Recommendations to Committee of Eight Cardinals

Pope Francis has formed a committee of eight (possibly nine) cardinals to advise him on governing the Church, especially in reform of the Curia, the Vatican bureaucracy.

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston is one of the reformers. He has asked US bishops for their recommendations, and some of the bishops have asked members of their dioceses for suggestions.

One strong recommendation I hope to see  echoes the proposal made at the Second Vatican Council by a patriarch of the Melkite Rite, Maximos IV Saigh.

He recommended the formation of a small group of bishops who would serve on a rotating basis, selected from around the world, as an advisory board for the pope, but also as a committee which would oversee the Curia. The bishops would direct the Curia!

He was responding to the idea that the bishops form a college which carries on the office of the college of apostles.

The New Testament shows that the early Church thought of the apostles, not just Peter, as the authority in the Church. Paul went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and presbyters to settle the issue about whether Gentile converts to Christ had to practice Jewish customs.

Over time Church authority came to be identified with the bishop of Rome and the exercise of that authority was centralized in one man. At Vatican II the bishops wanted to reclaim as a college the authority exercised by the college of apostles. Some members of the Curia were not happy about that idea and worked very hard to derail any such suggestion.

Historian Father John O'Malley believes that collegiality was one of the "issues under the issues" at Vatican II.  He meant that many of the discussions about directives and changes in various areas of Church life often came back to who had authority.

For example, who is in charge of the language in which a given nation worships? Does the pope (Curia) decide the vernacular or does the local conference of bishops? Vatican II decided the bishops had the authority. The US bishops, however, seemed to release that authority when the Curia objected to a proposed English translation of the Roman Missal and insisted on the Curia's translation.

Pope Paul VI offered the bishops a compromise over the collegiality issue when he called for the Synod of Bishops, a collegial body of advisers who, the pope said, would have the task of informing and advising. And, he went on, "It may also have deliberative power when such power is given it by the Sovereign Pontiff."

As retired bishop of San Francisco John R. Quinn noted in his recent book Ever Ancient, Ever New, "In fact, no synod to date has been given deliberative power, and (as a consequence) the synods held since Vatican II have not been a sharing by the bishops in the government of the universal Church but are rather a way for bishops to collaborate with the pope in his primatial function. What large numbers of the bishops at Vatican II desired was a means whereby they would share, as successors of the apostles, with the pope in the government of the universal Church."

A second recommendation for the committee of eight would be to effect a concerted effort to see that the personnel of all the offices of the Curia truly represent the Church's world-wide, multi-cultural membership.

Theologian Yves Congar noted decades ago that the immense diversity of the Church and the broader trends of the world require wide representation in the central office if it is to be an effective leader.

Congar went on to say that "we need to see development beyond a merely 'diplomatic representation,' going beyond simply personnel who are international by origin but still purely Roman by mentality; there needs to be at the heart of the Church a representation of the problems.

"Being out of touch, even a little, with living contact at the base or at the periphery is always dangerous for those in charge...What we are talking about here is not, properly speaking, decentralization, but rather the question of avoiding the danger of isolation."

And a third recommendation is the development of a vehicle for the advice of lay men and women in the administration of the Church.

The active participation of the laity in the liturgy should spill over into the active involvement of the laity in the running of the Church. Just as the Curia is subject to papal primacy, so lay involvement does not threaten the essential hierarchical structure of the Church.

If the Church is the people of God then the people of God ought to have some say in the Church.

While the implementation of these three recommendations may strike fear in the hearts of some members of the Church, the three are fully in keeping with the direction set by Vatican II. Those who oppose the style of Pope Francis with his emphasis on a pastoral Church may have to re-think the essence of Church and the style of the Master.

Helmut Schuller in Cincinnati

Father Helmut Schüller, a co-founder of the Austrian Pfarrer-Initiative, spoke in Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon, July 27, 2013, to a gathering of about 300 concerning the history and goals of the Austrian Priests Initiative.

The session was held at the Fairview-Clifton German Language School and was part of Schüller's three-week, fifteen-city tour (July 16 - August 7), sponsored by a coalition of ten Church reform-minded organizations.

Under the title of  "Catholic Tipping Point Tour," Schüller recalled the start of the Initiative in 2006 as a response to several issues facing the Church in Austria and in the world at large, such as the decline in the number of priests, the closing of parishes, the failure to allow the laity greater sharing of responsibility for the Church's mission and ministry.

After efforts at dialog with Austrian bishops and less than successful meetings with Church officials in Rome, the members of the Initiative decided to make a bold appeal for disobedience of specific Church disciplines, including the prohibition against talking about ordination of women and of married men to the priesthood.

Other areas of concern are the prohibition of preaching by competent lay people as well as the refusal of communion to members of Christian churches, to divorced-remarried people, and to those who have officially left the Church.

Inclusion of a petition for church reform in every liturgy, refusal by priests to travel from parish to parish to parish to offer multiple Masses on Sundays and feast days, and advocating the appointment of a "presiding leader" in every parish (a re-imaging of the priesthood) as an antidote against closing or consolidating parishes are other issues promoted by the Initiative.

In his Cincinnati talk, Schüller described himself as "a common priest, not a rebel,"  as one of many pastors who are trying to lead "the Church into a very uncertain future." He added, "We have to be advocates of the people of the Church."

Schuller, though dubbed by some of his critics as "ein unruhestifter" (a trouble-maker), comes across as a mild mannered, soft-spoken advocate, out-going and yet as eager to listen as to talk.

His remarks were occasionally punctuated by applause from his Cincinnati audience, the majority of whom were women, and most of them senior citizens. (He noted that according to a newspaper item, 80% of the Church's services in the USA are offered by women.)

Schuller was born in Austria on December 24, 1952. He was ordained in 1977, and has served in several positions in the Vienna diocese, including for four years as Vicar General for Cardinal Christoph Schőnborn, who dismissed him from that office for his differing opinions.

He remains today pastor of St. Stephen Church in the village of Probstdorf, serving also as university chaplain at the Catholic University of Vienna and as a youth minister at a Catholic high school.

In November of 2012 the Vatican withdrew from him the title of Monsignor though no reasons were given for the retraction.

Addressing the appeal to disobedience and the reaction it has garnered, Schüller based the Initiative's bold statement on the grounds that in  many cases the hierarchy's expectation of obedience is a means to stifle reform and their use of "obedience" itself lacks control and accountability.

Further, Schüller explained, the members of the Initiative realize there are many cases of silent disobedience every day (e.g., lay persons preaching, or priests' giving communion to non-Catholics) and so the call to disobedience simply articulates what is already happening.

Although the Austrian Priests-Initiative and Schüller in particular are irritants to Cardinal Schőnborn, the Austrian hierarchs are reluctant to stifle or retaliate in light of the overwhelming support the Initiative has garnered among Austrian Catholics.

About 15% of the Austrian priests are publicly members of the Initiative, and some 80% of the laity are judged to support its objectives.

One powerful motivating force energizing the Initiative is the lingering spirit of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Council's teaching on the Church as communio and the recognition of the sensus fidelium.

The Council, Schüller said, was a gift to the Church, not a danger. He also warned against the possible connotation attached to the English term "lay," since in the language of many the term "lay" implies one is uninformed, unprofessional, or even incompetent.

On the evening of his public talk, Schüller also met with a group of Cincinnati-area priests to discuss the Initiative and to affirm that "Wir sind eine Kirche bewegung" (We are a Church movement).

There are approximately 45 priests in the Cincinnati area who are members of the US version of the Initiative, that is, the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP). There are similar associations of priests in Ireland, Australia, England, and Germany.

Though some US hierarchs have forbidden Schüller to speak in church-owned buildings during his tour, his audiences have numbered some 250 in New York, 500 in Boston, 350 in Philadelphia, 500 in Chicago, and the 300 in Cincinnati.

Pastoring By The Book?

Many parishes have  priests who are pastoring by the book.

Upon receiving their new assignments they undertake a ministry of correction. Their first foray is usually a reaction to liturgical practices which they deem contrary to the standards of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).

The old pastor, in their estimation, was lackadaisical about rubrics and unresponsive to directions from the Curia or the diocesan Liturgy Office. His sloppy rule-keeping has diminished respect for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

He has even allowed the laity to participate in roles that are reserved to the clergy.

The new pastor must now come in and clean up the mess, often in the face of misunderstanding, opposition or even hostility from parishioners.

He is, however, willing to endure the tensions that follow from his corrective measures for the sake of doing it right, of getting things back to the way they should be.

He quotes documents in support of his changes. He is simply asking parish members to respect his office, accede to his education, accept his sincere efforts to establish a liturgy and a parish that is united in its uniformity to the directives and decrees. He can justify by the book what he says and does.

This pastoring by the book, however, is only one side of a pastor's role. The  late theologian Bernard Häring, C.SS. R., in his book Priesthood Imperiled balances the picture.

Häring advises priests to "concentrate all your attention and energies on becoming, as it were, a kind of sacrament, a visible and convincing sign of healing, forgiveness, and nonviolence as much as is possible!"

He continues, "The priesthood is not at all a step upward on the social ladder, but rather a particular commitment to descend, in humility and service, to where the people are..."

Priests who govern by the book, however, may cringe at Häring's reservations about ritualism: "Some fifty years ago, ritualism was one of the major plagues in the Church...Ritualism in any form can simultaneously become a humbling and self-exalting sickness...Even though extreme cases of ritual scrupulosity and mean-spirited control have greatly diminished, ritualism still exists...it remains a most serious obstacle to inculturation and liturgical spontaneity."

Häring did not oppose laws or rituals. He was, after all, the author of the groundbreaking The Law of Christ  (1966, English edition), a three-volume work on moral theology for priests and laity. Two decades later he issued a new three-volume comprehensive presentation on Catholic moral theology titled Free and Faithful in Christ.

No, Häring proposed a balanced approach to morality and to priesthood, but he would suggest that those who choose to "do it by the book" must include the Scriptures as the balancing book in their arsenal of pastoral practices.

"Priests," Häring insisted, "can never meditate enough on the four songs of the Servant [Is 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12], considered by Jesus to be his program for life and service, and, therefore, also the plan for his followers."

Pastoring by the book is only half the practice. The Gospel and Jesus' style of pastoring are equally if not more essential guides for being faithful to the role of priest/pastor.

We priests cannot pastor by the book --we can justify what we say and do only by the books!

AUSCP Meeting: Agenda and Votes

About 200 priests from across the country assembled in Seattle, Washington, June 24-27, for the second annual assembly of the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP).

Key-note speakers addressed issues related to the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium.

Among the assembly's agenda was consideration of 15 proposals offered by members as potential resolutions from the AUSCP.

The pattern of acceptance and rejection of the proposals suggests that the AUSCP is taking a moderate stand in its efforts to renew the Church and support Vatican II.

The association voted to accept a proposal to promote ongoing discussion of and support for changes in Canon Law which would allow the ordination of women to the order of the diaconate.

Membership, however, rejected the proposal calling for study of and open discussion for the ordination of women and married men to the priesthood.

The proposal to urge the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to encourage the re-introduction of general absolution (in reference to the Sacrament of Penance) in U. S. parishes was also passed.

Other proposals rejected included: asking the USCCB to appoint a bishop as liaison to the AUSCP; asking the pope to allow use of the former (1974) Sacramentary; asking that the selection of diocesan bishops become a more transparent process in which the local churches have a voice.

Discussions about the various proposals included highly nuanced argumentation, not necessarily opposed to some resolutions in principle but rejecting them as worded or with understanding that corollaries to the proposal may be misunderstood or misdirected.

Journalist Bob Kaiser, who was Time magazine's correspondent at the Council, offered anecdotes about his experiences and perceptions. He recalled the many times  he had seated around his dinner table some of the "stars" of the Council: bishops, theologians (Rahner, Kung, Congar), engaging them in assessing the struggles and direction set by the Council.

He said again and again, "The Council was a learning experience for the bishops."

The current Tablet journalist at the Vatican Bob Mickens spoke about the election of Pope Francis and the effect his unusual papal style is having on the Vatican bureaucracy and on bishops' conferences around the world.

He noted that some have criticized Papa Francesco for change only in style, but Mickens reminded the assembly that historian John O'Malley insists that after all is said and done style turns out to be substantive.

Theologian Catherine Clifford and canon lawyer Jim Coriden addressed issues rising from Lumen Gentium and the efforts of some people to restrict the aggiornamento Pope John XXIII sorely wanted for the Church.

Priest/pastor/author Pat Brennan was unable to speak to the assembly because of illness. Bishop Donald Trautman, former ordinary of the Erie diocese, substituted, urging the AUSCP to continue its efforts at renewal and to enter into dialogue with the episcopacy.

Among AUSCP's goals and objectives for 2013 is widening awareness that the AUSCP exists, building bridges between the AUSCP and religious men and women, raising funds to develop a support staff, and inviting brother priests to gatherings which engage the vision of Vatican II.

Common prayer, meals, discussions and recreation created a stronger bond among the nearly 200 who attended. Total membership is slightly less than 1000 priests.

AUSCP was founded in 2011.

The AUSCP website is http://www.uscatholicpriests.org/

The Old Guys in the AUSCP

The average age of the members of the Association of U. S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP) is about 70, and one of its aims is to promote the direction and spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

I recently read a blog critical of the AUSCP, a blog which took special note of the average age of the members and commented, "Are you getting the picture here? This is not a youth movement."

The blogger continued, "I'm saying this movement is fading....For a growing number of Catholics, Vatican II is simply another part of  Catholic history...What's coming, not too far in the future now, is a re-appraisal...a more sober assessment of Vatican II's strengths and weaknesses, a rediscovery of what Vatican II really says...When that happens, I think the old, V2 pro or con dialectic will be as gone as the dinosaurs."

This assessment may be true. Twenty years from now most of the current members of the AUSCP will be dead. Twenty years from now there may be a reappraisal of the Council. Twenty years from now there may be a more sober assessment of Vatican II's strengths and weaknesses.

But part of the dynamic for that reappraisal and more sober assessment will be the energy expended by the old guys in the AUSCP who cherished and promoted what Vatican II did.

Some of the strongest critics of the AUSCP and their Vatican II-orientation were youngsters or not even born when the Council took place.

Some of the strongest critics of Vatican II create a "straw list" of items which they say  Vatican II said, and then use their list to ridicule AUSCP's efforts to promote the Council's directions and spirit.

Perhaps the major reason that most of the AUSCP members are 70 or older is that these men remember the days before the Council.

Vatican II Changes

Without denying that there were abuses and misdirection in the immediate wake of the Council, the majority of the AUSCP members cherish the many good results produced by Vatican II's aggiornamento, resourcement, and rapprochment.

A partial list of the happy results of Vatican II includes:

1) greater participation of the people in the liturgy

2) restored awareness that the Holy Spirit works in all the people of God

3) biblical literacy among the laity

4) restoration of permanent diaconate

5) return of the Rite of Christian Initiation

6) renewed emphasis on Church as communio/koinonia (eucharistic ecclesiology)

7) retrieval of the theology of the common priesthood

8) hospitable recognition of other Christians

9) reaching out to the world as friend rather than enemy

10) re-evaluation of marriage as partnership of life and love rather than simply legal contract

11) re-examination of collegiality of episcopacy

12) recognition of the right to religious freedom

The list could go on.

Members of the AUSCP remember what it was like before. They are eager (perhaps anxious) to see maintenance of these changes and the promotion of the directions set by the Council.

They have reason to be concerned.

Vatican II called for an updating of the liturgy, a simplification of the rites, the elimination of accretions, the restoration of elements that were lost. Papal permission to use the pre-Vatican II Mass (Tridentine Rite) which the bishops voted to change is counter to the Council's directives.

Vatican II acknowledged the role of the bishop in his diocese and the role of bishops' conferences when it comes to liturgy and the vernacular. Curial rejection of the US Bishops' translation and their insistence on a new Roman Missal translation that is more than awkward counters the Council's direction.

Vatican II returned to the concept of episcopal collegiality. The idea of a Bishops' Synod with an agenda prepared by the Curia runs counter to the collegial spirit envisioned by the Council.

Vatican II urged ongoing dialogue with members of Christian denominations and with other religions. The current official dialogue barely exists and falls far short of the direction set by the Council.

Experience

Most members of the AUSCP lived in the pre-Vatican II church. They experienced both the excitement and the confusion that came as the Council's aftermath. They struggled with the changes, sometimes changes they did not at first want or understand. But they lived it.

For most of the ASUSCP members Vatican II was a gift and they are eager to hand it on to future generations. They do not want the Church to go back to the way it was.  They know what it was like. They see the value in what we have in the Vatican II tradition.

It takes a long time for the deliberations of a Council to be reviewed, a long time for its decisions to be accepted.

The AUSCP simply wants to keep the vision alive.

The blogger critical of the AUSCP, of its aged members and their agenda, noted that more and more of the faithful are not buying the concern about Vatican II as proposed by the Association.

That may be true. But the AUSCP believes that Vatican II, as Pope John put it, "rises in the Church like daybreak, a forerunner of a most splendid light. It is now only dawn."

The AUSCP believes that there must be among all of us (clergy and laity) what Pope John asked of the bishops in council: "serenity of mind, brotherly concord, moderation in proposals, dignity in discussion, and wisdom of deliberation."

The AUSCP believes that the Council's documents "have lost nothing of their brilliance," as Pope John Paul II said in 2001. "They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative tests of the magisterium, within the Church's tradition."

The Holy Spirit, fifty years ago, gave the Church a sense of direction in an ecumenical council, in which the college of bishops has "supreme and full authority over the universal Church" (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 883).

The membership of the AUSCP may be a fading one, but the importance of Vatican II is not.

Association of Priests To Meet in June

The Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP) will hold its second annual national assembly, June 24-27, 2013, in Seattle, WA.

The association began in August of 2011, and held its first national conference in Florida in June of 2012. About 240 priests from around the country attended that meeting. A similar number is expected to gather in Seattle. Total membership is around 900; some 45 Cincinnati priests are members.

Eager to support the direction and reforms of the Second Vatican Council the AUSCP has chosen "Lumen Gentium: God's Pilgrim People" as the theme for the 2013 assembly. (Last year's theme focused on Vatican II's document on the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium.)

The format for this year's meetings is similar to last year's: keynote talks, discussions, consideration of resolutions and voting for or against certain proposals.

Among the proposals offered by some members of the association for this year is a  resolution to urge the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to use their power and authority to resolve the pastoral and sacramental challenges rising from an increase in the number of Catholics and a decline in the number of priests.

The assembly will also consider whether to ask the Holy Father for permission to use the old (1974) Sacramentary prayers at Mass in light of the awkwardness that many priests find with the translation in today's Roman Missal.

One resolution for consideration and vote supports a comprehensive plan for improved, more effective evangelization.

Some issues will be more controversial, such as the ordination of women to the diaconate, a request for permission to use general absolution more frequently, ordination of women and married men to the priesthood, and wider lay/clergy consultation in the selection of bishops.

A slate of 15 proposals will likely take place at the meeting, but if last year's discussions are indicative not all proposals will pass.

The publication of the association's agenda has elicited criticism from some priests and laity across the country. One priest made a special point of noting that most of the AUSCP priests are 70 and older, implying that their gatherings to specially promote Vatican II initiatives would be short lived, and after their demise a more reasoned approach to Vatican II can be pursued.

Keynote speakers scheduled for the Seattle meeting are Father Patrick Brennan (a pastor), Catherine Clifford (a theologian), Robert Kaiser (a journalist who was an observer at Vatican II), Robert Mickens (a Vatican journalist), and James Coriden (a canon lawyer).

Additional information about the AUSCP is available at http://www.uscatholicpriests.org/

God's Preference: For or With?

It is my conviction that God does not like to do things for us, but much prefers to do things with us.

This observation colors my understanding of prayer, of ministry, of spiritual life, of Church.

The Bible supports my conviction. God created human beings in his image and then commissioned them, "Be fertile and multiply...fill the earth and subdue it...have dominion..." (cf. Gen 1:28).

As biblical history unfolds we see God calling people like Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and sending them out in his name. He accompanies them on their mission but he expects them to act, to be the instruments of his saving grace. Jesus' calling of disciples and sending them out verifies the divine preference; he could do it all on his own but he prefers to work with and through fallible human beings. The incarnation proves the rule; God became a human being and in that humanness worked out the Father's plan of salvation.

My conviction about God's preference to work with rather than for may seem to challenge the insight that "it's all grace." In fact, it complements it. God gives us the ability to choose, the inspiration to make good choices, and the confidence that when we do his will we are helping to make his kingdom come!

Dorothy Day saw it perfectly. In an article she wrote in May of 1954 she said, "Our life of grace and our life of the body go on beautifully intermingled and harmonious. 'All is grace,' as the dying priest whispered to his friend in The Diary of a Country Priest (by George Bernanos). The Little Flower also said, 'All is grace.'"

Grace provides the direction and energy for us to do the things of God. Grace builds on nature.

Many a grandmother invites her grandchild into the kitchen to help her bake cookies. She could do it by herself more efficiently, more cleanly, but she wants to share the experience with a beloved child and create a bonding moment. The messiness of allowing the child to add ingredients, stir the mixture, and press out the cookie dough is a deeper form of love than simply handing the child a cookie and saying, "Run along now, and don't get crumbs all over the floor!"

God's patience trumps his efficiency. God allows his beloved to get crumbs all over the floor, much preferring to do things with us than for us.

This divine attitude explains the practice of prayer, especially prayers of petition. When we ask God for something we are neither informing the Father of something he does not already know nor are we trying to cajole him into doing us a favor. God already wants what is best for his children. Our prayer of petition is our participation in the divine will. We pray with the conviction that God's will should be done even if it is contrary to our own.

I wonder if sometimes things don't turn out the way we want simply because we didn't participate, we didn't add anything to the mixture. Our failure to become involved, to do our share, does not nullify the divine plan (Judas Iscariot's failure to "get with the program" did not stop Jesus' great act of love) but it may in fact create an obstacle that must later be overcome. Prayer sensitizes us to God's will, not the other way round.

This divine attitude helps explain why God has routinely called people to ministry. We have to believe that God could do things far more efficiently without our help, but his preference for our involvement and cooperation demonstrate a genuine "hands-on" kind of love and patience.

"Calling people" is a prime characteristic of salvation history. Hilaire Belloc once famously noted our puzzlement in God's calling the sons of Jacob to be the foundation of his chosen people: "How odd of God to choose the Jews."

Still more puzzling is why God has chosen us to be heralds of the Gospel and participants in the saving work of the Church.

Our awareness of the divine attitude of relying on people helps us assess our spiritual lives. There is meaning to our existence, even if we are not likely to bend the course of history or always be faithful participants in the program. One's spiritual life is to be a concerted effort to be open to God's call, to focus upon the divine will, to hold ourselves in readiness for whatever God may ask next.

Thomas Merton once summarized that consequence in a prayer:

            My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead my by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen. 

 

The Second Vatican Council restored our awareness that the Church is a communio, a community of people, a community of local churches. It is this insight that urges the active participation of all the people in liturgy and in the mission and ministry of the Church. By virtue of our baptism we enter into the priesthood of Jesus Christ and all the baptized are to exercise that priesthood "by the reception of the sacraments, by prayer and thanksgiving, by the witness of a holy life, self-denial and active charity" (Lumen Gentium, #10).

It's my conviction that God does not like to do things for us, but much prefers to do things with us. And that observation makes a lot of difference.