Vatican warning system locks on social teaching, nature of theology [John Allen]

[Catholic_Press]

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
*Rome
*
Since its creation by Pope Paul VI in 1969, the International Theological Commission, composed of thirty theologians from around the world who advise the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, often has functioned as a sort of early warning system for the Vatican’s doctrinal concerns. When the commission kicks around a topic, it can be a hint of things to come – an encyclical, a doctrinal instruction, or something else with real teeth.

For just that reason, it’s always worth keeping the ITC on the radar screen.

Last week, the commission held its annual working meeting. (Members had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, Dec. 3.) At the moment, three sub-commissions are pondering the following themes:

• Method in theology, with the accent on theology’s relationship with the church. (The sub-commission is led by Fr. Paul McPartlan, a British ecclesiologist and ecumenist who teaches at the Catholic University of America.)

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[St_Francis]

I must say, what is the point of this commission? Used to be that the Church only delved into an issue in dispute, but now it seems they are requiring a pushing of the envelop similar to that which has served us so poorly in the universities.