VATICAN II: IN THE EYES OF ROBERT BLAIR KAISER AND POPE BENEDICT XVI

Reading Robert Blair Kaiser’s article: “Don’t Tell You the Council Didn’t Change Much;” and Vittori Messori’s interview to Pope Benedict XVI[1]-- I clearly see two views regarding Vatican II.

I.KAISER

Kaiser’s article was too bold: for him, there were changes after Vatican II. The Church from her course through the entire human history who believes in her supremacy above other religion has finally reached out for others. To showcase the changes he cited comparisons before and after the council. He highlighted the changes and made any reader realized, as I read it, how lucky our generation is.

He mentions ‘updating’ and cited the man behind the Vatican II, Pope John XXIII who opened the windows of the Church for a breath of fresh air. He deciphered his mind and has understood ‘aggiornamento’ through the minds of Yves Congar, Jean Danielo, Karl Rahner, and Edward Schillebeeckx who has been for a very long time, their revolutionary ideas has been in deep slumber. From the depths of their grave silence, they spark the entire Vatican II with new ideas, which for Kaiser, has enfleshed the idea of John XXIII.

As he described the now and then, the before and after of the Vatican II, needless to say, he is saying that there is rupture. Rapture as I understand, is rupture in the sense of teaching her brethren… from being rigid to being loving. The flight of the Church from being old to being new.

Kaiser wants his readers to be aware of the benefits of the Vatican II against to what he claims ‘efforts to convince the people that the Council didn’t change the Church so much.’ He didn’t believe that that Council was a failure. He stands that it has already changed the way we live and think as Catholics.

His premise: ‘the Council changed the way we thought about God, about ourselves, about our spouses, our Protestant cousins, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslim and Jews, even the way we thought about the Russians (on communism).’

As one of the few fluent Latin speaking reporter who witnessed the entire proceeding of the Vatican II Council, he had a chance to hear personally the view of Pope John XXIII that: ‘he did not intend this Council to be a strictly churchy event, but a worldly event designed to bring people together, people of all faiths, even the so-called godless Communists.’[2]

He heard Pope John XXIII come to say, ‘No more crusades.’ As a history was concern-- he means that he didn’t want the Council to launch commendations of anything or anyone. Instead he understood that Pope John XXIII talks about ‘aggiornamento.’ He witnessed how Vatican II has resurrected[3] Yves Congar, Jean Danielo, Karl Rahner, and Edward Schillebeeckx—all of whom had been silenced before Vatican II for their radical thinking. From them he understood well what Pope John XXIII means of ‘aggiornamento.’ These theologians began to speak of  the Church in new ways, promising to create a new kind of Church-- a people’s Church, not a Church that was making itself less and less relevant with its excessive clericalism, juridicism, and triumphalism. Faulton Sheen addressed this as: ‘It will be about the Holy Spirit telling the Council what to say and  what to do.’

Impressed by all what he heard from the great minds of these theologians, their fresh teachings has made him visualize figuratively the Church as a boat starting to move from its once stagnated position. He exclaimed, ‘the Church turned inward on itself, this council was turned out to the world.’

Kaiser admitted that not everyone understood what ‘aggiornamento’ right away. Yves Congar understood what Pope John XXIII was calling for: a recreation of what the faith was in its primitive beginnings. He wants us to rediscover the beauty of the faith through the Sacred Scripture, and study the Fathers of the Church so that the Church could speak to the world in a language where She would be understood.

Further, for Kaiser, Vatican II follows the path of the Council Fathers for they did not anathemise anyone or anything. Vatican II Council for him, as he witnessed, helped us all  be more real, more human and more loving.

II.RATZINGER

On the other hand, Pope Benedict XVI’s (who was then Cardinal Ratzinger) Ratzinger Report, as I read his article, I felt that I am dealing with a traditionalist yet a very careful man. He is so concern with the entire Church. He sees the Church to be the same Church who travels through history.

For Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican II ‘is a reality that must be fully accepted on a condition that it must be viewed as merely a point of departure with a firm base. Benedict XVI explains that in our day, we are discovering its ‘prophetic function’ of documents of Vatican II for some writings were ahead of its time until the cultural revolutions and social convulsions that shaken the course of human history were finally addressed.

He points that there are ‘no leaps in this history, there are no fractures, and there is no break in continuity. He sees that the Church is the same Church that traversed in the same course of time. We are the same Church moving in the single line of history.’

There is no ‘pre-‘ or ‘post’ concilliar Church: always, there is but one, unique Church that walks the path toward the Lord. There is no rupture but only continuity. And there is no ‘restoration’ in terms of moving backward since there is no turning back for the Church. She moves forward toward the consummation of history. She looks ahead to the Lord who is coming.

But if ‘restoration’ is understood as new balance ‘after all the exaggerations of an indiscriminate opening to the world’ then it is applicable to the Church.

He affirms that ‘Vatican II surely did not want to change the faith, but to represent it in a more effective way.’ For him, ‘there in fact values, which even though they originated outside the Church, can find their place—provided they are clarified and corrected in perspective.’

About the return to the old spirit of “opposition to the world,” he said that ‘it is not the Christians who opposes the world, but rather the world opposes itself to them when the truth about God, about Christ and about man is proclaimed.

If Kaiser appreciated all the changes he mentioned in his article about Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the unforeseen effects of the Vatican II Council. For Benedict, many effects do not correspond to the intentions of the Council Fathers. And only through the reading of the letter of the documents will enable us to discover their true spirit.

Vatican II is an unicum also because it was, perhaps, the first council in history to be convoked, not under pressure of pressing problems or crises which all broke-out later. Without the Council, the Church’s structure would have been more rigid and the damages could have been even more grave.

He believe that the Council did not take the turn that John XXIII had expected-- for Holland, Switzerland, and the United States which were once the stronghold of traditionalism and loyalty to Rome—had already started to find their own way separated from the Church. That there is no great change yet if we are expecting new leap forward for the Church, renewed life and unity.

III. KAISER AND RATZINGER

            Both of them stand in the shoulders of the Church Fathers. They both value the importance of the Sacred Scripture. They both tried to decipher and interpret what ‘aggiornamento’ supposed to mean and they work to make the message of Vatican II relevant to all of us in our time.

They both express their understanding of the Church to both extremes. Kaiser defended Vatican II to those who extremely say that there is no change after Vatican II. He cited concrete examples. But one of his statements: before the Vatican II, we believe that there is no salvation outside the Church and now, we think that there is something good and something great in all religions. I found this statement, perhaps, misleading.

               In Lumen Gentium 16: "For they who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation." The church is open to the possibility of the salvation outside the Church. This is for those who seek God and follows their conscience where it’s not their fault not to know Jesus. But I believe that when they started to know and resisted Jesus Himself, then there’s a problem in faith. 

               Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)  on the other hand, defended Vatican II from those who claim that there are great changes. For him, it is yet to happen. He sounds like the changes that he is expecting to happen, unlike Kaiser, are but internal changes—more on the quality of the person. He has open my eyes that no matter how much we tried to change the Church, if we don’t start to change the core of our heart, the changes that we are expecting would not yet come to materialize. 

            Ratzinger reminds me of the question posted by the Second Plenary Council PCPII: ‘How to live as Catholic Christians today? It is to know, to love, to follow Christ in the Church which he founded. This is why we need to contemplate the face—and the heart of Christ. We have to retell his story to ourselves, that we may, more credibly, more authoritatively, tell it to others. This is our belief.’^[4] Vatican II constantly reminds us of our journey as pilgrim Church. That we are in a constant struggles but amidst all these, together we face these challenges with Jesus Christ in our side.

Kaiser readily embraced the new teachings of the theologians of Vatican II. He also readily put his trust in every word of them. And now, the present Church is diminishing because of the grave scandals that shaken our faith. It seems that the promises have turned into an illusion.

Unlike Kaiser, Ratzinger keeps himself grounded on the realities that challenges us every   day. He is not as excitable as Kaiser even though he has already predicted what would likely to happen in this generation some decades ago. His composure remained conservative in seeing and treating ground shaking challenges in the Church.

IV.REFLECTION

            In line with the year of faith, Vatican II is a journey of the pilgrim Church through joys and pains. Year of faith ‘encourages us to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.’^[5] 50 years has swiftly gone by, but the relevance of the Second Vatican Council through her teachings has never failed our present generation. She has done her best to safeguard the family and to protect the unborn (against RH Bill), even though, we fell short this time. Still, Vatican II’s teachings about, most especially, on the value of life would always be relevant.

I accept the fact that there are many issues like in the ordained ministry which I also believe that we should address as a Church with open mind and heart. The world has changed, so on some sense, we need also to cope up and address what is really lacking.

            Vatican II would be best if heard by the youth of today, in a language that is so plain and practical for them. For the entire message of Vatican II is all about God and our relationship to Him. It is the knowing of Jesus who every now and then we pass on to the next generation. But the youths seem to vanish or alienate themselves from the Church. There’s a great challenge to rekindle in them the faith that is waiting to be reawakened.

In order that they may be able to bear more fruitful witness to Christ… let them acknowledge themselves to be members of the group of people among whom they live…let them be familiar with their national and religious traditions; let them gladly and reverently lay bare the seeds of the Word which lie hidden among their fellows…[6]

            In line with the Year of Faith, the Year of Faith challenges us as believers to bear witness to the Lord through our life by obeying his commands and living the Gospel. Our Lord enjoins us: “… your light must shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Mt 5:16).  To this witness of a good life must be added the witness of proclaiming the Lord: “We believe and therefore we speak” (2 Cor 4:13). How indeed can we be silent about the God who loves us, the Son who lays down his life for us not to speak about what we seen and heard,” declared the apostles to those who forbade them to speak (Acts 4:20). Having experienced the presence and love of the Lord in prayer and worship, the Christian has to go forth and bear witness to Him.[7]

The Year of Faith that we celebrate in the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II is to entice ourselves to what Benedict XVI talks about “new evangelization” as reintroducing Christianity to those who were Christians before. This would mean of catechizing again our brothers and sisters who were separated (because they were scandalized by the issues that shaken the Church) about  the significance of the Church and Jesus’ Sacraments in the entire life of the Church and in the life of every Christians. By understanding the very core of Christian faith they would soon rediscover sufficient reasons to be reintegrated once again to the congregation of Christ’s believers.

---

[1] About the book: the entire is book entitled “The Ratizinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori.” It was translated from the authorized German Manuscript which was also published in Italian. The English edition was published by the Ignatius Press, San Francisco on 1985.

[2] Robert Blair Kaiser, “Don’t Let Anyone Tell You the Council Didn’t Change Much.” (lecture, The Tablet, October 2012)

[3] Pardon me to borrow this term from my Ecclesiology professor, Rev. Father Ramil Marcos.

[4] PLENARY COUNCIL OF THE PHILIPPINES. Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines 4^th printing. (Paulines Publishing House, Pasay City: 2003) No. 36.

[5] Porta Fidei no.2.

[6] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, no. 11.

[7] PLENARY COUNCIL OF THE PHILIPPINES. Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines 4^th printing. (Paulines Publishing House, Pasay City: 2003) No. 78.