"Lethal to Faith"

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has largely been quiet since resigning the papacy twent months ago but last week, he broke that silence and did so strongly:

“The risen Lord instructed his apostles, and through them his disciples in all ages, to take his word to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of all people,” retired Pope Benedict wrote. “‘But does that still apply?’ many inside and outside the Church ask themselves today. ‘Is mission still something for today? Would it not be more appropriate to meet in dialog among religions and serve together the cause of world peace?’ The counter-question is: ‘Can dialog substitute for mission?’"
“In fact, many today think religions should respect each other and, in their dialogue, become a common force for peace. According to this way of thinking, it is usually taken for granted that different religions are variants of one and the same reality,” the retired Pope wrote. “The question of truth, that which originally motivated Christians more than any other, is here put inside parentheses. It is assumed that the authentic truth about God is in the last analysis unreachable and that at best one can represent the ineffable with a variety of symbols. This renunciation of truth seems realistic and useful for peace among religions in the world."
“It is nevertheless lethal to faith. In fact, faith loses its binding character and its seriousness, everything is reduced to interchangeable symbols, capable of referring only distantly to the inaccessible mystery of the divine,” he wrote.
Pope Benedict wrote that some religions, particularly “tribal religions,” are “waiting for the encounter with Jesus Christ,” but that this “encounter is always reciprocal. Christ is waiting for their history, their wisdom, their vision of the things.” This encounter can also give new life to Christianity, which has grown tired in its historical heartlands, he wrote.
“We proclaim Jesus Christ not to procure as many members as possible for our community, and still less in order to gain power,” the retired Pope wrote. “We speak of him because we feel the duty to transmit that joy which has been given to us.”

Benedict's words, coupled with what Pope Francis had to say yesterday, are challenging words particularly aimed, it would seem, at the many in the culture who'd rather see faith pushed to the margins of one's life, who are made uncomfortable when the tenets of faith are proclaimed, who fidget, fuss, wiggle and squirm about truth claims and dogmas.

Every baptized Catholic should take notice when someone like Pope Benedict warns of that which is lethal to faith.

Are we listening?