Good and Bad Sectarianism

 Sociologists have developed the notion of sect and sectarianism to describe religious groups and their behaviors.  A sect is a religious group that develops out of an existing religious group by emphasizing certain beliefs and practices as being more important that the parent group. They typically set themselves up in contrast from the existing group and from the broader society. This contrast is the dynamic that attracts and keeps members.

Pharisees in the time of Jesus were a sect. They had a set of beliefs and practices that set themselves apart from fellow Jews and non- Jews. 

Christianity also began as a Jewish sect; Jesus and his followers had a different set of beliefs and practices from the Pharisees. In a sense Jesus and the Pharisees were competing sects. However, the death and resurrection brought into Christianity a new revelation that became enshrined in the New Testament. Some sociologists use the were cult for all situations in which a new revelation is involved, e.g. the Mormons originated as a cult based on the Book of Mormon. 

Most sectarian movements developed out Christianity as heresies, i.e. certain Christian leaders developed ideas which their leaders saw not as new revelation but as the correct interpretation of Christianity in contradistinction to orthodox mainstream Christianity which denounced them as heresies, false opinions. Protestantism has been a constant source of sectarian movements, each one denouncing existing Protestant churches and their cultures. American has experienced many such revivals. Fundamentalism is one of the most recent. Most of these movements developed around ideas rather than practices. These (bad) forms of sectarianism denounce the people who do not belong to their sect. 

Within Christianity, especially western Catholicism, there has evolved a whole series of movements known as religious life which are also sectarian. They set up Chrisitan lifestyles that also have a high contrast both to their fellow Catholics and to the world at large. While viewing their lifestyle as being superior to that of the average Catholic, they do not criticize their fellow Catholics because they do not practice poverty, chastity, obedience, pray the Divine Office, etc. Religious have been the great engines of attracting people into more committed forms of Catholicism and engaging them in lives that face the challenges of their time and cultures.

Jesuit Author Captures Catholic Fundamentalism in Boston Heresy Case

The Iterations of Catholic Fundamentalism

 Michael Sean Winters has an interesting article on the NCR site today.  Actually it is the second of two articles:  Not merely Latin and lace: New book chronicles iterations of Catholic fundamentalism | National Catholic Reporter

I was unfamiliar with most of the names he mentions, since I don't spend a lot of time hanging around fundamentalist sites.  But the article explains a lot.

Peacemaking

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.  This morning, I engaged in what my wife, half tongue-in-cheek, refers to as my "side hustle", i.e. my way of making a little money on the side.  I say tongue-in-cheek because I do nothing to promote it, and it's seldom that I do it, although it seems to have picked up a little bit in the last few months.  My "hustle" is providing musical accompaniment at mass.*      

In this morning's case, the mass took place at one of the local Catholic cemeteries, and of course the occasion was Memorial Day. 

Leo: Seminary Update, Augustinian Spirituality

 Two posts in the last few days from Commonweal about Leo:

Pope Leo; In Context at CTU

"CTU is attached to no university, but it offers graduate degrees in theology and ministry. It was formed in 1968, after the Second Vatican Council, when men’s religious communities like Pope Leo’s Augustinians responded to the Council’s reforms by combining schools that trained men for the priesthood into CTU. Those schools wanted their candidates to be in a bustling city, near the University of Chicago, in conversation with people from other faiths, and attending classes with laypeople. "

That pretty much summarizes my article on his seminary education. What this article gives is the precise details of what was going on at that time:

Has AI already broken higher education?

Occasionally I amuse myself, and perhaps others, by posting homilies which are generated by the free versions of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) services ChatGPT and CoPilot.  The group consensus here seems to be that the AI-generated homilies, at least when considered as reading material, are better, tighter and briefer than the offerings of our stressed-out, tired and distracted local clergy.     

Over at the Free Press, Tyler Cowan, a professor of economics at George Mason University, observes that when it comes to higher education, the AI revolution isn't the future, it's the present:

Pope Leo on Social Doctrine versus Indoctrination

 Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation 

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome!

The theme of this year’s Conference – “Overcoming Polarizations and Rebuilding Global Governance: The Ethical Foundations” – speaks to us of the deepest purpose of the Church’s social doctrine as a contribution to peace and dialogue in the service of building bridges of universal fraternity. This is not something that happens by chance but is rather an active and continuous interplay of grace and freedom, one that our meeting today seeks to respect and support.

Pope Leo XIII, who lived in an age of momentous and disruptive change, sought to promote peace by encouraging social dialogue between capital and labor, technology and human intelligence, and different political cultures and nations. On such important issues, the Church’s social doctrine is called to provide insights that facilitate dialogue between science and conscience, and thus make an essential contribution to better understanding, hope and peace.

This doctrine helps us to realize that more important than our problems or eventual solutions is the way we approach them, guided by criteria of discernment, sound ethical principles and openness to God’s grace. You have the opportunity to show that the Church’s social doctrine, with its specific anthropological approach, seeks to encourage genuine engagement with social issues. It does not claim to possess a monopoly on truth, either in its analysis of problems or its proposal of concrete solutions. 

This is a fundamental aspect of our attempts to build a “culture of encounter” through dialogue and social friendship. For many of our contemporaries, the words “dialogue” and “doctrine” can seem incompatible. Perhaps when we hear the word “doctrine,” we tend to think of a set of ideas belonging to a religion. The word itself makes us feel less disposed to reflect, call things into question or seek new alternatives.

In the case of the Church’s social doctrine, we need to make clear that the word “doctrine” has another, more positive meaning, without which dialogue itself would be meaningless. “Doctrine” can be a synonym of “science,” “discipline” and “knowledge.” Understood in this way, doctrine appears as the product of research, and hence of hypotheses, discussions, progress and setbacks, all aimed at conveying a reliable, organized and systematic body of knowledge about a given issue. Consequently, a doctrine is not the same as an opinion, but is rather a common, collective and even multidisciplinary pursuit of truth.

“Indoctrination” is immoral. It stifles critical judgement and undermines the sacred freedom of respect for conscience, even if erroneous. It resists new notions and rejects movement, change or the evolution of ideas in the face of new problems. “Doctrine,” on the other hand, as a serious, serene and rigorous discourse, aims to teach us primarily how to approach problems and, even more importantly, how to approach people.  Seriousness, rigor and serenity are what we must learn from every doctrine, including the Church’s social doctrine.

In the context of the ongoing digital revolution, we must rediscover, emphasize and cultivate our duty to train others in critical thinking, countering temptations to the contrary, which can also be found in ecclesial circles. There is so little dialogue around us; shouting often replaces it, not infrequently in the form of fake news and irrational arguments proposed by a few loud voices. 

Deeper reflection and study are essential, as well as a commitment to encounter and listen to the poor, who are a treasure for the Church and for humanity. Their viewpoints, though often disregarded, are vital if we are to see the world through God’s eyes. Those born and raised far from the centers of power should not merely be taught the Church’s social doctrine; they should also be recognized as carrying it forward and putting it into practice. 

Individuals committed to the betterment of society, popular movements and the various Catholic workers’ groups are an expression of those existential peripheries where hope endures and springs anew. I urge you to let the voice of the poor be heard.

Dear friends, as the Second Vatican Council states, “in every age, the Church carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel, if she is to carry out her task. 

In our day, there is a widespread thirst for justice, a desire for authentic fatherhood and motherhood, a profound longing for spirituality, especially among young people and the marginalized, who do not always find effective means of making their needs known. There is a growing demand for the Church’s social doctrine, to which we need to respond.

What Leo is Saying and Urging Us to Do

 While the Media is full of speculation about Leo, we might learn more from listening to him. Note in the following both his ability to create a unifying framework with some very practical goals and objectives taken from Francis inaugural document, which in a sense he made his own. While at the same time he clearly charts a tragedy forward beginning with Leo XIII and embracing more recent popes.

May 10th Address to the Cardinals

In the first part of this meeting, there will be a short talk with some reflections that I would like to share with you. But then there will be a second part, a bit like the opportunity that many of you had asked for: a sort of dialogue with the College of Cardinals to hear what advice, suggestions, proposals, concrete things, which have already been discussed in the days leading up to the Conclave.

Pope Leo's Very Modern Post Vatican II Seminary Education

 Pope Leo XIV: CTU Master of Divinity

Cardinal Robert Prevost, OSA— now Pope Leo XIV—, earned his Master of Divinity degree from CTU in 1982 and was ordained the following year.  

CTU’s Master of Divinity (M. Div.) program prepares students for full-time professional ministry in the Roman Catholic Church, including ordination to the priesthood. Students at CTU study theology and ministry that is both grounded in tradition and engaged with current contexts. 

Born in Chicago in 1955 to a multicultural family of Hispanic, French, and Italian heritage, Pope Leo XIV joined the Augustinians in 1977 and began his theological formation at CTU shortly thereafter. His early ministry took him to northern Peru, where he served as a pastor, educator, and canon law expert. His leadership trajectory led him from the Augustinian Province of Chicago to his appointment as Prior General of the worldwide Augustinian Order.

In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, and in 2023, he was named Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and created Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Monica. President Barbara Reid, OP, joined Pope Leo at his installation as Cardinal.

President's Message

Welcome to Catholic Theological Union. I am Sr. Barbara Reid, a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids Michigan and it is my great pleasure to serve as CTU’s seventh President. CTU is one of the largest schools of theology and ministry in the U.S., forming students from more than forty countries to be effective leaders in the Church. 

In 1968, on the heels of the Second Vatican Council, the three men’s religious communities who founded CTU—Franciscans, Passionists, and Servites—followed the Spirit’s lead to create a new model of seminary formation: in the midst of the city, near a major university, and in a neighborhood where there could be close ecumenical and interreligious engagement. 

Today, the number of men’s communities who are the corporate owners of CTU has grown to twenty-three. Within two years of its founding, CTU expanded its mission to include women religious and lay women and men, who prepare together with men religious for collaborative ministries in the global church. 

Our graduates can be found in more than sixty countries throughout the world in myriad ministries, as leaders in parishes and diocesan offices, teachers and administrators in schools, hospital chaplains, campus ministers, leaders in justice ministries, and in interreligious and ecumenical work, and much more.

The strength of our academic programs at both the Masters and Doctoral levels is upheld by our stellar faculty, who are not only extraordinary teachers, but also world-renowned scholars who publish extensively. In addition to academic formation, faculty and staff place equal emphasis on human, spiritual, and pastoral formation of our students

Proof that Pope Leo is from the South Side of Chicago

I'm happy to add to our growing database of facts about Pope Leo: in the collective estimation of two free AI services, He’s a switch hitter. he bats right-handed.  

The photo on the left is from Microsoft CoPilot.  The one on the right, from ChatGPT.  

Both the red and black zucchettos are appropriate for Chicago White Sox traditional uniform colors.  According to yet a third AI service (Google Search Labs), a properly papal zucchetto is white, while a cardinal's is red.  It adds that priests and deacons may wear a black zucchetto (which is news to me).   

What It Means to Have an American on the Throne of St Peter

From The Economist

By choosing Robert Prevost the cardinals seek unity in a fractured church

Donald trump was not in the end chosen to be pope, as he had jokingly suggested. But on May 8th the cardinals of the Roman Catholic church did elect an American, breaking a taboo against the identification of a geopolitical superpower with a spiritual one.

It is unlikely that the American president will be overjoyed by the choice of Cardinal Robert Prevost. The new pontiff sent out a first message of his intent by choosing as his papal name Leo XIV: a homage to the last pope to adopt that name, who reigned from 1878 to 1903. Leo XIII was a progressive by the standards of his times. Known for his efforts to find an accommodation with the modern world, he was the father of the Catholic church’s social doctrine and the author of a seminal encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Of New Things).

Leo XIV

I imagine we've all heard by now that we have a pope: Pope Leo XIV, previously known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost.  Perhaps the second thing we all heard about him is that he is American.  He is a son of the Chicago Archdiocese, which naturally makes me cheer.  

NCR Interactive Article on Cardinal Views

This is a great tool for discussing the Church. 

Views of Cardinals on Key Issues 

Francis' powerful sway over the forthcoming conclave is revealed in a National Catholic Reporter analysis of the biographies, background, articles, speeches, homilies and media interviews of members of the College of Cardinals, providing for the first time an in-depth look into the views of the men who will select the successor to St. Peter. 

Among NCR's findings: 

• At least 100 of the cardinals have embraced synodality, a cornerstone of Francis' pontificate that calls for increased lay participation, reformed governing structures, and greater accountability among church leadership.
• Nearly half the cardinals support Francis' focus on climate change and care of creation, another signature issue for the late pontiff, who issued two major documents imploring the world to take urgent action to preserve the planet.
• On other issues, support among the electing cardinals is more mixed or uncertain. It is unclear what most cardinals think about promoting women into church leadership positions, another Francis initiative, and blessings for same-sex couples. There is lack of clarity because few statements could be found indicating the views of scores of cardinals. 

The data, compiled by more than a dozen NCR journalists through research on each of the cardinal electors, can be seen in a public interactive database for readers to search and sort by demographics, geographic location and experience in the Roman Curia

What name will the new pope take?

There is an interesting article on the America Media site by Father James Martin on the choice of a papal name, and what it means:

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/05/05/what-name-new-pope-choose-250590

 "The choice of a papal name is said to be the new pope’s first important decision. It is also the second thing we will hear from the balcony of St. Peter’s on the day of the election, after the announcement of the choice of the cardinal-electors. After the words “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”), we will hear the cardinal’s name followed by the words “qui sibi nomen imposuit” (“who has chosen the name”). The name that follows will be on everyone’s lips for the next few years."