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Dear Parishioners & Friends,
Our own Fr. David’s Tracy’s picture makes up the entire cover of Commonweal magazine. If you don’t
know about this wonderful periodical founded by lay Catholics back in 1924, this is the time to run out and
buy it – a hard task. You can get it on line at www.commonwealmagazine.org. You might also try the
Seminary Bookstore or the 57th St. Bookstore (all the same) to see if they have any copies left. Also, Fr.
Don Senior, head of CTU has a terrific review included.
This particular issue is dynamite on many levels. Fr. David Tracy was my first “hero” back in 1967
when I was first ordained and when he came from Rome to Catholic University to start his teaching
career. Because I was taking courses in-house at the seminary, and not at Catholic University, I had to
wait to hear tapes of his lectures. They were incredible, and I had to know more – so I took of one my own
papers prepared for class and asked him to review it. That led to a longer relationship and an introduction
to Bernard Lonergan at Boston College in 1970.
Fr. Tracy’s main concern is with God and God-language. In a world that is frequently struck with
immense tragedies, like the one we are attending to in Haiti right now, the question of God and God’s
power or ability to rescue the innocent from tragedy comes to the fore. The Jewish Community has also
gone through this in their own shock at the Holocaust. There the question is asked, “How could God stand
by and not do anything?” The works of Eli Wiesel are a good way to enter into this territory.
When a theologian questions how we think about God, some take this as an attack on faith. For me it
is important to follow painful questions as much as one can. They lead to the limited character of all our
language and our formulas. The mystics put this in another way: Whatever we may say or not say about
God is only partial, and in some senses it is always wrong. Our language is wrong because our minds
(and therefore our language) are limited. The best theologians question out of hope, not out of despair –
but they also can be questioning out of pain and shock and disillusionment. It is good to know that there
are brave and faithful questioners out there ahead of us like scouts looking for signs of the Untrackable
One.
Fr. Don Senior’s book review is of Fr. John Meier, a priest from the archdiocese of New York, whose
fourth volume on Jesus continues the sifting of what we know about Jesus vs. what we know from the
Tradition. This level of biblical theology is also really unnerving for those who have not thought about this
before. Paul Griffiths, a longtime member of this parish and now at Duke University, reviews a book on Sin:
A History in this same issue. He remarks on “Jesus use of debt language for sin in Luke 7:36-50…”
I bring this up because Meier’s books question whether we can know much about the historical Jesus
from reading the Gospels. That is, do we know what the historical Jesus actually thought about sin or
about anything else – or do we know what the Christian Community thought about sin, and created a
Jesus episode to show what they (the leaders of the Christian Community) were thinking. This is how
complex the areas of biblical scholarship and of those who do theology have become. You can well
understand why people might be tempted to turn to “Teacup Catholicism” for an occasional “cup of
certainty” now and again.
A final book review by Terrence Tilley of the book Theology for Pilgrims by Nicholas Lash ends on a
much cheerier note. The church is a school of God-talk, of people trying to speak correctly about God,
Faith, Hope, Love. In a way we are all atheists – not in the sense of not believing in God at all, but in the
sense of missing the true wonder that is God. Our language is not a contradiction of God, but is simply
limited. And the church is the place where we encourage one another to keep going deeper, and to keep
trying to let go of the certainties that we think we possess and need, for the wonder of Truth and the God of
Truth and Wonder. Here the language of the mystic, the poet and the lover come to the fore. I think of the
Song of Songs in the Bible – erotic poetry raised to the art of saying something about God. (Now, you are
not supposed to read this book until you have reached the age of 35, so don’t just run to the Bible to see
what I am talking about!)
When a magazine (or, to use the fancier term, a periodical) can rise to this level of excitement and
challenge it might be worth your having a look for yourself. You just might fall in love with God all over again.
Happy Valentine’s Day,
Fr. Michael
Our own Fr. David’s Tracy’s picture makes up the entire cover of Commonweal magazine. If you don’t
know about this wonderful periodical founded by lay Catholics back in 1924, this is the time to run out and
buy it – a hard task. You can get it on line at www.commonwealmagazine.org. You might also try the
Seminary Bookstore or the 57th St. Bookstore (all the same) to see if they have any copies left. Also, Fr.
Don Senior, head of CTU has a terrific review included.
This particular issue is dynamite on many levels. Fr. David Tracy was my first “hero” back in 1967
when I was first ordained and when he came from Rome to Catholic University to start his teaching
career. Because I was taking courses in-house at the seminary, and not at Catholic University, I had to
wait to hear tapes of his lectures. They were incredible, and I had to know more – so I took of one my own
papers prepared for class and asked him to review it. That led to a longer relationship and an introduction
to Bernard Lonergan at Boston College in 1970.
Fr. Tracy’s main concern is with God and God-language. In a world that is frequently struck with
immense tragedies, like the one we are attending to in Haiti right now, the question of God and God’s
power or ability to rescue the innocent from tragedy comes to the fore. The Jewish Community has also
gone through this in their own shock at the Holocaust. There the question is asked, “How could God stand
by and not do anything?” The works of Eli Wiesel are a good way to enter into this territory.
When a theologian questions how we think about God, some take this as an attack on faith. For me it
is important to follow painful questions as much as one can. They lead to the limited character of all our
language and our formulas. The mystics put this in another way: Whatever we may say or not say about
God is only partial, and in some senses it is always wrong. Our language is wrong because our minds
(and therefore our language) are limited. The best theologians question out of hope, not out of despair –
but they also can be questioning out of pain and shock and disillusionment. It is good to know that there
are brave and faithful questioners out there ahead of us like scouts looking for signs of the Untrackable
One.
Fr. Don Senior’s book review is of Fr. John Meier, a priest from the archdiocese of New York, whose
fourth volume on Jesus continues the sifting of what we know about Jesus vs. what we know from the
Tradition. This level of biblical theology is also really unnerving for those who have not thought about this
before. Paul Griffiths, a longtime member of this parish and now at Duke University, reviews a book on Sin:
A History in this same issue. He remarks on “Jesus use of debt language for sin in Luke 7:36-50…”
I bring this up because Meier’s books question whether we can know much about the historical Jesus
from reading the Gospels. That is, do we know what the historical Jesus actually thought about sin or
about anything else – or do we know what the Christian Community thought about sin, and created a
Jesus episode to show what they (the leaders of the Christian Community) were thinking. This is how
complex the areas of biblical scholarship and of those who do theology have become. You can well
understand why people might be tempted to turn to “Teacup Catholicism” for an occasional “cup of
certainty” now and again.
A final book review by Terrence Tilley of the book Theology for Pilgrims by Nicholas Lash ends on a
much cheerier note. The church is a school of God-talk, of people trying to speak correctly about God,
Faith, Hope, Love. In a way we are all atheists – not in the sense of not believing in God at all, but in the
sense of missing the true wonder that is God. Our language is not a contradiction of God, but is simply
limited. And the church is the place where we encourage one another to keep going deeper, and to keep
trying to let go of the certainties that we think we possess and need, for the wonder of Truth and the God of
Truth and Wonder. Here the language of the mystic, the poet and the lover come to the fore. I think of the
Song of Songs in the Bible – erotic poetry raised to the art of saying something about God. (Now, you are
not supposed to read this book until you have reached the age of 35, so don’t just run to the Bible to see
what I am talking about!)
When a magazine (or, to use the fancier term, a periodical) can rise to this level of excitement and
challenge it might be worth your having a look for yourself. You just might fall in love with God all over again.
Happy Valentine’s Day,
Fr. Michael
From the pastor
Pastor
Fr. Michael Mullhall, O. Carm.
773-324-2626
Fr. Michael Mullhall, O. Carm.
773-324-2626
From the Pastor
St. Thomas the Apostle
5472 S. Kimbark Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615
Phone: 773-324-2626
E-mail: staparish@aol.com
www.stapostlechurch.com
5472 S. Kimbark Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615
Phone: 773-324-2626
E-mail: staparish@aol.com
www.stapostlechurch.com
Copyright, 2009. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic
Church. All rights reserved.
Church. All rights reserved.
