Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief

by Joseph Ratzinger, Archbishop Ryan, Dermot J.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Godfried Cardinal Daneels Franciszek Cardinal Macharski Archbishop Dermot J. Ryan "The fact that there can be long-lasting periods of decline in the Church is, unfortunately, plain enough from history.  Yet history also shows that the totality of the Church - which extends through the whole world and through all times and is held together and embodied by the Petrine office - bears within itself the powers of regeneration, so that it rises again and again from the dust to proclaim the message of salvation."  - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief. Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was for over two decades the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, working closely with Pope John Paul II.  He is a renowned theologian and author of many works including Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, God and the World, God is Near Us, God's Revolution, Introduction to Christianity, Values in a Time of Upheaval, and many more from Ignatius Press.

Genres: Catholic, Religion

169 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2006

About the author

See also Pope Benedict XVI

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...The absence of our common Father is betrayed by a frantic search for fraternity and cohesiveness among the orphaned children. The disappearance of the vertical dimension ultimately leads to an exaltation of horizontal relationships. The warmth of the son must be replaced by the warmth of the nest. Indeed, since God's disappearance, we have never witnessed such a search for communication, solidarity, societal engineering, and world planning as we see today. The 'we' swallows up the 'me' under the pretext of saving or protecting it. This feverish search for all sorts of communities, large and small - could it have anything to do with the obliteration of the Father? Is universal brotherhood possible in the absence of a common Father? The ignorance of the Father obliges men to prove to each other that they belong to the same family. And they have to provide this proof over and over at every moment." - "Faith and the Wounds of Contemporary Man", Godfried Cardinal Danneels.