Page 1 of 13 Experiences of a Council Father 27/09/2012 Http

Experiences of a Council Father Page 1 of 13 Symposium at the Fortieth Anniversary of Vatican II Experiences of a Council Father By Bishop Remi J. De Roo Forty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council, in retrospect, I would describe that providential event as a prolonged exercise in communal spiritual discernment. While at times perplexing, its ultimate results were definitely positive. It remains for me a superb illustration of how the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Pilgrim People of God throughout the course of history. I consider it the single most impressive experience of my entire life. The focus of Vatican II was pastoral and liturgical as well as theological. Each day began with Eucharist celebrated in a variety of rites. I will never forget how moved I was to see the Gospel solemnly enthroned, a living symbol of the Word of God, present in our midst throughout all the sessions. All the Bishops in communion with Rome were expected to attend. They were joined by an impressive array of major religious superiors, observers from other Churches, theologians, canon lawyers and other scholars, generally known as experts (periti), and a large support staff. The attendance was almost entirely male. Women were not invited until the Third Session and then only as listeners (auditrices). Our entire Church was thus deprived of a very important voice, since the contribution of more than half the membership was muted or heard only indirectly. The Second Vatican Council did not appear suddenly on the horizon, like a cloud in a clear blue sky. Time does not permit me to recall the valiant pioneers who prayed, struggled and suffered to awaken Church leaders to the need for reform and adaptation in a world where religion appeared increasingly irrelevant. I salute the memory of these dedicated people who prepared the ground so that Pope John XXIII could surprise the world with his announcement. It certainly was an inspired initiative. This lovable and charismatic Pope deserves most of the credit for its success. My own initiation into Vatican II began in the summer of 1959. Pope John XXIII, a few months after his election, had instructed Cardinal Tardini to write in his name to all the Bishops. They were asked to provide suggestions as to topics the Council should deal with. My own Archbishop at the time, Maurice Baudoux, of Saint Boniface, Manitoba, immediately assembled a team of nineteen priests; I was one. We assisted our leader in formulating a list of over sixty proposals or comments, which were then transmitted to the Pre-preparatory Vatican Commission. These observations were patterned after the 1917 Code of Canon Law, with its sections divided into Doctrine, Ecclesiastical Discipline and Pastoral Liturgy. By way of introduction or preface, my Archbishop proposed that the Council place its primary focus on that essential unity modelled by the ‘multiform unity’ manifest in the Holy Trinity and in creation. Later, as President of the Conference of Canadian Catholic Bishops, he played a leading role in coordinating relationships with many other Conferences of Bishops which were gradually being organized for more effective participation in the Council. With this vision as my horizon, I began a voyage of discovery that would radically alter my whole outlook on reality. When my nomination as Bishop of Victoria was made public on 31 October 1962, I was immediately called to Rome. Thus I attended part of the First Session as a bishop-elect. For the remainder of the Council sessions, I continued to work with a team of Canadian bishops and with other groups of participants. This work helped me to deepen my understanding of my new episcopal mission. For myself as for many others, it was indeed a time of euphoria, of immense hope in the midst of struggle. Vatican II furthered my theological formation like no other experience I have ever had. My previous academic training in the then prevailing scholastic mode left little room for the imagination. Interaction at the Council with the widely divergent schools of thought opened my eyes http://vatican2voice.org/92symp/deroo.htm 27/09/2012 Experiences of a Council Father Page 2 of 13 to the various influences that have shaped our Church over the centuries. Overcoming my initial shock, I came to see how creative and life-giving these internal ecclesial tensions could become. I grew to welcome the healthy diversity that is innate to authentic catholicity, as ongoing dialogue with outstanding pastors and scholars from many countries and cultures broadened and enriched my vision. The theological focus shifted in several areas. The image of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, promoted by Pope Pius XII, became accompanied by broadening visions, most notably the more biblical image of the pilgrim People of God. The vertical hierarchical development which through the centuries had shaped the governing Church institutions into a pyramid of power was cautiously redirected toward the more primitive and traditional image of the circle. As a result, terms like councils and synods, collegiality and co- responsibility have become common in our ecclesial vocabulary. That does not mean that all tensions have been overcome in these spheres: much remains to be achieved in applying the ideals proposed by Vatican II. However, I choose here to dwell principally on the positive aspects of the renewal process begun through the inspired leadership of Pope John XXIII. I am convinced that his beatification on 3 September 2000 by Pope John Paul II put the official stamp of approval on his prophetic initiative. It was particularly meaningful for me that day to wear the ring which John XXIII gave me after my first audience with him in November 1962. The major shifts which occurred during the Council did not come without pain and travail. Divergent perspectives on substantial issues brought about fierce clashes. At times there was emotional reaction to some of the developments. As one example, I well remember the impassioned declaration of Cardinal Ottaviani during one of the debates around collegiality. He interrupted his fluent Latin to shout in his native Italian, ‘Il Papa parla da solo!’ – the Pope speaks alone! The leader of the Vatican Curia, like some other Vatican officials, perhaps felt threatened at the thought of taking any guidance whatsoever from a proposed College of Bishops. I have since come to realize that intelligent people can unconsciously remain slaves to defunct theories when they do not know the source of the ideas they hold as traditional and beyond questioning. I myself underwent a conversion in my thinking and my attitudes on a significant number of issues. It is reassuring to have learned later that Bishop Butler also recorded his experience of Vatican II as a second conversion. The Council lived through many ups and downs which punctuated the wearying routine of seemingly endless speeches, often delivered in less than perfectly classical Latin. We were sustained however, by moments of exhilaration: one such followed the massive indicative vote on 30 October 1963 favouring the recognition of the sacramentality of episcopal consecration and the authority by divine right of the College of Bishops. Previous fears that the vote would split the Council proved groundless. Another exhilarating experience was the standing ovation with which our entire Assembly acclaimed Pope Paul VI on his return from addressing the United Nations in New York in 1965, of which more later. But there were also times of depression and near-discouragement. Concerning what came to be known as the ‘black week’ in November 1964, I may be permitted to note here a real contrast between the personalities and leadership styles of the two pontiffs. Pope Paul VI unilaterally reserved some topics to himself, and many accounts — both contemporary and by subsequent historians — note an uncertainty which Pope Paul himself injected into some Council proceedings. Bishop Butler recalled aspects of his experience of the matter after the Council: Paul ... had spent most of his working life within the Curia ... [and] was thus a man who knew the Curia from the inside and had both admired it and suffered in it. ... [Having assimilated neo-Thomism, he] was less at home with the new wave of Catholic philosophy and theology that sprang from the work of the Belgian Jesuit Maréchal. Of this ‘new’ but deeply orthodox thinking, there are two outstanding spokesmen, the great German Jesuit, Karl Rahner, and the great http://vatican2voice.org/92symp/deroo.htm 27/09/2012 Experiences of a Council Father Page 3 of 13 Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. ... Whether or not Paul VI either understood or sympathised with this inspiration [the new theology], he was genuinely a man of Vatican II, and there can be no doubt that he saw it as one of his duties to make that Council effective in the remaining years of his own life. He was also determined to hold the Church together in a communion of charity, and to maintain the privileges of the Petrine office to which he had been elected. During the Council itself, he did not relax his attention to the efforts of the ‘progressive’ elements, and more than once he seems to have tried to stem the tide that was flowing.[i] These uncertainties and other difficulties all contributed to delays in the proceedings, eventually requiring a fourth session in 1965. A contributing factor was that by contemporary standards, the technical apparatus and method of procedure in the Council left much to be desired. However, considering the complexities involved, our rather tortuous path eventually led to a generally positive outcome. The world at large certainly received the results of the Council with heart- warming approval and fifteen years afterwards Butler still recorded: ‘The “victory” of the progressives still seems to me to be an astonish- ing historical occurrence.’[ii] But by common consent the Holy Spirit had been at work, and Pope Paul said as much and very clearly.[iii] The Council Develops and Abbot Butler Emerges Various expressions or ‘confessions’ of fault in the Church were made quite early in the Council.

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