By PAUL KRAUSE
The death of Pope Benedict XVI might not mean too much to young Catholics who are not old enough to really grasp or even remember his time as Bishop of Rome or as a theologian and professor during the Cold War. However, Benedict’s legacy to younger Catholics is immense. It was Benedict’s approval of restoring the Latin Mass that has had a profound impact on the theology of many younger Catholics and his emphasis on the importance of the intellectual tradition of the Church has likewise had an unexpected legacy to the next generation of Catholics.
One of the great aspects of working and spending time with younger Catholics, and students more generally, is seeing and learning about what moves them. Yes, there is the usual social justice and social activism of Catholics. Yes, there is the prayer life of Catholics and coming to learn what prayers are meaningful to their lives. But one of the under-the-radar revolutions of the 2010s was the growth of the Latin Mass which has now spilled over to millennial and even Gen Z Catholics.
Although the Church, in many ways, still seems like it is stuck in the 1970s, the fading generation of octogenarian churchmen and parishioners, along with the aging Baby Boomer generation, is leading the Church toward a major generational realignment. Even after the restrictions on the ease of Latin Mass use, young Catholics are flocking to the traditions of the Church where they are available. Even where not, many younger Catholics conduct themselves in a traditional manner: learning Latin, kneeling during the Eucharist, praying holy hours.
This return to tradition seems twofold. First, there is a genuine appetite for spirituality and the spiritual life that was lost in the aggressive push toward socializing Catholicity during the 1960s and 1970s. The desire for a wholesome spiritual life, a prayer life, and disciplined spiritual practices that were lost since the 1960s spurs many young Catholics to recover a part of their spiritual heritage they feel was robbed from them.
Second, the return to tradition is part of contrarian spirit of rebuking the lukewarmness of the Baby Boomer church which is part of the broader rebuke of the Baby Boomers in general from their children in all facets of life. Reclaiming tradition is a way of retaining the Catholicity they were born and raised in but also a means to differentiate oneself from the kumbaya socialism that dominates the feel of most church gatherings.
Then there is the growing intellectuality of young Catholics in their rediscovery of the intellectual heritage of the Catholic Church. Many young Catholic students I know, even non-Catholic students who are interested in Catholicism, speak fondly of the high intellectual and educational traditions and history of the Church. Augustine, Aquinas, and Newman are frequent names tossed around even if only they’ve only been briefly read by young Catholics.
There is also a deep interest in the extrabiblical literature that informed Christianity’s early theological development. Discussion of intertestamental writings, once the domain of graduate students and professorial specialists, has seeped into lay discourse. Catholics in their late teens and early twenties have an awareness of the Books of Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the other discoveries at Qumran.
As someone who was educated in biblical studies and theology in graduate school, this is a welcome development. It ensures some degree of conversation rather than mere lecturing when teaching about these theological issues of faith. It also provides a reignition of passion for subjects I learned that few people know about or care to know about.
All the above is part of Benedict’s legacy. Benedict’s restoration of the Latin Mass, his emphasis on spiritual discipline in one’s personal life, and his longstanding promotion of the intellectual side of the faith — the unity of faith and reason — is bearing fruit among younger Catholics. Some may know it, others may not, but they are all the children of Benedict’s long and hard theological fighting over the decades.
While I was an undergraduate when Benedict resigned and Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio became Pope Francis, Benedict’s legacy was something I was cognizant of. As time goes on, especially now in the aftermath of his death, younger Catholics may lead a Benedict renaissance in the coming years and decades. The many writings of Benedict will undoubtedly become an interest to those Catholics who become aware that their spiritual life and intellectual interests were shepherded by the man called “the main intellectual force in the Church” for the past 40 years.
Benedict’s time in the Church began as a moderate progressive, a champion of reform who was subsequently terrified by the revolutions of 1968. His own return to tradition laid the groundwork for the generational shift that didn’t exist among his own peers and parishioners but lay with their future children and grandchildren. Even though Benedict has died, the seeds he planted are now ripening and beginning to blossom.
The last 60 years has seen transformative figures shepherd the Church. Pope St. John Paul II was a major force during the Cold War, overseeing the globalization of the Catholic faith and its geographic base and future shift from the global north to the global south, from the global west to a parity with the global east.
Now with the passing of Pope Benedict, a figure who walked through the fires of the Cold War alongside John Paul II and a man who came to emphasize a return to tradition and championing the intellectual side of the faith will watch from Heaven the transformative work he undertook as professor, cleric, and Pope.
The coming generational shift toward a more traditional Church, reembracing its rich spiritual and intellectual heritage, is the biggest legacy of Benedict. Young Catholics who do not know much about Benedict now will come to learn a lot about Benedict as they grow older, wiser, and more faithful.
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