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Over the years “New Theologies” have been introduced into the Catholic Church. Not only have these theologies, in some or many instances, become predominant in Church thinking, they have affected teaching in the Catholic classroom as well. We begin with The People’s Church.
LIBERATION THEOLOGY started as a Social
Justice movement in the Latin American Catholic Church in the 1950s. Its
leaders were primarily Jesuits and Maryknolls. This movement has since grown to
international and inter-denominational proportions. Having donned the cloak of
Catholicism, it was spawned by the People’s Socialistic Church and spread
throughout Latin America. Liberation
Theology turned various Catholic countries in Latin America into bastions of
Marxism. Base “Communities” were established to fashion the people’s liturgy.
This concept of the “Theology of Liberation” was based on the “new theologies”
of European theologians. It had its impetus at Vatican II.
Liberation
Theology espoused that the economically poor and the politically oppressed
should became the preferential objects of Catholicism, and the aim was to
replace U. S. capitalism with a democratic socialism. It incorporated the very
aims of Marxist-Leninism.
This
new theology afforded a plan to restructure the Church justifying it through the
criticism of European theologians who thought that Rome imposed stagnant and
“alien” views on the people. A new church was born… “The Peoples Socialist
Church”. A church from below with a
focus on oppression and injustice.
At the Conferences of Latin American
Theologians in Mexico City in August 1975, Jon Sobrino, S.J. explained that
‘the new faith’ would give rise to ‘new practices’ creating a new faith. At the
Second International Convention of Christians for Socialism (Quebec, April
1975) it was stated that “the people of God were reclaiming the Scriptures and
reading them for the viewpoint of the poor and oppressed classes, making their
own the liturgical and sacramental symbols and striking out on new paths of
contemplation, celebration, and Eucharist…” (1) Fr. Sobrino contended that the
poor are a privileged channel of God’s grace. By 2007, the Vatican had branded
Fr. Sobrino’s books as erroneous and dangerous.
Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, Peruvian Dominican
Theologian, is considered to be the founder of Liberation Theology. He studied
with the European “new theology” theologians and authored the profoundly
influential work, A Theology of Liberation. By 1971 he had coined the term “Preferential
Treatment of the Poor”. Gutierrez perceived the human being as assuming conscious responsibility for human destiny
while Christ the Savior liberates the human race from sin, which he considered
the root of all disruption of friendship and of all injustice and
oppression. This led Gutierrez to favor
“praxis” [human action- such as taking care of the poor and oppressed] over
doctrine or at least equal to doctrine. This, in turn, led then Cardinal
Ratzinger to criticize Liberation Theology for equating praxis to
orthodoxy.
Cardinal
Ratzinger put “Preferential Treatment of the Poor” into proper context of
Catholic truth. In an article in Catholic Culture we read: “By contrast, the liberationists are exclusionary, a point
that their critics make frequently. Ratzinger wrote in 1986: ‘The special
option for the poor, far from being a sign of particularism or sectarianism,
manifests the universality of the Church's being and mission. This option
excludes no one. All human beings are
poor. All people need spiritual sustenance; some need material sustenance also’.”
(2)
The
article continues: “The adversaries of liberation
theology promote greater Christian unity by insisting on an inclusive understanding of the
oft-repeated phrase ‘preferential option for the poor.’...For Catholics,
everyone, both rich and poor, are pilgrims and sinners before the Eucharist…” (3)
Cardinal Ratzinger said Liberation
Theology was dangerous as it fused the Bible’s view of history with Marxist
dialectics, and he referred to it as a singular heresy.
Liberation
Theology also considered Dogma and Doctrine as an “ideology” of capitalism and
Romanism. Gutierrez said the Church of the people should wrest the Gospel from
the hands of the powerful and take it away from those who look upon it as their
private possession. He claimed that when the Gospel is read from the viewpoint
of the poor, etc. it cries out for a Church of the People. He also stated that
ever since Vatican II we understand better that we are called to build the Church from below.
In
1984 and 1986 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asserted that
Liberation Theology focused on institutionalized sin or systemic sin with
apparent exclusion of individual offenders and offenses. Wouldn’t such
exclusion seem to relegate the importance of various Sacraments, Dogma and
Doctrine, and the need for personal salvation to a much lesser status? One of
these Vatican Congregation pronouncements noted that “Theologians who do not
share the theses of the ‘theology of liberation’, the hierarchy and especially
the Roman Magisterium, are thus discredited in advance as belonging to the
class of oppressors.” (4)
Opinions
regarding revival of Liberation Theology at the Vatican are varied, speculative.
and conflicting. One would have to do their own research regarding that issue.
The following information does cover some recent developments regarding
Liberation Theology and the Church.
On February 24, 2014 the Associated Press published the
following information. “The founder of liberation theology, the Latin
American-inspired Catholic theology advocating for the poor, received a hero's
welcome Tuesday at the Vatican as the once-criticized movement continues its
rehabilitation under Pope Francis.” (5) The article is referring to the Fr.
Gustavo Gutierrez, father of liberation theology, who was a surprise speaker to
launch Cardinal Gerhard Mueller’s new book. Poor of the Poor: The Mission of
the Church, which contains two chapters written by Gutierrez.
The following is posted
at the official site of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Australia concerning
this topic. “Speaking then
as participant at the Aparecida meeting [the
Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops conducted
in 2007 in Aparecida, Brazil] Cardinal Bergoglio cited the region’s
“scandalous inequality, which damages both personal dignity and social
justice.” Continuing, the future pope said ‘The unjust distribution of goods
persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and
limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers...’ While
it may be still too early to say where Pope Francis stands on a range of issues
from his actions and his words he is giving the term “New Evangelisation” a
distinctive meaning. It also appears that the understanding Pope Francis has of
the Catholic teaching Preferential Option for the Poor is also close to the
radical call to interpret the gospel from the viewpoint of the poor and
dispossessed with the consequent call for the whole Church to be converted.” (6)
Just recently, Father Miguel D’Escoto,
who was suspended by Pope John Paul II for his involvement in the Nicaraguan
Revolution, has been reinstated by the Vatican. It was Father D’Escoto’s wish
to say mass once again before dying. He is the founder of Orbis Books and is or
has been an official with the World Council of Churches.
In another development, Fr. Juan Carlos
Scannone has been appointed to be one of the writers for the Italian Jesuit
cultural journal,” La Civita Cattolica”. He was a teacher of Pope Francis and, in
addition, Fr. Scannone, is a leading spokesman of the “theology of the people”,
which is an Argentine current of Liberation Theology. He was a pupil of Fr.
Karl Rahner, S. J...Fr Rahner was one of the major proponents and thinkers in
the Nouvelle Theology movement.
In
light of the above facts and opinions, it is understandable that the Latin
American Clergy who have witnessed the agonizing distress of the needy and
oppressed would consider going to such lengths as Liberation Theology to rescue
the poor. But as Catholics, wouldn’t we expect any methods of the clergy or
laity in assisting the poor to be grounded in the real purpose of the Church. The
Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ for the purpose of bringing all men
to eternal salvation. Isn’t that radically
different from the temporal concept of bringing all men to material equality or
equal political justice on earth? Theologians, who embrace the Modernist concept
of spiritual and even physical evolution of mankind, can apply that belief to a
theory of “evolution of doctrine” which can change the meaning or purpose of
the Church. If God’s truths are evolving, then wouldn’t He have to be evolving
also? Wouldn’t that mean that God is no longer immutable and His truth is
dependent on man’s truth?
Next:
Liberation Theology, Community Organizing, and Jesuit Pedagogy.
Footnotes
1.
Kloppenburg O.F.M., Bonaventure, The People’s Church: A Defense of My
Church, Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago, Illinois 60606, Copyright 1978,
Page viii.
2. Lynch, Edward A., “The Retreat of
Liberation Theology”, Catholic Culture. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=643
3. Ibid.
4.”Insrtruction
of Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’”, Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html
5.”Founder
of Liberation hailed at Vatican”, Associated Press, February 25, 2014.
6.
Collins, John, Pope
Francis, “New Evangelisation and the Preferential Option for the Poor”, National
Office for Evangelisation, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, July 23,
2104. http://www.evangeliseaustralia.com/blog/pope-francis-new-evangelisation-and-the-preferential-option-for-the-poor.html
SOURCES
1. “Liberation
Theology”, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Last modified 10/20/14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology
2.
“Black Liberation Theology, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Last modified
11/24/2014.
3.
Kincaid, Cliff, “The Biggest Scandal: Catholic Church Funding of Acorn”, Accuracy
in Media. 9/22/2009. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-bigger-scandal-catholic-church-funding-of-acorn/
4.
“Community Organizing”, Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, last modified
11/20/14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizing
5. “Deliver us from Liberation
Theology” The Catholic Citizen, 2012.
4 .Cox, Harvey,
“Is Pope Francis the New Champion of Liberation Theology?” The
Nation,
12/18/2013.
5. Blumberg, Antonia, “Pope Francis Reinstates Father Miguel
D’Escoto, Suspended for Involvement in Nicaraguan Revolution”, The
Huffington Post, 8/4/2014.
6. Frith, Eric, “Charity or Justice? Pope Francis Revisits Liberation
Theology” Dissent, 9/24/2014.
7.
Kozoff, Nikolas, “The Pope’s Holy War Against Liberation Theology”, Nacla.
8.
“Pope’s one-time teacher to write for
Italian Jesuit publication”, CNA/EWTN News, 2/22/2014.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/popes-one-time-teacher-to-write-for-italian-jesuit-publication/
