Fr. Wiebe+

Thank you for that bit of history, a good reminder
that there is in every generation people who think
they leaders on the cutting edge, finding new truth.  

A seminarian a few years ago excitedly exclaimed, "New
theologies are being discovered every day!"  Nearly a
decade ago a cleric expounded at length on God's
feminine side, referring to Shekinah, Jesus' reference
to a mother hen when weeping over Jerusalem, etc.  At
the end of his analysis he revised some liturgy and
included Wiccan prayers.  

What spirit indeed?

Last night I picked up a small book I had read 40+
years ago, published in 1964, written by Joseph Lortz,
titled "How the Reformation Came."  That little peek
into how German Roman Catholic theologians in the
first half of the 20th century viewed their history
gave me hope in the 1960's of possible growth to unity
among Christians.                                

It is a shame that so many years lapsed between the
writings of that generation and the translation into
English of their works.  Likewise, it was years before
the Documents of Vatican II were available to English
readers.  Unfortunately when those documents were
available in English in the 1960's the noisy politics
of the last half of the 20th century drowned out the
call for thoughtful, prayer discussion and the
fragmentation of Christianity continued.

In that regard, the 20th and 21st centuries were much
like the 16th.  

Among his conclusions after surveying Church history,
Lortz wrote in regard to the Protestant Reformation,
"there was indeed a considerable share of Catholic
guilt for the revolt that came.'  And, "A reformation
had become a historical necessity....The institutions
still stood, but, to a great extent, life had gone out
of them." 

Lortz indicated when assessing issues of "guilt" or
responsibility for the failure of the Church in the
late middle ages we should look not so much to
individuals as "the historical current at large, the
growth or decline of the general public, the growth or
decline of the visible kingdom of God, and the laws of
life which underlie these occurences."  

He said it is not given to the Christian to sit in
judgment over personalites but that it is important to
determine the objective failure, the weakiness of the
Church that made it susceptible to spiritual disease. 
The Catholic Church he says, shares in the guilt, the
failure.  He wrote, "The Reformation is a Catholic
concern or must become one.  Within the area of
Christian concepts, the guilt we share calls for an
unconditional mea culpa as the precondition for the
solution of the task which we called to mind in the
beginning of this book.  If we do not make this
confession, then it will be impossible to arrive at an
understanding at the human level or at a settlement in
the Christian sphere.  The confession of guilt by Pope
Adrian VI gives us an example. . . . the Reformation
is a Cahtolic concern inasmuch as there is a Catholic
share in the causes that led to it, and therefore a
Catholic share in the guilt that is in it.  We cannot
but make it our concern."

Lortz' concluding paragraph calls for all Christians
to accept that the failure of the pre-Reformation
period was due to "the religious strength of
Christianity not being sufficiently activated.  Having
learned this lesson, we must now try not to repeat the
same mistake again.  If we take up anew the genuine
concern of the Reformation in order to advance it
toward a more just, more fitting fulfillment, then our
Christian resources must be freed to become
effective.. . .above all, there is need for prayer the
Lord and Master of all history may bless our human
endeavors.  The high priestly prayer of Our Lord that
all may be one indicates vividly that the prayer for
this concern is not something that is left to our
pleasure, to our choice.  It is our duty."

Advent is a time in which the Church calls for
reformation of life.  We pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy
will be done on earth."

Charles+

--- "The Rev GDVWiebe SSC.,PhD" <gdvw@...>
wrote:

> >Frater: We had the opportunity to hear Dr
> Schememann and Dean Hopko aeons ago on this very
subject. Schmemann was at the Faculty Club at the
> University of California in a panel with among
> others the then Dean of CDSP (Borsch) who proclaimed
that while the NT,  ancient Tradition and the
> Councils all voted in the negative on the issue of
> distaff clerics,  Borsch said 'it is the spirit that
is moving us to this....'. Schmemann asked,  '...and
what is that spirits name...?'
> Borsch got up and left. 

 And that says it all. Blessings. GDVW+
>