Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 194.  Tue 12-15-92 22:37  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Jim Varnado
 Subject: Scripture, Tradition, et

JV|Hi Father:
 
 
JV|> I respect (while rejecting) your observation that "tradition has ...
  |> degenerated to `we've always done it this way.'"  But you will forgive
  |> me if I prefer Paul's command to his Thessalonians: "Stand firm and
  |> hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral
  |> statement or by a letter of ours" (2nd Thess 2:15).  His command is
  |> inspired by God (2nd Tim. 3:16), and therefore "is useful ... for
  |> training in righteousness", and could never lead to Jesus' being ignored.
 
JV|I must disagree (grin) here with your statement above.  I have been
  |all too often visiting another parish or church and have watched that
  |body's particular liturgy and corresponding Bible study/adult educ.
  |I have too often been disappointed when someone asks about the Bible
  |and is really given strange looks/dirty looksas if to say..."we have our
  |missal/we have our prayer book/we have our study guide... what do we need
  |the Bible for? In addition, I have myself unfortuantely been the listener
  |to too much heresy from the pulpit by someone who is arguing for a
  |particular tradition.... Yes, too often, Jesus has been, and is being
  |ignored.  Lastly, I wonder whether St. Paul would shake his head in
  |sadness or laugh outright at our traditions... I wonder.... You see, if we
  |have continually evolving traditions, we can find ourselves in deep
  |water.. ie as some of our brotheres in the health and wealth movement
  |haved moved into... a continual evolving revelation leading to new
  |traditions.. in which that revelation was error to begin with.
 
JV|     BTW, I enjoy the gentleness in your responses to people.  Rather
  |refreshing.
  |                      


  IHS  Jim
 
Dear Jim,
 
May I refer you to the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution
on Divine Revelation (DEI VERBUM, nos. 8-10).  "The apostolic
preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books
was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end
of time.  Hence the Apostles in handing on what they themselves had
received, warn the faithful to maintain the traditions which they had
learned either by word of mouth or by letter (cf. 2 Thess 2:15 [which
I quoted for you in my last.])...  The tradition which comes from the
Apostles makes progress in the Church, with the help of the Holy
Spirit.  There is a growth in insight into the realities and words
that are being passed on....  By means of the same tradition, the
full canon of the Sacred Books is known to the Church, and the Holy
Scriptures themselves are more thoroughly understood....  Both
Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal
feelings of devotion and reverence.  Sacred Tradition and Sacred
Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which
is entrusted to the Church....  The task of giving an authentic
interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in
the form of tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching
office of the Church alone.  Its authority in this matter is
exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet this teaching office is
not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant.  It teaches only
what has been handed on to it....  All that it proposes for belief as
being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of
faith....  Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the teaching
office of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them
cannot stand without the others."
 
There is a sharp distinction, which must be made, between Divine
Tradition, which belongs to the deposit of Faith, which is
maintained in its integrity by the Holy Spirit and is faithfully
interpreted by the Teaching Office of the Church, and merely human
and customary usages in the Church.  These are not part of Sacred
Tradition and must never be confused with it.  Some of these may be
less wise; all can be changed.
 
If anyone says, "What do we need the Bible for?" he clashes with
Sacred Tradition itself, which enabled the Church to establish the
canon of the Bible in the 4th and 16th centuries, and always guides
us in more fully understanding the Bible.  If anyone, in or out of
the pulpit, propounds heresy, he clashes with Sacred Tradition, the
Bible, and the Church herself. If anyone ignores Jesus, he can do so
only by ignoring Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Church.
 
To be a Catholic, one must accept Sacred Tradition on a par with
Sacred Scripture in the single deposit of faith, as the Council
teaches in the words of DEI VERBUM.  This is non-negotiable.
 
                                        Sincerely in Christ,
                                                Father Mateo