Ratzinger on Newman

From the Fall, 2010 Communio: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, On Conscience (1991 – Retrieving the Tradition).

From the text:

On the occasion of his elevation to cardinal, Newman declared that most of his life was a struggle against the spirit of liberalism in religion. We might add, also against Christian subjectivism, as he found it in the Evangelical movement of his time and which admittedly had provided him the first step on his lifelong road to conversion. Conscience for Newman does not mean that the subject is the standard vis-à-vis the claims of authority in a truthless world, a world which lives from the compromise between the claims of the subject and the claims of the social order. Much more than that, conscience signifies the perceptible and demanding presence of the voice of truth in the subject himself. It is the overcoming of mere subjectivity in the encounter of the interiority of man with the truth from God. The verse Newman composed in 1833 in Sicily is characteristic: “I loved to choose and see my path but now, lead thou me on!” Newman’s conversion to Catholicism was not for him a matter of personal taste or of subjective, spiritual need. He expressed himself on this even in 1844, on the threshold, so to speak of his conversion: “No one can have a more unfavorable view than I of the present state of Roman Catholics.” Newman was much more taken by the necessity to obey recognized truth than his own preferences, that is to say, even against his own sensitivity and bonds of friendship and ties due to similar backgrounds. It seems to me characteristic of Newman that he emphasized truth’s priority over goodness in the order of virtues. Or, to put it in a way which is more understandable for us, he emphasized truth’s priority over consensus, over the accommodation of groups. I would say, when we are speaking of a man of conscience, we mean one who looks at things this way. A man of conscience is one who never acquires tolerance, well-being, success, public standing, and approval on the part of prevailing opinion, at the expense of truth. Read full article.

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Article on Cardinal Ouellet

From the June 2011 edition of The Walrus magazine: a profile and interview with Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

Click here to go to the article.

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Cardinal Ouellet’s articles in Communio:

Paradox and/or Supernatural Existential (1991) The New Catechism: An Event of the Faith (1994) Woe to Me If I Do Not Preach the Gospel (1994) The Mystery of Easter and the Culture of Death (1996) Priestly Ministry at the Service of Ecclesial Communion (1996) Jesus Christ, the One Savior of the World, Yesterday, Today, and Forever (1997) Covenantal Justice (2000) Mary and the Future of Ecumenism (2003) Theological Perspectives on Marriage (2004)

Read more about Cardinal Ouellet here. See a complete list of his articles here.

Interview: Angelo Scola on John Paul II

Here is an interview with Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, a longtime editor and author of the Italian Communio, and currently the coordinator of the international editorial board of Communio.

From the text:

How did you draw near the personality of Karol Wojtyla, and how did your encounter with the teachings of John Paul II deepen over time?

I had the opportunity to meet Karol Wojtyla briefly in the international editing circle for Communio, but our relationship deepened after his election to the papacy. . . . Go to the full interview

Blessed John Paul II

From the archives:

John Paul II. Address to the Group Representing the Journal Communio (1992)

. . . As Archbishop of Cracow, I had occasion to encourage and promote the Polish edition [of Communio], which contributed to an understanding of the faith in a country where the intellectual investigation of truth has for a long time encountered many obstacles. At the present time, it is important that a vigorous exchange of views be established between Christians who have lived the experience of repression and persecution and Christians who have been able to express their faith in complete freedom. This will give a new thrust to theological research as well as to the expression and announcement of the Christian mystery in the contemporary world. Saint Paul recalled that the exchange of material goods and mutual aid are a fundamental expression of ecclesial charity and communion. Similarly, the sharing of spiritual and intellectual goods conveys the love that comes to us from the Lord. . . .

Telegram Upon the Death of Hans Urs von Balthasar  (1988)