“Without ‘Nostra Aetate,’ I Wouldn’t Be Catholic”

Last updated on: November 2, 2015 at 4:35 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

“Without ‘Nostra Aetate,’ I Wouldn’t Be Catholic” 2015-11-02T16:35:36-05:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here’s something you don’t hear often, from Jordan Denari, a researcher at Georgetown University:

If I had never encountered a five-paragraph document, with a Latin title, written 50 years ago, it is very unlikely that I would still be Catholic today.

That brief declaration, Nostra Aetate, was put forth by the Catholic Church during the Second Vatican Council, which concluded fifty years ago this fall. Meaning “in our time,” Nostra Aetate is not revolutionary for how it speaks about Catholicism, but rather how it speaks about other religions. I came across it in an undergraduate course on Catholicism, during a time when I was reconnecting with my faith after a few years of exploration and questioning. But, assuming Catholicism had a very oppositional stance theologically to other religions, I was hesitant to return wholeheartedly. I had explored Islam and gotten to know many Muslims, and didn’t think I could make a home in a religion that absolutely closed the door of salvation to non-Christians (a stance I thought Catholicism must certainly espouse.)

But upon reading Nostra Aetate and the other council documents that lay out the Church’s orientation to other religions, I realized that the Church’s stance was much closer to my own view than I had previously known.

Without compromising its own truth claims, the Church in Nostra Aetate praises what is “true and holy” in other traditions like Islam and acknowledges that aspects of other religions “reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.” In a section of Nostra Aetate dedicated particularly to Muslims, the Church praises their belief in a “merciful” God, their commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and their devotion to Mary and Jesus, among other things (Nostra Aetate, 3). As Francis X. Clooney put it in a talk he gave last May, it points out “whatever is true and honorable — period.” The declaration was intentionally uncritical and singularly positive.

In Lumen Gentium, the most important theological “constitution” of the council, the Church leaves the door of salvation poetically ajar to those of other faiths, saying that because the “Saviour wills that all men be saved,” “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator” as well as those who sincerely seek God and live by their conscience, and even those who “have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God…” (Lumen Gentium, 16)…

…In the years since I encountered Nostra Aetate, I have come to embrace my Catholic faith even more, while also feeling empowered by my tradition to remain engaged with Muslims and their faith.

Read more.

And check out this assessment from my CNEWA colleague Fr. Elias D. Mallon:

Although often mistakenly referred to as the “Church’s Decree on Jews,” the changes that the declaration brought about between Christians and Jews were probably the most visible ones for people in the Western world. For centuries, Christians had looked down on Judaism as a religion that had become overcome. Supercessionism, as it is called, saw the advent of Christianity as rendering Judaism empty and without value. Throughout more than a thousand years Jews suffered — often with violent consequences — under the accusation of deicide. That is to say, Jews were held to be responsible for having killed God in Jesus. The Catholic Church repudiated this forever in Nostra Ætate: “… what happened in His [i.e., Christ’s] passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures” (Par. 4).

…There are also still far too many places in the world where Christians and other peoples of faith suffer for what they believe, often at the hands of other believers. Nonetheless, the trajectory set by the declaration has been nothing short of incredible. The Catholic Church — as well as other Christian communities around the world — has set up dialogues with the major religions of the world. Programs of education have made what was once strange and exotic better understood and familiar. In an almost prophetic way, Nostra Ætate prepared the way spiritually for the huge movement and displacement of peoples that would take place in the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries.

Read it all.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 2, 2015

In Private Ceremony, Pope Francis Baptizes Son of Argentinian "Waste-Picker"

Next Post

November 2, 2015 Behold: World's Best Altar Servers

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Mad Men" 9/11 advent All Things New Amazing video amazing videos amazon america Anglicans Anti-Catholicism art ascension thursday ash wednesday Atheists baltimore Bible Bishops Blogging bonnie engstrom Books bridgeport Brooklyn Chaplains children christian art christmas Church Churches CNEWA Converts criticism Deacons Death Penalty easter eastern christian Eastern Christians Ecumenism education Education Eucharist Europe euthanasia Evangelization Exorcism Family Feasts Gay rights Good Friday Great links Great Moments in Journalism Hanging with the saints heather renshaw Hispanic Catholics Hispanics History homelies Homilies Humor Hymn of the Week Immigration indianapolis Inspiration Interfaith news ireland Jesus Jews Journalism Judaism lent Liturgy logos Marriage Mary Media Medical news Mental health Middle East Monks Movies Music Muslims My world and welcome to it New Evangelization new york News Nuns Parenting Parish life peoria Persecution Politics politics Pope pope francis pope john paul Prayer Preaching Priests Pro-life Quote of the day radio rebecca frech ripp Ripped from the headlines rippred from the headlines Sacraments saints Scripture sex abuse Sex abuse crisis SEX ABUSE CRISIS TAGGED WITH: SEX ABUSE CRISIS The people in the pews the visitation project theatre This & that Thomas Merton Trappists TV Uncategorized uncategorized Vatican VATICAN vocation Vocations Voices & Views Women Worth a thousand words Writing Year of Faith year of mercy young people

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of ____, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Wisdom Hope Faith Strength

Books by This Author Books by Deacon Greg Kandra

See All Titles »