On 5-DEC-1995 a new subscriber wrote that he was signing off because he had joined the list by mistake and considered us all heretics. John Smurthwaite, one of our members, wrote the following response:
Message-ID: <0099A6BA.94898A20.99@uhavax.hartford.edu>
I hope, James, that you will bear with us in tolerance and love a bit longer so
that we might all benefit from your perspective and concerns and that you
might also understand that far from being a group of schismatics, we are a
group of Catholics who love our church, its doctrines and traditions. Certainly
not all who subscribe to Vatican II are of the same ilk; there are a great
number of viewpoints, some obviously more radical that others, some clearly
more conservative, but from my experience the spirit of the list is one of
love and devotion.
As a trained medievalist my involvement with the institutional church is a
daily professional concern. My studies, which have brought me into contact
with both the devout and not so devout, have taught me to respect and also
cherish our traditions. My studies have also helped me to understand why
one of the most common images, "types," used to identify characteristics of
Mother Church, was Rahab the whore, the helpful prostitute of Jericho. The
religious scholars, theologians, regulars, cloistered, etc. understood just
how the "chaste whore" was a perfect image of the church. She is imperfect
but redeemed. I have taken this type into my personal understanding of my
my beloved institution and used it to guide much of my thinking about all
that has grown up around and often in seeming opposition to the simple
doctrines and practices of Jesus of Nazareth. The church isn't perfect and
we shouldn't expect it to be. Nor is she immaculate and changeless. And
often, just as the whore, she needs to be chastened. (Dear sisters, please
forgive this bit of historical analysis. It in no wise reflects my view of
women in the church, but rather to us ALL, and especially to institutions
and beliefs that are AT BEST tangential to my faith in God.
It also took a good Protestant historian, Jaroslav Pelikan, in his book,
_The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)_, to flesh out this
notion of Institution and help me understand that love, faith and devotion
often lead us to question traditional practices and answers and to seek
new solutions. Pelikan wrote (p. 9) that "Tradition is the living faith
of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." Vatican II
[the council II :)] gave us all reason, authoritative reason to examine
our faith, from top to bottom, and let new light shine on the institutions
of the church that had been formed and informed by centuries of very human
and not always christ-like concerns (such as power, greed, jealously, the
siege mentality of the counter reformation, etc.).
In short, I learned to maintain my love and faith, while increasing my
understanding that church meant ME, meant my family, meant the community
of faithful and not an ever-growing body of laws and decrees and
encyclicals, bulls, etc., which often tend to hinder worship and
faith than help. Through it all I have learned that despite what our
institution would have us believe, our capacity to understand the things
of God increases over time; just as our potential to understand nature
has increased and helped inform our judgments and understanding has been
influenced by science and technology and reason, so too has out ability
to understand God! There are, in short, no final opinions as long as we
are in this mortal state, no conclusive truths beyond belief in God, in
his son, the resurrection, the need for sacraments and the life to
come. Why do we think that 13th century canon lawyers understand our
predicaments better than we? Why do we think that 14th century (or
earlier) theologians, using the logic of their age, using the rhetoric
and language of their age, understand God and god's workings among us
better than we? I strongly believe in revealed truth, but not infallible
truth. That is, revelation will come to the Church, to the body of
faithful, to all believing Christians, according to our ability to
understand and learn, to question and listen. This is the most
exciting time I can imagine! And why not? It's OUR time. We must
live in our world and among our challenges and worries. God is
speaking to us about or concerns.
The Whore of Jerico is in constant need of chastening, or constant need of
reformation. To do otherwise would be to deny the Spirit. Schismatics?
I don't think so. Concerned and caring children of a loving Father who
believes in waiting upon God to answer our knocks, our calls, our seeking
minds would better, at least from my experience on this list, describe
this membership.
Please stay and share with us.
Yours in Christ,
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Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 16:52:52 EDT
From: "John S. Smurthwaite"
Subject: Re: Leaving Vatican2 List
To: Multiple recipients of list VATICAN2
John
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