Quality of Roman Catholic mission

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

This past week in our Global Christianity course we had the opportunity to hear from guest lecturer Father Vincent Machozi of Boston University on significant changes in Roman Catholicism over the last one hundred years. Father Machozi brought up some important points that stimulated our discussion. Among his points was expansion of the church in the global South, and with it a changing understanding of ‘catholicity’ as fullness of life. Father Machozi also brought attention to changes in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council, particularly with the attention given to the church and social action.

We found Father Machozi’s point that catholicity understood as fullness of life has a profound impact on mission very interesting. Such an approach no longer sees mission as converting the whole world, and instead focuses on mission as quality of life. It shifts the evaluation of mission success away from quantitative convert head counts, to whether Christianity is qualitatively relevant and potent to deal with problems people face daily, such as poverty and injustice. We noted that the question of quantity vs. quality in Roman Catholic missions is very important in Latin America, where Catholics are a majority in most countries. If quality is not emphasized, then people might become Catholics in name or identity only, without Christianity having a significant influence on important activities and decisions.

The Roman Catholic Church’s emphasis on social action was an aspect that we found very interesting, especially since all of us came from Protestant traditions we thought failed to take global action seriously as church bodies. We discussed whether the centralized hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church allows Catholics to speak with tremendous power with a unified voice on important issues and stand up to such things as the debt of developing nations, poverty, and nuclear proliferation. We were left engaging with ideas on how Protestant churches might be inspired to take similar positions with resolve.

Eva Pascal, discussion moderator

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Roman Catholicism in India and South Korea

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

During our class session of November 10, 2010, Fr Vincent Machozi of Boston University lectured on the History of Catholicism. As with previous presenters, he packed a lot of information into his lecture. This week our follow-up discussion group included two people from South Korea, one from India and one from the United States. We shared first about our impressions of Catholicism in India and South Korea. In India the church is known to have some of the best schools in the country; devout Hindus will often send their children to those schools because of their quality. The church also is quite involved in social programs. Our South Korean participants noted that there Roman Catholics have a reputation of being positively engaged in society while their Protestant counterparts are often seen as corrupt. In addition, Catholics are often thought of as being united while Protestants are split into many different factions. The strong and clearly defined hierarchical leadership structure is also a plus in Korean society which values those kinds of structures rather than more egalitarian ones. We wondered if perhaps that is why Christian Base Communities which were so popular in Latin America have not been part of the Korean Catholic experience.

In both Korea and India Roman Catholics are known for being open to an engagement with indigenous cultures and other religions. They are involved in inter-religious dialogue with Buddhists and Hindus, and in India many apply the bindi spot on their foreheads, a Hindi tradition. In Korea Catholic liturgy appropriates certain aspects of the traditional ancestor veneration. Protestants, on the other hand, include recognition of the ancestors but have changed significantly the way it happens in the liturgy so as to distance themselves from traditional ceremonies.

As our discussion time ended, we had just started to discuss Peter Phan’s Boston 2010 presentation about inter-religious dialogue at the 1910 missionary gathering and Vatican II. We were trying to decide if we agree with his suggestion that Christians need to be open to being converted by our interlocutors as we dialogue with those of other religions. If we accept that premise, what then does mission look like?

Bruce Yoder, discussion moderator

Remarkable change of Roman Catholic Church

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

On November 10th, we had privilege to have Vincent Machozi, a catholic priest. he lectured on the four main changes within Catholic church for the last one hundred years.

After the lecture, our group members talked long about the lecturer’s claim that the attitude of Catholics towards Protestants has been radically changed showing openness. Although all of us welcomed the change, a few students raised questions over the alleged remarkable change of Roman Catholics that they are open to all cultures and theologies. One student observed that Catholics are open to dialogue only as long as authority of pope is not questioned. In this sense, Catholic church is not truly open. The other student agreed with him and added that we should not overlook the fact that Catholics want others to come under their authority when they dialogue with other Christian traditions.

Our talks developed into Catholic Church’s structure and theology. One student commented that Catholics seemed to be closed in structure, but becoming more open theologically to others. But another student rebutted. He claimed that Catholics are not open theologically either pointing out the fact that the RCC does not acknowledge baptism by non-RCC churches because they believe that other traditions lack apostolic succession. He added that basis of dialogue should be recognition of others as body of Christ, but he was doubtful whether Catholics view Protestants as real brothers in Christ. One Korean student in our group mentioned the opposite situation pointing out the fact that many Korean Protestants view Catholics as a heresy. We talked around this issue for a while and concluded that theological intolerance of both Catholics and Protestants is a real stumbling block in the ecumenical movement.

Hye Jin Lee, discussion moderator

Significant changes in the Roman Catholic Church

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

Last night, November 10th, Vincent Machozi came to our class as a representative for the Roman Catholic tradition. He began by reminding us that the adjective “Roman,” before Catholic is a relatively recent development. Such a distinction only appeared after the Reformation, when Protestant history and Roman Catholic history finally diverged after sharing a common history for 1,500 years. It was an effective way to remind a classroom of Protestants that although he, as a Roman Catholic, and we, as Protestants, are now separate Christian traditions, together we still have much in common.

In our small group discussion, this peaceful rapprochement was immediately picked up. “I am blown away,” a student effused, “at the enormous shifts within the Roman Catholic Church over the last century. There is an entirely different attitude towards Protestants, other religions, and toward the laity.” The changes are so enormous, that one student wondered how the Roman Catholic Church is able to negotiate the reversals.

Another student made a fascinating observation: “Roman Catholics used to teach that there was no salvation outside the institutional church. They have changed now, and have accepted Protestants as separated, but nevertheless saved, brethren.” In Korea, he went on to explain, Protestants have not been quite so generous. Many Korean Protestants do not believe Roman Catholics are Christians, so practice a Protestant form of “no salvation outside the [Protestant] Church.” Further discussion revealed the complex history of Catholicism and Protestantism in Asia. In several East Asian languages, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are distinguished as entirely separate religions; they are not considered as two strands of one Christian tradition. This reflects the antagonistic history of the two streams.

It was good to be reminded that, historically, there has been very real animosity between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The shift in attitude over the last generation may cause amnesia. In fact a student responding to the Korean Protestant condemnation of Roman Catholics, initially stated that never happened in the West. “There was suspicion between the two groups, yes, but not a Protestant conviction that Catholics were going to hell.” A short review of Protestant history, though, quickly refreshed her memory, and amended her position.

One student expressed mixed feelings about the seismic changes in Roman Catholic doctrine initiated at Vatican II. The pope, he recalled, was trying to open a window to modernity. Observers, though, have suggested the Roman Catholic Church paved a superhighway for modernity. The sustained resistance to modernity ended, and there was widespread accommodation to the modern world. Yet, a generation later modernity seems hopelessly doomed by post-modern critiques. “How ironic,” he noted, “that people are now trying to find effective points of resistance to the modern mindset. A generation ago, the Roman Catholic Church appeared to be a bastion of resistance, but because of Vatican II now seems complicit in the modern project.” Another student added, “The post-modern attack on meta-narratives is in need of a powerful antidote. Roman Catholicism used to have a strong meta-narrative; now, though, it seems hopelessly confused as it tries to accommodate the truth claims that exist from competing religious communities.” Something may have been gained at Vatican II, but there was a wistful longing—by Protestants of all things—for all that was lost.

Daryl Ireland, discussion moderator