Denver Catholic

18 NOVEMBER 24-DECEMBER 7, 2018 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives Vatican autocracy and the U.S. bishops Entering more deeply into the Bible A s the U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore on the weekend of Nov. 10-11, it seemed certain that, after a day of prayer, penance, and refl ection on the Church's sexual abuse crisis, they would take two import- ant steps toward reform. An episcopal code of con- duct, hold- ing bishops accountable to the standards applied to priests in the 2002 Dallas Charter, would be adopted. And the bishops would authorize a lay-led mechanism to receive complaints about episcopal misbehavior, malfeasance, or corrup- tion; allegations found credible would be sent to the appropriate authorities, including those in Rome. Then, at the last minute, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Cath- olic Bishops (USCCB), received an instruction from Rome stating that the Vatican did not want the U.S. bishops to vote on these two mea- sures. The lame rationale given with the instruction was that any such decisions should be made after the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences meet in Rome in Febru- ary, to discuss the abuse crisis in its global dimensions. What happened to the "synod- ality" and "collegiality" that were supposed to characterize the Church under Pope Francis? What con- ceivable meaning of "synodality" or "collegiality" includes an autocratic Roman intervention in the aŸ airs of a national bishops' conference that knows its own situation far better than the Roman authorities? And spare me the further excuses about Roman concerns over canon law. If there were canonical problems with the U.S. proposals, they could have been ironed out after the bishops had done what they had to do and what Rome eŸ ectively prevented them from doing — demonstrating to furi- ous U.S. Catholics that the bishops are fi rmly committed to addressing the episcopal dimensions of the abuse crisis and the meltdown of episcopal credibility it had created in its wake. (And while we're on the subject of Church law: By what legal authority did Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, instruct the USCCB not to vote on matters the conference membership thought of the gravest importance? A sliver of jus- tifi cation for that intervention might be extracted from Canon 455.1, on the authority of bishops' conferences. But given the insouciance about canon law demonstrated by Rome in recent years, not to mention a seemingly end- less series of strictures against "legal- ism," such concerns over canon law ring hollow. In any event, and accord- ing to Canon 455.2, any legal fi ne tuning could have taken place after the U.S. bishops had done what they deemed essential to restoring trust in this critical situation.) I recently spent almost fi ve weeks in Rome, during which I found an anti-American atmosphere worse than anything I'd experienced in 30 years of work in and around the Vat- ican. A false picture of the Church's life in the United States, in which wealthy Catholics in league with extreme right-wing bishops have hijacked the Church and are leading an embittered resistance to the pres- ent pontifi cate, has been successfully sold. And in another oŸ ense against collegiality, this grossly distorted depiction of American Catholicism has not been eŸ ectively challenged or corrected by American bishops enjoy- ing Roman favor these days. Honest disagreements — about, say, Amoris Laetitia and its impli- cations for doctrine and pastoral practice — are one thing. A systematic distortion of reality, which tramples on the presumption of an opponent's good will that should guide any inter- nal Catholic debate, is quite another. Those involved in this anti-Amer- ican-bishops calumny might also refl ect on its disturbing genealogy. For one of those who injected this toxin into the Roman bloodstream was a serial sexual predator specializ- ing in the abuse of seminarians under his authority — Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington. Mainstream media reporting on the bishops' recent Baltimore meet- ing generally got it right: The U.S. bishops tried to do the right thing and got bushwhacked by Rome, which Just Doesn't Get It on sexual abuse and episcopal malfeasance. But the story cannot be allowed to end there. Nor can the Church aŸ ord to "wait until after February." Cardinal DiNardo and the major- ity of the bishops are determined to get to grips with the awfulness that has come to light, for the sake of the Church's evangelical future. The bish- ops' challenge now is to temper their ingrained deference to "Rome" and get on with devising responses to this crisis that are within their author- ity, and that address the legitimate demands of the Catholic people of the United States for reform. C atholics in the United States have been enriched in the last few of decades with a renais- sance of biblical studies. The Denver Catholic Biblical and Catecheti- cal Schools now enroll over 2,000 students. Many others have gone through JeŸ Cavins' Bible Timeline series or benefi ted from the many books and resources from Scott Hahn and his St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, includ- ing the Letter & Spirit journal and the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. There have also been new opportunities for academic studies, such as through the A ugustine Institute and Franciscan University of Steubenville. To continue this renaissance, the fi rst volume of A Catholic Introduc- tion to the Bible: The Old Testament has been published, written by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre (Ignatius, 2018). This large book (1060 pages) is quickly becoming a Catholic best- seller, and for good reason. It is one of the best fulfi llments of Pope Bene- dict XVI's call for a renewed Catholic interpretation of the Bible, rooted in the Catholic tradition and liturgical life, guided by faith, and which makes use of modern historical and literary studies. The authors help bridge a gap that largely divides the academic and spiritual readings of the biblical narrative. The introductory chapter of the volume explaining the vision of the work itself makes an important con- tribution to explaining the proper way to read the Bible. It speaks of being "self-consciously both histor- ical and theological in its approach" and utilizing "all of the tools of nat- ural human reason . . . but unites them to supernatural faith" (9; 11). This vision takes fl esh by examining major historical questions and issues raised by modern scholarship while also engaging the Chruch Fathers and magisterial tradition. For instance, it explores fi ve diŸ erent theories for why certain foods are prohibited in Leviticus, from Mary Douglas' ana- tomical explanation to St. Thomas Aquinas' liturgical view (212). For each book of the Old Testa- ment, Bergsma and Pitre provide a brief introduction, details on its lit- erary structure and outline, overview of its content, historical issues raised by modern scholarship, theological issues, relation to the living tradi- tion of the Church, and explanations of how it appears in the liturgical readings. In the sections on theology and the tradition, they regularly cite the Chruch Fathers, the writings of saints, and teachings of the Church, including the Catechism. Each chapter also includes helpful tables and boxes which answer common The Catholic Diª erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL The mysteries of the Old Testament, though rooted in ancient history, remain living witnesses and guides into the realities of our salvation. DR. R. JARED STAUDT " The Catholic Reader R. Jared Staudt, PhD, is a husband and father of six, the director of formation for the Archdiocese of Denver, a Benedictine oblate, prolifi c writer, and insatiable reader. DR. R. JARED STAUDT

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