quoting from the tablet again.
Pope Paul stressed that Vatican II "had affirmed the legitimate autonomy of culture and particularly of the sciences." By doing so, it had made an essential distinction between "secularisation" and "secularism" and had situated the church in a deliberately paradoxical relationship with the world.
It was only from within a positive relationship with "authentic" secularisation that the church could discern in the world that surrounded it, and in which it was lovingly engaged, "a powerful and tragic appeal to be evangelised". It is this sense of paradox, so crucial to the whole thrust of Vatican II, that seems to be threatened by the more simple and sweeping (and therefore more "fundamentalist") emphasis on an outright rejection of "relativism" as a whole.
Dominic Milroy of Ampleforth
In his final paragraphs, Dominic makes a moving plea - diplomatically worded -
"The church has problems that are well-known to everyone and which echo those in society in general. Problems of family and sexual morality, the decline in catholic practice, the incidence of sexual abuse, the shortage of candidates for the celibate priesthood, the shift in the perception of women's role in society, the widespread "popular" protest against some aspects of global capitalism, the concern for the longterm care of our planet and the unconvincing progress in ecumenical dialogue - these are complex challenges that Catholics think and care about.
Such catholics (and presumably he counts himself amongst their ranks) often wonder whether the church, not as a top-down institution but as the prophetic people of God journeying together, might find some way of addressing these challenges more openly and with the risky confidence that made Vatican II so exhilarating."
Pope Paul stressed that Vatican II "had affirmed the legitimate autonomy of culture and particularly of the sciences." By doing so, it had made an essential distinction between "secularisation" and "secularism" and had situated the church in a deliberately paradoxical relationship with the world.
It was only from within a positive relationship with "authentic" secularisation that the church could discern in the world that surrounded it, and in which it was lovingly engaged, "a powerful and tragic appeal to be evangelised". It is this sense of paradox, so crucial to the whole thrust of Vatican II, that seems to be threatened by the more simple and sweeping (and therefore more "fundamentalist") emphasis on an outright rejection of "relativism" as a whole.
Dominic Milroy of Ampleforth
In his final paragraphs, Dominic makes a moving plea - diplomatically worded -
"The church has problems that are well-known to everyone and which echo those in society in general. Problems of family and sexual morality, the decline in catholic practice, the incidence of sexual abuse, the shortage of candidates for the celibate priesthood, the shift in the perception of women's role in society, the widespread "popular" protest against some aspects of global capitalism, the concern for the longterm care of our planet and the unconvincing progress in ecumenical dialogue - these are complex challenges that Catholics think and care about.
Such catholics (and presumably he counts himself amongst their ranks) often wonder whether the church, not as a top-down institution but as the prophetic people of God journeying together, might find some way of addressing these challenges more openly and with the risky confidence that made Vatican II so exhilarating."
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