On the Way to Life colloquium
Monday 3rd October
The colloquium was held at Eccleston Square. Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Bishops Edwin Regan, Malcom McMahon and George Stack joined a number of theologians, catechists and others involved in the life of the Church in England and Wales.
Oona Stannard, Chief Executive and Director of the Catholic Education Service (CES), welcomed everyone on behalf of the CES. She said that this was a significant day in the process of dissemination of On the Way to Life (OTWTL) which the CES was managing on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference. Following the colloquium, the next stages of the process will be a meeting of the Directors of RE who will ‘take ownership’ of OTWTL (on 11th October), and the publication (on October 31st) of materials by Canon David Evans which are designed to help people find their way into the document, and stimulate discussion and debate.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham and Chairman of the Catholic Education Service, began his address by asking whether the publication of OTWTL could be comparable to the Synod of Westminster and the restoration of the hierarchy. This is a time for the reassessment – and possibly a relaunch – of the Roman Catholic project in this country. He was delighted to welcome ‘the most distinguished gathering’ of people he had seen at Eccleston Square in his time working and visiting there. People had recognised the centrality of the document to questions about how with live with our faith, and how we present our faith in contemporary Britain. He hoped that there would be a process of informed discussion about OTWTL – probably lasting up to a year – and offered some thoughts about his initial reaction.
Firstly, he welcomed the document’s insights, especially the recognition of how contemporary culture effects how we believe, and how we present our faith. We are challenged about our understanding of progress, and invited to consider how this progress and our modern culture changes our understanding of ‘ordinary time’. Ordinary time is an important phase of the Church’s year and people’s lives, but the Archbishop raised the question of whether people are being encouraged to rush from event to event.
Secondly, Archbishop Nichols spoke about the documents’ key themes regarding faith. He commended the report as a wonderful starting point for a discussion about grace and nature, and also praised the material about sin. He particularly welcomed the idea of a Catholic sacramental imagination, and looked forward to the development of this concept in the ongoing debate.
Fr. James Hanvey SJ and Fr. Anthony Carroll SJ, the authors of On the Way to Life, were invited to introduce the document.
Fr. Hanvey, the Director of the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life, explained the motivations behind writing the report. He sensed that Catholicism is at an important point, particularly in Britain. There are profound philosophical and theological questions which the community needs to address, including how we find a language which allows us to interpret contemporary culture, rather than being interpreted by that culture. The report is borne out of optimism, because of the enormous community resources which the Catholic community now has. These include the professional laity and theologians, as well as the community’s traditions – one of the deepest in humanity – and the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. This has led to a creation of a Catholic modernity, which is rooted in its own beliefs, and seeks to work with the culture in which God is alive.
He stressed that although the report is difficult, it should not be inaccessible. It was written as a resource to help people to begin to reflect on the issues being raised. As such, it is not about providing answers – the wider Catholic community has the answers – but it should provide a sense of confidence about our situation and the future.
Fr. Carroll emphasised that the report is a result of engaging with people on the ground. During that process of engagement, he found a sense of diffidence in the community and a lack of confidence in the Catholic vision. We need to rediscover a sense of confidence to allow the interpretation of education from our own tradition.
OTWTL begins with a quantitative assessment of the current situation, which draws heavily on the European Values Survey. These statistics are important in mapping the world as it is. It then moves on to a qualitative analysis of the theories and frameworks which describe the culture in which we live. These were compared to ‘the binoculars through which we view the world’. Two were considered to be particularly important: the theory of secularisation and the ‘turn to the subject’. It is important to question these frameworks, or we risk accepting them by default.
Fr. Carroll mentioned a number of challenges which a reading of OTWTL highlights. These include the need not to be too diffident in the face of theory; the crisis of transmission; and the importance of evangelisation.
The five reviewers were then invited to share a particular theme which they would like to see be taken forward.
Dr. Tina Beattie, Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at Roehampton University, said she had greatly appreciated the report, and particularly welcomed its concentration on the theme of sacramentality. She highlighted five areas within this:
(i) dialogical and dialectical approaches to culture;
(ii) values and morals – Dr. Beattie felt this was an underdeveloped area of the report. She would like to consider how the Church can move away from being seen as only talking about sexual morality, and instead emphasise its teachings on areas which are emerging or growing as politically important topics, such as the environment, theories of a just war, and global poverty. These are also areas where the Church can more easily ‘connect’ with young people;
(iii) the family – Dr. Beattie asked whether the Church has done enough to acknowledge the decline of the nuclear family, and ‘the need to avoid idealizing marriage in the way we once idealized celibacy’. She said that the Church should commit to listening and learning in this area;
(iv) the role of women in the Church; and
(v) sacramentality – this is a core area to ensure that the report is taken on, instead of just ‘gathering dust’. The Church needs to worry less about who shouldn’t be taking part in the sacraments, and more about why people aren’t there.
Clifford Longley agreed with the Archbishop’s comments that OTWTL presents us with the possibility of a relaunch of the Catholic project. He commended Dr. Beattie’s review – especially the section on the family – as the most important aspect of all the reviews. He chose to concentrate on the ideas of citizenship and the common good in his talk. He compared the strong emphasis which Catholic education in America places on the common good in its teachings, with the situation here where there has been ‘an aversion to taking this seriously’.
Catholicism shouldn’t be afraid to bring together its teaching and the world in which people live. In particular, we should reawaken the idea of citizenship in children’s formation. In doing so, we could develop a Catholic perspective on citizenship which could make an enormous contribution to society. This would also allow us to ensure that we are able to demonstrate that Catholic education is not divisive, but is instead making a valuable contribution to the common good.
Fr. Michael Campbell, member of the Bishops’ Theology Committee, said that much of OTWTL had resonated strongly with him, and he liked the upbeat note of the report. In particular, he agreed that there was a ‘crisis of transmission’ of the faith. He agreed with Dr. Beattie that the Church’s moral teaching is seen to be concentrating on abortion and contraception, at the expense of (e.g.) human rights and wider social issues. There is a challenge to change this negative perception. The turn to the subject, and people’s perception of themselves as a source of moral authority, is another challenge. The Church needs to retrieve its authority to teach on this area, and a wider social teaching may be helpful.
He also briefly examined some of the other issues facing Catholics in contemporary society. For example, how do we retain a distinctively Catholic identity whilst remaining open to the modern world? Can a concept like ‘Catholic modernity’ be a useful guide to the way ahead?
Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP concentrated on the idea of sacramental imagination and the authority of the Church to teach. He called for reflection about what sacramental imagination means, especially in relation to Dr. Beattie’s comments about the family. Sacramental life has often been understood through the family, but now we need to consider how sacramental life is able to touch people who live outside of traditional family structures.
Regarding the Church’s authority to teach, he stressed that to be able to teach, one needs to listen properly first. If the Church expects its teaching to be treated with authority, it needs to grant authority to other people’s experiences (including those from what might be considered as non-traditional backgrounds).
Sr. Cecily Boulding OP said that as previous speakers had covered so much ground, she would confine herself to a couple of brief points. She acknowledged the density of the philosophical ideas in the document, but said that we shouldn’t see them as one ‘solid idea’ but as more ephemeral.
One idea which could be developed is the retrieval of tradition. We should remember that tradition involves being ‘faithful to future as well as the past’. There is still a valid and perceptive continuity of faith, which we should feel confident about presenting to the wider community.
Bishop Malcom McMahon OP, Bishop of Nottingham and the Chair of the Bishops’ Conference department which supports evangelisation, opened a general discussion about OTWTL. He asked people to consider two questions in particular: firstly, is this a time to ‘relaunch the Catholic project’? This would require very significant national work; and secondly, why do we lack confidence, and can developing our work in ‘believing together’ rather than believing separately help to overcome this?
There were a number of interesting contributions to the debate. Mgr. Andrew Faley considered the problem of trying to shift catechesis from daily problems to looking at more imaginative ways of transmitting faith. He also stressed the need to ensure that OTWTL results in definite processes which move the questions forward.
Catherine Conway, Assistant Director of the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life, questioned the widely-held assumption that the Church will, or should, provide a ‘detailed script’ for teaching. It would be better to consider improvisation, where the Church seeks to give people the tools to do the work and trusts them to do it. This is particularly important in Catholic social teaching.
There was debate about Canon David Evans’ question of whether we should be more confident about what we want the education system to provide, and Dr. Tina Beattie’s question about how the Church can bring people together.
James Hanvey then responded to the debate. He was pleased that the idea of sacramental imagination had sparked such discussion. He had found it useful to consider the idea of the Good Samaritan: it was sacramental to recognise the needs of the man who had been robbed, but it needed a leap of the imagination to go and help him. It is this sort of thinking which can lead us to a conception of the common good. Part of our challenge is how to transmit and communicate this good to the world. He also spoke briefly about the idea of improvisation, which he thought was a valuable contribution which deserved further thought. Our whole moral life involves improvisation, but we must ensure this doesn’t just involve abandoning the rules.
Bishop Edwin Regan, Bishop of Wrexham and a member of the Bishops’ Conference Department for Education, emphasised what a great privilege it was to be able to listen to the contributions. In concluding today’s discussions, he stressed he wasn’t closing the debate but encouraging people to reflect – individually, and as a community. In discussions with ecumenical partners in Wales, he has said that he felt the Catholic community were able to bring a ‘quiet confidence in the Spirit’ to discussions, and he felt that had been in evidence today.
He thanked Archbishop Vincent Nichols and other bishops for initiating the project, the Derwent Trust for funding it, and the Catholic Education Service for managing it. In conclusion, he considered Archbishop Nichols’ comments about a renewed ‘Catholic project’. Whether or not we consider OTWTL should lead to a relaunch, we do have the opportunity to do something very significant. It is important we seek to ‘get beyond old barricades’ and look afresh at the essentials of what we’re doing.
Peter Walsh
10th October 2005
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