Father Richard John Neuhaus of First Things spoke last night on Benedict’s visit at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. Actually, the Communion and Liberation group at St. Mary's originally arranged from him to talk about “The Mind of Benedict.”
Father Neuhaus made the point that Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI is misunderstood. He didn’t have a “liberal period” followed by a “conservative period” followed by a “reactionary period” followed by a “warm-fuzzy papal period.” Rather, he has all along been radically Christ-centered.
“The radically Christological mind of Joseph Ratzinger is manifest in his every word, his every gesture.”
Neuhaus sees the future Pope Benedict XVI meeting the crowds in America in the newly ordained Father Joseph Ratzinger. Father Joseph Ratzinger’s and his brother, Georg’s, ordinations were celebrated by days of Bavarian to-do in Traunstein. Amid the parades, the “oom pa pa” bands, and the festivities, Neuhaus notes (from Ratzinger’s autobiography) the new priest kept saying:
“This is not for you, Joseph.”
“We don’t have as many accounts as we should” of Joseph’s theological work, said Neuhaus, but one idea recurs throughout. It’s the Christology captured in Ratzinger’s oft-repeated description of Christ:
“the human face of God.”
Some choice Neuhaus quotes from the talk:
On Benedict’s speaking style: “He isn’t one to pander to an inattentive audience.”
On Ratzinger's relationship with John Paul II: “The intensity of their collaboration … could hardly have been more intense, more mutually influential.”
Quoting a theologian friend on Benedict’s willingness to do whatever God asked him: “He’s God-intoxicated. … When did you last see a shy person on television?”
-- Tom Hoopes
Comments