Perspective Witnesses recall joy, pains of Vatican
II
By THOMAS C. FOX
The Association for the Rights of
Catholics in the Church is a group that argues the difference between being
faithful to Jesus teachings and being faithful to the specific church
structure. It claims that fidelity to Jesus teaching can require change
within the church.
Founded 20 years ago by lay and clerical Catholics in the wake of
Vatican condemnations of prominent theologians as Frs. Edward Schillebeeckx,
Jacques Pohier, and Hans Küng, the association has worked diligently to
assure that every Catholics human and baptismal rights are secured by a
church constitution.
This is not the kind of work that will win the association the
accolades of the hierarchy soon. Nor can the organization be easily dismissed.
These are committed renewal-minded Catholics.
A year ago several association board members, including Mary
Louise Hartman, had the idea of bringing together Catholics whose renewal
initiatives dated back to Pope John XXIII, now Blessed John XXIII, and the
Vatican Council (1962-1965) he initiated in the name of renewal.
Hartmans efforts paid off Nov. 3 when some 230 Catholics --
nearly twice as many as initially expected -- packed into a conference room at
the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee just before the opening of the Call To
Actions annual gathering.
They came to listen to and speak with a dozen Vatican II
witnesses, a graying group whose personal recollections become more valuable by
the year.
Not surprisingly, some of the warmest personal memories shared by
the panelists centered on John XXIII, the pontiff who seems to have become the
patron saint of almost everyone in this group. He was remembered as a simple
and very personal man, a totally unassuming person with a great sense of humor.
Again and again, panelists talked about Johns humanity and
suggested his authority was never demanded and always earned.
New Ulm, Minn., Bishop Raymond Lucker spoke of Johns
special warmth and openness. He noted the pontiffs humor.
Said Lucker: Once asked, How many people work in the Vatican?
John responded, About half.
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected pope in 1958. At the time it
was still the practice to carry the pope in and out of St. Peters on a
papal chair. The story was told that John, a rotund man and described as
looking more like a pizzamaker than a pope, immediately after being
elected pontiff, gave a raise to the men who had to carry him on his papal
throne.
Not all Vatican II memories were warm.
Sr. Ruth Wallace, a member of the California Sisters of the
Immaculate Heart, was invited by Belgian Cardinal Leo Suenens to come to the
council to organize discussions, reminded the group that Vatican II had
an all-male cast.
Women who were not auditors, she said,
participated only by attending the Mass celebrated prior to each
days session.
There were only 22 women auditors and approximately 3,000 men at
the council. Noted Wallace: A womans voice was never heard during
the council deliberations.
Women auditors were told they could not drink coffee during coffee
breaks with the bishops. Instead, the women were assigned their own private
coffee bar -- alongside the basilica altar, behind curtains and
away from the bishops.
Sister of Loretto Mary Luke Tobin remembered the last day of the
council and a sinking feeling she experienced after the final Mass in St.
Peters Square. Thats when, in sets of four, various categories of
people walked up to Pope Paul VI to receive honorary insignia. First came the
philosophers, then historians, then artists
and then women. Women
arent a category! she blurted to Benedictine Fr. Godfrey Diekmann,
who stood beside her.
Vatican II usually gets high marks on the charts of renewal-minded
Catholics. The gathering of the Association of the Rights served as a reminder
of the pain and discrimination felt by the Catholic women who attended the
council.
Most who offered comments on the council spoke of it as a
life shaping event. Clearly the council energized and directed many
lives. Not without pain and disappointment.
Humanae Vitae, the Pope Paul VI 1968 encyclical that
reaffirmed the churchs ban on artificial contraception, was described as
the first post-conciliar setback. Laywoman Patty Crowley, frail and still
spirited, beckoned all at the conference to get the full birth control
story by reading Robert McClorys book, Turning Point.
Crowley and her husband, Pat, were members of the papal birth control
commission, which ended up asking the pope to end the ban on artificial
contraception.
The pontificate of Pope John Paul II was cast as the most
significant council setback. Although John Pauls social teachings won
praise at the meeting, his episcopal appointments and the clericalism of his
attitudes on church were widely criticized. Some of the harshest criticisms
came from Robert Blair Kaiser, who covered the council for Time
magazine, and spoke at the association luncheon.
Kaiser said Pope John Paul intentionally reversed Vatican
II. The council marked a radical break from the past, Kaiser said. It was
a new moment in church history. John Paul, he said, never saw it as such. By
stressing continuity, the pope missed the point and purposely has tried to
subvert the council, Kaiser argued.
John Paul has subverted the council through a process of
centralization and clericalization and by fostering a kind of folk
religion that has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Kaiser
spoke of the popes fascination with the Shroud of Turin and the Third
Secret of Fatima.
Yes, there have been setbacks, but the consensus of the gathering
was that council renewal is going forward and will continue to do so. Vatican
II lives on, it was said. Blessed John XXIII wont let the dream die.
Tom Fox, NCR publisher, can be reached at
tcfox@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, November 17,
2000
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