2018-13-2018-eEdition

APRIL 13, 2018 THE CATHOLIC WEEK PAGE 3 knew that “The Shape of Water” would win the Acad- emy Award for Best Picture. It checked three of the major Hol- lywood boxes: celebration of op- pressed people, valorization of complete sexual freedom and a Christian villain. It used to be that a black hat or shifty eyes or a foreign accent would give some- one away as the bad guy, but now, it is the quoting of the Bible. Of course, this shouldn’t sur- prise us in regard to “The Shape of Water,” for the auteur behind the film is the Mexican director Guillermo delToro,who has gone on recordmany times as a despiser of religion, especially Catholicism. In a conversation with Charlie Rose, he admitted to being “a raging atheist,” and in a 2007 in- terview, he said, “I hate structure; I’m completely anti-structural in terms of believing in institutions.I hate them. I hate any institutional social, religious or economic hold- ing.”One might wonder what he makes of the studios that produce his films or the banks that invest his money,but I’ll leave those con- siderations for another day. The title of his award-winning movie gives away the game, for the one thing that water does not have is shape. Its very essence is fluidity, formlessness and free- dom from structure. And this is precisely what is celebrated in the film. Against all odds and despite enormous obstacles, the heroine, a young, fearful and marginalized woman, falls in love with an am- phibian creature whom the gov- ernment (structure: boo!) keeps locked up in a laboratory facility. The lady and the aqua-man build up over time a mutual trust, give their consent to one another, and finally, with the help of well-in- tentioned friends, manage to do the deed. I gathered that the hope of the director was that the viewer would thrill to this brave flouting of convention and rejoice in the trans-species love on display. For sex, apparently, has no proper form, objective structure, or natu- ral end; it has the shape of water, flowing according to the desires of those who engage in it. All of this actually put me in mind of Paul Tillich, one of the most significant Christian theo- logians of the last century. In his massive “Systematic Theology ,” Tillich presented what he called the three ontological polarities, that is to say, tensions or contrar- ies that characterize living things at every level. A good part of the drama and difficulty of human life follows upon our consciousness of living in the midst of these po- larities.The first is dynamics and form. Plants, animals and human beings could not live unless they were marked by novelty, move- ment, change, and the constant adaptation to the environment in which they find themselves. At the same time, all such organisms possess a fundamental structure that preserves their identity and stability across time. Without a reliable cellular, molecular, mus- cular and nervous system, no ani- mal or plant could subsist; instead it would be, in short order, ab- sorbed by its surroundings.What we call “life” is in fact a subtle and carefully calibrated balancing act between dynamics and form; too much of one or the other would spell disaster. The second of the ontological polarities is freedom and destiny. The former is liberty to choose, to move, to be different, to find one’s own path. Without free- dom, no living thing could pos- sibly thrive. Tillich remarks that the uniqueness of each tree, plant, animal and person is, to a large extent, a function of this capacity. However, freedom is in tension with destiny, by which Tillich means the substrate upon which freedom stands, the givens with which freedom works. Liberty never operates in a vacuum, nor is it capable of positing itself; rather, it works with the raw material of one’s family experience, educa- tion, language, body, and culture. Throughout life, these two poles remain in creative tension with one another, but any one-sided resolution would result in col- lapse: either the chaos of pure ar- bitrariness or the petrification of static traditionalism. The third polarity is individu- alization and participation. Each person wants to be herself, to find her path, to stand out from the crowd. In fact, if individualization doesn’t take place, one remains in a good deal of psychological peril, permanently infantilized or sim- ply a cog in some societal struc- ture. But at the same time, every- one longs to belong to something beyond herself, to participate with others in a shared political, religious or cultural endeavor. Tillich saw the Germany of the 1930s as a society that had oscil- lated dangerously in the direction of pure participation: as the Nazi slogan had it, “one people, one nation, one Fuhrer.” But he saw the Western countries as having moved (admittedly not as drasti- cally) in the opposite direction, toward pure individualism. Once again, the delicate balance be- tween the two is the key. A film called “The Shape of Water,” produced by someone who, by his own admission, hates Sat., Apr 14 8:00 a.m. Sacred Heart Residence, Mobile, Admission to Candidacy for Ordination with Men Preparing for Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate Sun., Apr 15 9:00 a.m. Shrine of the Holy Cross Parish, Daphne, Mass and Confirmation for Shrine of the Holy Cross Parish and St. John Mission. 2:00 p.m. St. Ignatius Parish, Mobile, Mass and Confirmation Tue.,-Sun., Apr 17-22 Visit India to Ordain Priests of the Heralds of the Good News Tue., Apr 24 Meeting of Vocation Directors from the Dioceses of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee Thu., Apr 26 11:00 a.m. St. Thomas by the Sea Parish, Orange Beach, ACCW Mass and Luncheon 6:00 p.m. St. Mary Parish, Mobile, Mass and Confirmation Sat., Apr 28 10:30 a.m. Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish, Mobile, Legion of Mary Acies Sun., Apr 29 11:00 a.m. Sacred Heart Parish, Grove Hill, Mass and Confirmation Tue., May 1 6:00 p.m. McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, Mobile, Founders’ Day Evening Wed., May 2 7:00 a.m. WNGL Live Hour Show Thu., May 3 12:10 p.m. Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Mass with Members of Religious Orders, Luncheon for Religious Priests, Brothers and Sisters to Follow Fri., May 4 Knights of Columbus Annual State Convention, Orange Beach Sat., May 5 10:00 a.m. Spring Hill College, Mobile, Graduation 4:00 p.m. St. Pius X Parish, Mobile, Mass and Confirmation 7:00 p.m. Banquet for Knights of Columbus Convention, Orange Beach Sun., May 6 10:00 a.m. St. Margaret Parish, Bayou La Batre, Mass Followed by Afternoon Parade and Blessing of the Fleet Archbishop’s Schedule April 14 - May 6 Paul Tillich and ‘The Shape of Water’ WORD ON FIRE Bishop Robert Barron I structure, is sadly emblematic, I fear, of a society that is indeed in danger of oscillating to one side of the Tillich polarities. Is it not the case that the leading avatars of our culture consistently valo- rize dynamics, freedom, and in- dividualization, while they just as consistently denigrate form, destiny, and participation? And is not sexuality the thin edge of the blade? Increasingly, any limits that have been classically set to sexual expression are swept away as fussy holdovers from a primi- tive time,and any sense that sexu- ality possesses a form and finality independent of individual free choice is mocked as an arbitrary imposition. But if Tillich is right, this one- sidedness is a sign of sickness. The Biblical authors appreciated water as a positive symbol for life, but they also understood it as a symbol of chaos and formless- ness. Think of the Tohu-va-bohu (watery abyss) from which God drew creation. We do indeed need dynamics, freedom, and in- dividualism, but if all we have is the shape of water — which is to say, no shape at all — we’re actu- ally in bad shape. — Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder ofWord on Fire Catholic Ministries. DAILY READINGS APRIL 15 - APRIL 21 Sun., April 15 Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 Ps 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9 1 Jn 2:1-5a Lk 24:35-48 Mon., April 16 Acts 6:8-15 Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30 Jn 6:22-29 Tue., April 17 Acts 7:51—8:1a Ps 31:3cd-4, 6 and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab Jn 6:30-35 Wed., April 18 Acts 8:1b-8 Ps 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a Jn 6:35-40 Thurs., April 19 Acts 8:26-40 Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20 Jn 6:44-51 Fri., April 20 Acts 9:1-20 Ps 117:1bc, 2 Jn6:52-59 Sat., April 21 Acts 9:31-42 Ps 116:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Jn 6:60-69 Sun., April 22 Acts 4:8-12 Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29 1 Jn 3:1-2 Jn 10:11-18 Mon. April 23 Acts 11:1-18 Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4 Jn 10:1-10 Tue., April 24 Acts 11:19-26 Ps 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7 Jn 10:22-30 Wed., April 25 1 Pt 5:5b-14Ps 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17 Mk 16:15-20 Thurs., April 26 Acts 13:13-25 Ps 89:2-3, 21-22, 25 and 27 Jn 13:16-20 Fri., April 27 Acts 13:26-33 Ps 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11ab Jn 14:1-6 Sat., April 28 Acts 13:44-52 Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 Jn 14:4-14 APRIL 22 - APRIL 28 S AINT G EORGE (c. 280 – April 23, 303) Image:SaintGeorgeand theDragon |GustaveMoreau