Religious Order Leaders challenge Catholic structures

Contents - Mar 1993 - Buy a copy now Religious Order Leaders challenge Catholic structures The Myth of Latin America's 'Basic Christian Communities' - Paul Gray What the secular humanists are up to - David Quinn Books: A review of the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' (French Edition) - Fr Peter Joseph

AD2000 REPORT

A joint letter, signed by members of the executive of the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, and recently published in S.A. Catholic (January 1993) raises the question of what kind of Church the Catholic Church is or should be.

According to the signatories' selective interpretation of Vatican II, the local bishop should be able to institute important policies independently of the Pope. In fact Vatican II and Canon Law make it clear that bishops must align such policy decisions - e.g., inclusive language in the liturgy - with those of Rome.

If local bishops see fit to depart (or allow others to depart) from the universal Church's clearly stated positions it is difficult to see what loyalty they, themselves, can reasonably expect from the generality of Catholics in their dioceses.

The fact that those in charge of Australia's religious congregations have seen fit to support an independent line from Rome - as indicated below - is itself a disturbing sign of the present state of religious life in Australia. The text of the joint letter appears below.

What this letter appears to be saying is that the religious signatories believe that Archbishop Faulkner should continue to pursue his policy of introducing inclusive language into the liturgy whether or not this is in line with the position of the Pope and the Holy See. In this respect, they have overlooked key statements from both Vatican II and the Code of Canon Law (as revised in 1983):

"The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff. The Lord made Peter alone the rock-foundation and the holder of the keys of the Church ..." (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter Three, par. 22, Flannery Edition, p. 375);

"Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is on the Apostolic See, and, as laws may determine, on the bishop ... Therefore no other person, not even a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority ..." (Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, par. 22, parts (1) and (2), Flannery Edition, p. 9).

"It is the prerogative of the Apostolic See to regulate the sacred liturgy of the universal Church, to publish liturgical books and to review their vernacular translations, and to be watchful that liturgical regulations are everywhere faithfully observed"; and, "It pertains to Episcopal Conferences to prepare vernacular translations of liturgical books, with appropriate adaptations as allowed by the books themselves, and with the prior review of the Holy See, to publish these translations" (The Code of Canon Law, 838, n. 2-3). All the emphases are ours.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 6 No 2 (March 1993), p. 6