Cardinal sees signs of vitality in church
Apr 04, 2006
Cardinal Avery Dulles believes that while people in Europe seem to have lost interest in religion, American Catholics by and large are content in their church, and parish life appears to be vital and vibrant.
(Pittsburgh Catholic, March 24, 2006) “There are good signs,” he said.
Cardinal Dulles will focus on the future of the church when he addresses Pittsburgh-area Jesuit alumni on “The DeChristianization of Europe: Is America Next?” Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. at the Duquesne Club in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Cardinal Dulles, the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, is one of three Jesuit cardinals and the only American Jesuit cardinal. When he was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, he became the first American-born theologian who was not a bishop to receive the honor.
Cardinal Dulles noted that Mass attendance is low and vital statistics regarding the church are negative throughout Western Europe, with Poland being an exception.
He pointed to the battle over the European constitution in which there is no mention of Christianity in the new document. He said it has gone from a classical civilization of Greek or Roman, to one of the enlightenment of the French Revolution.
The cardinal noted that people in Europe treat cathedrals as museums rather than spiritual houses of worship.
Cardinal Dulles has noted, however, that while many segments of the church are experiencing difficulties, there are many people of other faiths who are seeing good things in the Catholic Church.
A convert himself, the cardinal said people seem to be looking to the church because they find a greater stability than they had in other faiths. He noted that while they may have been committed all along to authentic Christianity, among other things the Bible pointed them to Catholicism.
“They find a great deal about the church in the New Testament,” he said. “They find that Catholicism realizes that more than their own church had.”
Cardinal Dulles noted that this is especially true when reading about the Fathers of the Church. He said early Christian writers often reflected on Catholic Christianity. The cardinal said there are mixed signals about the future of the church, but there is a good deal of religious vitality in both Catholic and Protestant circles.
He said Catholicism at the grassroots level seems to be doing fairly well, but it faces a constant threat from the dominant media culture, which doesn’t seem to take religion seriously.
Cardinal Dulles pointed to the tension between those who want the culture of the United States to be dominated by religious values and those who want to push religion into the realm of privacy.
“I don’t know how the battle will turn out, but it is an important struggle going on,” he said.
Cardinal Dulles said the strength of Catholicism is that it’s international and historical and faithful to its traditions.
He also sees a renewed interest in the Eucharist and the papal witness of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
The cardinal noted that Americans have responded well to Pope Benedict XVI. He said that though he was originally perceived as a doctrinal policeman, he has shown another aspect of himself and caught people by surprise.
“He is very pastoral and very gentle, and very much able to reach out to different audiences,” he said. “He’s made a very good impression.”
Cardinal Dulles, the son of the late Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, has authored more than 750 articles on theological topics and published some two dozen books.
His Pittsburgh presentation will be preceded by an April 19 address at Wheeling Jesuit University.
Cardinal sees signs of vitality in church