The Case for Change
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A few years ago, I
visited a Greek Orthodox monastery in Arizona with my wife, sister and
brother-in-law. It was a beautiful, tranquil place, an oasis in the desert. But
in walking around the grounds, we noticed that the monks we past were not
communicative. The only one who was worked in the monastery gift shop, and he
was not particularly friendly.
In fact, when he
rang up my purchase, he asked what religion I professed and when I answered,
“Catholic,” he began to tell me why Catholicism is inferior to orthodoxy and
how the Second Vatican Council – the gathering of Catholic bishops in Rome that
aimed to reform many Catholic beliefs and practices – showed that Catholicism
isn’t faithful to Christ’s message.
I couldn’t resist arguing but
soon realized that it was useless and gave up. A couple of ideas occurred to
me, however. First, the monks didn’t appear to prize Christ’s “law of love”
above all else. Second, they aren’t the only religious people not to do so nor
the only ones who cling to the past.
At Least As Reliable
The only things
that are certain, according to the cliché, are death and taxes. But another
certainty is at least as reliable: change.
That’s because
without it, everything and everyone would cease to exist. Biological change is the
most obvious, but virtually everything about us and our world, including
religion, requires continual change. So why do we resist it as if it were a
fatal disease?
Often it’s because
we are presented with an agenda for change without knowing why the change is
needed. That, in my opinion, accounts for much of the resistance to the changes brought about by the Vatican Council. But it happens
in businesses and organizations, too. Employees, without having any input, are
expected to embrace changes thought up by the executives.
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Religion is
especially resistant to change, probably because many are based
on centuries of revelation and practice. It’s true that religions, if they are
to maintain their identities, must guard the “deposit of faith,” as my church
calls it. But that doesn’t preclude continual re-evaluation of the contents of
that deposit.
What has been
lacking in the process of distinguishing between the essential and the
peripheral in religion, it seems to me, is humility, plus the tendency to think
that revelation stopped with the completion of the New Testament 1,900 years
ago. There’s no reason to think God has stopped communicating with us, however.
And in reviewing
what should be kept at any cost and what should be changed, we shouldn’t ignore
all the ways humans, their institutions, societies and knowledge have changed.
We can’t pretend that all this had little or no influence on what we profess.
Writing about
seminary training of new priests in America Magazine recently, T. Howland
Sanks, professor emeritus of theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa
Clara University in California, made this point.
An Agricultural World
“Much of (the
church’s) teaching developed in an agricultural world in which children were an
economic asset and necessity, when the majority of children died before the age
of five and when the average life expectancy was less than 45 years. And much
of the doctrine on authority in the church was developed in a world that took
monarchy, hierarchy and patriarchy for granted.”
As for the composition
of society, “People of another culture or religious tradition who once were
thousands of miles and an ocean away are now right down the street,” Sanks
writes. We pretty much still ignore the wisdom traditions of Asia and Africa
while “much of our theology is still very geocentric and anthropomorphic.”
Just think how much
we know about the universe compared to only 100 years ago. It’s mind-boggling.
And people searching for God must take this into account. How does the
contemporary view of the universe and its development affect one’s faith? (It
has strengthened mine.)
The need for change
in some things and not in others may be confusing for some people searching for
God. But isn’t change necessary, and inevitable, in all areas of life, whether
you’re a monk or not?
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