By Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan

Our Awareness Of The Church

For two years, we have been conscious of changes in the old Church we know and love. It still stood there, sturdy and serviceable, rather grimy in the urban centers, rather glossy in the suburbs. The structure was basically the same that our parents and grandparents knew. The laity was “under” the clergy in doctrine, morals and worship; the priests “under” the bishops; the bishops “under” the pope. All was well.

But was it really? In another country, France, the Archbishop of Paris had looked carefully at the Church of the war years, and the world that lay around it. Then, in the 1940s, Emmanuel Suhard wrote a series of pastoral letters -- in “The Parish Community,” “Growth or Decline,” “The Meaning of God,” “Priests Among Men.” What he wrote pierced the hearts of many French Catholics; his influence spread through Europe and America. With the dreams of Christian priests and laymen and the pronouncements of Pope Pius XII, the Suhard thesis became the Catholic blueprint for a renewal of the Church. The Second Vatican Council, in its decrees, is energizing the ideals of Suhard and others.

Because all is not well. Why do some Catholics resent the efforts of their bishops and pastors to preach full equality and justice for the Negro? Why do scholarly Catholics feel that the Church is not interested in the intellectual questions of our times? Why do the faithful so often prefer private devotions to the public Liturgy of the Mass? Why did it take so long for our schools to absorb the social guidelines of Leo XIII, the scriptural prompting of Pius XII, the ecumenical spirit of John XXIII?

In opening this third session of the Council, Pope Paul points to the reason: “the humiliating emptiness of our misery, and the crying need we have of His help and mercy.” If the Church in the United States is not understood by those of other faiths (as the presidential campaign of 1960 clearly showed), is it because it is not sufficiently understood by us who are its members?

The schema on the Church opened the debate this third decisive session. Pope Paul who put “awareness of the Church” first in his opening address of 1963 and in his first Encyclical, The Paths of the Church, has called this schema “the weightiest and most delicate of all.” Cardinal Bea, who has come to be reckoned by Catholics, Protestants and Jews as a fatherly guide, explains the long debate on it by his insistence that it is the “most important document of Vatican II.”

What questions does it involve? As Paul VI has stated:

“The hour has sounded in history when the Church must say of herself what Christ intended and willed her to be. The Church must give a definition of herself and bring out from her true consciousness the doctrine which the Holy Spirit teaches her.”

The Holy Father in addressing the council members asked the Church “to study itself, or rather probe into the mind of Christ, its divine Founder” so that it may be an “even more fit instrument in the work of salvation for which it was founded.” But it will not be a tight, inclusive, legalistic definition. Christ who formed it for all men, on the one hand; and humanity, “to whose service it is committed,” both forbid such a notion.

In the beginning, things were different. The concern of Christ and His Apostles was first with the internal, spiritual development of the Soul toward God. The Gospel of Christ is studied with passages which call for such interior dedication, the Beatitudes, the Two Great Commandments, the Parables. “Seek you first the Kingdom, and all these other things will be added to you.”

Likewise, St. Paul spoke of Christ’s Mystical Body, not as a legal, external organization, but a body in unity of function and goal. The bishop, the priest, the layman were to serve in a ministry of love. Likewise, St. Gregory the Great, writing to an Egyptian bishop, said: “My honor is the honor of the Universal Church. My honor is the strength of my brothers.” St. Thomas the Aquinas called the Holy Eucharist the focal point, the sacrament of unity.

No one questioned the need of authority and obedience, the preservation of the Word and the necessity of the Sacraments. But it was not until these were repudiated by some of the reformers of the sixteenth century that a shift in the definition of the Church became noticeable. St. Robert Bellarmine, to whom we owe much for the conversation of the Church’s identity in the post reformation days, spoke from the beleaguered position of Catholicism in a chaotic Europe. His definition read:

“The one true Church is that Community of men gathered together by the profession of true faith, communion in the same sacraments, and under the government of legitimate pastors, and principally the one Vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff.”

Every word of that is true -- but it does not go far enough. It held the line against the attacks of heresy, but it does not serve today. It puts emphasis mainly on external conformity: outward profession, outward sanctification and outward obedience.

The new Schema on the Church has eight chapters: The Mystery of the Church. Written in language rich in Scriptures, this chapter places the Church in its proper

relationship to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Mystical Body of Christ is beautifully and effectively described starting with St. Paul and carrying us down to the encyclical of Pius on that subject. The whole chapter makes a little silly the expression, “I belong to the Catholic Church.” As you read it, your response will probably be: “I am the Catholic Church, a part of it.”

The People of God. Here the Father will dip into the Old Testament and God’s covenant with His people. Members of the Church are defined in these terms, adding a clarification of the phrase, “the priesthood of the laity,” and showing how the sacraments make possible and enhance this priesthood. The gift of charisms, special revelations possible to every order of the Church, will be carefully explained. The schema closes with refreshing words on the place of non-Catholics and non-Christians in the overall use of the term, “the people of God.”

The Hierarchy. Only to an abstract, text-book sort of manner will the old charts on the Church’s government now survive. The whole sense of this debate will center on service and ministry, because the Son of Man came to minister, not to be ministered to. The sharing of the responsibility of the pope with the bishop is called “collegiality.” This is examined in terms of Christ, Peter and the other Apostles, then the application is made to the Church today. Christ, the pope and the bishop. The three-fold task of the Episcopacy -- teaching, sanctifying and ruling, is to be explored. At the urging of a number of bishops, notably Archbishop William Conway of Armagh, Ireland, a much-needed section on priests has been added.

The Laity. It used to be said that only two canons out of some 2,200 in Canon Law referred to laymen, and the only available definition was “a person who is not cleric.” Articles 30-38 now spell out the all-important role of the laymen in the Church, defining him in much more positive terms, underlining his dignity as a member of the People of God. His apostolic life, his witness of Christ, his royal service of Christ the King, his relation to the hierarchy -- all these topics are included. The older role of the layman in the choir, classroom and collection basket (still very necessary) and his newer role as lector and commentator in the liturgy (even more necessary) will surely be enhanced as the decrees of Vatican II begin to take effect.

The Universal Vocations to Sanctify: Religious Orders, the Eschatology of the Church (her heavenly destiny), The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Mystery of Christ and the Church.

These chapters each has a logical place in this vital schema, and the thinking Catholic will want to follow the debate, and study carefully the final form of the decrees. In next week’s article, a summary of some points of the debate will be given, with special attention to the interests of our people. Already, Cardinal Suenens has objected to the procedure for the beatification of Saints: too long, too expensive and too centralized. Fathers of both the Eastern Rite and Western Rite have claimed that the Holy Spirit is under emphasized. The cardinal said the chapter on Eschatology enriched the whole schema, but an archbishop said it should be totally omitted because it said nothing not already known. And, although the chapter deals with the Church in heaven, two bishops thought it should include hell. The Church - in hell!

There are new procedures now, and more efficient presentations. Certain features of the session are disappointing -- the restrictions of the U.S. Press Panel, the outside pressures and inside leaks about the statement on the Jews. But there are very encouraging signs: the opening concelebrated Mass of the pope and twenty four bishops including our own Archbishops Shehan and Krol; Pope Paul’s stress on collegiality; the new word against civil interference in concordats; the progressive work of the new Liturgy Consilium.

Only one topic seems to have earned a “non-placet” of practically all the bishops. They don’t like the new hour of opening the coffee bar, 11 a.m. In the earlier sessions, the counter provided all sorts of coffee, and (I was glad to note) Coca-Cola plus light pastries. It was a great place to gather and discuss the schemas especially while one council father at the microphone was saying what had already been stated a dozen times.

Maybe the 11 a.m. opening is a move to discourage the bishops. We’ll know, if this becomes the last session.