Tuesday, May 17, 2011

How the Vatican deals with "enthusiasts"

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David Gibson, writing in the National Post, reminds us of a 19th-century Whig historian Thomas Babington Macaulay who described a dynamic by which the Vatican co-opts its more fractious elements, harnessing them until they are safely domesticated. In a famous essay on Catholicism, Macaulay noted -as much in consternation as admiration -that the Vatican:

"thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts. In some sects, particularly in infant sects, enthusiasm is [allowed] to be rampant. In other sects, particularly in sects long established and richly endowed, it is regarded with aversion. The Catholic Church neither submits to enthusiasm nor proscribes it, but uses it. She considers it as a great moving force which in itself, like the muscular power of a fine horse, is neither good nor evil, but which may be so directed as to produce great good or great evil; and she assumes the direction to herself."

Gibson mentions the Legion of Christ,as an example,

"[It] became a global phenomenon in Catholicism over the past few decades by joining a devotion to orthodoxy and secrecy with an equal fidelity to the Legion's charismatic founder, Father Marcial Maciel."

To paraphrase Macaulay, in terms of the Legionaries of Christ, it would seem that Pope Benedict has taken charge of directing "the muscular power of a fine horse, which is neither good nor evil, but which may be so directed as to produce great good or great evil." It takes a while to direct the power of a muscular horse without breaking its spirit.  Perhaps the Vatican still knows "what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts."

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