Making Belief More Believable
Conference Address Question of Faith in Secular Age
By Kirsten K. Evans
WASHINGTON, D.C., NOV. 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Can belief be made "more believable" for both seekers and the faithful alike?
This is the question Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. episcopal conference, and Charles Taylor, professor of philosophy at McGill and Northwestern Universities and 2007 Templeton Prize Winner, sat down to discuss on the campus of Catholic University of America last Thursday evening.
The public forum kicked off a 15-month research project that will re-examine religion and faith in this secular age.
Sponsored by Catholic University's Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, the project "Faith in the Secular Age" will be developed in conjunction with the university's Center for the Study of Culture and Values and the Jesuit Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown.
Thursday's forum drew a standing-room only crowd at the university's conference hall, filled with priests, religious, academics, lay faithful and university students. "I came because innovations in the transmission of the faith is connatural to what I do for a living," said one professional Catholic artist, also a graduate student at Catholic University.
World of seekers
"We live in a world of seekers," explained Taylor in his address. "People who think they are not quite there yet knowing God, but are on the way. There are an endless number of itineraries by which seekers become believers.
"People come to the faith through different routes and events, and each way leaves a mark."
"Christian communion means we come from different places to a common ground, were we hope to experience communion," added Taylor, whose recent book, "The Secular Age" (Harvard University Press, 2007), explores the phenomenon of searching for the religious in the modern world.
Cardinal George, whose own book "The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion and Culture," was published in October (Crossroads Publishing, 2009) noted that "people are interested in being holy."
"One of the very nice things about being a bishop is that I get to go from parish to parish to parish where you meet many holy people," he explained. "Those people are believers, at least publicly, but in their interior many will admit to still being seekers -- not just on peripheral issues, but in more substantial things as well.
"And yet they are holy. They are being made holy by the proclamation of the Gospel, by the celebration of the sacraments, by being gathered in communities where they are loved not only in their families but also by pastors who love them in the name of Christ.
"It works. People are holy in this age as in others. But they become holy in different ways, that is for sure."
An art
Cardinal George pointed out that Church has been dialoguing for the last half-century on how to make belief more believable in the modern world.
He recalled how the Second Vatican Council enable the Church to respond to a world deeply divided after two world wars: "John XXIII thought that the sublime unity of the Church could speak convincingly enough to a divided world, that it could bring healing of the world’s brokenness."
Paul VI went even further, insisting that the Church not only be open to the world, but reform itself in order to be able to better speak to the modern world.
"The response of John Paul II was not just about the Church of the ages, but about the transforming power of faith, by bringing faith into a world that prioritizes experience," the cardinal continued. "He expressed faith in such a way that people who were open to a contemporary vocabulary were challenged to look at it anew."
"Most of all he expressed faith by locating and promoting witnesses to the faith,” he added, making reference to the pontiff’s canonization of more saints during his papacy than all other papacies combined.
"The present Holy Father, Benedict XVI, feels that the faith must be sufficiently stabilized in its own integrity in order to recall a fragmented world to conversion," said Cardinal George. "Therefore, he emphasizes the historical continuity of the Church, precisely so that it can become a stable point of reference.
"When I talk to people in their 20s and 40s, they want the Church to be a stable point of reference in the world, even if they do not want to be a part of the Church themselves.
"The Holy Father knows this. So he wants to show the world again the Church of the ages."
A challenge
Taylor went on to ask the question, if we are making belief believable, are we also making it inviting?
"At times we unfortunately make the presence of Christ, which ought to be transparent, look terribly opaque," he insisted. "I don't think we always look as if we are treating each other in a way that invites others to communion with us; when they see divisions or fighting within the Church herself, for instance."
He posed the question: "Do we believers present faith in a way that invites seekers to join us in communion? Or do we do things that tell them a priori, 'You need not apply'? When people see us, do they find communion with the faithful inviting?"
Task ahead
Over the next 15 months, two groups of scholars will dedicate themselves to probing these questions, under the tutorage of Jesuit Father John Haughey of the Jesuit Woodstock Theological Center, and Dr. William Barbieri, associate professor of theology and religious studies at the Catholic University of America.
One team will focus on the individual search for meaning in our contemporary secular age. The other will consider the role of the spirit in the socio-political global order. In February 2012 the forum will reconvene to consider their findings.
As one event organizer suggested: :The commitment of these leading religious scholars gives us founded hope that more light will be shed on this crucial issue of faith in our world today."
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Favorite Links
- American Papist Blog
- American Spectator
- Archbishop Tim Dolan's (NY) Blog
- Big Blue Wave
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News Site)
- Catholic Dialogue Blog
- Catholic Education Resource Center
- Catholic Exchange
- Catholic Heritage Website (Ireland)
- Catholic Insight
- Catholic News Agency
- Catholic Online
- Catholic Sensibility
- Catholic, and Loving It
- CTV News Site
- Ethics and Public Policy Center
- First Things
- Fr. Raymond De Souza - National Post Columnist
- Fr. Raymond deSouza personal blog
- Freethroughthought blog (excellent site)
- Friar Rick's Webblog
- Get Religion.org
- Global TV News Site
- Holy Post - National Post Religious Blog
- Inside Catholic Blog
- LifeSiteNews
- New Advent
- Pave the Way Foundation
- Priests for Life Canada Website
- ProLife Blog
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke
- Rosary for the Bishops
- Salt & Light TV - Canadian Catholic Television Website
- Sandro Magister
- Sane Conservatism
- SoCon (social conservative)
- Sylvia's Website: Canadian Clergy Sex Abuse Cases
- The Catholic Register
- The Hermeneutic of Continuity
- The National Post: Canada's National Daily
- The New Jesuit Review
- The New York Times Website
- Vox Nova
- What Does Prayer Really Say - Priest bolg
- Whispers in the Loggia

Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(181)
-
▼
November
(78)
- Manhattan Declaration is "dangerous"?
- George Weigel defends the conclusions of Natural L...
- And for something lighter...
- Join the conversation!!
- Gender Mainstreaming at Save a Family Plan
- An interesting exchange between a theist and an at...
- Chris Matthews vs Bishop Tobin
- Interesting article from ZENIT
- Man trapped in 23-year 'coma' reveals horror of be...
- A story taken from LifeSiteNews that should chill ...
- Something for every cell phone user to watch
- Matt Gurney (National Post) argues for the legaliz...
- Catholic Answers
- Interesting position of modernism and its implicat...
- Respect for Each Other in a Polarized Community - ...
- Trying to understand
- Working in "virtual" fields to produce a harvest o...
- Again the battle rages on the web pages of the CBC...
- Just a little humor that tickles a priests' funny ...
- A site from University of Edinburgh which attempts...
- Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Why Not?
- Link to the Manhattan Declaration
- Learning when and how to pick a fight.
- If You Look for the Bad In People, You're sure to ...
- Manhattan Declaration of Consciences
- Archbishop Chaput (Denver) on the cost of disciple...
- Catholic Church needs more Internet savvy: bishop
- I couldn't say it better myself
- Chuck Colson posts an article about religious free...
- Article from Atlantic Catholic writer, Francis Cam...
- Nova: Becoming Human
- Excellent dialogue on St. Joseph's Health Care Cen...
- Big Ecumenical Announcement on Friday!!
- From Blue Wave blog
- Archbishop Duncan of the Anglican Church of North ...
- Zenit reports on the need to increasing the Cathol...
- A voice from Toronto on Bill C-384
- Bishop Fred Henry (Calgary) calls for the defeat o...
- A Small Town Paper poses Challenge to Catholic Fai...
- Catholic Video Blog
- Looking for bigger role on Web, bishops meet Googl...
- When Bishops take to the public square to make the...
- Abortion kills more than baby: Chinese study says...
- Church Examines Its Use of Internet What's To Be L...
- W5 program this Saturday/Sunday (November 14/15, 2...
- God & Dog
- Why did Bishops cover up the sex abuse scandals
- American study on sex abuse by clergy
- The value of a private retreat for women (and men ...
- Families : mediating structure between individual ...
- University of Toronto Pro-Life students make the a...
- A long and safe trip
- Another graced gift of the Pro-Life "40 Days for L...
- Sexual Abuse in Social Context: Catholic League
- Have you heard the voice of God today?
- An example of what I speak
- Human Rights Tribunals: An attack upon Christians...
- National Post: Are there two "Catholic Churches"?
- But what do we mean when we say "marriage"?
- Is the Church a force for good? Fr. Richard John N...
- Lessons from Fort Hood
- Insightful article of the nature of theology
- The effects linger for years, and years....
- Whispers in the Loggia
- New York Times analysizes the Maine Vote overturni...
- Another Evangelical Catholic is heard from
- The power of music
- Massey Lecture Series
- A challenge, with deep nod of respect to graduates...
- Not a great day (sigh) for Catholic values and the...
- Another front opens on the culture war between fai...
- The media drum beat for legalized euthanasia conti...
- The impact of the blogoshere on the main stream me...
- The fruits of the 40 Day Witness for Life pays off...
- clay vessels: Drinking a Beer with Jesus
- Dorothy Day: Contribution to Catholic/Christian re...
- A conversation with Wayne on the ways of God
- An Invitation to a conversation
-
▼
November
(78)

No comments:
Post a Comment