October 5, 2012      Martin Mallon  (Ireland)      Martin's previous articles

                                  The Vision of Vatican II  

 

The video John posted on this forum on Sept 30, from America magazine, of Ladislas Orsy, S.J., author and Professor of Law and Canon Law, talking about his memories and experiences of Vatican II was inspirational and full of hope for the future.  

The way he talked of the 2000+ bishops in the Council being hit by a “tsunami of the Spirit” which somehow shook and shakes the face of the earth helps to bring home the fact that this was an Ecumenical Council, a human reality and a saving mystery, guided fully by the Holy Spirit; not just a few bishops chatting together.  

                         The Most Important Event at the Council  

Orsy felt that the most important event at the Council was the miracle at the first session. Over two thousand bishops who did not know each other became a compact community within a few weeks and under the impulse of the Spirit they became aware of their power and out of that power they voiced an opposition to nearly everything that was prepared and indicated that they wanted a new approach. That is half of the miracle. 

The other half was that Pope John XXIII had presided over the preparation of the schemata and had approved them, yet when he saw the bishops respectful request for something different he opened up and let the bishops do as they wished. This was a Pope who wanted to learn from his bishops, an excess of humility, which is a good sign of sanctity. 

Orsy tells us that the story in Rome was that the Pope was advised to be careful because if you make concessions to the bishops then they will run away with the Council. Apparently the Pope responded: “They too”, meaning the bishops, “have the Holy Spirit.” The Pope obeyed the Spirit as he discovered the Spirit in the bishops and without that the Council would have been very different; it would have been a restatement of the status quo of the last two or three centuries.  

I suppose the equivalent today would be if the bishops of the world united and, for example, threw out the new Mass translation, changed Church teaching on contraception and changed Church discipline on priestly celibacy and women’s ordination. Imagine the joy, hope and peace that would be experienced, fruits of the Holy Spirit. The period when Vatican II was held must have been a great and exciting time to be alive for Catholics used to the pre-Vatican II Church.  

                       The Unfinished Work of the Council  

Orsy goes on to tell us that the unfinished work of the Council consists of the fact that the Pope called the Council for aggiornamento or updating. This word means updating in a practical sense. What the Council has done is given a beautiful vision of what the Church ought to be in this modern world, but at the same time did very little of the practical order to fulfil this project, apart from the liturgy. 

Thus, according to Orsy, at the end of the Council there was a vision of what the Church should be, but we did not inherit from the Council new structures, new ways of operating which were proclaimed and promulgated, as to how to deliver this vision. The Council left that to later generations, they did not have much time. Orsy believes that the aggiornamento was not fulfilled because we did not have the practical ordinances ordered from the Council. He did not feel this at the time of the Council but has discovered that since. 

                       How to Fulfil the Vision of the Council  

To fulfil the vision of the Council Orsy feels the most important development that we need is in the episcopate. The bishops acted with due autonomy with Peter and under Peter during the Council. What has been missing since the Council is that the episcopate would carry on with this awareness, remembering that they received their power at their ordination from the Holy Spirit; from no one else. Therefore, their first responsibility is to the Spirit, not to the Pope, not to the bishops’ conference, not to any other person and with that knowledge they can gain from this discernment with the Spirit, help the Pope, help the other bishops, the whole Christian community and the whole human race, because the Church is involved so much in ordinary human problems.  

Orsy believes that there is a lack of equilibrium in the Church; we need, by divine right, unity, and the papacy is the principle of unity, we need, by divine law, diversity, and the episcopate must be the source of legitimate diversity in the Church. Importantly, Orsy warns that if the bishops ever became executive officers of the papacy, they would not be fulfilling their vocations and the whole Church would suffer. We need “So, shall I say, another miracle”, according to Orsy.  

Most bishops in today’s Church appear to be no more than “executive officers of the papacy” which means that the whole Church is suffering. It is time for change.  

                        Signs of the Times 

The first sign is turbulence. We are in a turbulent Church. But why? Because of the tsunami of the Holy Spirit disturbing us. That means there is a lot of energy, and so much of what is called “trouble” in the Church today, restlessness, may come from divine energy under the surface which is trying to break to the surface. Orsy thinks that it is reasonable to say that the time will come when these energies will break to the surface and that somehow they will bring a new quiet, a new calm, a new tranquility, to the Church, but it will be different and it needs time.  

The Council wanted to reverse tendencies that go back, say, one thousand years and that’s not easy. The Spirit is shaking up the Church in order to bring help, the quiet light of God, the peace of God, the tranquility of God to the nations and thus the Church can become Lumen Gentium, Light of the Nations.  

This was a hope filled part of the speech and I pray that Orsy’s prophecy is fulfilled.  

                       What can we do now fifty years later?  

Orsy is asked this question all the time and there is a simple answer; it is each of us at his or her own place and time should look round and see is there some opening to do something that he has creatively identified, and performed what is necessary to bring the vision ahead. That means we are talking and complaining too much instead of doing what we can here and now. 

If we each of us do what we can in our own way, the Spirit in one way or another will notice that and will come to help. Amen.  

Let us all take up Orsy’s challenge and do what we can in our own lives to make the vision of Vatican II a reality. 

Listen to Ladislas Orsy at: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/video/video-index.cfm?series_id=1363

 

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