In the midst of all of that social and cultural ferment in the United States, American Catholics were also subjected to the reforms of Vatican II, including the reforms of the Mass. The official language of the Mass was switched from Latin to English. And the priest/celebrant at Mass no longer turned his back to the congregation as much, but turned to face the congregation much of the time. In addition, the symbolic kiss of peace (a handshake) was introduced for the congregation to greet one another. Moreover, Catholics no longer were expected to abstain from eating meat on Fridays. In these and certain other small ways, ordinary American Catholics were subjected to having long-established routines that had become habits for them disturbed by Vatican II. Not surprisingly, certain conservative American Catholics such as James Hitchcock and Michael Novak reacted strongly against these and other felt threats posed by Vatican II. Novak's most notable book is The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (American Enterprise Institute/ Simon & Schuster, 1982).
In part, the various felt threats that conservative American Catholics reacted to contributed to the emergence of the hermeneutic of continuity versus the hermeneutic of rupture in Roman Catholic circles worldwide. (Hermeneutic means interpretation -- referring how to view and interpret the spirit of the documents of Vatican II.) Pope John-Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI favored the hermeneutic of continuity.
In general, the advocates of the hermeneutic of rupture were/are celebratory and welcomed what they interpreted as Vatican II's ruptures with the church's recent past practices. Oftentimes, the advocates of the hermeneutic of rupture tend to see the work of Vatican II as incomplete, and so they favor convening Vatican III to advance their preferred agenda for further changes (ruptures) in the church.
But whether we interpret the changes instituted by Vatican II as representing continuity with the recent past or ruptures, just how many changes in pastoral practices can practicing Catholics be expected to adapt to? At times, Father Hans Kung, James Carroll, and Garry Wills appear to me to have exalted expectations of just how much change in pastoral practices practicing Catholics can be expected to adapt to. Please don't misunderstand me here. I am not necessarily criticizing any of the critiques advanced by Kung and/or Carroll and/or Wills, nor am I necessarily arguing against any of the further changes that they advance.
Rafael Luciani frequently introduces certain other hermeneutics -- theological hermeneutics -- throughout his book. Concerning hermeneutics, see Ong's article "Hermeneutic Forever: Voice, Text, Digitization, and the 'I'" in the journal Oral Tradition, volume 10, number 1 (March 1995): pages 3-36; reprinted in volume four of Ong's Faith and Contexts (Scholars Press, 1999, pages 183-204). Also see Ong's posthumously published unfinished book Language as Hermeneutic: A Primer on the Word and Digitization, edited by Thomas D. Zlatic and Sara van den Berg (Cornell University Press, 2017).
As I say, Archbishop Bergoglio in Argentina was elevated to cardinal by Pope john-Paul II, and then in 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio was elected pope by his fellow cardinal-electors. Now, Pope Francis is not likely to pursue the kind of change (ruptures) favored by the advocates of the hermeneutic of rupture in the interpretation of Vatican II documents. At least in this general sense, he can accurately be styled as a conservative with respect to church doctrines and practices, but he might try to advance certain small changes.
For the record, I reject Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion in the first trimester. Regarding legalized abortion in the first trimester, I accept the position that James H. Fetzer develops in his book Render Unto Darwin: Philosophical Aspects of the Christian Right's Crusade Against Science (Open Court, 2007, pages 95-120).
But both conservative American Catholics and liberal American Catholics with respect to intra-church politics tend to accept the church's opposition to legalized abortion in the first trimester. Because of the anti-abortion zealotry of American Catholics, many American liberals and progressives tend to see American Catholics as conservatives. Indeed, on the issue of legalized abortion in the first trimester, many American Catholics tend to be conservatives. However, on certain other civic and social issues, American Catholics tend to fall all over the place on the political spectrum of opinions.
Thus far, I have now sketched the intra-church picture for you to a certain degree to establish the backdrop for Rafael Luciani's discussion of the theology of the people that Pope Francis brings to his papacy. Now, we should note here that the British write Austen Ivereigh has published a well-informed book about Pope Francis titled The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope (Henry Holt, 2014). But if Pope Francis is not likely to make the changes in the church advocated by certain liberal American Catholics, how in the world could he be the great reformer of the church or a radical pope? For all practical purposes, Rafael Luciani sets out to address what kinds of church reforms that Pope Francis seeks and what kinds of reforms he advocates for the church faithful and other people of goodwill throughout the world. In effect, Rafael Luciani shows just how justified Austen Ivereigh's characterization of him as a radical pope is.
Now, Pope Francis' fondness for center versus periphery imagery shows how deeply his thinking has been influenced by the spirit of the Jesuits. Historically, the missionary spirit of the Jesuits led certain Jesuits to explore the peripheries (as regarded from their Europe-centered standpoint). Of course, Franciscan missionaries and other missionaries did similar exploring of peripheries. Franciscan missionaries were especially prominent in what is now known as the state of California. Jesuit missionaries were prominent in what is now known as Latin America. But Jesuit missionaries also made certain inroads in North America. The group of martyrs known collectively as the North American martyrs includes both Jesuit missionaries and some of their native converts. Jesuit missionaries were also active in India and China.
For an informative Freudian psychoanalytic study of St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuits, see the American psychiatrist W. W. Meissner's book Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint (Yale University Press, 1992).
For a perceptive psychoanalytic study of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), the founder of the Franciscans, see the French Franciscan Eloi Leclerc's book The Canticle of Creatures: Symbols of Union: An Analysis of St. Francis of Assisi, translated by Matthew J. O'Connell (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977; orig. French ed., 1970).
For a succinct account of the cultural significance of St. Francis of Assisi, see the British writer G. K. Chesterton's biography of him (1924).
At times, both of them did something nutty. To be sure, there should be room within the Roman Catholic Church for the two of them -- and for the religious orders they founded. But neither of them should ever have been the pope. It remains to be seen if Cardinal Bergoglio should ever have been made the pope. Nevertheless, he is a refreshing change from the two previous popes.
Now, Rafael Luciani says, "One of the aspects in the teaching of [Pope] Francis that has encountered the greatest resistance has been his proposal that the option for the poor be a structural element in the life and mission of the entire Church, and hence capable of bringing about 'real changes' in society. Such a stance necessarily affects relations between the center and the peripheries, between Rome and local churches, between the Church and society at large. Under this scheme, changes of whatever nature cannot be driven from the center, but rather must come from the peripheries, whether existential and social or political and religious" (pages 55-56).
Because Pope Francis works with such a well-developed sense of the peripheries, I want to call attention to Ong's essay "The Faith, the Intellectual, and the Perimeters" in his first book Frontiers in American Catholicism: Essays on Ideology and Culture (Macmillan, 1957, pages 104-125). Toward the end of that essay, Ong urges his fellow American Catholics to develop a "mystique" (his word) of religious practices suited to their contemporary American culture -- "a real Christian mystique of technology and science" (page 121; also see pages 123 and 124). Now, Rafael Luciani uses the expression "mystique" in a similar way (pages 24 and 88), and he credits the Jesuit Jorge Seibold with introducing it into the parlance of Latin American liberation theology in a 2006 document (page 178, note 70).
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
