Yesterday, at the booksigning of his new work, "The unchanging Truth of God" I marveled at how he has inherited the mantle of Avery Dulles (as well as that of Ratzinger).
1. Man of the Church, true Vir Ecclesiasticus, he thinks, feels, moves and breathes withing the Church. Fiercely, flawlessly faithful to the Magisterium, he interprets it with nuance and subltety. If the Church leaves the door open 2 inches, he does not slam it shut; nor does he swing it wide open.
2. Range of thought. Dulles was famously encylopedic in his treatment of any topic. Similarly Guarino"s reach is extensive: one minute engaged with St. Vincent of Lerins and the next with postmodernist Vattimo. Josef Pieper described the achievement of St. Thomas as not so much brilliant creativity as a sublime summation of the entire tradition: he had read and incorporated everything available from the Tradition, the ancients and his contemporaries. This likewise characterizes Dulles, Ratzinger and Guarino. Reading a chapter of any of these gives you a wholesome, nourishing, delicious digestion of a library of research.
3. Sense of Catholic unity underlying a genuine diversity. He echoes Pascal: "unity without diversity is tyranny; diversity without unity is chaos." Dulles/Guarino protect a valid theological pluralism by achieving a precise, delicate balance on the role of concepts in revealing the Mystery of God and indeed of Being. Both proclaim the super-intelligibility of God and Being in an analagous, symbolic Creation such that human concepts validly access and express that which vastly exceeds that expression. And so, dogmatic formulations are perenial and authoritative; even as they do not exhaustively articulate the Truth. In this way a reductive, and formal rationalism, as well as a foggy, agnostic, sentimental irrationalism is avoided. We enjoy an authentically Catholicism: intellectual and mystical, humble yet authoritative, certain and clear, open-to-development but firmly rooted.
4. Champion of Vatican II. With Ratzinger and John Paul he interprets it as a genuine development within a greater organic continuty.
. 5. Strong Ecumenist, especially with the Evangelicals. This is a most significant development within the American Church and society that is sadly misunderstood in the Vatican. He dialogues from a strong, clear Catholic position, knowing where to draw the line and not watering down our inheritance.
6. Unattached to any particular school of theology, he is the quintessential seminary professor in setting the smorgasboard of Catholic theology before his students, allowing them to benefit from whatever suits their spiritual/intellectual taste. He is a "theological celibate": not enamoured of any particular giant or movement, he maintains a respectful if distant "just friends" relationship, loyal always to the Magisterium and the Tradition.
7. Often, like Gary Cooper in High Noon or Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men, he stands in a heroic loneliness against the herd instincts of the mainsteam. This pertains especially to defense of priests in the face of the Dallas Charter but also a willingness to stand by the Church in defiance of fashion.
8. Admirable restrain in not using theology to advance any political agenda or position. I am not aware that Guarino or Dulles publically endorsed any political issue. They clearly stand within the domain of moral theology. This was, of course, especially exemplary in Dulles who surely had more than residual loyalty to the legacy of his father John Foster Dulles.
9. Rigour and precision in scholarship.
10. Humility of spirit: When I suggested that he was the heir of Dulles, Guarino demurred "I am not in his league." He thereby confirmed my point with his Dulles-esque humility.
11. A deep, quiet, self-effacing, Catholic faith.
12. The Joy of Theology. Reading or listening to a Dulles, Guarino or Ratzinger one is pierced by the beauty of Theology as truly Queen of the Science. Guarino here has an avantage over his two shy, retiring colleagues in the overt intensity, passion, colorfulness and kinetic energy of his writing and lecture style.
Surely his greatest contribution has been his years of teaching. When I meet a seminarian or young priest in our Archdiocese I like to ask which were the best professors in seminary: the first name mentioned is always Guarino. May he stay strong and fruitful for a long time!Like Ratzinger and Dulles before him, Guarino has been an inspiration, encouragement and delight for me personally and for the faith of a Church in much confusion. May he fourish and work for many years to come!
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