REFORMING THE CHURCH

INTRODUCTION

The night before he died, Jesus prayed to his Father on behalf of the Church “that they may all be one, as thou, Father in me, and I in thee; that they may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17: 21). The unity of the Church is thus both a sharing in the life of perfect unity of the Triune God, and a sign to the world that Christ is who he claims to be. Breaking that unity is a scandal because it damages the Church’s witness to her Lord and Savior.

By God’s grace the unity of the Church has been maintained for nearly 20 Centuries, but as we all know groups within the Church have separated themselves from that unity from time to time. Some of these divisions have had a doctrinal basis. The term “heresy” or “heretical group” describes a group that separates from the Church because it embraces a false teaching. But not all break-aways from the Church are heretics, at least not initially. A break-away from the Church that does not involve a doctrinal error as its main motivation is generally called a “schism” or a “schismatic group.” However, a group that is originally schismatic may later become heretical if it falls into false teaching.

In fact, it has often happened in history that a group which originally broke away from the Church for non-doctrinal reasons subsequently fell into false teaching. Perhaps the most familiar example of this is Anglicanism (the Church of England and associated churches in other countries). The Church of England originally separated from Rome because King Henry VIII wanted to be head of the Church (so that he could divorce his wife and remarry), but he claimed that he wanted to maintain Catholic practices and doctrines. Later, however, heretical ideas on important topics such as the Eucharist entered the Church of England, and eventually became its official teaching.

In this essay, we consider break-away groups (both “schismatic” and “heretical”) that started out as reforms of the Church or responses to perceived errors by the leadership of the Church. We contrast the response to problems in the Church exemplified by these break-away groups with those of faithful Catholics who confronted the same problems but did not leave. Because of human sinfulness, the Church will continually be in need of reform and renewal until her Lord comes again. The historical examples we discuss here illustrate that there is a right way and a wrong way to bring about reform and renewal.

Go to Top

ST. AUGUSTINE AND DONATUS

Every Catholic has heard about the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperors, but not every one may be aware that this persecution was not continuous. Certain emperors were much more vigorous in persecuting Christianity than were others. One of the worst persecutions took place in the years 303-313 A.D., which were the last ten years of the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. As it turned out, this was the last major persecution of Christians by Rome. Shortly after Diocletian’s death, Constantine became emperor and granted official toleration for Christianity throughout the empire.

During the terrible persecution under Diocletian, many bishops, priests, and lay people suffered martyrdom rather than renounce their faith. Unfortunately, not all Christians were so heroic. Even some of the Church hierarchy betrayed their sacred offices. The Roman authorities demanded that bishops and priests turn over all copies of the Bible and other sacred books, which they then burned. By destroying every copy of the writings on which Christianity is based, the Emperor hoped to stamp out Christianity once and for all. The Roman authorities spared the lives of bishops and priests who obediently handed over their sacred books for burning.

After the persecution ended, many Christians naturally felt a good deal of resentment toward these cowardly leaders who had betrayed their sacred trust. A priest in North Africa named Donatus began to teach that there was no possibility of forgiveness for such a terrible sin. He and his followers decided to set up a separate church to which only the “perfect” were admitted. By 350 A.D. most Christians in North Africa had separated themselves from the Catholic Church and joined with Donatus and his followers (known as “Donatists”).

The person who did most to bring the Donatists back into the Catholic fold was St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa. As described in his famous Confessions, Augustine was the son of a Christian mother and a pagan father who lived a life of dissipation and intellectual confusion prior to his conversion to Christianity in 387 A.D. As bishop of Hippo after 395 A.D., Augustine made the reconciliation of the Donatists one of his highest priorities.

He brought to the task his own experience as a forgiven sinner, justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28). Christ urges us to strive for perfection (Matthew 5:8), but because of our fallen nature we will often end up falling short (Romans 7:20). Moreover, we need to remember that we owe our salvation to Jesus’ sacrifice, not to our own merits. As St. Paul wrote: “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption, that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood…” (Romans 3: 22-25).

In response to the Donatists, St. Augustine developed some important theological concepts. One of these was the idea of the apostolic succession. The fact that the bishops of the Church form part of a direct line going back to the Apostles provides a guarantee of the truth of what the Church teaches. The promises Jesus made to the Apostles – that Jesus himself will always be with the Church (Matthew 28:20) and that the Holy Spirit will teach her “all truth” (John 16:13) – are made to the Apostles’ successors as well.

Another important theological controversy in which St. Augustine was involved arose from the teaching of a British monk named Pelagius. Contrary to scriptural teaching (Romans 5:12), Pelagius denied the doctrine of original sin. He maintained that every child is born as innocent as Adam before the Fall, and hence that we can save ourselves by our own efforts without the help of grace. Augustine defended the scriptural teaching and developed a theological view of human nature that has been very influential in the Church ever since. He emphasized that, although Baptism removes the guilt of original sin, we remain subject to a tendency toward sin which Augustine called “concupiscence.”

St. Augustine used a combination of forthright theological argumentation and pastoral sensitivity in his attempt to win back the Donatists. By his death in 430 A.D., most of the Donatists were reconciled to the Church; and not long afterwards the sect disappeared from history. But this period in Church history still provides many enduring lessons. Like the Donatists, break-away groups throughout history have justified their stance by the sinfulness of Church leaders, and have claimed to set up a new church “purified “ from sin. This is of course impossible because Original Sin remains in the members and the leaders of the “purified” church as well. Moreover, groups that cut themselves off from the teaching authority of the Church, as the Donatists did, will end up relying on their own fallible human judgment rather than the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit that was promised to the Church.

Go to Top

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI AND PETER WALDO

By many measures, the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries represent one of the most successful eras in the history of the Church. This was the time when the great cathedrals of Western Europe were built, and Catholic theology flourished at the University of Paris and other universities under the guidance of such outstanding thinkers as St. Thomas Aquinas. There was something of a let-up in the almost constant warfare that was the curse of Medieval Europe, as the unparalleled prestige and authority of the Church enabled ecclesiastical authorities to mediate many potential conflicts.

Nonetheless, all was not well in Catholic Europe. Peace brought wealth to a fortunate few, but many still remained in poverty. The wealthy often forgot Christian teachings and became absorbed in worldly pleasures. At the same time many Christians yearned for a way of life that more accurately reflected the Gospel than the life of pleasure led by the newly affluent.

Peter Waldo was a wealthy merchant from Lyons in southern France. About 1176 he decided to live a life closer to the demands of the Gospel and gave away all his property. He was joined by a small group of followers, who began preaching a life of evangelical poverty. In 1179, Waldo and some of his followers traveled to Rome to meet with Pope Alexander III. The Pope gave his enthusiastic blessing to their way of life, but since Waldo and his friends were laymen the Pope forbade them to preach.

Waldo, however, felt called to preach, and so he defied the Pope’s decision. As time went on, his teaching became more and more unorthodox. For example, he denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Followers of Waldo, known as Waldenses (Vaudois in French), became fairly numerous in the Southern Alps. In spite of intermittent persecution by the governments of several countries, the Waldenses persisted. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, they came in contact with Calvinists and reached doctrinal agreement with them. They remain to this day as a branch of Calvinist Protestantism, now doctrinally very liberal and with no particular commitment to a life of evangelical poverty.

About the time of Waldo’s visit to Rome, St. Francis was born in 1182 not far away in Assisi. The son of a rich merchant, Francis initially devoted himself to pleasure, but then he came to reject that way of life as empty and meaningless. Stripping off his fine clothes, he left his father’s house and went to live a life of poverty and prayer. When a community gathered around them, he formulated for them a rule for a new kind of religious order. Known as a mendicant order, members of St. Francis’s order (called “Fratres Minores” or “little brothers”) are not tied to a monastery like the traditional monastic orders. However, they take similar vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

In 1209, Francis visited Rome and obtained the permission of Pope Innocent III to establish his new order. In his brief life (he died in 1226) Francis had a profound impact on the Church, bringing about a revival of faith, evangelical simplicity, and concern for the poor. His influence reached as far as the Holy Land, where he traveled on a mission to preach to the Muslims. Before his death, he was rewarded with the stigmata – the miraculous image of the wounds of Christ on his body.

St. Francis of Assisi is without doubt the most easily recognized and best-loved figure in all of Christianity since the Apostolic Age. Since his death, his order has gone through periods of decline and of revival, leading to the formation of a number of distinct religious orders in the Church which take their inspiration from St. Francis. Through the groups of associated lay persons known as the Third Order – a form of Christian spirituality for lay persons of both sexes that was started by St. Francis – many millions have come to participate in the unique Franciscan charism. Numerous saints – including St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bonaventure, St. Frances Cabrini, and Padre Pio – have come from among the Franciscan family.

Go to Top

ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA AND MARTIN LUTHER

In the late Middles Ages the Catholic civilization of Western Europe entered a steep decline. The Black Plague of the 14^th Century caused widespread mortality and shook the faith of many. Destructive wars – such as the 100 Years War between France and England – sapped the energy of society and led to a breakdown of order. The Great Western Schism – an eighty-year period during which there were two or sometimes three different men who claimed the title of Pope – created cynicism with regard to the Church. Many of those who entered the priesthood and religious life seemed to ask only “What’s in it for me?” and to use their positions to become wealthy, paying little attention to their vows.

Basically, there were two types of response by those who sought to remedy the sorry state of the Late Medieval Church. One response, particularly popular in northern Europe, was to break away from a Church viewed as hopelessly corrupt. This response gave birth to the Protestant Reformation. The other response was to attempt to reform the Catholic Church from within. The latter response spurred the Catholic Reformation.

The causes and events of the Protestant Reformation are far too complex to discuss fully here. Instead we will focus on just one figure: Martin Luther (1483-1546). Luther has been the subject of more biographical and historical studies than almost any other person in history, and we will not attempt to retell the story of his life. Instead we will concentrate on a few key aspects of Luther’s revolt that illustrate features shared with other break-away groups in the Church’s history.

Many readers will probably already know the basic outline of Luther’s life: how Luther became an Augustinian friar because of a vow he made when terrified during a storm; how, as a monk, he was troubled by extreme scrupulosity; and how he received assurance by reading in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans (3:28) that we are justified by faith and not by the works of the law. In 1513 Luther was appointed a professor of scripture at the newly founded Wittenberg University, and he began to develop a new theology based on his understanding of St. Paul’s teaching. Although there may have already been some unorthodox aspects to Luther’s teaching in the early 1500’s, he did not attract attention until 1517, when he posted his famous “95 Theses on Indulgences” on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg.

In is important to realize that posting these theses did not necessarily imply defiance of Church authority. Luther was initially only trying to start a scholarly debate within the University of Wittenberg and the Church at large. Thus, posting the theses in no way implied a break with the Church. In fact, in the medieval universities, theses proposed for debate would often include statements far more provocative than any of Luther’s. For example, in 1387, a Spanish Dominican named Juan de Montson proposed 14 theses at the University of Paris, including the statement that it is contrary to the Catholic faith to believe that the Virgin Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin! Although this was nearly five centuries before the Church definitively proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, it was even then a very extreme view to claim, as Juan de Montson did, that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is heretical. Juan initially had the support of his order, but he and the other Dominicans submitted gracefully when the Pope rejected Juan’s theses.

Thus, the main difference between Luther and countless other medieval academics who proposed theses for debate was what happened after the debate got under way. Rather than submitting to the decisions of Church authorities, Luther reacted with defiance. When Pope Leo X condemned some of Luther’s statements and warned him that he would face excommunication if he persisted, Luther publicly burned the Pope’s letter. In subsequent years, Luther would distance himself further and further from the Catholic Church, rejecting Catholic teaching on the sacraments as well as on the role of grace in salvation. In 1525, Luther broke his own monastic vows and married a former nun.

By the way history has been taught, we are accustomed to seeing Luther as a precursor of modern individualism and of democratic ideals regarding freedom of thought. Such a conception is actually anachronistic. It is true that Luther’s rebellion played a role in the historical process that eventually gave rise to modern individualism. However it is important to realize that Luther viewed himself as anything but a “liberal” or “progressive” Christian thinker. In Luther’s view, he was the true conservative, and the Pope and his allies were the innovators. Luther saw himself as the true defender of the Scriptures and the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, particularly St. Augustine.

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in Luther’s debate with Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus (1469-1536) was the leading “liberal Catholic” of his time, and his writings have something in common with Twentieth Century modernist Catholicism. Erasmus mocked abuses in the Church and advocated an ethical interpretation of the Christian message. He was optimistic about the capacity of human nature to be reformed – so much so that he sometimes verged toward Pelagianism. Luther would have none of that. He staunchly defended St. Augustine’s teaching on original sin. Indeed, Luther often went beyond Augustine to the point where, in some of his later writings, he seemed to deny that human beings are capable of doing anything good whatsoever.

Luther was also profoundly shocked by the extremist rebellions against the Church that occurred as a direct consequence of his own uncompromising stand. For soon after Luther’s break with the Church, he had imitators throughout Europe, many of whom went much farther in their opposition to Catholicism than Luther was prepared to go. Luther did not approve of reformers who destroyed images and broke stained glass windows in Churches, nor did he support the still more extreme sects that practiced polygamy in imitation of the patriarchs, or who decided to dispense with clothing in imitation of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Furthermore, Luther argued vehemently against the Swiss reformers such as Zwingli and Calvin, who denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (though Luther’s own teaching on this question was not quite orthodox either). Luther dismissed as “fanatics” all of these Protestants with whom he disagreed.

Thus, there was a tragic side to Luther’s life, reflected in the increasingly gloomy tone of his later writings. He had hoped to reform the Church by returning to the scriptures and the Church fathers, but the result was far from what he had imagined. Sadly, he seems never to have realized that the Protestant “fanatics” were only following in his footsteps. Like him, they were substituting their own private opinions for the teachings of the Church. The Lutheran reformation provides a clear warning that a “conservative” movement in the Church that ends up separating itself from the Church will in the long run end up being anything but conservative.

The Catholic Reformation is often called the “Counter-Reformation.” This is something of a misnomer, because it implies that the Catholic Reformation occurred merely as a counter to the Protestant Reformation. Although the Protestant movement undoubtedly convinced many in the Church of the urgency of the need for reform, many Catholics were well aware of the problems in the Church long before Luther came along, and were trying to address them. The roots of the Catholic Reformation are in authentically Catholic movements for renewal that began independently of Luther.

Nowhere is the independent nature of the Catholic Reformation seen more clearly than in the life of St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). The son of a minor Basque nobleman, Ignatius devoted his young manhood to a military career. In 1521 he was wounded in battle by a musket ball that broke the tibia bone in his right leg. At a time when broken bones were often fatal, Ignatius underwent a long and painful convalescence. For distraction, he began to read a life of Jesus and a collection of the lives of the saints, which were the only reading matter available in the family home where he was convalescing. These readings led directly to an experience of conversion, in which Ignatius rejected his previous worldly life and resolved to dedicate himself to God.

One telling episode occurred prior to Ignatius’ conversion. When his broken leg first healed, the bones had not grown back together properly, forming an ugly lump. Since Ignatius at the time still hoped to lead the life of a courtier, he found it unacceptable that his leg would not look good in tights. Therefore he demanded that his doctors re-break the leg so that it could heal back in a more esthetically pleasing manner – a very painful and dangerous operation in those days before anesthetics or antiseptic conditions. This early example of cosmetic surgery was a success as far as straightening out his leg was concerned, although his right leg remained slightly shorter than the left, giving him a limp throughout the rest of his life.

Later, after his conversion, Ignatius was amazed at the extent to which his own vanity had led him to risk his life for the sake of his appearance. Better, he decided, to risk his life for the sake of the Gospel. So dressed in the rough robe of a hermit, and supporting himself with a wooden staff, he set off to Barcelona, where he would board a ship for Italy and, after that, Jerusalem. His goal was to preach the Gospel to the Muslims and face martyrdom if that was God’s will.

Martyrdom in the Holy Land was denied Ignatius. Indeed, the situation was so unsettled there that he was forced to leave after only a few weeks. Back in Europe, he decided that he needed to study in order to have a solid foundation in Catholic theology. Beginning in 1527, he attended the University of Alcalá in Spain. There, however, he soon came under the suspicion of the dreaded Spanish Inquisition, who interrogated him and imprisoned him.

It is a testament to the corrupted state of the Church in Spain at that time that any one who took Christianity as seriously as Ignatius did was automatically suspected of heresy. Indeed, it is likely that Ignatius was suspected of having “Lutheran” sympathies; if so, it may have been the first time he heard the name of Luther. But it is interesting to contrast the accounts of Ignatius’ appearance before the Inquisition with those of Luther’s encounters with religious and civil authorities.

Luther, of course, was defiant. He refused to recant his own teachings, whether or not they agreed with those of the Church. Historians debate whether Luther really uttered the famous “Here I stand,” in his interview with the German Emperor in 1521. But, whether or not the quote is accurate, it certainly reflects Luther’s attitude.

Ignatius displayed a very different attitude in his encounter with the Inquisition. He demanded that the inquisitors explain to him anything that he had said or done that was contrary to the Church’s teaching. They could not do so, although they were reluctant to admit the fact. Instead, they asked Ignatius numerous leading questions, hoping to entice him into making an unorthodox statement. Ignatius refused to take the bait.

Without ever questioning the Church’s authority, he could be in his own way every bit as truculent as Luther. At one point, Loyola lost patience with his examiner and asked: “Why all these questions? Have you found any heresy whatever?” “No, “replied the examiner menacingly, ”if they find any, they will burn you!” “They will burn you also“, replied Ignatius calmly,” if they find any in you.”

Thus, though Ignatius defended himself against unjust accusations, he had no interest in rejecting the teaching of the Church. Finally, after about three weeks, the Inquisition released him for lack of evidence. Ignatius’ response to his regained freedom was to travel immediately to Paris to enroll as a student there. This course of action served two purposes. First, it got Ignatius out of Spain and away from the power of the Inquisition. Second, Paris was the acknowledged center of Catholic theological training. Thus, Ignatius acknowledged in himself a need for further theological instruction, and he wanted to best training possible. He wanted to understand the Church’s teaching more fully, to make certain that his own teaching was fully in accord with that of the Church.

It was in Paris that Ignatius gathered the small band of like-minded men who became the first members of the Society of Jesus. They went to Rome and offered their services to the Pope, who gave them a key role as leaders of the Catholic Reformation. As pastors, as preachers, and above all as teachers, the Jesuits brought the reformed Catholicism of the Council of Trent to the people of Europe. And as missionaries they spread the Gospel to India, China, Japan, and the Americas.

Go to Top

CONCLUDING REMARKS

This brief essay shows that only those who work for reform within the Church can hope to have a lasting positive effect. Of course, reforming the Church from within often involves hardships, and many reformers have been unappreciated or even persecuted during their lifetimes. Thus any would-be reformer is likely to be faced with the temptation to separate himself from the Church out of frustration at the slow progress of reform, either to found a separatist group, or to give up on Christianity altogether. Anyone who succumbs to this temptation will end up doing more harm than good. Not only does he imperil his own salvation and the salvation of any followers he might have, but he weakens the Church that he seeks to reform, thereby making it more difficult for those who remain in the Church to achieve true reform.

Homepage.