A New Vision of Catholicism for the 21st Century
Catholicism is essentially an experience. It is the human experience informed and understood metaphorically by the experiences of others, stretching back 2,000 years and beyond, and by the rich and diverse pattern of stories and symbols, practices and ideas, that interpret and hand on those experiences. It is the experience of God, the immense mystery which is both source and continuing context of everything that exists, informed and interpreted through the historical event and symbolic understandings of Jesus of Nazareth. Catholicism is a network of diverse communities, relationships that stretch back to the community of Jesus himself and the various faith communities spawned in the spectacular release of spiritual energy provoked by his life and teachings. Catholicism is a pattern of meaning-making–a set of beliefs and values which give direction to individuals and communities about the human adventure, in all of its ambiguity, with all of its suffering and pain, joy and fulfillment. Catholicism is a spiritual tradition in process, developed through the centuries by those who were drawn, first to Jesus, then to the communities which he inspired, finding resources in ancient Judaism and the pagan religions of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as the rural nature religions that stretched across pre-Medieval Europe. Catholicism is a people that spans the globe, fully twenty percent of the world’s population, the vast majority increasingly found in the poor and underdeveloped countries of the southern hemisphere–a highly diverse