by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA 2023 Teacher of Peace
In recent decades it has become almost an article of faith that humanity is in a moment of epic change and crisis – that the only constant is that there is a new paradigm emerging.
This is especially true for thinking Christian-Catholics as, in the prescient observation of mid-20th century theologian Karl Rahner, SJ, we find ourselves in a “wintry season.” All the secondary beliefs and practices like novenas, Eucharistic processions, Marian devotions have fallen away and in large measure, Rahner’s devastating description, that the words of preachers fall powerlessly from the pulpit “like birds frozen to death and falling from a winter sky.”
Now comes a book that proposes in that the crisis facing the Church may herald not the extinction of Christianity but its transformation. Entitled “The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change,” it is written by Tomas Halík, a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher theologian and professor at the Charles University of Prague. (In the February 29 issue of The Tablet, the renowned journalist Austen Ivereigh offers a summary of the book. His essay is worth reading, if not the book itself. ) Halík’s personal history is fascinating and underscores the refreshing outlook he conveys. Converted to Catholicism at age 18, Halík was deeply involved in the 1968 “Prague Spring” when Czechoslovkia attempted a reform movement within the Soviet bloc. He gained a doctorate in sociology and philosophy from Charles University but was banned by Communist authorities from holding academic posts. After priestly ordination, Halík became a key figure in the underground Eastern European churches of the 1980s. During the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II, he was a consultor to the Vatican office for dialogue with non-believers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, he has remained at Charles University, written numerous books on religion and spirituality and, importantly, serves as pastor of the academic parish of San Salvador.
In the title he borrows the Jungian metaphor that “afternoon” in human experience is a time of maturity, depth and humility – an abandonment of self-sufficiency and an uncovering of buried talents. Applying that metaphor to the present moment in the Church, Halík claims that its “afternoon” is the fork in the road which the Church has now reached: “Whether to hunker down in beleaguered self-referentiality or to go out of itself to encounter the risen Christ appearing in barely recognizable forms in the Galilee of our day.”
He has dedicated the book to Pope Francis and praises the pope’s synodal dream. He emphasizes the values of “none spirituality” and says that “maybe now there is a chance for Francis’ synodal and missionary reform to meet and engage with this spirituality, to come out of itself to accompany that restlessness and searching, to meet that anguished, unquiet young heart in the Galilee of contemporary culture.” An obstacle facing this healthy and crucial “afternoon” in the Church are many of its leaders who, in Halík’s words, “remain obsessed with slogans from culture wars long since lost, harping on narrow moral questions while oblivious to the epidemic of malaise in society, seen especially in the young.”
Father Halík’s thesis reminds one of the current maturing process in Pax Christi USA. Thanks to the vision and energy of Johnny Zokovitch and other Pax Christi leaders, we have seen our organization turn toward a younger and more diverse membership, watching this “afternoon” happen right in our midst. As Johnny passes his baton to a new executive director, we thank him for creating this new moment in Pax Christi USA.
Now passing the halfway point in what Pope Francis has called the synod’s “most challenging and important stage – when we must become ‘prophetic’” – Halík dreams: “Just maybe we’ll meet the risen Christ in a form we will struggle at first to recognize, and he’ll lead us with our ‘none’ friends into our new ‘afternoon’ home.”
Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the 2023 Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.
Thank you for writing this — your hope is clear. I think that many of us share your hope and see the path forward, not going back.
I agree with what you stated. It is time to be “Prophetic” . We must meet the Christ within us and allow His Spirit to lead us..Thank you for your words.
Thank you Fr Joe for making a solid connection with Christ in our journey through life especially now as we find ourselves in another crisis of historic proportions. How did we get here ? That’s a big question that needs our attention .
I heard recently that there are but two types of humans consisting of those who strive to get ahead, to own, gain power and control and those who despite the world around them see spirituality as the primary value of life. Also, the first group is much, much larger than the second. This is a clue to the misdirection of institutions of all kinds and many occupations.
But we all have gifts, our Salt, which we are born to use for good. Many have allowed their Salt to lose its flavor. So, the work ahead is to help humans seek spiritually without questioning their race or religion but only questioning the work of their hands.
We of the Gospel nonviolence working Group of the Association of US Catholic Priests look to PCUSA and Pax Christi International as institutional partners. While we see our primary members as priests in the U.S. Church, as we admit the number of younger priests in our Association is small, that perhaps PCUSA and PC Inter’l can establish connections with the Catholic youth who are part of the university students protesting their academic
institutions enabling the war in Gaza and beyond and that younger priests, accompanying these campus peace-seekers – if indeed some are — will eventually find in us “Vatican II and Vietnam Era” priests helpful to their priestly ministry, just as Father Nangle is in providing in this review of Tomas Halik’s priestly ministry.