Peter De Mey (Dendermonde, 1966) is full Professor of Roman-Catholic ecclesiology and ecumenism at the Research Unit of Systematic Theology and the Study of Religions, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven. He is involved in the Centre for Ecumenical Research and the Louvain Center for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC). 24 dissertations have successfully been defended under his guidance and many research projects have been obtained. Peter De Mey is the founding chair of the Vatican II Studies group (2012-2016) of the American Academy of Religion. During 2004-2010, he was secretary and then president of Societas Oecumenica, the European Society for Ecumenical Research. He regularly participates in meetings of the Ecclesiological Investigations Network and the Peter Address: Faculty of theology and religious studies, Sint-Michielsstraat 4 box 3101, B-3000, LEUVEN (BELGIUM)
As part of a colloquium on the ‘Interface of Church and
Politics Today in India’ have presented ... more As part of a colloquium on the ‘Interface of Church and Politics Today in India’ have presented a literature review on the topic of the abuse crisis, since it is a scandal which affects both Church and society. As a systematic theologian I will especially highlight the fact that the abuse crisis also affects the content of our theology.
The main goal of this article is to investigate whether the
conciliar documents and their prepara... more The main goal of this article is to investigate whether the conciliar documents and their preparatory stages describe the collaboration between laity and their pastors in a way which describes an accountable Church. We did not encounter a technical definition of accountability in the documents of Vatican II. However, if creating a greater culture of accountability refers to the willingness of all members of the people of God to have the quality of their Christian life evaluated by other members, then we encountered such pleas in the attention to the mutual relationship of ordained and lay faithful during the preparation of the conciliar documents.
The first draft of the pre-conciliar De Ecclesia stressed the mutual relations between the laity ... more The first draft of the pre-conciliar De Ecclesia stressed the mutual relations between the laity and the ordained rather than their differences, while asserting the role of the laity in the Church and world in a chapter drafted by the Louvain peritus Gérard Philips. During the last revision of the chapter on the laity in Lumen gentium, the suggestion of Belgian Cardinal Suenens was accepted to grant the laity the possibility of assuming tasks of a spiritual nature in the Church. Some of these ideas were also found in publications on this theme that four Catholic theologians and Council periti-Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, and Edward Schillebeeckxhad written since the 1959 announcement of the Council. The theologies on the laity of Congar, Rahner, and Schillebeeckx definitely changed in this period. By 1962, Schillebeeckx had given up his initial conviction of a distinct mission of the laity and the ordained. Until 1966, Rahner defended his thesis of the unique secular orientation of the laity. Congar discovered only in 1971 that he had denied the laity any role at the level of the structure of the Church. From his 1962 book Structures of the Church forward, Küng defended the universal priesthood of all believers as a whole from the basic structure of the Church. Finally, following the synthesis report A Synodal Church in Mission of the first session of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from start to finish, I will highlight lines of thought that can be traced to the works of Congar, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and Küng. RÉSUMÉ-La première version préconciliaire du De Ecclesia mettait l'accent sur les relations mutuelles entre laïcs et ordonnés plutôt que sur leurs différences, tout en affirmant le rôle des laïcs dans l'Église et dans le monde dans un chapitre rédigé par le peritus de Louvain Gérard Philips. Lors de la dernière révision du chapitre sur les laïcs dans Lumen gentium, la suggestion du cardinal belge Suenens a été acceptée pour accorder aux laïcs la possibilité d'assumer des tâches de nature spirituelle dans l'Église. Certaines de ces idées ont également été reprises dans les publications sur ce thème que quatre théologiens catholiques et periti du Concile-Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng et Edward Schillebeeckxont écrites depuis l'annonce du Concile en 1959. Les théologies sur les laïcs de Congar, Rahner et Schillebeeckx ont définitivement changé au cours de cette période. En 1962, Schillebeeckx avait abandonné sa conviction initiale d'une mission distincte des laïcs et des ordonnés. Jusqu'en 1966, Rahner a défendu sa thèse de l'orientation séculière unique des laïcs. Congar n'a découvert qu'en 1971 qu'il avait dénié aux laïcs tout rôle au niveau de la structure de l'Église. À partir de son livre Structures de l'Église, publié en 1962, Küng a défendu le sacerdoce universel de tous les croyants en tant qu'ensemble de la structure de base de l'Église. Enfin, en suivant de bout en bout le rapport de synthèse Rapport de synthèse Une Église synodale en mission de la première session de la seizième Assemblée générale ordinaire du Synode des évêques, je mettrai en lumière les lignes de pensée qui peuvent être rattachées aux travaux de Congar, Rahner, Schillebeeckx et Küng.
In this chapter I first remind the reader of the efforts made
by Catholic ecumenists during the ... more In this chapter I first remind the reader of the efforts made by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter I give an overview of the work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international level. Finally, I pay attention to the work of two selected regional or local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the work done in regional dialogues. As a motto for this paper I have chosen to repeat the title of the third chapter of the only encyclical which has thus far been dedicated to the cause of ecumenism, the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint on Commitment to Ecumenism by Pope John Paul II.
FULL REFERENCE: Peter De Mey, “Revisiting the Redaction History of Lumen Gentium 16-17 in Respons... more FULL REFERENCE: Peter De Mey, “Revisiting the Redaction History of Lumen Gentium 16-17 in Response to a Recent Debate in Catholic Theology of Interreligious Dialogue,” in Answerable for Our Beliefs: Reflections on Theology and Contemporary Culture Offered to Terrence Merrigan. Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs, 48, ed. Peter De Mey, Kristof Struys and Viorel Coman (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 347-390.
'Res opportunae nostrae aetatis'. Studies on Vatican II Offered to M. Lamberigts, ed. Dries Bosschaert & Johan Leemans (Leuven: Peeters; BETL, 317), 245-275, 2020
In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Un... more In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Unity and the Oriental Commission from the debate on the Schema decreti de Ecclesiae unitate “Ut omnes unum sint" during the first session on 26-30 November, 1962 till the presentation of the new Schema decreti de oecumenismo during the second session on November 18, 1963. The chapter will not so much focus on the content of the different drafts but on the tensions and difficult relations between the members and periti of both commissions and especially between Msgr. Willebrands, the secretary of the Secretariat for Christian Unity and Fr. Welykyj, the secretary of the Oriental Commission. As will appear from the final section of this chapter, the emotional letters exchanged by Willebrands and Welykyj on September 24 and October 25 definitely constitute the climax of the polemic.
Le souci de toutes les Églises. Hommage à Joseph Famerée, ed. Benoît Bourgine (Peeters: BETL, 314), 2020
The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1... more The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1904-1995) and Emmanuel Lanne (1923-2010) has allowed us to study a number of unpublished papers from the announcement of the Council till the promulgation of Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio and Orientalium Ecclesiarum on November 21, 1964. Interestingly, only one motivation inspired their ecumenical work: the hope that the Second Vatican Council would soon be followed by the start of the official Orthodox-Roman Catholic international dialogue.
In this contribution I argue for the ecumenical significance of the Catholic teaching on the theo... more In this contribution I argue for the ecumenical significance of the Catholic teaching on the theological virtue of love since it testifies to the priority of God’s love for us as revealed in the incarnation and saving death of Christ. In the first two sections of my contribution the focus will be on the two documents of the Second Vatican Council dealing with the Church, the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium and the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes. In the third and fourth section I will explore whether the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI - Deus Caritas Est (2005), Spe Salvi (2007) and Caritas in Veritate (2009) - and three longer texts by Pope Francis - Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Amoris Laetita (2016) and Gaudete et Exsultate (2018) - reflect the same strong focus on charity as the human response to God’s love for us.
This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in t... more This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in the prophetic office in the Church in LG 12, LG 25 and DV 7-10. The Council did not want to convey a completely different message when speaking about the infallibility of Pope and bishops in the third chapter of Lumen Gentium compared to its earlier treatment of the infallibilitas in credendo in chapter two. In both LG 12 and LG 25, the people of God and the hierarchy are considered active subjects. Ormond Rush and the International Theological Commission have transformed the bi-polar circularity between bishops and pastors of DV 10 into a tri-polar circularity. For Rush, the faithful, the magisterium, and the theologians constitute one teaching office in the Church. The International Theological Commission pays attention to the interplay between the sensus fidelium, episcopal collegiality, and papal primacy within a theology of synodality. From Vatican II until today, the most important message remains that a strict separation between the teaching Church and the learning Church should be avoided.
In this contribution I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the 'tria... more In this contribution I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the 'tria munera' in the interconnected chapters two and four of Lumen Gentium. The declarations Presbyterorum Ordinis, Apostolicam Actuositatem and Ad Gentes received their decisive form only during the last session of the council. I will pay attention to the discussion on the tria munera in these documents as well, before making it clear that, unfortunately, post-conciliar magisterial documents rely more on the dual scheme of Lumen Gentium 10 than on the tria munera.
In recent years a discussion has been taking place on whether it would make sense to work towards... more In recent years a discussion has been taking place on whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint Declaration on Church, Eucharist and Ministry between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches. The invitation was made by Cardinal Koch who, however, set a preliminary condition that the twofold Grunddifferenz both with regard to their understanding of the Church and their model of unity would first be overcome. After introducing Cardinal Koch's views on the matter, this article discusses a number of recent documents by ecumenical bodies and contributions by individual theologians-all written on the occasion of the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the symbolic start of the Reformation-that, explicitly or implicitly , comment on aspects of Cardinal Koch's proposal.
Conference KU Leuven 26-28 November, 2018 organized by the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Orienta... more Conference KU Leuven 26-28 November, 2018 organized by the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC). Consult our website the list of speakers and the Call for Papers (open till September 31) : https://theo.kuleuven.be/en/research/centres/centr_loceoc/conference-balamand/balamand-2018
Response paper to the assessment of Roman Catholic dogma hermeneutics by Lutheran professor prof.... more Response paper to the assessment of Roman Catholic dogma hermeneutics by Lutheran professor prof. em. Gunther Wenz
In this chapter I discuss three different configurations of how both important goals have been ar... more In this chapter I discuss three different configurations of how both important goals have been articulated in the 1950s, in the first years of the Council and towards its end. In the decade before Vatican II a number of Catholic theologians contributed to a renewal of the self-understanding of the Church by applying the notion of sacrament to the Church. This self-understanding was at the same time a ressourcement since the Dominicans Congar and Schillebeeckx and the Jesuits Lubac, Rahner and Semmelroth engaged in a fresh reading of the third part of the Summa Theologiae to reflect (i) on the incarnated Son of God as mediator of God’s grace, (ii) on the Church as sacrament and (iii) on the ecclesial effects of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. A difference between these theologians could be observed in view of their openness to modernity and the world. Schillebeeckx, with his use of the terminology of ‘encounter’, Semmelroth, who insisted on the role of the laity in the sacramental mission of the Church and Rahner, who already anticipated his theory of anonymous Christianity, were most interested in this theme. The views of these theologians have been officially received – often with the cooperation of the same theologians as Council periti – in the central role the notion of Church as sacrament has received in Lumen Gentium. By giving this image a central place the Council fathers wanted to give up the self-centeredness of pre-Conciliar Roman Catholic ecclesiology. The Church has in first instance to be a sign and a modest instrument of God’s offer of grace to humankind. Interestingly, in the Council’s reflections on Christ as sacrament, the Church as sacrament and the effects of the sacraments, the very same key texts from Aquinas were cited that had been used in the works of the mentioned theologians. The term sacramentum mundi is not yet found in the preparation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Lumen Gentium or Unitatis Redintegratio during the first and second session. The German scheme, which had a strong impact on the opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium, was particularly interested in the relationship of Church and world. In distinction from this, the quotations of LG 1 and LG 48 in Ad Gentes and Gaudium et Spes as well as Schillebeeckx’ interpretation of the notion of Church as sacrament as sacramentum mundi reflect a greater interest in the instrumental role of the Church. What Schillebeeckx has learned from St. Thomas, however, is never abandoned. For him Aquinas was an authority, as for his fellow theologians at Vatican II.
In my contribution I compare both the process and some partial results of the Council with the Se... more In my contribution I compare both the process and some partial results of the Council with the Second Vatican Council which the Catholic Church organized in 1962-1965. I will first compare a few more general aspects of the Second Vatican Council with the pan-orthodox Council. I will limit myself to the role of theologians, of canon law, and of the observers. Thereafter I will focus on the document on the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, which allows for a fruitful comparison with Unitatis Redintegratio and Lumen Gentium, but also contains comments on the post-conciliar time of ecumenism.
In October 2015 the Jesuits from La Civiltà Caatolica convened 30 Roman Catholic ecclesiologists,... more In October 2015 the Jesuits from La Civiltà Caatolica convened 30 Roman Catholic ecclesiologists, historians, ecumenists and canon lawyers to support the Reform program of Pope Francis. One of the sessions focused on what we can learn from the ecumenical dialogues for the reform of our own Church. My presentation dealt with the dialogue with the mainstream Protestant churches. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH ARTICLE TRANSLATED IN ITALIAN IN Antonio Spadaro & Carlos Maria Galli (eds.), La riforma e le riforme nella Chiesa, Brescia, Queriniana, 2016.
In this article, published in Czech language in a Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Ivana Noble, I compar... more In this article, published in Czech language in a Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Ivana Noble, I compare both the process and some partial results of the 2016 Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church with the Second Vatican Council which the Catholic Church organized in 1962-1965. I will first compare a few more general aspects of the Second Vatican Council with the pan-orthodox Council. I will limit myself to the role of theologians, of canon law, and of the observers. Thereafter I will focus on the document on the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, which allows for a fruitful comparison with Unitatis Redintegratio and Lumen Gentium, but also contains comments on the post-conciliar time of ecumenism.
Umstrittene Katholizität: Von der zwiespälitigen Beziehung zwischen Vielfalt und Einheit - Catholicity under Pressure: The Ambiguous Relationship Between Diversity and Unity
In this chapter I focus on the understanding and implementation of catholicity in my own Church a... more In this chapter I focus on the understanding and implementation of catholicity in my own Church as opened up in the reflections and reform plans of pope Francis. Since pope Francis bases his ecclesiology strongly on the documents of Vatican II, I start with a brief prelude on the paragraph on catholicity in Lumen Gentium.
As part of a colloquium on the ‘Interface of Church and
Politics Today in India’ have presented ... more As part of a colloquium on the ‘Interface of Church and Politics Today in India’ have presented a literature review on the topic of the abuse crisis, since it is a scandal which affects both Church and society. As a systematic theologian I will especially highlight the fact that the abuse crisis also affects the content of our theology.
The main goal of this article is to investigate whether the
conciliar documents and their prepara... more The main goal of this article is to investigate whether the conciliar documents and their preparatory stages describe the collaboration between laity and their pastors in a way which describes an accountable Church. We did not encounter a technical definition of accountability in the documents of Vatican II. However, if creating a greater culture of accountability refers to the willingness of all members of the people of God to have the quality of their Christian life evaluated by other members, then we encountered such pleas in the attention to the mutual relationship of ordained and lay faithful during the preparation of the conciliar documents.
The first draft of the pre-conciliar De Ecclesia stressed the mutual relations between the laity ... more The first draft of the pre-conciliar De Ecclesia stressed the mutual relations between the laity and the ordained rather than their differences, while asserting the role of the laity in the Church and world in a chapter drafted by the Louvain peritus Gérard Philips. During the last revision of the chapter on the laity in Lumen gentium, the suggestion of Belgian Cardinal Suenens was accepted to grant the laity the possibility of assuming tasks of a spiritual nature in the Church. Some of these ideas were also found in publications on this theme that four Catholic theologians and Council periti-Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, and Edward Schillebeeckxhad written since the 1959 announcement of the Council. The theologies on the laity of Congar, Rahner, and Schillebeeckx definitely changed in this period. By 1962, Schillebeeckx had given up his initial conviction of a distinct mission of the laity and the ordained. Until 1966, Rahner defended his thesis of the unique secular orientation of the laity. Congar discovered only in 1971 that he had denied the laity any role at the level of the structure of the Church. From his 1962 book Structures of the Church forward, Küng defended the universal priesthood of all believers as a whole from the basic structure of the Church. Finally, following the synthesis report A Synodal Church in Mission of the first session of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from start to finish, I will highlight lines of thought that can be traced to the works of Congar, Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and Küng. RÉSUMÉ-La première version préconciliaire du De Ecclesia mettait l'accent sur les relations mutuelles entre laïcs et ordonnés plutôt que sur leurs différences, tout en affirmant le rôle des laïcs dans l'Église et dans le monde dans un chapitre rédigé par le peritus de Louvain Gérard Philips. Lors de la dernière révision du chapitre sur les laïcs dans Lumen gentium, la suggestion du cardinal belge Suenens a été acceptée pour accorder aux laïcs la possibilité d'assumer des tâches de nature spirituelle dans l'Église. Certaines de ces idées ont également été reprises dans les publications sur ce thème que quatre théologiens catholiques et periti du Concile-Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng et Edward Schillebeeckxont écrites depuis l'annonce du Concile en 1959. Les théologies sur les laïcs de Congar, Rahner et Schillebeeckx ont définitivement changé au cours de cette période. En 1962, Schillebeeckx avait abandonné sa conviction initiale d'une mission distincte des laïcs et des ordonnés. Jusqu'en 1966, Rahner a défendu sa thèse de l'orientation séculière unique des laïcs. Congar n'a découvert qu'en 1971 qu'il avait dénié aux laïcs tout rôle au niveau de la structure de l'Église. À partir de son livre Structures de l'Église, publié en 1962, Küng a défendu le sacerdoce universel de tous les croyants en tant qu'ensemble de la structure de base de l'Église. Enfin, en suivant de bout en bout le rapport de synthèse Rapport de synthèse Une Église synodale en mission de la première session de la seizième Assemblée générale ordinaire du Synode des évêques, je mettrai en lumière les lignes de pensée qui peuvent être rattachées aux travaux de Congar, Rahner, Schillebeeckx et Küng.
In this chapter I first remind the reader of the efforts made
by Catholic ecumenists during the ... more In this chapter I first remind the reader of the efforts made by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter I give an overview of the work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international level. Finally, I pay attention to the work of two selected regional or local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the work done in regional dialogues. As a motto for this paper I have chosen to repeat the title of the third chapter of the only encyclical which has thus far been dedicated to the cause of ecumenism, the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint on Commitment to Ecumenism by Pope John Paul II.
FULL REFERENCE: Peter De Mey, “Revisiting the Redaction History of Lumen Gentium 16-17 in Respons... more FULL REFERENCE: Peter De Mey, “Revisiting the Redaction History of Lumen Gentium 16-17 in Response to a Recent Debate in Catholic Theology of Interreligious Dialogue,” in Answerable for Our Beliefs: Reflections on Theology and Contemporary Culture Offered to Terrence Merrigan. Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs, 48, ed. Peter De Mey, Kristof Struys and Viorel Coman (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 347-390.
'Res opportunae nostrae aetatis'. Studies on Vatican II Offered to M. Lamberigts, ed. Dries Bosschaert & Johan Leemans (Leuven: Peeters; BETL, 317), 245-275, 2020
In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Un... more In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Unity and the Oriental Commission from the debate on the Schema decreti de Ecclesiae unitate “Ut omnes unum sint" during the first session on 26-30 November, 1962 till the presentation of the new Schema decreti de oecumenismo during the second session on November 18, 1963. The chapter will not so much focus on the content of the different drafts but on the tensions and difficult relations between the members and periti of both commissions and especially between Msgr. Willebrands, the secretary of the Secretariat for Christian Unity and Fr. Welykyj, the secretary of the Oriental Commission. As will appear from the final section of this chapter, the emotional letters exchanged by Willebrands and Welykyj on September 24 and October 25 definitely constitute the climax of the polemic.
Le souci de toutes les Églises. Hommage à Joseph Famerée, ed. Benoît Bourgine (Peeters: BETL, 314), 2020
The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1... more The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1904-1995) and Emmanuel Lanne (1923-2010) has allowed us to study a number of unpublished papers from the announcement of the Council till the promulgation of Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio and Orientalium Ecclesiarum on November 21, 1964. Interestingly, only one motivation inspired their ecumenical work: the hope that the Second Vatican Council would soon be followed by the start of the official Orthodox-Roman Catholic international dialogue.
In this contribution I argue for the ecumenical significance of the Catholic teaching on the theo... more In this contribution I argue for the ecumenical significance of the Catholic teaching on the theological virtue of love since it testifies to the priority of God’s love for us as revealed in the incarnation and saving death of Christ. In the first two sections of my contribution the focus will be on the two documents of the Second Vatican Council dealing with the Church, the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium and the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes. In the third and fourth section I will explore whether the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI - Deus Caritas Est (2005), Spe Salvi (2007) and Caritas in Veritate (2009) - and three longer texts by Pope Francis - Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Amoris Laetita (2016) and Gaudete et Exsultate (2018) - reflect the same strong focus on charity as the human response to God’s love for us.
This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in t... more This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in the prophetic office in the Church in LG 12, LG 25 and DV 7-10. The Council did not want to convey a completely different message when speaking about the infallibility of Pope and bishops in the third chapter of Lumen Gentium compared to its earlier treatment of the infallibilitas in credendo in chapter two. In both LG 12 and LG 25, the people of God and the hierarchy are considered active subjects. Ormond Rush and the International Theological Commission have transformed the bi-polar circularity between bishops and pastors of DV 10 into a tri-polar circularity. For Rush, the faithful, the magisterium, and the theologians constitute one teaching office in the Church. The International Theological Commission pays attention to the interplay between the sensus fidelium, episcopal collegiality, and papal primacy within a theology of synodality. From Vatican II until today, the most important message remains that a strict separation between the teaching Church and the learning Church should be avoided.
In this contribution I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the 'tria... more In this contribution I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the 'tria munera' in the interconnected chapters two and four of Lumen Gentium. The declarations Presbyterorum Ordinis, Apostolicam Actuositatem and Ad Gentes received their decisive form only during the last session of the council. I will pay attention to the discussion on the tria munera in these documents as well, before making it clear that, unfortunately, post-conciliar magisterial documents rely more on the dual scheme of Lumen Gentium 10 than on the tria munera.
In recent years a discussion has been taking place on whether it would make sense to work towards... more In recent years a discussion has been taking place on whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint Declaration on Church, Eucharist and Ministry between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches. The invitation was made by Cardinal Koch who, however, set a preliminary condition that the twofold Grunddifferenz both with regard to their understanding of the Church and their model of unity would first be overcome. After introducing Cardinal Koch's views on the matter, this article discusses a number of recent documents by ecumenical bodies and contributions by individual theologians-all written on the occasion of the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the symbolic start of the Reformation-that, explicitly or implicitly , comment on aspects of Cardinal Koch's proposal.
Conference KU Leuven 26-28 November, 2018 organized by the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Orienta... more Conference KU Leuven 26-28 November, 2018 organized by the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC). Consult our website the list of speakers and the Call for Papers (open till September 31) : https://theo.kuleuven.be/en/research/centres/centr_loceoc/conference-balamand/balamand-2018
Response paper to the assessment of Roman Catholic dogma hermeneutics by Lutheran professor prof.... more Response paper to the assessment of Roman Catholic dogma hermeneutics by Lutheran professor prof. em. Gunther Wenz
In this chapter I discuss three different configurations of how both important goals have been ar... more In this chapter I discuss three different configurations of how both important goals have been articulated in the 1950s, in the first years of the Council and towards its end. In the decade before Vatican II a number of Catholic theologians contributed to a renewal of the self-understanding of the Church by applying the notion of sacrament to the Church. This self-understanding was at the same time a ressourcement since the Dominicans Congar and Schillebeeckx and the Jesuits Lubac, Rahner and Semmelroth engaged in a fresh reading of the third part of the Summa Theologiae to reflect (i) on the incarnated Son of God as mediator of God’s grace, (ii) on the Church as sacrament and (iii) on the ecclesial effects of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. A difference between these theologians could be observed in view of their openness to modernity and the world. Schillebeeckx, with his use of the terminology of ‘encounter’, Semmelroth, who insisted on the role of the laity in the sacramental mission of the Church and Rahner, who already anticipated his theory of anonymous Christianity, were most interested in this theme. The views of these theologians have been officially received – often with the cooperation of the same theologians as Council periti – in the central role the notion of Church as sacrament has received in Lumen Gentium. By giving this image a central place the Council fathers wanted to give up the self-centeredness of pre-Conciliar Roman Catholic ecclesiology. The Church has in first instance to be a sign and a modest instrument of God’s offer of grace to humankind. Interestingly, in the Council’s reflections on Christ as sacrament, the Church as sacrament and the effects of the sacraments, the very same key texts from Aquinas were cited that had been used in the works of the mentioned theologians. The term sacramentum mundi is not yet found in the preparation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Lumen Gentium or Unitatis Redintegratio during the first and second session. The German scheme, which had a strong impact on the opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium, was particularly interested in the relationship of Church and world. In distinction from this, the quotations of LG 1 and LG 48 in Ad Gentes and Gaudium et Spes as well as Schillebeeckx’ interpretation of the notion of Church as sacrament as sacramentum mundi reflect a greater interest in the instrumental role of the Church. What Schillebeeckx has learned from St. Thomas, however, is never abandoned. For him Aquinas was an authority, as for his fellow theologians at Vatican II.
In my contribution I compare both the process and some partial results of the Council with the Se... more In my contribution I compare both the process and some partial results of the Council with the Second Vatican Council which the Catholic Church organized in 1962-1965. I will first compare a few more general aspects of the Second Vatican Council with the pan-orthodox Council. I will limit myself to the role of theologians, of canon law, and of the observers. Thereafter I will focus on the document on the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, which allows for a fruitful comparison with Unitatis Redintegratio and Lumen Gentium, but also contains comments on the post-conciliar time of ecumenism.
In October 2015 the Jesuits from La Civiltà Caatolica convened 30 Roman Catholic ecclesiologists,... more In October 2015 the Jesuits from La Civiltà Caatolica convened 30 Roman Catholic ecclesiologists, historians, ecumenists and canon lawyers to support the Reform program of Pope Francis. One of the sessions focused on what we can learn from the ecumenical dialogues for the reform of our own Church. My presentation dealt with the dialogue with the mainstream Protestant churches. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH ARTICLE TRANSLATED IN ITALIAN IN Antonio Spadaro & Carlos Maria Galli (eds.), La riforma e le riforme nella Chiesa, Brescia, Queriniana, 2016.
In this article, published in Czech language in a Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Ivana Noble, I compar... more In this article, published in Czech language in a Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Ivana Noble, I compare both the process and some partial results of the 2016 Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church with the Second Vatican Council which the Catholic Church organized in 1962-1965. I will first compare a few more general aspects of the Second Vatican Council with the pan-orthodox Council. I will limit myself to the role of theologians, of canon law, and of the observers. Thereafter I will focus on the document on the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, which allows for a fruitful comparison with Unitatis Redintegratio and Lumen Gentium, but also contains comments on the post-conciliar time of ecumenism.
Umstrittene Katholizität: Von der zwiespälitigen Beziehung zwischen Vielfalt und Einheit - Catholicity under Pressure: The Ambiguous Relationship Between Diversity and Unity
In this chapter I focus on the understanding and implementation of catholicity in my own Church a... more In this chapter I focus on the understanding and implementation of catholicity in my own Church as opened up in the reflections and reform plans of pope Francis. Since pope Francis bases his ecclesiology strongly on the documents of Vatican II, I start with a brief prelude on the paragraph on catholicity in Lumen Gentium.
This article contains a reflection on the pace of the ecumenical dialogues with the Catholic Chur... more This article contains a reflection on the pace of the ecumenical dialogues with the Catholic Church during the last decades. First the reader is reminded of the efforts made by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter an overview is given of the work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international level. Finally, attention is paid to the work of two selected regional or local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the work done in regional dialogues. The title of the third chapter of the only encyclical which has thus far been dedicated to the cause of ecumenism, the 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint. On Commitment to Ecumenism by Pope John Paul II, serves as a motto: “Quanta est nobis via?”, or, “How much further must we travel until that blessed day when full unity in faith will be attained and we can celebrate together in peace the Holy Eucharist of the Lord” (Ut Unum Sint, § 77). Even if we have encountered references to the future restoration of full communion in some of the international bilateral dialogues of the last decade as well, it were the two selected regional dialogues that reflect the same sense of urgency that characterizes such lines of Ut Unum Sint.
A Roman Catholic reflection on priesthood inspired by Vatican II cannot be
restricted to a discus... more A Roman Catholic reflection on priesthood inspired by Vatican II cannot be restricted to a discussion of the role of the priest in the Church. In the final draft of Lumen Gentium the same pattern of the tria munera is used to describe the priestly, prophetic and royal tasks of the people of God as a whole (LG 9-12), the bishops (LG 25-27), the priests (LG 28) and the laity (LG 34-36). Already in Presbyterorum Ordinis but especially in a number of documents from the post-conciliar magisterium attempts have been made to define the identity of the priest in isolation from the mission of the laity. By stating that the priest receives his identity precisely from being deeply connected with the other members of the people of God, Pope Francis reconfirms the wisdom of LG 37: “From this familiar relationship between laity and pastors many advantages for the Church can be expected”.
Al in zijn eerste Exhortatie Evangelii Gaudium (2013) was paus Franciscus ervan overtuigd dat all... more Al in zijn eerste Exhortatie Evangelii Gaudium (2013) was paus Franciscus ervan overtuigd dat alle niveaus van het kerkelijk leven betrokken moeten worden bij het zendingswerk (EG 27-33). Het was vooral nodig om meer aandacht te besteden aan “de identiteit en de zending van de leken in de Kerk”, aangezien zij “de overgrote meerderheid van het volk van God” vormen (EG 102). In zijn toespraak ter gelegenheid van het 50-jarig bestaan van de bisschoppensynode op 18 november 2015 gebruikte paus Franciscus de term “synodaliteit” om te verwijzen naar de gemeenschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid van alle leden van het volk van God voor het leven van de Kerk . Op 2 maart 2018 publiceerde de Internationale Theologische Commissie (voortaan: ITC) een uitgebreide studie over synodaliteit in het leven en de zending van de Kerk . Zoals bij alle documenten uit Rome moet de theoretische en praktische waarde ervan kritisch worden onderzocht. Eerst zal echter worden beargumenteerd dat synodaliteit diep geworteld is in de ecclesiologie van Vaticanum II.
Peter De Mey richt zich vooral op de relatie van de huidige bisschoppen tot de apostelen. Hij bek... more Peter De Mey richt zich vooral op de relatie van de huidige bisschoppen tot de apostelen. Hij bekijkt hoe het denken van de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk over de apostoliciteit van de bisschop zich de afgelopen halve eeuw heeft ontwikkeld, vanaf de bijzondere theologische aandacht voor de rol en het wezen van de bisschop tijdens het Tweede Vaticaanse Concilie, en doorheen de oecumenische gesprekken van de afgelopen halve eeuw.
De viering van de vijftigste verjaardag van het Tweede Vaticaans Concilie riep in het Nederlandse... more De viering van de vijftigste verjaardag van het Tweede Vaticaans Concilie riep in het Nederlandse taalgebied de vraag op naar de actualiteit van de beschikbare vertalingen. De eerste vertalingen verschenen immers spoedig na de afkondiging van een document, zonder afstemming van de documenten op elkaar. Vijftig jaar later stelde men vast dat dit Nederlands vaak niet meer aansluit bij het hedendaagse taalgebruik. Dit vormt voor de jongere generatie soms zelfs een obstakel voor de toegang tot het concilie en de studie ervan. Deze vaststelling zette een groep van Vlaamse en Nederlandse theologen ertoe aan om een nieuwe vertaling te verzorgen die zowel aan het concilie als aan het hedendaagse Nederlands recht zou doen. Een ploeg van een 20-tal vertalers en een 25-tal theologische adviseurs uit Noord en Zuid zette zich aan het werk onder de leiding van een kernredactie die bestond uit: M. Lamberigts, P. De Mey, H. Witte, K. Schelkens, H. Tercic en D. Bosschaert. Het geheel werd voorzien van een historische inleiding en elk document kreeg eveneens een inleiding waarin zowel het tot stand komen van het document als de receptie ervan wordt behandeld. In dit boek wordt de nieuwe Nederlandse vertaling naast de oorspronkelijke Latijnse tekst afgedrukt. Een standaardwerk voor al wie betrokken is bij de Kerk en de studie ervan.
Collationes: Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Theologie en Pastoraal 43 (2013) 401-427, 2013
In the literature on Vatican II the influence of the observers on the final documents is often pr... more In the literature on Vatican II the influence of the observers on the final documents is often presupposed, but seldom studied in detail. This article focuses on their reactions, formulated in the Autumn of 1963, on the new draft of the future decree on ecumenism, De Oecumenismo, a decree in which the observers were mostly interested. A detailed study of the documents in which the collaborators of the Secretariat for Christian Unity motivated their acceptance or rejection of certain modifications proposed by the Council fathers, makes it clear that a number of changes finds its origin in critical remarks made by the observers. The harmonious relation of Council and observers, and especially of the staff of the Secretariat for Christian Unity and the observers, was not one of “fratres separati” but of “fratres seiuncti”.
Vaticanum II: geschiedenis of inspiratie? Theologische opstellen over het tweede Vaticaans concilie, eds. Mathijs Lamberigts & Leo Kenis, Antwerpen: Halewijn, 2013, 85-106, 2013
Tijdschrift voor Theologie 52 (2012) 372-383., 2012
Het startschot voor de herdenking van 50 jaar Vaticanum II lijkt een goed moment om recente inter... more Het startschot voor de herdenking van 50 jaar Vaticanum II lijkt een goed moment om recente interpretaties van belangrijke conciliedocumenten onder ogenschouw te nemen. In dit boekessay worden boeken van Rooms-katholieke ecclesiologen uit het angelsaksische en Duitse taalgebied na 2005 besproken, in zover ze bijdragen tot een beter verstaan van de dogmatische constitutie over de kerk, Lumen Gentium. In december 2005, 40 jaar na de plechtige afsluiting van het concilie sprak paus Benedictus XVI voor het eerst in zijn pontificaat zijn kerstwensen uit aan de Romeinse curie. De paus liet zijn stem horen in het debat of het concilie vooral in continuïteit dan wel vooral in discontinuïteit met het verleden staat. Vanuit een ‘hermeneutiek van de discontinuïteit en de breuk’ legt men een te scherpe cesuur tussen de preconciliaire en de postconciliaire kerk, legde de nieuwe paus uit en hij pleitte tegelijk voor een ‘hermeneutiek van de hervorming’ of nog van ‘hernieuwing in continuïteit’. Ook uit dit essay zal blijken dat de discussie over de fundamentele richting van de conciliehermeneutiek nog niet is afgesloten.
Tijdschrift voor Theologie 51 (2011), 152-169, 2011
In nagenoeg al zijn werken betoonde Anton Houtepen (1940-2010) aandacht voor de inbreng vanuit an... more In nagenoeg al zijn werken betoonde Anton Houtepen (1940-2010) aandacht voor de inbreng vanuit andere christelijke kerken en vanuit de oecumenische dialoog. Uit erkentelijkheid voor de betreurde collega die mij initieerde in het internationale oecumenische milieu wil ik in deze bijdrage vooral dit aspect van Houtepens denken belichten.
De 'K' van Kerk. De pluriformiteit van katholiciteit, eds. Peter De Mey & Pieter De Witte, Antwerpen: Halewijn, 2009, 31-46. , 2009
In deze bijdrage wil ik het nieuwe denken over katholiciteit toelichten, zoals dit in bepaalde te... more In deze bijdrage wil ik het nieuwe denken over katholiciteit toelichten, zoals dit in bepaalde teksten van Vaticanum II is doorgebroken. Karakteristiek voor het vernieuwde katholiciteitsbegrip is dat katholiciteit niet langer meer als identiek wordt beschouwd met de universele verspreiding van het christelijke geloof. Katholiciteit slaat voortaan op de legitieme verscheidenheid aan liturgische, spirituele, juridische en theologische uitdrukkingen zoals deze aangetroffen wordt in de verschillende riten en particuliere kerken die samen de universele kerk uitmaken.
Het is mogelijk om de vernieuwde opvatting over katholiciteit in de conciliedocumenten terug te vinden, wanneer men die paragrafen in Lumen Gentium en Unitatis Redintegratio bestudeert waarin de term “katholiciteit” voorkomt. Enkele paragrafen in Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus en Ad Gentes waarin het adjectief “katholiek” toegeschreven wordt aan de Kerk van Christus of aan het begrip “eenheid” zijn in dezelfde geest geschreven. Het is echter bekend dat tijdens het tweede Vaticaans concilie pogingen om nieuwe ecclesiologische denkpistes te verkennen soms genuanceerd en/of geneutraliseerd werden door de invoeging van paragrafen die de vroegere theorievorming hieromtrent reflecteren. Hiervan zal ik ook de meest sprekende voorbeelden ter sprake brengen.
Rooms-katholiek theoloog Peter De Mey reageert op het handboek Als een kerk (opnieuw) begint. Hij... more Rooms-katholiek theoloog Peter De Mey reageert op het handboek Als een kerk (opnieuw) begint. Hij voert een pleidooi voor missionaire gemeenschapsvorming in verbondenheid met de mainstream churches en hun zoektocht naar oecumenische toenadering.
In Catholic theological circles, we are more accustomed to reflecting on the reception of the Sec... more In Catholic theological circles, we are more accustomed to reflecting on the reception of the Second Vatican Council than on that of the ecumenical dialogues. While studies on reception in ecumenism sometimes focus on the reception of one document or another, my contribution will provide an overview of the evolution of reflection and practice on the reception of ecumenical dialogues in the ecumenical movement, with a strong emphasis on the Roman Catholic Church. I will distinguish three periods of approximately fifteen years: an initial period, between 1980 and 1995, when the need to ensure the reception of ecumenical dialogues began to be perceived; a second period, between 1995 and 2010, when official responses to documents continued to be formulated or new forms of reception were explored; and a final period, between 2010 and the present day, when official reception continues unenthusiastically or remains absent.
In 1951, the Dutch ecumenists Johannes Willebrands and Jan Thijssen were able to launch the Catho... more In 1951, the Dutch ecumenists Johannes Willebrands and Jan Thijssen were able to launch the Catholic Conference for Ecumenical Questions, a European network of Catholic ecumenists. Between 1952 and 1963 they held a series of meetings in various places in Europe. A very special initiative was the preparation by the steering committee of a 'Note on the Restoration of Christian Unity on the Occasion of the Next Ecumenical Council', which was circulated from mid-June 1959 onwards. Thanks to this first publication of this important source, which has been preserved together with the entire CCEQ archive in the Benedictine monastery of Chevtogne, it will be possible for the reader to discover that this document is indeed the distant preparation of the Decree on Ecumenism. In the footnotes it is show that the main drafter, the French Dominican Christophe-Jean Dumont, in fact took up ideas which he had already formulated in earlier publications. The relevant similarities and differences with the work of other Catholic ecumenists will also be indicated.
La disponibilité des archives de Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1904-1995) et E... more La disponibilité des archives de Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1904-1995) et Emmanuel Lanne (1923-2010) relatives à Vatican II a permis d’analyser un certain nombre de documents inédits pour la période allant de l’annonce du Concile à la promulgation de Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio et Orientalium Ecclesiarum, le 21 novembre 1964. Il est intéressant de constater qu’une seule et unique motivation a inspiré leur activité œcuménique : l’espoir que le Second Concile du Vatican puisse être rapidement suivi par l’ouverture d’un dialogue officiel entre Catholiques et Orthodoxes.
In recent years a discussion is taking place whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint ... more In recent years a discussion is taking place whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint Declaration on Church, Eucharist and Ministry. The invitation was made by Cardinal Koch, who, however, set it as a preliminary condition that the twofold Grunddifferenz between Catholics and Protestants both with regard to their understanding of Church and their model of unity first would be overcome. After introducing Cardinal Koch’s views on this matter, this article discusses a number of recent documents by ecumenical bodies and contributions by individual theologians – all written on the occasion of the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation that, explicitly or implicitly, comment on aspects of Cardinal Koch’s proposal.
In this article I first discuss a few important Orthodox reactions on what the Second Vatican Cou... more In this article I first discuss a few important Orthodox reactions on what the Second Vatican Council had to say on the relationship between the college of bishops and its head, and will contrast these with the actual text of Lumen Gentium and its post-conciliar interpretation. In the final part I will indicate how the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has treated the same themes in their latest agreed statement, the 2007 Ravenna document. In so doing we hope to contribute to the reception of this important ecumenical document. My article has been published in the 2015/2 issue of the ecumenical journal IRENIKON of the Benedictine monks of Chevetogne, which has been published since 83 years! This issue presents the fruits of a half day colloquium which took place on the theme of 'The Orthodox Church and Vatican II', in the presence of His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch. The other contributors are Joseph Famerée, "L'Eglise locale selon Lumen Gentium: Réactions orthodoxes à l'époque du concilie" and Sorin Selaru, "La synodalité et l'autorité au niveau régional dans l'Eglise: de Lumen Gentium au Document de Ravenne" as well as the response of the ecumenical patriarch. For more information on IRENIKON: http://www.monasteredechevetogne.com/Irenikon and on the bi-ritual monastery of Chevetogne: http://www.monasteredechevetogne.com/
Vatican II comme style théologique: L'herméneutique théologique du Concile (Unam Sanctam. Nouvelle série), ed. Joseph Famerée, Paris: Cerf, 2012, 149-186., 2012
Dans ma contribution à ce volume, je propose d’étudier les commentaires faits par les observateur... more Dans ma contribution à ce volume, je propose d’étudier les commentaires faits par les observateurs non-catholiques sur les deux documents du Concile qui permettent le mieux d’évaluer la présence d’un style oecuménique à Vatican II, en l’occurrence dans Lumen Gentium et Unitatis Redintegratio. Je me limiterai aux remarques faites pendant et immédiatement après la deuxième session, donc fin 1963 – début 1964. Pendant cette session les observateurs étaient confrontés avec des schémas qui respiraient déjà un air d’aggiornamento. En plus, comme ces deux documents ont été promulgés en automne 1964, on peut plus facilement se former une opinion sur l’influence que les observateurs ont eue sur les changements des textes.
La théologie catholique entre intransigeance et renouveau. La réception des mouvements préconciliaires à Vatican II (Bibliothèque de la Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 95), eds. Gilles Routhier, Philippe Roy & Karim Schelkens, Brepols, 2010, 271-308., 2010
Ce chapitre présente l’étude d’une initiative œcuménique importante et son impact potentiel sur l... more Ce chapitre présente l’étude d’une initiative œcuménique importante et son impact potentiel sur le Concile. La Conférence Catholique pour les questions œcuméniques organisa neuf rencontres dans différent pays européens entre 1952 et 1963. Premièrement, je soulignerai les tentatives de la Conférence Catholique et de son secrétaire Johannes Willebrands d’être reconnus comme un corps légitime par la hiérarchie de l’Église catholique. Par la suite je présenterai le travail de la Conférence Catholique en trois étapes chronologiques, qui révèlent aussi une méthodologie différente. De 1953 à 1954 et de 1955 à 1959 la Conférence Catholique a étudié le travail préparatoire du Conseil Œcuménique des Églises. Le résultat de ce dialogue à distance consistait en deux rapports rédigés par Yves Congar et publiés dans la revue Istina. Après je me focaliserai sur un document qu’on pourrait peut-être considérer comme la plus grande contribution de la Conférence Catholique. La Note du Comité Directeur de la Conférence Catholique pour les Questions œcuméniques sur la restauration de l’Unité chrétienne à l’occasion du prochain Concile fut, après sa sortie le 15 juin 1959, envoyé à un certain nombre de cardinaux, archevêques et évêques de l’Église catholique, mais ne sera jamais publié. Comme le travail normal de la Conférence Catholique consistait en l’organisation des rencontres annuelles, je finirai cet aperçu en analysant les contributions du colloque de 1961 sur Le renouveau dans l’Eglise. Dans la dernière section, une étude minutieuse des introductions que Willebrands prononçait au cours de chacune des neuf assemblées plénières de la Conférence Catholique renseigne mieux sur la vision de l’un des grands œcuménistes catholiques de sa génération lors de la décennie précédant le Concile Vatican II.
L’autorité et les autorités: L'herméneutique théologique de Vatican II, eds. Gilles Routhier & Guy Jobin, Paris: Cerf, 2010, 125-149, 2010
Dans notre groupe de recherche sur l’herméneutique Lumen Gentium nous prêtons attention à des pér... more Dans notre groupe de recherche sur l’herméneutique Lumen Gentium nous prêtons attention à des périodes spécifiques de réception des textes du Concile. Dans la contribution suivante j’analyserai la relecture de la pensée conciliaire sur la collégialité et la communion des Eglises comme on la retrouve dans des textes du Magistère entre 1972 et 1983, donc après la période des toutes premières années de réception du Concile et avant la promulgation du nouveau code. Je commence avec une étude des points de vues des papes Paul VI et Jean-Paul II sur la collégialité et la communion des Eglises, avec une particulière attention sur leur contribution à l’herméneutique conciliaire. L’instruction 'Mysterium Ecclesiae' (1973) de la Congrégation pour la Doctrine de la Foi se focalise plutôt sur l’infaillibilité que sur la relation entre l’Eglise universelle et locale. Elle contient pourtant quelques affirmations qui méritent d’être commentées. Ensuite je me tourne aux rencontres du Synode des Evêques dans cette période. Je m’arrêterai avec une analyse du Directoire sur le ministère pastoral des Evêques, 'Ecclesiae Imago'.
Laval Théologique et Philosophique 56 (2000), 471-487, 2000
Despite his ambivalent commemoration of his recently defunct master, the option of the ‘first’ Ti... more Despite his ambivalent commemoration of his recently defunct master, the option of the ‘first’ Tillich for a theonomous metaphysics, as an alternative for an exclusively heteronomous approach of theology and an exclusively autonomous approach of culture, reflects many similarities with Troeltsch’s option for a metaphysics of history, by means of which he hoped to overcome both the absolutizing of religious truths in supernaturalist apologetics and the relativizing of religious truths in historicism.
Im Jahr 2018 veröffentlichte die Internationale Theologische Kommission die Studie Die Synodalitä... more Im Jahr 2018 veröffentlichte die Internationale Theologische Kommission die Studie Die Synodalität in Leben und Sendung der Kirche. Das Dokument zielte darauf ab, den theologischen Hintergrund der Synodalität, die zu einem Schlüsselbegriff im Pontifikat von Papst Franziskus geworden ist, zu entschlüsseln. Die Einleitung macht deutlich, dass dieser Begriff tief in der Theologie des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils verwurzelt ist: „Obwohl sich weder der Begriff noch die Idee der Synodalität ausdrücklich in den Lehren des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils finden, kann festgehalten werden, dass das Anliegen der Synodalität für die Erneuerungsarbeit, die das Konzil angestoßen hat, zentral ist.“ Zum Abschluss der Fünften Synodalversammlung des Synodalen Weges der römisch-katholischen Kirche in Deutschland wurde die verabschiedete Fassung ihrer Dokumente, bestehend aus einem Präambeltext, einem Orientierungstext, drei Grundtexten und zehn Handlungstexten , veröffentlicht. In diesem Artikel gehe ich der Frage nach, ob die Schlussfolgerungen des Synodalen Weges in Deutschland auch deutlich in den Dokumenten des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils verankert sind und welche Schwerpunkte sie in ihrer Rezeption des Konzils setzen.
A Roman Catholic reflection on priesthood inspired by Vatican II cannot be restricted to a discus... more A Roman Catholic reflection on priesthood inspired by Vatican II cannot be restricted to a discussion of the role of the priest in the Church. In the final draft of Lumen Gentium the same pattern of the tria munera is used to describe the priestly, prophetic and royal tasks of the people of God as a whole (LG 9-12), the bishops (LG 25-27), the priests (LG 28) and the laity (LG 34-36). Already in Presbyterorum Ordinis but especially in a number of documents from the post-conciliar magisterium attempts have been made to define the identity of the priest in isolation from the mission of the laity. By stating that the priest receives his identity precisely from serving the other members of the people of God, Pope Francis reconfirms an important insight of Vatican II.
Shortened version in Romanian language of my 2015 Exchange article The Missing Link between 'The ... more Shortened version in Romanian language of my 2015 Exchange article The Missing Link between 'The Nature and Mission of the Church' (2005) and 'The Church: Towards a Common Vision' (2013): An Assessment of the Impact of ‘A Catholic Contribution toward Revising The Nature and Mission of the Church’ (2008)
Though in German, this is an excellent overview of 50 years Lutheran-Roman Catholic ecumenical di... more Though in German, this is an excellent overview of 50 years Lutheran-Roman Catholic ecumenical dialogue, edited by Wolfgang Thönissen & André Birmelé with the Evangelische Verlagsanstalt and Bonifatius Paderborn in 2018. At the same time the book is a Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Theodor Dieter, director of the Strasbourg Institute for Ecumenical Research - affiliated to Lutheran World Federation, (http://www.strasbourginstitute.org/en/). See the table of contents in my uploaded paper.
Ziel dieses Kapitels ist es herauszufinden, ob sich die ökumenische Methode, die während des schw... more Ziel dieses Kapitels ist es herauszufinden, ob sich die ökumenische Methode, die während des schwierigen Prozesses der erfolgreichen Verwirklichung der Gemeinsamen Erklärung zur Rechtsfertigungslehre (GE) verwendet wurde, noch weiterhin als nützlich bewährt, insbesondere für die folgenden Schritte des Lutherisch-Römisch Katholischen internationalen Dialoges und ob sie noch immer unterstützt wird von der Institution, welche Papst Johannes XXIII. 1960 gründete, um die Einheit zu fördern.
In den Dokumenten des II. Vatikanischen Konzils sind katholische Ökumeniker aufgefordert, im ökum... more In den Dokumenten des II. Vatikanischen Konzils sind katholische Ökumeniker aufgefordert, im ökumenischen Dialog mit ihren eigenen Prinzipien teilzunehmen aber im Geiste einer wahren Katholizität. Während Lumen Gentium eine klare Unterscheidung zwischen Katholizität und Universalität trifft, sind in den letzten Jahren Prägung und Einfluss der ‚Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre‛ – die auf der universellen Ebene arbeitet und die Einheit und Universalität des katholischen Glaubens verstärkt in der Vordergrund hebt – auf die ökumenische Identität der katholischen Kirche stärker geworden. Es gibt aber gewichtige Beispiele dafür, dass auch nicht-universelle ökumenische Identitäten in der katholischen Kirche existieren.
This project offers an original contribution to the interpretation of the documents of the Second... more This project offers an original contribution to the interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council that constitute the most authoritative doctrinal teaching within the Catholic Church. The chapters in this volume, published during the 60 th anniversary of the Council (2022-2025), discuss three types of stumbling blocks: 'Stumbling Blocks for Ecumenism', 'Stumbling Blocks for Interfaith Dialogue,' and 'Stumbling Blocks for Church-world Relations'. Eight specialists of ecclesiology, comparative theology, intercultural theology, and theological ethics have each written chapters on a selected line of Vatican II that constitutes a 'stumbling block' or 'hard saying' for believers and theologians today. The views expressed in these chapters have been discussed in three response essays. The stumbling blocks have been selected from Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio, Nostra Aetate, and Gaudium et Spes. The selected lines discuss the difficulties the Catholic Church has with atheism and with the Eucharist as celebrated by Protestant ministers; how appreciation of other churches and religions goes hand in hand with defending the need of mission; and why the Council assigns different roles to priests and laity, making a distinction between the holiness of the Church and the sinfulness of its believers.
On 20 October 1870 pope Pius IX adjourned the First Vatican Council, because of the Italian Risso... more On 20 October 1870 pope Pius IX adjourned the First Vatican Council, because of the Italian Rissorgimento troops approaching the city of Rome. Given that the Council had only opened less than a year prior, on 8 December 1869, the act was emblematic. The council, as the Catholic Church’s protective response against all things new – rationalism, liberalism, naturalism, materialism, and pantheism – was overtaken by history. Given its premature end not all documents prepared were completed and those that were promulgated, became among the most controversial documents in the nineteenth and twentieth-century Catholic Church, strongly defining its relations to other Christian confessions and modernity. Similarly, around one hundred years after the suspension of the First Vatican Council its historical and theological study was overtaken by the event of the Second Vatican Council, known for its rapprochement to the modern world. The history and results of the First Vatican Council were either forgotten or reinterpreted in light of this subsequent council’s decisions. In light of the 150th anniversary of this council, the editors and authors of this volume set themselves the goal of re-examining this tradition of historical and theological reception (and forgetting) of the First Vatican Council.
The Catholic Church and its Orthodox Sister Churches Twenty-Five Years after Balamand, 2022
In 1993 the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church a... more In 1993 the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church promulgated what became known as the Balamand Document, 'Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past and the Present Search for Full Communion'. While the first agreed statements of that ecumenical dialogue aroused great enthusiasm and hope for Catholic-Orthodox unity, the Balamand documented interjected a period of instability in Catholic-Orthodox relations that has persisted to this day. These sixteen essays by Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic and independent scholars bring together studies on the quarter century since the Balamand document was first proclaimed. The first section of this book presents the historical and theological context of modern Orthodox-Catholic ecumenical dialogue. What is often at stake in movements of reconciliation are the healing of painful memories of the past. The second part of the book examines the reception and, in some cases, non-reception of the Balamand Document in Central and Eastern Europe, while the third section engages the reception of the Balamand Document in the Middle East, with chapters on the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East. The various authors reveal the great diversity that exists in the spiritual, theological, historical and liturgical traditions of the Eastern Catholic Churches, especially in their relations with the Orthodox Churches. The studies also examine differing perspectives on both the benefits and problematics of directly engaging Eastern Catholics in ecumenical dialogue, and the role that they might play in a vision of full communion so that reconciliation and unity have a truly authentic and lasting significance.
With this Festschrift colleagues and friends honor Terrence Merrigan on the occasion of his retir... more With this Festschrift colleagues and friends honor Terrence Merrigan on the occasion of his retirement from the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven. The thirty-two contributions in this volume all show the exceptional quality of his research in different domains of theological research. Since the theology of John Henry Newman has inspired Terrence Merrigan during his entire career, the volume opens with a number of outstanding Newman studies. They pay attention to various aspects of Newman’s theology: his interaction with high church Anglicanism, his understanding of conscience, the theology of purgatory, but also the neglect of liturgical spirituality in Newman’s theology. The contributions in the second part are devoted to the fields of Christology and Trinity, which belong to Merrigan’s favorite theological disciplines. The contributions are situated on the intersection of contemporary Christology and its soteriological impact within a pluralistic and secularized context. The third part deals with the theology of interreligious dialogue, with special focus on the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, Jacques Dupuis’s theology of religions, comparative theology, Jewish and Christian approaches to interreligious dialogue, and the phenomenon of double religious belonging. The fourth part explores the challenging relationship between faith and culture in an attempt to bridge the Christian tradition with the contemporary world.
This volume offers a collection of essays, by internationally known scholars, on the Ukrainian-Ca... more This volume offers a collection of essays, by internationally known scholars, on the Ukrainian-Canadian Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk and the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church during the Second Vatican Council. A number of essays describe the historical context of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church during and after the Council. Other essays focus on Met. Hermaniuk’s contributions during the Council, from his speeches on episcopal collegiality, ecumenism and the importance of the Eastern Christian Churches, to his work on the various conciliar commissions. Concluding sections of the volume then assess Hermaniuk’s efforts to promote the reception of the Council in his church. These essays critically engage and comment upon The Second Vatican Council Diaries of Met. Maxim Hermaniuk, C.Ss.R. (1960-1965), Eastern Christian Studies 15 (Leuven: Peeters, 2012). Two appendices include Met. Hermaniuk’s commentary on Orientalium ecclesiarum, plus an essay on the participation of the Ukrainian bishops at the Council.
This volume is the fruit of the eleventh Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology (LEST XI) which... more This volume is the fruit of the eleventh Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology (LEST XI) which was organized by Leuven’s Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies from 11-14 October, 2017. On the occasion of the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, this conference focused on the ongoing need for the renewal and reform of the Churches, a desideratum encapsulated in the well-known adage, Ecclesia semper reformanda. The quest for such renewal constitutes a challenge for theologians of all confessional traditions. This volume focuses particularly on the themes and topics that were at the forefront of the theological controversies which raged during the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, some of which are still unresolved.
Part I focuses on the foundations of theology, viz. Scripture, tradition(s), and/or reason. Part II investigates the important theological issues that have their roots in the Reformation Era, including the tensile relationship between sin, grace, free will, justification and sanctification, and the controversies related to the Eucharist, including the notion of sacrifice. Part III examines democratization and leadership structures in the Church. Part IV explores what a historically-informed awareness can contribute to an ecumenically-oriented reflection on the renewal and reform of the Church today.
The second half of the 20th century witnessed unprecedented enthusiasm for inner-Christian ecumen... more The second half of the 20th century witnessed unprecedented enthusiasm for inner-Christian ecumenical dialogue as well as Christian-Jewish dialogue. However, at the time of the transition from the 20th to the 21st century the dialogues were marked by disillusionment and disappointment due to the fact that not enough progress was experienced with regard to concrete everyday issues. Moreover theoretical points of disagreement remained obstacles for a real mutual understanding, the major ones being the interpretation of certain Biblical passages (esp. John 14:6 and 15:26) and their implications for Christology and the theology of the Trinity. This book explores “new hermeneutics for renewed dialogues”. To use a metaphor found in the book, the contributions of this volume are suggesting “new songs” with regard to the dialogues by proposing a future-oriented hermeneutics and a shift from an exclusive focus on Christology to including Pneumatology and thus the doctrine of the Trinity. By so doing the authors and editors intend to offer a new impetus and a new élan in Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox as well as Christian-Jewish dialogues. The co-authors of this book contribute pneumatological hermeneutical insights from their respective Protestant, (Christian) Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Jewish perspectives.
The ten contributions to this book share the common interest of finding viable and vital connections between the Spirit and hermeneutics. Part 1 is entitled “Pneumatology and Hermeneutics” and contains four contributions respectively authored by Anthony Godzieba, Wolfgang Vondey, John Levison and Ma. Marilou S. Ibita. The studies by John Pawlikowski and Laura Tack form the second part which deals with the Spirit and Jewish-Christian Relations. In part 3 we meet three contributions on “The Spirit and Orthodox Theology” authored by Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Pantelis Kalaitzidis and Viorel Coman respectively. The book closes with an epilogue (entitled “Four Questions on the Trinity, Pneumatology, and Jewish-Christian Relations”) by Amy-Jill Levine which offers a critical evaluation of the central ideas of the book. This book is the fruit of an international, interdisciplinary conference entitled “The Spirit, Hermeneutics and Dialogues” that was held in Leuven on May 25-27, 2016. This conference was the climax and conclusion of a four-year research project which was made possible by a grant from the Research Council of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. It is our hope that the pneumatological and future-oriented focus of this book will renew the dialogues among Jews and Christians as well as among different Christian traditions by opening new vistas for renewed dialogues.
Because of the upcoming Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in June 2016 the Greek publ... more Because of the upcoming Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in June 2016 the Greek publisher EN PLO (Athens) has published a Greek translation (512 p.; 16 EUR; ISBN: 978-960-9550-63-5) of the proceedings of a conference which Michel Stavrou and I have organized in 2012 at the Saint Sergius Theological Faculty in Paris under the title: 'The Forthcoming Council of the Orthodox Church: Understanding the Challenges'. The French version appeared in 2013 as n° 243 in the journal Contacts: Revue française de l’Orthodoxie. In the Spring of 2016 the English translation will be published in Saint Vladimir's Theological Quarterly.
A multidisciplinary analysis of Liszt’s Via Crucis (1878) in collaboration with a theologian. The... more A multidisciplinary analysis of Liszt’s Via Crucis (1878) in collaboration with a theologian. The way in which Liszt absorbs traditional musical materials (chant, chorales) and places them in contemporary surroundings is related to the spiritual exercise of the Way of the Cross.
Concluding lecture of the conference 'Ut unum sint: el camino irreversible de la Iglesia', 24-26 ... more Concluding lecture of the conference 'Ut unum sint: el camino irreversible de la Iglesia', 24-26 November 2021. In this chapter I will first remind the reader of the efforts made by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter I give an overview of the work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international level. Finally, I pay attention to the work of two selected regional or local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the work done in regional dialogues.
In 2022, the bishops of the universal Catholic Church will meet for a Synod in Rome. The theme wi... more In 2022, the bishops of the universal Catholic Church will meet for a Synod in Rome. The theme will be synodality. The synodalisation of the Catholic Church is a matter close to the heart of Pope Francis. The survey, to which Tomas Halik, Peter Neuner, Anna Hennersperger and myself (Paul M. Zulehner) cordially invite you, is itself a kind of practised synodality. We hope for strong participation. The results are intended to familiarise the Synod with views from the people of God and encourage them to bold deliberations and decisions.
There are several ways to discuss the role of the observers at Vatican II. In this chapter a chro... more There are several ways to discuss the role of the observers at Vatican II. In this chapter a chronological approach will be followed that focuses on the immediate reactions and contributions of the observers during the sessions and intersessions. During four years an ever growing group of non-Catholic observers and guests was invited by the Secretariat to participate in the event of the Council. They attended the public sessions and general congregations but could not participate in commission meetings. They had lots of opportunities to share their opinion on the documents and they also reported on the event of the Council and on the different documents in confidential reports that were sent to their sending bodies. The study of this material remains interesting to better understand the expectations and difficulties non-Catholic theologians had vis-à-vis this important attempt to renew the Catholic Church and its theology. THIS CHAPTER WILL BE PART OF THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF VATICAN II, A VOLUME EDITED BY CATHERINE E. CLIFFORD AND MASSIMO FAGGIOLI AND EXPECTED TO BE PUBLISHED BY OUP IN 2021
Even if it were the Council fathers who intervened during the plenary meetings in St. Peter’s bas... more Even if it were the Council fathers who intervened during the plenary meetings in St. Peter’s basilica and also voted on the conciliar documents, the broad ecclesial event known as the Second Vatican Council included a much larger cast of characters. This chapter will focus on some of the non-voting participants who had their own important role to play, giving particular attention to the role of theological experts, referred to as periti in conciliar jargon. At the council we can identify two kinds of periti, those appointed as advisers to the council itself and those who accompanied individual bishops. The conciliar periti could attend the general congregations, that is the general meetings in which the entire conciliar body conducted its business, but the bishops’ personal periti could not. The periti could not vote during the general congregations but had an important role during the commission meetings. As a way of introducing the importance of these theological advisers, we will focus on three ‘couples’ of theologians – Gérard Philips and Yves Congar, Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger, Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx. The chapter ends with a brief description of the role of other non-voting participants: non-Catholic observers, male and female lay and religious auditors, and finally the journalists, with special attention to the Belgian Jan Grootaers. THIS CHAPTER WILL BECOME PART OF THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO VATICAN II, edited by Richard R. Gaillardetz.
In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Un... more In this chapter we will follow the difficult cooperation between the Secretariat for Christian Unity and the Oriental Commission from the debate on the Schema decreti de Ecclesiae unitate “Ut omnes unum sint” during the first session on 26-30 November, 1962 till the presentation of the new Schema decreti de oecumenismo during the second session on November 18, 1963. The chapter will not so much focus on the content of the different drafts but on the tensions and difficult relations between the members and periti of both commissions and especially between Msgr. Willebrands, the secretary of the Secretariat for Christian Unity and Fr. Welykyj, the secretary of the Oriental Commission. As will appear from the final section of this chapter, the emotional letters exchanged by Willebrands and Welykyj on September 24 and October 25 definitely constitute the climax of the polemic. For this chronological reconstruction I mostly rely on the excellent reports of some of the meetings found in several archives, but also on the availability of several complementary and sometimes conflicting chronological overviews prepared by the protagonists of this polemic. THIS PAPER WILL LATER IN 2020 APPEAR IN A FESTSCHRIFT IN THE PEETERS SERIES BIBLIOTHECA EPHEMERIDUM THEOLOGICARUM LOVANIENSIUM.
The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1... more The availability of the Vatican II archives of Christophe-Jean Dumont (1897-1991), Yves Congar (1904-1995) and Emmanuel Lanne (1923-2010) has allowed us to study a number of unpublished papers from the announcement of the Council till the promulgation of Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio and Orientalium Ecclesiarum on November 21, 1964. Interestingly, only one motivation inspired their ecumenical work: the hope that the Second Vatican Council would soon be followed by the start of the official Orthodox-Roman Catholic international dialogue. THIS PAPER WILL LATER THIS YEAR BE PUBLISHED IN A FESTSCHRIFT IN THE PEETERS BETL series. MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW.
The International Theological Commission produced the document 'Synodality in the Life and Missio... more The International Theological Commission produced the document 'Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church' in 2018 to support change in the Catholic Church through enhancing the praxis of synodality. This chapter situates this recent reflection on synodality against the teaching on sensus fidei and magisterium in Vatican II, comments upon the use of communion ecclesiology by Pope Francis and mentions a few challenges to apply synodality in my own theological context. THIS CHAPTER WILL LATER THIS YEAR BE PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE AND MACMILLAN IN A COMMEMORATIVE VOLUME IN HONOUR OF OUR GOOD FRIEND GERARD MANNION EDITED BY VLADIMIR LATINOVIC AND MARK CHAPMAN
The reports of ecumenical conversations on a world level are published by the WCC in collective v... more The reports of ecumenical conversations on a world level are published by the WCC in collective volumes carrying the title Growth in Agreement. The assumption is that the dialogues are not just repeating the same arguments as they did half a century ago, but that the relations between the member churches have qualitatively grown as a result of this process. In this chapter I raise the question whether the Orthodox critique of important characteristics of Roman Catholic ecclesiology also reflects signs of growth. In the first part of this chapter I first discuss the Orthodox reactions on Vatican II during and immediately after the Council. Special attention will be given to the observations made as of the second session of the Council by the lay ecumenist Nikos A. Nissiotis. Immediately after obtaining his doctoral degree in 1956 he had become vice-president of the ecumenical institute of Bossey, which till today is closely connected to the World Council of Churches. Almost simultaneously with his mission to Rome as observer for the WCC, he had become professor at the theological faculty of the University of Geneva. In line with the title of this chapter I will already be attentive to the growth in criticism of the Orthodox observers in the course of the Council. In the second part of my article I focus on the current stage of the Orthodox reception of Vatican II occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. By way of conclusion I briefly indicate that the endeavor of Pope Francis to reform his Church in the direction of greater synodality is partially the result of the expectations formulated by representatives of our sister churches during more than 50 years. THIS PAPER WILL SOON BE PUBLISHED IN GREEK LANGUAGE IN A VOLUME DEDICATED TO N. NISSIOTIS AND A REVISED VERSION WILL LATER APPEAR IN ENGLISH
This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in t... more This article reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of Vatican II on the actors involved in the prophetic office in the Church in LG 12, LG 25 and DV 7-10. The Council did not want to convey a completely different message when speaking about the infallibility of Pope and bishops in the third chapter of Lumen Gentium compared to its earlier treatment of the infallibilitas in credendo in chapter two. In both LG 12 and LG 25 the people of God and the hierarchy are considered as active subjects. Ormond Rush and the International Theological Commission have transformed the bi-polar circularity between bishops and pastors of DV 10 into a tri-polar circularity. For Rush the faithful, the magisterium and the theologians constitute the one teaching office in the Church. The International Theological Commission pays attention to the interplay between the sensus fidelium, episcopal collegiality and papal primacy within a theology of synodality. From Vatican II till today the most important message remains that a strict separation between the teaching and the learning Church should be avoided.
This chapter will be published in THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL &
MET. MAXIM HERMANIUK, C.SS.R., ed... more This chapter will be published in THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL & MET. MAXIM HERMANIUK, C.SS.R., ed. Jaroslav Skira and Peter De Mey, Leuven, Peeters, forthcoming. It will be a companion volume to THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL DIARIES OF MET. MAXIM HERMANIUK, translated by Jaroslav Skira and annotated by Karim Schelkens, Leuven, Peeters, 2012. ABSTRACT OF MY ARTICLE: In the documents of Vatican II one finds two different versions describing the relations of Catholics with Orthodox Christians: the final section of the Decree on the Eastern Catholic churches (Orientalium ecclesiarum, OE 24-29) and the first part of chapter three of the Decree on ecumenism (Unitatis redintegratio, UR 14-18). The diaries of Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk make it clear that this eminent representative of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church was interested in each new draft of both decrees and tried to have an impact on its formulations through oral speeches, observations submitted in written form and modi. For each of the sessions and intersessions, prior to the promulgation of both decrees in November 1964, I will analyze Hermaniuk’s reactions while also describing the evolution of his contacts with both the Congregation for the Eastern Churches (Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus) and the Secretariat for Christian Unity, of which he became a member in November 1963. The final document that will be introduced is Hermaniuk’s brief commentary on the Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches . Hermaniuk’s reactions will be compared with those of his fellow Ukrainian bishops, famous representatives of other Eastern Catholic churches (Patriarch Maximos IV Saigh and Bishop Edelby), and his fellow members in the Secretariat for Christian Unity (like, Fr. Emmanuel Lanne).
Longer version of a paper presented at the XVIIth International Theological Conference ASSUMPTION... more Longer version of a paper presented at the XVIIth International Theological Conference ASSUMPTION READINGS on 'Freedom - Authority - Service', National University of 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy' & St. Thomas Aquinas Institute for Religious Sciences, Kyiv, 23-26 September 2017.
1. Prelude: famous 19th century Orthodox portrayals of the Roman Catholic Church 2. The power of the hierarchy and the obedience of the laity in Mystici Corporis (1943) and in the Draft of a Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1962) 3. Vatican II’s Focus on the Participation of the Entire People of God in the Threefold Office of Christ 4. A stronger focus on priestly identity under the pontificates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI 4.1. Instruction on Certain Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest (1997) 4.2. The new Directory for the Ministry and the Life of Priests (2013) 5. Pope Francis on the relationship between priests and laity 6. Postlude: The advice given by a contemporary Orthodox theologian to all churches “with developed administrative structures”
In recent years a discussion is taking place whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint ... more In recent years a discussion is taking place whether it would make sense to work towards a Joint Declaration on Church, Ministry and Eucharist. The invitation was made by Cardinal Koch, who, however, set it as a preliminary condition that the twofold Grunddifferenz between Catholics and Protestants both with regard to their understanding of Church and their model of unity first would be overcome. After introducing Cardinal Koch’s views on this matter, I will share with you the result of my study of a number of recent documents by ecumenical bodies and contributions by individual theologians – all written on the occasion of the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation ¬ that, explicitly or implicitly, comment on aspects of Cardinal Koch’s proposal.
From 25-27 February Prof. Vassilios Makrides convened an international group of scholars at Erfur... more From 25-27 February Prof. Vassilios Makrides convened an international group of scholars at Erfurt University to reflect on: 'The Pan-Orthodox Council of 2016 - a new era for the Orthodox Church?' The general feeling throughout the lectures and panel discussions was one of dissatisfaction about the poverty of the preparatory documents but one still would welcome it as a great breakthrough if the Council will take place at all and especially if it would be the start of a conciliar process. Because it will be important to revise our papers in light of the actual Council there is no immediate plan to publish them, so I offer my analysis through academia.edu!
In the decade before the Second Vatican Council, Catholic ecumenists like Johannes Willebrands we... more In the decade before the Second Vatican Council, Catholic ecumenists like Johannes Willebrands were definitely more familiar with the ‘apostolate of conversions’ and had to familiarize themselves with the new paradigm of ecumenism. In the paper which the Louvain professor Gustave Thils, on behalf of the Secretariat for Christian Unity (1961), wrote on ‘De oecumenismo catholico et de opere conversionum,’ we notice how the guidance of converts does no longer figure high on the list of priorities for the Catholic Church. Indeed, only one line is dedicated to the apostolate of conversions in the Decree of Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio (UR 4). In this paper, we will unfold the reasons why and will end with a short reflection on two important moments in the reception history of the Council.
In this paper I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the tria munera ... more In this paper I reconstruct the redaction history of the paragraphs dealing with the tria munera in the interconnected chapters two and four of Lumen Gentium. The declarations Presbyterorum Ordinis, Apostolicam Actuositatem and Ad Gentes received their decisive form only after the final debate on De Ecclesia in October 1964. I will pay attention to the discussion on the tria munera in these documents as well, before making it clear that, unfortunately, post-conciliar magisterial documents rely more on the dual scheme of LG 10 than on the tria munera. I start my reflections with discussing three important steps in the reflection on the laity in the threefold office of Christ in the decade prior to the start of the Council.
The question which leads me in this paper is whether the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, ... more The question which leads me in this paper is whether the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, often called this Church’s “best-kept secret”, is being developed in a way which is sufficiently aware that “the doctrine of justification is measure or touchstone for the Christian faith” and that “no teaching may contradict this criterion.” (JDDJ) In response to the title I felt bound to pay quite some attention, in the first two sections of my paper, to the two documents of the Second Vatican Council dealing with the Church, the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium (1964) and the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (1965). In Lumen Gentium chapter five deals with ‘The Universal Call to Holiness’ and this theme is very much present in the first part of Gaudium et Spes as well. I am aware that some of these passages have earlier on been treated in the response paper on “Justification and Sanctification” which Annemarie Mayer gave last year, but I hope to shed also some new light on the same theme which after all is a crucial one for our entire dialogue round. In the third and fourth section of my paper I will explore whether the encyclicals of Pope Benedict XVI and the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis reflect the same strong focus on Christology and on charity as the human response to God’s love for us.
In this paper (UNPUBLISHED TILL NOW BECAUSE OF TIME CONSTRAINTS AND MY NEW RESEARCH FOCUS ON ECCL... more In this paper (UNPUBLISHED TILL NOW BECAUSE OF TIME CONSTRAINTS AND MY NEW RESEARCH FOCUS ON ECCLESIOLOGY AND ECUMENISM) I confront the reader with part of my research on the Wirkungsgeschichte of a controversial book, written in 1909 by Arthur Drews, professor of philosophy at the Technische Hochschule of Karlsruhe, in which it is argued that Jesus never existed as a historical person, but is a fiction of the early Church. Drews’s book is entitled Die Christus-mythe, knew many reprints and was already available in a French and English translation in 1910. The author is no original thinker – his work is a compilation of arguments developed by others –, and is not really convincing. But, because his work arose vivid reactions among ordinary believers, a lot of theologians felt challenged to take position against Drews. This even happened by means of a public debate, as the one organized by the German monistic union. The Berliner Religionsgespräch: Hat Jesus gelebt? took place in the Berlin zoo and was attended by 5000 persons. Moreover, critical articles were published in major theological journals like the Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche, Theologie und Glaube, Die Christliche Welt, Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie and the Neue kirchliche Zeitschrift. Protestant theologians such as Wilhelm Herrmann, Friedrich Loofs, Ernst Troeltsch, Johannes Weiss and Georg Wobbermin, but also the Catholic dogmatician Franz Xaver Kiefl found it useful to publish a smaller or larger monograph in reaction to this attack on the basis of the Christian faith.
Interestingly this debate was not limited to the German-speaking world only. The debate on the English translation of Drews’s book was especially carried on in The American Journal of Theology, the precursor of The Journal of Religion. Within the limits of this presentation I have to restrict myself to the study of a selection of some German reactions. I will especially pay attention to the position of Ernst Troeltsch in the debate. His essay on Die Bedeutung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu für den Glauben receives still much attention in scholarly literature.
Uploads
Politics Today in India’ have presented a literature review on the topic
of the abuse crisis, since it is a scandal which affects both
Church and society. As a systematic theologian I will
especially highlight the fact that the abuse crisis also affects
the content of our theology.
conciliar documents and their preparatory stages describe the collaboration between laity and their pastors in a way which describes an accountable Church. We did not encounter a technical definition of accountability in the documents of Vatican II. However, if creating a greater culture of accountability refers to the willingness of all members of the people of God to have the quality of their Christian life evaluated by other members, then we encountered such pleas in the attention to the mutual relationship of ordained and lay faithful during the preparation of the conciliar documents.
by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that
the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for
Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter I give an overview of the
work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international
level. Finally, I pay attention to the work of two selected regional or
local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological
Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and
Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the
work done in regional dialogues. As a motto for this paper I have chosen to repeat the title of the third chapter of the only encyclical which has thus far been dedicated to the cause of ecumenism, the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint on Commitment to Ecumenism by Pope John Paul II.
The views of these theologians have been officially received – often with the cooperation of the same theologians as Council periti – in the central role the notion of Church as sacrament has received in Lumen Gentium. By giving this image a central place the Council fathers wanted to give up the self-centeredness of pre-Conciliar Roman Catholic ecclesiology. The Church has in first instance to be a sign and a modest instrument of God’s offer of grace to humankind. Interestingly, in the Council’s reflections on Christ as sacrament, the Church as sacrament and the effects of the sacraments, the very same key texts from Aquinas were cited that had been used in the works of the mentioned theologians. The term sacramentum mundi is not yet found in the preparation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Lumen Gentium or Unitatis Redintegratio during the first and second session. The German scheme, which had a strong impact on the opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium, was particularly interested in the relationship of Church and world. In distinction from this, the quotations of LG 1 and LG 48 in Ad Gentes and Gaudium et Spes as well as Schillebeeckx’ interpretation of the notion of Church as sacrament as sacramentum mundi reflect a greater interest in the instrumental role of the Church. What Schillebeeckx has learned from St. Thomas, however, is never abandoned. For him Aquinas was an authority, as for his fellow theologians at Vatican II.
Politics Today in India’ have presented a literature review on the topic
of the abuse crisis, since it is a scandal which affects both
Church and society. As a systematic theologian I will
especially highlight the fact that the abuse crisis also affects
the content of our theology.
conciliar documents and their preparatory stages describe the collaboration between laity and their pastors in a way which describes an accountable Church. We did not encounter a technical definition of accountability in the documents of Vatican II. However, if creating a greater culture of accountability refers to the willingness of all members of the people of God to have the quality of their Christian life evaluated by other members, then we encountered such pleas in the attention to the mutual relationship of ordained and lay faithful during the preparation of the conciliar documents.
by Catholic ecumenists during the Second Vatican Council to ensure that
the quality of the conciliar documents would be a good starting point for
Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. Thereafter I give an overview of the
work of the multilateral and bilateral official dialogues at international
level. Finally, I pay attention to the work of two selected regional or
local dialogues, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological
Consultation and the Ecumenical study group of German Protestant and
Catholic theologians, making the suggestion that the international dialogue should be less afraid to enter into closer collaboration with the
work done in regional dialogues. As a motto for this paper I have chosen to repeat the title of the third chapter of the only encyclical which has thus far been dedicated to the cause of ecumenism, the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint on Commitment to Ecumenism by Pope John Paul II.
The views of these theologians have been officially received – often with the cooperation of the same theologians as Council periti – in the central role the notion of Church as sacrament has received in Lumen Gentium. By giving this image a central place the Council fathers wanted to give up the self-centeredness of pre-Conciliar Roman Catholic ecclesiology. The Church has in first instance to be a sign and a modest instrument of God’s offer of grace to humankind. Interestingly, in the Council’s reflections on Christ as sacrament, the Church as sacrament and the effects of the sacraments, the very same key texts from Aquinas were cited that had been used in the works of the mentioned theologians. The term sacramentum mundi is not yet found in the preparation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Lumen Gentium or Unitatis Redintegratio during the first and second session. The German scheme, which had a strong impact on the opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium, was particularly interested in the relationship of Church and world. In distinction from this, the quotations of LG 1 and LG 48 in Ad Gentes and Gaudium et Spes as well as Schillebeeckx’ interpretation of the notion of Church as sacrament as sacramentum mundi reflect a greater interest in the instrumental role of the Church. What Schillebeeckx has learned from St. Thomas, however, is never abandoned. For him Aquinas was an authority, as for his fellow theologians at Vatican II.
restricted to a discussion of the role of the priest in the Church. In the final draft of Lumen Gentium the same pattern of the tria munera is used to describe the priestly, prophetic and royal tasks of the people of God as a whole (LG 9-12), the bishops (LG 25-27), the priests (LG 28) and the laity (LG 34-36). Already in Presbyterorum Ordinis but especially in a number of documents from the post-conciliar magisterium attempts have been made to define the identity of the priest in isolation from the mission of the laity. By stating that the priest receives his identity precisely from being deeply connected with the other members of the people of God, Pope Francis reconfirms the wisdom of LG 37: “From this familiar relationship between laity and pastors many advantages for the Church can be expected”.
Een ploeg van een 20-tal vertalers en een 25-tal theologische adviseurs uit Noord en Zuid zette zich aan het werk onder de leiding van een kernredactie die bestond uit: M. Lamberigts, P. De Mey, H. Witte, K. Schelkens, H. Tercic en D. Bosschaert. Het geheel werd voorzien van een historische inleiding en elk document kreeg eveneens een inleiding waarin zowel het tot stand komen van het document als de receptie ervan wordt behandeld. In dit boek wordt de nieuwe Nederlandse vertaling naast de oorspronkelijke Latijnse tekst afgedrukt. Een standaardwerk voor al wie betrokken is bij de Kerk en de studie ervan.
Het is mogelijk om de vernieuwde opvatting over katholiciteit in de conciliedocumenten terug te vinden, wanneer men die paragrafen in Lumen Gentium en Unitatis Redintegratio bestudeert waarin de term “katholiciteit” voorkomt. Enkele paragrafen in Lumen Gentium, Christus Dominus en Ad Gentes waarin het adjectief “katholiek” toegeschreven wordt aan de Kerk van Christus of aan het begrip “eenheid” zijn in dezelfde geest geschreven. Het is echter bekend dat tijdens het tweede Vaticaans concilie pogingen om nieuwe ecclesiologische denkpistes te verkennen soms genuanceerd en/of geneutraliseerd werden door de invoeging van paragrafen die de vroegere theorievorming hieromtrent reflecteren. Hiervan zal ik ook de meest sprekende voorbeelden ter sprake brengen.
My article has been published in the 2015/2 issue of the ecumenical journal IRENIKON of the Benedictine monks of Chevetogne, which has been published since 83 years! This issue presents the fruits of a half day colloquium which took place on the theme of 'The Orthodox Church and Vatican II', in the presence of His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch. The other contributors are Joseph Famerée, "L'Eglise locale selon Lumen Gentium: Réactions orthodoxes à l'époque du concilie" and Sorin Selaru, "La synodalité et l'autorité au niveau régional dans l'Eglise: de Lumen Gentium au Document de Ravenne" as well as the response of the ecumenical patriarch. For more information on IRENIKON: http://www.monasteredechevetogne.com/Irenikon and on the bi-ritual monastery of Chevetogne: http://www.monasteredechevetogne.com/
Part I focuses on the foundations of theology, viz. Scripture, tradition(s), and/or reason. Part II investigates the important theological issues that have their roots in the Reformation Era, including the tensile relationship between sin, grace, free will, justification and sanctification, and the controversies related to the Eucharist, including the notion of sacrifice. Part III examines democratization and leadership structures in the Church. Part IV explores what a historically-informed awareness can contribute to an ecumenically-oriented reflection on the renewal and reform of the Church today.
The ten contributions to this book share the common interest of finding viable and vital connections between the Spirit and hermeneutics. Part 1 is entitled “Pneumatology and Hermeneutics” and contains four contributions respectively authored by Anthony Godzieba, Wolfgang Vondey, John Levison and Ma. Marilou S. Ibita. The studies by John Pawlikowski and Laura Tack form the second part which deals with the Spirit and Jewish-Christian Relations. In part 3 we meet three contributions on “The Spirit and Orthodox Theology” authored by Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Pantelis Kalaitzidis and Viorel Coman respectively. The book closes with an epilogue (entitled “Four Questions on the Trinity, Pneumatology, and Jewish-Christian Relations”) by Amy-Jill Levine which offers a critical evaluation of the central ideas of the book.
This book is the fruit of an international, interdisciplinary conference entitled “The Spirit, Hermeneutics and Dialogues” that was held in Leuven on May 25-27, 2016. This conference was the climax and conclusion of a four-year research project which was made possible by a grant from the Research Council of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. It is our hope that the pneumatological and future-oriented focus of this book will renew the dialogues among Jews and Christians as well as among different Christian traditions by opening new vistas for renewed dialogues.
THIS CHAPTER WILL BE PART OF THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF VATICAN II, A VOLUME EDITED BY CATHERINE E. CLIFFORD AND MASSIMO FAGGIOLI AND EXPECTED TO BE PUBLISHED BY OUP IN 2021
At the council we can identify two kinds of periti, those appointed as advisers to the council itself and those who accompanied individual bishops. The conciliar periti could attend the general congregations, that is the general meetings in which the entire conciliar body conducted its business, but the bishops’ personal periti could not. The periti could not vote during the general congregations but had an important role during the commission meetings. As a way of introducing the importance of these theological advisers, we will focus on three ‘couples’ of theologians – Gérard Philips and Yves Congar, Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger, Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx. The chapter ends with a brief description of the role of other non-voting participants: non-Catholic observers, male and female lay and religious auditors, and finally the journalists, with special attention to the Belgian Jan Grootaers.
THIS CHAPTER WILL BECOME PART OF THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO VATICAN II, edited by Richard R. Gaillardetz.
THIS PAPER WILL LATER IN 2020 APPEAR IN A FESTSCHRIFT IN THE PEETERS SERIES BIBLIOTHECA EPHEMERIDUM THEOLOGICARUM LOVANIENSIUM.
THIS PAPER WILL LATER THIS YEAR BE PUBLISHED IN A FESTSCHRIFT IN THE PEETERS BETL series. MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW.
THIS CHAPTER WILL LATER THIS YEAR BE PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE AND MACMILLAN IN A COMMEMORATIVE VOLUME IN HONOUR OF OUR GOOD FRIEND GERARD MANNION EDITED BY VLADIMIR LATINOVIC AND MARK CHAPMAN
THIS PAPER WILL SOON BE PUBLISHED IN GREEK LANGUAGE IN A VOLUME DEDICATED TO N. NISSIOTIS AND A REVISED VERSION WILL LATER APPEAR IN ENGLISH
MET. MAXIM HERMANIUK, C.SS.R., ed. Jaroslav Skira and Peter De Mey, Leuven, Peeters, forthcoming. It will be a companion volume to THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL DIARIES OF MET. MAXIM HERMANIUK, translated by Jaroslav Skira and annotated by Karim Schelkens, Leuven, Peeters, 2012.
ABSTRACT OF MY ARTICLE: In the documents of Vatican II one finds two different versions describing the relations of Catholics with Orthodox Christians: the final section of the Decree on the Eastern Catholic churches (Orientalium ecclesiarum, OE 24-29) and the first part of chapter three of the Decree on ecumenism (Unitatis redintegratio, UR 14-18). The diaries of Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk make it clear that this eminent representative of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church was interested in each new draft of both decrees and tried to have an impact on its formulations through oral speeches, observations submitted in written form and modi. For each of the sessions and intersessions, prior to the promulgation of both decrees in November 1964, I will analyze Hermaniuk’s reactions while also describing the evolution of his contacts with both the Congregation for the Eastern Churches (Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus) and the Secretariat for Christian Unity, of which he became a member in November 1963. The final document that will be introduced is Hermaniuk’s brief commentary on the Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches . Hermaniuk’s reactions will be compared with those of his fellow Ukrainian bishops, famous representatives of other Eastern Catholic churches (Patriarch Maximos IV Saigh and Bishop Edelby), and his fellow members in the Secretariat for Christian Unity (like, Fr. Emmanuel Lanne).
1. Prelude: famous 19th century Orthodox portrayals of the Roman Catholic Church
2. The power of the hierarchy and the obedience of the laity in Mystici Corporis (1943) and in the Draft of a Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1962)
3. Vatican II’s Focus on the Participation of the Entire People of God in the Threefold Office of Christ
4. A stronger focus on priestly identity under the pontificates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI
4.1. Instruction on Certain Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest (1997)
4.2. The new Directory for the Ministry and the Life of Priests (2013)
5. Pope Francis on the relationship between priests and laity
6. Postlude: The advice given by a contemporary Orthodox theologian to all churches “with developed administrative structures”
Interestingly this debate was not limited to the German-speaking world only. The debate on the English translation of Drews’s book was especially carried on in The American Journal of Theology, the precursor of The Journal of Religion. Within the limits of this presentation I have to restrict myself to the study of a selection of some German reactions. I will especially pay attention to the position of Ernst Troeltsch in the debate. His essay on Die Bedeutung der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu für den Glauben receives still much attention in scholarly literature.