SOURCES FOR THE FOLLOWING REFLECTIONS:
Leonardo Boff, Sacraments of Life-Life of the Sacraments, Pastoral Press, Washington D.C. 1975
John Dominic Crossan, The Birth of Christianity, Harper San Francisco, 1999
William Droel, Patty Crowley–Lay Pioneer, Loyola, Chicago, 2016
Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, Bear & Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1983 & A Spirituality Named Compassion, 1979
Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation, Orbis Books, New York, 1973 & The Power of the Poor in History, Orbis Books, New York, 1983
Roger Haight, Christian Community in History, Vols. I&2, Continuum, New York, 2004
Hans Kung, The Church, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1967
Frederic Martel, In the Closet of the Vatican, Bloomberg Continuum, London etc. 2019
Matthew’s Gospel
J.M. O’Conner, O.P. Paul – A Critical Life, Oxford, 1997
T.F. O’Meara, O.P. & Paul Philibert, O.P. Scanning the Signs of the Times, ATF Theology, 2013
Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians and the Hebrews
E. Schillebeeckx, O.P. The Eucharist, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1968
The Church with a Human Face, Crossroad, N.Y. 1985
Understanding of Faith, Seabury Press, New York, 1974
INTRODUCTION
In his Commonweal article, “When Bishops Meet,” by J. O’Malley, S.J., O’Malley notes that Vatican II “Proponents of change defended their position by making use of ‘ressourcement,’” back to the sources.
Vatican
II brought about changes, but defended the priestly hierarchical structure of
the Church. Some Council bishops and
theologians saw a problem, and looked to the Jesus community in Galilee and the
early Church as a ‘ressourcement’ guide for the future. Such a guide is important in the wake of
current events. It is so needed because
of the pedophile crisis and the recognition by many of the faithful that the
hierarchical structure is a catalyst and a cause of this crisis. James Carroll
wrote in the Atlantic Monthly, “A power structure that is accountable
only to itself will always end up abusing the powerless.” Changes that reaffirm
the clerical structure assure the destruction of the Church as we know it. Perhaps this would be for the best.
Please
consider the following post-Vatican II reflections from the books listed above and
a pre-Vatican II reflection by Antonin-Gilbert
Sertillanges, O.P. who understood the historical nature of dogma in the early
twentieth century and was part of the run-up to Vatican II:
Leonardo Boff, O.F.M.
“The
sacraments are not the private property of the sacred hierarchy.” Boff, p. 7
John Dominic Crossan
“Across twenty-five years of publications Koestler has emphasized, concerning such texts as the Q Gospel and the Gospel of Thomas, that, for example, faith is understood as belief in Jesus words, a belief which makes what Jesus proclaimed present and real for the believer”… Faith is not just in words but in the God who through words demands deeds. Crossan, p. 406
John
Dominic Crossan, in a chapter on Gender
and Communal Equality quotes theologian Deborah Rose-Gaier from her paper
on the Didache an early Church document: “there are no prohibitions recorded
against women as trainers, baptizers, eucharistizers, apostles, prophets, or
teachers so it must be assumed that those functioning roles within the community
were open to women.” Crossan, p. 371
Crossan
summarizes his section on Meal and
Community: “…it is in food and drink offered equally to everyone that the
presence of God and Jesus is found. But
food and drink are the material bases of life, so the Lord’s Supper is a
political and economic challenge as well as a sacred rite and liturgical
worship.” Crossan, p. 444
Acts
and Pastoral letters etc. used to support hierarchical vs. Charismatic
structure of church. Kung, p. 180,
Crossan, Life Death Split
William Droel
Patty
Crowley Lay Pioneer, Loyola University, Chicago, 2016
Chicago St. Mary of the Lake Seminary Professor and CFM advisor Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand repeatedly insisted that, “the basic theology of CFM and similar movements was centered in the correct understanding of the Mass as a corporate act.” Droel, p. 31
Matthew
Fox
“The key
to understanding compassion is to enter into
a consciousness of interdependence which is a consciousness of equality of being.”
Original Blessing, p. 279 “Compassion is about feelings of togetherness suspended
egos or the feeling of kinship with all fellow
creatures. This kinship in turn urges us to celebrate our
kinship.” Spirituality Named Compassion,
p. 14
Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P.
“…theology
of liberation offers not so much a new theme for reflection but an new way to
do theology. Theology as a critical
reflection on historical praxis is a liberating theology, a theology of
liberating transformation of the history of mankind…” A Theology of
Liberation, p. 15
“He
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer) had moved toward a theological outlook whose point of
departure is in a faith lived by exploited classes, condemned ethnic groups and
marginalized cultures.” The Power of the Poor in History p. 233
Roger Haight, S.J.
Christian Community in History, Vols. I &
2, Continuum, New York, 2004
“On
becoming the religion of the empire (Roman) the church began to be conceived in
legal political terms; it was the legitimate religion of the empire. Its political privileges urged it toward
institutional totality and regimentation.
Increasingly church life became more passive and centered in liturgical
cult and devotional practices. p. 247, Vol. 1
Reference
to Schillebeeckx, The Church with a
Human Face, p. 142-43
“When
the formulations of the central doctrines of Christianity are recognized as
examples of inculturation, they no longer appear as absolute or a-historical
propositions, but as classic and paradigmatic examples of the principle of
inculturation which cannot be bypassed because of the role they play in
defining the church’s beliefs.” p. 258, Vol.
1
“He
(theologian Cameron, European Reformation, p. 148) describes the terminus a quo in terms of the
priesthood that emerged out of the Gregorian reform (Pope Gregory VII, 1073-1085):
the priesthood was set apart from and
above other Christians, by the indelible character or sacramental ordination,
its legal privileges, ritual celibacy, clerical dress and tonsure, and above
all by the sacrificial and miraculous ritual of the mass.” p. 75, Vol. 2
“Liberation
theology, of course, is theology, that is an understanding of faith and of
reality in the light of faith.” p. 411, Vol. 2
“The
discipline of theology attempts to mediate the understanding of the object of
the Christian communities faith. As such it engages reflecting and thinking
people. p. viii, Vol. 1
Hans Kung
The
Church, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1967
(Forward
gives thanks to Tubingen colleague Joseph Ratzinger. Joe is referenced 5
times. As Pope he took the name Benedict
XVl. The book is stamped, ‘Nihil Obstat”
– no doctrinal error- Patrick Casey, Vicar General, Westminster, 1967)
“…the later Church cannot simply and totally exclude the Pauline constitution. While it is unlikely to become a norm for the Church, this view might, even today, be of importance for certain missionary situations. We cannot suppose that the Church of the present time would wish or would be able to prevent a recurrence of what happened in Corinth and other Pauline communities – the sudden outpouring of a charism of leadership through the freedom of the Spirit of God-given particular and possible situations, for instance: a concentration camp, a remote prison from which there is no possibility of escape, or an extreme missionary situation, say communist China – Japanese Christians after all lived for centuries without any ordained pastors. … What happens, for example, if a Christian finds himself in an extreme missionary situation, and then, under inspiration of the Spirit and on the basis of his priesthood as a believer, gathers together a small group, a little community, through the impact of his Christian witness, baptizes them and celebrates with them the Lord’s Supper? Can such a man, even though he has received no special commission from men, not be a charismatic pastor after the Pauline communities?” Kung, p. 443
“Faith in an ultimate and radical sense cannot properly be distinguished from love. It is a personal activity directed towards a personal recipient. Faith is never, in the final analysis, a matter of adherence to objects, rules or dogmas, but is the sacrifice and self giving of one person to another. ‘What seems to be decisive in any act of faith is the the person to whose words approval is given.’ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, q. 11, a. 1.
“But radical personal self-giving, something in each and every case will be unconditional and irrevocable, can only be made to God; only God can be believed, in the fullest and most radical sense of the word. To believe in a man in this absolute and completely unconditional sense would be to make him into an idol, only God can be believed, in the fullest and radical sense of the word.” Kung, p. 31
“There
appears to be no monarchical episcopate in the Pauline communities… There
appears to be no ordination in the Pauline communities…” Kung, p. 402
“…the
later Church cannot simply and totally exclude the Pauline constitution. While it is unlikely to become a norm for the
Church, this view might, even today, be of importance for certain missionary
situations. We cannot suppose that the
Church of the present time would wish or would be able to prevent a recurrence
of what happened in Corinth and other Pauline communities – the sudden outpouring
of a charism of leadership through the freedom of the Spirit of God-given particular and possible situations, for
instance: a concentration camp, a remote prison from which there is no
possibility of escape, or an extreme missionary situation, say communist China
– Japanese Christians after all lived for centuries without any ordained
pastors. … What happens, for example, if
a Christian finds himself in an extreme missionary situation, and then, under
inspiration of the Spirit and on the basis of his priesthood as a believer,
gathers together a small group, a little community, through the impact of his
Christian witness, baptizes them and
celebrates with them the Lord’s Supper?
Can such a man, even though he has received no special commission from
men, not be a charismatic pastor after the Pauline communities?” Kung, p. 443
“According
to Acts, Chapter 2, the spirit has been poured out ‘on all flesh.”
“In
a Church or community where only ecclesiastical officials rather than all the
members of the community are active, ether is grave reason to wonder whether
the Spirit has not been sacrificed along with spiritual gifts.” Kung, 187
“The fundamental error of ecclesiologies … was that they failed to realize that all who hold office are primarily not dignitaries but believers, members of the fellowship of believers; and that compared with this fundamental Christian fact any office they may hold is of secondary if not tertiary importance. … Does this mean that community precedes ecclesiastical office, or that the community rather than the office is the higher authority? There is no question of having to make a choice in the new testament, where we find both community and office represented as equal authorities … “ Kung, p. 363
“The
charisms of leadership in the Pauline Churches did not at all events produce a
‘ruling class’, an aristocracy of those endowed with the Spirit who separated
themselves from the community and rose above it in order to rule over it.” Kung,
p. 187
“In
more precise terms: on the one hand, faith as man’s act of radical
self-offering and trusting acceptance of grace, is a condition of baptism.”
Kung, p. 207
“According to Acts, chapter 2, the
spirit has been poured out ‘on all flesh,.”
“In a Church or community where only ecclesiastical officials rather
than all the members of the community are active, ether is grave reason to
wonder whether the Spirit has not been sacrificed along with spiritual
gifts.” Kung, p. 187
“All the faithful belong to the people of God; there must be no clericalization of the Church.” Kung, p. 125
“The charisms of leadership in the Pauline Churches did not at all events produce a ‘ruling class’, an aristocracy of those endowed with the Spirit who separated themselves from the community and rose above it in order to rule over it.” Kung, p. 187
“Acts and Pastoral letters etc. used to support hierarchical vs. Charismatic structure of church.” Kung, p. 180
“In more precise terms: on the one hand, faith as man’s act of radical self-offering and trusting acceptance of grace, is a condition of baptism.” Kung, p. 207
Frederic Martel In the Closet of the Vatican, Bloomberg Continuum, London, 2019
“The
Pope is a monarch. He can protect the
people he likes in all circumstances, without anyone being able to stop him.”
Martel, p. 58
Pope
Francis – “We are not a tyrant, but a Christian King, and our anger is subject
to leniency.” Martel, p. 97
Matthew’s Gospel
And
call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your father, which is in
heaven. Mt. 23:9
Jesus
speaks about ‘Hypocrites’ – see vs. 13,14,15.
Jerome Murphy-O’Conner, O.P.
“I
Corinthians 11: 11-12 is the first and only explicit defence of the complete
equality of women in the New Testament.”
“Paul overturned the traditional argument from the chronological
priority of the male in the creation narrative by pointing out that the
chronological priority of women in the birth of a male is just as much a part
of God’s plan for creation.” J.M.O., p. 29
E.
Schillebeeckx, O.P.
The
Eucharist, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1968.
“The
Fourth Lateran Council (1215) used the term transubstantiation.” p. 50
“Both
Bonaventure and Thomas, for example, presented it in the same way. “…because a presence of this kind cannot come
about unless it does so by means of a change of the reality of the bread into Christ’s body, we must accept transubstantiation.”
pp. 48, 49
The
Church with a Human Face, Crossroad, New York, 1985.
“Furthermore,
in the ancient church the whole of the community of believers concelebrated,
albeit under the leadership of one who presided over the community; the
Eucharist is a celebration by the community.” p. 145
Synod
of Bishops on the Priesthood 1971
“…Bishops
(aware) that their priests were caught up in a crisis of identity.”
“It is against this background of two powerful
extremes, supernaturalism (and fideism) on the one hand and ‘horizontalism’ on
the other, that we need to see the second ordinary synod.” p. 212
“This
synod did not propose any kind of solution, because it still thought
ecclesiologically in a dualistic way and therefore could not provide any
meaningful correction on the one hand to supernaturalist conceptions and on the
other to conceptions which saw ministry simply as a profession and which did
not express its real religious depth, or passed it over.” p.212
“The
general result of this was a return to the one sided approach of the Council of
Trent, understandable at that time, which ultimately associates the distinctive
character of the official priesthood almost exclusively with the Eucharist and
the hearing of confession.” p. 219
The
Understanding of Faith, Seabury Press, New York, 1974
“Today
faith insists that the believer pass through the ordeal of a new interpretation
of his faith if he wishes to be faithful to the message of the of the gospel.”
p. 3
“…the
Christian message or kerygma can only be geared to what is common to all – an
increasing resistance to the inhumane and a permanent search for the humane, a
search that man himself tries to solve in the praxis of his life (even t
“As
soon as we realize that the truth of revelation has not simply come to us out
of the blue but that it is expressed as man’s interpretation of faith, with the
result that revelation is fundamentally God’s word in human words;” p. 36
“The
significance of the acceptance of a new interpretation of faith by a local
church should not be underestimated. Lumen Gentium 28, Ad Gentes 20.” p.71
“Theology
is the critical theory of the critical praxis which has this intention
(transcendence must be won again and again in the face of historical alienation)
and therefore does not hesitate to use meaning and nonsense that have been
discovered in man and society by the human analytical and hermeneutic
sciences.” pp. 154-5
Paul’s Epistles
“Ahora bien: es la fe la garantía (hypostasis) de lo que espera, la prueba de cosas que no se ven, pues por ella adquirieron gran nombre los antiguos.” Heb. 11:1
(Faith
is the guarantee (unification) of that which is hoped for, the proof of things
not seen. It was for Faith that our
fathers were praised.)
If
the charisms of individual Christians were discovered and furthered and
developed, what dynamic power, what life and movement there would be in such a
community, such a Church. ‘Do not quench
the Spirit, do not despise prophesying.’ I Thes. 5:19
Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P.
“The action of the Holy Spirit is not exclusively to be found in our chiefs, although in this case they are promised a special assistance … (It) is diffused through the whole church, giving life to the faithful and breathing truth into them affording them grace and useful impulses, listening as well as speaking.” (The church is not a solitary monarchy influenced by no one.) “Is it an autocracy in the full and exclusive sense of the word? Such a being would be a monster or a maniac. Every regime of persons is modified by various collaborations without which it would become the most unsupportable tyranny.” Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P. The Church, 1917. Scanning Signs of the Times. p. 14
“The fundamental idea in Sertillanges is that all knowledge and every activity are permeated with religion.” Scanning Signs of the Times, p. 16
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