Consider
what is remembered - what is forgotten?
To celebrate the 50th anniversary
of Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI has declared the period between October 11,
2012 and November 24, 2013 as the Year of Faith. November 24th is the feast of
Christ the King established by Pius XI as a response and condemnation of the
communists in Russia and Mexico. Setting
November 24th as the closing for the 50th anniversary
celebration reminds us of Pius XI and the condemnation of communism but not of
Vatican II, the Ecumenical Council of dialogue with the modern world. I don’t
think the dramatic reforms envisioned by the fathers of Vatican II will be
emphasized in this celebration. It
appears to be a time for the Church to circle the wagons and re-establish Roman
Catholic identity in what the hierarchy perceives as the ever present and
hostile secular society.
On the other side of the divide, dialogue is
welcomed but with little reference to Catholic Social Teaching insofar as it
relates to economics and labor.
Thanks to the NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
for their October 11th issue which presents 25 articles and comments
by known and budding theologians on Vatican II.
Of course even this comprehensive presentation cannot cover every aspect
of the council or include every opinion on the focus of the council and the
reasons it was called for by Pope John XXIII.
This blog posting will look to the purpose of
the council as stated by John XXIII and its relation to Catholic Social
Teaching. It will be argued that world
peace was the goal set forth for the Council by John XXIII, and as stated by Council
Pope Paul VI, that world peace depended on just economic structures. (Populorum
Progressio)
Important
changes in Catholic Social Teaching will be noted such as the move away from
corporate economics, two aspects of ecumenism – dialogue with the modern world
and a world vision for economics, and also, the change in the method for moral theology.
AN
ECUMENICAL COUNCIL FOR A WORLD STARVED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
“Ecumenical” is derived from
the Greek word “oikoumene” which
means “of or from the whole world.” Starting with Nicaea I in 325, Vatican II
was the 21st Ecumenical Council.
Vatican II gave a new meaning to ‘ecumenical’ for Roman Catholics. Ecumenism now connotes interfaith dialogue
and cooperation. Theologian Hans Kung
had an explanation before Vatican II began.
“In
English ‘council’ has both the narrower sense of the Church in its traditional
meaning and the wider one of parliament or assembly, as in the World Council of
Churches. ‘Ecumenical’ when used in connection
with the latter, means interdenominational; whereas in its ancient traditional
sense in Catholic canon law it means the assembly of all the Catholic bishops
insofar as they are not prevented by
either external circumstances from attending.
But according to the Pope’s intention even a purely Roman Catholic Council,
restricted to the Catholic ‘oikoumene,’ will be ecumenical in the other sense
of being the concern of all Christians … because as the Pope intends it, is
meant to create prerequisites for reunion.”
(Kung, Hans, The Council of Reform and Reunion,
Sheed and Ward, New York, 1961, p. 7)
TO PROMOTE PEACE
Consider the times. From the first announcement of the Council in
1959 until its end in 1965 the world was at the center of the “Age of
Anxiety.” The cold war confrontation of capitalism
with Soviet communism threatened thermo nuclear annihilation. Revolution in Cuba made it virtually impossible
to suppress existential angst. Shortly
after the Council opened, the world was confronted with the Cuban missile crisis.
In 1964 the U.S. Congress passed the
Gulf of Tonkin resolution which gave license to President Lyndon Johnson to
prosecute the Vietnam War to its fullest.
Senator Wayne Morse from Oregon was one of two who voted against the
measure. The other ‘no’ vote was from Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska.
The Faith community did little or nothing to prevent WW II and the holocaust; it was time for unity and a program for peace and justice. In his call to convoke the Council John XXIII said,
The Faith community did little or nothing to prevent WW II and the holocaust; it was time for unity and a program for peace and justice. In his call to convoke the Council John XXIII said,
“The
bloody wars that have followed one on the other in our times, the spiritual
ruins caused by many ideologies, and the fruits of so many bitter experiences
have not been without useful teachings. Scientific progress itself, which gave man the
possibility of creating catastrophic instruments for his destruction, has
raised questions. It has obliged human beings to become thoughtful, more
conscious of their own limitations, desirous of peace and attentive to the
importance of spiritual values. And it
has accelerated that progress of closer collaboration …” (John
XXIII, “Humanae Salutatis,” (December 25, 1961)
Hans
Kung commented after the first session of Vatican II on the policy of
“ecumenism” that includes – all.
“Is
not this a new strain? All this is a
clear rejection of any purely negative polemical anti Protestantism; of any
negatively static, moralizing anti-modernism; and it is also (the Pope’s
silence on this point excited general attention) a rejection of that southern
European type of anti-Communism which,
while tolerating appalling social abuses, has sought (in vain) to combat
Communism (when freely chosen not under duress) with rhetoric, negative safe
guards and unenforceable decrees of excommunication, instead of overcoming it
by preaching the Good News to rich and poor alike and by positive, constructive
social policy.” (Hans
Kung, The Living Church, Sheed & Ward, London and New York, 1963,
pp. 101-102)
TO
PROMOTE JUSTICE
A “Message to
Humanity” from the Council was released on October 20, 1962 two days before the
public became aware of the Cuban missile crisis. The message stressed the need for peace, but
also noted that John XXIII pleads for social justice. The Council fathers stated,
“Hence we humbly and ardently call for all men to work along with us in building
up a MORE JUST and brotherly city in this world. We call upon our brothers whom we serve as
shepherd, but also upon all our brother Christians, and the rest of men of good
will whom God ‘wills that they be saved and come to the knowledge of the
truth.’”
(1Tim 2-4)
This was the first time an
ecumenical council ever directed a message to “all men” (See above – Kung
comment) not just Catholics. Just before
he died and before the council closed, John XXIII addressed his next
encyclical, Pacem in Terris, to all –
the “Faithful of the Whole World.”
One
of the first debates after the Council opened was on the Church – de
ecclesiae. Cardinal Suenens of Belgium
argued in line with the Pope’s inaugural address, that the Church should be in
dialogue with the modern world. A key issue to be addressed would be,
“...
everything having to do with
social justice. This includes the sixth commandment (which, for all the books written
about it, still lacks proper orientation), private property, (and) the poor.”
(Xavier Rynne, Letters
From Vatican City, New York, 1963, p.225.)
Xavier Rynne noted that “powerful industrialists and
corporation executives” opposed John XXIII because of his “teaching on social
and economic justice.” (ibid. p. 221)
DISCONTINUITY
WITH THE PAST – A NEW LOOK AT SOCIAL JUSTICE, THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY IS
RE-DEFINED
Monsignor
Joseph Gremillion wrote, “Indeed, a
single motif of the aggiornamento (John XXIII’s Italian word for the Council
which means ‘a bringing up to date’)
documents is movement. This marks a
radical departure from the status quo models of society which blemished and
bemused Catholic social thought since Leo XIII tried to revive medieval guilds
and Pius XI and Pius XII espoused a preconceived corporative order.”
The
“corporative” order is an analogy with the mystical body (corpus) of Christ as
explained by St. Paul. (1 Cor. 12 ) The body has its proper functions (subsidiarity)
but decisions are made by the head.
Political society is considered a moral organism. A proper “corporate” society does not allow
challenges to decisions by the leadership because of the fear of disruption of
the social order.
For example, Labor stoppages – strikes - were not
sanctioned by Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno.
“There are times, no doubt, when it is right that the law should interfere
to prevent association; as when men join together for purposes which are
evidently bad, unjust or dangerous to the State. In such cases the public authority may justly
forbid the association, and dissolve them when they already exist.” (Rerum
Novarum, Section 38)
“Strikes
and lock-outs are forbidden; if the parties cannot settle their dispute, public
authority intervenes.”
(Quadragesimo Anno,
Section 94)
Vatican II signaled
change and recognized the right and the need to challenge leadership for the
good of society.
“Even in present day circumstances, however, the strike can still be a necessary,
though ultimate, means of defense of the worker’s own rights and a fulfillment
of their just demands.” (Gaudium et Spes, Section 68)
“Hence
the workers themselves should have a share also in controlling these
institutions, either in person or through freely elected delegates.” (ibid)
An explanation is offered in a footnote.
“Its comments on the necessity of permitting workers to be represented
by ‘freely elected’ delegates have meaning not only for countries where there are no workers associations, but also for countries
which have them but, like Spain, (Francisco Franco was dictator of Fascist
Spain during Vatican II) do not yet allow
for adequately free choice of representatives by the workers themselves.”
(The
Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, S.J. General Editor, Guild
Press, New York 1966, p. 277.)
Franco
of fascist Spain was a favorite of Pius XII but not of John XXIII.
Guilds
as an ideal for Catholic Social Teaching were returned to romantic views of
medieval history.
CHANGE
IN METHOD FOR THEOLOGY
Before
Vatican II, Roman Catholic theologians worked out of a neo-scholastic or
neo-Thomistic world view. Conclusions
were deduced from unchallenged biblical or traditional “truths.” Vatican
II opened up the possibility of new methods for theology. Monsignor George Higgins,
labor priest from Chicago, wrote:
“Bishop
Mark McGrath (Auxiliary Bishop of Panama – native of
Chicago) served in the Council as the
‘Relator’ … on the
Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
In
this capacity, he was called upon to explain the Fathers the methodology which
had been employed in drafting the Constitution.
Because of the nature of the document … it was necessary that the real
condition of today’s world be described… This inductive or descriptive
methodology was followed throughout the schema.”
Monsignor
Higgins comments that sections of the document which deal with economic and
social life are concerned with, (He quotes McGrath) “highly contingent matters which are in ‘a constant state of development:
and consequently do not lend themselves readily to a univocal application of
general principles, either doctrinal or moral.’”
(O’Donnell, editor, The Church in the World,
Bruce, Milwaukee, 1967, pp. 21 – 22)
Gaudium et Spes,
insisted on awareness of “the signs of the times.” (G.S. Preface #4) The way
was open, not only for the personalism of John Paul II, but for surveys and social
analysis. Gustavo Gutierrez says that
Liberation Theology is a new method of doing theology based on experience. (Gustavo
Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, Orbis Books, 1973, p. 16.)
ECUMENISM
IN SOCIAL JUSTICE
Social Justice: Cooperation Required
Vatican II
documents urged interfaith cooperation for social justice. Cooperation should include all in secular
society including atheists.
The documents on Ecumenism and Non Christian religions
were attempts at moving the Church out of the Gothic mindset. The Council’s attitude towards non-Catholic
groups and people is exemplified by the statement on atheists.
While
rejecting atheism, root and branch, the Church sincerely
Professes that all men, believers and unbelievers alike, ought to
work for the rightful betterment of this world in which all
alike live. (G.S. Part 1, C.1, #21)
Social Justice: A
World Issue
As the
Church has in the past, the Council expressed concern about poverty, but the
Council noted that world poverty involved relationships between countries and
expressed a concern about neo-colonialism.
“If the demands of justice and equity are to be satisfied, vigorous efforts
must be made without violence to the rights of persons or the natural
characteristics of each country, to remove as quickly as possible the immense
economic inequalities which now exist.” (G.S.
Chapter 3, #66.)
THE
IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING
Vatican II advocated dialogue with the
“modern world.” The results are
questionable. The “post-modern” Roman
Catholic Church is reformed; not as a retro–Church of the 50’s as some might
say, but a sharply divided “people of God.”
The hierarchy has established a centralized Roman identity, preaching a
new philosophical and theological fundamentalism, with little relationship with
the tradition of the Church.
Professional liberals
focus on constantly challenging the hierarchy with reasoned complaints and are
regularly stonewalled. But for liberals,
Catholic Social teaching is out of the picture.
Catholic Social Teaching might be used on occasion by liberals to
support a political candidate, but rarely to support labor unions such as the
Palermo Pizza workers in Milwaukee.
Why bother –
does it make a difference? I think so. Some of the “people of God” continue the
dialogue. For example, the national Interfaith
Worker Justice program, the national New Sanctuary Movement, and Immigrant
Worker Centers such as Voces de la Frontera in Milwaukee flourish with support
of the “people of God.”
Remembering Vatican II is a way to keep it alive,
to build on it for post-modern reforms,
and prepare for another council.
