing number of extreme weather conditions (more hurricanes, droughts, and rainfall) help to explain the flow of refugees. Francis presents himself as their advocate. Although there are also positive signs here and there (LS 󰀅󰀈), there is generally speaking a carefree negligence among westerners and a lack of concern for the common good (LS 󰀅󰀉). People do not lie awake about the causes or solutions, but about the migration flows. The urgency of climate change is not really present and a true culture of sustainability is missing (LS 󰀅󰀃). In particular, the willingness to change one’s own lifestyle and to make production and consumption more sustainable cannot be seen in a great measure (LS 󰀅󰀉). The efforts to develop a legal framework that sets clear limits on pollution (boundaries) and protects vulnerable ecosystems are positive but often the leadership required to enforce this in practice, is lacking. A missed opportunity in terms of analysis is that no reference has been made in Laudato si’ to the notion of ‘Planetary Boundaries’, currently a leading concept in scientific circles. The Planetary Boundaries concept incorporates a new vision of sustainable development to replace the classic Brundtland definition from Our Common Future (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇) to which Laudato si’ still refers: “Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The concept of Planetary Boundaries, developed by Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Center (Stockholm University) and Will Steffen (Australian National University), starts from nine indicators with limit values (boundaries) that determine the planet on a planetary level as a safe operating space for humanity.󰀉 The indicators include biodiversity loss, climate 󰀉  See Johan Rockström et al., “A Safe Operating Space for Humanity,” Nature 󰀄󰀆󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉): 󰀄󰀇󰀂-󰀄󰀇󰀅; Johan Rockström et al., “Planetary Boundaries: Exploring a Safe Operating Space for Humanity,” Ecology and Society 󰀁󰀄, no. 󰀂 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉): 󰀃󰀂; Will Steffen et al., “Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet,” Science 󰀃󰀄󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): 󰀇󰀃󰀆f.

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change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle and the use of potable water. Social and economic sustainability must be situated within these ecological limits. Sustainability is therefore no longer a half-hearted compromise between ecological, social and economic sustainability.

󰀃. The Gospel of Creation Chapter two discusses some Bible passages in which core ideas of the Jewish-Christian tradition are formulated in support of the sense of responsibility for creation: the ‘groaning’ of creation in labor pains (Rm 󰀈:󰀁󰀈-󰀂󰀂), the intimate connection of all creatures, the wisdom of the creator that can be found in creation and the fact that the natural environment must be regarded as a collective good and the patrimony of humanity (LS 󰀉󰀅).󰀁󰀀 In addition, the notion ‘creation’ has a broader meaning than the notion ‘nature’. In the Bible, God-creator is both a liberating and a saving God. Creation and redemption are inseparable (LS 󰀇󰀃). There are three relationships that can be broken: with God, with our neighbor and with the earth. These three vital relationships can be broken by human ‘hubris’ or recklessness, which we call ‘sin’. Because some Bible passages have played a crucial role in the legitimacy of a too outspoken anthropocentric or humanocentric attitude with adverse consequences for the environment (for example, in the P-creation story Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀈 ‘rule over’, ‘subject’),󰀁󰀁 Pope Francis convincingly states that it is wrong to think that being created in God’s image and having received the responsibility to co-create, would mean that we are entitled to rule 󰀁󰀀  For detailed comments on the use of scripture in LS, see Brendan Byrne S.J., “A Pauline Complement to Laudato si’,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀃󰀀󰀈-󰀃󰀂󰀇. – “The encyclical’s pessimistic understanding of creation’s groaning is understandable but somewhat out of kilter with what would appear to be the original meaning of the text … While Romans 󰀈:󰀁󰀈-󰀂󰀂 has been seized upon with eagerness by those seeking a biblical foundation for ecological concern, the attempt to achieve this has met with some measure of scholarly reserve” (󰀃󰀀󰀉-󰀃󰀁󰀀). See also Jan Lambrecht, “Ecocentric or Anthropocentric? A Reading of Romans 󰀈:󰀁󰀈-󰀂󰀅,” in Celebrating Paul: Festschrift in Honor of Jerome Murphy-O’Connor o.p. and Joseph Fitzmyer s.j., ed. P. Spitaler, Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph (Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁), 󰀁󰀆󰀉-󰀁󰀈󰀈; Cherryl Hunt et al., “An Environmental Mantra? Ecological Interest in Romans 󰀈:󰀁󰀉-󰀂󰀃 and a Modest Proposal for Its Narrative Interpretation,” Journal of Theological Studies 󰀅󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀈): 󰀅󰀄󰀆-󰀅󰀇󰀉. 󰀁󰀁  See Lynn White, “The Historic Roots of the Ecological Crisis,” Science 󰀁󰀅󰀅 (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇): 󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀃-󰀁󰀂󰀀󰀇.

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arbitrarily over other creatures (LS 󰀆󰀇). He admits that Christians have misinterpreted this verse in certain periods. Moreover, such texts must be situated in their time. Therefore, an appropriate hermeneutics is important. The second and oldest Yahwist creation story states that human beings have the responsibility to cultivate and manage the garden of the world (cf. Gn 󰀂:󰀁󰀅) (LS 󰀆󰀇). The verb ‘till’ refers to cultivate, while the verb ‘keep’ refers to care, protection, and preservation. Moreover, the earth belongs to God; we are not owners. This means that we are responsible for God’s earth and that we must respect the laws of nature and strive for an ecological equilibrium. All creatures, including ourselves, have an intrinsic value that is prior to their use value (LS 󰀈󰀃). Celia Deane-Drummond rightly points out the importance of the theological argument that even ecosystems have an “intrinsic value independent of their usefulness” (LS 󰀁󰀄󰀀).󰀁󰀂 This puts Laudato si’ on the same line as many environmental movements that have as their starting point that forests and trees, animals, and ecosystems have intrinsic value. The value of all creatures is illustrated with references to the Sabbath tradition that also applies to animals and land (LS 󰀇󰀁). The fact that persons can no longer consider themselves as ‘masters’ of the universe, does not mean that all life on Earth is equal because people would lose their uniqueness, nor should we deify the earth. At the end of the chapter (LS 󰀉󰀀), the Pope particularly sharply denounces that some people attach more importance to the intrinsic value of other species than to the intrinsic value of humans and the inequality among humans. Such biocentric and zoocentric views discourage any effort to work on and with the fragility of the earth, a position specific to the Christian tradition. Such efforts must be justified, however, and in that perspective every act of cruelty to every creature is in principle contrary to human dignity (LS 󰀉󰀂). One can think of the long, Thomist-inspired tradition of ‘humane killing’ of animals and the responsible cultivation of the soil (e.g. making soils fertile). But the basic attitude is a deep awareness of a universal connection with the rest of nature, which implies a tender, compassionate and attentive care (LS 󰀉󰀁). Exegete Brendan Byrne blames the writers of the encyclical for being too focused on refuting Lynn White’s criticism and not taking into account Paul’s vision. He even calls it a missed opportunity. At the end  Celia Deane-Drummond, “Laudato si’ and the Natural Sciences: An Assessment of Possibilities and Limits,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀃󰀉󰀂-󰀄󰀁󰀅, at 󰀄󰀀󰀂. 󰀁󰀂

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of chapter two (LS 󰀉󰀆-󰀁󰀀󰀀) one finds a number of passages in which images of nature in relation to Christ are mentioned in a homiletic tone. In LS 󰀉󰀉-󰀁󰀀󰀀, reference is made to the purpose of creation and the role of Christ with reference to the prologue of John (󰀁:󰀁-󰀁󰀈) and the hymn in Colossians (󰀁:󰀁󰀅-󰀂󰀀). Byrne finely points out that the two creation stories play a decisive role in the theology of Paul who re-reads the creation stories in the light of Christ as the ‘last Adam’ (󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀅:󰀄󰀅). Paul sketches the messianic kingdom of Christ with reference to Psalm 󰀈 (which is not mentioned in Laudato si’) as the opposite of Adam. In other words, Paul understood the messianic kingdom of the risen Lord as the fulfillment of the Creator’s plan, including the role of people in the universe as described in Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀆-󰀂󰀈 and poetically in Psalm 󰀈. Christ’s ruling is meant to give Christ’s life to the world and to defeat death and darkness. Laudato si’ speaks a lot about the biblical motive of ‘human dominionship’ based on Gn 󰀁:󰀂󰀈 (LS 󰀆󰀆-󰀆󰀈, 󰀈󰀂, 󰀁󰀁󰀅-󰀁󰀁󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀀) but does not refer to Psalm 󰀈 nor to Paul’s elaboration of this psalm in relation to the messianic kingdom of Christ. It may be clear from the Christ anthem (Phil 󰀂:󰀆-󰀁󰀁) that imago Dei or us being ‘like God’ should be understood as self-emptiness (‘sacrificial love’) and not as exploitation for selfish reasons. ‘Self-serving’ is contrasted here with the responsible exercise of human rule over the natural world that is rather contemplative in nature (LS 󰀄, 󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀇, 󰀃󰀃, 󰀆󰀇, 󰀁󰀀󰀆, 󰀁󰀃󰀂, 󰀁󰀄󰀅, 󰀁󰀇󰀅, 󰀁󰀉󰀀, 󰀂󰀃󰀀). Paul likes to contrast Christ with Adam. He presents him as ‘obedient’ to God while Adam is ‘disobedient’ (Rm 󰀅:󰀁󰀉) and thereby lost his God-like immortality that God wanted to give him through the tree of life (Gn 󰀂:󰀉; 󰀃:󰀂󰀂-󰀂󰀄) and his followers left a legacy of sin and death (Rm 󰀅:󰀁󰀂). Both 󰀁 Cor 󰀁󰀅:󰀂󰀁-󰀂󰀈 and Phil 󰀂:󰀆-󰀁󰀁 provide a Pauline foundation for a more merciful than exploiting attitude towards the environment. A better biblical-theological foundation would have put the scriptural foundation of the proposition of Laudato si’ (“Clearly, the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures” – LS 󰀆󰀈) in the gloss.󰀁󰀃 The Pope touches on another delicate point, namely the demythologization of nature that characterizes the Judeo-Christian tradition (LS 󰀇󰀈). The admiration that can be found in the Psalms (LS 󰀇󰀂) remained but is combined with the view that nature is not divine. People have 󰀁󰀃  Byrne, “A Pauline Complement to Laudato si’,” 󰀃󰀂󰀆-󰀃󰀂󰀇: “The key point surely, as the encyclical itself insists (see LS 󰀁󰀁󰀆), is to ensure that a benign rather than an exploitative anthropocentrism prevails. To this end, as I have attempted to show in this study, the writings of Paul merit a substantial place among the Scripture cited to promote ‘care for our common home’.”

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been given the responsibility to deal with nature in a responsible manner. Three elements play a role: the fragility of nature, the responsibility of man to creatively deal with nature and the firm will to increase its potentiality. 󰀄. The Ecological Crisis Caused by Humans In this third chapter, the current situation is analyzed in dialogue with philosophy and the humanities. Both symptoms and causes are discussed (LS 󰀁󰀅). The first theme that is dealt with is technology. Grateful consideration is given to the improvement of living conditions brought about by the use of many technologies. The traditional technological optimism that arises from the Catholic understanding of our creational responsibility is interpreted in LS 󰀆󰀇 and is in line with Caritas in veritate 󰀆󰀉 and Laborem exercens 󰀄-󰀅.󰀁󰀄 So the adaptation of nature in the context of useful applications is something that characterizes human beings. Transport systems (from steam engine to aircraft), electricity, communication technologies (from telegraph to GSM), information technologies, robotics, nanotechnologies, medical technologies, etc. have unimaginably changed life and usually improved its quality. But technosciences – for the first time in ecclesial social thinking the conflation between science and technology as ‘technoscience’ is being discussed – in the hands of those who have enough capital, also give power to the world and tend to instrumentalize everything that is natural (LS 󰀁󰀀󰀄, 󰀁󰀀󰀆). The Pope clearly states that it is precisely the mentality of technocratic dominance – and the daring confidence we have in it (nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our DNA) – that can lead to the destruction of nature and the exploitation of the poorer population. For a long time it was thought that more technology meant more progress, but this modern fairy tale has come to an end. The technocratic paradigm tends to globally colonize the economy and political life (LS 󰀁󰀀󰀉) just as the neoliberal capitalist free market economy promotes the idea that growth is infinite while operating in a finite world of resources that are often not regenerable. He invokes Romano Guardini’s ideas from both Das Ende der Neuzeit (󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀁) and his earlier letters between 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀃 and 󰀁󰀄  Scherz, “Laudato si’ and the Use of Scientific Research,” 󰀅: “Papal encyclicals affirm technology: ‘Technology enables us to exercise dominion over matter … Technology, in this sense, is a response to God’s command to till and to keep the land’.”

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󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀅, published in Schildgenossen (bundled in Briefe vom Comer See – 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀇) in which he is particularly pessimistic about the spreading of a technological mindset. It leads to a calculating gaze that excludes any openness to mystery. This kind of criticism of technocracy and its controlling mentality is in line with the more extensive analysis that Benedict XVI presents in Spe salvi and with Francis’ Lumen fidei in which F. Bacon’s technical utopia is heavily criticized – for Bacon, technical superiority over natural laws meant the restoration of the mastery of creation lost in paradise (Spe salvi 󰀁󰀆, Lumen fidei 󰀂󰀅; see also Caritas in veritate 󰀇󰀀).󰀁󰀅 With this, Pope Francis places himself in a long tradition of criticism of the technological paradigm that has been given idolatric traits in our modern context. The Pope states that it is even perceived as countercultural to opt for a lifestyle without much technology, and he somewhat regrets this. Moreover, on the contrary, the market economy cannot of itself guarantee a comprehensive human development and social inclusion (LS 󰀁󰀀󰀉). The core position of Catholic social thought returns as a chorus: the market mechanism is unable to regulate itself in this regard (LS 󰀁󰀂󰀃). Because most environmental goods are public or semi-public, having in most cases a supra-personal nature, environmental costs are often regarded as external costs for the sake of profit and self-interest which means that the pursuit of sustainability often remains dead letter. Francis speaks of a crazy capitalism in which people regard the exploitation of nature and of fellow human beings as normal. He argues for a different view on things. Without wanting to return to the Stone Age, he pledges his support to, among others, cooperatives of small food producers who want to produce in a more environmentally friendly way, to engineers who design technologies that respond to the direct needs of the sick, poor, small entrepreneurs and citizens, and those who prefer a non-consumption-oriented style of life. A second element that receives a lot of attention is the fact that modernity is characterized by excessive anthropocentrism (LS 󰀁󰀁󰀆). Elsewhere he is using the notion ‘a misunderstood anthropocentrism’ – he avoids the notion of “anthropological error” (Centesimus annus 󰀃󰀇) used by Pope John Paul II. The Pope admits that an ‘inadequate’ presentation of Christian anthropology in the past has given rise to this. Along with modernity, the Christian tradition has 󰀁󰀅  For a detailed analysis of Benedict’s thoughts about technology, see Patrick N. Cain, “Technology and Freedom: Pope Benedict XVI on Faith, Reason, and Politics,” Perspectives on Political Science 󰀄󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂): 󰀃-󰀁󰀀.

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great merit when it comes to recognizing the human being as a person, but the other side of the coin is that both traditions have gone a long way in a kind of Prometheus-like idea of mastery over the earth. So progress has often been at the expense of nature. What has been proposed in the recent past as a requirement for ‘rule’ appears to be incorrectly understood as responsible stewardship (LS 󰀁󰀁󰀆). Against this background, the encyclical addresses two problems. As far as work is concerned, instrumentalization is always threatening for workers. Such objectification of people is unacceptable because work has priority over capital, which means that work must always respect the intrinsic dignity of the worker (LS 󰀁󰀂󰀄). Anyone who stops investing in people to make profit in the short term will seriously harm society (LS 󰀁󰀂󰀈). With regard to scientific progress and the limits that must be set, such as GMOs (LS 󰀁󰀃󰀂-󰀁󰀃󰀆), it is said that this is a complex matter. Although the use of transgenic plants in some regions has led to economic growth and even if transgenic food turns out to be good and healthy, important questions and problems remain. He does not want to condemn the technology itself because mutations occur spontaneously in nature and there is no hard evidence for the theory that transgenic food would be unhealthy, but he does look at the consequences of the use of gene technology. In this context, he points out the increasing concentration of land ownership in the hands of only a few owners and finds this unfair.󰀁󰀆 He also denounces the use of sterile seeds because it detracts from the autonomy of the farmers, and here also defends the weakest, small producers, farm workers, biodiversity, and the importance of diversity of ecosystems. GM crops are part of an industrial agriculture that supports monocultures (“The expansion of these crops has the effect of destroying the complex network of ecosystems, diminishing the diversity of production and affecting regional economies, now and in the future” – LS 󰀁󰀃󰀄). For example, he claims that small traditional food producers who usually work with native varieties produce more sustainably. He asks the governments to protect the small landowners against the wealthy landowners because of their contribution to sustainable production. With regard to GMOs, he proposes to organize a broad social debate with independent interdisciplinary teams, among which scientists are also included, in order to make decisions based on all known science (LS 󰀁󰀃󰀅). Religious traditions could also make a contribution because they bring wisdom into the debate that reminds other disciplines of the fact that human  See Scherz, “Laudato si’ and the Use of Scientific Research,” 󰀈.

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power over nature sometimes needs to be limited, that the intrinsic value of creation sometimes deserves absolute respect and that limits have to be set in the way we work with nature. On the other hand, the integrity of the sciences must be fully recognized and the theological reflection must also include available scientific data in its process of discernment. In relation to laboratory animals, he refers to a no-unless policy based on proportionality and alternatives. Several authors regret that Laudato si’ makes no mention of the contemporary debate about the effects of the Anthropocene, a notion coined by chemical engineer and Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen and biologist Eugene Stoermer, explaining the increased intensity of human impact on ecosystems. The Anthropocene, following the Holocene, is a term introduced by Charles Lyell in 󰀁󰀈󰀃󰀃 for the post-glacial period of the last 󰀁󰀀 to 󰀁󰀂,󰀀󰀀󰀀 years. In their article in Nature (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), Crutzen and Stoermer make explicit reference to the French Jesuit and geologist Teilhard de Chardin who inspired them together with mathematician and philosopher Edouard Le Roy, pupil and successor of Henri Bergson at the Collège de France, and the Russian geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, who introduced the notion of “noosphere” in 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀄, describing the growing role of the human mind that gradually shapes the world and future through technological innovation.󰀁󰀇 The Anthropocene starts with the first industrial evolution because, for the first time in history, the human impact (notably ‘civilized man’, notes Will Steffen) is so great that it also influences the physical living conditions.󰀁󰀈 In their article, Crutzen and 󰀁󰀇  Paul J. Crutzen won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀅 for his work about the impact of nox on ozon. See Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer, “The ‘Anthropocene’,” The International Geosphere – Biosphere Programme (igbp) Newsletter 󰀄󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀): 󰀁󰀇-󰀁󰀈. See also Paul J. Crutzen, “Geology in Mankind: The Anthropocene,” Nature 󰀄󰀁󰀅 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂): 󰀂󰀃: “For the past three centuries, the effects of humans on the global environment have escalated. Because of these anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, global climate may depart significantly from natural behavior for many millennia to come. It seems appropriate to assign the term ‘Anthropocene’ to the present, in many ways human-dominated, geological epoch, supplementing the Holocene – the warm period of the past 󰀁󰀀-󰀁󰀂 millennia.” See also Paul J. Crutzen, “Anthropocene Man,” Nature 󰀄󰀆󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀) – s󰀁󰀀.doi:󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀀󰀃󰀈/󰀄󰀆󰀇S󰀁󰀀a. 󰀁󰀈  For a detailed historical reconstruction of the influence of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson on Paul Crutzen, see Will Steffen et al., “The Anthropocene: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 󰀃󰀆󰀉 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁): 󰀈󰀄󰀂-󰀈󰀆󰀇, at 󰀈󰀄󰀄-󰀈󰀄󰀅: “Both Teilhard and Vernadsky were readers of Suess’s La Face de la Terre and the celebrated French philosopher Henri Bergson. In his 󰀁󰀉󰀀󰀇 masterly book L’Évolution Créatrice, Bergson wrote: ‘A century has elapsed since the invention of the steam engine, and we are only just beginning to feel the depths of the shock it gave us’” (cited from: Creative Evolution, transl. by A. Mitchell, New York, 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀄,

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Stoermer refer to the main anthropogenic causes of the climate crisis: population growth, livestock growth, degree of urbanization, fossil fuels, land use, use of fertilizers, emissions of NO, CH󰀄 and CO², dwindling drinking water supplies, deforestation, etc. They therefore conclude: “Considering these and many other major and still growing impacts of human activities on earth and atmosphere, and at all, including global, scales, it seems to us more than appropriate to emphasize the central role of mankind in geology and ecology by proposing to use the term ‘anthropocene’ for the current geological epoch.”󰀁󰀉 What was previously interpreted positively by anthropologists by the description of humans as ‘homo faber’ and ‘homo consumens’, receives nowadays a rather negative interpretation by geologists. 󰀅. Integral Ecology What is called an ‘authentic human ecology’ in Centesimus annus (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀁), is called ‘integral ecology’ in the fourth chapter of Laudato si’ (󰀁󰀂󰀄). The notion of ‘integral ecology’ is considered a new paradigm of justice and appears for the first time in a publication on natural law by the International Theological Commission.󰀂󰀀 Since then, the notion has often been used by Cardinal Turkson.󰀂󰀁 In Laudato si’ no mention is made of the context of naturalist thinking. The notion ‘integral’ may seem strange at first sight, but should be understood in line with the way in which Jacques Maritain spoke of ‘integral humanism’.󰀂󰀂 Integral ecology is 󰀁󰀅󰀃). Vernadsky refers in his book La géochimie (Paris 󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀄) to Bergson and illustrates the geochemical consequences of industrial activities on the biosphere. 󰀁󰀉  Crutzen and Stoermer, “The ‘Anthropocene’,” 󰀁󰀇. 󰀂󰀀  International Theological Commission, In Search of a Universal Ethic: A New Look at Natural Law (Vatican City, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉), 󰀈󰀂: “An integral ecology must promote what is specifically human, all the while valuing the world of nature in its physical and biological integrity. … It is inseparable from a global political orientation respectful of the requirements of the natural law.” See: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_ documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉󰀀󰀅󰀂󰀀_legge-naturale_en.html. 󰀂󰀁  See a lecture from Cardinal Turkson, Integral Ecology and the Horizon of Hope: Concern for the Poor and for Creation in the Ministry of Pope Francis (Maynooth: Trocaire 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅 Lenten Lecture, Saint Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅): “Through his teaching on these themes, Pope Francis is promoting integral ecology as the key to addressing the inter-related issues of human ecology, development and the natural environment” (www.catholicbishops.ie/󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅/󰀀󰀃/󰀀󰀅/cardinal-peter-turkson-delivers-trocaire󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅-lenten-lecture-saint-patricks-pontifical-university-maynooth/). 󰀂󰀂  Jacques Maritain, Humanisme intégral: Problèmes temporels et spirituels d’une nouvelle chrétienté (Paris: Cerf, 󰀁󰀉󰀃󰀆). Translated in English as True Humanism. See Johan

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defined as ecology which respects our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings. In Catholic social teaching the environmental discussion should therefore never be seen separately from the social discussion. With the notion of ‘integral ecology’ Francis broadens the appeal about the development of a ‘human ecology’ that can be found in Caritas in veritate 󰀅󰀁: “The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa.” In that sense, it is logically stated that integral ecology is linked to general well-being (LS 󰀁󰀅󰀆). In concrete terms, this means that ecological care (for example the preferential option for the earth) must be linked to the injustice faced by a growing group of people who are deprived of fundamental human rights and therefore the preferential option for the poor (LS 󰀁󰀅󰀈). Whoever takes ecology to heart makes solidary choices and commits to live from the preferred option for the poorest among our brothers and sisters. In the view of the magisterium this is the best way to leave a more sustainable world for future generations. Like his predecessor Benedict XVI, Francis emphasizes that fair intergenerational solidarity cannot be achieved without renewed attention to intragenerational solidarity (LS 󰀁󰀆󰀂). Integral ecology is also about everyday life. The encyclical even pays attention to the urban environment. A great deal still needs to be done to drastically improve the quality of human life – public space, housing, transport, etc. (LS 󰀁󰀅󰀀-󰀁󰀅󰀄). By extension, talking about ecology also applies to the economy, politics, culture, and everyday life. For example, he talks about ‘economic ecology’ and ‘cultural ecology’ that incorporate the defense of local traditions. With the ecology of everyday life, he also brings up the fact that we have to accept our body as it is. The integral perspective also includes the ecology of the institutions that partly determine the quality of the living environment and human life. Anyone who damages solidarity and friendship among citizens also harms the environment (LS 󰀁󰀄󰀂). With many examples, the Pope illustrates how the analysis of environmental problems should not be separated from the analysis of family, work and urban context, and human relationships (LS 󰀁󰀄󰀁). The main reflection on the Church’s discourse on integral ecology is whether ‘integral ecology’ can be understood as a notion that comes close to ‘sustainable development’. ‘Integral ecology’ is not used in current De Tavernier, “The Historical Roots of Personalism,” Ethical Perspectives 󰀁󰀆 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀉): 󰀃󰀆󰀁-󰀃󰀉󰀂, at 󰀃󰀇󰀄-󰀃󰀇󰀇. Pope Paul VI uses ‘integral development’ in Populorum progressio (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀇). See also Caritas in veritate 󰀁󰀇-󰀁󰀈.

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scientific discourse nor in environmental circles. Laudato si’ seems to use the notion as a theological equivalent of Gro Brundtland’s definition of sustainable development (Our Common Future, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇). If that were the case, that would be very problematic for Daniel Castillo.󰀂󰀃 In his view, Laudato si’s criticism of the ecological debt of northern prosperous countries towards countries in the South can only lead to action if integral ecology is not understood as identical with Brundtland’s understanding of sustainable development because its understanding of sustainability continues to stimulate de facto economic growth. 󰀆. The Importance of Citizen Initiatives What can we do? What must we do? In chapter five it is said that analyzing the situation is insufficient. We need proposals for action and we need to take action at the micro and macro level (LS 󰀁󰀅). The aim must be to reverse the spiral of self-destruction that engulfs us (LS 󰀁󰀆󰀃). For Pope Francis, debates about practical solutions, such as energy transition, should not be influenced by ideological, artificial or reductionist arguments. To come up with practical solutions, dialogue is essential, a term that appears in the title of each section of this chapter. However, the Church does not intend to take the place of politics or settle scientific discussions on ‘hot’ environmental issues. For the Pope, the Church has to encourage people to debate honestly and openly about these issues because prejudices and ideological views often prohibit an honest discussion about the common good (LS 󰀁󰀈󰀈). Having said that, the Pope is very positive about the many environmental NGOs but very critical of the international political dynamics: recent environmental summits have by no means fulfilled public expectations due to a lack of political will (LS 󰀁󰀆󰀆). What still sounded promising at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂, 󰀂󰀀 years after the Stockholm declaration, remained a dead letter until the beginning of December 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Conference of the Parties, COP 󰀂󰀁). And the most recent COP in Madrid (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉) ended again in a disillusion. Negotiations on the reduction of greenhouse 󰀂󰀃  Daniel P. Castillo, “Integral Ecology as a Liberationist Concept,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀃󰀅󰀃-󰀃󰀇󰀆, at 󰀃󰀅󰀅 – “Specifically, I assert that it is necessary to draw on critical social analysis – as is proper to liberationist discourse – in order to demonstrate that the concept of integral ecology cannot be equated to the ubiquitous term ‘sustainable development’ but instead represents an inversion of that term.”

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gas emissions make no progress because national interests were given preference over the international public interest and it is still awaited to be seen how the agreements made in Paris (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆) will be implemented.󰀂󰀄 This seems to be a textbook example of what is referred to in literature as the tragedy of communitarian goods and the ‘free riders’ dilemma. Imagine a publicly accessible grassland on which different shepherds let their flocks of sheep graze. Even if the grass becomes scarce, there is no incentive to let fewer sheep graze on that piece of land. Overgrazing will be the result. The same happens with the climate as ‘commons’. That is why global governance of environmental conditions is a particularly big challenge and it also explains why so many initiatives turned out to be dead letters. Of course, there are also bright spots, for example the Basel Convention on Hazardous Substances, the binding Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and implementation through the Montreal Protocol. But afterwards not much happened and the results were often disappointing. The commitment of the countries in the North is also daunting. After all, those who have benefited in a disproportionate way from excessive greenhouse gas emissions have the greatest responsibility to come up with solutions. Until now, the will is missing. The Pope refers in this context to the United Nations summit on Sustainable Development in Rio + 󰀂󰀀 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀂). The Pope wonders which world leader now wants to be remembered as the one who was unable to take climate action seriously even when the necessity and the urgency no longer have to be proven? (LS 󰀅󰀇). He contrasts this with the growing ecological awareness of civil society. His disappointment with the state of affairs makes him rather skeptical about the power of the United Nations. Following Pacem in terris, the Pope calls for the development of new instruments for global governance (LS 󰀁󰀇󰀅) that can promote the so-called ‘global 󰀂󰀄

 The climate agreement of Paris is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on ‘greenhouse gases emissions’ (mitigation, adaptation and financial regulation) and must become effective in 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀. It was signed on April 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆 (Day of the Earth) in New York. Art. 󰀂 speaks about three aims: “(a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 󰀂°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 󰀁.󰀅°C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; (b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; (c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.”

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commons’ (LS 󰀁󰀇󰀄). But in the absence of a world government, such a thing is extremely difficult to achieve. The politicians realize that they have to take action but generally they do not do so because of national interests (LS 󰀁󰀉󰀀). We will end up in a situation of the ‘tragedy of the commons’. Moreover, the proposed new policy measures must take into account the increased inequality. Measures that would impose the same standards on developing countries as industrialized countries, which have been heavily polluted for decades to make their development possible, are unacceptable because they curb the necessary development to get out of poverty (LS 󰀁󰀇󰀀). The Pope has also severe reservations on the system of transferable rights where clean air can be ‘bought’ elsewhere in the world. On the other hand, countries from the South also have trump cards, for example in the field of solar energy, which, with some support, could mean a lot. Worldwide agreements about technology transfers and the financing of installations are very welcome. Again, the Pope does not expect too much from international politics, but relies on NGOs to take the lead, e.g. transnational advocacy networks and religious networks. Much attention is therefore paid to the joint deployment of citizens, the so-called ‘community action’ model (for example, the design of squares as part of a plan to make the public space more attractive –LS 󰀂󰀃󰀂). According to the late Juan Carlos Scannone, the influence of Argentinian theologians Lucio Gera and Rafael Tello can be clearly detected. In a remarkable publication about Cardinal Bergoglio, Scannone shows how the Argentinian school of theology󰀂󰀅 has been presenting itself for decades as a theology of the people in which the emphasis is more on important cultural changes that deserve priority attention than on commitment to socio-economic transformation, which is characteristic of other forms of liberation theology.󰀂󰀆 󰀂󰀅  The notion ‘ecological conversion’ was used for the first time by Pope John Paul II (see also Pastores gregis, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃). 󰀂󰀆  Juan Carlos Scannone, “Pope Francis and the Theology of the People,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀁󰀁󰀈-󰀁󰀃󰀅, first published in Italian in La Civiltà Cattolica 󰀃󰀉󰀃󰀀 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄): 󰀅󰀇󰀁-󰀅󰀉󰀀 (there is a reference to Scannone in LS 󰀁󰀄󰀉, n. 󰀁󰀁󰀇). Important characteristics of a theology of the people are: “Use of historical-cultural analysis (el analísis históricocultural), privileging it over structural social analysis (el analísis socio-cultural) without discarding the latter; (󰀂) employment of more synthetic and hermeneutical sciences such as history, culture, and religion (as complements to more analytical and structural sciences) as a form of mediation to get to know reality and to transform it; (󰀃) rooting of such scientific mediations in a sapiential knowledge and discernment for the sake of the

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󰀇. Go Live Differently The final chapter invites everyone to an ‘ecological conversion’ (LS 󰀂󰀁󰀆󰀂󰀂󰀁) although the Pope acknowledges that it will not be easy – in line with Guardini – to change behavior and habits. By repentance, he means a radical change of position, a horizon shift, that is on a threefold level as Bernard Lonergan described in Insight: on an intellectual, moral, and religious level.󰀂󰀇 Change is impossible without motivation, education, and training (LS 󰀁󰀅). He appeals to all educational players: the family, the school, the media, the catechesis. The goal is very clear: to aim for a new lifestyle, to live differently (LS 󰀂󰀀󰀃-󰀂󰀀󰀈). The Earth Charter is mentioned to clarify the importance of the switch in lifestyle. He strongly believes that only a civilian movement from below can develop enough pressure to get things done. He refers, for example, to consumer choices because the citizen-consumer is a primary player in adjusting the market economy and realizing that the ecological footprint in production, transport, and marketing of goods and services is an important point of action. With regard to environmental education, the Pope underlines the great importance of sustainable attitudes in daily life, such as reducing water consumption as much as possible, sorting waste and energy-saving measures (LS 󰀂󰀁󰀁). Integral ecology consists mainly of simple everyday behaviors and choices in which it becomes clear that one wants to break through the logic of violence, exploitation, and selfishness (LS 󰀂󰀃󰀀). In this regard, he expects a lot from young generations. Ecological sensitivity seems for them to be more ‘natural’ and spontaneously they have the required generosity to the environment and are more critical to the myths of modernity, such as a utilitarian mindset, with its focus on individualism, unlimited progress, competition, and consumerism (LS 󰀂󰀁󰀀). He also lists concrete examples of an education in ecological responsibility: avoiding the use of plastic and paper, only cooking what you eat, using public transport, car-pooling, planting trees, re-using things, etc. (LS 󰀂󰀁󰀁). In this context, Francis also points to the importance of virtues (temperance, for example); for Thomas Aquinas a ‘habitus’, a habit enables one to act, once trained. Learning sustainable attitudes fits the picture of a community that – inspired by an ecological world view – incorporates its citizens “affective connaturality that love gives” (e.g. 󰀁󰀂󰀅), which, in turn, confirms their scientific character; and (󰀄) taking a critical distance from the Marxist method of social analysis and its categories of understanding and practical strategies.” 󰀂󰀇  Neil Ormerod and Cristina Vanin, “Ecological Conversion: What Does It Mean?,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀃󰀂󰀈-󰀃󰀅󰀂, at 󰀃󰀃󰀀.

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into a society model that radiates shared values and therefore a certain identity. That switch in behavior will be easier if it is motivated by a contemplative religious vision. Believers do not view the world as outsiders, but as one creation. An ecological conversion inspired by creative faith can contribute to greater creativity and enthusiasm (LS 󰀂󰀂󰀀). Referring to Evangelii gaudium, the Pope states that austerity, “when lived freely and consciously,” is liberating, just as happiness has to do with moderating needs (LS 󰀂󰀂󰀃). He also believes that we must regain the belief that we need each other and that we are jointly responsible for each other and for the world. A life that is governed by goodness for all that is, seems worth living (LS 󰀂󰀂󰀉). Finally, the link between liturgy, spirituality, and ecological commitment is mentioned. The Pope refers to the mystical experience that mountain landscapes can evoke, but also to the way in which simple natural elements such as water, fire, oil mediate through the sacraments the divine in a symbolic way. Everything that exists, is seen as ‘good’ because it is created by God. This belief underpins the idea of sacramentality, which means that everything created can also reveal God’s presence. The celebration of the Eucharist connects us to the biosphere and can be seen as an act of cosmic love. Ecological conversion is then the recognition of the sanctity of creation that all human activity must take into account. That is why, according to Ormerod and Vanin, an important aspect of ecological conversion is the invitation to achieve greater intimacy with the natural world, which underlines, among other things, the importance of Sunday rest.󰀂󰀈 Saints such as Francis of Assisi are exemplary in that regard. The encyclical calls Francis of Assisi the example ‘par excellence’ of caring for vulnerable fellow human beings and of integrated ecological care, experienced in a joyful and authentic manner (LS 󰀁󰀀). His asceticism bears witness to a deep insight, namely the refusal to regard reality as an object that can be fully controlled. He also invites us to see nature as a beautiful book in which God speaks to us (Wis 󰀁󰀃:󰀅). Francis of Assisi is the model of the inseparable link between caring for nature and the concern to be just in an inner peaceful way. Conclusion As known, Pope Francis prefers to take prophetic rather than dogmatic positions in social discussions. Another new feature is the fact that he is asking other believers and people of good will to help Catholics discover 󰀂󰀈

 Ormerod and Vanin, “Ecological Conversion,” 󰀃󰀃󰀀.

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an appropriate spirituality of creation and innovative ecological behavior. Laudato si’ is also special in the fact that seventeen local and regional bishops’ conferences are quoted. While it may be a universal document, it also bears witness to cultural differences and assumes that there will be a difference in reception depending on the context. Laudato si’ condemns excessive anthropocentrism in clear terms (‘tyrannical’ – LS 󰀆󰀈, ‘distorted’ – LS 󰀆󰀉, ‘excessive’– LS 󰀁󰀁󰀆, ‘misguided’ – LS 󰀁󰀁󰀈, 󰀁󰀁󰀉, 󰀁󰀂󰀂). The Pope distances himself from any form of pronounced anthropocentrism in technology, the market economy and other spheres of life. With this, he is in line with the traditional criticism on the ‘toxins’ of modernity and is firmly questioning their Promethean omnipotence. He opts for a moderate and responsible anthropocentrism that respects the special place of human beings in creation, but at the same time is merciful to non-human creation. The only alternative to the anthropocentric position mentioned is biocentrism, which, however, would also introduce an imbalance on the other side of the coin (LS 󰀁󰀁󰀈). He is mild in his judgment and avoids the outspoken convictions of his predecessor (‘neo-paganism’). After unraveling this difficult knot, he places a new theological accent. As the late Denis Edwards points out, every ecological theology struggles with the question of the value of nonhuman creation and their significance in moral discourse. Until now, official ecclesial doctrine has stated that the value of non-human creation depended on their usefulness to people. Laudato si’ takes a turn here by radically eliminating this vision that can still be found in Gaudium et spes for example (LS 󰀁󰀂, 󰀁󰀄). The new position that Laudato si’ expresses: “We are called to recognize that other living beings have a value of their own in God’s eyes” (LS 󰀆󰀉), is the result of three arguments put forward, says Denis Edwards:󰀂󰀉 (󰀁) The fact that all creatures are the locus of divine presence (LS 󰀈󰀈) and that we can meet God’s spirit in them as Bonaventura believed; (󰀂) all creatures have intrinsic value because God likes to see them in his tender love: “God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance” (LS 󰀇󰀆); (󰀃) the entire creation will participate in God’s fullness and thus the transformation of all things into the risen Christ. So all creatures have a future in God. These three arguments have led to the new position. A downside is that Laudato si’ did not pay attention to what is nevertheless a crucial issue, namely the use of animals in production, food, experiments, etc. This downside 󰀂󰀉  Dennis Edwards, “‘Sublime Communion’: The Theology of the Natural World in Laudato si’,” Theological Studies 󰀇󰀇 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆): 󰀃󰀇󰀇-󰀃󰀉󰀁, at 󰀃󰀈󰀂-󰀃󰀈󰀃.

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explains why not much attention is given to issues like fasting. Really a missed opportunity! Is it possible to expect that such an encyclical, written for so many different audiences, more than symbolically indicates that churches are also present in the discourse on climate change? Of course, it is a symbolic document, but the tone in which it is written also makes it clear that Pope Francis dreams that the particular position of the Catholic Church in the field of ecology could make a difference. It is very clear that he definitely wanted to rid the world of the suspicion that the Catholic tradition does not have much to offer regarding ecology. In conclusion, Laudato si’ has succeeded in advocating the need for transformation, with much attention being paid to a Bible-based view of justice giving support to a coherent worldview that leads to action. Managing global public goods such as the climate system requires appropriate forms of leadership that are not yet available. The invitation to dialogue with partners who are well acquainted with social and ecological transformation processes broadens Catholic thinking and makes Catholicism more relevant in the public domain. In the conversation with other religious partners it is not only about dialogue but also about an alliance in which the virtues of faith, courage, humility, respect, and loving mercy create their own contribution to the ecological debate. Inspired by Laudato si’, the role of conscience – a practice that the Church always recommends to reorient life in the light of our relationship with God – is given a new dimension. Laudato si’ seriously invites us to question our lifestyle.

A Call to Citizenship for the Common Good Kurian Kachappilly On December 󰀁󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, the Indian Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉 (CAA 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉), replacing the Citizenship Act 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅, which opened the door to Indian citizenship for illegal migrants of different religious minorities from the countries of the sub-continent, like Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 󰀃󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄.󰀁 The Citizenship Amendment Act 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉 evoked mixed responses and reactions across the country and in some other parts of the world. There were nation-wide protests, rallies, demonstrations, both opposing and supporting the CAA 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, leading to violence and bloodshed. Statements were issued and articles published in the national and international dailies and journals for and against the Citizenship Amendment Act. For example, several academicians and scholars from various universities, both from India and abroad, released a statement in support of CAA 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. In their statement, they congratulated the Indian Parliament for “standing up for forgotten minorities,” “upholding the civilizational ethos of India,” and “providing a haven for those fleeing religious persecution.”󰀂 On the other hand, a group of academicians and film-makers wrote to the Indian Government, expressing their concern over the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB): “For the first time there is a statutory attempt to not just privilege peoples from some faiths, but, at the same time, relegate another, Muslims, to second-rate status. … The CAB is at odds with constitutional secular principles and a violation of Articles 󰀁󰀃, 󰀁󰀄, 󰀁󰀅, 󰀁󰀆 and 󰀂󰀁 of the Indian Constitution which guarantee the right to equality, equality before the law and non-discriminatory treatment by the Indian state.”󰀃 A bitter social divide is hardly the way to address the age-old questions of citizenship and common good. 󰀁  Cf. Ministry of Home Affairs Notification S.O. (Bill no. 󰀁󰀇󰀂E), The Gazette of India, January 󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀. 󰀂  The Hindu, New Delhi, December 󰀂󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. 󰀃  Cf. Manavi Kapur, “India’s New Citizenship Act and National Register of Citizens,” Quartz Daily Brief, December 󰀁󰀆 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉; https://qz.com/india/󰀁󰀇󰀆󰀉󰀀󰀅󰀉/why-are-indiansprotesting-citizenship-amendment-act-nrc/ [accessed on January 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀].

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The purpose of this paper is neither to defend nor to attack the Citizenship Amendment Act 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, but to critically analyse and judiciously derive certain implications and applications of “citizenship” in the backdrop of the CAA 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉. The main objectives of the paper are four-fold: (i) to analyse the constitutional provisions for the ‘conferment’ of citizenship, especially citizenship by ius soli and ius sanguinis; (ii) to critique these two types of citizenship from a Heideggerian analysis of “facticity;” (iii) to revisit the notion of “citizenship” in the light of the Ancient Greek understanding of “citizens,” who strive for the common good; and (iv) to explore the philosophical and theological (doctrinal) underpinnings of the common good, which finds its full realization in the Supreme Good (summum bonum), namely God. The paper concludes with a summons for conversion, so that the vision of common good might become a reality “here and now.”

󰀁. Citizenship: A Constitutional Analysis ‘Citizenship’, in general, relates to the rights, privileges, and duties of a person, belonging to a state or nation. The idea of citizenship is defined “as the capacity of individuals to defend their rights in front of the governmental authority.”󰀄 Each state or nation has its own rules and regulations, as to who is authorized to become a citizen. For example, as per the Citizenship Act 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅 – an act for granting Indian citizenship – a person can be granted citizenship, by birth, descent, registration, or naturalization.󰀅 However, the two main systems generally used to determine citizenship are ius soli and ius sanguinis. (a) Citizenship by right of birth (ius soli): The Latin term “ius soli” means ‘law of the soil’. According to the principle ius soli, a person acquires citizenship by his/her birth within the territory of the state, irrespective of the status of his/her parents. For instance, “every person born in India, on or after the 󰀂󰀆th of January 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀀, but before the 󰀁st day of July 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇,” is a citizen of India by birth.󰀆 The principle of ius soli is the most common means to acquire citizenship of a nation. The United States,  Roger W. Caves, ed., Encyclopedia of the City (London: Routledge, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀄), 󰀉󰀇.  Cf. The Citizenship Act, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅 (December 󰀃󰀀, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅), “Acquisition of Citizenship,” Art. 󰀃-󰀇, https://indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/󰀁󰀂󰀃󰀄󰀅󰀆󰀇󰀈󰀉/󰀄󰀂󰀁󰀀/󰀁/Citizenship_Act_󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅.pdf [accessed on December 󰀂󰀃, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀆  Ibid., Art. 󰀃. 󰀄 󰀅

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for example, adopt the ius soli as the basic principle for granting citizenship, although they do recognize acquisition of citizenship by descent. (b) Citizenship by descent (ius sanguinis): The Latin term, “ius sanguinis” means “right of blood,” which is synonymous with “by descent.” A person becomes a citizen of the state by descent, if, at the time of his/ her birth, his/her parent is a citizen of that state. For example, “a person born outside India shall be a citizen of India by descent, on or after the 󰀂󰀆th day of January, 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀀, but before the 󰀁󰀀th day of December, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂, if his/her father is a citizen of India at the time of his/her birth.”󰀇 Several countries, with some exceptions, like USA and UK, generally adopt the ius sanguinis as their basic principle for acquisition of citizenship. (c) Citizenship by registration: Many countries permit registration based on the status of marriage of a person, but often with certain conditions. For instance, countries like Germany and the United States of America grant citizenship by registration, only if the foreign spouse is a permanent resident of the country in which citizenship is sought. The Government of India will also register as a citizen of India, under the Citizenship Act 󰀁󰀉󰀅󰀅, “a person who is married to a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India for seven years before making an application for registration.”󰀈 (d) Citizenship by naturalization: Normally states and nations offer the right to citizenship to people, who have entered the country legally and have been granted permission to stay, or who have been granted political asylum and lived there for a specified period. For example, in India, as per the CAA 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, to obtain citizenship by naturalization, “one of the qualifications is that the person must have resided in India or have been in service of the central government for at least 󰀁󰀁 years before applying for citizenship.”󰀉 Many countries follow the norms of both ius soli and ius sanguinis for granting citizenship. However, the Indian nationality law largely follows the ius sanguinis (citizenship by descent). Citizenship, whatever the norms of granting it, implies the status of freedom with accompanying rights, duties, and responsibilities.

󰀇

 Cf. The Citizenship Act, Art. 󰀄.  Cf. ibid., Art. 󰀅, c. 󰀉  “Bill Summary,” The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉, PRS, December 󰀉, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉; https://www.prsindia.org/sites/default/files/bill_files/Bill%󰀂󰀀Summary%󰀂󰀀%󰀂󰀀 The%󰀂󰀀Citizenship%󰀂󰀀%󰀂󰀈Amendment%󰀂󰀉%󰀂󰀀Bill%󰀂C%󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉.pdf [accessed on January 󰀁󰀀, 󰀂󰀀󰀂󰀀]. 󰀈

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󰀂. Citizenship: A Heideggerian Critique Martin Heidegger, in his Being and Time, conceives the human being (Dasein)󰀁󰀀 as being endowed with three fundamental aspects, all however constituting one internally unified structure.󰀁󰀁 The three aspects of Dasein are existentiality, facticity, and forfeiture. ‘Facticity’ refers to the past dimension of Dasein, while ‘existentiality’ and ‘forfeiture’ refer to the future and present dimensions of Dasein respectively. For Heidegger, the concept of ‘facticity’ implies “that an entity ‘within-the-world’ has Beingin-the-world in such a way that it can understand itself as bound up in its ‘destiny’ with the Being of those entities which it encounters within its own world.”󰀁󰀂 Heidegger’s concept of ‘facticity’ points to a sense of historical dependence or to his rootedness in the past. The human being finds itself already ‘thrown into the world’ (Geworfenheit), a world it has been cast into, beyond its willing. For example, such facts and data as where we were born, when we were born, who our parents are, who our siblings are, etc. reveal the facticity of ourselves in the world. Hence Dasein is presented as “a fact,” or a datum (from the Latin datum) meaning “a fact given or granted.” If the place/state of birth and parents are facts given or granted, the question is: How credible is the acquisition of citizenship by right of birth within the territory (ius soli) and by descent (ius sanguinis)? Furthermore, Heidegger brings out another implication of facticity as thrown-ness,󰀁󰀃 namely the arbitrary nature of Dasein that connects the past with the present. The concept of facticity implies all those facts, such as natural (like weight and height); social (like race and nationality); psychological (like beliefs and character traits); historical (like family background) and so on. These “data” (the given) of facticity never become something that we can come across by beholding them; rather they make an enigmatic appearance in moods, as a kind of burden, the weight of 󰀁󰀀  Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀂), 󰀃󰀂: “As ways in which man behaves, sciences have the manner of Being which this entity – man himself – possesses. This entity we denote by the term Dasein.” 󰀁󰀁  Ibid., 󰀂󰀃󰀅: “The fundamental ontological characteristic of this entity are existentiality, facticity, and Being-fallen. These existential characteristics are not pieces belonging to something composite, … but there is woven together in them a primordial context which makes up that totality of the structural whole which we are seeking.” 󰀁󰀂  Ibid., 󰀈󰀂. 󰀁󰀃  Heidegger uses the expression “thrownness” to suggest the facticity of its being delivered over.” Cf. ibid., 󰀁󰀇󰀄.

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“having to be.” The idea of the past as “datum” – not chosen but deterministic – results in the notion of Geworfenheit (thrown-ness). Dasein, as thrown into the world, enjoys very limited freedom in respect to the past. However, he/she is called upon to appropriate and assimilate ‘the given’ freely within the limits of contingency. ‘Freedom’, for Aristotle, is one of the criteria for the acquisition of citizenship. In Politics, Book III, Chapter 󰀁, Aristotle loudly announced that citizens are those who have a share in the offices: “The citizen in the full sense cannot be better defined than by his participation in judicial or political office.”󰀁󰀄 However, he did also recognize a broader sense of citizenship in which “all free-born native inhabitants” are citizens. If citizenship implies the status of freedom and citizens are free born natives, how could Dasein, who is thrown to this world with limited freedom, be entitled to be a citizen? 󰀃. Citizenship Revisited: Greek Perspectives The founders of democracy in Ancient Greece classified people into three broad types, namely the idiots, the tribalists, and the citizens.󰀁󰀅 (a) The idiots: An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person; but in Greek, the word “idiot,” derived from the Greek noun idiōtēs, means “a private person,” or “a private citizen.”󰀁󰀆 Similarly, for the Greeks, the idiots are not mentally deficient, but rather private people, who are selfcentred and very selfish. In their attempts to understand the meaning of ‘idiots’, several thinkers combine both its ancient and modern usages and explain that the Greeks used the word to mean that “it is foolish and selfish not to participate in public life.”󰀁󰀇 The idiots look for personal gain and self-interest in everything they do. Evidently they lack public philosophy, knowledge and skills that contribute to the common good. Everything is 󰀁󰀄  Aristotle, The Politics, trans. T. A. Sinclair (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀), Ill, 󰀁, 󰀁󰀂󰀇󰀅a, 󰀂󰀂-󰀂󰀃. 󰀁󰀅  This section of the article is primarily based on White Eagle Vision’s article on “Don’t be an idiot & tribalist, be a citizen,” published on September 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀈; https:// www.whiteeaglevision.com/dont-be-an-idiot-tribalist-be-a-citizen/ [accessed December 󰀂󰀄, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀁󰀆  Cf. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, Harpers’ Latin Dictionary (New York, NY: Harper and Brothers, 󰀁󰀈󰀇󰀉). 󰀁󰀇  For example, Walter C. Parker, “Teaching against Idiocy,” Phi Delta Kappan (January 󰀁, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), 󰀈󰀆/󰀅, 󰀃󰀄󰀆; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/󰀁󰀀.󰀁󰀁󰀇󰀇/󰀀󰀀󰀃󰀁󰀇󰀂󰀁󰀇󰀀󰀅󰀀󰀈󰀆󰀀󰀀󰀅󰀀󰀄 [accessed on November 󰀁󰀆, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉].

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about them and their pleasure. They form a class of people whose primary objective is maximizing personal gain by overlooking ethical issues. When idiots assume positions of power and leadership either knowingly or unknowingly, they never work for the common good of the society, but instead, use their power and resources for their personal benefit. The idiots pretend to be noble advocates of the people’s cause, but, in reality, they are advancing their own selfish interests. They operate and are motivated by greed and egocentric mentality. (b) The tribalists: The term “tribalist” must not be confused with the type of tribalism linked to one’s tribe, ethnicity or one’s geographical origin. The type of tribalists being referred to here is a reference to a “ghetto mentality;” for example, a political party, a religious cult, social grouping etc. In modern day life, tribal mentality blinds tribalists and prevents them from seeing beyond their tribe and overrides rational thinking causing them to take a narrow and parochial stance in national issues. If one of their own members is in a position of power, then they will gladly rally around the leader with the firm belief that the nation is in the right hands and heading in the right direction. If on the other side, a leader from another tribe is at the helm of office, then they will put up a resistance and argue that the nation is in danger to justify their campaigns. For the tribes-people, their primary and ultimate allegiance is to their group or class. Their tribe is their God, and their religion is tribalism. One of the major threats of the ‘tribalist-mindset’ is what social scientists call “ethnocentrism.”󰀁󰀈 Ethnocentrism is an attitude “that perceives the values, beliefs, tradition, language, history, religion, behaviour and ethnic standing of one’s own social or cultural group as being superior to all others.”󰀁󰀉 Ethnocentric persons judge other groups from their own perspectives, especially with reference to language, behaviour patterns, religion, etc. A negative impact of ethnocentrism is the conflict between the ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, which may, on the one hand, develop an attitude of indifference with people of other cultures or religions, and, on the other, jeopardize the peaceful co-existence and pro-existence in the society or nation.

󰀁󰀈  According to scholars, the term “ethnocentrism” is believed to have been coined and popularized by the Polish sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz in the 󰀁󰀉th century. Cf. Boris Bizumic, “Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report,” Journal of Social and Political Psychology 󰀂, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄): 󰀃-󰀁󰀀. 󰀁󰀉  Fay Pater, Mingsheng Li, and Prahalad Sooknanan, Intercultural Communication: Building a Global Community (Delhi: Sage Publication India Pvt., 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀁), 󰀂󰀈.

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(c) The citizens: The term “citizen” in this context, does not refer to the legal or political status of a person, as we understand it. Instead, the ancient Greeks described a citizen as someone who is well-equipped with the knowledge and skills to live a respectable life in the realm of the public. The citizen has a practical understanding of his rights in society. This class of people also recognizes that with rights come responsibilities as well. A citizen will go further and fight for the rights of minorities on the assumption that we are all equal before the law. According to Ed Glassman, the citizenship approach may promote societal (common) good for the following reasons: (i) it acknowledges the pluralism that exists in our world; (ii) it accepts disagreement without demonizing and denying the humanity of those who disagree; (iii) it avoids the “us-againstthem” mentality in favour of cooperation and community; and (iv) it respects and hears opposing views with the hope that the community may create and adopt the best solution.󰀂󰀀 The Greeks believed that it is citizens, who make a civilized society. For, a citizen recognizes oneself as a member of the community, and has an understanding and experience of civility, which fuels the striving for the common good of the society or nation. The real picture of our world today is that we have self-centred idiots and narrow-minded people whose allegiance is only to their tribe. However, there are also multitudes of citizens who strive for the common good of the society. 󰀄. The Common Good: A Philosophical Inquiry Since ancient times, ‘common good’ versus ‘private good’ has been a major theme, discussed and debated in the circles of moral and political philosophers. Aristotle was the first philosopher to make ‘common good’ a central concept in his political theory, although Plato referred to it indirectly. Plato, without ever employing the term “common good,” developed a view of ‘good’ life, which requires not only a certain kind of knowledge (wisdom), but also “a perfect unity of diverse elements” and “harmony within himself.”󰀂󰀁 Moreover, in The Republic, Plato raised vital questions concerning ‘the greatest good’ and ‘the greatest evil’. For him, the greatest 󰀂󰀀  Ed Glassman, “Tribalism vs Citizenship: Hostility or Cooperation,” The Times of Israel, November 󰀂󰀅, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆; https:/blogs.timesofisrael.com/tribalism-vs-citizenship-hostilityor-cooperation-󰀂 [accessed on December 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀂󰀁  Plato, The Republic, ed. G. R. F. Ferrari (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), Book 󰀄, 󰀄󰀄󰀃e.

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evil is “discord and distraction and plurality where unity ought to reign” and the greatest good is “the bond of unity.” Plato’s character Socrates thus concludes: “There is unity where there is ‘community of pleasure and pain’, where all the citizens are glad or grieved on the same occasions of joy and sorrow.”󰀂󰀂 (a) Aristotle’s Concept of the Common Good: Aristotle developed the theory of common good on the assumption that “[hu]man is, by nature, a political animal.”󰀂󰀃 As political beings, humans participate in a particular type of community, namely the city-state, which is “established for the sake of some good.” In his writings, Aristotle employed different terms to refer to the good of the city-state, like “common good” (koinon agathon) and “common interest” (koinêi sumpheron). In The Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argued for the common good on the belief that only matters of the common good are ‘right’ in the lives of the individuals or communities. Although Aristotle recognized the importance of the good of individuals, he, however, found greater value in the common good than in the good of the individuals. In his Nicomachean Ethics, he wrote: “For even if the good is the same for a city as for an individual, still the good of the city is apparently a greater and more complete good to acquire and preserve. For, while it is satisfactory to acquire and preserve the good even for an individual, it is finer and more divine to acquire and preserve it for a people and for cities.”󰀂󰀄 These city-states or political communities exist “not simply for the purpose of living together, but for the sake of noble actions.”󰀂󰀅 That is to say, for Aristotle, politics is all about developing the virtue of the citizens and promotion of the happiness of all ‘full’ members of the political communities.󰀂󰀆 Secondly, Aristotle held the view that men may achieve the common good only as citizens and through active participation in politics, whether as a public servant, a law-giver/jury, a soldier defending the polis, etc. In Book II of The Politics, Aristotle used the concept of “common good” as a normative standard to distinguish between ‘right’ (good) and ‘wrong’  Cf. Plato, The Republic, Book 󰀅, 󰀄󰀆󰀂b.  Aristotle, The Politics, trans. T. A. Sinclair (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀀), Book I, 󰀂, 󰀂󰀈. 󰀂󰀄  Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis, IN and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀉), 󰀁󰀀󰀉󰀄b, §󰀈. 󰀂󰀅  Aristotle, The Politics, Book III, 󰀉, 󰀁󰀂󰀁. 󰀂󰀆  However, it is to be noted that Aristotle excluded many inhabitants of city-states, such as women and slaves, whom Aristotle deemed unfit for a life of moral and intellectual virtue. 󰀂󰀂 󰀂󰀃

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(corrupt) constitutions or forms of government: “…those constitutions which aim at the common good are right, as being in accord with absolute justice, while those which aim only at the good of the rulers are wrong.”󰀂󰀇 On his account, “whenever the one, the few, or the many rule with a view to the common weal, these constitutions must be right.” By contrast, if the one, the few, or the mass only aim for their private benefit, then they should be considered to be deviations from the previous types.󰀂󰀈 Aristotle called good governance by the one, the few and the many, ‘kingship’, ‘aristocracy’ and ‘polity’ respectively. Corresponding to these three types, there are three corrupt forms of government, namely “tyranny … for the benefit of the sole ruler, oligarchy for the benefit of the men of means, and democracy “for the benefit of the men without means.”󰀂󰀉 In short, for Aristotle, only the polity can ensure the common good, which is a good proper, and is shared by the individual members. (b) Aquinas’s Vision of the Common Good: Aquinas, who drew on Aristotle’s ideas, developed a most influential Christian account of the common good. Following Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas rejected ‘tyranny’ as a corrupt form of government “because it is directed, not to the common good, but to the private good of the ruler.”󰀃󰀀 But, unlike Aristotle, Aquinas emphasized the need for sharing based on the notion of justice, as he conceived humanity as part of a universal moral order. Moreover, in contrast with ancient Greek thinkers, he identified the common good with God: “…the good of the whole universe is that which is apprehended by God, Who is the Maker and Governor of all things.”󰀃󰀁 According Aaron Karl Taylor, Thomas Aquinas provides a well-integrated vision of common good, based on five “fundamental axioms.” I would like to highlight two dimensions of this well-integrated approach, namely, the orientation of the human person toward God and toward other human beings.󰀃󰀂 The first fundamental element of  Aristotle, The Politics, Book III, 󰀆, 󰀁󰀁󰀅.  Cf. ibid., Book III, 󰀇, 󰀁󰀁󰀅. 󰀂󰀉  Cf. ibid., Book III, 󰀇, 󰀁󰀁󰀆. 󰀃󰀀  Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (New York, NY: Benziger Brothers, 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀈), vol. II, II-II, Q. 󰀄󰀂, Art, 󰀂. 󰀃󰀁  Ibid., Vol I, I-II, Q. 󰀁󰀀, Art. 󰀁󰀀. 󰀃󰀂  Cf. Aaron Karl Taylor, “St Thomas Aquinas and the Idea of Common Good” (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀀): “(󰀁) the orientation of the human person toward the transcendent, (󰀂) the orientation of the human person toward other human persons, (󰀃) the fundamental equality of all human persons, (󰀄) the end of the community as the perfection of its individual members, and (󰀅) the human person as a steward of the goods of the earth.” http:// catholicsocialteaching.yolasite.com/st-thomas-aquinas-and-the-idea-of-the-commongood.php’ [accessed on December 󰀂󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀂󰀇 󰀂󰀈

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Aquinas’ concept of the common good is his affirmation that God, as “the last end,” is the common good par excellence. For Aquinas, the last end of human life is ‘bliss or happiness’: “Happiness is called man’s supreme good, because it is the attainment or enjoyment of the supreme good.”󰀃󰀃 But the last end, namely supreme good, is nothing but God; for no created good – wealth, honour, fame, power, or pleasure – can constitute human happiness. God alone can fully actualize the human mind’s pursuit of ‘the bliss or happiness’. Furthermore, Aquinas, while accepting Aristotle’s statement that the good of the community is more “godlike,” went on to identify the common good with the very reality of God. Aquinas wrote that the “supreme good, namely God, is the common good, since the good of all things depends on Him [God].”󰀃󰀄 Thus the highest good common to the life of all is God’s own self. In the words of Hollenbach, “human beings achieve their ultimate fulfilment – their good – only by being united with God, a union that also unites them to each other and indeed with the whole created order.”󰀃󰀅 This takes us to the second fundamental feature of Aquinas’ vision of the common good, namely common good as “social well-being,” or “commonweal.” Without offering a definition, Thomas Aquinas refers to “commonweal” as a synonym for common good in his writings,󰀃󰀆 probably influenced by Aristotle’s polis, or Cicero’s res publica. Cicero defined “commonweal” as follows: “A commonweal is a property of the people. But ‘a people’ is not any collection of human beings brought together in any sort of way, but an assemblage of people in large numbers associated in agreement with respect to justice and a partnership for the common good.”󰀃󰀇 According to Cicero’s definition, the existence of a republic necessitates a clear understanding among the people of the political community or state about notions like “justice” and “good.” In his attempt to rethink Cicero’s definition, Augustine rejects Scipio’s opinion that a republic “cannot be governed without the most absolute justice.”󰀃󰀈 For Augustine,  Aquinas, Summa Theologica, vol. I, I-II, Q. 󰀃, Art. 󰀁.  Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, in Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ed. Anton Pegis (New York, NY: Random House, 󰀁󰀉󰀄󰀅), vol. II, III, 󰀁󰀇, 󰀂󰀇. 󰀃󰀅  David Hollenbach, The Common Good & Christian Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀂), 󰀁󰀂󰀃. 󰀃󰀆  For example, Aquinas, Summa Theologica, vol. I, I-II, Q. 󰀉󰀅, Art. 󰀃; vol. I, I-II, Q. 󰀉󰀆, Art. 󰀆. 󰀃󰀇  Cicero, De Re Publica, trans. C. W. Keys (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀆), I, xxv, 󰀃󰀉. 󰀃󰀈  Ibid., II, xliv, 󰀇󰀀. Cf. Augustine, The City of God, trans. Marcus Dods (New York, NY: The Modern Library, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀀), II, 󰀂󰀁. 󰀃󰀃

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for a state to exist, only that degree of justice is required which involves sacrifice of self-interest for the sake of common good. Moreover, Augustine, in The City of God, states that in a commonweal the people must be bound together by a love whereby each citizen “loves God as He ought to be loved, and his neighbour as himself.”󰀃󰀉 On account of the two precepts, taught by the Lord, namely the love of God and love of neighbour (cf. Lk 󰀁󰀀:󰀂󰀇), every citizen finds three things he/she has to love: “God, himself and his neighbour.”󰀄󰀀 As per these precepts, a citizen has to love his neighbour as he loves himself, and the love of neighbour is the active work in the moral domain that gives expression to the love of God,󰀄󰀁 the Supreme Good. Aquinas could readily accept the Augustinian understanding of common good, as he himself conceived God “as the ultimate good of all creatures – the full common good.” Although Thomas Aquinas recognized greater value in the common good, which, for him, is “distinct from the individual good not only materially but also formally,”󰀄󰀂 he upheld the instrumentality of common good (material or spiritual) for human flourishing on account of justice, “which distributes common goods proportionately to individuals.”󰀄󰀃 In short, the common good is described as “an engagement of ‘giving and receiving’ contracted by the individuals and their groups (particular communities) both journeying to God and longing for God.”󰀄󰀄 Throughout the history of political thinking on the common good, one can very well observe a shift from the ideals of ‘moral virtue’ and ‘polity’ to pragmatic considerations of ‘material’ wellbeing of the people. Nevertheless, it should be admitted that Aquinas’ well-formulated vision of common good did impact the subsequent magisterial teaching of the Church. Pope Pius XI, for instance, stated: “It is therefore to be wished that the teachings of Aquinas, more particularly his exposition of international  Augustine, The City of God XIX, 󰀂󰀃.  Ibid., 󰀁󰀄. 󰀄󰀁  Cf. 󰀁 John 󰀄: “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” 󰀄󰀂  Aquinas, Summa Theologica, vol. II, II-II, Q. 󰀅󰀈, Art. 󰀇: “The common good of the realm and the particular good of the individual differ not only in respect of the many and the few, but also under a formal aspect. For the aspect of the ‘common’ good differs from the aspect of the ‘individual’ good, even as the aspect of the whole differs from that of its part.” 󰀄󰀃  Ibid., Q. 󰀆󰀁, Art. 󰀁. 󰀄󰀄  Justin Ilboudo, “The Common Good as a Social Debt and Patrimony of the Person,” Lumen et Vita 󰀆, no. 󰀁 (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅): 󰀁-󰀇. 󰀃󰀉

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law and the laws governing the mutual relations of peoples became more and more studied, for it contains the foundations of a genuine ‘League of Nations’.”󰀄󰀅 󰀅. The Social Teaching of the Church on the Common Good Today most discussions on the ‘common good’ engage with ideas which originated with the philosophers of ancient Greece, like Plato and Aristotle, and were later influenced by Christian theologians, especially Thomas Aquinas. We find a progressive development in the Social Doctrine of the Church from Rerum novarum (󰀁󰀈󰀉󰀁), through Mater et magistra (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀃), Gaudium et spes (󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀅), Sollicitudo rei socialis (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀈), Catechism of the Catholic Church (󰀁󰀉󰀉󰀂) to Laudato si’ (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅). Almost all the documents of the Church dwell on certain fundamental principles that constitute the heart of Catholic Social Doctrine, such as the dignity of the human person, common good, and the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. The notion of the ‘common good’ occupies an important place in the Church’s social teachings so much so that it has become one of its pillars. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church notes that the principle of common good attains its fullest meaning “from the dignity, unity and equality of all people.”󰀄󰀆 Pope John XXIII in Mater et magistra defines the common good as “those social conditions which favour the full development of human personality.”󰀄󰀇 The Pastoral Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, follows the legacy of Mater et magistra and reiterates the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment.” In his Encyclical Letter, Laudato si’, Pope Francis endorses the definition of Gaudium et spes, but insists on the responsibility to safeguard the common good, with “a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.”󰀄󰀈 󰀄󰀅  Pope Pius XI, Studiorum Ducem on “St. Thomas Aquinas” (󰀁󰀉󰀂󰀃), Art. 󰀂󰀀, https:// www.papalencyclicals.net/pius󰀁󰀁/p󰀁󰀁studi.htm [accessed on December 󰀁󰀈, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀄󰀆  Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀅), Art. 󰀁󰀆󰀄. 󰀄󰀇  John XXIII, Encyclical Letter on Christianity and Social Progress Mater et magistra (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 󰀁󰀉󰀆󰀁), Art 󰀆󰀅. 󰀄󰀈  Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ (Trivandrum: Carmel International Publishing House, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀆), 󰀁󰀅󰀈.

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In various social teachings of the Church, the common good, in general, concerns “the life of all” and “the whole person,” but with an emphasis on one or other particular group of the people or society. Mater et magistra, for example, dwells on the good of social entities like a “particular country and the whole human family,” but with a focus on “the protection of some vulnerable groups” like the farmers (§ 󰀁󰀄󰀂), rural workers (§ 󰀁󰀄󰀆), less developed areas (§ 󰀁󰀅󰀀) and countries (§ 󰀁󰀇󰀃), etc.󰀄󰀉 The Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, integrates the ideas of Mater et magistra, but, at the same time, expands the scope and understanding of the common good from local community or nation to the rights and duties of the “whole human race.” Saint John Paul II’s Social Encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis describes the common good as the complex process of “spiritual and human development of all,” and urges the people of God “to take stand beside the poor, to discern the justice of their requests, and to help satisfy them, without losing sight of the good of groups in the context of the common good.”󰀅󰀀 Finally, in Laudato si’, Pope Francis, while addressing the “conditions” of global society where injustices abound, invites us to extend the notion of the common good even to the “future generations,”󰀅󰀁 and to the whole of creation, including Mother Earth. No doubt, as referred to above, every individual, community or nation is entitled to enjoy the rights and privileges of social life brought about in the pursuit of the common good. At the same time, it is argued that the responsibility of attaining the common good rests on individuals, groups of particular interests, political communities and nations. The Catechism teaches that it is necessary for all persons to “participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good.”󰀅󰀂 However, it is the prime duty of the political community or state “to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens, and intermediate bodies.”󰀅󰀃 Highlighting the role of the State, Pope John XXIII wrote: “As for the State, its whole raison d’être is the realization of the  John XXIII, Encyclical Letter on Christianity and Social Progress Mater et magistra,

󰀄󰀉

󰀁󰀄󰀇. 󰀅󰀀  John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis (󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇), 󰀃󰀉; http://www.vatican.va/content/johnpaul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_󰀃󰀀󰀁󰀂󰀁󰀉󰀈󰀇_sollicitudo-rei-socialis.html [accessed on December 󰀂, 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀉]. 󰀅󰀁  Laudato si’ 󰀁󰀅󰀉; Mater et magistra 󰀇󰀉: “…not merely to the present generation but to the coming generations as well.” 󰀅󰀂  Catechism of the Catholic Church (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀃), Art. 󰀁󰀉󰀁󰀃. 󰀅󰀃  Ibid., Art. 󰀁󰀉󰀁󰀀.

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common good in the temporal order.”󰀅󰀄 Hence the public authorities are called “to tackle and solve problems of an economic, social, political or cultural character, which are posed by the universal common good.”󰀅󰀅 Finally, along the lines of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the Compendium upholds the view that “the common good of society is not an end in itself; it has its value only in reference to attaining the ultimate ends of the person and … of the whole creation,” namely God.󰀅󰀆 God, on the one hand, is the foundation of all that is created and all that is good (Gn 󰀁:󰀁-󰀂󰀇), and, on the other, the Supreme Good. Hence, from an economic perspective, any vision of common good without any reference to this “transcendental goal,” would reduce it to “a simple socio-economic well-being.” Not only economic considerations, but even the choice of political participation, it is stated, should be “more conscientious in attaining the true common good, including the spiritual end of the human person.”󰀅󰀇 The Catechism thus teaches us that God, the Supreme Good, alone can satisfy human desire for perfect happiness.󰀅󰀈 Conclusion The journey to the common good, though easily explained and sufficiently argued out, is not very easy to attain due to various reasons. First of all, it is difficult for the simple fact that “the transition from theory (doxa) to practice (praxis) is of its very nature difficult;” and it is especially so when one tries to translate into concrete terms a social doctrine such as that of the common good. Secondly, people, as Aristotle hints at, are not very optimistic about attaining the common good, for it obliges participants in the community to be just, whereas we find “the persistence of injustice” in the society.󰀅󰀉 Thirdly, as the Compendium points out, it is “very difficult to attain because it requires the constant ability and effort to seek the good of others as though it were one’s own good.”󰀆󰀀 In order to overcome the hurdles on the path to the common good, what is mooted is “a radical conversion.” According to Aristotle, “moderation  John XXIII, Mater et magistra 󰀂󰀀.  John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in terris, 󰀁󰀃󰀆, in Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Art. 󰀉󰀅. 󰀅󰀆  Pacem in terris 󰀁󰀇󰀀. 󰀅󰀇  Pacem in terris 󰀅󰀇󰀃. 󰀅󰀈  Catechism of the Catholic Church, Art. 󰀂󰀇; Cf. GS 󰀁󰀉. 󰀅󰀉  Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 󰀁󰀇󰀉b󰀁󰀅-󰀆. 󰀆󰀀  Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Art. 󰀁󰀆󰀇. 󰀅󰀄 󰀅󰀅

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is the cure,”󰀆󰀁 which demands a metanoia from ‘individualistic’ foragers of scarce resources to generous participants in a flourishing community. What we need today, according to Pope Francis, is a “personal conversion” and a “change of heart,”󰀆󰀂 which entails an adoption of a “civilization of love,” which moves us to cultivate a “culture of care”󰀆󰀃 for the individuals, communities, and the whole of creation with a deep-rooted awareness that the origin (alpha) and end (omega) of all is God. My wish and prayer is: May the ‘Call to Citizenship for the Common Good’ make us less ‘idiots’ and ‘tribalists’, and more ‘citizens’ striving for common good! Today, more than ever before, we do not need ‘idiots’ at the helm of the national and international communities, organizations and nations, for we do have enough of them in the society, who are endowed with an egoistic mind-set. Today, more than ever before, we do not need ‘tribalists’ at the helm of the national and international communities, organizations and nations, for we have enough of them in the society, who are obsessed with a ghetto-mind-set. Today, more than ever before, we do need ‘citizens’, citizens of the Kingdom of God, who strive for common good; the good of the whole universe, which is apprehended by God, who is the Maker and Governor of all things.

 Aristotle, Politics 󰀁󰀂󰀆󰀇a, 󰀁󰀀.  Pope Francis, Laudato si 󰀂󰀁󰀈. 󰀆󰀃  Ibid. 󰀂󰀃󰀁. 󰀆󰀁

󰀆󰀂

List of Contributors Maria John Costa is a Catholic priest serving as the Pastor of St. Michael’s Church, Diocese of Tuticorin, Tamilnadu. Peter De Mey is professor of Roman Catholic ecclesiology and ecumenism and vice-dean at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Johan De Tavernier is professor of theological ethics and environmental ethics and presently dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Paul Fernandes is the superior of the Jesuit Community of XLRI Jamshedpur. He is the founder of the Xavier University Bhubaneswar, which is the first Jesuit university in India, and was its first Vice Chancellor. Before that he was the director of the Institute of Pastoral Management, JDV, Pune. He is a professor of ethics. Mathew Illathuparampil is the director of St. Mary’s Institute of Technology & Science, Valliyode, Palakkad. He serves also as a visiting professor of Christian ethics in different faculties. Kurian Kachappilly CMI is a professor of philosophy, philosophy of religion and psychology at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK), Bangalore, and Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. At present Kurian Kachappilly is the president of DVK, the Pontifical Athenaeum of Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law. Mathai Kadavil is Superior General of OIC, secretary to the synodal commission for theology of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and president of Kerala Theological Association (KTA). Alex Kalathikattil is professor of sacramental theology at Kristu Jyoti College Bangalore, head of the Department of Liturgy at Kristu Jyoti College and director of Visvadeep, the Institute of Youth Ministry and Faith Formation which is part of Kristu Jyoti College. Currently, he is also the chief editor of two journals, Kristu Jyoti: A Youth Pastoral Theological Catechetical Journal and Bosco Udayam: A Journal of Salesian Spirituality.

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Martin Sebastian Kallungal is professor of theology at the Pontifical Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Aluva, Kerala. Saji Mathew Kanayankal CST is a professor of theological ethics and eco-theology in different faculties in India. At present he is the superior and rector of Vidyabhavan, Bangalore. Scaria Kanniyakonil is professor of moral theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Religious Studies Vadavathoor, and rector of St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary Vadavathoor, Kottayam, Kerala. Henry Jose Kodikuthiyil MSFS is professor of fundamental theology, systematic theology and philosophy, as well as dean at the Department of Theology, Morning Star College at Barrackpore, Kolkata. Maryann Madhavathu is a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Unit of Pastoral and Empirical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Aashu Alexander Mattackal is a doctoral student at the Research Unit History of Church and Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Tony Neelankavil, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Trichur is visiting professor of systematic theology at Marymatha Major Seminary, Trichur. Formerly dean of the Department of Theology of Marymatha, he is currently the chairperson of the doctrinal commissions of the Syro-Malabar Church and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Kerala. Thomas Padiyath is a priest of the archeparchy of Changanacherry, Kerala. He obtained first a PhD in philosophy (󰀂󰀀󰀀󰀆) and then a licentiate in systematic theology (󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀅) from KU Leuven. His dissertation was published in 󰀂󰀀󰀁󰀄 with De Gruyter under the title The Metaphysics of Becoming: On the Relationship between Creativity and God in Whitehead and Supermind and Sachidananda in Aurobindo. At present he teaches philosophy at various ecclesiastical institutions in India. Joseph Pamplany is the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Tellicherry. He is the founder director of the Alpha Institute of Theology and Science. He continues to teach theology and exegesis at various faculties in India and abroad. Jobi Patteruparampil MCBS is the dean of studies and a professor of Patristics and Church History at the Faculty of Theology Sanathana Divya Karunya Vidyapeetham, Thamarassery, Kerala.

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Paul Pulikkan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Trichur in Kerala, is the director of the Chair for Christian Studies at the University of Calicut. He is also dean of studies of the Department of Theology at the Marymatha Major Seminary, Trichur and the chief editor of Eastern Journal of Dialogue and Culture; archdiocesan director of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. He is a member of the research project, The Second Vatican Council – Heritage and Mission, Vallendar, Germany. Patricia H. Santos RJM is an assistant professor of theology and coordinator of the diploma program in theology for women at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pontifical Athenaeum of Philosophy and Religion, Pune. Bilju Vazhappilly is a priest of the Archdiocese of Trichur in Kerala. At present he is resident professor in the Department of Theology at Marymatha Major Seminary (Trichur), research coordinator of the PAROC Research Institute (Pastoral Animation Research and Outreach Centre, Trichur), secretary cum member of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission (Trichur), member of the Central Liturgical Commission (CLC) of the Syro-Malabar Church (Kakkanad, India), and secretary of ILAAM (Indian Leuven Alumni Association Meet, India).

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