“A disease of our time”: The Catholic Church's condemnation and absolution of psychoanalysis (1924–1975)

The present paper is focused on the evolution of the position of the Catholic Church toward psychoanalysis. Even before Freud's The Future of an Illusion (1927), psychoanalysis was criticized by Catholic theologians. Psychoanalysis was viewed with either contempt or with indifference, but nonpsychoanalytic psychotherapy was accepted, especially for pastoral use. Freudian theory remained for most Catholics a delicate and dangerous subject for a long time. From the center to the periphery of the Vatican, Catholic positions against psychoanalysis have varied in the way that theological stances have varied. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, some Catholics changed their attitudes and even practiced psychoanalysis, challenging the interdict of the Holy Office, which prohibited psychoanalytic practice until 1961. During the Cold War, psychoanalysis progressively became more and more relevant within Catholic culture for two main reasons: changes in psychoanalytic doctrine (which began to stress sexuality to a lesser degree) and the increasing number of Catholic psychoanalysts, even among priests. Between the 1960s and the 1970s, psychoanalysis was eventually accepted and became the main topic of a famous speech by Pope Paul VI. This paper illustrates how this acceptance was a sort of unofficial endorsement of a movement that had already won acceptance within the Church. The situation was fostered by people like Maryse Choisy or Leonardo Ancona, who had advocated within the Church for a sui generis use of psychoanalysis (e.g., proposing a desexualized version of Freudian theories), despite warnings and prohibitions from the hierarchies of the Church.     

Called to be holy: the transformative potential of Christian service programmes in Catholic schools

This is the second in a series of four papers which seeks to articulate theologically and practically the consequences of the ecclesial identity of the Catholic school. The series is based on the principle that the ‘marks’ of the Church – one, holy, catholic, and apostolic – are also marks of the Catholic school, since the Catholic school is within the Church and derives its ecclesial identity from the Church. Each paper analyses one of these ‘marks’, discerning what it means theologically and practically for the Catholic school. In this paper, the second of the marks of the Church and therefore of the Catholic school – holiness – is discussed in terms of what it means to be, and to continually become, holy. In reference to a current research project, Christian service programmes in Catholic schools are analysed in regard to what they already contribute to the formation in holiness of Catholic students, but also in terms of what more they may become. It is argued that for their potential for growth in holiness for teachers and students to be fully realised, Christian service programmes need to be more than just charitable works, and that they need to engage critically with inequity and injustice in keeping with the Church’s radical social teaching.     

A Leaky Sort of Thing? The divisiveness of Michael Dummett

A note by the Editor: In the October issue o/New Blackfriars appeared an article by Professor Michael Dummett, 'A Remarkable Consensus'. In it the author discussed what he saw to be problems arising when Catholic theologians and seminary teachers publicly align themselves with the so-called 'liberal consensus': in other words, adopt opinions which, in the author's view, 'imply that, from the very earliest times, the Catholic Church, claiming to have a mission from God to safeguard divinely revealed truth, has taught and insisted on the acceptance of falsehoods'. He believed this to have happened on a wide-spread scale. He concluded that 'the divergence that now obtains between what the Catholic Church purports to believe and what large or important sections of it in fact believe ought …to be tolerated no longer: not if there is to be a rationale for belonging to that Church; not if there is to be any hope of reunion with the other half of Christendom; not if the Catholic Church is not to be a laughing-stock in the eyes of the world.' Here Professor Nicholas Lash reacts to Professor Dummett's article, and particularly to what he had to say about modern theologians and seminary teachers. In the next article Professor Dummett answers him.     

The Church as Sacrament in the Writings of Yngve Brilioth: Texts and Contexts

The Church as sacrament has been a recurring theme for some time in modern ecumenical conversations and in debates among theologians. When this idea re-emerged in the Western churches during the twentieth century it did not initially arise primarily from the results of patristic scholarship or under the influence of the Eastern churches. It seemed rather to emerge from two different problems: Roman Catholic institutionalism and the Protestant individualism born during the nineteenth century. It was also a reaction against what was perceived – in the context of an emerging ecclesial and socio-cultural diversification – to be too narrow a conceptualisation of sacrament. This article briefly introduces the idea of the Church as sacrament in the writings of Yngve Brilioth (1889–1959); it examines the background which allowed a Swedish theologian to describe the Church as sacrament. It notes that, during the 1940s, the sacramentality of the Church became a relatively common view among other leading Swedish theologians and suggests how this historical occurrence might provide some perspectives on current ecclesial deliberations.     

Lumen Gentium No. 8, and Subsistit in, Again

Francis A. Sullivan says that the one Church of Christ continues to exist perfectly in the Catholic Church, and is present imperfectly in other churches and ecclesial communities. However, he thinks Lumen Gentium 8 also enables us to say that the many churches, non-Catholic and Catholic, are all in the one Church of Christ, since to say the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church means no more than "continues to exist in" the Catholic Church. In this way, he denies the identity of the one Church of Christ and the Catholic Church. We point out that magisterial documents since Vatican II have consistently refused this proposal, and have instead spoken only of the one Church being present or operative, according to degrees, in non-Catholic churches and communities. We argue that while it is true there is "ecclesial reality" outside the Catholic Church, in that there are elements of truth and sanctification outside of her, the one Church of Christ of which Vatican II expressly speaks is the Church with all the gifts of unity and instruments for salvation with which Christ endowed it. The Catholic Church is not contained in any larger divinely willed and dominically instituted ecclesial reality, and it is without qualification the one Church of Christ and the one Church of Christ is without qualification the Catholic Church.     

Credo Unam Sanctam Ecclesiam: The Relationship between the Catholic and the Protestant Principles in Fundamental Ecclesiology

Abstract

This article treats of characteristically Catholic and Protestant ecclesial principles and reflects on Anglicanism within this context. Where the Catholic ‘principle’ is concerned for the structural unity of the Church, the Protestant ‘principle’ focuses on the Church as a dynamic, Spirit-given reality. In turn, Anglican comprehensiveness is assumed to reflect the concern to achieve a harmonious balance between these principles. Having traced key developments that brought Catholic and Protestant principles into creative relationship in the 20th century and more recent developments, that threaten once again to oppose them, this article argues – through reflection on the unity and holiness of the Church – for their necessary interrelationship and concludes that realising this in practice represents the central ecumenical challenge of our age. En route, attention falls on the relationship between the local and the universal Church, on the importance of keeping communion with the breadth of the tradition and on the doxological dimension of ecumenism.     

Individualism and Community as Contested Rhetorics in the Catholic New Evangelization Movement

This article addresses a new religious movement within one of the oldest ecclesiastical organizations in Christendom??the Catholic Church. The Catholic New Evangelization (NE) is an intra-ecclesial movement articulated and inspired by the late Pope John Paul II. Our analysis of this movement focuses on the emerging tensions between the contrasting individualist and communalist orientations of what we call ??Vatican II Catholics?? and ??NE Catholics,?? respectively. We examine responses to NE rhetoric and its implementation in the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit??s central services, the archdiocesan seminary, and two local Detroit parishes. At these sites, the NE rhetoric, especially in its emphasis on having a ??personal relationship with Jesus,?? has intensified individual versus community tensions among Catholic professionals and lay leaders in the Detroit area.     

"Although We are Catholic, We are Dutch"—The Transition of the Dutch Catholic Church from Sect to Church as an Explanation for its Growth and Decline

The Dutch Catholic Church has experienced an immense growth and an equal measure of decline in the last two centuries. This article explains this development by using the sect-to-church theory, as has been developed by the rational choice theory of religion. This theory explains the growth and decline of a church by the degree of tension it has with society. Historical evidence is used to test this theory with regard to the Dutch Catholic Church. As long as that church was in tension with society it kept growing, but as soon as the tension decreased, which was already taking place prior to 1960, it declined.     

Racism,Xenophobia, and Migration in Italy,a Post-Catholic Country

This paper looks at the present situation of xenophobia and racism in Italy through the lenses of land and displacement. It examines the relationship between the homeland and the phenomenon of migration – internal and international – from the beginning of the unitary unified state of Italy (1861) and the Catholic identity of Italian society. Colonialism opened the door to disdain for Black people, while fascism decreed racial laws against Jews without opposition from the Catholic hierarchy. After the Second World War, the Italian Republic banned any form of racism; but more recently the fear of the stranger has led to intolerance of migrants arriving in Italy because of war, violence, hunger, and poverty in their homelands. While Pope Francis, Italian bishops, and many Catholic associations and individuals have called for an attitude toward migrants based on the gospel, sentiments of racism and hate against foreigners are widely present among the population of a formerly Catholic country.     

“Ashes to Ashes…”: Could the Recent Evolution of the Cremation Practice in Italy be Interpreted as an Indication of Secularisation?

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a massive communication campaign sustaining the practice of cremation was carried out in Italy, leading to the approval of a law in 1888 according to which cremation was allowed. This made Italy the first European country to introduce cremation in its legal system, but at the same time, one of the last to experience a mass diffusion of this practice, which has always been fiercely fought by the Catholic Church up until recent years. Exploiting the fact that the dispersion of ashes is still prohibited by catholic norms, this work explores the possibility of using the recent trend in cremation practice as an indicator of secularisation.     

CATHOLIC ETHICS AS SEEN FROM PADUA

During the summer of 2006, over four hundred Catholic ethicists from around the world gathered for four days in Padua, Italy. About sixty of the conference papers have become available in two edited collections, Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church: The Plenary Papers from the First Cross‐cultural Conference on Catholic Theological Ethics, and Applied Ethics in a World Church: The Padua Conference. As the conference was marked by a distinctive and creative tension—between the diversity which characterized the nationalities and cultural identities of the participants, on the one hand, and the commonness of their religious heritage, on the other—these essays can tell us much about contemporary Catholic ethics in its response to global pluralism. The following develops four reflections. First, the conference papers pursue a style of scholarship that is at once critically creative and ecclesially rooted. Second, the conference raises new concerns about the importance that Christian formation must have in a pluralist world. Third, the participants affirm and defend the ultimate universality of moral goods while also arguing that these goods are expressed and embodied in unavoidably particular ways. Finally, the most important contribution that Catholic ethics can make to public conversations about issues of common concern is through its articulation and defense of key human values.     

Institutional integrity in Roman Catholic health care institutions.

Issues of institutional identity and integrity in Roman Catholic health care institutions have been addressed at the level of individual institutions as well as by organizations of Catholic health care providers and at various levels in the Church hierarchy. The papers by Carol Taylor, C.S.F.N., Thomas Shannon, Kevin O'Rourke, O.P., Gerard Magill in this volume provide a significant contribution to concerns of Roman Catholic health care institutions as they face the challenges of providing health care in a secular, pluralistic, market-driven economy. One way to understand institutional integrity is as a measure of the coherence between what an institution identifies as its commitments (its stated moral character), what an institution does (its manifest moral character) and an institution's fundamental moral commitments (its deep moral character). The essays in this volume support this model of integrity. Although it is not their explicit focus, the four essays together provide a vision of institutional integrity for Catholic health care institutions. Each author focuses on one of the three central aspects of integrity: what one identifies as one's commitments (Taylor), how one's actions reflect one's values (Shannon and Magill), and what one is or what one values at a deep level (O'Rourke). I will offer a brief overview of the ways in which the integrity of Catholic health care institutions has been addressed. Then I will consider the four essays and show how each offers an analysis of one of the three critical elements of integrity.     

Psychoanalysis Lost—And Found—In Our Culture of Simulation and Enhancement

Clinical psychoanalysts routinely face the complex challenge of embracing life in a fast-paced technologically-mediated culture of simulation and enhancement while simultaneously participating as psychoanalysts in that emerging culture. However, many psychoanalytic habits of mind—developed in a vastly different predigital context—unnecessarily constrain a robust exploration of the experiential possibilities created within an emerging techno-culture. Such constraints further marginalize psychoanalysis and deprive the emerging culture of needed psychoanalytic expertise. This article first documents the widening gap between psychoanalysis and the culture in which they practice. It then develops a both–and approach to the relationship between psychoanalysis and the wider culture by recounting the history of the fight between Lawrence Kubie and Walter McCulloch at the dawn of the information age during the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics (1946–1953). Finally, the contemporary clinical resonance of the issues present in that fight are recounted through an extended case example in which a self-destructive woman finds true love, but only with the assistance of technologically mediated communications whose significance her analyst had to struggle both to see and appreciate.     

Gathered at the Altar: Homosexuals and Human Rights

Abstract

The Catholic Church affirms a double standard regarding homosexuals inside and outside the Church. As evidenced in the teaching of the Bishops' Conference for England and Wales, the (employment) rights of homosexuals are to be defended outside the Church, but not within. This teaching bespeaks a more general ambivalence regarding human rights discourse, which, though it can be used to express what is needed for human flourishing, can tempt us to forget that we are first and last creatures, entirely dependent on others. The Church's teaching on homosexuality is not so much an affront to human rights as the denial of those whom Christ has been gathering at the altar; the queer folk whom he loves in their loving of one another.     

James Drane's More Humane Medicine: a new foundation for twenty-first century bioethics?

James Drane's More Humane Medicine: A Liberal Catholic Bioethics is an outstanding contribution to the study of bioethics in our day. Catholics and others who are interested in the issues discussed here will benefit from this masterful treatment. The author opens with a set of definitions, starting with what he means by a "more humane medicine." Drane contends that a more humane medicine has become necessary and desired, but not because the traditional medical ethic as "a self-declared and self-imposed ethic, outlining what noble service to others entails" is no longer valid. Rather he defines it as an advance on the traditional ethic; a "new foundation" based on a "lived set of obligations derived from a felt commitment to other persons ... an ethics based on the relationship between doctors and patients and essentially an ethics of virtue." Drane's work is a "liberal Catholic Bioethics" in which he challenges his own faith tradition, the Roman Catholic Church, on such topics as sexuality, birth control, abortion, cloning, stem cell research, aging and dying, and euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The present article is a critical essay that analyzes the author's statements and conclusions.     

The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Publishing: A Framework for Contemporary Understanding

Drawing from the perspective of an interdisciplinary exploration of the sociocultural impact of the printing press and its effects on Catholic thinkers, educators, and worship practices, the author of this article explores the educational mission of Catholic publishing during the Reformation and how it has evolved in modern times. First, the author discusses the communication dynamics of the Reformation and specifically the impact of the printing press. Second, the author explores the historical reasons for why the Roman Church perceived the need for uniformity in worship. Third, the author focuses on how the Roman Church built upon this framework of uniformity to define and shape the issues that were being discussed when expanding their outreach to the public during this period. Fourth, the author shows how Catholic worship and education evolved within an interpretation that is relevant to the educational mission of Catholic publishers today.     

Sex Must Be a Four-Letter Word

The two reactions to my proposal, that the Catholic Church reconsider its opposition to artificial methods of birth control in light of the growing threat of global overpopulation, were quite contentious. Several criticisms of the original article are shown to be incorrect. Other complaints, although correct, deal with issues that were not raised in the original article. A few thoughts on why it is difficult to engage in scholarly, dispassionate discussions in psychology of religion are then offered.     

Extra ecclesiam nulla revelatio?: God’s self-disclosure to non-Christian religions in contemporary Catholic theology

The author explores the conciliar and post-conciliar documents of the Catholic Church in order to draw out the tensions and ambiguities of its position regarding the nature and role of revelation in the origin of non-Christian religions. Within the framework of this position, moderate Catholic theologians have argued that, as other religions have their origins in God’s specific self-disclosure, they differ only in degree from Christianity. Their arguments combined with an in-depth analysis of Church documents yields the conclusion that the position of the Catholic Church is logically amenable to an affirmation of religious pluralism de iure. If the Catholic Church desires to officially reject this conclusion, it must explicitly address the apparent inconsistencies that its own theologians find in this rejection.     

New Digital Technologies: A Kairos for Catholic Education in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

While the Catholic Church in Rwanda endeavors to revitalize Catholic Education, the Government of Rwanda is trying to leverage the use of digital technologies to raise access, improve the quality, and strengthen the relevance of education and training to the labor market. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore and assess the value and potentially constructive educational benefits offered by digital technologies in Catholic schools. The Catholic Church is one of the key educational development partners of the Government of Rwanda. Approximately 41% of students attend Catholic schools in Rwanda. The article scrutinizes some ethical concerns associated with the emergence of digital technologies in schools. Then it critically analyzes the position of the Catholic Church vis-à-vis digital technologies and sheds some light on their ethical and responsible use in Catholic schools. Consequently, the article suggests some actions that may be undertaken by the Catholic Church in order to assist the youth to make an informed choice among a diverse range of options offered by digital technologies in a way that aligns with the Catholic social teaching and tradition.