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Sects and New Religious
Movements: An Anthology of Texts from the Catholic Church
Edited by The Working Group on New Religious Movements, Vatican City. U.S.
Catholic Conference, Inc., 1995, 77 pages.
Reviewed by
Rev. Walter Debold
This anthology of texts dealing
with new religious movements (NRMs) will be useful not only to those in
responsible offices in the Catholic Church but also to scholars everywhere who
are concerned with contemporary religious phenomena. It embraces and organizes
material from documents authored by the present Pope and by bishops from around
the world.
Catholics will be reassured to
discover that those in authority in the Church have been paying attention to the
developments that have often caused anguish to individuals and to families. In a
preamble addressing terminology, the editors confess that the words sects
and cults may have a pejorative sense; therefore, a preference is
expressed for the euphemism, “new religious movements.” However in the appendix
where the earlier 1986 document appears there is the straightforward use of the
familiar “cults.”
As a tool for scholars, the listing
of 61 documents will prove very useful. They afford a worldwide perspective and
demonstrate that the Vatican enjoys a unique advantage in being able to draw to
the center experiences from around the globe. Moreover, the editors acknowledge
that the very existence of the NRMs serves as a catalyst to spark study on the
part of mainline churches and synagogues.
In the introduction the reader is
reminded that the present Pope, John Paul II, perceives our modern society as
being on a spiritual journey, even, more precisely, on a search. It is a search
which sometimes looks backward in hopes of bringing about a “revival” and
sometimes lurches forward toward radical alternatives. There is also a note of
warning that some of the groups “fail to respect the dignity and freedom of the
human person.”
It will not be surprising that many
of the contributions have a defensive air about them for the bishops naturally
have a commitment to protect and advance the faith of this 2,000-year-old
church, but their concerns are expressed with a reasonableness and charity which
is influenced by their conviction that we are living in “an age of ecumenical
dialogue.” This attitude so colors their statements that anyone who has spent
time in the healing of victims of thought reform will wonder at the absence of
more forceful warnings about the malice of manipulators. If, indeed, the defense
of human freedom is a fundamentally religious issue then one might expect
religious leaders to be very sensitive to the violation of freedom. But, then,
it is only proper to remind ourselves that this anthology takes 61 different
quotations out of their original context where they may have appeared in
stronger colors.
The six chapter headings under
which these various statements are grouped form a useful framework in which to
capture the insights of the world’s bishops. They are “Cultural Context and
Causes,” “Diversity of Origin of the Movements,” “Impact and Process of
Communication,” “Spiritual and Theological Discernment,” “Pastoral Challenges
and Responses,” and “Attitude of Dialogue.”
Quite naturally the papal documents
and discourses are presented first in each section, followed by quotations from
individual bishops and from their national conferences. In one visit to a parish
in Rome, the Pontiff expressed the opinion that one reason for the proliferation
of sects is that people experience a “fear of tomorrow,” and Cardinal Arinze
said that “the NRMs can arise and attract because people are searching for
meaning when they are feeling lost in a period of cultural change.” Also in this
section devoted to psychological causes there is a reminder that the
depersonalizing structures of modern society create crisis situations which call
for psychological and spiritual responses: “The sects claim to have and to give
these responses. They do this on both the affective and the cognitive levels
often responding to the affective needs in a way that deadens the cognitive
faculties.” That analysis is reminiscent of a lecture once given by Dr. Louis
J. West on the subject of “mesmerizing” and another conference by Dr. Ray
Dreitlein on the manipulative techniques by which “it seems that one part of
your brain is put to sleep.”
The National Conference of Bishops
in the United States is quoted as saying: “We observe in biblical fundamentalism
an effort to try to find in the Bible all the direct answers for living - though
the Bible itself nowhere claims such authority. The appeal of such an approach
is understandable.... People of all ages yearn for answers. They look for sure,
definite rules for living. And they are given answers - simplistic answers to
complex issues - in a confident and enthusiastic way in fundamentalist Bible
groups.”
The readers of
CSJ will
realize that the susceptibility to fundamentalist solutions to life’s problems
is not limited to religion. It seems to be an anti-intellectual infection that
can appear anywhere in the world in any area of life. It seems to grow more
resistant as it encounters opposition. Nevertheless it is an enduring challenge
to educators. As creatures in time we must overcome “the fear of tomorrow.”
The anthology concludes with an
appendix which includes the 1986 Roman document on “Sects and The New Religious
Movements.” It, too, hoped to preserve an ecumenical stance, but was frank
enough to say, “clearly we cannot be naively irenical.”
This anthology is a very worthwhile
piece of work which, it is to be hoped, will be continually updated by the
authors when churchmen around this ever-shrinking world continue to experience
the pressures of the new religious movements.
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