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PACE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1964
MOTHER’ OR MEDIATRIX '
Council Fathers Face Big
Problem In Marian Debate
BY REV. GEORGE H. TAV^RD
(N. C. W. C. News Service)
ROME—The last chapter of
the schema on the Church has
presented the council Fathers
with a thorny problem.
It is devoted to the Virgin
Mary, under the title; "The
Blessed Virgin Mary, Bearer of
God (Deipara), in the Mystery
of Christ and the Church." It
replaces the formerly indepen
dent schema on Mary.
DISCUSSION of the new text
occupied more than two days of
debate by the council Fathers.
The d ibate centered on two
points; Can Mary be called
"Mother of the Church?" Should
the schema speak of her as
"Mediatrix?"
The sharp divergence of
opinion expressed on the chapt
er must now be reconciled by
the Theological Commission
and brought back to the council
Fathers for a vote.
THE question of the mother
hood of Mary in relation to the
Church is not raised by the pre
sent text of the schema, but
by the absence of that ex
pression from its title. For the
phrase, p "Mother of the
Church," appeared in the last
version of the formerly sepa
rate schema on Mary. It was
not in the original version, but
only in the second, and it has
now been omitted. The new title
corresponds to the votes of the
bishops during the second coun
cil session, when it was deci
ded to treat the topic of Mar-
iology in the context of the
mystery of the Church.
However, Mariologistsfollow
two main tendencies, called
"Christo-typical" and "Ec-
clesio-typical."
THE first sees Mary as a
beautiful imitation of Christ
and describes her holiness, her
function and her privileges on
the pattern of the correspond
ing qualities and functions of
Jesus.
The second sees her as the
image of the Church, and un
derstands her meahing in the
history of salvation on the model
of the meaning and place of the
Church.
THE current title of the chap
ter therefore shows one pur
pose of the text; to follow a
middle way between Christo-
typical and Ecclesio-typical
Mariolcgies by drawing on the
insights erf both. The fact that
the bishops’ speeches have not
been concerned with this, indi
cates that the synthesis of the
two points of view has been fair
ly successful.
The bishops who have asked
for a return to the title of
Mary as "Mother of the
Church" have done it on two
grounds.
ON THE one hand, this title
seems to them likely to increase
the devotion of Catholics. But
Augustin Cardinal Bea, presi
dent of the Secretariat for Pro
moting Christian Unity, felt it
necessary to state that the
question before the council is
not the devotion of anybody but
the accuracy of doctrine.
On the other hand, this title
has been advocated because it
has been found by some
speakers to be identical with the
title, universally recognized, of
Mary "Mother of the faithful."
A MONG the more doubtful ar
guments used to support the
title, "Mother of the Church,"
it has been said that the Church
is the family of God, in which
there must be a mother. Obv
iously, this literal understand
ing of the word "family" takes
no account of the symbolic or
analogical use erf theological
terms. It has also been said
that Mary must be the "Mother
of the Church," since she is al
ready the "Mother erf all men,
the Mother of Protestants, erf
Mohamedans, of unbeliev
ers," and so forth.
REDUCED to its theological
proportions, the problem is
simple.
Does such a title correspond
to the Church’s tradition?
As was pointed out by Bishop
Sergio Mendez Arceo erf Cue
rnavaca, Mexico, there a re two
known instances of this title
being used in the 9th and the
10th centuries. The bishop
could not find other uses of
it until the end of the 19th
century, with Pope Leo XIIL
Recently Pope Paul VI invit
ed theologians to find out if
this appellation could be used
meaningfully. An invitation to
study this title implies at
least that its legitimacy is not
obvious to the Pope.
THE contents of such a title
depend primarily on one’s un
derstanding of the Church. If
the Church is seen simply as
the organ and channel of salva
tion, Mary could be called
Mother of the Church. By bring
ing Christ into the world,
she was made the spiritual
Mother of all those who will
be saved by Him, and she be
came a central element in the
salvation of mankind.
But to see the Church only
in this Individualistic perspe
ctive does not do full justice
to the mystery of the Incarn
ation. The Church is also the
holy community of God and man
communing with each other in
mutual indwelling. Coming down
from heaven as the New Jer
usalem, the Church brings to
men, and first of all to Mary
in the mystery of the Annunci
ation, the fulfilment of the pro
mises of God and the imple
mentation of His covenant with
man.
OF SUCH a Church, Mary can
only be the daughter. And it
is a notable fact that the title
"Mother," from the time of the
early Fathers to ours, has
been given to the Church, moth
er of all the redeemed, who
have been reborn in her through
the waters of baptism.
one tries to give a precise theo
logical content to these devot
ional titles. The name in ques
tion, "Mediatrix," clearly re
fers to Mary's prayer with and
for all Christans. It is some
times qualified as "Mediatrix
of All Grace (singular). All
grace being summed up in
Christ, this means no more than
the traditional names "For
th bringer of Christ" or
"Christbearing Virgin."
IT has also been qualified as
"Mediartrix of All Graces"
(plural), which would seem to
imply something quite different,
namely that all graces do infact
comes to men through Mary.
At this point, theology, and with
it the council, runs into diffi
culties.
It is of course impossible to
conceive that all graces without
exception must come through
Mary. For the grace of God was
already given in the Old Testa
ment, before she was born. And
Mary herself received grace,
of which surely she could not
be the "Mediatrix" in her own
favor.
IN view of this, the extreme
school of Marilogy, for which
Mary's mediation is not only
a fact of Christian life but also
a necessity in God’s plan for
the salvation of the world, plac
es itself at the limits of or
thodoxy. For where such a nec
essity taken literally, it would
follow that Mary is not only
redeemed by Christ, as impl
ied in the definition of her Im
maculate Conception, but also
self-redeemed. And it would
follow that she must have been
somehow pre-existent to her
own birth.
After the bishops’ ex
change on this question, it
seems unlikely that the title
"Mother of the Church" will
be restored in the final text
of the constitution on the
Church.
THE other major point on
which the bishops have dis
agreed in relation to the chap
ter on Mary concerns the tide
"Mediatrix."
The schema is very careful
here. It does not itself call
Mary "Mediatrix," but it stat
es the fact that custom has
given her this title. And it
cautions that this word must
not be understood as taking
away from, or adding to, the
dignity of Christ as the only
Mediator.
IN spite of this prudence,
several cardinals and bishops,
some of them speaking in the
name of a large number of their
colleagues, have asked for the
total removal of the word
"Mediatrix," from the schema.
Others, on the contrary, have
insisted that it be kept and,
if possible, reinforced.
This question arises origin
ally from the Catholic (andalso
the Orthodox) practice of pray
ing frequently to Mary, asking
for her intercession in our
favor. Orthodox devotion has
done this for centuries. Yet
Orthodox theology has never
tried to express this by build
ing up a speculative system
concerning the place of the Vir
gin Mary in the plan of sal
vation.
BUT the trend of Latin theo
logy has always been to
rationalize the broad assump
tions of Christian piety and to
organize them into a rational
system of thought. Piety, both
liturgical and private, tends to
see Mary in the halo of poe
try, and most of the titles giv
en to Mary first arose in the
lyrical content of Marian piety.
Thus Mary has been called,
not only "Mother of Jesus"
and "the Virgin," as in the
New Testament, not only
"Forthbringer of God" (The
otokos), as at the Council of
Ephesus, which employed this
expression to safeguard the in
tegrity of the belief in t he In
carnation, but also "Inter
cessor," "Auxiliatrix," "Ae4
vocate, " **Mother of the faith
ful," "Mediatrix,"
IN their popular use, these
titles are without a well-de
fined theological meaning. And
the Litanies of Loretto provide
a sourcelist of poetic titles
of the Virgin which have never
been studied theologically and
probably never can be.
The difficulty arises when
It is in keeping with the logic
of this extreme type of Mari-
ology that the title "Co-rede-
mptrix" prolongs that of
"Mediatrix." TTius, the medi
ation of Mary does not remain
posterior to Redemption, being
the outcome of Mary’s eleva
tion to heaven by her Assump
tion, but it becomes intrinsic
to Redemption Itself.
The chapter on Mary does not
mention co-redemption but only
mediation. It neither recom
mends nor condemns it, but
simply warns not to take it in
a way that would be detrimen
tal to faith in Christ, the
only Mediator.
THE immediate question,
then, is; Should this title re
main in the council’s consti
tution, or should it not?
Some practical difficulties
militate against its retention:
How can one explain to Mohan-
medans and others, Archbishop
Adrianus Djajasepoetra of Jak
arta, Indonesia, asked, that we
believe in only one Mediator
between God and man, and also
in a second Mediator subor
dinate to the first? How can we
be certain that our own people,
especially in regions where
Marian devotion has a tendency
to run wild, make no mistake
about the only mediation of
Christ, when they proclaim
Mary "Mediatrix?"
THE gravity of the situation
was indirectly pointed out by
Bishop Francisco Renderio
of Faro, Portugal. He complain
ed that removal of the word
"Mediatrix" would scandalize
Catholics' in many parts of the
world, who believe that all grac
es come to them through Mary.
The statement implies that
Catholics in other parts of the
world do not hold such a belief.
The question then is why should
these be scandalized by reten
tion of the name.
Among the arguments for
keeping the word "Mediatrix,"
several bishops have mentioned
its use by recent popes, espec
ially Leo XIII, Pius X and
Pius XL This raises an issue
that has been basic to all the
council’s work: Is the use of
an expression, a theological
point of view or an explana
tion in a recent papal docu
ment a valid reason for an
ecumenical Council to do the
same? If the council’s function
where to provide a digest of pa
pal documents, it would limit
its work to the culling of papal
writings, which would restrict
its authority to that of the
documents cited or referred to.
AS was pointed out by Car
dinal Bea, a conciliar consti
tution must be a more solemn
document than a papal encycl
MONTH OF THE ROSARY—October is dedicated to the de
votion which the Blessed Mother revealed to St. Dominic
some seven hundred years ago. Mrs. Mary Cramer, 90, a
resident of Carroll Manor, Hyattsville, Md., is one of count
less thousands in the United States who say the Rosary
daily.
ical. An encyclical, written for
the circumstances of the day,
may use the transistory langu
age of its period. This commits
the pope who publishes it, but
not the whole Church.
On the contrary, a solemn
proclamation by an ecumenical
council is expected to stand for
centuries, inspiring and regu
lating Christian life and theo
logy for a long time. For the
same reason, it should look for
its sources, not In the recent
past, but in the oldest Tra
dition, and specifically in the
writings of the Church Fathers
and the decisions of previous
ecumenical councils.
A council should also be con
sistent. It should therefore
take care that what it says in
one place is in line with the
contents of its other constitu
tions, decrees and declarations.
How the already promulgated
Constitution on the Liturgy, the
proposed Constitution on the
Church in its first chapters,
the proposed Constitution on
Revelation, which is schedul
ed to be debated later in the
third session, center all piety
and doctrine on the testimony
of Sacred Scripture.
IT would be inconsistent for
the council to approve in its
chapter on the Virgin Mary
the use of a term which con
tradicts the New Testament.
As several speakers have
pointed out, the term "Media
trix" as applied to Mary is
incompatible with the teaching
of St. Paul: "As there is only
one God, so there is only one
Mediator between God and men,
the man Jesus Christ, who gave
himself as a ransom for all"
(1 Tim., 2:5-6 .
Admittedly, a strong expres
sion is used in Orthodox piety:
"Christ is the only Mediator,
and Mary the only Mediatrix
after Him." This could set a
precedent for a doctrine of
"Mary Mediatrix," if it were
a doctrine in the Orthodox
Church. But it is only a pious
ejaculation. A council should
not endorse an expression, how
ever poetical and devotional,
which runs counter to the New
Testament.
IN defense, the upholders
of the title assert that the two
are compatible. It is only under
Christ that Mary mediates; she
mediates as "Servant of Christ
the Redeemer." But this begs
the question, for it assumes
that Christ has such a servant
in the work of Redemption it
self. That the Church, Mary and
also all Christians are, in their
task of spreading the Gospel,
associated to the Redemption of
the world is undoubted. That
such a contribution to the work
of Christ and the Holy Spirit
is instrinsic to Redemption it
self and makes a creature into
a secondary mediator is a to
tally different conclusion
that many bishops feel unwar
ranted by the premise.
One cannot foresee how the
council will finally decide on the
hotly debated question of the
legitimacy of the world "Medi
atrix," It is recognized that
it does correspond to some
thing which is true of the Vri-
gin Mary, and not necessar
ily of her alone. But many con
tend that, is spite of this the
appellation remains unbiblical
and misleading. Nevertheless
others maintain that the name
of ’*MedIatrix" should be kept
because it extols the glory of
the Mother of God.
THE Doctrinal Commission
of the council must decide
what to do in view of the con
tradictory positions adopted
by the council Fathers. Where
the majority will lie if the
matter is put to a vote is not
certain.
But it is certain that if the
constitution retains the title of
"Mediatrix," it will do so by
way of description, without re
commending its use and with a
strong warning not to explain
it against the basic faith in the
unique Mediation of Christ.
AT any rate, it seems likely
that theology, if not piety, will
learn from the debates at the
council to be more sober in
borrowing Marian titles from
the language of popular devo
tion.
BRONZE PLAQUE honors late Pope Pius XII at Catnedral
of Essen, Germany. Donated by the Guild of Catholic En-
girieers, the inscription reads: "To the founder of the Dio
cese of Essen, the friend of the German people, the advocate
of justice and peace.”
COUNCIL TIDBITS
Warm Weather, Late Coffee
Break Features Of Session
BY FR. PLACID JORDAN,OSB
N. C. W. C. News Service
VATICAN CITY— Council
guests admitted to the Masses
in St. Peter’s basilica which
precede the daily meetings are
edified when they notice
how many bishops go to con
fession prior to starting their
day’s work. Multilingual con
fessors a re on duty every morn
ing near St. Joseph's altar.
There bishops along with other
priests assigned to council duty
can be seen waiting for their
turn to receive the sacrament
of Penance while others re
main in adoration collecting
their thoughts before proceed
ing to their seats.
PHOTOGRAPHERS are per
mitted to enter the council hall
every mbming and to remain
up to the moment when the voice
of Archbishop Pericle Felici,
the council’s general secretary,
is heard over the loudspeakers
saying: "Exeant omnes" (All
should leave). This, of course,
applies only to those who have
no council business.
However, a good hour and a
half normally is available for
taking pictures, which is not
permissible once the meeting
have started. So the candid
cameramen have a field day
while cardinals, archbishops,
bishops, abbots, general
superiors, monsignors, obser
vers and lay auditors are en
gaged in lively conversation on
the council floor.
UNSEASONABLY warm and
humid temperatures befell
the city of Rome the very
day of the opening of the third
council session. The heat was
particularly oppressive in the
basilica, which has but little
ventilation, after huge spot
lights were turned on to pro
vide for television coverage
of the inaugural session. James
Francis Cardinal McIntyre of
Los Angeles was one of three
people who collapsed in this
ordeal. One had to admire Pope
Paul VI and the 24 bishops
concelebrating Mass with him
for bearing up under it despite
the added burden of heavy litur
gical vestments.
AT THIS writing the heat
is still on, making it quite
uncomfortable, especially for
council Fathers seated under
neath the balconies where they
are almost entirely cut off
from fresh air. The "assi-
gnatores loci," or priest-
ushers, can be seen wiping
the sweat off their brows while
rushing about the stalls to de
liver correspondence and mes
sages to the bishops. Their jobs
are particularly trying on days
of heavy voting when ballots
must be picked up almost with
out interruption, to be de
livered to the voracious com
puters.
ANOTHER dogday problem
is the service in the council
coffee shops dubbed "Bar-
Jona" and "Bar-Rabbass" They
used to open at 10:30 ajn. to
accommodate bishops craving
refreshment or a smoke. This
time, to make the council Fath
ers stick to their job, the
opening hour was moved to 11
a.m. As a result, with a lar
ger number of bishops than
ever crowding in to get a cup
of coffee or a soft drink, the
jam in the two rather small
snack bars is so bad not even
a cardinal could squeeze
through. So now quite a few
secretary urging him to res
tore the earlier opening hour.
The poor waiters, too, will be
glad if this is done so they
can breathe more easily.
MICHELANGELO'S Pieta is
away from home to grace the
New York World Fair’s Vati
can pavilion and its niche in
St. Peter’s basilica was sad
ly emptied for a while. But then
a plaster replica was put in
its place which now is great
ly admired by the council Fath
ers because it really looks
like the original. The bishops
are particularly pleased by
the replacement because now
again they can make use of the
Pieta comer for appointments,
as was customary at the last
session. One easily gets lost
among the 2,000 people attend
ing the council, Ixit always one
can agree to just "meet at the
Pieta."
BOTH ARABIC and Chinese
are now official languages in
the council press office. News
releases in these languages are
handed out every day giving
the highlights of council pro
ceedings to correspondents un
able to read English, Italian
or any other of the nine langu
ages customarily used. The
exotic characters of these
novel documents are intriguing
even to those who cannot make
them out.
"It’s all Greek to me," re
marked a reporter, “but it looks
exotic all right, really Catho
lic!"*
COUNCIL Fathers from
Japan tell their colleagues
that genuflecting to a Catho
lic bishop or kissing his ring
has been abolished in the land
of the Rising Sun, except during
liturgical functions. Japanese
Catholics now only bow to
their shepherds, for the for
mer Catholic practice was often
and obstacle to the propagation
of the Faith, especially because
Buddhists consider it almost
sacreligious.
THERE IS an innovation in
Italy, too, which causes quite a
bit of comment among the coun
cil Fathers. Bishop Antonio
Santin of Trieste has just given
permission to his priests to
wear suits rather than cas
socks in public. Italians call
clerical coats and pants "the
clergyman" because they see
Anglican priests wearing
them. Now the question seems
to be;
When is a priest a clergy
man?
Or a clergyman a priest?
WANT TO get a ticket of
admission to a council session?
FLOWERS
166 COURTLAND STREET, N- E.,
ATLANTA. C EORGIA 30303
"Why," said an American
bishop the other day, "it’s eas
ier to get a ticket to hea
ven!"
As a matter of fact, the pri
vilege is granted but rarely to
a chosen few, mainly to visit
ing prelates interested in a
particular council debate. A
bishop must sponsor the re
quest which then goes to
Archbishop Pericle Felici, the
council general secretary. If
the favor is granted, the appli
cant may have to cool his heels
for quite a while when pick
ing up the permit because
always there is a waiting
line in the archbishop’s of
fice across the street from
St. Peter’s.
Altar Meeting
At Assumption
The Altar and Rosary Society
of Qir Lady of the Assumption
Church will hold its monthly
meeting in the school cafe-
torium on Tuesday, October 6.
The guest speaker will be Mr.
Louis A. Erbs.
Mr. Erbs is the archdiocesan
Chairman for the Conference on
Worship, and is recently re
turned from the Liturgical Con
ference In St. Louis. He is a
parishioner of Assumption
church. All ladies of the parish
are invited to attend.
For Information Uritet
Emitter Donold jHananl, CSC
1A4 Holy CroM School
4950 Dauphine Street
New Orleans. La. 7011T
Phono 522 - 6500
.CoSmm
589 FOARCST Ro . N E • ATLANTA 12. Ga
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