Volume 9, Number 2 Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter March 1986 The Extraordinary Synod - A Summary [Editor'sNote: Three members of the Fellowship's Executive Board attended the ExtraordinarySynod, held in Rome, November 25th-December 8th, 1985. The insights of Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Fr. Michael Wrenn, and Professor Ralph Mcinerney follow. Mr. Robert DiVeroli is a syndicated columnist for several West Coast daily newspapers.] The Synod interpreted Vatican IIin a particular way-in three documents. First,the message to the world'sfaithfulproposes the Church as the Body of Christ withthe faithfulcalled upon to place themselves . in communion with this Church (Lumen Gentium), . as hearers of God's Word (Dei Verbum), . participating in the holy liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) , . and serviceable to mankind, especially to the poor (Gaudium et Spes). Notice the hierarchy of values. Secondly, "The Final Report"celebrated and confirmed the Second Vatican Council on its 20th anniversary. The participating bishops experienced, what they called, "communion in one spirit, the one faith and hope, and in the one Catholic Church." Unanimously, they willed to translate that Council into the life of the Church. But they also admitted the estrangement going on in the "First World" and the paradox of a faith enriched by Vatican II in places where people are oppressed. The Synod spoke, too, of the temptation of consumerism and the misreading of Council documents to explain "shadows in the Council's reception." . Too much renewal identified with external structures and too little with God. The pastoral charactor of the Council documents cannot be separated from their doctrinal vigor. In response to the challenge of secularism, the faithful were called upon to look to God and for the Church to manifest better "the sense of the sacred," . To offer mankind "the preambles of faith, to announce Christ's divine sonship and salvation through him." . The Church must call people to holiness by promoting a sense of prayer, adoration, sacrifice, self-giving, charity, justice. We have a tremendous need, said the bishops, of saints and training for spiritual life. "In the first place it is necessary to promote conjugal spirituality." (Cont.on Pg.3) Volume 9, Number 2 Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter March 1986 Fellowship of Catholic Scholars - Board of Directors 1986-1988 President Dr. James Hitchcock Rev. Msgr. George A. Kelly Department of History Editor, The FCS Newsletter St. Louis University St. John's University St. Louis, MO 63103 Jamaica, New York 11439 Rev. Ronald Lawler, OFM, Cap. Past President Director, IASCD Rev. Earl A. Weis, S.J. St. John's University Jamaica, NY 11439 Department of Theology Loyola University Chicago, IL 60626 Dr. William E. May Catholic University of America Vice President Department of Theology Dr. Joseph Boyle Washington, D.C. 20064 Department of Philosophy University of St. Thomas Prof. Ralph Mcinerny 3812 Montrose Blvd. University of Notre Dame Houston, TX 77006 Notre Dame, IN 46556 Executive Secretary and Treasurer Rev. Richard Roach, S.J. Dr. Joseph P. Scottino Marquette University President, Gannon University Jesuit Residence 1404 W. Wisconsin Avenue Erie, PA 16541 Milwaukee, WI 53233 Directors: Rev. William Smith Mother Mary Assumpta, O.P. St. Cecilia Convent St. Joseph's Seminary Dunwoodie Eighth & Clay Streets Nashville TN 37208 Yonkers, New York 10704 Rev. Kenneth Baker, S.J. Rev. Thomas Weinandy, OFM, Cap. Homiletic & Pastoral Review 10200 Battleridge Place 86 Riverside Drive Gaithersburg, MD 20879 New York, NY 10024 Rev. Michael Wrenn Dr. Anne Carson Daly St. Joseph's Seminary University of Notre Dame Dunwoodie Notre Dame, IN 46556 Yonkers, New York 10704 Dr. Robert V. Young North Carolina State University Box 8105 Raleigh, N.C. 27695 Volume 9, Number 2 Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter March 1986 ,The Synod - A Summary (Cont. from Pg. 1) closet. The Synod seems to have done precisely . The sources of Church life are spelled out in this. Henceforth, Vatican II will have to be understood Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, and Paul VI's as the Synod Fathers interpreted it in 1985. Evangelii Nuntiandi, all read (especially Scrip- The Council's distortions took many forms. ture) within the living tradition of the Church. Among the most widely disseminated distortions, "The theological discussions of our day have those which have weakened the faith of many Catho- sometimes occasioned confusion among the lics, the following are typical. faithful,"said the final report, which proposed a . "The vocation of the priesthood is not to save catechismas a guide forthe world'sbishops. souls but to build up the community of Christ . Bishopsareto correctliturgicalabuses. on earth."- To this the Synod replied in the . The pluralism of opposed positions leads to name of Vatican II that the Church's vocation destruction and loss of identify. is to be the sign and instrument of holiness. Episcopal Conferences must serve the good The Church's character is eschatological. of the entire Church and the inalienable respon- (Lumen Gentium Nos. 5 and 7) sibility of each bishop. Their theological status . "The Catholic Church has abandoned her and their doctrinal authority must be studied claim to be the one, unique church estab- further. lished by Christ."- To this the Synod replied . In dealing with the Modern World (Gaudium in the name of Vatican II that the Church is et Spes) preaching should include the theology Christ's body ever present in the midst of of the cross and the social doctrine of the humanity. (Lumen Gentium Chapter I) Church, especially its "preferential option for the . "The Council created a horizontal Church- poor." the people of God church-no longer the . The Church must defend and promote the pyramid Church with bishops and popes at fundamental and inalienable rights of the the pinnacle."- To this the Synod replied in human person. the name of Vatican II that the pope is the The third document was John Paul I/'s closing 'subject of supreme and full power in the address, which took note of the "substantial unity" of whole Church.' " (Lumen Gentium, 22) the Synod. "The Council's declaration on religious liberty . Emphasizing the Church as "the mystical legitimized the right of the faithful, especially Body of Christ," the pope underlined the theologians, to be selective in their obedi- Synod's call for a universal catechism, a ence to Church doctrinal and moral study of the nature of episcopal conferences, norms."- To which the Synod in the name of and the publication of the Oriental Code of Vatican II responded-that it is not licit to Canon Law. choose one document over another, to sepa- . It will be the function of the Secretariat of the rate pastoral practice from doctrinal truth, to Synod to see that the Synod bears fruit. justify "fundamentally opposed positions." In- . John Paul's closing words referred to Vatican deed, Bishops are told correct abuses and II as "a witness concerning Christ, Word In- protect the faithful from dangers to their faith. carnate, who died and has risen from the dead, concerning Christ in whom the Father has loved the world, concerning Christ who has revealed man to himself and his exalted vocation, outside of whom there is no salva- tion." A Call to Action I; A veteran on the Roman scene was heard re- Ii marking at the close of the Extraordinary Synod: "The documents will not be so important as what some- body does about them." That "somebody", of course, is John Paul II and the bishops who are in communion with him. No one can be sure what the Holy Father had in mind when he called for a Synod. Dissenters feared he was about to dismantle Vatican II. (How that could happen is hard to conceive.) Followers of John Paull II hoped he would bring the real Vatican II out of the 3 Volume 9, Number 2 Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter March 1986 The Synod - A Universal Cathechism It had rained in Rome ten straight days prior to bulletins a day later. Thus, Cardinal Law's interven- my arrival there Friday morning November 22nd and tion, in an early general congregation of the Synod, would continue on and off right through the opening spoke of the problems of dissent and the need for Synod mass, November 24, con-celebrated with clear identity in Catholic institutions of higher learn- John Paul II by Cardinals and Bishops and priest par- ing. Cardinal Baum's plea for a proper interpretation ticipants. of Dei Verbum which would consider the limits of the At the first press briefing in the Sala Stampa historical-critical method in Scripture research, and (Press Office) situated at the end of the Via Della present a correct understanding of Revelation and In- Conciliazione, I was happy to meet a priest whom I spiration, were in line with a number of other interven- hadn't seen in several years, who also had come to tions from Cardinals and Bishops throughout the be present in Rome during the Synod. I had been told world who also were openly calling for a definition of by a colleague of his that he had just come from a terms consistent with the authentic interpretation of meeting of members of Concilium in Paris. He was of the Second Vatican Council. the opinion that what seemed to be at issue at the But by Tuesday of the second week when the Synod was a move on the part of some circles, who Circuli Minores (the language discussion groups) had accepted a certain amount of ambiguity in the began to report out, a number of developments final drafts of the documents of Vatican II, twenty began to take place which, for the sake of brevity, can years ago, to remove the ambiguities to which they be described quite simply as the Tiber beginning to had originally agreea.