Avery Dulles Quotes

United States, Cardinal
August 24, 1918 – December, 12, 2008.

Avery Robert Dulles, S.J. was a Jesuit priest, theologian, and Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, of The Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988, and as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University from 1988 to 2008. He was an internationally known author and lecturer.

Were very careful to see that the terminology is in accord with the documents of the Holy See and with a whole series of documents previously published by this conference.

Avery Dulles
The Church therefore has one inescapable task: To lift up Christ. When she seeks to lift herself up she becomes weak, but when she acknowledges her own weakness and proclaims her Lord, she is strong.

Avery Dulles
- Church
- Christ
- Task

In the first of these senses, neither Christ nor the Christian is supposed to be the world’s servant. Jesus is obedient, not to the world but to the Father. He is the servant of God, not of men, and we too are called to be servants of God.

Avery Dulles
- World
- God
- Servants
But this could be interpreted primarily in terms of the ministry of word and sacrament, in accordance with the previous models of the Church, rather than in terms of caritative service.

Avery Dulles
- Church
- Service
- Sacrament
If the Pope were to deny that the death penalty could be an exercise of retributive justice, he would be overthrowing the tradition of two millenia of Catholic thought, denying the teaching of several previous popes, and contradicting the teaching of Scripture.

Avery Dulles
In today's schools, 'religious studies' has almost entirely replaced theology.

Avery Dulles