Si Si No No June 1993-Catholics in Surrender!

[Dawn Marie]

June 1993 No. 2

---

PART I: - AN ACCUSATION

The monthly magazine 30 DAYS (January 1993, pp. 45-50) published a dossier on the “Lefebvris,”¹ (reprinted herein on pages 3b-6b) yet in the same issue it had distanced itself from them in its Editorial, entitled: "In necessariis unitas" or "Keep unity in all necessary things." This comes down to saying that the "Lefebvrist" standpoint is not on matters of Faith, but on debatable theological questions, not yet settled by the Church.

Therefore they say, if the Church has not yet officially pronounced anything on these questions, theologians can freely discuss and debate them, and the faithful are free to believe any opinion.

The 3O DAYS Editorial puts forward three points. The first point bases itself upon a quote of Pope Pius IX taken from the encyclical Qui Pluribus (1846), in which the Pope affirms his confidence in the "marvelous providence" with which God guides and protects the Church, even "in such difficult times as these for Christian Society," employing "the most insignificant means in governing the Church."

The Editorial therefore concludes: "If the Lefebvrists were to consider these words of Pius IX of value, not only out of faithfulness to a great Pope of the past, but because they are ever true, they would adopt a very different attitude towards the current legitimate Successor of Peter and towards the last ecumenical Council, which was legitimately convened and celebrated."

 

THE REPLY

Let us reply by pointing out the following:

1) Our attitude to evil and error: There is no doubt that Providence guides and protects the Church - even in its saddest and most difficult moments. Nor do we doubt that the Church can make use of "the most insignificant means," bringing good out of evil and even making use of bad persons to bring about good. Yet, neither is there any doubt that Providence does not magically turn evil into good, and error (which is an evil to the intelligence) into truth.

Evil is evil: error is error. Man, though free, is not free to choose evil. He must choose good and avoid evil. He cannot be freed from this obligation, for which he will be answerable before God. Therefore, with evil remaining the evil it is, and error being the error that it is, he is obliged to make a stand against evil and error.

It was certainly part of the providential plan that Jesus be betrayed by Judas, condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and renounced by a number of Jews. However, Judas, the Jewish leaders, and those who rejected Our Lord, carry with themselves a personal responsibility, for which they will have to answer. Jesus referred to His Passion as "the chalice the Father has given me." Yet he accuses the Jews of always resisting the Holy Spirit, and says of Judas: "It would have been better for him had he never been born!"

Man enters the Providential plan as a creature endowed with freedom, not under constraint. He is, therefore, responsible for the good or bad use of this freedom. Consequently, he is responsible for the stance he takes in the face of evil and error - things which God merely tolerates in furthering His unfathomable designs.

We cannot see why the words of Pius IX - not only true then, but forever true - should change our attitude towards the errors and destructive course upon which the Church has embarked upon, nor our attitude towards the Catholics who are knowingly and willingly partaking in these errors and destruction.

2) Our attitude toward Vatican II: We do not doubt that the last Council was "legitimately convened." Yet this legitimacy does not give the Council the power to make a Council dogmatic, when it explicitly stated itself to be merely pastoral! Consequently, one cannot afterwards evade the fact that the Council's teaching can be, and in view of today's circumstances, must be judged in the light of the constant and universal Faith of the Church - which no Council, Ecumenical or not, can contradict.

Pope Pius IX

 

3) Our attitude toward the Pope: We are not here doubting the legitimacy of the present successor of St. Peter. The question bears more upon the legitimate use of some of the powers he has inherited. A person can unlawfully use a legitimate power and the mere fact of possessing this legitimate power does not make all his actions automatically lawful. This is even more true within the Church than in civil society, because the Church deals with something far more important than temporal goods - it deals with the eternal salvation of men.

"For we can do nothing against the truth," says St. Paul (II Cor 13:8). To the objection that Christ should not have publicly and severely rebuked and offended the priests and princes of the Jews because of the authority they held, St. Thomas replies (Summa Theologica IIIa question 42 article 2, ad 3), that when religious leaders publicly use their authority for evil purposes, then they deserve to be publicly and severely rebuked – as Daniel did to the two Jewish elders in the case of Susanna (Dan. 13:52), who used their lawful power in an unlawful way.

When the Faith is at stake, as it is today, St. Thomas expressly obliges the faithful to publicly reprimand their own prelates (Summa Theologica IIa IIae question 33, article 4, ad 2).

Even though we believe that Divine Providence will never abandon the Church and even though we accept the legitimacy of both Vatican II and the current successor of St. Peter neither of these are sufficient motives for throwing a cloak over the errors of Vatican II and the disasters that followed in its wake - errors and disasters which seriously threaten our Faith and that of our neighbor!

 

PART II – THE MISINTERPRETATION

Secondly, the 30 DAYS Editorial seeks, with the help of St. Thomas, to offer a Catholic interpretation of paragraph 22 from the encyclical Gaudium et Spes, which says: "Filius Dei incarnatione sua cum omni homine quodammodo se univit" ("By His Incarnation, the Son of God has united Himself in some way to every man.")

According to the Editorial, the Council simply resumes St. Thomas Aquinas' treatment in the Summa Theologica. The expression "in some way" (quodammodo) states that which St. Thomas also says (Summa Theologica III question 8, article 3), which is that all men are called to unite themselves to Christ, and therefore, those who are not united to Him in act, are united to Him potentially, or virtually.

Yet if 30 DAYS wishes to establish such an interpretation of Gaudium et Spes, it should also:

(a) Prove that Catholic doctrine has not been ecumenically watered down or deformed in Gaudium et Spes.

(b) Prove that the post-Vatican II application of this passage (as well as the Vatican II documents on ecumenism) reflects the Catholic sense, which they now wish to give this passage.

In reality, St. Thomas' text, to which the Editorial has recourse, also states that even though all men are called and thus have the possibility of uniting themselves to Christ all, however, are not united to Him since for some this potential union with Christ will never pass into actual union. Yet, we must point out that, not only did Gaudium et Spes fail to clarify this mode of union (which 30 DAYS now takes it upon itself to do), but Gaudium et Spes passes over St. Thomas in silence, where he explains that this potential union remains merely potential and nothing more than that, for those who resist the call of Christ!

Furthermore, these clarifications should have been obligatory, since Gaudium et Spes (#22) speaks of "all men," thus placing itself within the context of individual subjective redemption, which is conditional; whereas objective redemption is universal and absolute. In other words, Christ died for all and therefore all can be saved, but each individual man can only be saved if he cooperates with God's grace.

 

WATERED-DOWN DOCTRINE WASHES HELL AWAY!

The result (or perhaps the aim?) of this watering-down of Catholic doctrine, or deformation, is clear for all to see. We have the heresy of unconditional salvation for all men. Hell exists, they say, but it's empty! We have the ecumenical hugging and kissing with all those who, by virtue of objective redemption, are certainly called to unite themselves to Christ, but who in fact, in act, are not united to Him due to their culpable refusal to do so.

The desired or wishful attempt by 30 DAYS, at giving Gaudium et Spes (#22) a traditional Catholic interpretation, is belied by the heterodox ecumenical behavior that we have witnessed in the thirty years since Vatican II. If it really had a true Catholic sense, then could someone please explain why the Church today follows a "pastoral" path diametrically opposed to the path followed in the true Catholic sense for 2,000 years?

If Gaudium et Spes has a true Catholic spirit, then could somebody please explain why there is so much communicatio in sacris (“participation in non-Catholic worship") today? This is something that was always forbidden by both Divine law and Ecclesiastical Law - "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid! (Titus 3:10)"; Old Code of Canon Law, c.1258 § 1; c.1063; c.2319; c.1325 § 3, etc. Today, however, the Supreme Authority, and those under him, continually and publicly gives us a bad example (Yes, we can and must rebuke that!).

We have examples at Assisi, Brussels, etc.! We have the encouragement of mixed marriages as being models of ecumenism - something the Church has always discouraged! This change of direction clearly shows that Paragraph 22 of Gaudium et Spes is not understood in a Catholic sense. Virtual union, that is to say purely possible union, with Christ, which may or may become actual union (a dogma of Faith), is not looked upon as being an effectual and real union: "By his incarnation, the Son of God has united Himself in some way to every man."

 

VERDICT

The verdict to all this is that, if, as the Editorial insists, "The Council simply resumes St. Thomas Aquinas ' treatment in the Summa Theologica of the question if Christ be head of all men," then it has done so very badly, while its application of the doctrine has been even worse!

Sometimes, as in the documents quoted by 30 DAYS, the Pope also says Catholic things, speaking in a Catholic way - such as the necessity of the Church and Baptism. That we do not deny. Yet, the tragedy or irony of that statement is the word "also." For one should expect the Pope to speak only of Catholic things and only in a Catholic way, the word also should not come into it!

Furthermore, why are "Catholic things" presented to Catholics alone? Why, as in the case of Redemptoris missio, are they said after a total breakdown in the Catholic missionary field? What isn't surprising, is the fact that today's ecumenism does not mix the various "religious traditions," but, for the time being, limits itself to putting them all on the same level, as if they were all of divine origin!

When the need and necessity of Church and Baptism will once again be preached to everyone, Catholics and non-Catholics, without "ecumenical" exceptions being made of persons, then will we accept the defensive argument put forward by 30 DAYS!

 

PART III – DIGNITATIS HUMANAE

The worst, however, comes out of the Editorial's third point of issue, wherein it deals with the problem of Religious Liberty and the relations between Church and State. The Editorial manifests a total ignorance of Catholic doctrine, or, to be more precise, it manifests the liberal deformation of the subject.

The Editorial quotes Dignitatis Humanae (#13), in "reproposing ‘Libertas ecclesiae,’ not only as a condition for its mission, but as the 'fundamental principle' in relations between the Church and the entire civil order" and it concludes: "If the followers of Msgr. Lefebvre were to adhere to this principle, proper to Church tradition, they would not be long in calling for the Christianization of laws - an impossible feat today - or in talking about Catholic nations. Such a call and such a lack of realism, might not only be a contradiction of the fundamental principle of 'Libertas ecclesiae,' but could even lend a hand to 'enemies bonded in a vile union' (as Pius IX said in his first encyclical) in combating what little remains of the Christian people."

 

TRUTH MEANS THE WHOLE TRUTH!

The teaching of Pius IX, when unanimous and constant with that of all the other Roman Pontiffs constitutes part of the infallible Magisterium of the Church. If 30 DAYS knew, and referred to, the whole substance of that doctrine - and not just favorable excerpts of that doctrine - then 30 DAYS would also know that:

(a) Libertas ecclesiae is not the unique principle upon which Catholic doctrine, in Church-State relations, is founded. Neither does the claim of being a “fundamental principle” give it any right of annulling all other principles, especially those principles governing the duties of society, its leaders and its individuals, towards God; nor can it annul the principles governing society's duties in relation to the one sole religion that God has revealed to man (cf. Pius IX, Quanta Cura and Syllabus of Errors; Leo XIII, lmmortale Dei, Libertas, Diuturnum Illud; Pius XII, Ciriesce, etc.)

(b) They would also be aware of the fact that the Church has never considered the Christianization of civil law and the existence of Catholic nations as a threat to the freedom of the Church, as 30 DAYS seems to think. On the contrary, the Church has always considered, and rightly so, that such a Christianization of laws and nations, is the best guarantee for the freedom of the Church. We cannot see how the Church can be better protected in an agnostic State, which manifests religious indifference, rather than in a Catholic State!

(c) It would also be known to them that the Church has never had "a lack of realism," though taking into account existing situations or "the perverse times of today" (Pius VI), She has never renounced the unchangeable principles governing Church-State relations. On the contrary, "She does not dissimulate the fact that this collaboration of principles [between Church and State] is something normal nor does She think it an ideal for obtaining the union of all people in the one True Religion, nor ideal for unanimity of action between Church and State" (Allocution of Pius XII: Iis qui interfuerunt Conventui X lnternationali de Scientiis Historicis, September 7, 1955). Why should they, who are called "Lefebvrists, " think any differently to their Holy Mother, the Church?

(d) Furthermore, contrary to what 30 DAYS seems to think, principles on Church-State relations are not contingency norms given by the Roman Pontiffs to suit the circumstances of the day, but now no longer effective. Nothing can be further from the truth! These principles are the constant and universal teaching of the Catholic Church. They are founded upon Divine Revelation and right reason. They have been handed down, unchanged, by the Fathers of the Church (Ss. John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzen, Augustine and Ambrose) to our present age, as seen in the encyclical of Leo XIII, lmmortale Dei. This encyclical was written in the face of apostasizing Catholic nations with the intention of also handing down unchanged the Catholic teaching "on the Christian constitution of States." For a deeper study on this matter, we refer you to the Dictionaire de Theologie Catholique, under "Eglise." As regards the immutability of Catholic doctrine, consult Leo XIII Diuturnum Illud and Sapientiae Christianae; Pius XI Divini Illius Magistri; Pius XII Summi Pontificatus, etc.

(e) Finally, they should see the errors of liberalism and modernism, which they are calmly reproposing by reducing Catholic doctrine on Church-State affairs only to that, which is contained in Libertas ecclesiae. Meanwhile avoiding the rest of Catholic doctrine merely to uphold this liberal and modernist notion of ecclesiastical freedom! For it contains the Catholic liberalism of Lamenais; the modernist notion of separation of Church and State; again, the modernist religious indifferentism of State whereby it gives equal footing to all religions (true and false), as long as public order is not disturbed!

These lamentable errors, Dignitatis Humanae, has made its own - errors that have been condemned by the infallible Magisterium of the Church and which errors consequently must be rejected. We refer you to Gregory XVI; Mirari vos; Pius IX, Quanta Cura and Syllabus of Errors; Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno; Leo XIII, lmmortale Dei, Libertas, Diuturnum lllud; Pius XII Ci riesce, etc.

 

SUMMARY - PRINCIPLES CANNOT BE ABOLISHED

In conclusion we can say that amongst "Lefebvrists" there is no "confusion between the contents of Faith, Catholic morality and proper and historical judgments on the contemporary world. (30 DAYS p. 45)"

The question is not historical, but doctrinal. No Council has the power to abolish a doctrine that has been constantly and universally taught by the Church and presented as unchanged and certain by a long series of Roman Pontiffs. How much more true is this when a Council tries to abolish such teaching when merely faced with unfavorable circumstances! Nothing is impossible with God! Even the rebirth of Catholic nations! Principles must be protected and maintained, something the Church has never failed to do, regardless of favorable or adverse circumstances!

Finally, we must remember that one cannot remain a Catholic by accepting some and rejecting other parts of the constant and universal (quod semper et ubique) teaching of the Church. This right of choice is equivalent to heresy, and, consequently, is something unacceptable to Catholics, let alone forbidden! It is even less permissible for a journal, which pretends to be of Catholic inspiration, to accept and reject whatsoever it wishes. The consequential responsibility before God is frightening! Pope St. Pius X already experienced the deviation of the Catholic Press in his own day. As regards the journals of these compromising Catholics, Pope St. Pius X had this to say about them: "Failing to convert any of our adversaries (who instead, laugh at their Catholic pretensions), they do the greatest harm to good souls! (Letter to the Provost of Casalpusterlengo, October 20, 1912)"

Paulinus

Translated from Courrier de Rome April 1993.

1. The Society of Saint Pius X rejects the label, "Lefebvrist," because of its false and derogatory implication that the Society is not Catholic. However, we retain its usage as it appeared in the 3O DAYS article reprinted here for the sake of authenticity.

 

June 1993 No. 2

---

The following is an extensive article and critical synopsis of the objections of Abbe Schmidberger's staff to Vatican II. "This is what keeps us and Rome apart"

Reading the Council in the light of tradition" (John Paul II to the Sacred College, November 6, 1978) seemed to Msgr. Lefebvre to be a hermeneutically correct criterion (letter to the Holy Father, March 8, 1980). But the archbishop explained to his followers:

"They want to make the Council part of tradition but my conception of tradition is a discriminatory factor which distinguishes what in the Council conforms with tradition and what goes against it." It was on this point that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger insisted on July 20,1983: "You cannot state that Conciliar texts - which are part of the Magisterium - are incompatible with the Magisterium and tradition."

While undoubtedly some texts do conform with tradition, such as No.25 of Lumen Gentium or the decree on the ministry of priests, there is also one irreconcilable document: on religious liberty; and there are so many other texts which one famous theologian described as "full of errors and mistakes" and which no one, especially the Pope, interprets in the light of tradition. For, these texts have other points of reference, which require analysis.

 

I. THE COUNCIL IN THE LIGHT OF ITS TRADITION

Some Conciliar documents are the heirs of a tradition, of a special tradition.

a) The Ideology of Liberalism

Liberty as a supreme value implies the primacy of liberty over truth. It is liberty which makes do with being "related" to the truth but which at the same time does not adhere to it in any way and which claims in any case exemption from all bonds in its social expression (Dignitatis humanae, 2). The problem of  "due limits" (Dignitatis humanae, 2) is the false problem typically generated by unregulated liberty and for which, suddenly, rules must be provided. Pursuing this vicious circle could have been avoided by following Leo XIII: "In the eternal law (of God) is finally to be found the entire rule of true liberty. (Leo XIII, Libertas)”

b) The Ideology of Secularism - Agnosticism of the State

Msgr. De Smedt, a speaker to the Council, said: "The State is not a power such as to provide a judgment on religious truth because: 1) the State is an abstract thing; 2) it is erected by democratic constitutions which do not bestow this power upon it."

Such a concept of State is in contrast with all tradition: "To princes let the honor of God be dear above all things, and let them make it their chief duty to favor the true religion. (Leo XIII, Immortale Dei)": "O Christ, that Heads of State may honor Thee publicly, that professors and judges honor Thee, that Thou be manifest in laws and the arts! (Sixth verse of the Vespers hymn of Christ the King, suppressed after the Council)"

 

Lefebvrists, What Do They Want?1 "Just a Spiritual Galvanizer" This is the Lefebvrist criticism of the post-Conciliar Church. The following are some of the Vatican II passages which they see as the least reconcilable with Tradition
VATICAN II	"The Church subsists in the Catholic Church. (Lumen gentium, 8)"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	Tradition has always sustained that "the Mystical Body of Christ is the Catholic Church. (Pius XII, Mysticicorporis)" "Subsists in" really implies other, secondary, points of subsistence in "separated communities." The traditional "is," which signifies an absolute identity between the Church of Christ and the Cathoexcludes this.
VATICAN II	"The Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them (Churches and separated communities, Ed.) as means of salvation. (Unitatis redintegratio, 3)"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	Tradition has always sustained that "those who are divided amongst themselves (from the Catholic Church) for reasons of faith or government cannot live in the unity of such a Body and consequently not in its divine Spirit either. (Pius XII, Mystici corporis)" And Msgr. Lefebvre, in I Accuse The Council, recalled that "a community, in that it is a separated community, cannot enjoy the help of the Holy Spirit since its separation is resistance to the Holy Spirit . . . The Holy Spirit can only use the means which do not in themselves entail any sign of separation," such as valid Baptism, the Holy Scripture taken as a whole, etc.
VATICAN II	"This right of the human person to religious freedom . . . (Dignitatis humanae, 2)"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	Tradition has always sustained that "right (cannot belong) indiscriminately to truth and to falsehood. (Leo XIII, Libertas )" There can be no abstraction from the truth and from religious error. Adherents to false cults (those which at least conform to natural law) have a right as regards irreligion which persecutes but not as regards the true religion -as regards the need to protect the Catholic Faith and the common temporal good founded upon it. Catholics, in contrast, have the "right to worship God" (Pins XII, Christmas Message 1942) in all circumstances.
VATICAN II	"The Catholic Church has a high regard forthe manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines (of non-Christian religions, Ed.). (Nostra aetate, 2)"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	There must be respect for the person who is in error but his error must be detested and an effort made to let him understand the error. What there is of truth in false religions cannot be a pretext for respecting their errors.
VATICAN II	" . . . the Church in Christ is in the nature of sacrament-a sign and instrument. . . of unity among all men. (Lumen gentium, 1)"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	This Conciliar text is one of the "delayed effect bombs," one of those "mistaken" texts which even Fr. Schillebeeckx denounced as "disloyal." Pope John Paul II has "removed the mistake": the Church is not (just) the company of baptized and of faithful but the sign and instrument for relaying the awareness to non-Christians that they are already one in Christ from the moment of the Incarnation, although they do not know it. This is his "new evangelization. (cf Johannes Dormann, Le Chemin theologique de Jean-Paul II vers Assise )" The Church is therefore tending to diminish itself to the level of a movement for the spiritual galvanization of the Synarchy...of world government.
VATICAN II	. . . all things on earth should be ordained to man as to their center and summit. (Gaudium et spes, 12, 1 )"
LEFEBVRIST CRITICISM	This passage of Vatican II betrays a type of anthropocentrism (i.e., man-centeredness) verging on the blasphemous.
1. We repeat that The Society of Saint Pius X rejects the label, "Lefebvrist," because of its false and derogatory implication that the Society is not Catholic. However, we retain its usage as it appeared in the 30 DAYS article and chart, reprinted here, for the sake of authenticity.

 

c) Personalism which Pulverizes the Common Good

Jacques Maritain (Integral Humanism) and, after the totalitarianisms of the 1930s and 1940s, the Church's social doctrine (Mater et magistra; Pacem in terris) increasingly diminished the common good to a mere list of human rights: "Peace comes down to respect for man's inviolable rights. (Redemptor hominis, 17,2)" It is the individualistic perspective of the revolution which is penetrating the Church. The Council falls into step with this trend, with the right of religious liberty (Dignitatis humanae) and with exaltation of the human person, forgetting God: "Believers and non-believers agree almost unanimously that all things on earth should be ordained to man as to their center and summit. (Gaudium et Spes, 12,1)"

d) The New Theology

De Lubac's "Natural supernatural" and the "anonymous Christians" of KarI Rahner are not foreign to the Council's "regard" for the "manner ...of conduct...and doctrines" of other religions, that "often reflect a ray of truth which enlightens all men. (Nostra aetate, 2)"

Nor are they extraneous to the notion of Church as the "sacrament ...of unity among all men (Lumen gentium, 1)" John Paul II sees religious divergencies as a "human fact" which does not, fundamentally, touch the unity that creates and redeems mankind since "Christ has united himself with each one, forever, through the mystery of the Redemption. (Redemptor hominis, I3)" It is the theory of the universal redemption, an unprecedented novelty, which derives from a certain proto-Conciliar tradition, then from the Council itself and finally from authentic post-Conciliar interpretation.

 

II. THE COUNCIL IN THE LIGHT OF THE “CONCILIAR SPIRIT”

Cardinal Ratzinger says we must look to the real Council and unmask the anti-spirit of the Council, which was already manifest during the sessions and then increasingly so in the period that followed (The Faith Report). We would like to pose this burning question: is this anti-spirit to be found in the Council or just around the Council? Did it later influence official applications and the authentic interpretations, or just the "wild-cat" excesses?

One example among others is: Ecumenism.

Tradition teaches: "The union of Christians can be promoted in no other way than by favoring the return of dissidents to the one true Church of Christ, from which they had one day the unfortunate idea of detaching themselves" and it condemns the inter-religious "many-hued congresses" which "suppose that all religions are more or less good and praiseworthy, insofar as all of them in one way or another show forth and give witness to that spontaneous sense in-born within us, which carries us towards God."

And it concludes: "Whoever lends a hand to such attempts or favors such opinions is thereby distancing himself from the religion revealed by God. (Pius XI, Mortalium animos)"

The Council's official interpretation is the many-hued Congress of Assisi on October 27, 1986 at which Pope John Paul II invited the representatives of world, religions to pray "God" for peace, saying: "This must be seen and interpreted...in the light of the Second Vatican Council. (address, October 22, 1986)" As Professor Johannes Dormann says: here, Vatican II assumes its authentic interpretation: "The Council interpreted in the light of Assisi."

Conclusion: the anti-spirit is to be found in the very texts of Unitatis redintegratio and Nostra aetate and it is to be found in Gaudium et spes on the point of "Christ united to all men" through the Incarnation.

 

III. THE COUNCIL IN THE LIGHT OF IT'S "CHARISMA OF INNOVATION"

(cf John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution, Sacrae disciplinae leges, the approval of the new Code of Canon Law)

In Conciliar ecclesiology, the sacred hierarchy is substituted by democracy and the divine institution is silenced.

CONCILIAR ECCLESIOLOGY

"Christ's faithful are those who...are constituted the people of God. For this reason they participate in their own way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. They are called, each according to his or her particular condition, to exercise the mission, which God entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world. (New Code of Canon Law, Can. 204, §1)"

CLASSICAL ECCLESIOLOGY

"By divine institution, the sacred hierarchy as regards order consists of bishops, priests and ministers; as regards jurisdiction, it consists of the supreme pontificate and the subordinate episcopate. (1917 Code of Canon Law, Can. 108, §3)"

CONCILIAR ECCLESIOLOGY

The Church of Christ “subsists in the Catholic Church. (Lumen gentium, 8)" "Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God (Lumen gentium, 16)"

CLASSICAL ECCLESIOLOGY

"The Mystical Body of Christ is the Catholic Church. (Pius XII, Mystici corporis)"

Those who live outside its visible confines are "in a state in which they cannot feel sure of their own salvation. (ibidem)"

 

IV. THE COUNCIL IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORICAL DIALECTICS

Thesis, antitheses, synthesis? Might not this be the Conciliar key?

The thesis is the Church of yesterday, founded on its dogma; the antitheses are the "values which are most highly prized today"; the synthesis is a "new balance" between the two: "And so mankind substitutes a dynamic and more evolutionary concept of nature for a static one, and the result is an immense series of new problems calling for a new endeavor of analysis and synthesis. (Gaudium et spes, 5, 3)"

And the synthesis is expressed by the following passage of the Conciliar texts: "In that light the Council intends first of all to assess those values which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their divine source" because they are "exceedingly good" and "need to be set right. (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 11,2)" "The problem of the 1960s," Cardinal Ratzinger explains, "was to acquire the best values expressed by two centuries of liberal culture. These values, although born outside the Church, may have a place if they are amended and corrected in the Church's vision of the world. ("Why the Faith is in Crisis," the Italian review Jesus, November 1984)" "And what has been done," he adds, is the work of the Council; but he confesses that the "new balance" that was sought has not yet been found: "We would like Christianity's fundamental values and the liberal values which dominate today's world to find a meeting point that they may be reciprocally fertile. (Ratzinger, Le Monde, November 17,1992)" "An adulterous union," Msgr. Lefebvre called it in 1988.