Compassionate

 Forgiveness by Sofiya Inger

‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’

Luke 6:36 - 38

It has been an interesting week. We moved our son into a unit next door (and put a gate in the fence) and carted furniture from town to town. Because of our frantic weekend (which included a parish liturgy planning meeting and babysitting of grandchildren) the café banking didn't get done until today. Because we had appointments in Launceston I chose to do the banking there. While checking and counting out the cash in a discreet corner of the bank - and in front of bank staff and customers - I was robbed. A whole week's cash takings were gone in less than a second. Staff, fellow customers and detectives were brilliant. I spent the afternoon in the 'Victims Room' with multiple cameras lens aimed at me while I gave my statement. I did not feel like a victim, more like a fool, the subject of a thief's selfishness, embarrassed, stunned and stupefied.

The Fetzer Institute claims to “engage with people and projects around the world to help bring the power of love, forgiveness, and compassion to the center of individual and community life.” As a response to Karen Armstrong’s desire to establish a Charter for Compassion, the institute provided the wherewithal to make the charter a reality.

The charter declares that:

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

In his Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:27 - 38) Jesus advises his disciple to be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. This compassion is one of mercy, forgiveness, tenderness, empathy – it is to act towards others as God does. His compassion is totally gratuitous. We are not required to be deserving. His love and compassion are lavish.

The Fetzer charter makes clear that the way we act out compassion is by treating others as we wish to be treated. For them compassion has a drive of its own, it impels action.

 It is thus not surprising that many of the founding congregations of our schools were - and are - deeply drawn to this particular Gospel value. Indeed it impelled their founders and foundresses and their companions into the service of young people. Their service is a model of compassion that we continue to emulate as school communities. Compassion that drives service.

'My' thief, according to the detective, was likely a drug addict from an unhappy home life with any number of issues. I didn't feel sorry for him, but I was concerned for his wellbeing and what drove him to steal money from a small business, and consequently from the wages of a dozen young people. While the Gospel invites me to be compassionate, I'm not totally sure I'm ready to perfectly mirror God's compassion.

As Lent rapidly approaches it is the opportune time to remember that God loves us, he will forgive us, he holds no grudges, and yes, he totally understands. If we fail because of our human frailty it is NOT the end, just another beginning.

Peter Douglas

Pope Francis is a pastor rather than a scholar: What the CDF teaches us about the Pope's approach.

William Grimm MM

 Tokyo, Japan

15 February 2019\

The National Catholic Reporter, an independent American weekly, recently carried a story on the attitude toward Pope Francis by "a cadre of faculty" at the seminary of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Some professors are reportedly of the opinion that the pope is "too lax on a roster of issues, including LGBT people in the Church, capital punishment, and communion for divorced and remarried Catholics."

Some go so far as to call for Francis to step down because, as the weekly describes their stance, he "is confusing, is weak on enforcing doctrine, and sows discord among believers."

Of course, if sowing discord among believers were cause for discipline, every pope since Pius XII (if not Peter) would have wound up in a cell in the dungeon of the former Vatican prison in Castel Sant'Angelo.

The faculty members' criticism of the pope is typical of those who think Francis is weakening or even betraying doctrines of the Church. Perhaps they even think the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) should open a case file on the pope if it hasn't already.

Perhaps the place for us to look at their criticism is, in fact, the CDF, the successor to the Inquisition and the Vatican's watchdog of orthodoxy.

The CDF has often rightly been accused of not having rid itself of its inquisitorial DNA. Secret accusations, lack of due process and transparency, and high-handed abuse of those deemed to be mistaken (even when those "mistakes" are in fact matters of legitimate theological opinion that merely differ from the legitimate theological opinions of the inquisitors) have characterized the office even, and perhaps especially, in the previous two papacies.

So, why would one who generally likes what Pope Francis is doing look to the CDF for help in understanding and evaluating the complaints of those who think he is betraying his role as guardian and enforcer of doctrine?

The critics of Pope Francis focus on doctrine and canon law, claiming that he ignores or violates them. However, the place to look is not in the rules, opinions, procedures and actions of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but in its name. The name, if not the actions, of the CDF indicate that the critics' focus is a mistake.

The title is "Doctrine of the Faith," not "Faith of the Doctrine." The main word in the congregation's title is "Faith." Doctrine is derived from faith, depends upon faith, and exists for the sake of faith.

Relationship of love with God

So, what is faith? Is it assent to a set of propositions? Obedience to commands of God, the Church or church officials?

No, faith is a relationship of love with God the Father in Christ and moved by the Holy Spirit. The model is Jesus who, moved by that Spirit, lived, died and rose in faithfulness to that love.

If Jesus be our model, then we must look to how he related to the doctrines that derived from the faith of the Jewish community of which he was a member. In other words, the Law.

Even without going into St. Paul's critique of the Law, we can see in the ministry of Jesus that while he did not repudiate the Law, he relativized it, making it subject to the demands of his and his followers' relationship with the Father. In other words, subject to faith.

Jesus even went so far as to overrule what may be the prime commandment of the Law, Sabbath observance. In a Catholic context, that would be equivalent to tampering with the rules governing sacramental sharing in the Eucharist. (Rules that, unlike the Sabbath rules, are not found in nor based upon Scripture.)

The doctrines of the Church are meant to teach and advance our relationship with God and God's people. But they always take second place to that relationship and their value is only to be found in their protecting and advancing that relationship.

And so we come back to Pope Francis and his willingness to treat venerable customs and rules as of secondary importance to helping people grow in their relationship with God. His attitude may be due in part to the fact that, unlike his two predecessors, he is a pastor rather than a scholar. The focus of his ministry has been people rather than texts or concepts.

The pope speaks of the Church as a field hospital where imperfect people can begin to find healing without yet becoming perfect in their observance. Observance, which can never be perfect anyway, begins to grow as part of gradual recuperation, not as a prerequisite. It would be a strange hospital, indeed, that only allowed the healthy in.

Pope Francis is doing what Jesus did. Jesus upset the scholars of the Law and the Pharisees of his day. Francis does likewise today when blogs have replaced crosses.

MIll Hill Father William Grimm  is the publisher of ucanews.com and is based in Tokyo.