By Thea Jarvis

Father Thomas Leclerc, M.S., associate pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Marietta, presents readers with a problem he had met within the Catholic community – the need to define the Catholic tradition in a contemporary society hungry for the riches of Scripture. He recently conducted a seminar at St. Ann’s on the Catholic Approach to Scripture.

Father Leclerc is a native of Fitchburg, Mass. He holds a master’s degree in theology with a concentration in Scripture from the Washington Theological Union and has studied language at Harvard University.

The following interview was conducted by The Georgia Bulletin in January.

1.Would you outline the events that have led to your interest in clarifying the Catholic position on Scripture?

The situation is basically a pastoral problem. Among parents, there is a concern about the kind of education their children are getting and the kind of environment they are living in – a very fundamental, scripturally-oriented backdrop that the children have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

On an adult level, there is a hunger among Catholics for Scripture study, which, if not provided by the parish, is sought outside. The problem involves people going to ecumenical Bible study groups and coming back with positions, opinions and interpretations which are not in concert with the Catholic tradition.

These concerns have led us to address the problem of the scriptural milieu in which we are living.

2.Would you cite a specific instance of such an event?

One of the more critical events was a local Baptist church’s student appreciation night. Area high school students were invited and when they showed up at the church it was a religious program from soup to nuts -–a prayer service with hymns, personal witnessing, etc.

As a parish, we felt it was a ploy. If you’re going to sponsor a religious ceremony, then call it that. If you’re going to hold a student appreciation night and use that to attract students to your church, it’s not above-board.

3.Why are young people in particular so easily drawn to these programs?

There are two things at work here. On the peer level, Catholics aren’t used to being confronted with strong religious opinion. But a Catholic youth going to high school makes friends with young people from other denominations who are used to witnessing and speaking from the Scriptures. Catholic high school students are not equipped to deal with that, because it’s not been part of their background.

On the church level, the thing that’s very attractive to youth is the sense of fellowship and social interaction that is established at a lot of these churches, along with the very fine music programs, recreational and social activities which the churches sponsor. These are well-organized and well-financed activities which, on the smaller scale, we are not able to offer.

It is very inviting to a teenager to walk into a setting that is very warm, supportive and social. In a certain sense we have not been able to compete on that level.

4.Are adults being influenced and drawn in by these programs?

They are. There seems to be a renaissance in the Catholic Church with respect to Scripture, and it would seem that the interest is ahead of the ability to respond to the demand.

A lot of adults, in an attempt to deepen their own faith life and become more immersed in and familiar with the Scriptures, look to the local parishes, which have met with limited success in offering Scripture study programs.

Fundamental churches have been doing this for years and have adequate resources available. A Catholic adult going into these programs is having one need met – the need to know more about the Scriptures. The unfortunate thing is that the context, the background, and the approach are not really Catholic and so there tends to be a conflict between the fundamental approach to Scripture and the religious life of the Catholic participating in these programs.

5.Have any adults come to you, feeling caught in such a conflict?

I spoke with one woman who felt her faith life was not being nourished in the Catholic Church. She accepted an invitation from a neighbor to attend a Bible Fellowship Church and came back greatly enthused, which was fine. I’m glad when someone can go to a Scripture study program and return with a renewed love for Scripture.

What I found problematic was that after her meeting she was full of questions like “How come we call priests “father” when the Bible says call no man father,” and “Why do Catholics go to confession, since that is a right reserved to the Lord Himself?”

These kinds of questions indicate to me that the concern of that group is not so much the spiritual deepening and welfare of that person, but an assault on her Catholic heritage. If she had come back with questions about how she could deepen her faith, it would be entirely different. But when she’s put in a position of defending obscure or non-essential points, there is a tendency to cower in the face of these scriptural arguments and say that she is in the wrong.

She quickly went from that point to full membership in that church. Her lack of background in Scripture made it impossible for her to accept what is the more open-ended approach of a Catholic perspective and she opted for the black and white of the fundamentalist interpretation.

I know of this case and several others in my own parish where, once invited into a Bible sharing group, it was found to be more satisfying than their own past heritage.

6.Does the “Moral Majority” phenomenon fit into the background of these difficulties in any way?

The Moral Majority is part of a much larger phenomenon. The more complex the age in which we live, the greater the desire for simple solutions. We are suffering with a certain sense of collective impotence with respect to the overwhelming problems of our society. Part of that is evidenced in a swing to the right in general.

In religious terms, this is evidenced in a phenomenon like the Moral Majority, which can say with great conviction: “This is the position and no other.” It’s comforting to people to know whether they should be black or white on an issue, and to accept the authority of a religious leader and decide they don’t have to make a decision themselves. The fundamental approach to Scripture has always been “The Bible says it and I believe it and that ends it.” It is basically a closed approach to the whole issue.

7.Do you see any of this fundamentalist attitude within our own church?

Yes, There are two things we need to caution against. One would be that within my own position, which is fairly aggressive, there are some who might dissolve to a “siege” mentality. There is a tendency to put up the ramparts and defend ourselves as the Catholic bulwark. What we need to do is to state our position unequivocally and understand it thoroughly.

The other area I would caution about is the charismatic experience which delves deeply into the Scriptures with a great deal of fervor. There is an urgent need here for guidance and sound teaching. As long as this is done in the context of a faith community, with guidance, it can only be an enriching experience.

8.As Catholics, we have a rich religious heritage. How do you account for the fact that we sometimes reject this heritage, or are at least ignorant of it?

I think that’s the qualifying phrase, that people are ignorant of their heritage. They have not been exposed to teaching on an adult level. For most Catholic adults, the understanding of their faith stopped on the high school level. Adults are functioning and attempting to live their faith with only a high school understanding of this faith. That doesn’t work.

It would not be acceptable in a professional field for someone to enter IBM, for example, on one level of knowledge and remain there. They require continued education and a deepening of their skills if they are going to function as professionals.

The same is true of the religious life. If we’re going to live our life in response to the Gospel, in response to Jesus, we have to do so with an understanding and a responsibility commensurate with our own development. That is, as adults.

Therefore, it is important for adults to take advantage of the opportunities available to deepen their faith, to do supplemental reading, to enter into discussion groups.

The heritage is rich. The more I study it and involve myself with it, the more I am convinced of its richness and of its real application to our daily living. The problem is that it’s not being disseminated in a way that is adequate for adults to tie into. The questions is how do we get it to people and how do we get them to take it into their lives.

9.How is the Church presently responding to this need and how does it differ from her response in the past?

In the past, our ace-in-the-hole was the Catholic educational system. Children went from kindergarten through high school – not just CCD, but full-time, where every subject was colored with the Catholic perspective. That is now becoming a fond memory. Especially in the South, this is not accessible to the average Catholic. We have to take a different approach.

It is falling more and more to the individual to be personally responsible for deepening his own knowledge and experience. The churches can provide any number of classes and program in Scripture, doctrine, and tradition, but it is up to the individual to take advantage of that.

It is a question of priorities. Is it important for me to deepen my faith as an adult, or is my faith limited to the one hour a week that I put in at church?

Parents are very concerned about making sure their children know the fundamentals of Catholic faith, yet there’s not a real conviction on their part that it’s necessary to deepen their own faith. So their example is undermining their belief. Not participating in adult programs, but telling their children that it’s important for them to go to Sunday school is, at best, a contradiction of values.

10. Historically, within the Church, trends seem to have changed. It used to be “hands off” Scripture, at least in terms of someone personally educating himself. Where does the Church stand now on this issue?

The “hands-off” attitude emerged from a polemical situation. During the Reformation, the reformers took a position that stated “only Scripture.” In an effort to define ourselves and respond to what was considered a threat, the Church took a more reserved stance.

Some reformers said they could accept one part of Scripture and not others. Some gave interpretations that diverged widely from the 1500-year heritage of the Church. The Church, therefore, took a cautionary stand, leaving the understanding and interpretation of Scripture to the professionals. That was a viable response to a difficult and complicated situation.

What we have now is a general population that is more educated. Resources for the reading and understanding of Scripture are more available to people. The caution is still well worth taking, however, because the Scriptures belong to the Church and are interpreted in the context of our lived and living experience of Christ in our midst.

It is important that the interpretation and application of Scripture take place within the context of a faith community. When we encourage someone to study the Scriptures, we’re suggesting that they attach themselves to a group which is part of the living Church, with a communal experience of faith. This is the context in which to understand the Scriptures.

The Catholic Church maintains that the Scriptures emerge from a faith community, from a specific historical setting. It is naïve of us to pick up the Scriptures and look at them as if they were written for the year 1981. They were written for a specific community of faith, within a specific historical environment. To understand that unlocks the riches of the Scriptures and enables us to see what the author’s purpose was, what the context was, and, from that understanding, ask how it applies to us today. You can’t just look at Scripture, especially the Book of Revelation, and say the author was writing with us in mind. I believe that’s a basic difference between the Catholic understanding and the fundamental understanding of Scripture.

11. Can you meet this problem head on and still remain ecumenical?

I don’t think the call to ecumenism ever means a compromise in position. To enter into a reasonable and informed dialogue we have to have a clear sense of our own identity and heritage. That’s the beginning point. I can then feel that I have something to offer and also be open to the critique of the ecumenical experience. The cause of ecumenism is served by a fuller understanding of our heritage, never by a watering-down or discounting of it.

12. How did St. Ann’s Church deal with the problem?

We took one Sunday and preached at all the Masses on the importance of understanding the Scriptures and the fact that as Catholics we have a particular heritage and viewpoint and approach to Scripture.

We then invited people to attend over the course of the week a two-hour presentation on “What is the Catholic approach to Scripture?” The immediate need was met. We are planning to run this again and also two more classes – an overview on the Old and New Testament.

13. How did young people fit into this format?

Basically, there was more of a response from the adults than from the young people. We hope to have a class geared specifically for young people, providing them with some concrete handles on how to meet the Scriptures in their daily experiences.

14. Do you have any advice to parents who might be dealing with a similar problem?

Parents need to avail themselves of opportunities to deepen their own understanding of the faith with whatever adult education programs are available.

In addition, they need to take an active interest in the lives of their young people, to be concerned about what is going on in their circle of friends, their high school. I would urge them also to consult with their parish pastoral staff and find out how they might respond to particular situations and ask whether particular programs might pose a threat to the faith life of a child.

Father Leclerc has stated the problem. In the coming weeks, The Georgia Bulletin will continue its series “Scripture for Our People.” Focusing on ways Catholics must enlighten themselves on scriptural issues the series will include essays on New Testament origins, Catholic scriptural heritage, varied messages of Scripture, and ongoing resources for Scripture study.