|
Question 41: Why did the crusaders slaughter thousands of innocent people? What kind of God’s love and tolerance is that? (TR)
Answer: I would like to start with a brief description of the crusades in the narrow sense, i.e. the crusades to the Holy Land, penned by Ludwig Hagemann (Was glauben Christen? Die Grundaussagen einer Weltreligion. Herder-Taschenbuch nr. 1729, Freiburg, 1991, 126f.): When the Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1071 A.D, the returning pilgrims reported harassment and obstructions from the new rulers. This news was not to remain without effect. When Caesar Alexius I. (1081-1118) then called on Pope Urban II (1088-1099) for help because of the threat to Constantinople, the pope’s call for assistance for Christians in the orient and for the liberation of the Holy Land from Muslim occupation, at the Synod of Clermont on 27 November 1095, ignited a mass movement which united the peoples of the occident for two centuries across all national borders.
"Deus lo volt“, God wills it, was the all conquering slogan. The pope himself led the crusade movement.
The original goal was never achieved. On the contrary, all attempts to re-establish Christian dominance in the Holy Land were only successful for a limited period of time; in the final analysis, they all failed. The motivation behind the movement, which had originally been purely religious, became to be obscured behind a passion for war and adventure, a thirst for blood and the clamor for loot and power. The relationship between Christians and Muslims was put under the most severe pressure with the consequence of a new Islamic solidarity against Christians. The Eastern Church was more embittered than before. Efforts to establish a union remained without success, and the gap between the Western and the Eastern Church was deepened by the, albeit short-term, establishment of the Latin Empire in Constantinople (1204-61).
In 2004, an impressive, well-researched exhibition in the Bischöfliches Dom- und Diozesanmuseum in Mainz with the title "No war is holy. The crusades” has generated much interest. The prologue to this exhibition states:
"The history of the crusades has often been described in a very idealistic light, and has been exploited by the State and the Church for political and religious reasons.
The 19th century with its romantic admiration of knights and chivalry saw the deeds of the crusaders as expressing bravery, gallantry and nobleness, and the fear of God.
This way of thinking is represented by the fresco in the Cathedral of Speyer showing the great crusade preacher Bernhard of Clairvaux, which clearly illustrates the uncritical, romanticized depiction of an important historic event. Such depictions of history have little in common with reality.
The crusades were bloody, cruel wars of conquest that caused wretchedness and suffering.
But those who from the year 1095 took up the cross acted according to the values of their time, which we today still find very hard to understand. The crusaders considered the "liberation of the Holy Land from the hands of the unbelievers“ "a just war“ which God himself had authorized through the Pope.
The consequences of this pious belief were immense. In any case, the idea of the crusades, the mixed motives of many who took part in them and the ways in which they actually took shape in history is tainted by error and sin. The crusades not only led to hundreds of thousands of dead, but also and importantly to the deep separation of the oriental Muslim and the occidental Christian world, the traces of which can still be seen today.
The Roman church played a major part in this development, and for this reason, Pope John Paul II spoke clearly on this issue: In Athens on May, 5th 2001, he made an appeal for pardon of the sins, which "the sons and daughters of the Catholic Church“committed against orthodox Christians. He specifically named the conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204. It was the first visit of a Roman pontiff in Greece for more than 1000 years.
On May 6th 2001, the Holy Father visited the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus. He expressed his hope that “Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will represent our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict." For the first time in history a Roman pontiff had set foot inside a mosque.
This public admission and the appeal for pardon for the injustices of the crusades, which were partly the fault of the church, should give the necessary encouragement to improve the relationship between the three monotheistic faith communities of Christians, Jews and Muslims“ (quoted from the prologue of the exhibition mentioned above. No war is holy. The crusades. Signage accompanying the exhibition Mainz: Bischöfliches Dom- und Diözesanmuseum, 2004)
Pope John Paul II declared the first Sunday of Lent of the Jubilee year 2000 (12th March) to be the “Day of Pardon”. 2000 was the year in which Christians celebrated the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and the beginning of the third millennium. In his homily that Sunday, the Pope said: (the following to the end of this question is copied from the official website http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000312_pardon_en.html)
"Before Christ, who, out of love, took our guilt upon himself, we are all invited to make a profound examination of conscience. One of the characteristic elements of the Great Jubilee is what I described as the "purification of memory" (Bull Incarnationis mysterium, n. 11). As the Successor of Peter, I asked that "in this year of mercy the Church, strong in the holiness which she receives from her Lord, should kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters" (ibid.). Today, the First Sunday of Lent, seemed to me the right occasion for the Church, gathered spiritually round the Successor of Peter, to implore divine forgiveness for the sins of all believers. Let us forgive and ask forgiveness!
Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in his merciful love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbor, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.
Let us confess, even more, our responsibilities as Christians for the evils of today. We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries.
We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the Church.
At the same time, as we confess our sins, let us forgive the sins committed by others against us. Countless times in the course of history Christians have suffered hardship, oppression and persecution because of their faith. Just as the victims of such abuses forgave them, so let us forgive as well. The Church today feels and has always felt obliged to purify her memory of those sad events from every feeling of rancour or revenge. In this way the Jubilee becomes for everyone a favorable opportunity for a profound conversion to the Gospel. The acceptance of God's forgiveness leads to the commitment to forgive our brothers and sisters and to be reconciled with them.
Question 42: ”What kind of religion is Christianity, in view to the fact that Protestants don’t recognize Catholics as Christians and claim, Catholics will go to hell. And this, although Protestants and Catholics believe in the same prophet and the same gospels! Does your scripture not teach you about tolerance? Are views like the ones mentioned not cruel and without compassion? Will only Protestants go to Heaven? Can those teachings be found in your Holy Scriptures?” (TR)
Question 43: ”Could you please briefly summarize your view of Protestant Christians? According to Catholic teaching, are they condemned to go to hell?” (TR)
Answer (to questions 42 & 43): These two questions appear to be largely concerned with the following issues:
a. What, from the Catholic point of view, constitutes the unity of the Church?
b. In what respect has this unity been violated in the course of history?
c. How does the Church try to restore this unity?
d. How does the Church see its relationship with non-Catholic Christians?
I will answer these questions based on the pronouncements of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and especially the dogmatic constitution on the church Lumen Gentium (LG) and the decree on ecumenism "Unitatis Reintegratio“ (=UR), as well as the subsequently published official Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Katechismus der Katholischen Kirche (=KK) (Munich u. a.: 1993) ISBN 3 486-56005 or 3 486 55999 0.
It should be clarified that in our day May most protestants would not at all subscribe to the claim attributed in Questions 42 to the Protestants, that “Catholics will go to hell” just because of being Catholics.
Ad a) What, from the Catholic point of view, constitutes the unity of the church?
The Church is one, because of its origin, the unity of the one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Trinity. It is one, because of its founder, Jesus Christ, and it is one because of its soul, the Holy Spirit who dwells in the believer and who fulfills and guides the whole Church.
From its beginning there has been much diversity within the Church. This originates from the diversity of God’s gifts, but also from the diversity of the people who receive those gifts. This diversity among its members arises either by reason of their duties, as is the case with those who exercise the sacred ministry for the good of their brethren, or by reason of their condition and state of life, as is the case with those many who enter the religious state and, tending toward holiness by a narrower path, stimulate their brethren by their example. Moreover, within the Church particular Churches hold a rightful place; these Churches retain their own traditions, without in any way opposing the primacy of the Chair of Peter, which presides over the whole assembly of charity (cf. LG: http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2church.htm, German: http://www.stjosef.at/konzil/LG.htm)
This rich diversity does not oppose the unity of the Church, but sin and its consequences constantly burden and threaten this gift of unity " (KK 814).
What are the ties of unity of the Church? First of all, it is love, “the bond of perfection“ (Colossians 3:14). The unity of the church is also ensured with the following visible ties:
- the commitment to one and the same apostolic faith ;
- celebrating worship together, especially the sacraments
- apostolic succession, i.e. the continuous succession of Bishops and Priests going back to the Apostles, which through the sacrament of consecration sustains brotherly harmony in the family of God.
"This is the one Church of Christ … which our Savior, after His Resurrection, commissioned Peter to shepherd, and him and the other apostles to extend and direct with authority…. This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in [Lat: subsistit in] the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him” (LG 8).
Ad b) In which way has this unity been violated in the course of history?
“Very early on there were already splits in this one and only church of God, which the Apostle (St. Paul) criticizes severely; in later centuries, more dramatic differences developed and not unimportant sections of the community separated from the full community of the Catholic Church, occasionally not without guilt of people on both sides“ (UR 3).
Among the communities which developed after the separation from the Catholic Church are the “Protestants”.
”But those who have now been born into such communities and who are filled with faith in Christ, cannot be blamed for the separation, and the Catholic Church meets them with brotherly respect and love. ...they are justified through their belief in Baptism and are part of the body of Christ, and therefore they deserve the honorable name of Christians, and the Catholic Church rightly recognizes them as brothers in Christ.” (UR 3).
Furthermore, beyond the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church, “many elements of sanctification and of truth are found “(LG 8): “the written word of God, the life of grace, faith, hope and love, and other internal gifts of the Holy Spirit and visible elements” (UR 3). The Spirit of Christ uses these churches and the church communities as a means towards salvation. Their strength results from the fulfillment of the grace and truth, which Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these goods come from Christ, lead to Him and on their own accord, strive towards Catholic unity (cf. LG 2-3).
Ad c) With which means does the Church strive to re-establish unity?
Christ always gives His Church the gift of unity, but the Church must pray and work constantly to retain, strengthen and perfect this unity Christ wishes for it. The following is necessary to fulfill the promise of this:
- the constant renewal of the Church towards a greater faithfulness in its calling. This renewal is the power of the movement towards unity.
- the conversion of the heart to strive towards a pure life in accordance with the Gospels, because the unfaithfulness of the members of the Catholic Church to the gift of Christ is a cause of the separation this Church.
- joint prayer, because "the conversion of the heart and the holiness of life, together with private and public prayer for Christian unity, are to be considered the soul of the whole ecumenical movement; it can rightly be called spiritual ecumenism.“ (UR 8)
- Brotherly knowledge of each other
- ecumenical education of believers and especially of the priests
- conversations amongst theologians and the meeting of Christians in the various Churches and communities
- cooperation between Christians in the various kinds of service to mankind.
Ad d) How does the Church view the relationship of non-Catholic Christians with itself?
”All men are called to be part of this Catholic unity of the people of God….And to this belongs or are in various ways related to it, the Catholic faithful, all who believe in Christ, and indeed the whole of mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation.“ (LG 13).
”They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The ties which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion. He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a "bodily" manner and not "in his heart." (LG 14).
”The Church recognizes that in many ways she is linked with those who, being baptized, are honored with the appellation of Christian, though they do not profess the faith in its entirety or do not preserve unity of communion with the successor of Peter. (LG 15). "He who believes in Christ and has received Baptism in the correct manner, is in a certain, albeit incomplete communion with the Catholic Church“ (UR 3). Communion with the orthodox churches is so deep that only very little is missing to achieve the fullness required to permit the joint celebration of the Eucharist.“ (Pope Paul VI, Sermon of December 14th, 1975) (see also KK 836-838).
Question 44: “If I understand correctly, the protestants claim that Jesus has forgiven you all your sins and that he has promised you the Kingdom of Heaven. This would mean that you could now commit as many sins as you like, be as evil as you wish, because you have already been saved. How can it be possible to believe in this teaching in the Gospels? Could you not be wrong here? Do the Gospels really teach a faith which encourages people to commit sins? What is your view about this? (For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it inot from works, so n one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).“ (TR)
Answer: The New Testament itself recognizes the danger of such a complete misunderstanding of its teachings. I recommend the careful reading of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 5:12-6:23, and his letter to the Galatians 6:1-10. The Epistle of James, which the Catholic Church regards as highly as all the other letters from the Apostles, firmly rejects this misunderstanding. See especially James 1:14-26.
It is the task of the Church Councils to clarify teachings which have led or which can lead to misunderstandings, using not only scripture, but also availing themselves of theology. The following dogmatic constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the church, Lumen Gentium (40), comments the question of grace, good works and sanctification:
40. The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consummator of this holiness of life: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48)… The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God's gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live "as becomes saints"(Eph 5:3), and to put on "as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience"(Col. 3:12) and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness (Gal. 5:22; Rom 6,22). Since truly we all offend in many things (James 3:2) we all need God's mercies continually and we all must daily pray: "Forgive us our debts" (Matthew 6:12).
Question 45: “What did your Messiah whom you call God, say? How many Gods do you have? Who is it, this Messiah is God next to? The way you describe it, it is not clear whether he (the Messiah) is a lawyer or God. “Who will condem? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us (Romans 8:34; see also Hebrews 7:25). "My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one" (1John 2:1). (TR)
Answer: In this slightly confusingly phrased question and the list of biblical quotations, I detect the following core questions: (a) "How many Gods do you have (in view to your belief in the Jesus Christ as the Son of God)? (b) and further: In which sense do you understand Jesus to be your "advocate“ before God at the same time as being one of the three godly "persons“ in the mystery of the triune God?
Ad a)
Firstly, I would like to refer to the above text of chapters 2 and 5 of the book, as well as to the relevant Questions and Answers.
In the following I shall merely cite sections 232-234 from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“232 Christians are baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:29). Before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit: "I do." "The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity." (Caesarius of Arles, symb.)
233 Christians are baptized in the name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names (plural), for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.
234 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the "hierarchy of the truths of faith". The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men "and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin".
Ad b)
The word paraclete (gr. paraklêtos) is an expression of Johannine literature in the New Testament. It designs the function of something rather than its nature: one who is “called to the side of”, who plays the active role of assistant, advocate, supporter. This function is held also by Jesus Christ, who in heaven is “our advocate with the Father,” interceding on behalf of sinners (1 John 2:1); and here below on earth by the Holy Spirit, who actualizes the presence of Jesus, since He is, the revealer and the defender of Jesus (John 14,16f.26f; 15:26f; 16:7-11.13ff). “The Advocate (=the Paraclete), the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you" (John 14:26). That is to say that after Jesus’ departure the Holy Spirit will take His place as Paraclete among the believers, John 14:16-17; 16:7, see also 1:33.It is the Paraclete, the advocate, the helper, who intercedes with the Father or who acts as an advocate in worldly courts, 15:26, see also Luke 12:11-12; Matthew 10:19-20; Acts 5:32. It is the Spirit of Truth (8:32), who leads into the whole Truth because He leads the believers to understanding the mysterious person of Christ: how Christ fulfills the scriptures (5:39), what is the meaning of His words (2:19), His deeds, His "signs“(14:16; 16:13; 1 John 2:20 f; 27). The Disciples had previously not understood any of this (2:22; 12:16; 13:7; 20:9). Thus the Spirit testifies to Jesus (5:26, 1 John 5:6-7) and "he will convict the world to sin and righteousness and condemnation", 16:8-11.
It is a grave misunderstanding to relate the quoted verses from St. John’s Gospel and the term paráklètos not to the Holy Spirit, but to Muhammad, the Son of Abdullah and Prophet of Islam, as seen, for example, in the commentary by Maulana Muhammad Ali, The Holy Qur’an, Lahore, 1951, n. 2496 to explain Sura 61:6. See also Adel Theodore Khoury, Der Koran. Arabisch-Deutsch. Übersetzung und wissenschaftlicher Kommentar, Band 12 (Gütersloh, 2001), P. 97. Anm. 3 zu Sure 61,6.
In the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is called "the mediator of a new covenant “(Hebrews 9:15; 12:24), the new covenant which supersedes the old one (Hebrews: 8:6). The people who come before God through Jesus are saved forever (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is “the mediator”, “the high priest”. However, it was “not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: 'you are my son; this day I have begotten you'" (Hebrews 5:5) and he has come to do this will (Hebrews 10:7 ff). In 1 Timothy 2:5, Jesus is again called the mediator, who being fully human has been able to be the “savior“ of all mankind (verse 4), through His death as a "ransom“ for them (verse 6). Thus Jesus Christ in his very person "reconciles“ God and mankind.
Question 46: Do you recognize Islam and Muhammad? If the answer is yes, which is the final religion, Christianity or Islam? If your answer is “Islam”, do you then declare Christianity as over, i.e. should not all Christians convert to Islam? (TR)
Answer: Please start by reading earlier in this webpage in our book chapter 4, Muhammad and the Christian Faith and especially part IV, 3-5 and the excursus at the end of the same chapter. Furthermore, chapter 12 of the same book: The Heart of Christianity shows what constitutes for Christian believers the core of their faith. It is the direct, self-emptying love of God, which lights the path of the believer in the teachings, the life, suffering and death of the resurrected Jesus, the Messiah. Christians meet Jesus and the power of His love in prayer, faith, acting in the community of all Christians, in the Church. He or she is called to witness to this love through a life of service and dedication to other people. Wherever Christians discover these traces of the love of God in Christ Jesus, also in the life of Muslims, who are fully devoted to God and to the service of mankind, they will thank God who offers His gifts to all people. Christians will connect as much as possible with such people and their works. In this sense, the Catholic Church, therefore, "exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men“ (Paragraph 2). And it calls on Christians and Muslims in particular: “to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom”.“ (Paragraph 3) (2. Vatican Council: Nostra Aetate). [Web reference: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html]
Question 47: The Gospels are distinguished through their beautiful language and content. But how are we to understand and interpret the many verses in the Old Testament which contain violence (e.g. Deuteronomy 13:15; Exodus 32:27)? (TR)
Answer: Please read the second part of the answer to the above question number 28.
I would also like to add (from the book: Glaubensverkündigung für Erwachsene. Deutsche Ausgabe des Holländischen Katechismus, Nijmwegen-Utrecht, 1966): He who opens the Old Testament himself happens upon pages of compelling magnificence and others, which appear stony and sparse like rough mountain terrain.
“Much of the confusion we feel reading [the Old Testament] stems from the fact that we really expect a nice and edifying book, a book which shows us many good things. However, already in the stories of the patriarchs in the book of Genesis, raw, cruel and, to our mind, immoral deeds are being told with great calm. We who read it should know that the Bible is not an edifying book, but that it reflects reality. God is accompanying a yet primitive mankind. Only in the due course of time morals, or at least views on ideal morals, become more refined. In the story of Abraham, we are not invited to do everything just as he does, but to concentrate on the overall moral of the story: how he has remained faithful to Yahweh throughout. To read the Old Testament well, a long, overarching view is required. You have to be able to imagine that other people do things differently.
Reading will not be so difficult in cases, where the misdeeds are clearly highlighted as evil, for example concerning the sin of Sodom, or where the sins are specifically mentioned, for example the deception of Lot’s daughters (Genesis 19). Sometimes, however, it appears as though God stood behind it, as for example in the case of the deception of Jacob (Genesis 27) and even more strongly, in the case of the extermination of the Canaanites (Joshua 8). It says there that Yahweh himself gave the order for this. (See above, answer to question 27.)
However, we also have to consider these cases as a kind of primitive imperfectness. People didn’t know any better in those times, or, in order to keep the Service of Yahweh clean, they had to use the methods of their time and their level of cultural development. The ways of God had not yet been understood deeply enough. Remaining faithful to Yahweh alone was already very much.
How incomplete and prone to human error matters in the Old Testament are can be deducted from Jesus’ words about the fact that a man could simply send his wife away. This occurred, as Jesus said, “because of the hardness of their hearts” (see also Matthew 19:8). It was by no means God’s true intention. The same can be said for the murders mentioned in the book of Joshua. These, by the way, were much less numerous than the quoted figures suggest; much smaller than the exterminated Native Americans in the USA, or the Jews under Hitler.
Question 48: Prophets are sent by God and shall also be examples. But if one reads the stories of David and Solomon, it becomes clear that both have committed grave sins. How can these persons be prophets? (TR)
Answer: Please start by reading the first section to the answer to question 27. The patriarchs, the prophets and other major characters in the Old Testament, among them holy women like Sarah, Rebecca, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther, were and still are revered by the church as saints. According to Catholic teaching, saints are people who have lived their faith in a convincing, even heroic manner. Such holiness does not mean that one or the other of them cannot have committed sins. Neither is it primarily based on extraordinary or highly visible good deeds, rather it is visible in extraordinary faithfulness, love and patience in the ordinary and daily life, in the glorification of God and in the service to mankind, especially in the bearing of suffering, persecution and tribulations of all kind. All of this is in them as the fruit of their openness towards God’s presence in them. The Islamic doctrine of the sinlessness (‘isma) of the prophets, does not exist in the Bible or in Christian teachings. According to this Islamic teaching “the prophets of God cannot commit any sins. With respect to their belief and their religious faithfulness, they can neither err nor betray. The sunna has turned every prophet into a ma‘sûm, i.e. a person who has been equipped with the privilege of being protected from evil and error. God has forgiven all the sins they may have committed before they were chosen by Him because of their human“ (Cheikh Si Hamza Boubakeur, Traité Moderne de Théologie Islamique. Paris, 1985, p. 127).
Question 49: Are Muslims who wish to become Christians given any kind of preferment? (TR)
Answer: Christian communities all over the world have the duty to take seriously the wish of adult Muslims to become Christians. At the same time, the Church calls on them to take care to ensure that the decision to become a Christian is wholly free from any external or internal force, and that the motive for this step is solely the wish to follow the teachings of Christ and to become one of his followers. This also implies that Christian communities may not show any kind of preferment, material or otherwise, to people who ask to be initiated into Christian teaching and to be baptized, as this might contaminate the freedom and purity of their motivation.
Baptism comes at the end of a process of initiation that has several stages. This process of initiation into the faith and the preparation for Baptism is called the Catechumenate.
The time of preparation [i.e. the Catechumenate] shall enable the catechumen to respond to God’s offer of salvation and to mature their conversion and their faith in unity with the Christian community. It is an introduction and practicing of the whole of a Christian life, through which the disciples are being joined with Christ, their Lord. The catechumens thus have to be introduced to the mystery of salvation; through practicing a lifestyle in accordance with the Gospels and through a succession of holy rites they are to be introduced step by step into the life of faith, the liturgy and the loving community of God’s people“ (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church nr. 1247-1248).
"The catechumens are already joined with the Church, they already belong to the House of Christ, and very often they already lead a life of faith, hope and love“(Ad Gentes 14). “With love and solicitude, Mother Church already embraces them as her own. (Lumen Gentium 14)“ (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1249).
|
