A liberal’s lament, and the problem of ‘exculturation’

Father Tom Reese, the liberal Jesuit journalist who was a persistent critic of Pope Benedict XVI, has now become a critic of Pope Francis. The title of his his piece in the National Catholic Reporter says it all: “Pope Francis disappoints progressives. He will do so again.”

Reflecting on the Pope’s “No” to female deacons and his crude remark about “fa***try” in seminaries, Father Reese says with regret that this Pope is “unwilling to change church teaching in any radical way.” He “sometimes sounds like a grandfather who says things that make his grandchildren cringe.”

Poor Father Reese is pessimistic about the prospects for change in the Church—at least for the sort of change he would favor. His bleak analysis recognizes the failed dreams of those who confidently predicted, after Vatican II, that having opened the windows, the Church would throw everything out:

But the old progressives are tired and dying off. The young simply don’t care, having given up on the church as a boring, homophobic and patriarchal institution not worth their time. The church may become more conservative simply because everyone else gives up on it.

Amen. Alleluia.

Stephen White, writing for The Catholic Thing, has a very different perspective on post-conciliar changes. Reflecting on a new liturgical rite that has been proposed for the Diocese of Broome, Australia, which according to its proponents “amalgamates Catholic tradition with Aboriginal culture,” White observes that the “inculturation” of liturgy recommended by Vatican II has always been a practice of the missionary Church. “At its best, liturgical inculturation incorporates the worthiest elements of particular cultures into the Church’s life and worship.”White continues:

Continued below.