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Where Do We Go From Here?
Six Lessons from the History
of Church Reform
Christopher M. Bellitto
For the first time since the years right after the Council
of Trent in the 1560s and Vatican II in 1960s, never have so
many been talking so much about reform so passionately. But church
reform goes far beyond Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517) and Vatican
II (1962-1965), and involves more than structural changes. In
fact, one theme endures throughout church history: as often as
we fail, God offers both the individual believer and the entire
institutional church the chance to reform our ways and renew
our commitments. As we debate change today, what lessons can
we draw from the history of church reform to light our way ahead?
LESSON THREE: The Institution and the People of God don't
falter at the same time
During the worst period of institutional chaos-the Great Western
Schism (1378-1417), when two and then three papacies and colleges
of cardinals competed for power-the church's faithful did not abandon
her. Quite the contrary: lay spirituality flourished, particularly
among the working classes. In northern Europe especially, a lay
movement called the devotio moderna offered the man and
woman in the pew a spirituality that encouraged them to take their
faith to their homes and workplaces. Families prayed together.
Small groups studied the Bible and shared faith stories. In vernacular
translations, they read saints' lives, homilies, miracle stories,
and even parts of the Mass. They kept prayer journals and jotted
down their reflections on gospel events.
When things were so bad that the Italian humanist Petrarch (1304-1374)
famously called the papal curia the "whore of Babylon," these
people of God remembered to keep straight their relationship with
Jesus. In the midst of a mess, they reformed by going back to essentials;
they renewed these essentials by applying the gospel to their day.
In this blackest period of the institution's life, the people of
God saved the church from herself. Surely they will do so again.
Christopher M. Bellitto, Ph.D., Academic Editor of
Paulist Press, is also a church historian and teacher. His most
recent books are the companion volumes Renewing
Christianity: A History of Church Reform from Day One to Vatican
II (Paulist Press, 2001) and The
General Councils: A History of the Twenty-One Church Councils
from Nicaea to Vatican II (Paulist
Press, 2002). He is also the author of Lost
and Found Catholics: Voices of Vatican II (St.
Anthony Messenger Press, 1999).
This article is reprinted, in a slightly different
form and with permission, from its initial publication in Catholic
Library World, a publication of the Catholic Library Association, www.cathla.org.,
to which the author expresses his thanks.
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