Authority: the divided legacy

...Rome has been wary of regionalism...

...The Bishops' Conference has in many ways become the true center of episcopal authority in this country...

...These letters, which on some points converge with, and on others diverge from, the episcopal teaching, have had considerable influence without juridical authority...

...THE MOST striking innovation connected with collegiality is perhaps the synod of bishops...

...The bishops are groping their way toward an effective manner of speaking on public policy questions, neither so authoritative as to preclude responsible dissent nor so vague as to invite casual dismissal...

...The principle of subsidiarity would seem to require that problems affecting a particular nation or region should normally be handled at the level of the conference...

...Catholics, according to the council, are obliged to accept in faith what the pope and bishops proclaim as a matter of faith...

...Catholic unity vs...

...The council abstained from reaffirming recent papal teaching on subjects such as monogenism, the primary end of marriage, the two sources of revelation, and the supernatural, thus reopening what had been regarded as closed questions...

...Frequently in the past, said the pope, the church has condemned errors with the greatest severity...

...Ways must be sought to protect the integrity of the faith without creating even the semblance of unfairness and repression...

...The doctrine of the council concerning the hierarchy reT HE POPE has called for a synod next november to examine the state of church renewal two decades after vatican II, In anticipation of that synod, commonweal is publishing a series of articles focusing on issues which remain unsettled and sharply contested in today's church The first article, gregory Baurn's reflection on "After liberal Optimism, what...

...DOCTRINAL VIGILANCE has long been a major concern of the papacy...

...Where the supreme authority of the church becomes involved, care must be taken to safeguard the principles of subsidiarity, legitimate diversity, and collegiality...

...Mary's in Oxford, pointed out the indispensability of having someone capable of declaring: ' "This is the faith of the church, no matter what Professor X or Y says it is...

...These important contributions of Vatican II still retain their full validity and relevance...

...Truth," it asserted, "can impose itself on the human mind only in virtue of its own truth, which wins over the mind with both gentleness and power" (Dignitatis Humanae, 1...

...It was hoped that, thanks to an "accommodated preaching of the Gospel," each nation might develop "the ability to express Christ's message in its own way" (Gaudium et Spes, 44...

...It will be for bishops to judge how far this charge is valid...

...John Paul II has continued to exercise the primacy in a highly personal style, utilizing the synod of bishops as a consultative organ or what he would call an "instrument of collegiality...

...The Congregation for Religious, directed since April 1984 by Jerome Hamer, O.P...

...A number of distinguished winkers have agreed to contribute their viewpoints, / the editors Commonweal: 400 suited in a certain downgrading of other teachers in the church...

...In patristic times such councils, though primarily made up of bishops, were convoked and approved by emperors...

...In September 1983 and June 1984 it rejected certain views of Schillebeeckx on the ministry...

...Since Vatican U, therefore, ecclesiastical authority, in the sense of juridical power, has been firmly lodged in the pope and the bishops, but especially in the pope, who makes use of the college of bishops at his own discretion...

...When the pope asserts a definite position by his ordinary magisterium without speaking ex cathedra, the faithful are obliged to assent sincerely as a matter of religious deference (obsequium religiosum...

...Only he, moreover, could call the bishops to collegiate action...

...All three of these topics are aspects of the general question of authority in the church...

...In his handling of priestly celibacy and of contraception, Paul VI, preferring not to act collegially, attempted to settle the issues by encyclicals written in 1967 and 1968 respectively...

...These statements on religious authority stand in some tension with the series of texts, already mentioned, in which freedom and tolerance are emphasized...

...and the signs or the times, rrom this and several other council documents it would be possible to piece together a solid declaration on human rights, based on the principles of the Gospel...

...collegiality...

...Lumen Gentium, 25...

...This papalepiscopal authority is absolute, not in the sense that it can do anything it pleases, but in the sense that there are no juridical restraints upon it...

...In these words he drew attention to a precious asset of Roman Catholicism, but he himself remarked on the existence of a disquieting "Holy Office syndrome...

...Its "Instruction on Certain Aspects of the Theology of Liberation^" dated August 6, 1984, gave general admonitions on the dangers of Marxist contamination...

...Up to the present the conferences have enjoyed only a modicum of juridical authority, but some of their actions have been highly influential — for example, the documents of the Latin American general episcopal conferences of Medellin and Puebla...

...Since charity excludes fear," he wrote, "we can now more effectively defend the faith by promoting doctrine...

...Was JOHN xxm deluded in imagining that errors tend to destroy themselves in the course of time...

...Some of these statements have been appreciated as theologically incisive, whereas some others, such as the one on the ordination of women, have been subjects of controversy...

...Another objection is that the conferences tend to smother the initiative of individual bishops as pastors of their own dioceses...

...The 1983 Code, reflecting Vatican II, registers a slight but significant shift: "It is the right and duty of all and only the bishops who are members of the college of bishops to take part in an ecumenical council with deliberative vote...

...For instance, speaking in Brazil in 1980, he said that such conferences are "a peculiar expression and a particularly appropriate organ of collegiality...

...I shall here discuss the two pontificates under three main headings: primacy vs...

...Although the council did allude to the possibility that doctrines might be poorly formulated (Unitatis Redintegratio, 6), it did not squarely face the question about the rights and duties of the Catholic who is conscientiously convinced that the official church has erred on a given point...

...Such initiatives may be seen as implementing the council's recommendation that the laity should courageously express their views on matters in which they enjoy competence (Gaudium et Spes, 62...

...Because various statements and actions of the council point in different directions, the council has not been easy to implement...

...THE DOCTRINE OF COLLEGIALITY, as already mentioned, concentrated ecclesiastical power more than ever before in the bishops, including the pope as head of the college...

...In its teaching on the magisterium, Vatican II emphasized that the hierarchy alone can authoritatively interpret the word of God, though the hierarchy stands under that word and serves it (Dei Verbum, 10...

...In effect, moreover, the council reversed the teaching of previous popes on the ecumenical movement, biblical criticism, religious freedom, and the values of modernization, to mention only a few obvious topics...

...Nor did the council make any mention of the consensus of theologians as an authentic source of Christian doctrine...

...In the first months of 1984 the CDF required two American bishops to withdraw the imprimatur on books they had previously approved, and in a third case it made efforts to prevent the reprinting of an American book...

...The bishops have not suggested that such lay pastorals are out of order...

...Paul VI (1963-78) strove loyally to implement it in an even-handed way...

...In the Constitution on the Church and elsewhere, the laity were invited to exercise responsible initiatives...

...They have preferred to speak of the " evangelization of cultures," all of which need to be regenerated by encounter with the Gospel...

...Efforts were then made to get the Peruvian bishops to condemn Gustavo Gutierrez...

...No one wants to return to the terror and repression of the antiModernist period...

...Hamer acted swiftly against the religious who had signed the so-called "abortion ad" in the New York Times, printed October 7, 1984...

...In countries such as the United States, with a strong legal tradition favoring the accused, many are scandalized by the procedures of the CDF...

...Was Paul VI naive in imagining that faith can best be defended by the positive proposal of true doctrine...

...The American bishops have been submissive to the doctrinal pronouncements of Rome but they have sought a measure of freedom in some practical matters...

...In September 1965, just before the last session of the council, Paul VI set up mis agency as a permanent body in which selected representatives of the whole episcopate (at least 85 percent of them elected by their episcopal conference) would occasionally meet to consider concerns of the universal church...

...For instance, they lobbied in Rome for the retention of the American procedural norms in marriage cases, which have been to some extent salvaged in the new Code...

...The record shows that in the area of social doctrine, different conferences have at times made different applications, but such variations of accent may be seen as healthy and appropriate...

...The CDF has issued a series of declarations to clarify Catholic doctrine on certain disputed points such as the Incarnation and the Trinity (1972), infallibility (1973), sexual ethics (1975), and the ordination of women (1976...

...It has collectively spoken on numerous doctrinal and practical issues, such asmoral norms (including sterilization and abortion), the principles for religious education, Mariology, Marxist Communism, national defense policies, and, currently, the economy...

...An ecclesiologically interesting byproduct of the collective pastorals on peace and the economy has been the letters on these topics composed by unofficial committees under the direction of laymen such as Michael Novak and William E. Simon...

...Future articles will touch on questions of CathOlic identity, women and the Church, current moral teaching, the life of prayer, and related themes...

...who was made a cardinal in May 1985), has closely seconded the CDF in its doctrinal vigilance...

...With varying degrees of success, the American bishops have championed certain adaptations in the liturgy, such as Communion in the hand (which is permitted in many countries), the adoption of more inclusive language, the distribution of Communion under both kinds at regular Sunday parish liturgies, and several modifications of the Roman lectionary for North America...

...The bishops as a college are seen as succeeding to the college of the apostles and hence as having supreme teaching and governing authority in the church...

...In its direct statements on authority, however, the council can scarcely be said to have liberalized the official teaching...

...Anxious to protect the liturgy as a sign of Catholic unity, Rome has been reluctant to authorize liturgical innovations on a regional basis...

...In 1982 it issued a rather negative evaluation of the Final Report of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission...

...The confusion of the post-conciliar period reminds us that severity as well as mercy may be in place and that strong structures of authority, such as the Catholic church has always possessed, may be needed to protect the integrity of revealed truth...

...There is little to prevent condemnations from depending on the personal theological views — or even, for that matter, the animosities — of a few highly placed individuals...

...Complaints have been made by theologians such as Henri de Lubac and curial officials such as Joseph Ratzinger to the effect that episcopal conferences can become sources of national particularism and divisiveness...

...In his 1984 Apostolic Exhortation on Reconciliation and Penance, he referred to episcopal conferences as organs of the church's "social magisterium...

...From my contacts I have the impression that most bishops find the national conferences a major support...

...The CDF under Ratzinger is not unlike the Holy Office under Ottaviani, except that it no longer functions as predictably as the neo-scholastic juridicism of earlier generations enabled it to do...

...Without his participation or approval, no action by the college could have any force...

...Yet the problem was evident at the council itself...

...Taking advantage of the liberty gained by the council, some Catholics undoubtedly carried innovation and dissent to excess...

...appeared in the last issue (June 21...

...Often errors vanish as quickly as they arise, like fog before the sun...

...Generally speaking, both he and John Paul II have been reserved with regard to inculturation...

...The extraordinary synod of bishops in the fall of 1985 may find occasion to address this complex issue...

...CHARTING A COURSE: FROM THE COUNCIL TO THE SYNOD Authority: the divided legacy AVERY DULLES IN HIS OPENING ADDRESS at Vatican II, John XXIII pointed out that there was ' 'no lack of fallacious teaching'' in the world of our day...

...Under John Paul II the CDF has intensified its activity against doctrinally suspect authors...

...Where the selfcorrecting processes of theological debate do not suffice, the hierarchy may have to intervene, first of all on the local or regional level, always respecting the rights of die accused and the possibilities of meaningful appeal...

...As a result, the conception of an ecumenical council was modified...

...The U.S...

...The Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops called for many reforms in the curia...

...In 1968 he issued on his own initiative a creedlike document, the' 'Credo of the People of God," which, though wholly positive in tenor, implicitly rejected various new theories on the virginity of Mary, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, original sin, purgatory, and other matters...

...To promote this regionalism the council recommended the establishment of national or regional conferences of bishops which were empowered, under certain circumstances, to make binding regulations...

...They were ordered to retract under threat of dismissal from the religious life...

...In the spring of 1985 the Brazilian Franciscan, Leonardo Boff, was subjected to hearings resulting in a "notification" of errors in one of his books, followed by his sentencing to an indefinite period of silence...

...Non-bishops may not attend in any capacity unless invited to do so by the "supreme authority in the church" (canon 339...

...Before Vatican II this function was the specialty of the Holy Office, a congregation that attracted much negative criticism at the council...

...In drawing up the National Catechetical Directory and its collective pastorals, the conference has developed rather successful processes of consultation in which the advice of experts and the reactions of the faithful are taken into consideration...

...The council proposed a pluriform unity in 12 July 1985: 401 which the natural endowments and customs of each cultural group would be fostered so as to make a greater contribution to the whole...

...12 July 1985: 403...

...In December 1979 Edward Schillebeeckx was interrogated in Rome about his Jesus, and in the same month Hans Kiing was deprived of his mandate to teach as a Catholic theologian...

...Was Varicanil mistaken in holding that truth wins over the mind of its own gentle power...

...In the birth control encyclical, Humanae Vitae, he rejected the majority recommendation of the advisory commission he himself had established...

...It is noteworthy, however, that neither the pope nor the council, in instituting this synod, used the term "collegiality...

...Episcopal ordination is described as the highest grade of the sacrament of orders, imprinting a sacred character...

...regionalism...

...John Paul II, in his public statements, has often encouraged bishops' conferences...

...The decisive texts are contained in the third chapter of the Constitution on the Church, which must be read in the light of the official commentary, the "Prefatory Note of Explanation...

...At the ecumenical council, the pope declared, "the church desires to show herself to be the loving mother of all, benign, patient, full of mercy and goodness," spreading everywhere "the fullness of Christian charity.'' Such charity could eradicate the seeds of discord...

...They must, however, be on guard against the dangers of bureaucratization and bland compromises...

...The Declaration on Religious Freedom disavowed religious coercion on the ground that the act of faith is essentially free...

...After the condemnation of his book, Quand je dis Dieu, Jacques Pohier, O.P., was forbidden in April 1979 to lecture or say Mass in public...

...Following the precedent set by Paul VI in 1974-75, John Paul II, after each of the last three synods, has issued an apostolic exhortation setting forth in his own words the outcome of the synod...

...The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World echoed the optimism of Pope John in assessing modern culture AVERY DULLES, S.J., is professor of theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C...

...The church, now as always, must oppose such errors, but different means may be appropriate today than in earlier times...

...Bishops' Conference, like others, has been faced with the delicate task of mediating between the Holy See and the Catholic faithful in this country...

...Bishops are characterized as filling in an eminent and visible way "Christ's own role as Teacher, Shepherd, and High Priest" (Lumen Gentium, 21...

...Influenced no doubt by these words, Vatican II refrained from issuing any anathemas...

...The synod as such enjoys no deliberative powers, though the pope may give it >a deliberative voice on a particular matter if he sees fit...

...Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than of severity...

...Since Joseph Ratzinger was brought to Rome as its prefect in November 1981, the CDF has redoubled its concern for orthodoxy...

...At Vatican II there was much criticism of the "monolithic" church of the recent past, which had allegedly confused unity with uniformity...

...In a motu proprio of 1966, Paul VI decreed that countries or territories that did not yet have episcopal conferences should set them up as soon as possible...

...The "sense of the faith" of the whole people of God was said to be unerring, but only when the faithful were in agreement with the bishops (Lumen Gentium, 12...

...The Decree on Ecumenism strove to speak favorably of the other Christian churches, as did the Declaration on Non-Christian Religions with regard to Judaism and the other faith-traditions...

...The dignity of all Christians was likewise affirmed, since through baptism all participate in the priesthood of Christ...

...In 1969 Paul VI established an International Theological Commission to advise the CDF, and in 1971 he promulgated new procedures for the examination of doctrinal cases...

...The 1983 Code of Canon Law, accordingly, treats the synod as an advisory body to the pope, who has full authority to convoke it and set its agenda...

...In the Middle Ages councils were composed of representatives of various classes in the Christian society, including bishops, abbots, theologians, and secular princes...

...In these passages the episcopacy is raised to a new pinnacle of power...

...Because of tensions between the Holy See and the conferences, Paul VI in 1969 convened an extraordinary synod to deal with the question, but no satisfactory solution was then achieved...

...Authority in the sense of influence is of course much more widely distributed in the church...

...Since the middle of 1984 the CDF has concerned itself especially with Latin America...

...Cardinal Flings, one of the council presidents, said at the second session: "Its procedures are out of harmony with modern times, are a source of harm to the faithful, and a scandal to those outside the church...

...The individual bishop has little effective authority unless he works in close collaboration with the bishops of neighboring dioceses...

...and doctrinal control vs...

...Our narrative ends, therefore, very much where it began...

...Even the Code of 1917 still recognized the right of certain religious superiors who were not bishops to attend ecumenical councils as voting members...

...Unlike the scholastic theology manuals, Vatican II made no allusion to the scholarly magisterium of theologians...

...John Paul II, since 1978, has shown himself primarily concerned with reestablishing discipline and overcoming what he describes as the "disarray and division" left in the wake of the council...

...dissent...

...The council proposed its exalted doctrine of episcopal authority without in any way detracting from the supreme authority of the pope, as previously defined at Vatican I. The pope was recognized as having by himself alone all the powers of all the other bishops taken together...

...All these assertions of Vatican II raised expectations that church authority , after the council, would be more widely distributed among the faithful and would be exercised with greater moderation...

...His most recent book is Models of Revelation (Doubleday...

...In spite of the hopes of some church reformers, Paul VI never allowed the doctrine of collegiality to restrict him in the free exercise of his primatial powers...

...Generally speaking, the development of episcopal conferCommonweal: 402 ences has been a fitting response to the regionalism authorized by Vatican II...

...If they pool their, efforts, the bishops can have a more adequate staff and speak with greater unanimity...

...Chenu, Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, arid John Courtney Murray, had been in conflict with the Roman magisterium under Pius XII...

...Coming into the Catholic communion in May 1985, Peter Cornell, former Vicar of St...

...The freedom of responsible scholarship to probe into new areas must be protected...

...At the synod of 1974 Paul VI warned that it would be "dangerous to speak of , diversified theologies according to continents and cultures...

...Many of the theological experts, such as Henri de Lubac, M.-D...

...Two days before the close of the council, in December 1965, Paul VI changed the name of the Holy Office to ' 'Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith'' (CDF) and gave it the primarily positive mission of encouraging the development of sound doctrine...