Faith by democracy?

From a letter to the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph:

It is important for us to keep in mind that Catholic morality is not determined by voting majorities. The commission was not a legislative body; it was an advisory one. If the method for determining Catholic morality should be democratic rule, then we should go a step further than the Papal Commission: We should put such decisions before all baptized Catholics (practicing or not) to be decided.

Some people advocate a version of this in their misinterpretation of the sensus fidei or “appreciation of the faith” as mentioned in the chapter on the laity in Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium (35). However, we do not want a church that puts morality up to popular vote or opinion polls. The crowds cheered Jesus at His entry into Jerusalem, and they condemned Him later that week, calling for His crucifixion. The crowd is fickle; the Holy Spirit is not.

H/T to Rich Leonardi.

Vatican II Series - Part III - Notes

Session 3 – The People of God in the Modern World

• Pope John Paul II
• Born on May 18^th
• 42 years old at Vatican II
• Called a synod in 1985 to review Vatican II
• Promoted the idea of the Church as “The People of God”
• Strongly interested in ecumenism
• Beatified ~1500 and canonized ~400 people, many indigenous peoples
• The Church before Vatican II
• “Perfect society”
• Think of “Church”, you think of “hierarchy”
• “The Church teaches…” means “The Magisterium teaches…”
• We tend to think of the “Church” as the leaders
• Role of the laity
• To support the ministry and mission of the clergy
• To support the apostolate of the hierarchy
• Factors leading up to Vatican II
• Luther “came up with” the idea of the priesthood of all believers (cf. 1 Peter 2:9)
• Luther was a “silent father” at the Council
• Vatican I (suspended in 1870)
• Had a document on the Church in the works, but it was never promulgated
• Didn’t mention papal infallibility in the original schema
• Pope Pius XII
• Encyclical on the Mystical Body of Christ in 1943 (Mystici Corporis Christi)
• Very biblical view of the Church as the Body of Christ
• The Church is divinely inspired and constructed, although also made up of human elements
• Address on the Lay Apostolate in 1957
• Avery Cardinal Dulles summary from 2004
• In the decade after WWII, the Church experienced a number of movements categorized as “ressourcement.” Vatican II built on biblical and patristic studies, liturgical movement, kerygmatic theology, catechetical renewal, lay apostolate, ecumenical movement, and social apostolate. The Council avoided language like “reformation” but did enact some of the desiderata of Luther and other Protestant reformers
• Schema De Ecclesia
• Preoccupied with authority
• Refuted Protestant positions
• Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens (Belgium) intervened on 4 December 1962
• The Church needs to engage in three dialogues
• Self (Lumen Gentium)
• Other Christians (Unitatis Redintegratio)
• The World (Gaudium et Spes, Ad Gentes, Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae)
• Going back to the Early Church Fathers
• The Kingdom of God is not just about Heaven
• Augustine said that there are many in the Church who are not God’s, and many who are God’s who are not in the Church (source?)
• God made the world, and He made it good, so the Spirit of God is active in the whole world, not just in the Church
• The Church is the normative means of God’s saving work, but God can work outside the Church
• Backed by Montini (future Pope Paul VI)
• Lumen Gentium, “Light to the Nations” (21 November 1964) passed 2,151 to 5
• Outline
• The Mystery of the Church (1-8)
• The People of God (9-17)
• On the Hierarchical Structure of the Church and in Particular on the Episcopate (18-29)
• The Laity (30-38)
• The Universal Call to Holiness (39-42)
• The Religious (43-47)
• The Pilgrim Church (48-51) – “Church Militant/Church Triumphant” in modern language
• Our Lady (52-69)
• Church as Sacrament
• The Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a union with God and of the unity of all humanity; describing her inner nature and universal mission (LG 1)
• This Church subsists in the Catholic Church; there are elements of sanctification and of truth found outside her visible structure; these elements, which belong to the Church of Christ, impel toward Catholic unity (LG 8)
• The Church always follows the way of penance and renewal; she is always in need of being purified (LG 8)
• The People of God
• Christ instituted a new covenant, making Jew and Gentile one people in the flesh, the People of God (LG 9)
• Baptismal priesthood differs in essence and degree from the ordained priesthood, but there is a participation in the three offices of Christ, priest, prophet, and king (LG 10)
• See Pope Pius XII’s Mediator Dei:
• 88. Nor is it to be wondered at, that the faithful should be raised to this dignity. By the waters of baptism, as by common right, Christians are made members of the Mystical Body of Christ the Priest, and by the "character" which is imprinted on their souls, they are appointed to give worship to God. Thus they participate, according to their condition, in the priesthood of Christ.
• 99. This offering in fact is not confined merely to the liturgical sacrifice. For the Prince of the Apostles wishes us, as living stones built upon Christ, the cornerstone, to be able as "a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." St. Paul the Apostle addresses the following words of exhortation to Christians, without distinction of time, "I beseech you therefore, . . . that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service." But at that time especially when the faithful take part in the liturgical service with such piety and recollection that it can truly be said of them: "whose faith and devotion is known to Thee," it is then, with the High Priest and through Him they offer themselves as a spiritual sacrifice, that each one's faith ought to become more ready to work through charity, his piety more real and fervent, and each one should consecrate himself to the furthering of the divine glory, desiring to become as like as possible to Christ in His most grievous sufferings.
• Universal Call to Holiness
• All are called to holiness, the fullness of Christian life, and perfection of charity (LG 40)
• The laity are not called to liturgical ministry, but ministry in the world
• The Blessed Virgin Mary
• Mary is truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer, redeemed by the merits of her Son and united to him by an indissoluble tie (LG 53)
• There is one mediator (see 1 Tim); Mary’s maternal duty in no way obscures or diminishes Christ’s power or mediation (LG 60)
• INTERMISSION
• Question about Mary as Co-Redemptrix
• Gaudium et Spes (7 December 1965) passed 2,307 to 75
• Outline
• Preface (1-3)
• Man in the Modern World (4-10)
• The Church and Man’s Calling (11-45)
• Some Problems of Special Urgency (46-93)
• Foundation of Paul VI’s 1975 encyclical on evangelization in the modern world
• The joys, hopes, griefs, anxieties of all men are the same of the followers of Christ; nothing genuinely human fails to echo in a Christian’s heart (GS 1)
• The Church addresses herself in relation to the whole of humanity, explaining her presence and activity in the world today (GS 2)
• Ecumenism
• Non-Catholic observers at Vatican II
• Pope Paul VI very committed to gestures of friendship with non-Catholics, especially Anglicans
• Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox lifted excommunications from each other
• Dialogue
• Unitatis Redintegratio (21 November 1964) passed 2,137 to 11
• Restoration of unity
• Christ summons the Church to continual reformation insofar as she is an institution of men on earth; deficiencies in conduct, discipline, or even formulation of doctrine (distinguished from the deposit of faith itself), rectification is appropriate (UR 6)
• Dignitatis Humanae (7 December 1965) passed 2,308 to 70
• On religious freedom and the dignity of the human person
• The Church “leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” (DH 1)
• Contribution of the Catholic Church in America and our experience in an essentially Protestant country
• Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J.
• Originally silenced for his views
• Came along to Vatican II as Cardinal Spellman’s expert on religious freedom
• Summary: God created man with dignity, so faith is a response to a gift from God which must be made freely; people can’t be forced or coerced to believe
• QUESTIONS
• What about Vatican II document regarding Judaism among other religions (Nostra Aetate)?

Tradition: French priest denies universal jurisdiction of the Pope

A rather troubling report of a homily from the diocese of Chicoutimi reveals that a priest there said, during his homily against the Extraordinary Form of Mass and those who were requesting it, "Le Pape n'est pas l'évêque universel, c'est l'évêque de Rome!" In English, that's "The Pope is not the universal bishop, he is the bishop of Rome!" In any language, that's... well... false. (You could call it "heresy".) It's a flat-out denial of article 22 of Vatican II's Lumen Gentium:

The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power.

... integre manente potestate Primatus in omnes sive Pastores sive fideles. Romanus enim Pontifex habet in Ecclesiam, vi muneris sui, Vicarii scilicet Christi et totius Ecclesiae Pastoris, plenam, supremam et universalem potestatem, quam semper libere exercere valet.

For more on this matter, see Fr. Z's post, the original blog's post (in French), and Fr. Z's earlier post on the poor response from the diocese to Summorum Pontificum.

Eucharist: The Eucharist as the "source and summit" before Vatican II

Note: I have not found official Latin versions of Mirae Caritatis nor Mediator Dei, so any Latin references I make to them are of my own (hopefully grammatically correct) invention and presumptive at best. Quotations in English are as rendered in the English translations found at the Vatican's web site.

This post will be building gradually. This essay will be a treating of the dynamism of the Eucharist already recognized prior to Vatican II (which includes the Lumen Gentium-ism "fontem et culmen"). It will do this by looking at Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on the Holy Eucharist Mirae Caritatis from 1902 (predating Vatican II and Lumen Gentium by a good 60 years). In his encyclical, the Holy Father focuses on "the nature and ... the effects" of the Eucharist. I will also be incorporating Pope Pius XII's encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy Mediator Dei from 1947 (still 15 years before Vatican II).

Fontem et culmen
Two documents of the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Lumen Gentium, use a similar expression to denote the importance the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the life of the Church. Paragraph 10 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, used the expression in the context of the liturgy. In Latin, it says: "Attamen Liturgia est culmen ad quod actio Ecclesiae tendit et simul fons unde omnis eius virtus emanat." In English, it has been rendered thus: "Nevertheless the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows." Paragraph 11 of Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium says, in Latin: "Sacrificium eucharisticum, totius vitae christianae fontem et culmen, participantes, divinam Victimam Deo offerunt atque seipsos cum Ea." In English, it has been rendered thus: "Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with It."

That phrase in bold has worked its way into many documents of the Church since then; here are just a handful:

• Sacramentum Caritatis of Pope Benedict XVI (2007)
• Mane Nobiscum Domine of Pope John Paul II (2004)
  
• Redemptionis Sacramentum of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (2004)
• Ecclesia de Eucharistia of Pope John Paul II (2003)
• Christifideles Laici of Pope John Paul II (1988)
  
• Dominicae Cenae of Pope John Paul II (1980)
  
• Eucharisticum Mysterium of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (1967)

While the English translation of Lumen Gentium found at the Vatican's web site uses the phrase "fount and apex" (and that of Sacrosanctum Concilium uses "summit ... and ... font"), the alliterative and less flowery (and evidently more popular) "source and summit" appears in the English translations of the documents that followed it. It appears the people have spoken (in English): "source and summit" sounds better.

Although the phrase was coined during the Second Vatican Council, it was not a new concept for the Church. Contrary to the opinion of some that it was not until the "renewal" and "reformation" sparked by the Second Vatican Council that Catholics saw the Eucharist as a dynamic celebration rather than a static object, the Church has always seen the Eucharist -- the Blessed Sacrament, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, the Sacrifice of the Mass -- to be its very source and to effect its utmost end.

Dominicae Cenae
The Last Supper of the Lord, on the eve of his crucifixion, was one of the moments that can be seen as the "birth" of the Church. This must be taken alongside others such as the piercing of Christ's side on the cross and the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. At the Last Supper, our Lord instituted the ministerial priesthood by ordaining those he had already selected as his Apostles to be the first men who would effect the perpetuation of the new covenant in his blood. These Apostles received, from the very actions and words of Jesus himself, the instructions for carrying out the anamnesis of his impending sacrifice. By his actions, Jesus was recasting the Passover meal as the (pre-)presentation of salvation from a prison far greater than Egypt: Satan, sin, everlasting punishment in Hell.

This first Mass had the characteristics of both a banquet and a sacrificial offering: Jesus presented himself as priest and victim, offering the bread and wine of Passover and changing their substance into his very Body and Blood; Jesus was, then, both host and hostia. The men at table with him then became priests in his service, and they would gather on the Lord's day thereafter, on Sunday, to celebrate by Word and Sacrament the saving work of their Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the very core of the Mass, it is the Church's very beginning. Without the salvation made possible through the crucifixion, which is re-presented in the Eucharist, the Church would not exist: the Eucharist is the source of the life of the Church.

Fontem Vitae
The first of the four subheadings used in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical is "The Source of Life": fontem vitae.





The four subheadings used in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical are "The Source of Life" (Fontem Vitae?), "The Mystery of Faith" (Mysterium Fidei), "The Bond of Charity" (Vinculum Caritatis?), and "The Sacrifice of the Mass" (Sacrificium Missae). Already in the first subheading we can see the concept of the Eucharist as the source or fontem (as in LG 11) of Christian life. Pope Leo XIII then identifies the Eucharist as "the source and chief of all these gifts" which proceed from God through Jesus Christ. So here we see the recognition of the Eucharist not only as the source of "every best and choicest gift" but also as their chief (capitis, perhaps?), their head, their summit, their apex, even their culmen (as in LG 11). The Eucharist "nourishes and sustains that life" we desire so eagerly, which all those other gifts direct us to as well. The Eucharist, then, is the fount and the apex of all Christian life! This matches up with the statement of Lumen Gentium 11 which calls the Eucharistic Sacrifice "totius vitae christianae fontem et culmen", the "fount and apex of all Christian life". (Of course, you often hear it as "source and summit".)

Yes, folks, Pope Leo XIII got there first.

News: Motu Proprio and "Subsistit In"

Two particularly interesting documents were released from the Vatican quite recently. One is the long-awaited motu proprio entitled Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI that relaxes restrictions on the celebration of the Mass of Blessed John XXIII (commonly called the "Tridentine Rite" or the "Traditional Latin Mass"). The other is a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which Pope Benedict was head of before he was Pope) which answers questions about the phrase "subsists in" (subsistit in in the Latin) in Lumen Gentium, and why the Catholic Church uses the term "ecclesial communities" instead of "Churches" for those communities originating from the Reformation.

I will be writing about both of these in the near future. After my New Testament midterm (Thursday) and I finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I hope to visit Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ soon -- some Wednesday evening -- to experience (by active participation, no less) my first "Traditional Roman Rite" Mass; that is, the Extraordinary Rite of the Roman Missal, as clarified by Pope Benedict XVI in his motu proprio. I suggest, in the mean time, you check out Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blog "What Does the Prayer Really Say?", where he is currently focusing a lot of time and effort on responses to the motu proprio from various Bishops and Archbishops (as well as reporters).

On the topic of the statement from the CDF, let me just remind you that the statement is clarification of what has already been said many times in the past. The document is primarily quotations from previous Magisterial documents; the commentary on the document, also provided by the CDF, follows suit.

I expect to have posts on these two subjects by early August. Also in August there should also appear a post about the outline Historia Salutis (On the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church) from March of this year, which is the guideline for the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God. This is of particular interest to me because I will be the facilitator for a Young Adult Bible Study at Saint David the King parish in West Windsor, NJ, starting in October; the theme I have selected is the Psalms (as an introduction to lectio divina and the Liturgy of the Hours).