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Take Back the Truth: Confronting Papal Power and the Religious Right
Joanna Manning introduces readers to the growing polarization within Christianity and its relationship with the modern world. She warns against the ongoing retreat into fundamentalism and exclusivity and points the way toward inclusivity and compassion. She shows how John Paul II has joined forces with Prostestant fundamentalists to rein in the feminist movement and perpetuate male-only leadership through coercive and authoritarian uses of power.
184 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
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January 14, 2021
Manning writes in anger, but she writes well. Where Cardinal Ratzinger's office in the Vatican claimed (in Dec. 2000) that Christians cannot use practices of the early church to critique the actions of current church authorities, Manning feels it is her Christian duty to do so. Where Cardinal Camillo Ruini rejected the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights as contrary to Christian heritage, Manning feels that equality of human rights is at the heart of the Gospel.
Manning's version of Christianity may strike some as hopelessly idealistic, and some as refreshingly non-hypocritical. She defends a socialistic version of the faith, as in the ideal of monastic communities, noting that in Acts (5:1-11) a couple in the first church is struck dead for the sin of holding back part of their property from the common pool. With Noam Chomsky-like documentation of recent church policies, Manning holds the present religious powers to a most unflattering comparison with Jesus. She warns of a growing coalition of reactionary Catholics, right-wing Protestants, and patriarchal Muslims, as seen in the cooperation of all these groups to oppose policies for women's equality at the 1994 Cairo U.N. Conference on Women, Population and Development. There's more -- on sexual abuse for example, and it's well documented.
Manning's version of Christianity may strike some as hopelessly idealistic, and some as refreshingly non-hypocritical. She defends a socialistic version of the faith, as in the ideal of monastic communities, noting that in Acts (5:1-11) a couple in the first church is struck dead for the sin of holding back part of their property from the common pool. With Noam Chomsky-like documentation of recent church policies, Manning holds the present religious powers to a most unflattering comparison with Jesus. She warns of a growing coalition of reactionary Catholics, right-wing Protestants, and patriarchal Muslims, as seen in the cooperation of all these groups to oppose policies for women's equality at the 1994 Cairo U.N. Conference on Women, Population and Development. There's more -- on sexual abuse for example, and it's well documented.
March 11, 2023
AN ARGUMENT FOR INCLUSIVENESS IN THE CHURCH
Author Joanna Manning wrote in the Preface to this 2002 book, “The issues of truth raised in this book are ones that relate to the heart as well as to the mind… The truth I live is one informed by faith.. My faith came to birth and was nurtured within the Roman Catholic community, but has since moved beyond denominational Christian boundaries… For twenty-five years I have worked closely with colleagues in the United States on women’s issues and church reform. I have lived with Africans in Africa and with refugees from Africa and Latin America in my own home. Thus I have some acquaintance with the global impact of the Catholic Church and that Christian right… I hope this book bears traces of an authentic search for integrity that will resonate with others… This book challenges the current reactionary trends within Christianity in the hope of ensuring a safer world for all our children.”
She observes, “The manufacturing of consent to the questionable use of political or military power through a manipulation of truth is not confined to the secular sphere. It has proved to be one of the features of the papacy of John Paul II. The past thirty years in the Catholic Church have seen a return to ultramontanism, or excessive adulation of papal power, that many thought had been discredited by the Second Vatican Council. The diversity of lay experience and thought, which could act as a healthy counterbalance and challenge to the narrow clerical world of priests and bishops, has been carefully channeled into ‘new movements’ such as Opus Dei and Human Life International. These groups are ‘lay’ only in name, because in practice they are carefully supervised by the priests and bishops who lead them.” (Pg. 5)
She continues, “Each [of such groups] pursues a vision of Catholicism that is theologically reactionary and highly hierarchical and authoritarian in structure. They exemplify the ‘holier than thou’ mentality of a cult, founded on what they view as absolute ¬possession of the truth, an unswerving devotion to it promulgation, and a mission to crush dissenting opinions. Papal encouragement of these Catholic sects … runs contrary to the true catholicity of the church. Hand in hand with the rise of conservative Catholic cults, the past thirty years have seen a proliferation of papal teaching aimed at reasserting the church’s control over sexuality and the family.” (Pg. 18)
She suggests, “It is through the influence of various theologies of feminism and liberation that the patriarchal religions in the West could be on the verge of a deep breakthrough in cosmic consciousness into a realization of the feminine in God. That change requires of humanity that people become immersed in love… of ourselves and … the rest of creation. This means that we will have to detoxify ourselves of an addiction to a God who purportedly speaks the truths of power. To realize the truth of the gospel is to realize that God desires the harm of no creature on earth and suffers when hurt is inflicted in any way.” (Pg. 35)
She states, “The work of the Spirit in the church and in the world is the reason that Christianity is not irredeemable. All theology is limited by the contextual framework of its age. In other words, it is burdened by the limits of the context within which it is articulated. Christian truth cannot be mediated today through words or images that undermine its message. The gender-exclusive male language for God and humanity, for example, is one such obstacle for the contemporary reader. It is one reason that so few people today look to church documents for enlightenment.” (Pg. 47-48)
She argues, “In an ideal world, abortion would not be necessary. In that ideal world, all relationships could be loving… freely chosen and all children wanted… all relationships would be based on equality between the genders as described in … the first chapter of the Book of Genesis… all women would be safe from rape… All men would take an equal share in … raising their children… Such an ideal world though is far from realization, but I believe that it is possible. That is why I continue to struggle for its achievement. And I continue to take issue with the Catholic Church because it has become an impediment to the achievement of such a world. The tragedy of the present obsession in the Catholic Church with abortion as the only criterion of morality is that the influence of the pro-life movement within the church has paralyzed the wider discussion of public morality in society at large and fenced it in within the private, sexual realm.” (Pg. 79-80)
She asserts, “This pursuit of power as a means of mass control is common to [Joseph] Ratzinger and [Pat} Robertson. Is their version of a role of the Christian community in relation to the rest of the world consonant with what Jesus himself practiced? Robertson’s Jesus supports the moralistic and adversarial politics of the religious right… This is a perversion of the truth of the gospel. But it has proved to be an appealing ‘quick fix’ spiritual solution for many conservative followers of both branches of Christianity… Ratzinger’s and Robertson’s rationale for their power to visit God’s judgment upon dissenters and to promulgate their respective versions of right living on society may be different, but the end result is the same.” (Pg. 100-101)
She notes, “The past twenty years of external Catholic triumphalism have witnesses its internal unraveling, as the widespread history of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has been unfolding all over the world… While Catholic leaders have been condemning the sexual depravity of the rest of the world, they have ignored, denied, and downplayed the disgraceful conduct of their own clergy. The voices of the victims of abuse… fall for [the Church’s] conversion away from a violent, arrogant, and ju8dgmental proclamation of the truth toward a more compassionate and humble orientation to God and the world.” (Pg. 122)
She points out, “The shocking impact of the evidence of extensive patterns of sexual and physical abuse of children by priests and nuns place in positions of trust over them has rippled through the ‘old’ Catholic churches of Europe, North America, and elsewhere. But conservative Catholics… view this as an indication that the churches in the West have fallen prey to the hedonism and decadence of modern secular society. To them, sexual abuse by priests should be treated as an individual rather than a systemic problem. Catholic priests have simply fallen prey to the temptation to sexual sin so prevalent in the society around them. The churches of the developing world… are lauded by Rome as … dynamic, and dedicated, in stark contrast to the flagging churches of the West. With scores of young aspirants to the priesthood … who have not been corrupted by materialism, feminism, and cynicism they are viewed as the hope of the future of the church. In early 2001, the Catholic Church was rudely awakened from this delusion.” (Pg. 142)
She concludes, “The resurgence of religious fundamentalism is in part a sign of the desperation of those who feel threatened by humanity’s new step forward into a pluralistic world. Their response is to regress into the past rather than taking the risk of going forth into the future… But we cannot avoid the fundamental questions about God. Is God just for ‘us’ or for everyone?... Is God for or against women? Does God hate gays and lesbians?... Can humanity coexist peacefully in a pluralist world or will we be condemned forever to internecine violence and hate?... Yes indeed we can, if we recognize that God is in the connections, that God is in our enemies, that God is immanent in all that lives, that God is ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either-or.’ With God’s help, we can be restored to wholeness, but only by embracing diversity, not by seeking uniformity. We can no longer survive as warring tribes, only as a collective.” (Pg. 157-158)
This book will be of keen interest to those seeking ‘progressive’ Catholic voices.
Author Joanna Manning wrote in the Preface to this 2002 book, “The issues of truth raised in this book are ones that relate to the heart as well as to the mind… The truth I live is one informed by faith.. My faith came to birth and was nurtured within the Roman Catholic community, but has since moved beyond denominational Christian boundaries… For twenty-five years I have worked closely with colleagues in the United States on women’s issues and church reform. I have lived with Africans in Africa and with refugees from Africa and Latin America in my own home. Thus I have some acquaintance with the global impact of the Catholic Church and that Christian right… I hope this book bears traces of an authentic search for integrity that will resonate with others… This book challenges the current reactionary trends within Christianity in the hope of ensuring a safer world for all our children.”
She observes, “The manufacturing of consent to the questionable use of political or military power through a manipulation of truth is not confined to the secular sphere. It has proved to be one of the features of the papacy of John Paul II. The past thirty years in the Catholic Church have seen a return to ultramontanism, or excessive adulation of papal power, that many thought had been discredited by the Second Vatican Council. The diversity of lay experience and thought, which could act as a healthy counterbalance and challenge to the narrow clerical world of priests and bishops, has been carefully channeled into ‘new movements’ such as Opus Dei and Human Life International. These groups are ‘lay’ only in name, because in practice they are carefully supervised by the priests and bishops who lead them.” (Pg. 5)
She continues, “Each [of such groups] pursues a vision of Catholicism that is theologically reactionary and highly hierarchical and authoritarian in structure. They exemplify the ‘holier than thou’ mentality of a cult, founded on what they view as absolute ¬possession of the truth, an unswerving devotion to it promulgation, and a mission to crush dissenting opinions. Papal encouragement of these Catholic sects … runs contrary to the true catholicity of the church. Hand in hand with the rise of conservative Catholic cults, the past thirty years have seen a proliferation of papal teaching aimed at reasserting the church’s control over sexuality and the family.” (Pg. 18)
She suggests, “It is through the influence of various theologies of feminism and liberation that the patriarchal religions in the West could be on the verge of a deep breakthrough in cosmic consciousness into a realization of the feminine in God. That change requires of humanity that people become immersed in love… of ourselves and … the rest of creation. This means that we will have to detoxify ourselves of an addiction to a God who purportedly speaks the truths of power. To realize the truth of the gospel is to realize that God desires the harm of no creature on earth and suffers when hurt is inflicted in any way.” (Pg. 35)
She states, “The work of the Spirit in the church and in the world is the reason that Christianity is not irredeemable. All theology is limited by the contextual framework of its age. In other words, it is burdened by the limits of the context within which it is articulated. Christian truth cannot be mediated today through words or images that undermine its message. The gender-exclusive male language for God and humanity, for example, is one such obstacle for the contemporary reader. It is one reason that so few people today look to church documents for enlightenment.” (Pg. 47-48)
She argues, “In an ideal world, abortion would not be necessary. In that ideal world, all relationships could be loving… freely chosen and all children wanted… all relationships would be based on equality between the genders as described in … the first chapter of the Book of Genesis… all women would be safe from rape… All men would take an equal share in … raising their children… Such an ideal world though is far from realization, but I believe that it is possible. That is why I continue to struggle for its achievement. And I continue to take issue with the Catholic Church because it has become an impediment to the achievement of such a world. The tragedy of the present obsession in the Catholic Church with abortion as the only criterion of morality is that the influence of the pro-life movement within the church has paralyzed the wider discussion of public morality in society at large and fenced it in within the private, sexual realm.” (Pg. 79-80)
She asserts, “This pursuit of power as a means of mass control is common to [Joseph] Ratzinger and [Pat} Robertson. Is their version of a role of the Christian community in relation to the rest of the world consonant with what Jesus himself practiced? Robertson’s Jesus supports the moralistic and adversarial politics of the religious right… This is a perversion of the truth of the gospel. But it has proved to be an appealing ‘quick fix’ spiritual solution for many conservative followers of both branches of Christianity… Ratzinger’s and Robertson’s rationale for their power to visit God’s judgment upon dissenters and to promulgate their respective versions of right living on society may be different, but the end result is the same.” (Pg. 100-101)
She notes, “The past twenty years of external Catholic triumphalism have witnesses its internal unraveling, as the widespread history of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has been unfolding all over the world… While Catholic leaders have been condemning the sexual depravity of the rest of the world, they have ignored, denied, and downplayed the disgraceful conduct of their own clergy. The voices of the victims of abuse… fall for [the Church’s] conversion away from a violent, arrogant, and ju8dgmental proclamation of the truth toward a more compassionate and humble orientation to God and the world.” (Pg. 122)
She points out, “The shocking impact of the evidence of extensive patterns of sexual and physical abuse of children by priests and nuns place in positions of trust over them has rippled through the ‘old’ Catholic churches of Europe, North America, and elsewhere. But conservative Catholics… view this as an indication that the churches in the West have fallen prey to the hedonism and decadence of modern secular society. To them, sexual abuse by priests should be treated as an individual rather than a systemic problem. Catholic priests have simply fallen prey to the temptation to sexual sin so prevalent in the society around them. The churches of the developing world… are lauded by Rome as … dynamic, and dedicated, in stark contrast to the flagging churches of the West. With scores of young aspirants to the priesthood … who have not been corrupted by materialism, feminism, and cynicism they are viewed as the hope of the future of the church. In early 2001, the Catholic Church was rudely awakened from this delusion.” (Pg. 142)
She concludes, “The resurgence of religious fundamentalism is in part a sign of the desperation of those who feel threatened by humanity’s new step forward into a pluralistic world. Their response is to regress into the past rather than taking the risk of going forth into the future… But we cannot avoid the fundamental questions about God. Is God just for ‘us’ or for everyone?... Is God for or against women? Does God hate gays and lesbians?... Can humanity coexist peacefully in a pluralist world or will we be condemned forever to internecine violence and hate?... Yes indeed we can, if we recognize that God is in the connections, that God is in our enemies, that God is immanent in all that lives, that God is ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either-or.’ With God’s help, we can be restored to wholeness, but only by embracing diversity, not by seeking uniformity. We can no longer survive as warring tribes, only as a collective.” (Pg. 157-158)
This book will be of keen interest to those seeking ‘progressive’ Catholic voices.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews