I have been a bit preoccupied in the last couple of weeks. On November 3rd I was in New York at Maryknoll. For Madmen fiends, Maryknoll is located in Ossining, the location of Madmen. While there, I was able to replace my copy of Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary Heritage- Expanded Edition.
Before I left for Nebraska for Thanksgiving, I had re-read Mater et Magistra or Christianity and Social Progress. The part that I really appreciated about the document was that at the end, there is an offering of a Practical Suggestions or practical applications. The assessment of how to determine if a social teaching and obligation is being observed and the identified need is being met.
If you were to ask many of the men and women that I went to school with at St. John’s I doubt that many would express their shock that I was honing in on the practical application. While I consider myself to be a liberation theologian (Christian/Catholic might be a better phrasing); or a feminist theologian; at my core I am a practical theologian. I want to know the how’s and why’s of theology and its practice. How do we translate effectively our beliefs to the men and women that we encounter in our daily lives?
I find this to be a contradiction in self to some extent. I feel that I am a pretty open minded individual and am willing to accept people for the most part- where they are. The contradiction lies in the fact that as a practical theologian I am looking for in most cases the tried and true methods of what works in translating the Supernatural Existential-grace in other words. What makes the Grace of God reachable to everybody? I am looking for in some respects, some very definite ideas of how to encounter God in life and among others.
I am currently reading a book that is a compilation of Dorothy Day’s work- her writings and journals. If there were ever a practical theologian who did not pay attention to methodology- well, I would have to say it was St. Dorothy Day. My prayer for the last couple of weeks has been that I may be saturated in the same understanding of practicality that St. Dorothy encountered. I imagine this to be more of “balm” that is massaged into the person’s soul through the actions of their lives. In other words, the heart is so exposed; there is no doubt of motivation, meaning, and desire.
