Denver Catholic

22 OCTOBER 14-27, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives The Catechism of the Catholic Church at J ohn Paul II called the Extraor- dinary Synod of 1985 to assess what had gone right and what had gone wrong in two decades of implementing the Second Vatican Council. In Vaticanese, it was styled "extraor- dinary" because it fell outside the normal sequence of synods. But Synod-1985 was extraordinary in the ordinary sense of the word, too. It occasioned an almighty row over a book-length interview, The Ratzinger Report, that pretty well set the terms of debate in the Synod hall. It was the Synod that came up with an interpre- tive key that linked the sixteen docu- ments of Vatican II, through the image of the Church as a communio, a com- munion of disciples in mission; thus Synod-1985 accelerated the Church's transition to the Church of the New Evangelization. And it gave us the Cat- echism of the Catholic Church. At a press conference shortly after the Synod, Bishop James Malone of Youngstown, the president of the U.S. bishops conference, was asked about the new catechism the Synod fathers recommended. Don't worry, Bishop Malone, replied, you'll never live to see it. The bishop was, of course, wrong about that, and John Paul II promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church on October 11, 1992. For those expecting a Q&A format like the old Baltimore Catechism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was a surprise. While divided into 2,865 bite-size sections, the Catechism is a discursive exposition of Catholic faith in full. Its structure, which mirrors the Catechism of the Council of Trent, reaches back to the early Church and the patristic catechumenate. Thus the Catechism's four parts refl ect the four pillars of Christian initiation: the "Pro- fession of Faith" (the Creed); the "Cele- bration of the Christian Mystery" (the Sacraments); "Life in Christ" (Christian Morality); and "Christian Prayer." Each of these four parts is then subdivided. Part One begins with a refl ection on revelation and our response to it before examining the twelve articles of the Apostles Creed, the baptismal creed of the ancient Roman Church. Part Two is struc- tured around the seven sacraments. Part Three vastly enriches the Tri- dentine pattern by beginning with the Beatitudes and our vocation to beatitude or happiness, which sets the framework for the exposition of the Ten Commandments. Part Four begins with a meditation on Jesus and the Samaritan woman, explaining the Lord's "thirst" for souls as the begin- ning of prayer, before illustrating Christian prayer through the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer. Thus Parts One and Two of the Catechism illuminate God's action in seeking us out — the Catechism's very fi rst section speaks of the divine invitation to communion, while the sacraments are described at the begin- ning of Part Two as the extension of Christ's earthly life in us: As Pope Leo the Great put it, "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries." Parts Three and Four then outline our response to God's action through the moral life and prayer. Part Three is a rebu• to those rigorists and laxists who continue to miscon- strue Christian morality as a form of legalism: The moral law is important, the Catechism insists, because these are the guideposts provided by reve- lation and reason for the pilgrimage to beatitude and happiness, the goals of the moral life. Part Four speaks forcefully of "the battle of prayer," the fi ght "against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God." The Catechism of the Catholic Church has made a considerable di• erence over the past 25 years, because it was one crucial answer to the question posed to me in 1996 by a great fi rst-generation Christian, Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria. Speaking of one problem Synod-1985 was called to address, the cardinal asked, "How can [anyone] join a group of permanently confused people who don't know where they're going?" And while there's still considerable work to be done to deepen the reform and renewal of catechetics, the mere fact of the Catechism helped end the silly season in religious education while establishing a compelling, and in many cases quite beautifully written, bench- mark and pattern for the future. If you've not read it, this silver jubi- lee is a good occasion to do so. Then share the Catechism with a friend. In the wake of Vegas shooting, prayers still matter S o I hear that Jimmy Kimmel doesn't want our prayers. Well, not exactly. But he did, in a very emotional monologue, decry politicians who o• ered their "insuf- fi cient" prayers, saying they should instead pray for forgive- ness regard- ing their inaction on gun control. On one level, I understand his frustration. Las Vegas is his home town. I know from my Columbine experience that when attacks hit close to home, the horror becomes more real. It feels personal. And Kimmel, like the rest of us, wants to do something, to keep this from ever happening again. My purpose here isn't to wade into the gun debate. Rather, I want look at the prayer side of Kimmel's monologue. Because I suspect many of us are feeling the same way. "Our prayers don't seem to be helping." But are they? Is prayer just another failed tactic? If we are asking, "Have our prayers stopped the vio- lence?" then obviously they haven't. It continues. But making that the only gauge of "successful" prayer misses the point of who God is. Of course, I could no more explain God and the mystery of su• ering than I could manufacture a mountain range. But I do know what God has revealed about himself to us in Scripture. I know that he hates evil. He hates the destruction of innocent life. And the man (or woman) who destroys innocent life will face his judgment. But he gives us free will, which we can use for good or for evil. And ever since Adam and Eve used it to defy him, evil has been let loose into the world. And the God who loves us and intervenes in human history does not always intervene to prevent it. He in fact didn't prevent the physical evil perpetrated against his own Son. Why? We can't fully know. His ways are above our ways. He sees this world through the lens of eternity. We are all destined to die, whether in our beds at a ripe old age, or at a Jason Aldean concert in our prime. It is evil for one man to take the place of God in decid- ing when another man should die. But the greatest evil is not the loss of our earthly life. It is the loss of the eternal life that God desires to share with us. His interventions into human a• airs are, I suspect, most often geared toward guiding us toward our eternal destiny than toward keeping us safe and comfortable in the here and now. Most important, I know that "all things work for good for those who love Him, and walk according to His ways." All things. Even the choices of evil men. If he could use Roman executioners to bring about our salva- tion, he can bring good from any evil. Have our prayers been answered? Yes, even if we can't know the extent. Has he thwarted other attacks? Has his hand of protection minimized the casualties? And, more important, have our prayers impacted the eternal fate of those whose lives were lost? I know we see his love in action in the heroism of fi rst responders and others on the scene. We see it in the outpouring of love and support from a grieving world. And we know that he is with us as we grieve, and as we search for solutions. God isn't a god who protects us from every evil that could befall us in this life. He is the God of all consolation — the God who knows su• ering because he su• ered, who walks with us in our suf- fering, and works it all for the greatest good, our eternal salvation. So in this situation, like all others, we need to act. We need to work toward e… ective ways of protecting innocent human life. But as we do that, we also need to pray. Earnestly and consistently. All of us. Even politicians. Even Jimmy Kimmel. The Catholic Di´ erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI

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