Salt of the earth: the Church at the end of the millenium.An interview with Peter Seewald, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , Ignatius Press Ignatius Press was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio SJ, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI [1]. Ignatius Press, named for Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit Order, is a Catholic publishing house headquartered in San Francisco, California. , 1997, pp. 283 (translated from the German) $ .... REVIEWED BY FR. ALPHONSE DE VALK, C.S.B. Salt of the Earth is full of wisdom. Its subtitle sub·ti·tle n. 1. A secondary, usually explanatory title, as of a literary work. 2. A printed translation of the dialogue of a foreign-language film shown at the bottom of the screen. tr.v. , The Church at the end of the Millennium, marks the ground it covers. Like its predecessor, the Ratzinger Report of 1985, this, too, is a personal interview, this time with the German journalist Peter Seewald. The questions are much more numerous and therefore the answers are shorter than in the 1985 volume. But one meets here the same candour candour or US candor Noun honesty and straightforwardness of speech or behaviour [Latin candor] Noun 1. and reflective honesty for which the Cardinal has become so well known. To describe this churchman, theologian, thinker as the Panzer Cardinal (Panzer is Panzer I is the common name of a light tank that was produced by Germany in the 1930s. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen I (abbreviated PzKpfw I) and the tank also had the ordnance inventory designation SdKfz 101. German for army tank) - as some have done - is as ridiculous as seeing him as a modern Grand Inquisitor INQUISITOR. A designation of sheriffs, coroners, super visum corporis, and the like, who have power to inquire into certain matters. 2. The name, of an officer, among ecclesiastics, who is authorized to inquire into heresies, and the like, and to punish them. . Both images are farcical far·ci·cal adj. 1. Of or relating to farce. 2. a. Resembling a farce; ludicrous. b. Ridiculously clumsy; absurd. far when held up to the reality of this man: an intellectual whose deep Catholic faith is marked by joy, quiet confidence and serenity unshaken by any turmoil in the world around him. His entire focus is on Jesus and the Church He founded. The book's three parts, roughly of equal length, present the Cardinal's personal biography, a number of problems in the Catholic Church, followed by a discussion of the Church on the threshold of a new millennium. Time and again one is impressed by the Cardinal's grasp of all sorts of issues, scriptural scrip·tur·al adj. 1. Of or relating to writing; written. 2. often Scriptural Of, relating to, based on, or contained in the Scriptures. , historical, theological and those moving contemporary society. The book starts slowly with a series of questions as an introduction which the reader might best handle by first trying to answer the question himself before checking how the Cardinal answers. It won't take long before you realize that an expert is at work here. The biographical section is easily digested. Then comes the heart of the book, parts two and three. Sometimes the questions are a little long and the answers not long enough, but the arrangement allows for a wide range of topics to be discussed. Part two concentrates on Europe and especially Germany; it also includes a section on "the mistakes" of the Church. In the final seventy pages the Cardinal evaluates the position of the world Church in the light of modern development. How does Cardinal Ratzinger see the Church's future? "She will be less identified with the great societies, more a minority Church; she will live in small, vital circles of really convinced believers who live their faith. But precisely in this way she will, biblically speaking, become the salt of the earth again" (page 222). Highly recommended. |
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