Liberation Theology

[tnavarro61]

I know of a commie religious sister who has reduced religious life into a mere social work. Her involvment with the commie has caused me great distress, especially when she appears on television during rallies. Her being commie is somehow "hidden" but with her writings and with her involvements with known commie groups, who can doubt?

I read of a critic of her, and the article mentions of her involvement with Liberation Theology. Somehow I am familiar with the term and how the Catholic Church frowns on it. But I would like to know in simple yet serious terms what Liberation theology is. Help me also to understand what is wrong with it. Is Liberation theology always Marxist?

Thank you very much.

Navo

[ExCorde]

In practical terms the idea behind Liberation Theology is "heaven on earth" and a result of the absolutization of the lack of faith in ministry to the poor and the oppressed. It asks for priests, theologians and religious to become politically involved in changing structures for the improvement of social conditions. It doesn't sound that awful to start with, right?

One of the best documents on it is the 1986 [url="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19860322_freedom-liberation_en.html"]Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation[/url].

I'll give you an example about me: I'm becoming a member of a movement with "Liberation" in its name, only that it's "Communion & Liberation" and the search for the true presence of God, in our contemporary lives and the face of others, is their focus (it's completely orthodox, if you don't know them). Yet, the confusion between focus and consequence seems to be rampant in Liberation theology. Instead of seeking God first, they seek to [i]materialize salvation[/i], if I can put it down to a few words.

So, man is the master and author of his personal wellness to the point that the religious mission loses meaning. Preaching the Gospel becomes denouncing the unjust conditions of social life - the priest becomes the activist, the politician. Paraguay even recently had a Liberation theology bishop who left ministry to become the president of their country (Fernando Lugo - incidentally he also already had a daughter at that point)!

Liberation theology always espouses materialism even if it tries to veil it under religious expressions and in that sense you could say it's always marxist. An important factor of confusion is the Church's "option for the poor" that they interpret as the very marxist idea of class struggle, also considering the rich as the [i]enemy[/i] (and often considering the Church's hierarchy as part of the privileged). So this type of Christianity is a material struggle, not a spiritual one. All sins are collective, in that sense. This effectively prevents "Communion" from taking place.

Another good idea that got corrupted was that of the local churches as a "Base Christian Community" if I recall correctly. It's sort of a decentralization of the parish structure and making the people (democratically) more involved.

For real clarification on the meaning of authentic liberty and justice for a Christian, check the above document (I haven't yet read it in detail myself but it's the Church's direct and official response to that ecclesial reality). I think the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology"]Wikipedia article on the subject[/url] has a good variety of details on its history if you want the gist of it.

We have the "Social Doctrine" of the Church to compete with Liberation theology. A compendium on that came out from the Roman Curia a few years ago.

Sadly, a lot of Jesuits in particular, after Pedro Arrupe, have made "social justice" their focus in ministry [i]at the expense[/i] of faithfulness to Church teaching. I personally believe this to be the root of so many misunderstandings and an apparent lack of orthodoxy among many of them today (particularly in Jesuit schools and universities everywhere - even at the Gregorian). It seems that things do go terribly wrong when you try to evangelize and be a missionary for "social justice" instead of "saving souls", and I think it would be important if we talked about that too here, especially since in North America, that's the visible expression of Liberation theology.

Edited February 6, 2011 by ExCorde

[CatherineM]

Liberation theology is going to be popular in places where the poor is especially marginalized. The poor don't have an easy time anywhere, but there are places where they truly are oppressed. Those who go to those countries to work with them, can sometimes get caught up in ideas about helping them temporally, and lose track of trying to help them spiritually. It is a very thin line to walk, and it is easy to fall to the wrong side.

[Brother Adam]

Thank you for that concise and well written explanation!

[Catherine Therese]

Another great resource on this is the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. It has about 18 different entries on 'liberation' and it might be a helpful place to go when engaging with conversation with your friend on the matter. You'll find that Liberation Theology and Catholic Social Doctrine are two very different things... generally when someone is drawn to Liberation Theology, what they're really seeking is the truth of Catholic Social Teaching. Maybe she'll be led to that through you?

[ExCorde]

[quote name='Catherine Therese' timestamp='1297251063' post='2210534']
Another great resource on this is the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. It has about 18 different entries on 'liberation'[/quote]

This is the one I mentioned! I think it's available in full at the Vatican's website but there are probably local editions, and you certainly wouldn't have a hard time finding an English version. That's because the bishops really care about this stuff due to their responsibilities in the institutional affairs of charities and others social works of the Church. We have a really nice website with great navigation for the whole document, sponsored by the portuguese bishops. And I got started in a study group on it a couple weeks ago too.

It can also formally be called "Catholic Social Teaching" instead of Doctrine, I guess it sounds more appealing. Anyway, here's the whole thing:

[url="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html"]Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church - Pontifical Council «Justice & Peace», 2004[/url]

I'm not sure if that's too solid reading for the sister, especially if she's not known to listen to magisterial teaching. You could probably mediate with her with the stuff we've said here first, but the main thing is to express solidarity with the cause of the poor.

Try to find signs of trauma for the injustices she may have experienced, because that's usually the cause of some impetuous reactions and initiatives. If so, just try to make her see the big picture again and how God matters. If she seems stable enough, then go ahead and reason with her all the way Rome.