Ratzinger, Joseph. SALT OF THE EARTH

Ratzinger, Joseph, cardinal. SALT OF THE EARTH: The Church at the End of the Millennium: an Interview with Peter Seewald. Translated by Adrian Walker. Ignatius Press 1997. 8vo. 283pp. Paper. ISBN 0-89870-640-2. $12.95

Joseph, Cardinal Ratzinger has had a bad press. (Looking at his beaming face, one is tempted to refer to him as Joe). Those for whom the definition of the Hypostatic Union, or the Procession of the Holy Ghost, or the more abstruse of the theological distinctions are questions of great matter will not find a discussion in this book. Instead, the Prefect of the Holy Office (the dreaded Black Inquisition of overactive imaginations) responds to a wide variety of questions that are the stuff of the popular press. And as the popular press does in its curious way reflect the vox populi they are the questions - respectfully put - which agitate the minds, and thus the souls, of men today.
There is a delight that arises because the cardinal is a German, or properly, a Bavarian. He has the earnestness, the seriousness, of that race. (Of Italy, he comments with that same seriousness: "political systems collapse, and then nothing really changes". Like the aqueducts and the roads, it's been that way for over two millennia). The seriousness might best be thought of as the earnestness with which, in the popular imagination, a German having had a joke explained to him, laughs and laughs and laughs. He laughs seriously, as a tribute to the joke. And continues to explain it: "It is like when you are full of joy. You must communicate it in some way". He has a good phrase for this: the Bible is full of what seem to be contradictions, but are really paradoxes. Look at the size of an acorn; look at the size of an oak.
From his account, the cardinal didn't want to take on his job; nor did he want to become a bishop; he wanted to be a parish priest, writing dissertations and learned papers on the Franciscan theology of St. Bonaventure, and explaining the teachings of the Church to the local children, those brutes quick to spot contradictions. (His sermons for children packed the house with adult listeners).
The questions put by the reporter - there are a few theological bits - are chiefly what are called pastoral concerns. Joseph (I can't resist it) took as his model the doings of St. Augustine. Augustine was also a man who loved theological disputes but had to deal with daily problems; such as the propriety of having a brothel in the city. (St. Augustine was not against it, which is not the same thing as being for it. He would know where his straying sheep might be found). So also the cardinal does not avoid the simple hard questions: contraception, remarriage after divorce, celibacy, women priests. To these he gives, gently, the answer which is the answer of common sense. He does not think he can make people chaste; he can only point out what happens when you are not. Like the doctor who points out the effects of bad eating habits. He refers to the lady who was all for the ordination of women. She came to realize that ordination entails subordination. She wants even less of that and has decided against ordination in general. (One step more and she'll come full circle to ordaining men to keep them subordinate).

Of greater interest to U.S. Americans is the account of the doings of the Church in other countries. And his view of events; of protestant sects, of divisions within the Church, of the Orthodox church, of Judaism, of Islam, of Buddhism. It will perhaps come as a surprise that, large as our country is, it is a minority in the world. Those who yearn for a more democratic Church would be upset to be outnumbered by the larger part of the one billion Catholics throughout the world. Most of them do not speak American College English; they speak their own funny languages; as Mark Twain observed, even their kids do. Fortunately for us these matters are not decided by majority vote.
The translation is well done. Which is to say, it is clear; while retaining just those touches that remind us that it is a translation. (One minor flaw: the subtitle should read "The Church at the Turn of the Millenium (Jahrtausendwende)"). Perhaps the cardinal will one day be allowed to get back to his theological dissertations; to write his great book; to explain things to children in the local parish. We are fortunate that the Holy Father decided he would meanwhile be useful where he is. He is a good brake (but not a wet blanket) on the enthusiasts of both "right" and "left", the "traditionalists" and the "rebellious". He does not wish "a plague on both your houses", but visits both. He is a vigorous moderate, the best kind of radical; one who listens to questions and is delighted by them. ("That's a good question"). For there are no answers to questions that haven't been asked.
This is a good book, easy to read and easy to understand. The cardinal takes up the questions as they are asked; he pretty well covers the territory, sometimes with answers, sometimes with pointers, and occasionally (following Maimonides' suggestion) "I don't know". (Who does understand how they do politics in Italy?). For those who have (and which of us has not?) read many slanders on him, it's a book which lets the man speak for himself. It's one to be read by those who would criticize him because of what they have read about him, rather than by him.
Highly recommended for subscribers to America and Commonweal looking for a balanced diet. And subscribers to Sursum Corda, so's not to get carried away in an attempt to be more Catholic than the Pope. John Paul and Cardinal Ratzinger, like all our bishops, have been given us by the Holy Spirit. They are what we have to work with; we, the ever bleating never satisfied unruly sheep, are what they have to work with. Where they get the patience to explain the same thing over and over again, the Holy Spirit (with the Father and the Son) alone knows.