By Sandro Magister
Chiesa
May 6, 2010
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1343204?eng=y
The dispute over the sins of the Church rages on. Here's how Ratzinger, as a young professor, explained why "the divine so often presents itself in such unworthy hands." Page written more than forty years ago, but highly relevant.
The article from www.chiesa one week ago on the concept of "sinner Church" has provoked lively agreement and disagreement.
Among those who disagree is Joseph A. Komonchak, a priest of the archdiocese of New York, historian and theologian, editor of the American edition of the "History of Vatican II" directed by Giuseppe Alberigo, and prominent author for the magazine Commonweal."
He writes:
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Dear Sandro Magister:
In your recent post, you say that the present Pope has never made his own the idea that the Church may be said to be sinful. But in fact, in his Introduction to Christianity, written of course before he became pope he uses this language. He even speaks of Vatican II as having been too "timorous" in its statement that the Church is not only holy but sinful, "so deeply aware are we all of the sinfulness of the Church" (English Translation, p. 262). He is here following, I believe, the view of St. Augustine, repeated in St. Thomas Aquinas, that the Church will not be "without spot or wrinkle" until the End. Both great saints then cite 1 John 1: "If we sat that we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." And every day, the Church everywhere prays: "Forgive us our debts." Cardinal Biffi is correct on the use of the phrase "casta meretrix," but, of course, the issue is not settled by that matter alone. By the way, on at least one occasion, on a visit to Fatima, Pope John Paul II spoke of the Church as "both holy and sinful."
Sincerely yours,
Joseph A. Komonchak
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Fr. Komonchak is correct when he cites John Paul II. On the first of his three trips to Fatima, the one in 1982, and in the first of the seven speeches that he gave in that city, he in effect said that he had come there "as a pilgrim among pilgrims, in this assembly of the pilgrim Church, of the living Church, holy and sinful."
But it must be noted that, in the vast volume of this pope's speeches, this is the only time in which the adjective "sinful" is found to be applied directly to the Church. A prudence that is all the more remarkable in that it was adopted by a pope who went down in history as the one who asked repeatedly and publicly for forgiveness for the sins of the Church's children.
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Both for John Paul II and for his prefect of doctrine, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in fact, the formula "sinful Church" was seen as being dangerously misleading, because of its unresolved contradiction with the profession of faith in the "holy Church" found in the Creed.
Proof of this fear is in the note on "The Church and the faults of the past" published on March 7, 2000 by the international theological commission overseen by Ratzinger, as comment and clarification on the requests for forgiveness made by John Paul II during that jubilee year.
In it, there is a passage dedicated precisely to explaining why the Church "is also in a certain sense sinner," and to suggesting how to express this concept in terms that are not misleading.
It is the first paragraph of the third section of the note, dedicated to the "theological foundations" of the request for forgiveness:
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"Hence it is appropriate that as the second millennium of Christianity draws to a close the Church should become ever more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal. Although she is holy because of her incorporation into Christ, the Church does not tire of doing penance. Before God and man, she always acknowledges as her own her sinful sons and daughters" (Tertio millennio adveniente, 33). These words of John Paul II emphasize how the Church is touched by the sin of her children. She is holy in being made so by the Father through the sacrifice of the Son and the gift of the Spirit. She is also in a certain sense sinner, in really taking upon herself the sin of those whom she has generated in Baptism. This is analogous to the way Christ Jesus took on the sin of the world (cf. Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; 1 Pt 2:24). Furthermore, in her most profound self-awareness in time, the Church knows that she is not only a community of the elect, but one which in her very bosom includes both righteous and sinners, of the present as well as the past, in the unity of the mystery which constitutes her. Indeed, in grace and in the woundedness of sin, the baptized of today are close to, and in solidarity with, those of yesterday. For this reason one can say that the Church – one in time and space in Christ and in the Spirit – is truly "at the same time holy and ever in need of purification" (Lumen Gentium, 8). It is from this paradox, which is characteristic of the mystery of the Church, that the question arises as to how one can reconcile the two aspects: on the one hand, the Church's affirmation in faith of her holiness, and on the other hand, her unceasing need for penance and purification.
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The paragraph just cited also recalls the passage in which Vatican Council II speaks of the sins of the Church's children. It is in paragraph 8 of the constitution "Lumen Gentium." Which again avoids defining the Church per se as "sinful":
"While Christ, holy, innocent and undefiled knew nothing of sin, but came to expiate only the sins of the people, the Church, embracing in its bosom sinners, at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal."
Then why did the theologian Ratzinger, in his 1968 "Introduction to Christianity," which is still the book of theology most widely read in the entire world, complain – as Komonchak recalls – that Vatican Council II was "too timorous" in speaking of the "sinfulness of the Church," of this sensation of which we are all "so deeply aware"?
The only way to answer this question is to revisit what Ratzinger wrote in that book, in the last chapter, which is dedicated to explaining why the Church is "holy" even though it is made up of sinners.
In effect, it is precisely in its relationship with the sin and "filth" of the world that the Church's holiness most shines. Written more than forty years ago, these arguments by Ratzinger are of stunning relevance. Including when they recall the meaning and limitations of the accusations brought against the Church, then as now.
Here are the main passages, taken from the final chapter of "Introduction to Christianity." Passages in which, once again, the formula "sinful Church" never appears.
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