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PACE 8 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1964
CHURCH IN IDENTITY CRISIS’
Collegiality Most Radical Step SinceCoimter-Reformation
BY JOHN COGLEY
Religious News Service Special
Correspondent
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Since
the Second Vatican Council be
gan two years ago, world Catho
licism has been going through
a traumatic “identity crisis,"
an upheaval psychiatrists main
tain can hit an individual at any
time during his life.
It may seem absurd to say
that an institution as venerable
and highly structured as the
Catholic Church, after 20 cen
turies, is still debating just
what it is, but that is pre
cisely what the 2,300 bishops
gathered here from every cor
ner of the globe have been doing
since they were first summoned
to Rome by the late Pope John,
TWO thousand years from
now, another gathering of
Christian bishops may be pur
suing the same goal. For, in
the final analysis, to the Catho
lic his Church is a mystery,
not a conundrum but a super
natural fact defying rational
explanation. He can count its
clergy and lay members, tabu
late its rules and regulations,
describe its rich liturgy, or
ganize its dogmas and teachings
into a brilliant theological syn
thesis, and recite its history in
detail. But the essential Church,
described usually in metaphors
like ‘The Bride of Christ,"
‘The Mystical Body of Christ,"
or the currently favorite phrase
'The People of God," remains
forever unfathomable.
There is an organic spiritual
principle which unites clergy
and laity, men and women of
all races and climes, and, ac
cording to the ancient doctrine
of the Church, even links the
living with those who went be
fore them and have joined the
Church triumphant. That prin
ciple too is in the realm of
theological mystery: it is faith
in the man Jesus Christ who
claimed to be divine and who
millions of divided Christians
2,000 years later still believe
was the Son of God,
WrTHOUT the faith, the
solemn debates carried on in
the great aula of Saint Peter’s
Basilica must have been in
explicable, With it, no expla
nations were necessary.
For the Fathers of the Coun
cil were discussing what Jesus
intended His Church to be. An
institution governed solely by
His vicar, the successor of
Saint Peter, who would dele
gate His supreme powers to
other men called bishops in
order to enable them in flis
name to sanctify, to teach, and
to govern their portions of the
kingdom? Or did the Lord,
rather, establish a ‘ college"
of bishops, successors of the
apostles, with the successor to
Peter as its hea d and chief
spokesman, who would preside
over the Church universal?
IN sacramental language, the
questions might be put this way:
Does episcopal consecration
merely create a special rank
in the priesthood comparable to
but not equal to that exercised
by the Pope of Rome? Or,
rather, has every bishop by his
very consecration received the
"fullness of the priesthood" to
which nothing can be added?
These were the issues under
lying the Council Fathers’ lofty
arguments about "collegial
ity." The question was basical
ly scriptural and theological,
though its resolution will affect
the daily life of the Church in
many concrete ways. New ac
counts which ineptly stressed
the power factors at work were
misleading when they gave the
impression that the controversy
was merely a jealous struggle
between "papalist" and "anti-
papalist" forces in the Church,
This should be evident from the
fact that Pope Paul VI himself
encouraged the controversy. A
year ago he put it first in im
portance among the many topics
facing the Council.
THE supremacy of the Pope
was never in doubt. What had
been in question was whether
the bishops of the Church, in
union with the Pope as their
head, were empowered "by di
vine right"— as successors
to the apostles— and acting as
a "college"— to share in the
supreme government of the uni
versal Church,
As the votes on specific ques
tions relating to the doctrine
were read to the Fathers, it
became quickly evident that by
far the majority upheld the
"collegial" understanding of
episcopal consecration, au
thority, and spiritual mission.
Of course opinion was not
unanimous. Three hundred-
odd Fathers voted no on some
of the questions presented to
them. But that still left almost
two thousand giving their
placets.
So sharply was opinion divid
ed among highly placed theolo
gians here in Rome that two re
lations (opening presentations)
were made to the Council be
fore the discussion began.
THE anti-collegial presen
tation was given by Bishop
Franjo Franic, a Yugoslav,
who questioned not only the
sacramentality of episcopal
consecration and the doctrine
of collegiality but threw in a
warning against establishing a
new order of terminal deacons,
married or unmarried. If they
were celibate, the bishop held,
they would detract from the
number of men in the priest
hood. If they were married,
their families would be a bur
den on the Church.
To the surprise of almost
everyone but his old students
who knew he taught the doc
trine years ago, Archbishop
Pietro Parente, assessor of the
Sacred Congregation of the Holy
Office, delivered the pro-col-
legiality introduction. It was
generally known in Rome that
his superior, the indestructibly
conservative Alfredo Cardinal
Ottiviani, had been a powerful
opponent of the doctrine.
BISHOP Franic, attacking the
schema before the Fathers, did
not flatly deny any of the pro
posals that went under the head
ing of "collegiality." But he
stated that he and many others
had certain theological difficul
ties connected with them. That
in itself made it premature for
the Council t o take such a de
finitive step at this time, he
said.
He recalled, for example, that
the first Vatican Council—
which a century ago was brought
to an untimely end before the
exact status of the bishops could
be gone into— taught that the
Pope was "supremely and
fully" powerful in the Church.
How, then, could such a teach
ing be reconciled with the idea
that the college of bishops (even
keeping in mind that the Pope
is the head of such a college)
is also fully powerful? Wasn’t
there a contradiction there?
THE bishop also questioned
how firmwere the scriptural
and theological bases for the
doctrine. As for tradition—
well, the Fathers of the Church,
ecclesiastical writers saintly
doctors, and especially past
Popes all affirmed without hesi
tation that the powers of the
Pope were received directly
from Christ while those of the
bishops come immediately from
the Pope and only mediately
from Christ.
Archbishop Parente carefully
disposed of each of these diffi
culties,
HE pointed out that there was
no whiff of either Gallicanism
or "conciliarism" in the draft
documents the Fathers were
called to vote upon. This was a
wise move for both these move
ments in the past to break away
from the authority of Rome or
attempts to subordinate the
Pope to the will of an Ecumeni
cal Council,
Archbishop Parente then
stated that there is no contra
diction between ' primacy" and
"collegiality," since the Pope’s
power cannot be divorced from
that of the bishops nor theirs
from his. When the Pope exer
cises his power, he does so with
the assent of the bishops whose
chief and spokesman he is,
HE asserted that the scrip
tural basis for the doctrine-
based largely on the Gospel
according to Saint Matthew-
had been approved by the Bibli
cal Pontifical Commission,
At for tradition, Archbishop
Parente pointed to the history
and practice of the early
Church, the writings of Augus
tine and other Fathers of the
Church, and even the recent
examples of Pope Pius IX and
Plus XU, who proclaimed, re
spectively, the dogmas of the
Immaculate Conception and the
Assumption of the Blessed Vir
gin Mary. Both pontiffs assid
uously sought out the views of
the entire episcopate before
they made their declarations.
THE doctrine of collegiality,
he told the Fathers, "inte
grates" the ancient ecclesi-
ology of Catholicism (the the
ology concerned with the nature
of the Church) with the juri
dical concept of the Church
which began to prevail from the
11th Century onwards. He even
predicted that stressing the
participation of the bishops in
the government of the Church
would make the teaching of
papal supremacy "more solemn
and more attractive."
The last point is borne out
somewhat by leaders of the
ecumenical movement.
THE notion of collegiality is
in accord with the beliefs and
practices of the Eastern Ortho
dox Churches. The difference
was that the Orthodox would
have no part of papal supremacy
as it.yras understood. The Vati
can u presentation oicoiiegiai-
ity may still annoy them be
cause it puts such nervous
stress on papal primacy. Prac
tically every time the episcopal
college is mentioned, there is
another reference to the fact
that the Pope is the head of
the college and that it is power
less without him. The constant
BY FATHER FREDERICK R.
McManus
(N.C.W.C. News Service
VATICAN CITY—When Pope
Paul VI and more than 20 bish
ops concelebrated the opening
Mass of the Second Vatican
Council’s third session, two
points were made clear.
The Pope and all the other
bishops together make up a
body, called a "college," with
a common responsibility to
serve, teach and make holy the
universal Church. Ane the lit
urgical reform decreed In De
cember, 1963, by the council
Is well under way.
ACCORDING to the 19&
Constitution on the Liturgy, the
Church’s real nature is perfect
ly manifested when the whole
body assembles at the altar:
the bishops surronded by his
priests, ministers and all the
faithful taking part in the cele
bration on the Eucharist. On the
occasion of the first Mass of
the council’s third session
(Sept. 14), it was the chief bish
op, the pope, surronded by the
other bishops who make up the
apostolic college, by the priests
and other members of the
clergy, and by a huge crowd of
AT INFIRMARY
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
this reason that he is sym
bolized by the Eagle which soars
into the heights.
THE Equilateral Triangle is
symbolic of the Trinity—the
Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
Flanking th e Altar are two
large proscenium figures car
ved in lindenwood and with gold
leaf representing St. Joseph and
the Blessed Virgin.
An unusual feature of the
Chapel is the placement of the
Stations of the Cross as free
standing sculptural groups in
individual niches. The Stations
are very impressive thirty-six
inches high three dimension
al figures hand carved from
lindenwood with a twenty-three
Karat gold leaf finish. These
figures are placed on five foot
bronze pedestals, bringing
them to eye level.
THE candlabra and other
Altar fittings repeat the bronze
of the pedestals and the Com
munion rail. The baldachin, or
canopy, over the altar relates
to the wood grille over die door
ways whose gold leaf ventricles
recall the pipes of a great cathe
dral organ.
Ths Sisters of Mercy, who
repetition of this theme inci
dentally also struck some of the
Protestant observers here as
excessive. At the same time,
they are agreed that the adoption
of the collegial principle by the
Council will mark a long step in
the thousand-mile journey to a
united Christendom.
Earlier this year Patriarch
Maximos VI Saigh, the leader
of the Melkite Rite Catholics
throughout the world, stated:
"Collegiality ... is a doc
trine-key to open the door to
all the answers that the Church
needs in her dialogue with Or
thodoxy."
DR. Robert McAfee Brown of
Stanford University, who served
as a Presbyterian observer
during the second session of the
Council, declared when he re
turned to the United States that
for the Catholic Church to turn
its back on collegiality would
mean "the end of really serious
ecumenical discussion between
Catholicism and the rest of
Christendom."
After three days of pre
liminary voting on sections of
the schema "On The Church"
which deals with collegiality,
the Fathers of the Council ex
pressed their mind on such
questions as these:
the faithful all taking their full
part.
This form of Mass, with a
chief celebrant presiding and
with other concelebrating bish
ops (or priests), is a concrete
symbol of what the ecumenical
council will proclaim in its doc
trinal pronouncement on the
Church, expected in the next
few weeks. Central to this Is
the council’s teaching on the
"collegiality" of bishops; all
the bishops as a body or college
succeed the band of Apostles, as
the chief one among them, the
pope, succeeds the chief Apos
tle, Peter.
THIS doctrine, agreed upon by
four-fifths of the bishops at the
1963 session, strongly support
ed by Pope Paul In his opening
address, and voted f or ovei>
whelmingly by council Fathers
at the meetings of Sept. 22 and
23, is reflected on the diocesan
level in the collaboration pf the
priests with the bishop, on the
parish level in the colaboration
of assistant priests with the
pastor and, finally, in the
common action of ell the
Church’s members, lay and
clerical.
In the Mass concelebrated in
St. Peter's basilica the com
own and operate St. Joseph’s
Infirmary, begin and end their
day in this House of God. This
is a semi-public oratory and is
open to the patients, personnel
and visitors who wish to visit
the Blessed Sacrament and give
honor and glory to God.
Stained glass, sculpture,
mosaic and Altar fittings in the
Chapel were executed by Da-
prato Studios of Chicago.
YOUNGEST person to swim
Golden Gate is 12-year-old
Mike Lynch, 7th grade stu
dent at St. Cecilia’s school,
San Francisco.
• The apostles were or
ganized after the manner of a
college with Peter in charge.
• The bishops are the suc
cessors of the apostles as
teachers and pastors of the
Church.
• Episcopal consecration
confers the plenitude of the
priesthood.
• Just as Peter and the other
apostles formed a college, so do
the Pope and the bishops.
• An individual becomes a
member of the episcopal body
by virtue of his consecration
and by communion with the
head and members of that body.
• The college of bishops has
no authority except with the
Roman Pontiff, the latter’s pow
er of primacy remaining intact.
• The bishops, in union with
the Pope, are the subject of su
preme and full power over the
universal Church.
• Individual bishops repre
sent their churches and all of
them together with the Pope
represent the entire Church in
the bond of peace, love, and
unity.
• The supreme power of
munity nature of the Church was
a little obscured by the almost
lnveitable grandeur of the oc
casion. The altar was practi
cally hidden from view by the
concelebrating bishops gather
ed around it, there was a multi
plicity of prayers said in com
mon by the concelebrants
reception of Communion anc.
other rites were complex in
appearance, and only a handful
of the laity received Com
munion.
BUT none of this can ob
scure the powerful teaching
effect of concelebration, show
ing the order of bishops unit
ed to the priests and other
clergy, united to all the peo
ple, in the Church's life of
prayer and work. It was a
sign of the unity of the Church.
All attention was focused on the
celebration of the ’’same
Eucharist, the single prayer,
at one altar." Clergy and faith
ful sang the sacred chants and
refrains to psalms. The role of
the chief celebrant, in this case
Pope Paul, and of the other cele
brants, in this case other bish
ops, was made clear: to pre
side over and serve the whole
Church.
Last Januray, the Pope set
up a new commission to re
vise the Church's liturgy in ac
cordance with the council’s
commands. In the spring, the
commission announced that a
new rite of concelebration was
being prepared. Next Holy
Thursday it should become a
common parish experience.
And, wherever there is an a-
bundance of priests, the prac
tice of celebrating Masses in
dividually and privately should
gradually give way to the single
community Mass concelebrated
as a sign of unity.
THE Mass in St. Peter’s also
gave Indications of revisions
which, when officially decreed,
will affect all Masses cele
brated publicly, notmerely con-
celebrations. These include, for
example, the service of God’s
word (from the Epistle through
the Creed) with the celebrat
ing priest seated away from
the altar and listening to the
readings along with the peo
ple; the few invocations of a
litany after the Creed ; the
“prayer of the people" for the
needs of the Church and of all
mankind; the simple ending of
Mass with the dismissal and
blessing.
If there had been any doubt
about liturgical—and other-
renewal In the Church, It was
dispelled by the concelebrated
Mass. Concrete reforms are
under way. Their purpose is a
fuller, sounder proclamation of
doctrine and the spiritual re
newal of the Church’s members.
COUNCIL EXPERT MEM
Concelebration Upheld
Basie Council Reforms
Archbishop Dedicates
Holy Trinity Chapel
the bishops is exercised in
Ecumenical Councils, though no
Council is valid unless it is in
voked by, presided over, and
confirmed by the Roman pon
tiff, There can be no Ecumeni
cal Council which is not at
least accepted by the successor
of Peter.
NUMBER five in the above
list raises the knotty question
of whether, according to Roman
Catholic doctrine, the bishops of
the Orthodox Church —whose
consecration Rome recognizes
as valid and whose jurisdiction
is also recognized — are al
ready, at least in Catholic eyes,
in some kind of union wity the
Pope.
Father George Tavard, the
ologian from Pittsburgh, point
ed out to a group of newsmen
that there is no question but
that these bishops are regard
ed by Catholics as members of
the divinely instituted episcopal
college. To be sure, they are
not in union with the Roman
pontiff in the same way that,
say, the Catholic hierarchy of
the United States is. Still, Rome
recognizes their jurisdictional
rights to confer the Sacraments
and create new bishops.
FATHER John Long, S.J., a
specialist on Orthodoxy, in
commenting on this anomaly,
noted that when Pope Paul VI
speaks of Orthodoxy he in
variably refers to the "fuH"
communion with Rome as the
desideratum, implying that—
at least in the Pope's view—
a measure of communion al
ready exists. Perhaps signi
ficantly, in his 1964 Easter
greeting to Orthodox Patriarch
Alexei of Moscow the Pope
spoke of "that portion of the
Christian flock which is under
your pastoral care."
Every one of the propositions
incorporating the notion of col
legiality was endorsed by the
Fathers of the Council, with
safe margins beyond the two-
third majority required.
WHAT will be the practical
effect on the life of the Church
after collegiality if, as is con
fidently expected, it is solemn
ly proclaimed by Pope Paul
and the bishops in their final
vote at the end of this session?
For one thing, a new verti
cal relationship between the
bishops can be expected. A bish
op of Pittsburgh, as the Most
Reverend John J. Wright, the
present Ordinary of that dio
cese, himself proclaimed, will
take a livelier interest in and
feel a certain responsibility
for, say, the Diocese of Re-
conquista, Argentina, or Por-
toalegro- Castelo, Portugal.
Bishop Wright, an eloquent man,
was at his best when he de
scribed the possibility of the
whole Church working together
to make a united attempt to re
build Christianity throughout
the world. His eloquence drew
unaccustomed applause from
some of the newsmen and women
who heard him.
ON the same occasion, Arch
bishop Joseph McGucken of
San Francisco stated that the
complexity of modem life made
a collegial mode of action a
necessity for the Church. He
suggested that in the one-world
Church of the future, priests
would be shared, the "have-
not" diocese would receive
help from the wealthy, and the
total good of the Church would
be served by all.
A forerunner in this kind of
concern ha s been the ebullient
Archbishop of Boston, Richard
Cardinal Cushing, who has sup
plied financial support to the
ailing Church in Latin America
for some years now and is the
founder of a society of priests
who volunteer to leave their
pleasant parishes in the United
States for a few years in order
to make up for the dearth of
clergy in the neglected lands to
the south of us.
A second possibility is that
some form of episcopal
"senate" will be established in
Rome to advise and assist the
Pope, as well as to represent
the entire body of bishops, in the
daily governance of the Church.
This is not required by the doc
trine of collegiality but it is
fully expected, in the light of
Pope Paul’s repeated hints that
he would favor the institution of
such a body.
THIRD, there will in all like
lihood be a cutting back on the
influence of the Roman Curia,
the bureaucratic arm of the pon
tiff which in practice if not in
theory will have to account not
only to the Pope but to the en
tire heirarchy for its decisions.
Fourth, the significance of the
College of Cardinals, will be
diminished somewhat by the new
emphasis being placed on the
entire college of bishops.
THE cardinals traditionally
served as a kind of cabinet for
the Pope. At least some of their
historic functions will be taken
over by the proposed "senate"
if it comes to be. There are
persistent rumors in Rome that
no more cardinals will be creat
ed, but no one seems ready to
take responsibility for the pre
diction.
Pope John XXIII, incidentally,
made the first significant ges
ture in the direction of col
legiality when he consecrated
as bishops all those cardinals
who were still simple priests.
Among them was the leading
anti-collegialist, Alfredo Car
dinal Ottaviani.
FIFTH, the ecumenical move
ment among Christians will
have surmounted one more
barrier. As long as the im
pression was abroad that the
Pope of Rome ruled like a lone
ly despot without regard to the
ideas, inspiration, or counsel of
even the bishops of his own
Church, a meaningful dialogue
was impossible in modern
Christendom.
Pope John dispelled the des
pot image by the sheer force of
his personality. The gracious
acceptance by his successor of
collegiality should sustain the
ecumenical advance made under
John.
FINALLY, one can look for
ward to a wider recognition of
national viewpoints, diverse
cultures, and worldwide deve
lopments in the directives com
ing from the Vatican. The
special characteristics of the
Italian clerical mind—summed
up in the omnibus word * Ro-
manita"—will be balanced with
good British common sense,
American know-how, Teutonic
thoroughness, French intellect
ual rigor, Indian reverence for
mystery, Australian direct
ness, and all the other mani
festations of human genius found
in the Church called Catholic.
Though the Church, according
to its own understanding of it
self, remains essentially un
changed through the ages, it has
shown a different face to dif
ferent generations of men. Just
as history has responded to the
Church, so has the Church re
sponded to history. There was
a primitive Church, a medieval
Church , a Rennaisance Church,
a tridentine Church, andapost-
tridentine Church, which began
its death-agony during the pon
tificate of Pope John.
The acceptance of collegiality
by a whopping majority of the
Fathers of the Council was the
most radical step taken by the
Catholic Church since the Coun
ter-Reformation. With their
placet votes, the Fathers may
have laid the cornerstone for
yet another building, the Church
of the Aggiornamento.
BEWARE
TERMITES
PRIEST ON A DONKEY
The Hoij Father't Minion Aid
for tbe Oriental Church
FATHER HUGH IS A FRANCISCAN PRIEST IN NORTH
ERN ETHIOPIA. His “mission” is a miserable, mud-hut village
called COCHEN. FATHER HUGH
cannot live, or offer Mass, in CO
CHEN. however, because he has no
church or rectory . . . When he Is
^ called to care for someone dying in
^ rocin v. hr must" travel for miles
bv lnnkey tand carry the Blessed
Srcramcnt) over narrow, twisting,
rocky trails. He spends hours like
this in the rain, sun. and heat.
Young in years, he looks tired and
worn ... To build a church before
he dies—to save the Faith of his
penniless parishioners—is FATHER
HUGH’S ambition. He wants his people to live in the presence
of Our Lord . . . The church will also be the village center
where FATHER HUGH can teach grown-ups and children about
God. and hygiene, and better farming. Don’t you wish you
could help him teach? ... All he needs is a simple, plain, inex
pensive church. It will cost only $3,200 altogether, and it w«ll
serve thousands of people for years to come ... If you d like
to build it all by yourself (name it in honor of your favorite
saint) in memory of a loved one. write us now. 1 hink about
the need, and please send all you can afford ($1. $2, $5. $10, (
$100). Mark it “A Gift for Father Hugh.” You’ll be remem
bered at Mass as long as you live.
THE POOR BOY WHO WANTS TO BE A PRIEST?
□ $l-a-month ($12 a year) pays your membership dues in THE
CHRYSOSTOMS, our sponsors’ club for boys too poor to
pay their seminary expenses.
f] $2 supports one seminarian for a week,
n $8.33 supports one seminarian for a month,
n $100 supports one seminarian for a year.
□ $600 pays the costs of the seminarian’s entire six-year
training.
IN MEMORY. A CHALICE—A mission church has a chalice
inscribed: “In Memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917-1963“
a r ift from his brother, Robert F. Kennedv . . . The late
President will be remembered whenever the chalice is used ... If,
in someone’s memory, you’d like to give a chalice ($40), a cibor
' ,m ($40), Mass Vestments ($50), Stations ($25), Altar Linens
$15). or a Sanctuary Bell ($5). send us the person’s name, and
the name and address of his heirs. We’ll send them a SACRED
GIFT CARD, telling what you have done.
THE MISSIONS: FAMILY PLAN—Why not help the missions
AS A FAMILY, and. as a family, be helped in turn? . . . Wlien
you enroll your family in this Association, your family is help
ing keep priests and Sisters on mission fronts in 18 developing
countries. Meanwhile, vour family shares in the Masses and
prayers of Pope Paul, Cardinal Soellman. and all our mission
priests and Sisters ... The FAMILY MEMBERSHIP offering
is only $5 a year, $100 for life . . . We’ll send you a certificate j
to frame.
!
FOOD ECONOMY—YOUR $10 GIFT enables us to FEED A
REFUGEE FAMILY for a month. In thanks, we’ll send you an
Olive Wood Rosary from the Holy Land.
Dear Monsignor Ryan:
Enclosed please find ..
. .for
Name
Street
City .
Zone
.State
j^12ear‘£ast(llission$j*i
FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN, President
M«*f. Jaeepfc T. Ryes, Nell Wy
Seed eh ceeueealcetlees let
CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
SM Meditee Aw. et 47*4 S». New Ye*. N. V. 1M17