Theological Notebook: NYT Op-Ed on Cleaning Up Canonization in the Catholic Church

[novak]

I have to thank jucundushomo for giving me the heads-up on this New York Times op-ed that James Martin, S.J. turned in. Tim was right on target in knowing I'd be interested in that I have complained in times past that the official canonization process in the Catholic Church has gotten corrupted by being politicized. Certainly, I merely have to think back a

Comments

Re: miracles. please help my understanding

[novak]

Hm. I was sleepy when I wrote the above and perhaps wandered a bit. One thing I meant to say was that, as regards canonization, I'm much more inclined toward a primitive "acclamation" model, myself (the election of bishops would again be quite interesting and lively in this way, too) than the idea that this is some curial or papal prerogative.

Most of the people officially canonized have little connection to me because I have no awareness of them, historically, although I certainly grow to know and love new historical figures over time. The guardedness for fear of some later-revealed sin in the person's life? Well, if that criterion has anything to do with sainthood, then all of Christianity is a wash, as far as I can see. So Thomas Merton ranks high in my litany of the saints, for the effects that he's had in my life, even though - and maybe augmented by - his having fallen in love with a nursing student while in the hospital. Sanctity isn't determined by a lack of a particular "fall," (especially ones involving romantic love) but rather in how open we are to grace in the midst of our falls.

Likewise, Origen is among the greatest of the saints, to my mind, despite his being denied his official "St." degree by people with no historical consciousness three centuries after he died a hero of the Church. Tertullian, too, despite maybe being a moralist schismatic near the end of his life. (Well, that one I can understand some qualification of, though I don't know that there's enough evidence to convict....) Karl Rahner, Yves Congar, and Hans Urs von Balthasar are other theological saints in my canon. Rich Mullins, Lewis and Tolkien, and Madeleine L'Engle are in there, too: all my Masters. And then there's those who'll never be heard of by the wider world....

making saints

[seraphimsigrist]

thank you for the cogent and good replies
I have no answers to how it should be done really
but the demand for 3 miracles seems artificial and
yet I could understand that it is part of the balance
of the thing...I think some in fact are saints for their
historical importance(we have fr alexis toth as saint
who brought you know a good many from the eastern rite
to the early oca. as someone said the priests wanted
sex and the laity wanted to control the money. if he
is ,and indeed he is, a saint it is surely mostly for
this accomplishment) and similar examples in the
western church of course. also justianian and theodora
etc
or for heroic virtue, well that is to say for being
a notably good person.
and hopefully being pardigmatic etc
on this last count one might question some attractive
figures...as being too paradoxical or skewed somehow.
probably no model of selection is perfect...