My goal is to read most of the published Independent Sacramental Movement books over the next several years. If you are following my blog, you will notice I started reading these books over the past two months. I picked up Edward Jarvis’ book on Carlos Duarte Costa – a Catholic bishop of Brazil who many in the ISM movement can trace their apostolic succession lineage through.
One aspect of the ISM movement is the number of books published on people influential in the movement. The movement is about people, their beliefs, and their motivations. Religion has both a human and a divine element; the ideal is for both the human and the divine to work together, though the actual reality is messy.
Costa is a fascinating figure – a bishop ahead of his time by critiquing clerical celibacy, advocating for the election of clergy, mass in the vernacular, working priests, a preferential option for the poor, the end of papal claims to universal jurisdiction, communion under both species, the reception of the sacraments for people who are divorced and much more. At the same time, he was truly a man of his time defending the USSR as an ally who promoted religious freedom and challenging the fascist Roman Catholic Church for its policies before, during, and in the aftermath of World War II. Costa was certainly no administrator or student, but he was concerned with the education of the clergy and the laity. There is a mixture in Costa that both attracts and repels the reader as is true for many Christian leaders. The book provides a nice introduction to Costa’s life, and it includes his famous Declaration to the Nation. This declaration provides a unique rationale for his actions that led to his founding a church that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church.
My favorite chapter examined his legacy in the ISM/Independent Catholic movement. There is a paradox found in the ICAB Church that sought to return to the earliest Christian ideals and yet opts for ornate vestments, clergy titles and a hierarchical model predicated on Roman influence. Jarvis writes: “What is the point of doing such a partial reform of Catholicism, like Independent Catholicism, when so many critical issues are left unresolved by it? To put it another way – what is the logic of dismissing the papacy while retaining the bulk of the concepts and cultural baggage that have sprouted from the papacy? What changes, after the IC (Independent Catholicism) revolution? An uncreated reading of Duarte Costa’s proposed church model can easily lead to a ‘revolt of the pigs’ in which the senior people wrest power from the top and then hold onto it themselves” (p171).
At the end of the book, I found myself wanting to know more about his reputation among the laity in Brazil. I wonder what Costa would think of the church he sought to restore yet the ICAB church fell short of the ideals of elected clergy, concern for the poor, and educated clergy. Costa is a figure that was ahead of his time in many ways and whose ideals have yet to be lived.
Peace,
Ben
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