Question:  Jacob Prem

The celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation was in 2017. What does the Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation teach us? What did the Protestants and the Catholics gain out of it?

Answer:  Jacob Parappally MSFS

All revolutions in history have brought only the replacement of one system with another which may appear appealing and beneficial in the beginning justifying the great loss of lives and property during the revolution. However, the new system that replaced the old evolves to be enslaving and even brutal in the course of time necessitating another revolution. What is required for the progress of human unfolding as humans in the process of spiritual evolution is not revolution or reformation but constant conversion and transformation. The Protestant reformation was, in fact, not a reformation of the Church or Christian faith and practices in general but a schism or split in the Catholic Church initiated, organized and executed by those who believed that it was impossible to reform the Catholic Church and a heresy in the sense of choosing some doctrines of faith which were found acceptable and beneficial to the Reformers according to their private judgement. In the context of the challenges to its faith and practices the Catholic Church became reactive and defensive instead of becoming self-critical and pro-active. The Protestant group declaring itself independent from the community of Catholic faith eventually became so many splinter groups and denominations having no centre to hold them together though they claimed to have the Bible as their centre. Today, there are various attempts to critically assess the causes and conditions that led to the so called reformation by theologians, sociologists, economists, political analysts and others.

Attempts at Reformation ending in Revolution
The 500th anniversary of Reformation in 2017 was celebrated in Germany as the “Year of Luther.” The Protestant churches lauded the revolutionary step Luther had taken to break away from a terribly authoritarian, corrupt and irreformable Catholic Church of 16th century replacing the claimed divine authority of the Pope and the hierarchy with the true divine authority of the Holy Scripture alone, Faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone, God’s glory alone. These “alones” or “solas” were the five battle cries of Protestant Reformation. What began as a protest against the corrupt practices of the Church and a genuine concern for the conversion and renewal of the Church to recapture its true life and mission evolved into a revolution supported by kings, dukes and nobles who wanted liberation from Rome’s religious, cultural, political and economic power.

A revolution in the Church was in the making more than a century or two before it actually happened. The discovery of gun-powder and fire-arms reduced the power of nobles who could control others through their skill in using swords and such weapons and empowered those who did not belong to the upper classes. The discovery of the printing press made knowledge accessible to the common people and eventual translations of the Bible placed in the hands of people who could read and interpret it challenging the official interpretations of the Church which supported the claims of the hierarchy to dominate and control the lives of people here on earth and beyond the earthly life.

When an individual or a group claims to have both spiritual and secular powers and that claim is established through the support of religion, political, economic and military power, it can be frighteningly tyrannical and enslaving. Those thinking people among the enslaved would certainly revolt first in their minds against such tyrannical rule and when the opportunity comes they would whole-heartedly support those who lead them to a revolution that is expected to liberate them. Martin Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Melanchthon and others could give leadership to those who could not accept the arrogant attitudes, corrupt actions, behaviour and the life-style of many in the hierarchy which they found incompatible with their understanding and living of true Christian faith. A revolution was waiting to break out. And when it began nobody thought that it would be so disastrous to the edifice of the Catholic Church. It divided the Catholic Church for a second time after the first break up between the East and the West in 1054.

Church’s Failure to Listen and to Reform!
The problem with those who wield power is that they think they have the right to command and those under them have the duty to obey. The typical example of this we find in the narration of the Centurion about his power. “For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matthew 8:9). When such an understanding of power is exercised and when it is a combination of institutionalized spiritual and secular power it can become corrupt, arrogant and oppressive. Those who wield such power would be unwilling to listen to others especially those under their rule. They pretend to know everything and do not listen to others under them as they do not consider their suggestions and opinions as worth listening to. Their consciousness of their power and position makes them arrogant and they treat others with disdain. Protestant reformation that split the Catholic Church in the 16th century would have been avoided if the arrogant authorities of the Church were to listen to Luther and other committed Christians to reform the Church by removing corruption and stopping abuses.

Already in 1517 Luther wrote to his bishop, Albrecht von Brandenburg, protesting against the sale of indulgences because Johann Tetzel, a Dominican was preaching that by paying money for the building of St Peter’s Basilica the believers could be freed from the temporal punishment of their sins when they were dead. Luther enclosed in his letter a copy of his “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. It was his objection to the corrupt Church practices, and the tone of the writing was to reform the Church from within. But the higher authorities would not listen and did not want to understand and respond accordingly. Bishop Albrecht did not reply to Luther but forwarded his documents to Rome and when Luther was listened to, it was only to command him to withdraw his statements which he refused and eventually Pope Leo X excommunicated him in 1521. With this the reformation had begun and then it spread like wild fire in Europe.

Reformation teaches the entire Church that a teaching Church must learn also to listen because the authority of its teaching has its origin in the Holy Spirit who is not the monopoly of those who teach but also is alive and active in those who listen and obey the Church. It also emphasizes the understanding of leadership as ‘Servant-Leadership’ similar to that Jesus exercised and symbolized by the washing of the feet of the disciples in the context of the Last Supper. The official Church had to learn this lesson the hard way after being challenged by the Reformers. In fact, in the Church there is no hierarchy of powers but only a hierarchy of services or ministries. Even today, when the leaders of the Church forget this and assume power to dominate and control others they fail in their vocation to be leaders of the Christian community and sometimes bring irreparable damage to the cause of Jesus and His Kingdom as it happened at the time of Reformation.

Gains of Reformation for the Protestants
The greatest gain that the Reformation brought about according to the Protestants is making the Scripture and the challenge of the Word of God central to Christian discipleship more than rituals, traditions, teaching of the Church and hierarchy. According to Luther, “We ought to see that every article of faith of which we boast is certain, pure, and based on clear passages of Scripture.” Liberated from the obligation of intellectual assent to the dogmas as the revealed truths and by throwing away all traditional teachings of the Church through the Councils and the Popes and any form of traditional forms of worship and rituals the Reformation insisted on the discipleship of Jesus Christ through faith alone. With the rejection of the sacramentality of Christian priesthood and the elevation of the Common Priesthood of all the believers through baptism it rejected any form of mediatorship through the priesthood at all levels and any form of rituals that have mediatory role which is believed to be the sole function of Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and humans. Thus all types of veneration of Mary and saints, prayers and masses for the dead, the sacrament of reconciliation are all rejected on the principle that they were not based on “clear passages of the Scripture”.

Liberation from the so called shackles of Catholic Church’s traditional practices believed to be based on the misunderstanding of God as a punishing God who could be appeased through means both material and spiritual led to the proliferation of many churches and denominations based on the private interpretation of the Bible by charismatic leaders. The freedom to believe what one likes to believe and the equality of the believers without domination and control made such denominations with minimum organizational structures and maximum communion among members due to the simplicity of belief based on the literal interpretation of the Scriptures.

Liberation from Rome had political gains because of the emergence of protestant countries and kingdoms with greater economic prosperity (Max Weber) emphasizing economic growth as a blessing from God and paved the way for institutionalized capitalism. The reformation gave rise to the growth of secular humanism and the development of democratic institutions. However, the gains of reformation lost their shine due to wars and bloodshed that followed reformation.

Gains of Reformation for Catholics
The response to the Protestant Reformation is called Counter-Reformation. However it can be called the Catholic Reformation. The Council of Trent from 1545 -1563 with the active involvement of the Jesuits, a society founded with a view to defend the Church and its doctrines initiated a number of reforms that gave a new identity to the Catholic Church especially with regard to its teaching with clarity and its life that reflects the Gospel values and the practices of Christian life handed over through authentic tradition of the community of the Church. However, one of the champions of the Council of Trent, Cardinal Bellarmine considered the Church as an institution like that of the ‘kingdom of France or the republic of Venice’. One of the most important decisions of the Council was to reform the clergy through organized seminary formation because at any time of history the ignorance of clergy has done great harm to the Church more than any other scandals.

When the Reformers insisted on either/or understanding with regard to Scripture, Tradition, Sacraments, Priesthood, Praying for the Dead, Veneration of Mary and the Saints etc. the Catholic Church held a synthetic view (both/and) that has a stronger foundation both in the Scripture and in sound theological reflections from the Fathers of the Church and the doctors of the Church. . Christian faith is not based on Scripture alone or Tradition alone but recognizing the Scripture itself as a part of the authentic Tradition which gave the Scripture to the Church. While the Reformers’ zeal for the reform of the Church ended up in throwing away the baby with the bath-water, the Catholic Church recaptured the essentials of Christian faith with much more clarity after purifying it from all accumulated layers of aberrations and deviations. The Catholic Church realized that the Church needed to be self-critical and it needs to reform itself constantly by being docile to the Holy Spirit.

Church of the Future and the Future of the Church
The Reformation is a constant reminder to both the Catholic Church and hundreds of Protestant Churches and denominations that power, politics and wealth can deviate, corrupt and even destroy the movement of human liberation and fulfilment revealed through Jesus Christ. The Church should not silence the prophets through violence or domesticate them rather listen to them and be open to renewal and re-structuring to fulfil its mission effectively. The Reformation also warns the churches that the spiritual authority entrusted with the leaders of the Church should not be misused for any gain other than the unfolding of humans through intimacy with God, and right relationship with humans and with nature. Ultimately what counts is self-emptying love and communion. When the Church realizes and actualizes that its very mission is to live Jesus and his values by promoting justice, love and communion it will be the true sacrament of Christ. The Church of the future will be the Communion of all humans of good will who believe and live authentic communion through self-emptying love transcending all dogmas and doctrines, institutions and structures so that one can boldly proclaim, “Outside Communion there is no salvation”!