Probable Outcome of Vatican II

The following report was prepared forCHRISTIANITY TODAYby Dr. Claud Nelson of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, who was an official delegate-observer at last fall’s Vatican Council session:

What can one say, in the light of the first session and of the change of popes, as to the outlook for the second session of Vatican Council II? Will the trends that became marked in the first session continue, and find formulation in papal decrees? Will an ecumenical climate be maintained and encouraged? This reporter lays no claim to clairvoyant foresight, but finds reason to expect, on the whole, affirmative answers to both questions—regarding the first as internal and specific, and the second as more general.

Pope Paul can weight the scales as unmistakably as Pope John did. The impression with which I left Rome in November was that Cardinal Montini, whether from prudence or conviction, was supporting Pope John’s efforts toward aggiornamento, bringing the Roman Catholic Church up to date. On December 5, the cardinal spoke decisively in favor of sending the schema on “The Church” back for revision to the Theological Commission and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity—the same disposition that Pope John had already made of the chapter on the sources of revelation (following a not quite two-thirds majority vote of the bishops to suspend discussion of that schema as submitted). Montini had written in his weekly diocesan letter to the Milanese that council progress had been hampered because members of the Curia (heads of Vatican administrative “congregations”) had prevented cooperation among the various commissions during the council’s preparation.

The Federal Council of Protestant Churches in Italy has been issuing a well-informed and reasonably balanced bulletin on Vatican II. It has reported rumors (of which I have partial confirmation through Catholics) that the new schema on revelation will avoid any dichotomy in speaking of “sources,” using the formula, Scripture alone in the mouth of the Church (Sola scriptura in ore ecclesiae)—a formula that is obviously elastic, but significant because of what it replaces.

Some probable products or by-products of Vatican II are, I think: restricting the Curia’s determination of policy; emphasizing the bishops’ responsibility and authority, individually, collegiately (in council), and regionally; encouraging lay activity and evangelistic responsibility; supporting the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity; encouraging ecumenical dialogue by competent theologians on the nature of the Church, traditions, baptism, biblical interpretation, and the work of the Holy Spirit. About mixed marriages and population pressures I am not prepared to hazard any guess. However, Cardinal Cushing’s adoption of a stand similar to that of Hans Kueng evidences that important Catholics see the injustice of the present mixed-marriage regulations.

Will the political irenicism of Pacem in Terris have Pope Paul’s support? His policy in Milan would indicate that he counts more on a friendly pastoral attitude than on anathema. Italian political developments and the presence or continued absence of Greek Orthodox delegated observers may furnish additional clues as to Roman Catholic policy on Communism.

My impression is that after another seven or eight weeks’ session, we shall still have more “climate” than formulas in evidence. Meanwhile, there is much and impressive evidence that the bishops are as earnestly and prayerfully seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the delegates to any Protestant or Orthodox assembly that I have known.

Orthodox Anniversaries

Ever since the excommunication of the Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Leo IX in A.D. 1054, the Orthodox Church has been overshadowed in Western eyes by the more militant and more politically influential Church of Rome. In the West, Orthodox churches have frequently been weak, and the impact of Orthodoxy upon European history has been slight. Despite the somnolent appearance of this third-largest branch of Christendom, however, Orthodoxy has retained a significant degree of intellectual vigor and contemporary relevance. And last month, as if to document this claim, it reflected its vitality by two celebrations which drew the interest and attendance of the ecclesiastical world.

Marking one thousand years as a monastic community, historic Mount Athos, protruding deep into the Aegean Sea on the eastern coast of Greece, drew hosts of ecclesiastical leaders to the famed Great Lavra monastery for a week-long celebration of its founding. Among the first to arrive on the hilly peninsula was Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Istanbul, supreme leader of Eastern Orthodoxy. Patriarch Athenagoras greeted monks of Athos from the deck of the Greek warship which conveyed him to the harbor, then joined a long procession which wound up the steep hillside into the monastery yard. In this and other ships came King Paul of Greece; bearded patriarchs from Jerusalem, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Rumania; the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece; and more than one hundred other churchmen from religious centers throughout the Orthodox world. Representatives from other communions included Lutheran churchman Franklin Clark Fry, ecumenical spokesman W. A. Visser ’t Hooft, and Roman Catholic priest-journalists Christophe Dumont and Antoine Veger.

Following a solemn vesper service upon his arrival, Patriarch Athenagoras spoke to assembled cenobites of a need for “intercommunion … for exchange of views … among all Christians.” He noted that the world was divided because of a lack of dialogue between peoples. “We invite all theologians to work for a solution to the problem of spreading Christianity—how will we make it possible for Christianity to live on the face of the earth?”

The invitation was not without a context. Within days of the Mount Athos celebrations the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Greece announced that its hierarchy will meet on October 1 to determine whether to send delegate-observers to the second session of the Second Vatican Council. The council’s second session—Greek Orthodox observers were not present for the first session—is set to convene on September 29 by decree of Pope Paul VI.

(Several days later, while on a visit to the island of Rhodes, Patriarch Athenagoras announced that “very soon” a permanent Pan-Orthodox Committee will be set up to study Christian problems and promote church unity, Religious News Service reported.)

Soon after the affair at Athos another week-long celebration, also with ecumenical overtones, was held in Moscow and in nearby Zagorsk. The occasion was the golden jubilee of the episcopal consecration of Patriarch Alexei, supreme head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and three hundred foreign guests were invited.

The arrival of the Catholic delegates was preceded by a Vatican announcement that Pope Paul VI had accepted an invitation from the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church to be present at the ceremonies honoring Patriarch Alexei. The event, he noted, would mark a continuation of the “dialogue” with the Russian church begun when the late Pope John XXIII asked the church to send observer-delegates to the first session of the Second Vatican Council last fall.

J. M. B.

Ecumenical Education

Formation of a unique Association of Theological Faculties was announced in Iowa last month. The cooperative group embraces the State University of Iowa, the only state university in the country that offers a doctor’s degree in religion, and three denominational seminaries.

University officials said it marked the first time that Protestant and Roman Catholic theological institutions have joined with a state university to further study in theology.

The heads of the State University of Iowa School of Religion and the three seminaries, all at Dubuque, Iowa, said the association was formed to strengthen scholarly programs and resources at the four schools. The seminaries are the Roman Catholic Aquinas Institute of Theology, the Lutheran Wartburg Theological Seminary, and the Presbyterian theological seminary of the University of Dubuque.

The association will enable selected students and faculty members from the Dubuque seminaries to participate in the state university’s graduate program in religion.

Death Of A Sadhu

Crowds estimated at about 50,000 gathered near New Delhi last month to witness what they expected would be the “miraculous” emergence of a sadhu, or Hindu holy man, from a forty-day internment in an airtight sealed pit.

When associates opened the pit they found the decomposed body of eighteen-year-old Gunga Puriji.

Hundreds of devout Hindus, meanwhile, had flocked to pray at the spot where the holy man had had himself buried in order to demonstrate his progress on the path of yoga by suspending all the processes of his body while his mind communed with Brahma.

The sadhu’s body was cremated beside a nearby river. Police had to use force to curb outbursts by the shocked and disappointed crowds.

A Religious War

After some two and a half months of religious strife in Viet Nam Roman Catholic government leaders were still unrelenting. They gave no indication of ending discrimination against Buddhists and Protestants.

And a seemingly obvious question continued to elude American policy-makers most concerned about a settlement: Why does the Roman Catholic Church fail to act within the government dominated by its faithful?

President Kennedy was asked about the effect of the religious strife on military operations against Communist guerillas. He declared that “we’re bringing our influence to bear” in efforts to settle the religious dispute. He did not elaborate, except to say that the Vietnamese have been in war for twenty years.

Meanwhile in Saigon, heavily armed police moved in to break up a sit-down demonstration against discrimination by the Roman Catholic government of President Ngo Dinh Diem. Some of the demonstrators were still kneeling in prayer when the police swooped down swinging truncheons. Several Vietnamese girls were clubbed severely and hauled away with blood streaming down their faces.

The incident came after the Rev. Thich Tinh Khiet, supreme Buddhist leader in South Viet Nam, had sent a letter to President Diem declaring the Buddhists would stage non-violent demonstrations to demand enforcement of a religious liberty agreement signed June 16. The letter stated that “officials either have ignored orders of Your Excellency and the government or they have received secret instructions to discredit the joint agreement.”

At the same time, some 150 Buddhist priests and nuns demonstrated for about two hours outside the home of U. S. Ambassador Frederick E. Nolting, Jr., located near Xa Loi Pagoda, the main pagoda in the city. Some of the demonstrators, speaking in both Vietnamese and English, urged the United States to “settle our Buddhist problem.” Others declared the Buddhists would continue their struggle “until we die.”

National Rites

On August 15 the Japanese government will begin the first of a series of annual memorial services for the war dead. The decision by the cabinet to inaugurate the commemoration is fraught with religious precedent, say Japanese Christians.

The government says the service, to be witnessed by the Emperor and Empress, will be held for two reasons First, it is to fulfill a moral obligation of later generations to demonstrate their remembrance of those who died in behalf of their country. The government also argues that the service affords some opportunity for reflection on past wars and for expressing a desire for peace.

Although the government has declared, in keeping with a constitutional provision for separation of religion and state, that it will exclude all religious rites, officials have nonetheless admitted that the program will include a request to the nation to do mokuto, that is, to offer silent prayer. In the context of a Japanese memorial service it will be understood to be prayer to or for the spirits of the dead.

Christians in Japan are said to be suspicious that the government may be reviving a kind of state religion, or at least a state-sponsored religious rite, by this annual mokuto service. Such a rite could open the door for accusations of unpatriotic attitudes against Christians who refuse to participate. Some fear that even a revival of persecution could follow.

The president of the Japan Bible Christian Council, Dr. John M. L. Young, appealed to the Prime Minister to eliminate the mokuto service. A letter from Young also suggested that if the government called for mokuso, a moment of silent meditation, it would be more in keeping with the announced intention of avoiding any religious rites and with the practice of Western democracies at war memorial services.

The decision to hold annual memorial services for the war dead was made at a meeting of the Japanese cabinet on May 14. At that time, the welfare minister urged that the nation offer condolences to the war dead. Authorities have indicated, however, that they are sensitive to reactions from clergy and lay leaders.

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