The Disputed Teachings of Vatican II Continuity and Reversal in Catholic Doctrine Thomas G. Guarino WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan www.eerdmans.com © 2018 Thomas G. Guarino All rights reserved Published 2018 ISBN 978-0-8028-7438-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Guarino, Thomas G., author. Title: The disputed teachings of Vatican II : continuity and reversal in Catholic doctrine / Thomas G. Guarino. Description: Grand Rapids : Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018035456 | ISBN 9780802874382 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Vatican Council (2nd : 1962-1965 : Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano) | Catholic Church— Doctrines.—History—20th century. Classification: LCC BX830 1962 .G77 2018 | DDC 262/.52—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018035456 Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Central Problem of Vatican II 2. Theological Principles for Understanding Vatican II 3. Key Words for Change 4. Disputed Topics and Analogical Reasoning 5. Disputed Topics and Material Continuity Conclusion Select Bibliography Index Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude, even if briefly and incompletely, to the many people who have aided the research for this book. These include the Rev. Dr. Joseph Reilly, dean of the school of theology of Seton Hall University, for his kind support of this work; Dr. John Buschman, dean of Seton Hall University libraries, for generously providing a suitable space for research and writing; the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Porter, director of Turro library, for his assistance in obtaining the necessary research materials; the faculty and staff of Seton Hall libraries, especially Anthony Lee, Stella Wilkins, Andrew Brenycz, Tiffany Burns, Mabel Wong, Stephania Bennett, Priscilla Tejada, and Damien Kelly, for their competent and friendly assistance; the Dominican friars of St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City for their generous hospitality; and finally, Theresa Miller and Cathy Xavier for their kind help with many book-related tasks. I am indebted to all of them for their benevolence. Abbreviations AG Ad gentes: On the Mission Activity of the Church AS Acta synodalia sacrosancti concilii oecumenici Vaticani II Carnets-AMC André-Marie Charue. Carnets conciliaires de l’évêque de Namur A.-M. Charue. Edited by L. Declerck and Cl. Soetens. Louvain-la-Neuve: Faculté de Théologie, 2000. Carnets-GP Gérard Philips. Carnets conciliaires de Mgr Gérard Philips, secrétaire adjoint de la commission doctrinale: Texte néerlandais avec traduction française et commentaires. Edited by K. Schelkens. Leuven: Peeters, 2006. Comm. Vincent of Lérins. Commonitorium. Corpus Christianorum: Series Latina 64, edited by Roland Demeulenaere. Turnhout: Brepols, 1985. DH Dignitatis humanae: Declaration on Religious Freedom. Also referred to as De libertate religiosa. DV Dei verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Also referred to as De revelatione. LG Lumen gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Also referred to as De ecclesia. NA Nostra aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. Also referred to as De Judaeis. SCU Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity UR Unitatis redintegratio: Decree on Ecumenism. Also referred to as De oecumenismo. Introduction The Second Vatican Council was the cataclysmic Christian event of the twentieth century, changing the face of Catholicism and launching it into a new relationship with other Christians, with adherents of other religions, and with the modern world. Numerous questions about the council and its implications are still being disputed today: Was the council a legitimate development of the prior Christian tradition? Or was it, in fact, a naked reversal of significant dimensions of Catholic teaching? Didn’t the council’s liberalizing tendencies lead to a decline in religious practice? And aren’t the rancid fruits of Vatican II traceable to its shameless kowtowing to the world, to its failure to insist on biblical truth? These questions have been on the minds of many people, including faithful Catholics.1 To answer them, this book will examine some of the most controversial teachings of Vatican II, making judgments as to their continuity or discontinuity with the prior Catholic tradition. The fundamental question at stake is this: Was the council an authentic development and extension of the prior doctrinal tradition, or was it in fact—at least in certain instances—an unabashed corruption of it? I will proceed in three main steps. I will outline the crucial issue at stake in understanding Vatican II, namely, the material continuity or discontinuity of the council’s teaching with the prior tradition (chapter 1). I will then examine the central theological principles necessary for interpreting the council properly (chapters 2 and 3). Finally, I will analyze and make judgments about the disputed issues themselves (chapters 4 and 5). Thus, this book will be primarily a theological rather than a historical account of Vatican II, even though the documents (and their successive drafts) will always undergird the theological judgments. At several points in this book I will invoke the work of an early Christian writer, Vincent of Lérins. Vincent is in a unique position to help us with the continuity/corruption question because he himself thought deeply about this issue in the early days of the church. Writing in the fifth century, Vincent was embroiled in controversies about the proper understanding of Christ’s person (as both human and divine), about Mary’s role in salvation history (as the mother of God), and about grace and human freedom (and how they are related). Vincent was well aware that, over time, change inexorably occurred in Christ’s church. Indeed, the Lerinian had an acute sense of history and its effects, rare for his epoch. He acknowledged that terms such as “consubstantial” (homoousios) and “God-bearer” (Theotokos)—terms that had been consecrated by early ecumenical councils—were not to be found in the New Testament. And yet he thought these words were legitimate representations of biblical teaching, fully congruous with scriptural witness. Vincent used a host of terms to show that development and growth—properly understood—were appropriate for the 1 Benedict XVI, describing the tumultuous aftermath of Vatican II, invoked the fourth-century theologian Basil, who compared the church’s agitated state after the Council of Nicaea to a raucous naval battle on a stormy night: “No one can deny that in vast areas of the Church the implementation of the Council has been somewhat difficult, even without wishing to apply to what occurred in these years the description that St. Basil … made of the Church’s situation after the Council of Nicaea: he compares her situation to a naval battle in the darkness of the storm, saying among other things: ‘The raucous shouting of those who through disagreement rise up against one another, the incomprehensible chatter, the confused din of uninterrupted clamoring, has now filled almost the whole of the Church, falsifying through excess or failure the right doctrine of the faith …’ (De Spiritu Sancto, XXX, 77; PG 32, 213 A …).” “Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia Offering Them His Christmas Greetings,” December 22, 2005, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict- xvi/en/speeches/2005/december/documents/hf_ben_xvi_spe_20051222_roman-curia.html. Christian church. But he also recognized that some changes could be injurious to the church’s faith, betraying both Scripture and the solemn teachings of the first councils. Indeed, a significant part of Vincent’s work seeks to respond to those who believed that the Creed of Nicaea could be rewritten with rather less emphasis on the one divine nature (consubstantiality) shared by the Father and Jesus Christ, his Son. To combat the kind of change that distorted and corrupted Christian truth, the theologian of Lérins insightfully distinguished between two kinds of change, profectus and permutatio. The former, meaning “advance,” refers to the harmonious progress that protects earlier teachings even while organically and homogeneously extending and expanding them. The latter refers to reversals that seek to overthrow and corrupt earlier church teachings by betraying or contradicting their fundamental meaning. For Vincent, a profectus is entirely legitimate and warranted. A permutatio leads inevitably to heresy and must at all costs be avoided. We shall discuss Vincent’s work, and in particular how this early Christian writer can help us understand the changes that took place at Vatican II, a bit more fully in chapter 1.2 But even at this point, mentioning Vincent’s thought alerts us to the fact that the issue of continuity/rupture is not a contemporary problem arising from the historical-critical study of Christian doctrine. Already in the early fifth century, theologians were examining how change, both proper and improper, occurs in the life of the church. Vatican II initiated within Catholicism—and to some extent within Christianity at large—a period of intense reflection and examination that continues over fifty years later. Pope John XXIII, who convoked the council, clearly wanted the Catholic Church to face the challenges posed by both the Reformation and the Enlightenment: the relationship of Catholicism to other Christian churches, to other religions