Saturday, May 28, 2005
By FRITZ WENISCH
PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
Following Pope Benedict XVI's elevation to the papacy, the BBC opined that he "may alienate churchgoers of the 21st century who prefer a more flexible doctrine." Other commentators suggested that the new pope should alter the direction of the Catholic church, adapt its moral teachings to the spirit of the times, and modify one or the other of its more controversial religious tenets.
The notion that church doctrine is to be adapted to what the contemporary world happens to consider acceptable flies in the face of the identity the Catholic church claims. It considers itself appointed by Christ as the interpreter of what God has revealed to humanity, first through the prophets, then through his son.
Were Pope Benedict to follow suggestions to change course, the Catholic church would lose its credibility. Staying the course by itself does not demonstrate that the Catholic church is the true church of Christ; however, altering directions -- zigzagging from the path of earlier teachings -- would make Catholicism cease to live up to a minimum requirement for being the true interpreter of a genuine revelation from God.
Proclaiming Christian message
Generally, I am hesitant to make predictions; nevertheless, I am confidently asserting: Under Pope Benedict, the Christian message might be proclaimed with greater depth, new arguments and explanations might be added, and the truth will be proclaimed with charity; however, whatever the additions to the message will be, they will remain consistent with what the Catholic church has taught over the nearly 2,000 years of its existence.
Catholicism will not join those Christian denominations continuously adapting their tenets to what the spirit of the age happens to consider as opportune and discarding unpopular teachings in favor of contrary ones. That people easily catch on to the credibility problems such changes cause can become obvious to everyone who compares the dwindling membership of so-called liberal Christian denominations with that of churches maintaining a spirit of orthodoxy.
X Fritz Wenisch is a professor of philosophy at the University of Rhode Island. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.