Vatican III - an Option to Real Reform

 

Now that the election of a new Pope has been resolved we can perhaps focus on the future of the Roman Catholic Church.  David Perlich reporting today for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. summarized the situation well when he stated “Pope Francis has accepted an enormous burden. He's the leader of a Roman Catholic Church beset with grave challenges. Amongst them: a dysfunctional curial government culture, a church whose reputation has been plagued by scandal and questions over its relevance in the modern world and the everyday lives of Catholics.”  At this point Catholics should ask is it fair or reasonable that one man, the Pope, should be burdened with such a huge problem and be expected to bring about the necessary reform"?  

It might surprise some to learn from Hans Küng and his scholarly work ‘Christianity – Essence, History and Future’ (2002)  “the great ecumenical reform Council of Constance which met from 1414 to 1418 declared: the council is above the Pope. The gathering understood itself to be a general council [like Vatican II] legitimately assembled in the Holy Spirit, representing the whole church.  Its authority was directly bestowed by Christ, and everyone, even the Pope, had to obey it: in matters of faith, the abolition of the schism and church reform.  Anyone – even if this should be the Pope – who refused to obey the commands and resolutions of this council and any legitimate ecumenical council on the points mentioned was to be duly punished.  This was a clear defeat for the Roman curial system, which had taken the Catholic Church of the West to the edge of the abyss.  Authority in the church does not lie in a monarch but in the church itself, of which the Pope is the servant not the master.”

Küng tell us that the Council of Constance, while still normative, was amazingly soon replaced by the restoration of papal absolutism.   One can easily see its implications on papal authority or power; which was only further advanced by endowing the power of infallibility on a Pope,  as decreed by the First Vatican Council at Rome in 1869.   Summarizing Küng’s views on this important fact:

• The papacy has increasingly become an institution of power

• The papacy developed more and more power structures by adopting highly developed Roman jurisprudence and imperial legal practise [note the current Catechism & canon law]

• The papacy has preserved the trappings of power and control

Accordingly, is it not reasonable now to suggest that the many challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Francis I* be placed in the hands of the next ecumenical council?  This would not only release Francis from having to deal with all these difficult issues by himself but put it in the hands of many perhaps even through the influence of the laity?  Is it not in the interest of ALL Roman Catholics to have a spiritual leader, such as Jesus, who is a true shepherd instead of an enforcer of the law?

Again Küng asks " Should the church of the future no longer appear as the bulwark of reaction against democracy but in the spirit of its founder as a community in ‘freedom, equality and brotherhood’?   In the light of the gospel should the future church not consist of a community of free men and women and at the same time be an advocate of freedom in the world and become a community of those who are fundamentally equal?  The church a community of brothers and sisters instead of a system ruled in patriarchal fashion"?

Speculating on the future of Catholicism Küng asks “under a new pontificate might not and should not the question of infallibility be investigated again, with objectivity, scientific honesty, fairness and justice?” Addressing the question of ecumenism Küng suggests that "the pluralization of religion will give men and women new spiritual perspectives –deepening their own religious feelings through insights, symbols, ethnical demands and meditative practices of other religions and alternative movements".  

Finally, the idea of a Third Ecumenical Council as envisioned by the Council of Constance more than 600 years ago, may be the only means through which the Vatican along with the People of God can break through the current crisis of the institution.

* on his second day as Pope Francis I  was already and unfairly  accused of failing to speak out against human rights abuses during military rule in his native Argentina. See details here.

 

Link:  election of Pope John Paul I

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/religion-spirituality/a-pope-is-chosen/pope-john-paul-i-chosen-in-1978.html

ROMAN CATHOLICS FACE A REVOLUTION

While some people, other than Nero, are calling for a revolution to burn the city of Rome or more precisely its direct neighbour the Vatican; that institution  is calling for a revolution itself so it can put a fiery end to all heresy, secularism and/or  atheism in the world.

The battle lines have been drawn and it appears no quarters will be given.   Both sides are dug in and have built huge defenses.  The Vatican and its Curia have built an impenetrable wall of dogma and dogtrine against which the gates of hell will not prevail. Its chief weapon – excommunication.  The opponents, consisting of just about anyone who has ever dared to challenge the institution on matters such as abortion, contraception, homosexuality, masturbation, the role of women in the church, iVF, women’s rights, or anything that has to do with sex. Its chief weapon of choice – leaving the church en masse .  Don’t underestimate that choice. It may turn out to be their weapon of Mass destruction!

Q.  Wait a minute, wait!. Are you saying we should start a revolution or war just about the question of sex?

A.  Yes my dear friend, sex is what sells and makes the world go around for some people.  But most people have experienced sex as a wonderful gift from God and see it  as a pleasurable  act of love between two committed adults.  Yet some individuals, especially the Catholic Church have determined thanks to St. Augustine that  sex is an evil act only necessary for procreation. 

Q.  Are you kidding, we’re going to fight it out on sex?   I thought that had been dealt with in the sixties when the ‘flower children’ our (grand)parents, called for everyone to ‘make love, not war!

 A.  Yes, yes that’s true but a group of male celibate experts in the Vatican have determined that sex is evil and demand that unless we do as they say the world is doomed. 

Q.  What makes these ‘experts’ so sure that they are right?

A.  God told them!

Q.  God told them that sex is evil?  But didn’t God tell humankind to go forward and multiply?  

A.  Well, yes God did say something  about going forth and so on, but Saint Augustine (Benedicts favorite saint) who lived in the 3^rd. and 4^th.century was busy  spreading his seed rather carelessly, got married had a child, left his wife, became a hermit and then determined that sex when it was enjoyed was evil.  No one knows if he ever enjoyed sex with his wife, but he must have heard God say afterwards “Augustine please tell everyone that sex is evil, especially when its enjoyed. Sorry my mistake!".   

Q.  Really?

A.  Yup, really!

Q.  And that’s what’s causing all this division among the people in the Church?  And why so many Catholics  are leaving the church or have been  simply excommunicated  or told to simply leave.?

 A.  Well yes,  it didn’t help when the same people found out more than 10 years ago that the Vatican had a very serious sex issue themselves.

Q.  What did Vatican do about it?

A.  For many years nothing and tried very hard to hide it.  But they were eventually caught red handed.

Q.  Well O.K. I guess the problem was eventually resolved, right?

A.  I’m afraid not. Its gotten worse.  Aside from issuing standard apologies and setting up a few guidelines their senior employees  still haven’t  addressed  the most important item of all.

Q.  What’s that?

A.  The Church must humbly address the internal endemic and systemic problems that led to the problem in the first place.

Q.  Why have they not done so?

A.  Because they are too busy finding fault everywhere else.

Q.  That’s incredible but what should we do now?

A.  Decide for ourselves by trusting in God’s gift of your conscience.  Even the Vatican can’t take that away from anyone . . .  God knows they keep on trying.  So get into some deep dialogue with God decide for yourself and consider the recent comments offered by one of God’s  most devoted Catholic Theologian Fr. Hans Kung.

Wow, thanks.  God bless!