News Briefs

BERNARDIN DESCRIBES NEW APPRECIATION FOR JESUS' JEWISHNESS

St. Paul, Minn.—A dramatic shift in New Testament scholarship has begun to restore Jesus and His message to its original Jewish milieu, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said in a lecture here.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago said this recent transformation regarding Jesus' ties with Judaism "carries far-reaching implications not only for biblical interpretation but also for contemporary theology, religious education, spirituality and worship." On a related topic, the Cardinal addressed Jewish fears that the Catholic Church seeks to "universalize" the Holocaust, stating that the Church has begun struggling with the fact that prominent Catholics were among the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

The growing consensus, he said, involves these conclusions:

Cardinal Bernardin said that when Catholics read the narrative of the Council of Jerusalem in the Books of Acts, they tend to identify fully with the Apostle Paul in his dispute with Peter, James and the Jewish-spirited Jerusalem church.

"But the enhanced appreciation of Jesus' positive Jewish ties now prompts us to take a second look at the passage and its historical context," the cardinal said. "From the new perspective, it now appears that Peter and James were trying to hold on to something very important, however, inadequately they made their case."

Cardinal Bernardin said the severing of all constructive links with Judaism "had the effect of deadening an important dimension of the Church's soul. It is this buried heritage that Pope John Paul has brought to our attention on numerous occasions during his pontificate."

In his lecture at the College of St. Thomas, Cardinal Bernardin also discussed the role of Hebrew Scriptures in the Catholic Church; the "sense of a special, deep bonding between the Church and the Jewish people; and the significance of the Holocaust, "about which some tension remains in our relationship."

He said there has been a "gradual but persistent shift in emphasis away from the viewpoint that regarded the Hebrew Scriptures simply as background for understanding the New Testament."

In its place, the cardinal said, "has come an emerging sense that the books of the Hebrew Bible are worthy studying in their own right, apart from whatever legitimate insights they may offer us into the meaning of Jesus' life and mission."

Cardinal Bernardin said there is a growing recognition "that without deep immersion into the spirit and texts of the Hebrew Scriptures, Christians experience an emaciated version of Christian spirituality and know but a very truncated version of Jesus' full religious vision."

Cardinal Bernardin credited the impetus given to the new theological understanding of the Christian-Jewish relationship to Pope John Paul II. He cited the Pope's stress on a "spiritual bond" linking the Church to the people of Israel, his focus on the "living heritage" of Judaism in which Christians share by reason of the inherent bond with the Jewish people and his constant insistence on the permanent validity of the original divine covenant with Israel.

PAPAL LETTER SUPPORTS RIGHTS OF WOMEN BUT OPPOSES ORDINATION

Vatican City —A new apostolic letter issued by Pope John Paul II Sept. 30 takes up the language and sentiments of the struggle for women's rights but reaffirms Roman Catholicism's centuries-old ban against women priests.

In the 120-page document, entitled Mulieris Dignitatem ("On the Dignity and Vocation of Women"), issued on the occasion of the Marian Year, John Paul calls for the end to all discrimination against women in everyday life, going so far as to link prejudicial attitudes against women to sin.

The document has the authority of a Church teaching but not the infallibility of a papal encyclical. Observers said it marks the most passionate espousal of women's equality ever made by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. But the pontiff's reiteration of the long-standing prohibition against the ordination of women is expected to be controversial.

The apostolic letter, which one Vatican official described as a "very personal" statement by the pope, warns women that their struggle for equality "must not under any condition lead to the masculinization of women."

"Woman, in the name of liberation from the dominion of men, cannot try and appropriate for herself male characteristics against her female originality," the letter says. The pope adds that "there is a well-founded fear that if they take this path women will not 'reach fulfillment' but instead will deform and lose what constitutes their essential richness."

The document says the "personal resources" of women are no less than those of men, "they are merely different." John Paul describes women as more sensitive and loving than men and urges women to accept Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as their basic role model. It says that "the reality, 'woman—Mother of God' determines the essential horizons of reflection on the dignity and the vocation of women."

The new papal document, one of the longest so far in John Paul's ten-year papacy, defines motherhood and virginity as the major vocations of women. At one point the pope cites St. Paul on the superiority of virginity to marriage.

The institutional role of women in the Church occupies only a minor portion of the document but is likely to disappoint those who feel women have been denied an equal role in decision making. In the section on the Eucharist, for example, the pope insists that in so explicitly linking the ceremony that celebrates Jesus' sacrifice to male apostles, Christ sought to demonstrate the relationship between male and female as desired by God.

More specifically, John Paul argues that Jesus' decision to choose His disciples from among men was not, as some have held, the product of social conditioning of the era, but a freely-made decision. Pointing out that Jesus' general behavior toward women—who were both present at the foot of the Cross and the first to learn of the Resurrection—disregarded the tradition and legislation of the time, the pope holds that "in calling only men as His disciples, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner."

Thus, the pope continues, "it is legitimate to conclude that He thereby wished to express the relationship between man and woman, between what is 'feminine' and what is 'masculine.'" Within the context of "the spousal love of God," Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride, the document says.

The pope stresses that "this is clear and unambiguous when the sacramental ministry of the Eucharist, in which the priest acts in persona Christi, is performed by a man."

Reactions to the document in the Vatican and Italy have been mixed. Rosemary Goldie, consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, described the letter as positive, "particularly in the part in which the pontiff speaks out so clearly against any form of discrimination against women."

Ms. Goldie added that despite the continued ban on female ordination, she thought the pope was encouraging women to "become more directly involved in the Church."

But Sister Antonella Meneghetti, a theologian of the Daughters of Maria the Helper, declared that "as far as I am concerned the ordination of women remains an open question."

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in presenting the document, described it as a "permanent interpretation of Church teachings that is unlikely to be changed."

Cardinal Ratzinger said it would be a mistake to reduce the significance of the pope's statement on the dignity of women to the issue of ordination. However, the apostolic letter comes at a time when Catholic women in many countries are smarting from their exclusion from the liturgical side of Church activity. The issue received major attention with the election in the United States of the first female Episcopal bishop, a move the Vatican termed as an obstacle to Christian unity.

DETROIT CHURCHES SUBMIT FIFTY-TWO REQUESTS FOR HEARINGS ON CLOSINGS

Detroit —Nearly all of the forty-three Roman Catholic churches that would close under the most extensive reorganization plan in U. S. Catholic history have applied with the Archdiocese of Detroit to appeal the closing recommendations.

By the afternoon of Oct. 13, the filing deadline, archdiocesan officials said they had received fifty-two requests for hearings that will be held in November.

The controversial plan was announced Sept. 28 in a television broadcast by Cardinal Edmund Szoka and Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Cooney. It calls for the closing of forty-two of the 107 churches in Detroit and one church in nearby River Rouge.

Services would be reduced in six other churches, and five of the churches remaining open will be renamed and restaffed after their congregations are merged with members from closing churches.

The co-founder of the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, which has coordinated most of the overwhelming opposition to the plan among city pastors, said Oct. 14 he still hoped the plan could be changed. "It's going to be a long, hard struggle, but we're not going to let go, "said the Rev. Norman Thomas, co-founder of the Alliance and pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Detroit.

The number of Catholic households in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park—the three core cities in the archdiocese—has dropped from 104,380 in 1976 to 48,804 today.

Cardinal Szoka and Bishop Cooney have said that the closings and mergers will produce larger, healthier churches and also will permit a redistribution of priests. The nationwide shortage of Catholic priests is particularly acute in the Archdiocese of Detroit, where there now is only one priest for every 1,649 Catholics.

CATHOLIC ACADEMIC: ALLOWING MARRIED CLERGY KEY TO SAVING PARISHES

An expert on Catholic parish life at the University of Notre Dame says problems that are forcing the Archdiocese of Detroit to consider closing a third of its churches will continue to plague many large urban centers as long as the pope refuses to allow priests to marry.

Monsignor Joseph Gremillion, director emeritus of the University's Institute for Pastoral and Social Ministry, said one major reason inner-city parishes around the country are in trouble is the lack of priests. And the lack of priests, he said, can be traced in large measure to the prohibition against marriage.

Nationally, the ratio of priests to parishioners continues to decline, creating the need to transfer priests from thinly populated parishes like inner-city Detroit to suburban growth areas. The increasing number of Catholics nationally, he said, makes it "inevitable" that drastic measures be taken not only in Detroit but in other areas where priests serve congregations with dwindling memberships.

Monsignor Gremillion, co-author of the book The Emerging Parish—The Notre Dame Study of Catholic Life Since Vatican II, suggested that the Detroit announcement could have an impact nationwide.

He predicted, "One of the benefits of the Detroit decision is that it alerts and shakes up the national leadership of the Catholic Church to this issue and to (the need for) a joint approach to this issue... I am convinced that trend (the decline in the priest/parishioner ratio) will continue unless the marriage of priests is approved by the pope." He reported that surveys conducted by the Institute for Pastoral and Social Ministry indicate there are approximately 500 Catholic parishes in the country that do not have their own priests and have to rely on the services of deacons, lay administrators and visiting priests.

Monsignor Gremillion pointed to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Milwaukee and St. Louis as cities facing difficulties similar to Detroit's.

CATHOLIC BISHOP AND NUNS WILL ACCEPT VATICAN MEDIATION IN DISPUTE

The Roman Catholic bishop of Paterson, N.J., and five cloistered Carmelite nuns who are resisting the authority of their prioress have agreed to accept the Vatican's mediation in the dispute.

The controversy dates back to August 1987, when Bishop Frank J. Rodimer appointed Mother Theresa Hewitt as the prioress of the Monastery of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel in Morris Township, N.J. In contrast to her immediate predecessor, known as Mother Maria, the new prioress introduced such innovations as television, videocassette recorders, music and bright lights in the chapel.

Four of the thirteen nuns living at the monastery resisted the changes and began protesting them. On Oct. 4 they locked themselves in the infirmary of the monastery and were joined by a fifth nun the following day. They said the Paterson diocese was threatening to evict them because of their effort to maintain the traditional practices of their cloistered order.

Sister Teresita of Rutherford, N.J., one of the protesters, said Mother Theresa was forcing the nuns to watch television during their prayer hour. "It's suffocating our spiritual life," Sister Teresita told the Asbury Park Press. "It doesn't have any place with us. It doesn't help our prayer in any way."

The nuns spoke for about twenty minutes by telephone with Mother Teresa of Calcutta Oct. 10. One of the protesters, Sister John of the Cross, said the Nobel Peace Prize winner "told us she is very supportive, and she will take it up with the pope when she visits with him next week."

Bishop Rodimer held a press conference at the monastery Oct. 12 and announced that the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for Religious has appointed the Rev. Kevin Culligan of Milwaukee, one of the three Carmelite provincials in the United States, to investigate the dispute and propose a solution. "I am completely open to any recommendations or decisions which may be forthcoming from the Congregation for Religious, and I ask the sisters to do the same," Bishop Rodimer said.

Sister Bernadette, another of the dissidents, said that on the advice of their canon lawyer, the protesting nuns would have no comment. Earlier, however, Sister Teresita said that "if the Vatican rules against us, we will obey. We will do whatever they tell us to do."