Pope emeritus Benedict XVI: Dialogue cannot substitute for mission

http://www.catholicworldreport.com ^ | October 23, 2014 | Carl E. Olson

[NKP_Vet]

Francis X. Rocca of CNS has a report for CNS on a speech by Benedict XVI, delivered on October 21st to faculty and students of Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome; the address was read by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, who is prefect of the papal household and the personal secretary to Benedict. Rocca reports some of the address, which doesn't appear to be available online in its entirety:

"The risen Lord instructed his apostles, and through them his disciples in all ages, to take his word to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of all people," retired Pope Benedict wrote. "'But does that still apply?' many inside and outside the church ask themselves today. 'Is mission still something for today? Would it not be more appropriate to meet in dialogue among religions and serve together the cause of world peace?' The counter-question is: 'Can dialogue substitute for mission?'

"In fact, many today think religions should respect each other and, in their dialogue, become a common force for peace. According to this way of thinking, it is usually taken for granted that different religions are variants of one and the same reality," the retired pope wrote. "The question of truth, that which originally motivated Christians more than any other, is here put inside parentheses. It is assumed that the authentic truth about God is in the last analysis unreachable and that at best one can represent the ineffable with a variety of symbols. This renunciation of truth seems realistic and useful for peace among religions in the world.

"It is nevertheless lethal to faith. In fact, faith loses its binding character and its seriousness, everything is reduced to interchangeable symbols, capable of referring only distantly to the inaccessible mystery of the divine," he wrote.

The address emphasized that the proclamation of Jesus Christ is not about gaining "as many members as possible for our community, and still less in order to gain power. ... We speak of him because we feel the duty to transmit that joy which has been given to us."

This appears to echo many of the thoughts expressed by Benedict on April 17, 2008, at the U.N., during his Apostolic Journey to the United States:

I have noticed a growing interest among governments to sponsor programs intended to promote interreligious and intercultural dialogue. These are praiseworthy initiatives. At the same time, religious freedom, interreligious dialogue and faith-based education aim at something more than a consensus regarding ways to implement practical strategies for advancing peace. The broader purpose of dialogue is to discover the truth. What is the origin and destiny of mankind? What are good and evil? What awaits us at the end of our earthly existence? Only by addressing these deeper questions can we build a solid basis for the peace and security of the human family, for “wherever and whenever men and women are enlightened by the splendor of truth, they naturally set out on the path of peace” (Message for the 2006 World Day of Peace, 3).

We are living in an age when these questions are too often marginalized. Yet they can never be erased from the human heart. Throughout history, men and women have striven to articulate their restlessness with this passing world. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Psalms are full of such expressions: “My spirit is overwhelmed within me” (Ps 143:4; cf. Ps 6:6; 31:10; 32:3; 38:8; 77:3); “why are you cast down, my soul, why groan within me?” (Ps 42:5). The response is always one of faith: “Hope in God, I will praise him still; my Savior and my God” (Ps 42:5, 11; cf. Ps 43:5; 62:5). Spiritual leaders have a special duty, and we might say competence, to place the deeper questions at the forefront of human consciousness, to reawaken mankind to the mystery of human existence, and to make space in a frenetic world for reflection and prayer.

Confronted with these deeper questions concerning the origin and destiny of mankind, Christianity proposes Jesus of Nazareth. He, we believe, is the eternal Logos who became flesh in order to reconcile man to God and reveal the underlying reason of all things. It is he whom we bring to the forum of interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue (cf. Lk 10:25-37; Jn 4:7-26).

[NKP_Vet]

A direct repudiation of the 3-ring circus called the Synod of the Family.

[cloudmountain]

1. Pope Benedict's peers said of him: He has a towering intellect and a backbone of tempered steel.

2. I trust in the Holy Spirit to steer the synod on the right path.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I still have no idea why Benedict stepped down. JPII was far more debilitated than he. JPII never stepped down. Even with his infirmities he was a good shepherd.

[Steelfish]

Benedict XVI is the theological Einstein of our times. He is so right. All this talk about Ecumenism is useless. These Protestant faiths are full aware of the core Catholic credo. If they accept it it dooms their mega million dollar ministries.

[RobbyS]

Benedict had no Ratzinger to back him up. He just got old. Thurgood Marshall was a lazy judge, but he finally decided to pack it in. Asked by by a reporter he said. “I just got too d____d old!” When one gets past 85, things just start to fall apart.

[RobbyS]

But his enemies in the Church were closed to his teaching. And it got to the point that he could not control those around him.

[piusv]

And yet he spoke of false unity and took part in non-Catholic services which was forbidden prior to Vatican II:

http://www.news.va/en/news/benedict-xvi-an-example-of-faith-also-for-the-luth

[NKP_Vet]

But he also came out after that and said the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church were the only Christian Churches, with the Catholic Church being the true Church, because Orthodox broke away from Rome. He said any faith that came out of the Reformation was an “ecclesial community” and not Christian churches because they had no sacraments and no apostolic secession, which ended with the Reformation. Benedict was 100% right.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-only-one-true-church/

[piusv]

I know many Catholics here think Benedict is the answer, but he still took part in non-Catholic and "interfaith" services. This was forbidden pre-Vatican II. And now we have popes encouraging this!

He took part in a Lutheran service and he celebrated in an ecumenical service at the place where Martin Luther was ordained. Martin Luther! If he truly believes the Lutherans really aren't true churches why did he take part in one of their services? Saying one thing and doing another? Sound familiar?

[NKP_Vet]

“If he truly believes the Lutherans really aren’t true churches why did he take part in one of their services? Saying one thing and doing another? Sound familiar”

Do you know the date of this? Makes no sense. He knows these are not Christian churches, Francis thinks they are.

[piusv]

Not sure I’m following. If you’re asking the date of the Lutheran visits, etc, then those happened after the article you posted (I think 2010 vs 2007).

[BlueDragon]

If what NKP_Vet says;

Do you know the date of this? Makes no sense. He knows these are not Christian churches, Francis thinks they are

would be the actual truth of the matter, then in such as the below -- Ratinger is woefully misleading everyone, quite deliberately...

http://www.news.va/en/news/benedict-xvi-an-example-of-faith-also-for-the-luth

2013-02-22 L’Osservatore Romano

On the day after his election to the Papacy, which took place on 19 April 2005, Benedict XVI stated in a message to the Cardinals that ecumenism was one of the fundamental themes of his pontificate, takes on as his primary task “the duty to work tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers”. He was aware that, in order to do this, good intentions do not suffice. Thus “Concrete gestures that enter hearts and stir consciences are essential, inspiring in everyone that inner conversion that is the prerequisite for all ecumenical progress”.

I wish to recall three actions by Pope Benedict XVI because, as a Lutheran pastor in Rome I perceive and consider these gestures to have a lasting ecumenical importance, capable of showing the way. The first was his visit on 14 March 2010 to the Evangelical Lutheran Community of Rome, with whom he celebrated Laetare Sunday in our church, the Christuskirche. For us this was a very special sign of an ecumenical bond. This small step expresses the place that ecumenism occupies for Benedict XVI. For, the Pope, as head of the Roman Catholic Church, was available to celebrate – with our small community in Rome – a sacred encounter in the Lutheran tradition.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/march/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20100314_christuskirche_en.html

"...Today we hear many complaints about the fact that ecumenism has reached a stalemate and that there are mutual accusations. Yet I think we should first of all be grateful that so much unity already exists. It is wonderful that today, Laetare Sunday, we can pray together, sing the same hymns, listen to the same word of God, explain it and seek to understand it together; that we look to the one Christ whom we see and to whom we wish to belong and that, in this manner, we are already witnessing that he is one, the One who has called us all and to whom, in the deepest way possible, we all belong. ..."

If one relies upon Ratzinger having said elsewhere, that these others 'churches' are but ecclesiastical communities -- he rather undoes himself (whether he knew it or not-- perhaps now he does?) for reason that the word ~ekklesia~ is where the word ~church~ comes from.

Etymology is far too fundamentally important in this regard, and for further applications of the word "church", to not be taken seriously -- and then be consistently applied.

my...what big teeth you have, grandma

[Arthur McGowan]

The prohibition on participating in non-Catholic public prayer was always about the possibility of scandal—seeming to affirm the TRUTH of a non-Catholic religion.

It has never been intrinsically wrong for a Catholic to pray in public with Protestants. The prohibition of doing so was always about the possibility of scandal.

It is STILL forbidden for a Catholic to receive Protestant “communion”—because there scandal is not a possibility but a certainty. Reception of “communion” is a positive, unambiguous sign of full ecclesial unity.

I believe JPII and Ratzinger might have made some bad calls on this matter. The one I have no doubt about is JPII kissing the Koran, and some of the other shenanigans at Assisi. But merely praying with Protestants and others in a public event is not intrinsically evil or heretical.

[Arthur McGowan]

Re-elect Ratzinger!

[piusv]

The examples I gave were not just praying in public.

One was at an actual Lutheran service and the other was praying to commemorate Luther, not just some ordinary public event.

The post Vatican II popes have caused scandal by doing what was forbidden prior to Vatican II. Never would you see a pope do such a thing then. It is part and parcel of the false unity and false ecumenism brought about by Vatican II.

As for communion, I wouldn’t be surprised if that is changed sometime in the near future. It appears that we are already chipping away at who can receive communion right now. Also, non-Catholics are now allowed to receive communion under certain circumstances. Non-Catholics receiving communion was once forbidden with no exceptions.

Little by little the Modernists are changing the Catholic Church. Hopefully someday soon some saint will stand up and stop the madness.

[piusv]

I know you are not Catholic but yes, there is contradiction in what he says and does. That is why he is also a Modernist. He isn’t as in your face as Francis, but he is.

[Arthur McGowan]

I don’t disagree that the Popes have caused scandal.

[cloudmountain]

Benedict XVI is the theological Einstein of our times. He is so right. All this talk about Ecumenism is useless. These Protestant faiths are full aware of the core Catholic credo. If they accept it it dooms their mega million dollar ministries.

All that you say is true.
The Protestants will NEVER give up divorce, not having to go to Church EVERY Sunday, abortion and the other "must do" things that are uniquely Catholic.
They especially won't give up those evangelical "mega million dollar" ministries that obviously appeal to their religious preferences. They have free choice.

[cloudmountain]

But his enemies in the Church were closed to his teaching. And it got to the point that he could not control those around him.

You saw it differently than I did. He SAID he retired because of his health. I believed him.

[Steelfish]

Absolutely on point. They have huge economic and egocentric reasons for not wanting to embrace Catholicism even though some of their top Anglican and Protestant theologians have converted to Catholicism. As BXVI says ecumenism without a purpose in conversion is lethal to the faith.