Dung heaps, the Devil, and the Catholic orchestra

*Dung heaps, the Devil, and the Catholic orchestra

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2019/09/29/dung-heaps-the-devil-and-the-catholic-orchestra/

Catholic teaching is like an orchestra. There are a lot of moving parts including doctrines, dogmas, practices (disciplines) that reinforce Church teaching (such as meatless Fridays in witness to the Sacrifice of Good Friday), liturgy, Scriptures, tradition, and so on. Theological speculation attempts to harmonize all these elements of the Faith.

Even the illiterate among us sense when an orchestra is out of tune. Call this, the “sense of the faithful.” The purpose here is not to parse every detail of Catholic dogmatic theology. The intention is to suggest there is an overall portrait of the Catholic thing and to identify a couple of false notes that ordinary people can identify with certainty. Theological reflection is necessary but has its limits.

When a grieving child asks a parish priest whether the child’s beloved dead dog went to heaven, a pastoral theological decision becomes unavoidable. Saint Thomas argues that animals have souls, but not eternal souls. So when a dog dies, beloved or not, the dog returns to the prime matter whence he emerged. Sorry, kid.

Covenant theologians generally prefer the metaphors of Scripture. They would likely point to the Book of Revelation. Pets – along with all of God’s good creation – will be purified of all evil and be assumed into heavenly glory and “made new” on the last day (cf. Rev. 21:1-5)

Theologians also attempt to resolve apparent conflicts in Church doctrine. Baptism (liturgical, by blood, or by desire) is necessary for salvation. When a newborn baby dies without baptism, questions of salvation arise. Saint Augustine proposed the doctrine of limbo – a place of bliss, but without the beatific vision. Some theologians consider that opinion ill-advised and invoke God’s infinite mercy. Concerning unresolved theological arguments, we must be content with doctrinal mysteries – as we continue to hope for resolution of the disputes.

Some theologians suggest the possibility of an “empty hell.” Jesus redeemed us on the Cross, but our salvation comes with cooperating with His graces. Not a sure thing. So we need not pretend to be erudite theologians to question the “empty hell” theology. Why would body-soul composite beings like us fare any better, from a statistical point of view, than the angels? Universal salvation seems too good to be true. Nevertheless, charity and professional courtesy require that we assume goodwill when theologians speculate in ways that press the frontiers of Catholic teaching.

After all, we cannot reduce the beauty of the Catholic faith to conceptual statements. Even the most binding doctrines can be revisited and restated, without violation, in light of evolving understanding brought about by science and other branches of human knowledge. The poetic creation account in Genesis, for example, is wonderfully enhanced by advances in our scientific understanding of the created universe. Science is the study of the handiwork of God expanding our horizons to endless mysteries. Yet we continue to look at the world with the same simple wonder as the ancients.

Nevertheless, we can expect that theological power hitters strike out from time to time. Even the great Aquinas was unable to advance Marian theology when he failed to grasp the significance of the Immaculate Conception (not an official Church dogma until 1854). So as long as the power hitters allow theological lightweights like us to stick to the teachings of the basics of the Faith, we need not be disturbed. When unconvinced, we should remain free to cling to the firm certainties of established Catholic teaching.

But theology is too important to be left to the theologians, to paraphrase Clemenceau about war and generals. So there are limits to professional courtesy. Sometimes the faithful must firmly reject theological nonsense regardless of the pretensions of the intellectual. Some doctrines that emerge from theological speculation are dangerous and wrong.

Martin Luther compared man to a dung heap. According to him, Original sin destroyed our human nature. God’s grace does not restore our dignity but covers up the mess like snow. In contrast, Catholics believe Original sin seriously wounded – but did not destroy -- man’s nature. God restores us in the Baptismal font and continues to heal us in our encounter with Him in the Sacraments. So we need not be a towering intellectual to reject the teachings of Protestant theologians and hold that God does not create junk.

We can also find nonsense at high levels in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. In a recent interview, Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, the superior general of the Society of Jesus, said that the devil is a symbol, but not a person. He reportedly said, “Good and evil are in a permanent war in the human conscience and we have ways to point them out… Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jesuit-superior-satan-is-a-symbolic-reality-60691

Did a symbol tempt Eve in the Garden and the same symbol tempt Jesus in the desert? Do symbols tempt us, sometimes in violent ways? Perhaps he meant to say the Devil is an annoying clanging cymbal. Saint Paul writes, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12) Did Saint Paul lie, or did he lack a modern Jesuit education? We may not believe in the Devil, but the Devil keeps an eye on us.

When the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive a son, Mary was perplexed. Her question to Gabriel was not disrespectful, snarky, or skeptical. With fidelity, she asked, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” (Luke 1:34) Mary responded to Gabriel’s explanation with her magnificent fiat: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

God speaks to us through the glorious orchestra of the Catholic Faith, and the essentials of Catholic doctrine are accessible to all. We respond with devotion and, with God’s grace, holy theological reflection. When in doubt, the simple faith of Our Lady is the answer.