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Published: July 29, 2007

“Somewhat surprised”

Cardinal Levada tries to clarify Vatican statement on status of non-Catholic churches

Far from “diminishing other faith communities,” the Holy See’s recent instruction on the status of non-Catholic churches points out that "outside the Catholic Church elements of holiness and truth do exist and that the Holy Spirit is working in those other communities and churches as well," Cardinal William Levada told the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic San Francisco.

Levada, formerly archbishop of San Francisco, is the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which on July 10 issued “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church.” The document reiterated the teaching that the Church of Christ subsists only in the Catholic Church. Though other Christian churches and ecclesial communities have “numerous elements of sanctification and truth,” said the document, they nevertheless “suffer from defects.”

On July 17, Levada, while on a visit to the Bay Area, told Catholic San Francisco that issuing the document only three days after Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio on the Tridentine Mass was merely coincidental and not as “many have tried to see it as some kind of one-two punch.”

Levada said that he was “somewhat surprised” at the “ecumenical commentary” the document has inspired. "It is primarily a document addressed to Catholics as believers and teachers and is intended to clarify the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially the teaching on the nature of the Church," said Levada. It “is not the case,” he said, as some have argued, "that the Church of Christ can subsist in churches outside the Catholic Church."

But “that is not to say,” the prefect continued, “that we deny that the Holy Spirit who guides the Church is also working with his gifts of grace and truth in those other communities and churches.”

America’s egalitarian character sees asserting the unique character of one Church over another as “not the American way.” As an American, Levada said, he is “sympathetic to that. We get along by saying, ‘You have your ideas and I have mine, and while we might not agree we can explain ourselves, and we can be friends even if we are not in agreement on everything.’”

Catholic teaching, said Levada, is that “Christ’s Church... has been fragmented, wounded, broken apart but it has not disappeared.” The Church is “God’s gift. And it’s a gift that we very willingly hope to be able to share one day with everybody.”

The Congregation’s document underlines the continuity of Church teaching. It counteracts the tendency to place Church teaching in pre- and post-Vatican II “baskets,” said Levada. “I know I did it,” he admitted. “There was a kind of ‘throw this out, here’s the new stuff.’ I think many of us regret that.”

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