Gerald O’Collins: Softly, softly

From Friday’s Tablet:

A teaching document published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith yesterday provides a seasonal wake-up call to evangelise. But it maintains a more conciliatory tone than its ”˜One True Church’ document issued last July that upset leaders of other Churches

Evoking our final vision of God, Dante’s Divine Comedy celebrates the divine love “displayed through the universe” (33:87). This verse is cited by a “Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelisation” (n. 11), just published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). The quotation from Dante finds its place within the theme of divine and human love that runs through the document.

While honouring the non-negotiable claims of truth (how could the CDF do otherwise?), this doctrinal note highlights the centrality of love. It calls “the love of Christ for the eternal salvation of all” the “primary motive of evangelisation” (n. 8). The note quotes the Second Vatican Council’s “Constitution on the Church in the Modern World” and declares: “Love impels the followers of Christ to proclaim to all the truth which saves” (n. 10). The document brings love into its conclusion: “The love which comes from God unites us to him … and makes us one, until in the end God is ”˜all in all'” (n. 13).

In calling Catholics to commit themselves generously to spreading the Good News, the CDF puts Christ right at the centre: “The Lord Jesus Christ, who is present in his Church, goes ahead of the work of evangelisers, accompanies it, follows it, and makes their labours bear fruit” (n. 1).

Read it all.