Thomas H. Groome, What makes us Catholic.

Harper San Francisco, New York, 2002, 314 pages, $36.50 (Cdn.)

This is a book on Catholic spirituality. It identifies a number of qualities which are typical of Catholics. For example, we have a sacramental religion; we find the infinite in the finite, the transcendent in the ordinary. The seven Sacraments are the highest examples of this, but we are also able to find God in everything. Catholics also are not just individuals but members of a religious community; we are deeply relational by our inmost nature and this is true of our religious life also; it is not surprising since we are made in the image of God, and God is not one Person but three, a divine society. Another characteristic is a concern for justice and the unfortunate; indeed, we are to have a care not only for those near us but for the whole world.

The Church, too, is catholic, that is, universal. It welcomes all who come to it; indeed, it searches them out. This means also that the Church is ecumenical, dialoguing with persons of other religions in order to try to lead them to the fullness of faith. Again, Catholics have reverence not only for Scripture but also for Tradition, the accumulated teaching and practice of the Church from its beginning.

The book is a loose unity of many Catholic matters, such as the divinity and humanity of Jesus, who is our model in everything good, and our friend; original sin; prayer; the problem of evil; biblical interpretation; clericalism; the universal call to holiness; the saints; the Blessed Virgin; the Souls in Purgatory; the works of mercy; human dignity; human freedom; the different kinds of justice; care for the environment; etc.

Indeed, there are many good things said, but unfortunately there are weaknesses. The chief one is that Groome does not accept all the teaching of the Church. He says that "Catholics can have an air of know-it-all, acting as if ours is the only and completely true faith, replete with all the answers" (p. 263). This seems to say that the Catholic faith is not complete and true, especially when Groome continues: "Some of the hubris is encouraged by a teaching magisterium absolutely certain in its pronouncements, as if faith is no longer a 'leap' and all can be assured" (ibid). In particular, Groome frequently makes it clear that he does not accept the now de ride statement that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood (see Origins, Vol. 28, No. 8, July 16, 1998, p. 16). He even ridicules this doctrine: "The joke rings true that, when the Catholic Church finally agrees to ordain women, the pronouncement will begin with, 'As we have always taught ...'" (ibid.). Now, denying this de fide statement places one outside of full communion with the Church (ibid.).

A second major deficiency is that Groome does not point out, as something that makes us Catholic, that the Catholic Church is infallible and is the only fully true Church. He says: "The only candidate for something truly unique to Roman Catholicism is the Petrine office, the papacy" (31) but then says that the Orthodox and the Anglicans agree with us basically in our faith except for this one matter, which he tries to establish by talking about doctrines settled by Catholics before 500 A.D., and even then he does not mention such things as divorce and remarriage, or abortion, or the Real Presence, which were important Catholic teachings before 500 A.D. Groome even says that he will use a capital "C" for the Church only when the title applies to both Catholic and Protestant churches. Now, there is no such church as a Catholic-Protestant church. And he thinks that our differences from Protestants are "more of emphasis than of kind" (32). No wonder he nowhere mentions the Catholic teaching on contraception or invitro fertilization or Purgatory; are these simply matters of emphasis?

He says: "Within Roman Catholicism ... one finds a great breadth of theological opinion and pastoral practice, ranging from conservative to liberal to radical.... Naming what distinguishes Catholic Christianity, then, might be chasing a will-o'-the-wisp. Yet, part of the genius of Catholicism is precisely its catholicity, its ability to maintain unity in faith and welcome great diversity of expression" (33). The problem with this statement is that the Church today has not been able to maintain unity in the faith of those who call themselves Catholics. Most "liberal" and probably all "radical" theological opinion is not Catholic at all, but rather quite opposed to the Church's faith as stated by its divinely-appointed leaders. Dissent is not just "opinion"; it is denial of Church teaching.

Groom's teaching on ecumenism is bad. He says that the Old Testament Covenant has never been revoked (8), despite the Letter to the Hebrews, 7:12 and 8:7-13 (see also The Jerome Biblical Commentary [1968] 61:41 and 47). When Jesus said that there are many mansions in his Father's house, Groome interprets many mansions to mean many religions, and states: "So, let his disciples cherish their own home within God's family, and yet appreciate--not just tolerate--the great religious pluralism of humankind. Many dwellings, indeed! Why would any group need to claim that theirs is the only home?" He is asking Catholics to be happy with religious error and practice. What an ecumenism! Why did God say, "Thou shalt not have strange gods before me," and Peter say to Jesus, "You have the words of everlasting life"?

Groom also doesn't ever refer to God as "he" or "him." He sometimes refers to "God" with repetition and even to "Godself" as expedients. Is this an implicit denial of scriptural language? He has no hesitation in referring to the Holy Spirit as "she," which also is not scriptural.

I do not recommend this book.