{"id":370,"date":"2012-02-16T15:39:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=370"},"modified":"2012-02-16T15:39:54","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:39:54","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjava-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">    var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Session 17 Part I \u2013 Held on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Part I \u2013 Change in Life, in our Church<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since the topic of change occupied a significant part of our group\u2019s discussion last Sunday, I thought it best to create two posts, the first of which will deal only with our discussing change.\u00a0 The second on Chapter Ten of Genesis, The Table of Nations.<\/p>\n<p>To start with I want to offer a few remarks about the very nature of change.\u00a0 It is always concrete, it is inevitable, it happens at the individual level and at the social level, and we don\u2019t often have much control over its occurrence. Some change is development and some change is decline. Some change that is actually good can feel good but it also can feel bad; some change that is actually bad can feel bad but it also can feel good.\u00a0 In other words, our emotional reactions to change are not the final determinative for evaluating change even though they are clues to what change means to us.\u00a0 Obviously change is not the only thing in life, but what we do with change matters a great deal. If you have a different opinion on any of these statements about change, your opinion is welcomed.<\/p>\n<p>Since the Catholic Church is a human reality [but not only human] it has experienced change.\u00a0 Some of the change in the Catholic Church has been development and some has been decline.\u00a0 Every member of the Catholic Church, no matter their position in the church, also changes and some of their change has been development and some has been decline.<\/p>\n<p>The real issue cannot be change since change is inevitable and much of it we have little or no control over.\u00a0 The real issue is discerning the direction of the change so as to affirm the change that is development and to reverse the change that is decline.\u00a0 And that is the source of our differences, we don\u2019t agree on the evaluation of the change.<\/p>\n<p>Although the above is extremely general, in themselves the statements are about the concrete.\u00a0 I have chosen three exchanges in our group discussion to exemplify these notions of change in the concrete.<\/p>\n<p>My presentation on the Trinity as an example of both continuity and change in the Roman Catholic Church meant something to Rosemarie.\u00a0 She remarked, \u201c\u2026 we will never, ever, ever know the mystery of the Trinity.\u00a0 The Pope all the way down, you will never understand it.\u00a0 There is no answer that is the mystery.\u00a0 The magisterium of the church teaches us that there is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons, One God.\u00a0 How do you explain it, no way and that\u2019s one of the mysteries of our faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s the core of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist.\u00a0 You can\u2019t compromise. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is clear to me that the notion of change in the Trinity mattered to Rosemarie, as it should.\u00a0 It is also a fact that the Trinity is a mystery.\u00a0 It is equally clear because it is a historical fact that our church in its history has said all kinds of things about the Trinity.\u00a0 I would like to say focused on what Rosemarie said, though.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 we will never, ever, ever know the mystery of the Trinity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To determine direction in change and that is the issue, we have to ask, does Rosemarie\u2019s sentence mean we can know nothing about the Trinity or everything about the Trinity.\u00a0 Once it is posed in that way, perhaps the whole conversation could change.\u00a0 The Catholic Church actually teaches that we cannot know everything about the Trinity.\u00a0 It also teaches that we can know some things about the Trinity and that what we know can be very fruitful.\u00a0 Although a conversation about the Trinity may seem to mean very little in the concrete living of our lives in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century, it affords an example of the flow of conversation that is necessary if we are to evaluate, not what we feel, but what actually is the case.\u00a0 It is from knowing the actual case that we can position ourselves to respond authentically to that concrete specific change.<\/p>\n<p>A second example occurred just as we began to discuss chapter 10 of Genesis, the Table of Nations.\u00a0 Heber interrupted, \u201cCan I ask a question. [I respond] Sure. \u00a0No place in here does it mention any of the wives names that I can see. Am I right or wrong?\u00a0 [I respond] Oh, you\u2019re right.\u00a0 Now they had to marry in the context of their family, right? [I respond]\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Well everybody was wiped out but Noah and his family.\u00a0 You understand where I\u2019m coming from. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Heber\u2019s question there is a basic assumption; namely that the account of Noah and the Flood is an account of actual historical events.\u00a0 Now that assumption is part of the very person that Heber is.\u00a0 It\u2019s not some abstract comment.\u00a0 \u201cYou understand where I\u2019m coming from.\u201d When I write the next sentence, I am confronting Heber with change and with change that matters to him.\u00a0 I think, however, the correct understanding of the Biblical account of the Noah and the Flood is in the context of it being a story told by people who believed, to people who believed, to help them in their belief.\u00a0 It is not written to provide us with an account of actual historical events even if there are contained in its writings some actual historical events.<\/p>\n<p>At this point Tim offered his thoughts. \u00a0\u201cFirst of all this is really tough because all of us growing up with these stories were taught to believe that they were true, that they were historically accurate.\u00a0 This is what actually happened.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the whole thing that everyone is having a hard time getting their mind around \u2026 it\u2019s very tough \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Confronting change is not easy and it is quite personal.\u00a0 Each of us lives in our world but \u201cour\u201d world and \u201cthe\u201d world may not fit together comfortably.\u00a0 The real challenge seems to me to be twofold. First we much come to grips with \u201cthe\u201d world as it actually exists.\u00a0 But secondly, we must evaluate the world as it actually exists to affirm what is good in it and to reverse what is wrong, evil, etc. in it.\u00a0 To do that is to rise to the level of our times. The challenge is person to each of us but it is also common to all of us. \u00a0What I have written doesn&#8217;t tell you concretely what you are to do, but it does lay out the frame work for your figuring out what you are to do. \u00a0Keep in mind that you are not alone.<\/p>\n<p>As always your thoughts, comments, observations are welcomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part I \u2013 Change in Life, in our Church Since the topic of change occupied a significant part of our group\u2019s discussion last Sunday, I thought it best to create two posts, the first of which will deal only with &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=370\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[15,6],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-change-in-the-catholic-church","category-culture","tag-historical-method","tag-scripture-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}