Catholic in the Hot Seat
This is an ecumenical book (in the proper sense of the term) that is generally engaging and occasionally illuminating. Its premise is simple: Dwight Longenecker, a former Evangelical Protestant who is now a Catholic layman, engages in dialogue with John Martin, an Evangelical—a “low” church Anglican—about controversial issues dividing the two groups. It is a worthwhile, even necessary, endeavor, and the book sporadically lives up to its promise.
Because polemical exchanges between Catholics and Evangelical Protestants are common, it is refreshing to witness a mostly civilized and levelheaded discussion about topics such as authority, Scripture, Marian beliefs, and the Reformation. Originally this dialogue was broadcast on radio. This book—the inscripturated form of those oral traditions if you will—captures the informal and personal idiom of conversation.
While the book presents itself as a balanced discussion, the title hints that the Catholic is in the hot seat and that he, not the Evangelical, needs to provide answers. Longenecker does not disappoint. In fact, he consistently proves to be the better informed and the more persuasive of the two men. I’ll admit that as a former Evangelical I do have a bias. But the book’s Protestant publisher, Paternoster Press, does as well. The title seems to reflect the publisher’s need to assure Protestant readers that the Catholic does indeed get properly challenged and put into his place.
This impression is bolstered by the veiled condescension found in the forward written by Rev. Tim Bradshaw, an Anglican minister and a member of the English Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission. Rev. Bradshaw writes that readers, in considering Longenecker’s responses, “need to remind ourselves that Dwight, a convert, represents the more conservative strand of his church, and that ‘cradle Catholics’ [earlier described as “liberal’ Roman Catholics”] are freer than converts to hold dissenting views” (xv). Those doubting the relativistic and politicized mentality of many Anglicans, take note. Longenecker is chided for his failure to embrace “pluralism,” even though the pluralism in question is simply a modern form of sola scriptura that encourages subjective interpretations of Scripture.
To his credit, John Martin is more honest and less political than Rev. Bradshaw. He faces the task of defending many beliefs that are illogical, without historical basis, and biblically unsound. Perhaps due to this chore, or perhaps e.asperated by Longenecker’s solid responses, Martin occasionally falls back into polemics. After Longenecker provides a general introduction to Catholic beliefs about Mary, Martin exclaims, “It never ceases to amaze how, when the subject turns to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the brains of many an otherwise hard-minded Catholic seems to turn to putty!” (155).
When Longenecker points out that former Protestants such as himself not only wrestled with these Marian beliefs but did so with strong skepticism, Martin claims that these doctrines are “unbiblical,” “unnecessary clutter,” and “nonsense” (157). He then waxes Freudian and accuses Catholic males of turning Mary into a sort of Catholic pin-up girl. Here Longenecker is at his best, firmly but charitably pointing out that playing “the armchair psychiatrist” leads to the “kind of speculation that is both sordid and specious” (160). Besides, he argues, how can one then account for the “army of Catholic women who have a deep and abiding devotion to Mary?” (160).
An unavoidable weakness of the book—and the scandal of Protestantism itself—is that other Evangelicals will not accept some Martin’s personal beliefs and ideas. He lauds some of the Church Fathers, and he occasionally displays an approach to Scripture that more than a few Evangelicals would describe as “liberal.” He disparages Catholic beliefs as forms of “Aristotelian” corruption yet never demonstrates a basic g.asp of Aristotelian thought or Thomistic philosophy. There is a palpable sense that he is the one being challenged and that the only weapons he finds in many cases are polemical and full of clichés.
Longenecker, who understands the Evangelical mentality and Protestant theology, has the upper hand. He quotes Scripture often and acknowledges the failings of particular Catholics, including some popes. He has the advantage of being able to refer to the Catechism and other official documents of the Church, which he does often and with good effect. A reality that he could have emphasized more that would have tied all of his excellent arguments together in a more organic whole is the Catholic understanding of grace as the divine and dynamic life of God.
One fact is clear from this dialogue: Five hundred years after the Reformation, the points of conflict and confusion between Catholics and many Evangelicals continue to be the vastly different notions of grace, soteriology, and participation in the divine nature.
—Carl E. Olson
Challenging Catholics: A Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue
By Dwight Longenecker and John Martin
Paternoster Press (2001)
208 pages
£7.99
ISBN: 0-84227-096-6
Forgotten—Not
Russian Orthodoxy has often viewed Latin rite Catholicism as heretical and Greek Catholicism in partnership with heresy and national destruction. Catholics on Russian soil were often not permitted to build churches, were denied Muscovite/Russian citizenship, were forbidden to carry out missionary activity and were at times martyred. Russian nationalism, frustrated in its own peculiar sense of “manifest destiny” by the Catholic states surrounding it—notably Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania—feared (not always without reason) Western powers as enemies and potential predators.
Against this grim background, the oppression of all religion under Soviet Communism was particularly marked toward Catholics. Rev. Christopher Zugger’s book The Forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin explores the history of the Catholic Church under Soviet Communism, both in its Latin and Eastern Rites, spanning roughly from 1914–1985.
The sheer enormity of Soviet repression is overwhelming. Lenin’s Red Terror—the forced collectivization of agriculture and its subsequent land “reform” rapid industrialization; the placement of millions into prison camps for slave labor; the massive “relocations” of huge populations of people; the staggering number of people executed, tortured, or starved to death; Stalin’s genocidal policies and the accompanying brutalizing of the Soviet peoples—was a string of atrocities that continued for generations.
While the Vatican appointed “secret” bishops and delineated new and carefully guarded diocesan boundaries, the Church’s efforts were largely futile. Those who kept the faith alive always did so despite grave personal dangers. Incarcerated priests or lay faithful found ingenious ways to serve clandestine Masses, make rosaries, hear or make confessions, and teach the faith. Fr. Zugger provides both the raw data of mass destruction and individual stories that personalize the data.
The stories are painful. But Fr. Zugger writes, “My goal has been to record the legacy of Soviet Catholics so their past, their uncertain future, and what they now teach us will not be forgotten—and because their stories have moved me to the depth of my soul” (xviii). What follows is a brief interview with Fr. Zugger.
Father, your book is filled with personal stories. How did you collect these?
Most of my research on this book was pre-Internet. I spent a great deal of time writing to people, talking personally, and presenting my case for the preservation of their history or the stories of martyrs they had known. One person would lead to me to another, and there is a long link of connections that had to be directed by the hand of God. I could never have found so many stories on my own.
You mention in the book’s preface “the uncertain future” of Soviet Catholics. Can you speak a bit about the current situation for Catholics in Eastern Europe and Russia?
On my pilgrimage to Eastern Europe this year [2001] I was struck by the fact that many Catholics feel like they are walking on thin ice. Church registration is still necessary in most places. There are still old Communists in authority. In the homeland of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic Church, all of the old churches are still owned by the government, just like in Communist days. So for many people in a broad range of territory, while they remain firmly devoted to the Church and to Christ, they are not so sure what their future will be in say, ten years. This is particularly true for isolated parishes in the Russian interior and some Islamic republics.
You are chaplain for the Mission Society of Our Lady of Boronyavo. How do you see this organization responding to the circumstances in Eastern Europe and Russia?
The Mission Society strives to publicize the situations of Catholics in Russia and Ukraine and elsewhere using our web site, newsletter, and conferences. Above all, I hope to continue to establish good links with the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia and Trans-Carpathia to provide direct aid to needy projects and persons. Finally, I want to see continued prayer for vocations and to Our Lady for the healing of the division of the churches and the spread of the gospel through our work and prayers.
There is a lot of work to be done. But it can all be resolved by turning to Christ Jesus and trusting in him and in the promises given by his Mother in Fatima.
How could someone help in Mission Society work or receive a newsletter?
They can write to me at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Parish, Mission Society of the Mother of God of Boronyavo, Inc., 1838 Palomas Drive, NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110. We have a website, too, and I can be reached there by email: www.missionboronyavo.org.
The Forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin
By Rev. Christopher Lawrence Zugger
Syracuse University Press (2001)
556 pages pages
$39.95
ISBN: 0-81560-679-6
The Doctors Are In
The Catholic Church has thirty-three Doctors. They are on call 24/7, and their services can be accessed through prayer, reading, or contemplation of their lives. They are male and female—priests, monks, nuns, mystics, theologians, soldiers, bishops, poets, Jesuits, Dominicans, Carmelites, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans.
There are four “Great” Doctors (Basil, Pope Leo, Pope Gregory, and Albert), an Angelic Doctor who is also a “Common” Doctor (Thomas Aquinas), a Golden-Mouthed Doctor (John Chrysostom)––not to be confused with the Golden-Worded Doctor (Peter Chrysologus)—the Hammerer of the Arians (Hilary of Poitiers), and the Little Flower (Therese of Lisieux).
These are not, of course, medical doctors, but men and women whose teaching (in Latin, docere, from which “doctrine” is derived) has been recognized as invaluable (though not infallible). As Fink writes, the title of Doctor has been given to a small number “whose combination of intellectual brilliance and sanctity has been of extraordinary importance in the development of doctrine or spirituality” (vol. 1, xi).
This two-volume set of pocket-sized books is, as the subtitle indicates, an introduction to the lives and writings of Church’s thirty-three Doctors. The first volume is dedicated to the seventeen Doctors of the first millennium, beginning with Athanasius (A.D. 297–373). The second volume documents the sixteen who lived in the second millennium, ending with Therese of Lisieux (1873–1897).
Each Doctor’s bio is a few pages long, with several more pages containing selections from his or her writings. Naturally, some Doctors demand more pages, either because their lives were filled with important events or because they were better documented than others. Augustine and Aquinas receive lengthier treatment than do Isidore of Seville or Lawrence of Brindisi.
There is also the fact that certain Doctors capture the imagination more easily or appeal to our sensibilities more strongly than others. Fink notes that Therese of Lisieux, an unlearned and nearly anonymous young nun, is today “undoubtedly one of the most popular of all the saints. More people have a devotion to her than to any of the other Doctors of the Church, perhaps even to any other saint except the Blessed Virgin” (vol. 2, 211).
The emotional and charismatic Augustine is still widely read today, even among non-Catholics, and he is the most quoted of all the Doctors in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the Office of Readings found the Liturgy of the Hours. On the other hand, Doctors such as Ephrem or Lawrence of Brindisi are scarcely known to present-day Catholics.
Most of the Doctors wrote their greatest works and accomplished their most vital tasks while addressing the difficulties of their times. More often than not, like Paul, they wrote sermons and books and treatises to combat heresies, errors, and corruption. Athanasius battled Arianism, wrote On The Incarnation, and played a central role in the first Council of Nicea. Cyril of Alexandria contended with Nestorianism; John Damascene struggled against Iconoclasm; Aquinas stood up to Islam; and Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine, and Francis de Sales all fought Protestantism in the sixteenth century. Anthony of Padua, a popular saint who is often depicted holding the Christ Child, was called the “Hammerer of Heretics” for preaching against the Cathars and the Albigensians.
More than polemicists and enforcers of doctrine, the Doctors were saints who suffered for the faith, oftentimes at the hands of their fellow Catholics. From the numerous exiles of Athanasius to the debilitating disease that took the life of the Little Flower, the Doctors of the Church taught by example, suffering for their Savior with a love awesome to contemplate.
Fink does a fine job of describing the intellectual genius and the spiritual greatness of the Doctors without ignoring their weaknesses and flaws. Jerome is infamous for his cranky and combative nature, but many of the other Doctors also struggled with impatience, irritation, and temptations of the flesh.
Some of the Doctors, such as Albert the Great, Peter Carisius, and Robert Bellarmine, are given short shrift in the reading selections, and a couple of the bios seem cursory even for an introductory work. However, this attractive and relatively inexpensive set is well suited for those with little or no knowledge of the subject and provides a solid starting point for further reading and study of these great teachers of Catholicism.
—Carl E.Olson
The Doctors of the Church: An Introduction to the Church’s Great Teachers (two volumes)
By John F. Fink
Alba House (2001)
Vol. 1: 238 pages/ Vol. 2: 230 pages
$9.95 each/$19.90 set
ISBN: 0-8189-0839-4 (vol. 1)
ISBN 0-8189-0840-8 (vol. 2)