PENANCE and RECONCILIATION with the CHURCH CLARENCE Mcauliffe, SJ
PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION WITH THE CHURCH CLARENCE McAULIFFE, SJ. St. Mary's College, Kansas HEN IN 1922 Bartolom6 Xiberta propounded1 or, as some would Wprefer to say, reactivated2 the theory that the res et sacramentum of the sacrament of penance is reconciliation with the Church, the immediate response was mostly hostile. However, as time went on, despite the opposition of most authors of textbooks, such eminent theologians as de la Taille,3 Mersch,4 and de Lubac5 accepted it. At present, if published books and articles are any clue, the theory has obtained widespread favor.6 Peter Riga states that "this thesis has now become an accepted theory among Catholic theologians,"7 and Dumont considers it so well grounded that he wants it introduced at once, though prudently, into manuals, catechisms, and ordinary preaching.8 But the victory is not yet won. The recently deceased Paul Galtier, lifelong specialist in the history and dogma of penance, rejects the theory. So clear is his stand that there is no justification for asserting that "Galtier ... is a little ambiguous about the priority of reconcilia tion with the Church."9 Galtier expressly declares that "it [reconcilia- 1B. F. Xiberta, O.Carm., Clavis ecclesiae: De ordine absolutions sacramentalis ad recon- ciliationem cum ecclesia (Rome, 1922). 2 C. Dumont, S. J., "La reconciliation avec l'eglise et la n£cessite* de Paveu sacramentel," NouveUe revue theologique 81 (1959) 578. » M. de la Taille, S.J., "Conspectus bibliographicus," Gregorianum 4 (1923) 591-99. Cf. also his Mysterium fidei (3d ed.; Paris, 1931) p. 581. 4 E.
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