a Catholic Worker responds to Fr. Neuhaus

There is a long history of a dialog, debate and/or a non-violent feud between Fr. Neuhaus and various peoples of the Catholic Workers Movement. The rhetoric can at times gets very heated, but here is one reasonable and personal letter from Robert Waldrop of the Catholic Worker House of Oklahoma City. This personal letter responds to comments (Against Neoliberalism) of Fr. Neuhaus. Both Fr. Neuhaus comments and Mr. Waldrop's letter are worth reading.

Interview with Fr. Neuhaus

Zenit: "Father Richard Neuhaus on Loving the Church"

• Q: One of the main themes of your book is St. Ignatius of Loyola's exhortation that we should "think with the Church." What did he -- and you -- mean by that?
  
  Father Neuhaus: Yes, it's a marvelous phrase -- "sentire cum ecclesia." It means to think with the Church, but also to feel with the Church. In short, to love the Church.
  
  If we love the Church, as a lover loves the beloved, then we will her to be, we will her to flourish, we will her to succeed in the mission she has been given by Christ.
  
  As in a good marriage, the Catholic never thinks "I" without thinking "we." It is necessary to cultivate this communion of shared devotion, affection and purpose in a very disciplined way, for not all aspects of the Church are lovable, just as we are not always lovable.
  
  Nonetheless, we are loved by the Church, and most particularly by all the saints in the Church Triumphant. "Sentire cum ecclesia" means being concerned never to betray St. Paul, St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, St. Theresa and the faith for which they and innumerable others lived and died.
  
  And, for all the inadequacies and sins of the Church and her leadership in our time, it means always doing one's best to support, and never to undermine, the effectiveness of her teaching ministry.
  
  She is, after all, the bearer and embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is nothing less than the story of the world -- without which the world, and we with it, is lost.

the use of the term neoconservative

Somebody better tell Fr. Neuhaus to stop using this term. He edited a book, which openly used the terms "theocon" and "neocon," but even as recent as the December 2005 issue of FTs, he specifically uses the term himself in his own column, The Public Square, pg. 78. Don't apply an arbitrary rule to me that your own camp does not use itself.

This topic has been addressed many, many times over the history of this blog. Personally I prefer the terms Whig Thomists and Augustinian Thomists b/c it's something both camps openly agree upon. It was Michael Novak who really coined the term "Whig Thomist" and began using it to describe his position and other like minded orthodox Catholic scholars, i.e. Weigel, Neuhaus, Sirico, etc. Tracey Rowland followed this up with coining the term "Augustinian Thomist," which described the position of the opposite camp of orthodox Catholic scholars, i.e. Schindler, etc.

Now sometimes it's appropriate to use the term "neoconservative or neocon" for it has came to mean those people that support the foreign policy of the Bush presidency. Even Fr. Neuhaus alludes to this in his above December column. So instead of whining about the use of "labels" deal with the facts of the War in Iraq and other imperialistic objectives of W's foreign policy.

Happy New Year!

I salute Richard John Neuhaus for his December FT's article, Our American Babylon and his comments in The Public Square: A Survey of Religion and Public Life, specifically What Might Have Been. Unfortunately they are not on-line yet, but should be very soon. I shall alert you when it is if you are not a FT's subscriber or buy it off the news-stand. This article, as all of his articles are, is very nuanced. It's obvious to anyone who reads Fr. Neuhaus that he has thought deeply about the questions and the answers to those questions that many of us are so concerned with. What does it mean to be a Catholic in America? It's something that is especially a concern or a passion that Christopher Blosser and I share with many others including Stephen Hand. As a way to honor the work that Fr. Neuhaus has done over the years with FTs and ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) I have dedicated the Book of Week to him and I have added him to the Contemporary Thinkers on my left column along with some other orthodox Catholic thinkers (Oakes, Weigel, Novak & Percy).

Richard John Neuhaus the Prophet

RealClearReligion - Richard John Neuhaus the Prophet

Related Posts

A Christian Partnership Bears Fruit

On the Square - A Christian Partnership Bears Fruit by Timothy George and Thomas G. Guarino

...It is unlikely that Huckabee’s fraternal solidarity with Catholics would have been quite so ardently stated a few decades ago. After all, Evangelicals and Catholics, the two largest religious groups in the United States, had never been close Christian companions. On the contrary, they often regarded each other as opponents, with Evangelicals seeing Catholics as captive to strange, unbiblical traditions such as the worship of Mary and the veneration of saints and relics. Catholics, for their part, saw Evangelicals as fundamentalist yahoos, little familiar with the great tradition of theological development through the centuries.

Those attitudes began to change with the establishment of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) by Chuck Colson and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus some twenty years ago. While their first public statement was not released until 1994, the initial meeting on the question of Evangelical-Catholic relations occurred in September 1992, when the issue at hand was the fractious relationship between Protestant and Catholic Christians in Latin America. As Neuhaus and Colson later wrote, they were hoping to avoid “a Belfast of religious warfare” south of the Rio Grande. But how could they speak a useful word to South American Christians if they had not seriously addressed the theological questions of common belief and mission?

Thus began the careful clearing away of prejudices that had developed over decades, with the purpose of showing that Evangelicals and Catholics, for all their differences, still share basic theological premises: a firm belief in the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob uniquely revealed in Jesus Christ; a consistent adherence to biblically based morality; and a determined commitment to ordered liberty wherein the church, while respecting the state’s proper sphere of competence, never bows the knee to the government on religious matters...

Related Post - Timothy George's Evangelicals and Nicene Faith

The Jones Roundup 10

My dear friend Eric has done an AMAZING job on this new website.
New Discussion Forum for the Theology & Philosophy Centre
Ensure to check it out and make comments!

I recommend the following papers by Dr. John Milbank:

The Future Of Love: A reading of Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est

Liberality versus Liberalism

Geopolitical Theology: Economy, Religion and Empire after 9/11
(It's only 114 pages! Refer to the Cliffnotes version on pgs. 112-13.)


***

Richard John Neuhaus writes:

There’s been a flood of responses to the “Meet the Press” show that aired on Sunday. By the way, for those of you who wondered what I was doing on television on Easter Sunday morning, don’t worry. I was saying Mass at Immaculate Conception here in Manhattan. The program was taped the previous Wednesday.

Thanks to all of you who thought I did reasonably well, or even a little better than that. Many others thought I was unspeakably arrogant. Me, arrogant? My chief offense, it seems, was beating up on that sweet little nun. Sister Joan Chittister is no sweet little nun. I did gently advise her to “consult the Catechism” on the difference between the Church’s teaching on abortion and on capital punishment. I’m told that Laura Ingraham repeated that little intervention throughout her talk show the next day.

The most telling exchange, it seemed to me, was when Sister Joan was prompted to say that she includes abortion among those “new things” on which the Church needs to change its teaching. As new, one might note, as 1,900 years ago when the Didache explained that one of the chief differences between Christians and the surrounding pagan society is that Christians do not kill unborn children.

Some of you wondered why I didn’t challenge Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun on his convoluted trashing of the American people as a horde of consumerist warmongers, or whatever. Where would one begin? With only one hour in such a target-rich environment, one must be very selective.

And yes, those of you who criticized Tim Russert for not including an evangelical representative of the “religious right” have a point. In Mr. Russert’s defense, however, I expect he thought Joel Osteen represented that sector of the national conversation. Osteen is much less Charles Colson or James Dobson than he is Norman Vincent Peale or Robert Schuler. In certain media worlds, these distinctions are not apparent. “What’s the difference? They’re all evangelicals aren’t they?” Well, not quite. You see...

Here is the written transcript & video of this Meet the Press program.

Richard John Neuhaus comments about immigration.

***

PERA: POPE ADMITS THERE IS CLASH OF CIVILISATION

War of Wills - Behind the summit smiles, China may pose the most serious challenge to America and its global vision.

American Theocracy

Jim Wallis, Progressive Evangelical, for President

In These Times - Hotel Workers’ Rising Tide, A “Movement for Equality” tops UNITE HERE’s agenda

America Back on Track

Our next President... Here is his new book & movie.

***

The Japery - The Neocal Boss

The Jones Roundup 3

The Progressive - Bush Wants to Make IMF and World Bank Even Worse by Matthew Rothschild

Tucked away deep in the new 'National Security Strategy' that Bush released on March 16 was some bad news for Third World countries: Bush wants the IMF and World Bank to shove the free market even further down their throats...

Fire on the Prairie radio program, March 12, 2006, Show Summary
On this episode Aaron Sarver sits down with Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, and talks about Chang’s award-winning book and the history of hip-hop. Also hear thoughts on democracy matters by Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University professor, public intellectual and activist. We bring you an excerpt of a recent speech he gave as part at the University of Chicago’s Organization of Black Students George E. Kent lecture series.

Neuhaus on Gay Adoption by Andrew Sullivan

[Neuhaus] knows that he is perpetuating some of the vilest slanders against gay people: that we 'recruit' children and molest them. It is the same blood-libel once used against Jews...

CT - Spong, the Measure of All Things
Bishop Spong and his book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism helped to return me to Christianity. That's a story for another time, but it proves at least one thing - God is a very good comedian.

Paper Clippings - Progress I
It appears that Gary Wills has finally written something we can agree with...

Garry Wills: "What Jesus Meant"
Forum talks to historian Garry Wills about the meaning of the teachings of Jesus. Host: Michael Krasny, Guests: Garry Wills, Wills is a professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University. His books include "Papal Sin", "Why I am a Catholic" and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lincoln at Gettysburg." His most recent book is "What Jesus Meant." Listen to the entire radio program by clicking here. Page down until you see it. Take your blood pressure medicine before listening to this program!

CT - The Incoherence of Hannah Arendt, Breaking the marriage between heaven and earth by Eugene McCarraher

Catholic Way - Remembering Terri by Fr Frank and Deacon Keith
On March 31st we will all remember Terri....

The Weekly Standard - Monkish
What the increase of monastic vocations in Italy could mean for European secularism by Christopher Levenick

ZENIT - Benedict XVI's Homily at Mass for All Workers, "Not to Be Enslaved by Work or Idolize It"

GodSpy - THE LITURGY OF THE CITY STREET

If you are intrigued by the above GodSpy article, I refer you to the books, the videos, and the website of James Howard Kunstler, not to mention others who are calling for urban renewal.

A Beautiful Church Has Been Raised At Tor Tre Teste. But It Is Absentminded, and Mute
The pope visits a new church built in Rome by Richard Meier. Its walls are all bare, incapable of expressing the Christian faith. Pietro De Marco compares it with the cathedral of Monreale, and explains how to bring it back to life by Sandro Magister.

We are blessed here in St. Louis to have the largest mosaic basilica in the world. It's a real gem.

Continuing on the theme that technology is the "ontology of the age," I refer you to following GodSpy article, Power and Responsibility by Romano Guardini. Fifty years ago, Romano Guardini—one of the twentieth century’s most important Catholic thinkers—anticipated how technology would change our world, and recommended a course of action for the post-Christian era. For further reading, check out the following books of Guardini - Letters from Lake Como & The End of the Modern World.

Ignatius Insight Scoop - Aidan Nichols, OP, to give first lectureship in Catholic theology since the Reformation...

TRACES - Deus Caritas Est, The Humanity of Faith by Massimo Camisasca. If you enjoyed what you read, check out Fr. Camisasca's new book which is outstanding!

I end this roundup with a great link on 'Nuove Musiche.'

Our American Babylon

December FTs article by Richard John Neuhaus

I would love a conversation on this very nuanced and well thought out article. There is a lot there to discuss. I am looking forward to the release of Neuhaus' new book.

Father R.J. Neuhaus' Outlook on Benedict XVI

Here is ZENIT's interview of Fr. Neuhaus on B16.

First Things Magazine and the Public Square

TCRnews Musings

There is hardly a Catholic I know who doesn't enjoy reading and learning from Fr. John Neuhaus' First Things magazine. In fact I do not know how anyone can take a serious interest in theology, philosophy, ethics, the law and popular culture without wanting to dive into Fr. Neuhaus' thought as well as the thought of the superb writers whose essays and opinions appear in that remarkable forum monthly.

When it comes to the elucidation of the Faith in a whole variety of areas First Things is without peer. That does not mean we have to agree on the war (or the matter of economics). And we don't. But even when other Cathoics ---we included--- sometimes hit back hard for the sake of those who are dead and dying and suffering due to what we believe is this imprudential preemptive war, preferring--- hand's down--- the teachings of the Popes as more in keeping with the Gospel, no blanket disrespect is intended. We supported a "police action" against the culprits behind the attack against the United States on 9/11 (see our editorial section from that period). But Iraq is a different matter for reasons we have stated many times. And we cannot be delicate when so many have died and so many suffer to this day---and for what? Catholics who believe in what John Paul II called "a preferential love for the poor" must cry out against this war, we are convinced.

But we are grateful for First Things and their writers in any case; even when we must oppose them on this war, and with some vehemence.

Fr. Neuhaus on Bouyer, Congar, and religion in America

FT, April 2005

Father Louis Bouyer has died at age ninety-one. Born a Swiss Lutheran, Bouyer ecame a Catholic as a young man. His scholarship and publications ranged widely over the apostolic, patristic, and Reformation periods. His constant interests were liturgy, spirituality, and Christian unity. In my Lutheran seminary years, Bouyer’s Liturgical Piety made a great impression, as did The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism. The latter argues that philosophical nominalism was at the heart of what was great, and what went wrong, in the Reformation tradition. Ignatius Press has just reissued his little book, The Word, Church, and Sacraments: In Protestantism and Catholicism. I spoke with Fr. Bouyer only once and he had generous things to say about this journal and my efforts. Suddenly I was young again, like a fresh apprentice commended by a legendary master. Father Louis Bouyer. May he be welcomed to the celestial liturgy that he so long anticipated, and taught others to anticipate, from afar.

The Meaning of Tradition. By Yves Congar, O.P. Ignatius. 175 pp. $14.95 paper. Congar, who died at age ninety-one in 1995, was, according to Avery Cardinal Dulles’ foreword to this book, “perhaps the greatest master of the theology of tradition who has ever lived.” Congar’s understanding of tradition as a complex process in which the tacit is made explicit is justly compared with John Henry Newman’s reflections on the development of doctrine, and had an enormous influence on the Second Vatican Council. The present book is an abridgement of Congar’s massive two-volume work on tradition, and is highly recommended for both personal study and classroom use.

I also refer you to Fr. Neuhaus's America as a Religion and his comments in the un-named section of The Public Square a little farther down, which begins with the following sentence. "The reinvention of Christianity, the most traditional of American contributions to religious history, proceeds apace."

Augustinian vs. Thomist formations

EWTN had a very good program in Rome last night with Raymond Arroyo and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. As a part of the program they interviewed Avery Cardinal Dulles. To get a glimpse of this interview refer to Fr. Neuhaus' Rome Diary. An excerpt of his "diary" is below.

Avery Cardinal Dulles summarized the witness of John Paul in the phrase "prophetic humanism." The Ratzinger of the past gave--and the Benedict of the future, will, I expect, continue to give--voice to a more explicit and insistent Christocentric humanism. This is not to say that John Paul was not Christocentric. There were few passages from the Council that he quoted more often than declaration from Gaudium et Spes that Jesus Christ is not only the revelation of God to man but the revelation of man to himself. The suggested contrast between John Paul and Benedict is not a disagreement, but Ratzinger's accent has been more explicitly on the crucified Christ and the necessarily cruciform experience of the Church through time... It has been suggested that the different accents may reflect the fact that Ratzinger is more Augustinian in his theology while John Paul was more of a Thomist.

Pope Benedict XVI did do his doctrorate dissertation on Augustine. Here is a Communio article by Pope B16 on Augustine.

Fr. Neuhaus talks about CL on EWTN

Yesterday on the EWTN special coverage of the conclave, Fr. Neuhaus was asked by Raymond Arroyo about Communion and Liberation in reference to Angelo Cardinal Scola. He was very positive about CL. When asked about when CL was formed though, he stated in the 1930s. Well that's ok, at least he got the right century!

The errors of Neuhaus', Weigel's, and Novak's thought

ZENIT's Interview of Dr. Tracey Rowland

Whig Thomists vs. Augustinian Thomists

Augustinian Thomism

Wealth, Poverty, and Human Destiny

Liberalism

The American Dream

Also refer to Christopher Blosser's great website and blog:

The Church and The Liberal Tradition

The Church and The Liberal Tradition Blog

This post is for my friends over at Evangelical Catholicism.

Living Between the Now and the Not Yet

On the Square - Richard John Neuhaus

Good Friday 2007

On the Square - Richard John Neuhaus

Ash Wednesday in the Public Square

InsideCatholic.com - David G. Bonagura Jr.

Rev. Richard John Neuhaus long wondered about the phenomenon of innumerable Catholics, pious and not, practicing and not, who throng to churches at all hours of Ash Wednesday to receive ashes on their foreheads on the first day of Lent. He was unable to pinpoint a reason why the annual ashes exceed both the Lord's birth and resurrection in popularity; in fact, ashes have become such the rage that even some Protestant churches have begun distributing them...

Against the Grain: Richard John Neuhaus, 1936-2009

Only Something Infinite Will Suffice

A discussion on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and their relevance to American culture with Anderson, Neuhaus, Schindler, and Albacete.