Jezus Chrystus - The joy of religious pluralism : a personal journey

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Copyright 2017 by Peter C. Phan

Published by Orbis Books, Box 302, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0302.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Phan, Peter C., 1943 author.

Title: The joy of religious pluralism : a personal journey / Peter C. Phan.

Description: Maryknoll, NY : Orbis Books, 2017. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016030370 | ISBN 9781626982253 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Phan, Peter C., 1943 Being religious interreligiously. |

Christianity and other religions. | AsiaReligion. | Catholic Church
MissionsAsia. | Religious pluralismCatholic Church. | Jesus Christ
Person and offices. | Catholic Church. Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei. |
Catholic Church. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Committee on Doctrine.

Classification: LCC BR127.A77 P483 2017 | DDC 261.2dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030370

For my mother, again

When my then-eighty-three-year-old mother, who is a twice-a-day churchgoer, told me in 2006 that her friends had confided to her that I was being investigated by the Vatican and that she was so worried and ashamed that she had not been able to sleep for weeks, I knew that my worst fears about the investigation of my book by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) were being realized. I had kept the investigation hidden from my family for over a year so as not to alarm them. For simple and pious Vietnamese Catholics like my mother, the Vatican is only a little less than God Almighty and omniscient, and for them, being an object of its investigation must mean that I had done very evil things. Only after I had explained to her that I was not being charged with any crime was she somewhat relieved. There was of course no point in explaining to her the theological opinions for which I was investigated because she would not have understood them, and in all likelihood, couldnt have cared less.

My mothers eventual regaining of her peace of mind of course did not assuage my anger at the Vatican . In my letter to Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the CDF, dated April 4, 2006, I had warned him that the investigation would cause much pain to my family and that its unjust procedureprohibiting the reprinting of my book before I had the opportunity to defend myselfwould shake their trust in the church. I asked him to reconsider the whole process. I never received a reply, not even an acknowledgment of receipt of my letter. Presumably, the Vatican is too busy to be bothered with such social courtesy. I knew that, fortunately, the investigation could not do me much harm professionally, and I refused to let it destroy me physically and psychologically, though of course I would be lying were I to say that it had not caused me a few sleepless nights.

Temperamentally, I am too much of a fatalist to be shocked by personal tragedies. Bad things just happen (as a bumper sticker stoically declares: S *** Happens), and you have to take them in stride. My favorite philosophy of life is: It could have been worse. I have always viewed scholarly criticismeven the proverbial odium theologicum as an occupational hazard and have not been terribly bothered by it. Also, compared to my past ordealsbeing forced to leave Vietnam with little more than half an hour to gather all my earthly possessions and with literally nothing but a shirt on my back, and having to start all over again as a refugee in a foreign landmy troubles with the CDF were little more than skin-deep scratches. I was well aware that my fifteen minutes in the glare of ecclesiastical spotlight would soon pass, a tiny blip in the churchy news cycle. Indeed, I was bemused that the CDF had decided to draw attention to an obscure and dense little book that was destined to gather dust on library shelves, to which the people whose spiritual welfare the CDF professed to be concerned about would not even give a first look. It was with complete sincerity that I wrote to Cardinal Levada that I am but a very small fish in the theological pond, a tiny minnow as it were, deserving neither fame nor fortune that might come my way from ecclesiastical censure.

I have decided to write this short book to recount the investigations of my Being Religious Interreligiously by the CDF and the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and to explain my views on matters in which I have been judged confused and confusing . This is not an autobiographymy life so far has been so boring that such a book would be the best cure for insomnia.

But why write it now? In fact, it was started some eight years ago, and I had completed a substantial part of it, but then for various reasons, left the project aside. With the election of Jorge Bergoglio as Bishop of Rome in 2013, a new way of being churcha new Pentecost, it has been saidbegan. Everywhere I traveled, Catholics, Christians of other churches, believers of other religions, and even nonbelievers kept telling me that with Pope Francis a new era has been inaugurated in the church. For theologians, there seems to be the freedom to think and write without having to look over their shoulders. One of the Asian theologians who had been censured by the CDF under the previous regime recently told me that Pope Francis met him shortly after his official dialogue with Cardinal Gerhard Mller, the current Prefect of the CDF, on his writings. To his immense delight, the pope thanked my friend for his theological contributions and encouraged him to continue his work. The CDFs power as the doctrinal watchdog, it seems, has been severely curtailed under Pope Francis.

I, for one, am also persuaded that a wind is blowing in the Catholic Church as a force for good. But I have lived long enough to know that because of the very power structure of the church, what one pope has done can be undone by another with a stroke of the pen. It is not far-fetched to believe that the popes opponents, some in high positions and not hiding their displeasure, for whom Franciss church reforms are not a breath of fresh air, as Pope John XXIII had allegedly said of the council he convoked, but a destructive hurricane, are biding their time and are hoping (and praying?) for a quick and triumphant restoration of the former regime with Franciss passing. In light of this possibility, I thought that it may be useful to return to the unfinished project. I hope that this book will be of some guidance to my fellow theologians, especially lay, should their writings come under the scrutinizing eyes of church authorities.