Flying in the Face of Tradition: Listening to the Lived Experience of the Faithful

The current quandary that the Roman Catholic Church finds itself in right now is what Brother Louis DeThomasis calls "a crisis of confidence" in this insightful, provocative, and hopeful new book. He points to the way of unraveling the quandary by returning the church's historic belief in tradition- "the lived experience of the faithful" - as a source of ongoing revelation and renewal. This is not an attack by someone intent on bringing down the church but rather a wake-up call for the church itself to recognize and embrace globalization, diversity, and democratization and begin to rebuild what DeThomasis calls "koinonia" or "communio". He uses the issue of the ordination of women as a case study of how the institutional church has fallen out of step with its own members but could work its way back to relevance and effectiveness by listening to them. Brother Louis makes it clear that he is not just criticizing others: "I know that I am guilty as anyone of many of the sins decried in this book. I too have been insensitive, closed-minded, arrogant, self-centered, too-quick-to-defend-the-indefensible, and overly protective of myself and my fellow church-members. For this I am sorry. And for this reason I offer my book as a small token of atonement." But he does insist that the institutional church has to change quickly and fundamentally if it is to recover its creditability and authority. People like him who have dedicated their entire lives to the church have to speak up, he says: "I am a 70-year-old De LaSalle Brother, entering my well-developed understandings about the church that I feel I have not only a right but a duty to present to whomever might want to listen."

History

Dethomasis, Louis

World

ACTA Publications

Brother Louis is at it again: challenging the very nature of belief in the modern world and how human beings can practice an authentic spirituality in the twenty-first century. His newest book is aimed specifically at Roman Catholics, but it will be read by seekers of all Christian denominations, all faiths, and all those searching for a faith that makes sense to them today.EXCERPT FROM DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, GOD?In our own perplexing attempts to peer beneath the veil of theological convention, we may discover there is a higher truth in questions that can’t be answered than in answers that can’t be questioned. Jesus, the great communicator, used the things with which his disciples had everyday familiarity to convey his message of salvation and the power of universal love: the lilies of the field, wheat and chaff, a mustard seed, lost sheep, fig trees, the power of Caesar, toiling in the fields, the nets of the fishermen. But is that how he would choose to speak to us today, in the third millennium since his death? Would he not speak instead of quarks and Wall Street capitalism, organ transplants, nuclear arsenals, gender identity, our failing stewardship of the planet, racial animus, income disparity, and unwelcome refugees? Who, we may ask, are the outcasts of our society today with whom he would seek communion? What contemporary hypocrites would suffer his scorn? Whom would he drive from the temple today? These are questions that have the power to engage and awaken us.132 pages, paperback, $14.95, 978-0-87946-979-5, #2025BROTHER LOUIS DE THOMASIS, FSC, a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, is President Emeritus of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and Chairman of Christian Brothers Investment Services–Global. He is the author of Flying in the Face of Tradition, Dynamics of Catholic Education, All Things to All People, and co-author, with Cynthia Nienhaus, CSA, of The Silent Schism: Healing the Serious Split in the Catholic Church.

Do You Know What You're Doing, God?: Unveiling a Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century

In Extenso Press

Brother Louis is at it again: challenging the very nature of belief in the modern world and how human beings can practice an authentic spirituality in the twenty-first century. His newest book is aimed specifically at Roman Catholics, but it will be read by seekers of all Christian denominations, all faiths, and all those searching for a faith that makes sense to them today.

Do You Know What You're Doing, God?: Unveiling A S[Orotia;otu Fpr Tje Twenty-First Century

A passionate plea for change within the Catholic Church to fulfill the promise of Vatican II. Claims that the current schism has been caused by some members of the institutional church and that Pope Francis may be the right person to heal the split.

The Silent Schism: Healing the Serious Split in the Catholic Church

Nienhaus, Cynthia A

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dethomasis, Louis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dethomasis, Louis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dethomasis, Louis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Flying in the Face of Tradition: Listening to the Lived Experience of the Faithful

Flying in the Face of Tradition: Listening to the Lived Experience of the Faithful

Do You Know What You're Doing, God?: Unveiling a Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century

Do You Know What You're Doing, God?: Unveiling A S[Orotia;otu Fpr Tje Twenty-First Century

The Silent Schism: Healing the Serious Split in the Catholic Church