“Evangelical Catholicism” is a term being used to capture the Catholic version of a 21st century politics of identity, reflecting the long-term historical transition in the West from Christianity as a culture-shaping majority to Christianity as a subculture, albeit a large and influential one. I define Evangelical Catholicism in terms of three pillars:
–A strong defense of traditional Catholic identity, meaning attachment to classic markers of Catholic thought (doctrinal orthodoxy) and Catholic practice (liturgical tradition, devotional life, and authority).
–Robust public proclamation of Catholic teaching, with the accent on Catholicism’s mission ad extra, transforming the culture in light of the Gospel, rather than ad intra, on internal church reform.
–Faith seen as a matter of personal choice rather than cultural inheritance, which among other things implies that in a highly secular culture, Catholic identity can never be taken for granted. It always has to be proven, defended, and made manifest.
Fascinating, and very encouraging. But then, I would describe myself as an “evangelical catholic-Anglican style.” Too bad we Anglicans don’t seem to have anything equivalent to World Youth Day.
I find the quote from Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger of Paris particularly stimulating, and even exciting:
“[i]We’re really at the dawn of Christinaity.[/i]”
If you understand the Third Millenium as the start of post-Christendom Christianity, I think that may well be true!
David Handy+
David Handy–I really hate what the labels “catholic” and “evagelical” have come to mean. At the most basic level were all supposed to be both. The terms shouldn’t be used as political labels or referring to worship style. As to Cardinal Lustiger, I think you are correct again. The part of the West which has identified with being “Christian” in terms of civilization/culture has now ceased to exist. To be Christian in the new millenium, will be to have really bought in to the religion of Christianity.
At least Allen wrote a longish article about this event, which drew well over a million young people to Madrid for 5-6 days where for 3 of those days, they gathered enthusiastically around…an 84-year-old German, once a priest who was a Vatican II adviser, then spent over 25 years as a professor, including through the 1968 unrest, before being made a bishop, then Cardinal, then elected Pope at 78. The event was generally ignored by most mainstream English-speaking media. Now that the individual brush-strokes Allen refers to in his closing sentence have been laid down, we know it was stunningly successful in any respect one cares to think of (assuming those treated for heat exhaustion and the 7 or 8 hurt Sat. night by temporary structures blown by high winds all recovered well).
One hopes and prays that evangelical enthusiasm will continue catching on among Catholics, whose world leader has long been thoroughly so himself. A fairly random sampling of articles on his other recent activities testifies to that – the following are two I happened to read at CNA within 15 minutes of seeing this post:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/new-evangelization-must-start-with-the-heart-pope-teaches/
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-asks-forgiveness-for-cradle-catholics-who-did-not-evangelize/
I’m not sure how to read Allen, who is a liberal-leaning Catholic but has acknowledged his admiration for Benedict XVI. This article seems to have in mind an accounting, if not an apology, to the readership for what young dedicated Catholics are getting up to nowadays. But it’s hardly different from what dedicated young American evangelical Protestants started getting up to in the early 1970s under the leadership of Graham, Stott, and others (anyone else remember the movements in the Bay Area, the ‘Bible in street Greek’, etc.?). However, Benedict XVI’s evangelical impetus derives more from the teaching of Romano Guardini, for instance, coupled with personal experience of growing up Catholic in pre-, then post-WWII Germany.
When Allen gets to the explanations of ‘evangelical Catholicism ‘ and ‘Affirmative Orthodoxy’ I cannot help noticing that putting half of those words together differently, one approaches the ‘Affirming Catholicism’ of Anglicans, which has been quite a bust. Authentically catholic Christianity must have an evangelizing dynamic and it may be coming alive in a way not seen in generations, though in earlier eras of European history and farther back of course it was active.
John Allen seems to genuinely want to believe the historic Catholic Faith, but he also wants to be hip and hang with the cool kids (i.e., the libcats of The National Catholic Reporter). Even when he writes a generally positive piece like this one, he just has to get his little liberal digs in amid the really insightful commentary.
At the end, he will come down on one side or another, because the modernist (“liberal”) heresies are incompatible with the Catholic Faith, indeed, with Christianity. We all eventually choose. I wonder what he will choose.
Benedict XVI has been speaking evangelically for decades already. Though this clip is in Italian, for anyone who can understand any of it there are many nuggets of his thought in this address he gave 21 years ago at the end of the annual Rimini meeting, 1990:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAfBfpOSIok&feature=related
Even at that time within Europe and in Catholic circles the Cardinal was received rapturously, perhaps similarly to John Stott e.g. at the Lausanne gathering – in some contrast to the reputation some American Catholics such as Allen’s colleagues were giving Ratzinger through the press. From 1:15 at the Cardinal’s entry (2:56 is when the sound comes up) to 3:36 the applause built and resounded, till he stopped it. Then he spoke passionately for more than an hour on ‘A company always reforming’, i.e. the Church, in the evident summer heat, and received another rapturous ovation at the end.
The youth in the clip are in their 40s now. It’s no great wonder that some of their children and a million other youth have become evangelical in their Catholic faith.