Communion in go-cups is here. Plastic cups of wine (think syrup containers), hermetically sealed with a wafer on top, are being marketed by Compak Corp. of Chicago. They are sold primarily to Protestant churches (it also comes in a grape juice version) as a sanitary way to sup with the Savior. The product, called "Remembrance," gives courage to those who are squeamish about communing from the common cup.
ML wonders if scratch-and-sniff incense might be a lucrative follow up product.
--NW
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights recently mailed a survey to "active" U.S. Catholics to poll them on controversial issues. The league's goal was an unbiased representation of the thinking of practicing Catholics.
"Unbiased" was not the word that leapt to mind when reading some of the queries.
For example: "8. Disney, known for its family films, supported a company they own, Miramax, in releasing `Priest,' a blasphemous attack on Catholicism, on Good Friday. The film portrays five priests as a philanderer, a homosexual, an alcoholic, a tyrant and a cynicist and blames the Catholic Church and it teachings for their depraved behavior. a) Do you consider this to be an accurate portrayal of the millions of priests who have devoted themselves to God's work? [Yes, No, Not sure.] b) Have you seen or heard of other incidents of anti-Catholic bias in movies and television? [Yes, No, Not sure.]"
ML was pretty sure the correct answer was "yes" to both questions without even having seen "Priest."
However, ML did worry that pointing out the faulty grammar, syntax, and use of words that don't appear in The Really Big Dictionary (cynicist?) might add to the anti-Catholic bias out there.
It was the next question that really got ML wondering though: "9. Do you believe 'freedom of speech' should protect radical homosexual groups such as Act Up and Queer Nation when they disrupt Catholic services across the country by throwing the Eucharist on the floor and pelting newly-ordained priests with condoms? [Yes, No, Not sure.]."
"No" seemed to be the correct answer. On the other hand, if they are hermetically sealed, will it matter?
--NW
"The church is given the charism of infallibility exercised by the Pope in certain rare circumstances; by the bishops throughout the world when together with the Pope they concur on a single viewpoint on a matter of faith and morals; and by `the body of the faithful, who as a whole cannot err in matters of belief when from the bishops down to the last member of the laity it shows universal agreement on matters of faith and morals.' In these ways and in only these ways is a doctrine declared infallible."
-- Bishop Raymond A. Lucker, Diocese of New Ulm, MN
"The greatest theological problem with infallibility is that it makes it very difficult for the church to admit it was wrong. I have considered making a T-shirt to wear to Catholic meetings with the slogan: `Infallibility means never having to say you're sorry.'"
-- Rosemary Radford Ruether, professor of theology, Garrett- Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL.
"On curiosity of papal infallibility is that the pope, once he got it, hardly ever used it. A time or two in a century seems like gross neglect of a valuable asset. Especially when so many people are allegedly so off the mark about one doctrine or another, not to mention the ubiquitous sixth and ninth. There have been ... 10 popes and about two pronouncements, or one-tenth of an infallible statement per capita."
-- Michael J. Farrell, senior editor of the National Catholic Reporter and author of the column "Sic."
"In the case of the latest roman doctrinal decisions with regard to the ordination of women, contraception, and abortion (oddly enough, it is always women who are affected) what is involved is not some more or less arbitrary action on the part of Cardinal Ratzinger. What is involved is the statement that in practice cannot be ignored of a teaching authority which, as in the Galileo case or the condemnation of religious freedom, human rights, or modern biblical exegesis, turns its own tradition into an idol and which in its blindness still claims to have God's Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ on its side."
-- Hans Küng, professor of ecumenical theology, University of Tübingen.
"Tradition should not be invoked as a sacramental to bless centuries of injustice. The persistence of an evil practice over time does not legitimate it continuation. Teachings considered infallible in the Catholic church are those that have been accepted as true by the entire community of the faithful. Because there is no universal assent as yet from bishops, theologians, or the faithful on the question of ordaining women as priests, any statement claiming to be infallible on this issue is premature and inappropriate."
-- National Coalition of American Nuns
"Do they really mean the teaching is infallible in the technical sense, such that disagreement with it is heresy? Is it the same as saying 'I don't believe in the divinity of Christ'? If it is, let them say it. But they didn't say it."
-- Richard McBrien, professor of theology, University of Notre Dame"
"To those who have questioned this teaching in the past, I ask you now prayerfully to allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with the wisdom and understanding that will enable you to accept it."
-- Bishop Anthony Pilla, Cleveland, president of the National Council of Catholic Bishops.
"...I prayed. And I reflected. And I found myself reflecting about things that were a lot more troublesome than ordination. It began to occur to me ... that maybe we should ... ask some other questions like:
"Has there been a palace coup and someone forgot to tell us about it? Is the pope's name John Paul II or Joseph Ratzinger....
"Why is it that when bishops all over the world ask for this issue to be discussed, they are simply ignored.... Have we come to the point where the bishops of the church are even more ignored than the women of the church?"
-- Joan Chittister, OSB, in a Dec. 8 article for the National Catholic Reporter.
Kenan Osborne, OFM, list the characteristics that the baptized Catholic Christian will exhibit at the beginning of the third millennium in the January/February issue of The Catholic World. Some of them include taking the equality of all human beings at face-value, questioning the absoluteness of the Roman Catholic claim to be the only place to find "church," finding unacceptable "the internal suppression of the 'lay person' in the structuring of the church," rejecting phrases like "my sons and daughters" from church leaders because members of the faithful are not children, and seeking a personal and social life based on gospel discipleship.
--NW
(This article orginally appeared in MODERN LITURGY, 23:1. Copyright (c) 1996 Resource Publications, Inc. May not be reproduced without permission.)