As a rule, our ideas and images of God and his Church are drawn from our experience of ourselves and our world. We speak of God as a ‘father’ and the Catholic Church as a ‘mother’. Both are said to ‘love’ us, to ‘cherish’ and ‘forgive’ us. Jesus said he was going to prepare a ‘home’ for us, so that we might be where he is.

It is self-evident that whatever we can learn of human psychology and human nature is also of value for our understanding of Christ’s ‘Body’ the Catholic Church, which our Lord promised to be with until the end of time.

Our Lord also promised that we would be with him, and that he would be ‘in’ us. He lives in the Church, his Body, in one way; and in us, the members of that body, in another way. Who and what we are, and how we function humanly speaking, is therefore significant if we are members of the Church; and if our minds and bodies are ‘Temples’ of the Holy Spirit.

It follows that as we deepen our understanding of ourselves, we deepen our understanding and appreciation of God and his Church.

Most problems have a human face

The writer has been a Catholic priest for 25 years. During that time of stupendous change both inside and outside the Church, one important reality has been borne home to him: few people within his experience have had (or at least have raised with him) difficulties about what could be called, strictly, ‘theology’.

Nor can he remember a discussion, or an interview or a distress call that had not sprung, ultimately, from some misunderstanding or ignorance or distortion of what would once have been called ‘philosophical’ questions about human nature and the way humans relate to one another, to the world and to God: in other words, about knowledge of ourselves, of others and of God.

All this has a special relevance to modern-day Catholics puzzled by the inroads that fundamentalist Protestant sects are making among our Catholic youth, and even among our supposedly well-settled middle-aged and elderly Christians.

As a rule these sects appeal to a certain kind of person whose human as well as spiritual needs are evidently not being met by the Catholic Church. Priests and laity alike can lose sight of the fact that the faith is meant for all peoples. This is what ‘being Catholic’ means. ‘All’ peoples means just that: not only all races but all kinds of people: people of every kind of temperament, with every kind of need, with every kind of weakness and strength and gift. All have a right to find a home within the Catholic Church.

Psychological profiles have yet to be made= of people down through the centuries who have abandoned Catholicism for sectarian groups that have mushroomed from the beginning of our faith. More than a thousand years before Protestantism came into existence, there were sects that appealed to one only aspect of a person’s faith or character, and succeeded in attracting those Catholics whose breadth of vision was limited, and whose self-knowledge was minimal. ‘Single-issue Churches,’ like ‘single-issue Parties’ have a tendency to spring up when people cannot cope with the complexity of religious or social or political realities.

Unlike Protestantism, and unlike the plethora of fundamentalist Churches that have sprung from its loins, Catholicism is precisely what its name proclaims: a Universal Faith that has a positive message for men and women of all races, social conditions and education and cultural backgrounds. And a vital first step in the path of understanding Catholicism is human self-understanding.

Self-knowledge

Human beings, and perhaps especially, those with faith, appear to crave for and need, above all else, an understanding of themselves.

This is, it seems, the foundation without which we cannot build a house that will be able to withstand the inevitable storms and floods that threaten to extinguish the spluttering candle that is our fragile human existence.

Bearing in mind our Lord’s words that the ‘kingdom of God’ is within us, we should not find this surprising.

Self-knowledge has always been regarded by the saints as the first step towards holiness. It is also, it seems, the first step towards wholeness.

When we reflect upon it, this makes a lot of sense. For out attitudes towards God are undoubtedly conditioned by our attitudes towards others, and how we view and relate to others is undoubtedly conditioned by our understanding of ourselves.

Inset: ON FRIENDLY TERMS WITH GOD

“The layman who in a difficulty ought to say to himself, ‘I’ll go and talk to the priest, he’ll be able to tell me; he knows God’. The laity at large have the impression and rightly, I think, that we know our job. I sometimes wonder whether they have the same confidence that we know our Employer.

“There is a kind of universal benevolence which sometimes makes itself felt, even in a very reserved man, which does win souls. Everybody calls the priest ‘dear old’ Father So-and-So, if not actually ‘poor old’ Father So-and-So; there are no organizations in the parish and the accounts are in a frightful mess, but somehow people go to church.

I think that when our account comes to be audited at the Judgement, the record of the prayers we said will be a surprise for most of us, and, for very many of us, the surprise will not be a disappointment”.
- Monsignor Ronald Knox on
The Priestly Life

Learning from the study of mankind

‘If someone does not love his brother whom he has seen, it cannot be that he loves God whom he has not seen’. In these words, St. John (Ist Epistle, 4,20) puts the ball back in our court and sends us the first to the philosophers, the psychologists, the social scientists, from whom to seek enlightenment about ourselves. Only when we have learnt what we can about ourselves are we sent off to the specialist ‘theologians’ whose task it is to enlighten us about God.

Faith is a quality of the human person, expressed in human ways, answering human needs. Supernatural faith will grow to the extent that we are able to grow as persons.

As the kingdom of God is truly within each one of us, this means that the ‘keys’ to the ‘kingdom’ which Jesus promised to Peter and his successors (Matthew 16,19) are keys which open first the gates of our own hearts and minds and souls; if Heaven’s gates are open for us, the key must fit our heart, too.

And the Church has been entrusted with the keys.

St John assures us that in the last hours of his earthly life, Jesus prayed that He ‘might be within’ us. (17, 26). If we truly desire to make him welcome, we need to know as much as we can about ourselves, so that the homecoming of Jesus may be truly a welcoming and joyous one.

Openness to those who search for truth about mankind

Despite the fact that some harm has been caused unwary seekers after truth, or innocent bystanders that leads to life, by many of the so-called ‘human sciences’ that have sprung up in the past century, all must acknowledge the great debt owed to genuine researchers in these ‘human sciences’ for their concern to study human nature, and to analyse and grasp its depths. All, many without realizing it, have been following a trail laid down by God himself.

St Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest minds in the history of the Church, urges us Catholics to respect those who may differ from us. Quoting Aristotle, the Angelic Doctor tells us: ‘We must love those whose opinions we reject; for both are seeking the truth, and collaborate with us in this. However we have an obligation to follow that which is more certain.’ (In Met. 12,9)

Insights into how human beings function

Over the years of his priesthood, the writer has come across few tools as valuable for understanding human development as the system of character and temperament types based on the pioneer work of Carl Jung, that was elaborated by the daughter and mother team, Myers-Briggs.

In 1986, Annals carried a series of articles written by Father Peter Malone, M.S.C, which attempted to describe the usefulness of this system. Interested readers who missed out may like to order back copies of the five articles ‘Male and Female he made us’ (June-October, 1986).

How we perceive reality

Briefly, according to Jung, most human beings tend to perceiver reality in one of two ways. While we are all able to function in both ways, we prefer and are more comfortable perceiving in a particular way.

Jung speaks, for instance, of those who sense and those who intuit.

Sensing refers to perceiving in a sensory way, through our five senses. This way clearly attaches us to the outside world, and requires an attentiveness, a strong sense of presence, attention to detail and even if we are sometimes a bit untidy, a keen sense of ‘order’. A ‘sensate’ person is ‘down to earth’.

Among the Evangelists, St Mark is the one who comes across as writing from the standpoint of a ‘sensate’ person.

Intuition. This term is applied more to people who could be described as a bit ‘up in the air’ – definitely not ‘down to earth’ types. Such people can overlook detail, often not notice it, relying on hunches and ‘vibes’ which they are skilful in interpreting. They are open to the possible, rather than worried about the actual. They are drawn to mystery and symbol, and are extremely sensitive to the profounder realities.

St John, the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved,’ holds a special appeal for believers (and even non-believers) who are ‘intuitive’.

Neither way of perceiving reality is in itself wrong or right. Each complements the other.

How we judge reality

Jung also speaks of two major ways in which human beings judge reality: as thinkers or as feelers.
Once again, while we are able to function in both ways, we prefer and are more comfortable judging in a particular way.

If we prefer to judge as ‘thinkers’ this means we are most comfortable with principles, logic, order, clear thinking, and law. We would be inclined to speak in terms of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’. ‘Thinking’ judgers can appear to others to be detached, or impersonal. A ‘thinker’ would tend to ask ‘What is the Church?’

St Matthew, of all the Evangelists, seems to be writing for the ‘thinkers’ amongst his flock.

A ‘feeler’ on the other hand prefers to judge according to ‘values’ rather than ‘principles’. There is nothing ‘impersonal’ or detached about this approach. When judging, it takes into account intuition and circumstances, and would probably ask ‘Who is the Church?’

St Luke’s gospel evokes a positive response from the ‘feelers’ who read it.

Now both these latter categories are in themselves neutral; they complement each other. Neither is necessarily right or wrong.

The Four Evangelists

For the Catholic seeker after truth, the basic wisdom behind Jung’s suggested categories comes into clearer relief when we realize from a careful reading of the four gospels, the Magna Carta of our faith, it is possible (as we hinted above) to see in it the four evangelists certain preferred ways of perceiving and judging.

Thus, for instance, we notice that St Matthew’s gospel shows him to have been principally a ‘thinker’, with his highly structured gospel. Not only is the gospel presented in a very orderly fashion, but its theme – the Kingdom of God – is one that appeals very much to ‘thinkers’. Matthew wrote for Jews with a passion for the ‘Law’ and who sought ‘evidence’ that Jesus was the messiah.

St Mark on the other hand comes across as a ‘sensate’ person’, with his simplest and briefest of gospels. He wastes no words. Mark’s presentation of Jesus is of one who has the ‘common touch,’ whose origins were in the countryside, from the ordinary people, the son of a carpenter, who hears, touches, works miracles, offers ‘down to earth’ advice, and above all suffers.

St Luke, with his emphasis on healing, on the infancy of Jesus, on compassion and gentleness, and with the prominence given to Mary, and to women in general, comes across as a ‘feeler’.

St John, wrote a gospel that is the gospel of mystery and the ‘beyond’ par excellence. Sacramental symbols abound in John’s gospel – light, life, birth, death, water, wine, blood, land, spirit, gate, shepherd etc. Full of hope, aspiration yearning and promise, St John’s is the gospel of ‘intuition’.

It is fitting that the four gospels, which are remembrances of what Jesus did and said from the point of view of four of his followers, written at different times, under different circumstances, for different reasons, should appeal to all humankind.

The picture of Jesus that emerges from the four gospels is of a unique and perfect being who embodies all four human functions equally. His words, through his four ‘biographers’, touch the hearts and minds of all peoples, as they did his hearers when first he spoke to them.

There is undoubtedly a special providence of God in our having the memoirs of four evangelists to draw upon our knowledge of Jesus and his message of salvation.

How does the Church function?

Returning to the original point of this short study, The Church as the Body of Christ, of which we are members, also seem to ‘function’ in certain preferred ways.

But not just in one way. Like her Lord and Head, she appears to function equally well in each of the four ways listed above. Just as the picture of Jesus given by the four evangelists has something to touch the heart, mind and soul of all of us, so His Church operates at all levels; not just at one to the exclusion of the others.

This should not really surprise us, for the Church is a Mother, and should be open to all the ways of perceiving and judging of her children. Moreover, as the Body of Christ in this world she must possess all those qualities that characterize her beloved Head and Founder.

The Marks of the True Church

The four marks of the Church to which we refer every time we recite the Creed, viz: that is the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, also can be shown to fit comfortably into the four categories listed by Jung.

We find that unity belongs to the ‘sensate’ area. The quality of unity properly is associated with St Mark’s gospel – the most unified of all the gospels.

Holiness, on the other hand, corresponds to ‘intuition’. St John’s gospel, with all its poetic and symbolic insights, is the Gospel of holiness par excellence.

Catholicity, is a quality that belongs to the ‘feeling’ Church, and it is in St Luke’s gospel that this quality is most demonstrated.

Apostolicity, seems to correspond to the Church in its ‘thinking’ function. St Matthew’s gospel, the ‘thinking’ gospel, in chapter 16 records our Lord’s committing of the Church and the keys to Peter its foundation.

In future articles in Annals, the four Marks of the Church will be looked at more fully. It is hoped that the above analysis may help Catholics to value and appreciate the way in which membership of the Church is open to all peoples, with whatever background, temperament or character. The Church and her Gospels speak to all peoples – and thus fulfills our Lord’s promise that he would ‘draw all people’ to himself.

© Annals Australia