Given from the Catholic Broadcasting Station 2SM Sydney Australia
Choose a topic from Vol 5:
In 1959 a book was published under the title "Modern Catholicism". Its author was Walther von Loewenich, a Lutheran professor of Church History at Erlangen University, in Germany. In general, it is a very well-informed book and not unsympathetically written. But on p. 41, referring to the definition of papal infallibility by the First Vatican Council, the author remarked: "Since 18 July, 1870, the Church of Rome has never held a General Council. There is no need for one;" upon which a reviewer in the "Times Literary Supplement" commented: "It was bad luck, maybe, that just as these words were being printed Pope John decided to hold a General Council." But if events proved von Loewenich mistaken, Catholics themselves were as surprised as he must have been. I certainly was, and with more reason than the majority of Catholics to be somewhat apprehensive. But of that, more later.
Pope John XXIII, elected as Pius XII's successor on October 28, 1958, just a few weeks short of his seventy-eighth birthday, startled the world, informed by press and radio, when he announced on January 25, 1959, that he intended to convoke an Ecumenical Council. It was about the last thing one would have expected a man of his age to undertake. Nothing daunted, however, he set to work with a will and inspired countless others to devote themselves wholeheartedly to three years of intensive preparation for it. In advance he made quite clear what he wanted the Council to do. It was to bring about a renewal of energy within the Church, to awaken the faithful from their lethargy, to revive Christian standards of morality, and to devise ways and means of so updating the Church's methods of confronting the world in accordance with present-day conditions that men could not fail to see her supernatural reality, wonder at it and want to share in it.
The Council met for its first session on October 11, 1962. In his opening address to the more than two thousand assembled bishops the Pope said: "The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this, that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be preserved and taught more efficaciously." The Church must never depart "from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers." The basic doctrines as taught by them "are well known and familiar to us all." We must adhere "to all the teachings of the Church in their entirety and preciseness, as they still shine forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council." He added, however, that all must be faithfully set forth according to "modern methods of research and in the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the Deposit of Faith is one thing, but the way in which it is presented is another."
Pope John's idea was that the Council should be, above all else, both pastoral and practical; and he was concerned with the religious welfare, not only of Catholics, but of all men without exception. He could not conceal his desire to do away with all tensions and inherited antipathies, not only among Catholics themselves, but between Catholics and all their fellow human beings of whatever other religions they might be, or even of none. He instituted a "Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity" under the presidency of the German Cardinal Bea, S.J. whose efforts were responsible for over a hundred observers from seventeen different non-Catholic Churches and of diverse nationalities attending the various sessions of the Council itself. Without exception the observers were deeply impressed by the goodwill and charity radiated by Pope John. Unwaveringly maintaining the Catholic position himself, he yet respected the consciences of all who thought differently. And the world realised this. People in the most unexpected quarters at least listened to him even if they did not heed his appeals, and loved him. When he died on June 3, 1963, having seen his Council through its first session only, he was enshrined in the public memories of all nations as simply "Good Pope John."
Cardinal Giovanni Montini, Archbishop of Milan, elected as Pope Paul VI on June 21, 1963, to the far from easy task of succeeding him, brought the Council through its remaining sessions until its conclusion on December 8, 1965; and since then has devoted himself to securing throughout the whole Church the application of its principles in practice. It would be idle to pretend that all has been smooth sailing, whether during or after the Council; and the immense publicity given to the often astonishing innovations in a supposedly monolithic and changeless Catholicism has given rise to hopes or misgivings as the case may be among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Pope Paul VI himself, whilst still Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, had anticipated such varied reactions in a Lenten Pastoral Letter, March, 1962, having no idea then that he would so soon be elected as the next Pope. In support of the proposed Council, to begin in the following October, he pointed out that movements for reform were a recurring phenomenon in the Church throughout the centuries. "Reform", he said, "the programme of the saints and the trumpet of rebels, has been from time to time through the centuries the renewing ferment of Catholic tradition. It is the Pope this time who is arousing it within the Church." He noted, however, that Pope John's purpose was not to remedy abuses, but to update the Church, to have an "aggiornamento" as he put it, in order to better adjust it to prevailing historical conditions.
Pope Paul VI, after his own election and the conclusion of the Council, found himself called upon repeatedly to rebuke those extremists who either wanted to go beyond the Council's decrees or were reluctant to comply with them. Frequently in his weekly audiences he expressed his "deep concern" over those, often in high places, who thought the Council entitled them "to question principles, laws and traditions to which the Church is firmly bound and from which she can never be expected to depart." On the other hand, he reproved those who objected to changes actually decreed by the Council, as if only those measures should be accepted which happen to fit in with one's own personal preferences. The Council "is an event", he said, "which must endure. It is not good to adopt the attitude of those who are longing to return to pre-conciliar ways. We should try to understand the Council's teachings and apply them within the framework of Christian life, remembering that when the teaching-Church speaks officially, we must all become disciples."
Two things must here be noted. Firstly, although the Second Vatican Council made no specifically infallible decisions, its declarations naturally included much Catholic teaching already infallibly defined. Secondly, its own sixteen documents as promulgated by Pope Paul VI are at least authoritative explanations and applications of Catholic doctrine and discipline. As Catholics we believe that, quite apart from infallible decrees, the Holy Spirit guides and protects the Church in the exercise of her ordinary teaching authority, and especially so during an Ecumenical Council. Catholics, therefore, are obliged in a spirit of faith and in conscience to accept conciliar decisions, adjusting their ways of thinking, speaking and acting to the guidance afforded by them.
In saying that, I am not suggesting to others that they should do what I myself have not had to do. It was in a very different era with a very different atmosphere that I commenced my radio sessions on Station 2SM, Sydney, Australia, on the occasion of Sydney's International Eucharistic Congress in 1928. I began the session months in advance of the Congress primarily to explain its significance, and afterwards decided to continue it for the purpose of supplying information generally to interested inquirers on religious matters, whether from the biblical, historical, philosophical or scientific points of view.
There were not wanting "prophets of doom" among my fellow priests who predicted that listeners would have put all the inquiries they could think of within three months and that the session would not survive longer than that. Events showed otherwise. When, in 1958, thirty years later, Pope John XXIII was elected as successor of St Peter, the inflow of letters was continuing unabated.
Some 1,600 questions and answers selected from the first five years of the session were published in book form in 1934; and between then and 1954 a further volume was published in Australia and two other volumes in America. The four volumes between them contained over 6,000 classified and indexed questions of various kinds, but these were only a fraction of those actually dealt with over the air. Few people, I should think, realise the work involved where some topics are concerned. With almost two thousand years of history the Catholic Church is certainly an immense quarry from which to dig up all kinds of problems; and in dealing with many of them hours can be spent checking facts, studying their real significance, and condensing pages of notes into a five-minute reply, trying to get into it all that must be said, with no more than need be said.
How often during the years I have felt like saying to new inquirers: "Tell me all your difficulties, and I'll tell you a few thousand more to which you yourself have not adverted!" But the experience of the years has brought one thing home to me with overwhelming force, namely, the truth of Cardinal Newman's observation in his "Apologia" that "ten thousand difficulties do not make a doubt."
At the time of Pope John XXIII's election in 1958, however, I was thinking of retiring to less exacting duties. Advancing years, failing eyesight and other disabilities were making it increasingly difficult for me to meet a deadline each week for my sessions. But his announced intention of convoking a General Council of the Church seemed to confront me with a new challenge. The daily papers were rife with speculations and predictions of far-reaching changes. For over thirty years I had been explaining, justifying and defending the Catholic religion as then generally accepted. If Pope John's Council was not satisfied with things as they were, how far would renewal go, what alterations would be made, and how much would I have to unsay? I could find some consolation here in the thought that even St. Augustine, in 427, three years before his death, published two volumes of "Retractations", correcting statements his maturer knowledge required either to be withdrawn or otherwise expressed. In any case, our newspapers would probably headline many startling incidents and utterances during the various sessions of the Council, and the diverse reactions of readers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, would prompt many inquiries concerning them. I decided, therefore, to continue my radio work for at least the duration of the Council. There were four general sessions: 11 October-8 December, 1962; 29 September-4 December, 1963; 14 September-21 November, 1964; and 14 September-8 December, 1965. The Council ended, I continued my radio work for a further three years, concluding it on 22 December, 1968. By then I felt that good measure had been allowed for afterthoughts.
This book contains a selection of questions put and answers given during the six years, 1962-1968. They are grouped according to subject matter, not in chronological order. A few years may have elapsed between the sending of any two questions, one of which follows immediately upon another. The number of questions chosen has been proportionate to the degree of interest shown in particular topics. There will be, of course, continued developments in the Church, but the principles governing them were laid down in the Council, and a historical value attaches to the problems that arose and the reactions awakened in the minds of so many people so different in outlook at the time.
As for my pre-conciliar replies, some of the positions I earlier maintained no longer hold good. But there have been no changes in the essentials of the Catholic religion; and I would certainly say that reasons given for previously existent customs were quite sound even if the Council thought there were better reasons in changed circumstances for other directives. Even now there are still different aspects of complicated issues, with much to be said for former practices even if there seems more to be said for newer ones adopted in the interests of updating the Church to make it more meaningful for the modern generation. Of one thing, sometimes doubted or denied, I am quite sure. There will always be a need for apologetics. In fact, genuine ecumenical progress will be brought to a halt unless the reasons for each one's religious position are duly explained and subjected to a reconsideration by others who have not hitherto thought deeply enough about them. An element of apologetics is presupposed by the ecumenical movement of its very nature. I speak of apologetics, not of polemics which imply acrimonious disputes intent on the defeat of those regarded as hostile to one's own position. No place should ever be given to acrimony, although one may be called upon to take a definite stand uncompromisingly, giving his reasons for it as he sees them, and speaking always with ecumenical sympathy and charity.
Here I fully agree with the declaration of the Swiss Lutheran theologian, Dr. Oscar Cullmann, in the introduction to his book "Catholics and Protestants". "I am convinced", he wrote, "that the first condition for the bringing together of Catholics and Protestants is absolute openness on both sides. If we want to find a firm basis for mutual understanding, then we must first of all speak to one another without mental reservations. In this spirit I have in the past and shall in the future continue to discuss with our Catholic brethren those very questions of doctrine which separate us." No Catholic could reasonably object to this stand adopted by Dr. Cullmann who is a model of courtesy at all times, and who gladly accepted the special invitation by Cardinal Bea, head of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, to be one of the non- Catholic observers present at the Second Vatican Council itself.
Needless to say, I wish the many references to other books and writers to be regarded as indicating my sense of indebtedness to them for the scholarly work they have made available to their readers.
Dr Leslie Rumble, M.S.C, S.T.D
"QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK
ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH" - Book Title