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THE GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1967 7
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CONCLUSION OF SYMPOSIUM
Priests, People Must Be Co-Responsible With Bishop
By DESMOND FISHER
Georgia Bulletin - St. Louis Review Service
NOORDW1JKERHOUT, Holland -- Priests and people in a dio
cese must progress from having a merely advisory function to
having a position of co-responsibility with the bishop. He needs
their full support in order to give a new form to his own func
tions.
This was the most important conclusion - Cardinal Bernard
Alfrink of Utrecht stressed that it could not be a decision - of
the Symposium of European Bishops which concluded its four-
day meeting here last week.
The Symposium brought together six Cardinals and 62 bishops
from 17 European countries. The themes of the symposium
were Authority and Obedience in the Church; the Priests’ Coun
cil and the Pastoral Council.
Other conclusions reached by the participants were:
1. A new diocesan framework will have to replace the old
one. The old structures, while they continue, are often pre
venting the building of the new ones. The bishops are still un
necessarily preoccupied with the old institutions and have
every day to divide their attention between the old and the new.
2. Only when they have the full collegial support of their
priests and laity will the hishops be able to bear their own
responsibility and make it acceptable to others.
3. during the forthcoming Synod of Bishops in Rome, the
presidents of the national bishops' conferences in Europe will
meet to discuss the formation of a formal European Bishops’
Conference. The first meeting in Holland was merely an in
formal one. It will be repeated in two years’ time with a well-
prepared agenda. Meanwhile, there will be standing contacts
set up between the secretariats of the various European con
ferences.
4. A well-organized exchange of information and documenta
tion is necessary between the various hierarchies. The impor
tance of good ecclesiastical information was unanimously
recognized.
F. Marty of Rheims, France, who set the scene for the dis
cussion on authority and obedience in the Church. In pre-
Conciliar times, he said, there were no structures for personal
or collective discussions 'in depth between priests and bishop.
Priests co-operated in the execution of decisions but played no
part in reaching them. “The bishop wants it,” was a sufficient
and satisfying reason for obedience. ’
Archbishop Marty described his own change of heart after his
consecration and especially after Vatican 11. The main change
in the authority-obedience relationship was that priests and
laity now were seen to be co-responsible for the same mission
as the bishop. He recalled a recent ordination when the bishop
asked the ordained: "Do you promise respect and obedience to
me and my successors?”, the answer was: "Yes, I promise
that, but in dialogue.” The new priest, said Archbishop Marty,
was not making his obedience conditional: he was demonstrat
ing the new kind of authority-obedience relationship.
The aggressiveness of priests and laity, said Archbishop
Marty, was often a sign of truth and confidence. In it real prob
lems became known and crises showed themselves. Those in
authority had always to accept the responsibility for decisions.
But the decisions would be better accepted and understood when
everyone had contributed to the work of clarifying their aims
and motivations.
Pope’s Theologian Speaks
Bishops "Well Satisfied’
In a final press conference Cardinal Alfrink, who presided at
the conference, said that because of the nature of the symposium
- the bishops taking part were not attending in a representative
capacity - the results could not be described as decisions but
only as conclusions. Reports on the symposium will be made
to the different national bishops’conferences as well as to Rome.
Bishops attending the symposium expressed themselves as well
satisfied with its results. They agreed that nothing very prac
tical could come from it but they welcomed the opportunity of
exchanging ideas and suggestions for their work in their dioceses.
In particular, those bishops who had already got pastoral coun
cils working in their dioceses were closely questioned on their
experiences with them.
Each day’s work consisted of a "bishop’s testimony” from
one of those attending, followed by a theological presentation
of the theme under discussion by an expert. Then the bishops
divided into six working groups to discuss the paper read. In
the evening, informal discussionsrwqre held which wetjepptionsl.
sL .-misriaG Sc c^c . ion -’M./ibs ym j
The opening 1 speech on the first day wa’s ittade b^ AFthbishOp
Archbishop Marty was followed by Msgr. Carlo Colombo,
who is generally regarded as the Pope’s closest theological ad
viser. His 23-page, Latin dissertation drove home the point,
made clear at the Council, that the traditional scholastic theology
made little sense in the actual situations of today, "It was,”
according to one observer, ”pre- Vatican I exposition, not
even neo-Thomistic in style.”
Msgr. Colombo began by differentiating between authority
and obedience in the Church and in civil society. Civil authori
ty, he said, came only indirectly from God and was realized
in the will of the people and was exercised according to their
intellect and judgment. Legitimate authority in the Church de
rived directly from Christ and not through the intermediation of
the faithful.
Therefore, the manner of executing this authority in the
Church and its range could not be defined and determined by the
community of believers. The faithful in the Church did not have
the same right as in civil society of judging as to the truth and
the supernatural means by which God’s Kingdom had been es
tablished. Christian obedience did not have its foundation in
the intelligence of the believer but in the faith and love of Christ
who is present in the Church by the sacramental sign of authority.
Msgr. Colombo’s contribution was greeted with uncertainty
and indifference by most of the bishops present, and was, by
tacit Consent, left in the air.
Only two rather sarcastic comments were made on it. One
was by Bishop J. Reuss, auxiliary of Mainz, Germany, who asked
to what extent ecclesiastical authority, in its legal norms, was
subject to the Gospel which is the only original norm of authority.
The other was by Bishop Emile de Smedt of Bruges, Belgium,
who said the appeal to God’s authority did not solve the problem.
Bishops were being left without practical solutions to their prob
lems about conscience in the matter of obedience. Msgr.
Colombo’s presentation of die case, 1 he said, wa's Hot helpful on
this.
til
in hi hum a
of Pope Paul’s new encyclical Populorum Progressio?
;i make haste: Too many are suneriBO.”
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Comments On Talks
"Most Bishops felt that the talk was not worth bothering
about,’’ one of the participants told me. ”We were in a hurry
to get on to the work-group discussions which were far more
valuable.” Six groups of twelve bishops each met for about
three hours during die day to discuss the theme for the day.
(During the after-dinner free discussions, three discussion
groups discussed the Dutch Pastoral Council, doctrinal changes
?nd episcopal poverty. About two-thirds of the bishops taking
part attended the talk by Cardinal Bernard Alfrink of Utrecht
on the workings of the Dutch Pastoral Council.)
The general summing up of the first day’s discussions was
that there were signs of change in the concept of obedience in
all the countries represented at the conference. There might be
differences of degree but essentially the change was the same.
This change was a sign of growth, of greater maturity. In par
ticular, the world of the intellectuals was not against Chris
tianity as such but against a kind of infantilism in the Church.
There was a greater sense of human dignity and liberty and a
desire for a purer form of authority which did not compromise
with power and wealth.
At the same time there was a tendency to question everything,
even the foundations of authority without a corresponding desire
to look for solutions. In the Church, the difficulties of those in
authority were ignored. The dialogue was sometimes trans
formed into a new sort of monologue, no longer from above
down but from below up. Above all there was a weakening of
faith in the mission of the hierarchical Church.
Summing-up, the work groups concluded that the crisis of
authority-obedience in the Church was but one aspect of the same
crisis in society at large-in politics, morals, cultural and social
matters. There would always be a tension between the eccles
iastical institution and the charismatic qualities in the Church.
This would be fruitful if a dynamic equilibrium could be main
tained. Great attention should be paid to the language problem.
Modern man, priest and lay, found it hard to accept an "eccles
iastical vocabulary.” Faith should be expressed in terms which
affected the modem mentality while always safeguarding the re
vealed message.
Clergy Need Voice
The second day of the conference got down to more practical
considerations when the Council of Priests, Which Vatican II de
creed should be set up in each diocese, was discussed.
Archbishop George Dwyer of Birmingham, England, introduced
the topic in a short address in which he said that diocesan clergy
must be given not only a sense of responsibility but real respon
sibility. "They should have a voice in the shaping of policy and
their proper share in its execution.”
Canon law, he said, made provision for the consultation of the
chapter, the deans and to a lesser extent the parish priests.
‘ But the curates, the vicarii cooperatores, have little chance of
making their voices heard... The only certain right of a curate
is the right to a Christian burial.”
Archbishop Dwyer said the most delicate question of all would
be to define the exact competence of the Council of Priests.
**The Motu Proprio makes it clear that its role is consultative.
•So was the role of the English Parliament four hundred years
ago.”
Prof. Dr. L. M. Weber of Munich University, giving the main
address of the day, described the workings of the presbyterium
in the early Church, The office of the episcopate, he said, de
mands a sort of "collegial” exercise. Every individual priest
in the college round the bishop had an original relationship to
all the areas of the bishop’s activity in the diocese.
The Council of Priests, he said, is representative only when
it represents all differences and areas in the priestly ministry
and life. To be this, it must be comprehensive, free and demo
cratic.
"It is comprehensive when personal horizontal and vertical
channels of communication are given so that the serious wishes
formulated in discussion groups with priestly brothers are left
Orthodox Patriarch
Plans Rome Visit
ISTANBUL (NC)—Orthodox
Patriarch Athenagoras I of
Constantinople (Istanbul), spi
ritual leader of the Orthodox
Christians, announced here that
he will visit the Vatican in
August, a month after Pope Paul
VI pays a visit here to discuss
problems of Church unity.
Although the Patriarch gave
no details of either his own visit
to the Pope or the Pope’s to
him, he did say that he gave
full support to Pope Paul’s
appeal for free access to Je
rusalem. Asked about his ideas
on the status of the Old City,
recently annexed by Israel, Pa
triarch Athenagoras said:
"Whatever the Pope thinks and
does, I follow him.”
The Orthodox leader spoke
about his plans in his small
studio in Istanbul's Lennerdis-
trict of the Golden Horn. He
commented that he planned to
take some of Orthodoxy’s 15
otheT patriarchs to Rome with
him to see Pope Paul.
*1 want to bring to him at
the Vatican some pan-Orthodox
thought, opinions and desires,”
said the Patriarch. "One day
unity will come, and the Pope’s
visit here will do much to hast
en that day.”
Before Pope Paul’s January,
1964 meeting with Patriarch
Athenagoras in the Holy Land
thee had been no meeting be
tween a Pope and an Orthodox
Patriarch since 1054.
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untouched in their course from the bottom to the top where they
are to be heard.
“It is free when it comes into being according to personal
points of view and not according to functional considerations
of a sort simply imposed from above...
‘The Voicei Of All’
"It is democratic when the way of election and of speaking to
the bishop are such that they include the voice and the word of.
all.”
On the third full day, the Conference discussed the Pastoral,
Council, composed of representatives of priests and laity, which
is being set up in many dioceses throughout the Church. Pre-.,
senting the theme, Bishop N. Jubany of Gerona, Spain, said that
the theological basis for such a council lay in the fact that those
who have the priestly ministry, particularly the bishops, are not
the only people who have the task of building the Church. All the
people of God had received this mission from Christ. This is
why in the early days of the Church the laity were consulted on
important decisions affecting the Christian community. This
mission extends to all man’s life as an individual and in society*
Carrying it out supposes and demands the mutual cooperation
of all members of the People of God, particularly between the-
hierarchy and the laity.
Bishop Jubany also stressed the point, made by Cardinal Al
frink in his opening speech, that the fulness of the mission-of
the People of God was to be found in the local diocesan Church;
This provided the origin for the new juridical institution of the
Pastoral Council, which should not be considered as merely aii
auxiliary instrument but a representative organ to help th:e:
bishop in his pastoral care for the diocese.
The ‘Unorganized’ People
The doctrinal aspects of the Pastoral Council were dealt with:
by Canon F. Boulard of the Institute Catholique of Paris. He;
discussed the delicate relationship between the Council of Priests-
and the Pastoral Council in a diocese and the problems of rep
resentation in the Pastoral Council. On the latter point, he sug
gested that the bishop nominates a certain number of people
to represent the “unorganized’ ’ people in a diocese.
These representatives, he added, should be chosen from tlie
"little people" and not from the notables in a diocese. He also
suggested that those in a diocese who were not allowed to have
the sacraments - a divorce, or marginal Christians, should
also be represented in the Pastoral Council. He quoted the re
sults of an inquiry conducted in 25 English parishes which “made
it clear that an educational program was necessary before
laymen could take a fully effective part in these matters’’
The discussions during the second and third days of the con
ference were much more practical than on the first. Working
groups which discussed the priests’ council, which Vatican
II decreed should be set up in every diocese, agreed that it would
necessarily lead to more cooperation between priests and laity.
This cooperation was necessary not only on practical grounds
but because it represented the new Conciliar vision of the Church
as the living community of all the faithful under the one head,
Christ.
The groups also agreed that there would be many practical dif
ficulties, especially in setting up the Pastoral Council, and sin
separating its . function . from that of the Priests’ Council. It
was recognized, too, that local differences would give rise to
special difficulties.
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