ARCC spot LIGHT
(analysis of Church issues offered by the ARCC Publications Committee, P. Mathais, R. Schutzius, ed.)Vertical vs. Horizontal / Fear vs. Love
May 1, 2009
The pre-Vatican II model of Catholicism was based on the vertical model of spirituality. We are not allowed to do certain things because we damage our vertical relationship with God above. What effect they have on other people was almost irrelevant. We are not allowed to have impure thoughts because they were not "holy." That is to say, they damaged our relationship with God. Whether impure thoughts damaged your relationship with the man/woman in question was not very important. We were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays because the Church (standing in for God) forbade it. What effect that might have on the relationship with a relative having a roast-pork birthday dinner was irrelevant. We are not allowed to attend the services of a "false religion" such as Anglicanism, because that religion was offensive to God. The duty to give comfort to relatives during an Anglican funeral service was not part of the equation.
At Vatican II, or at least in the culture of the Church at the time, it was realized that this vertical model of spirituality was repressive and counterproductive. Now, we are exploring a horizontal spirituality, one in which we relate to God through our love and support of other people - the children of God - whom we honor through loving them. We are searching for a model of love, one in which we see God in the other.
The Brazilian Bishop who excommunicated the tormented mother of her 12 year old, raped daughter who had an abortion was gripped by the old vertical spirituality - morality is only about relating to God. It has nothing to do with love. The South American bishops who declared that the mother was not excommunicated despite her technical violation of the code were engaged in a horizontal spirituality, which offers mercy and compassion as the greatest gifts of the God of love.
In Toronto at least (and perhaps in many other dioceses), Catholics wanting to marry must wait a year after their application to the priest. The old vertical pre-Vatican II model discouraged a long engagement period so that the couple would not offend God by being impure with one another as part of their God-given love (Vertical spirituality). Now, the objective is to make sure the couple love one another strongly enough to create a lasting marriage (Horizontal spirituality). A couple who wait a year to marry will almost certainly be "impure" with one another, but obviously the Church doesn't care much any more. Most married Catholics ignore Paul VI's (and his successors') admonition against the use of birth control. Even though it is against the declared code, most Catholics feel that birth control can enhance their love for one another, which is a greater value than obedience to a blind inflexible vertical rule.
This is the battle that is being waged. On one side, the Church-at-large is groping for a meaningful morality of love of the other, as Jesus taught, while still remaining faithful to pre-Vatican II Catholicism. On the other side is the Pope and some of the hierarchy who are trying to preserve vertical spirituality for two reasons: the first is that if they allow people to make moral judgments outside the code, they will lose power; the second is that they have been cloistered in the old Catholicism for so long they know nothing else. Vatican II turned the Church's priority back to love for one another over fear of a vengeful God.
This is the battle that is being waged. On one side, the Church-at-large is groping for a meaningful morality of love of the other, as Jesus taught, while still remaining faithful to pre-Vatican II Catholicism. On the other side is the Pope and some of the hierarchy who are trying to preserve vertical spirituality for two reasons: the first is that if they allow people to make moral judgments outside the code, they will lose power; the second is that they have been cloistered in the old Catholicism for so long they know nothing else. Vatican II turned the Church's priority back to love for one another over fear of a vengeful God.
Remembering the Women Sunday Readings
5/3 - 4th Sunday of Easter: Acts 17:1-4, 10-12, 22, 30-34
5/10 -5th Sunday of Easter: Acts 18:1-3, 18-19, 24-26
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