c. 2007 Religion News Service
Catholic bishops rebuke Georgetown theologian
(RNS) U.S. Catholic bishops, acting at the direction of the Vatican, have rebuked a theologian at Georgetown University for writings that they say conflict with church doctrine on the uniqueness of Christianity and Catholicism.
In a 15-page statement released Monday (Dec. 10), the bishops’ Committee on Doctrine criticized the 2004 book “Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue” by the Rev. Peter C. Phan.
Phan is a Vietnamese native and a priest of the Dallas diocese. He teaches in Washington and is a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.
The bishops specifically criticized Phan for arguing that Christ should not be described as the “unique,” “absolute” or “universal” savior of humankind; that non-Christian religions offer an “autonomous” path to salvation; and that past injustices committed by the Catholic Church disqualify it from claiming to be the “unique and universal instrument of salvation.”
In what they presented as a “positive restatement” of relevant Catholic teaching, the bishops asserted that Christ “brings together humanity and divinity in a way that can have no parallel in any other figure in history.”
Phan’s vision of religious pluralism conflicts with Christ’s injunction to “make disciples of all nations,” the bishops wrote.
And the Catholic Church’s historical failings do not invalidate its claims to be the “universal sacrament of salvation,” according to the bishops, since the “holiness of the Church is not simply defined by the holiness (or sinfulness) of her members but by the holiness of her head, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The statement is the product of a two-year investigation undertaken at the behest of the Vatican.
In July 2005, then-Bishop Charles Grahmann of Dallas received a letter from an official of the church’s highest doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, regarding Phan’s book.
The letter said the book was “notably confused on a number of points of Catholic doctrine and also contains serious ambiguities,” particularly with respect to the Congregation’s 2000 document “Dominus Iesus,” which describes non-Christians as being in a “gravely deficient situation.”
The Congregation subsequently asked the U.S. bishops to conduct their own investigation of Phan’s book.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Anglican archbishop tears `dog collar’ in Mugabe protest
LONDON (RNS) The African-born Anglican archbishop of York startled a nationwide BBC audience on Sunday (Dec. 9) when he sliced up his clerical “dog collar” during a live interview and vowed not to wear it again until Robert Mugabe quits as president of Zimbabwe.
Archbishop John Sentamu, the No. 2 prelate in the Church of England’s hierarchy, said Mugabe has “taken people’s identity and literally _ if you don’t mind _ cut it to pieces.”
With that, the Ugandan-born cleric grabbed a pair of scissors, took off his dog collar and, to the astonishment of BBC correspondent Andrew Marr and his viewers, chopped it to pieces.
Sentamu then announced that “as far as I’m concerned, from now on I’m not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone.”
The archbishop has been a steadfast critic of Mugabe, whom he described as “the worst kind of racist dictator.” His regime, Sentamu said, has turned Zimbabwe, a once-wealthy nation in the days when it was known as Rhodesia, from a “bread basket into a basket case.”
Sentamu’s decision means that he will appear in public clad in a Church of England bishop’s purple shirt and will not wear the detachable collar during services, even on state occasions _ and “even for the queen (Elizabeth II),” aides told journalists.
The archbishop urged others who oppose Mugabe to “pray, march, protest and collect money” to help the Zimbabwean people.
_ Al Webb
Pennsylvania pilgrims make the journey to Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM, Pa. _ More than 200 people made the 10-mile trek Saturday (Dec. 8) from Nazareth to Bethlehem as a Christmas season remembrance of the journey of Mary and Joseph.
The 48th annual Christmas Peace Pilgrimage was also an opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together for a common cause.
John and Janet Stoner of Akron have participated in the pilgrimage for 30 years. “We think it’s a very meaningful kind of alternative to Christmas observance instead of buying stuff we don’t need,” John Stoner said. “We’d rather make a public statement for peace.”
The walk concluded with a rally at Christ United Church of Christ. Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, addressed the pilgrims on some of the similarities between when Christ was born 2,000 years ago and today.
He said the shepherds would still receive low pay since there has been only one increase in the minimum wage in the past 10 years.
If Mary were a pregnant teenager today, he said, she would most likely be without health insurance. Just as there was no room at the inn before Christ’s birth, local homeless shelters have waiting lists.
Jennings said people often tout their good fortune as the result of hard work and discipline when much of it relates to circumstance.
“We were born to the right parents, got the right genes, got the right skin color, the right chromosomes, were born at the right time,” he said.
_ Bevin Milavsky
Quote of the Day: Papal preacher Raniero Cantalamessa
(RNS) “He who does not know how to say `no’ to himself does not know how to say `yes’ to his neighbors.”
_ The Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to the papal household, speaking about how lust hurts both individuals and other people. He was quoted by Catholic News Service.
KRE/PH END RNS