- Title Pages
- Foreword
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Church and Society
- 1 University Theology as a Service to the Church
- 2 Teaching Authority in the Church
- 3 Catholicism and American Culture
- 4 Faith and Experience
- 5 Newman, Conversion, and Ecumenism
- 6 The Uses of Scripture in Theology
- 7 John Paul II and the New Evangelization
- 8 Historical Method and the Reality of Christ
- 9 Religion and the Transformation of Politics
- 10 The Church as Communion
- 11 The Prophetic Humanism of John Paul II
- 12 The Challenge of the Catechism
- 13 Crucified for Our Sake
- 14 John Paul II and the Advent of the New Millennium
- 15 Priesthood and Gender
- 16 The Travails of Dialogue
- 17 The Ignatian Tradition and Contemporary Theology
- 18 Mary at the Dawn of the New Millennium
- 19 Should the Church Repent?
- 20 Human Rights
- 21 Can Philosophy Be Christian?
- 22 Justification Today
- 23 The Papacy for a Global Church
- 24 The Death Penalty
- 25 Religious Freedom: A Developing Doctrine
- 26 Christ Among the Religions
- 27 When to Forgive
- 28 The Population of Hell
- 29 True and False Reform in the Church
- 30 John Paul II and the Mystery of the Human Person
- 31 The Rebirth of Apologetics
- 32 A Eucharistic Church
- 33 How Real Is the Real Presence?
- 34 Benedict XVI
- 35 The Mission of the Laity
- 36 The Ignatian Charism at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
- 37 Evolution, Atheism, and Religious Belief
- 38 Who Can Be Saved?
- Mcginley Lectures Previously Published
- Index
Should the Church Repent?
Should the Church Repent?
April 15, 1998
- Chapter:
- (p.262) 19 Should the Church Repent?
- Source:
- Church and Society
- Author(s):
Avery Cardinal Dulles
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
This chapter examines Pope John Paul II's proposals for repentance. The idea of acknowledging the faults of members of the Church, and especially of persons acting in the name of the Church, had been with John Paul II ever since his election to the papacy in the fall of 1978. The pope's proposals for repentance raised some very difficult theological questions that were debated by experts all over the world. The discussion points some common objections and replies under seven headings: the holiness of the Church, collective guilt, judging the past, apologizing for the faults of others, the risk of scandal, exploitation by hostile critics, and benefits to be expected. The chapter concludes that the program of contrition and reconciliation initiated by John Paul II was therefore charged with hope and promise.
Keywords: repentance, holiness, collective guilt, forgiveness, scandal, reconciliation
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- Title Pages
- Foreword
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Church and Society
- 1 University Theology as a Service to the Church
- 2 Teaching Authority in the Church
- 3 Catholicism and American Culture
- 4 Faith and Experience
- 5 Newman, Conversion, and Ecumenism
- 6 The Uses of Scripture in Theology
- 7 John Paul II and the New Evangelization
- 8 Historical Method and the Reality of Christ
- 9 Religion and the Transformation of Politics
- 10 The Church as Communion
- 11 The Prophetic Humanism of John Paul II
- 12 The Challenge of the Catechism
- 13 Crucified for Our Sake
- 14 John Paul II and the Advent of the New Millennium
- 15 Priesthood and Gender
- 16 The Travails of Dialogue
- 17 The Ignatian Tradition and Contemporary Theology
- 18 Mary at the Dawn of the New Millennium
- 19 Should the Church Repent?
- 20 Human Rights
- 21 Can Philosophy Be Christian?
- 22 Justification Today
- 23 The Papacy for a Global Church
- 24 The Death Penalty
- 25 Religious Freedom: A Developing Doctrine
- 26 Christ Among the Religions
- 27 When to Forgive
- 28 The Population of Hell
- 29 True and False Reform in the Church
- 30 John Paul II and the Mystery of the Human Person
- 31 The Rebirth of Apologetics
- 32 A Eucharistic Church
- 33 How Real Is the Real Presence?
- 34 Benedict XVI
- 35 The Mission of the Laity
- 36 The Ignatian Charism at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
- 37 Evolution, Atheism, and Religious Belief
- 38 Who Can Be Saved?
- Mcginley Lectures Previously Published
- Index
