Can we still hear the call? What it means to be Catholic

Despite the drastic changes occurring in the world today, certain elements of the Catholic tradition and communion can make the transition into a world colored by merger and shaped by governmental concerns for the general, not the particular. If Catholic particularism to many degrees and in many ways has been lost, the "loss" occurred before, apart from, alongside, and in many ways independent of merger and governmental contexts. "We gave it away." These are days for retrieval. The Catholic response to "the call" has been complicated by the following forces: bureaucratization of the world, acceptance of the terms of a liberal (i.e., "open") society, pluralism, and governmental involvement. These factors are formidable, and they do change contexts for response to the call. But they need not stifle the response. The following are some of the elements in "the call" that the Catholic "we" can hear and respond to, while they are also graspable and transmittable by non-Catholics in merged, governmentally related institutions and associations: Catholicholism, concern for the soul, a sacramental view, attention to human dignity, the quest for meaning, the value of ritual, human exemplarity, responsibility to community, the call to justice, and a special ethos. This sampling of elements could be debated within Catholic and in pluralistic contexts. But rather than debate, I would picture a value in conversation in each institution, system, association, or network. This conversation involves Catholics and non-Catholics alike.