The Commission on Faith and Order and the Second Vatican Council

Abstract

The relationship between the Commission on Faith and Order and the Second Vatican Council is a distinct, yet partial, chapter of a much broader and more complex accounting of ecclesial relationships within the ecumenical movement, between the Roman Catholic Church and the wider ecumenical movement, and between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCC). The Commission on Faith and Order has been shaped by these wider contexts, and in turn has shaped the Roman Catholic engagement with the churches and the WCC. Accounts of the relationship between the WCC and Vatican II are well documented in histories, such as the magisterial five volumes of the History of Vatican II edited by Giuseppe Alberigo, and other accounts of the council, such as the 2010 text Christian Unity: Duty and Hope, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. These histories seldom, if ever, mention the Commission on Faith and Order, and if it is mentioned, it is usually in the context of its Fourth World Conference in 1963, with reference to its treatment of “Scripture, Tradition and Traditions” and the Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. There are significant non–Roman Catholic accounts of the council, such as Lukas Vischer's chapter in Alberigo's series, “The Council as an Event in the Ecumenical Movement,”11 Vischer, Lukas, “ The Council as an Event in the Ecumenical Movement,” in History of Vatican II, vol. 5, ed. Giuseppe Alberigo ( Maryknoll: Orbis, 2006), 485– 539. as well as his lengthier chapter on “The Ecumenical Movement and the Roman Catholic Church” in the WCC's own history of the ecumenical movement.22 Vischer, Lukas, “ The Ecumenical Movement and the Roman Catholic Church,” in A History of the Ecumenical Movement, Volume 2, 1948–1968, ed. Harold C. Frey ( Geneva: WCC, 1970), 313– 352. Oddly for one who is emblematic of Faith and Order in the 20th century, Vischer rarely refers to Faith and Order in these accounts. A significant first-hand account of the relationship between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church is found in W. A. Visser ‘t Hooft's Memoirs, which likewise seldom refer to the role played by Faith and Order. The Commission on Faith and Order was not officially represented at Vatican II. One of the celebrated features of the council was the presence of 186 ecumenical observers appointed by their respective Christian World Communions and the ecumenical guests invited by the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. The contribution of the ecumenical observers and guests was recognized throughout the council, as well as by historians of the council. A remarkable feature of a significant number of these observers is that they were, like Lukas Vischer, also deeply engaged in the work of Faith and Order. Some of the more distinguished ecumenical observers have also left first-hand accounts of their experience of and reflection on Vatican II: for example, Douglas Horton's four-volume Vatican Diary, Albert Outler's Methodist Observer at Vatican II, and George Caird's Our Dialogue with Rome. Anglican observer Bernard Pawley published three different texts on the council, including an extremely valuable book, The Second Vatican Council: Studies by Eight Anglican Observers. There are scores of other such works from the time of the council, some written by observers who were also members of Faith and Order. Yet they contain few references to Faith and Order. Pawley's The Second Vatican Council describes the ecumenical engagement within the council as though the WCC was absent, with the exception of one reference to a statement of the WCC on religious freedom in connection with the Declaration on Religious Liberty. This is an even stranger omission since one of the Anglican observers, Canadian Eugene Fairweather, a contributor to Pawley's volume, was a member of the Commission on Faith and Order throughout the time of the council. Much later, Fairweather was one of my professors and ecumenical mentors; anecdotally, I remember that one of the things that singled him out as a leading Anglican ecumenist was his nomination to Faith and Order in the 1950s. These observers were the official representatives of their respective churches or ecumenical institutions, and their horizon in the context of Vatican II was necessarily bilateral rather than multilateral. Yet the absence of mention or reflection on Faith and Order might suggest that the commission played a limited role – or no role – with the Roman Catholic Church during the time of the council. The evidence from the Commission on Faith and Order itself through years before and after Vatican II describes a different picture. In this paper, the primary sources for the history between Faith and Order and Vatican II are the published minutes of Faith and Order meetings during those years: the minutes and reports from the commission itself, the working committee, and the Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order of 1963. These minutes take the reader from the hesitant interest in the council reflected in the 1959 minutes to the nomination of Roman Catholic members to the commission – including the future Pope Benedict XVI – reflected in the 1968 minutes. The very nature of the primary sources places the emphasis of this account on the Commission on Faith and Order as a corporate body, rather than on the specific contributions of members of the commission in isolation. It must be admitted that the contributions of individual members of Faith and Order to Vatican II were extraordinary in scope and effect. I think first of Lukas Vischer: his initiation of so many of the activities within the commission to include Roman Catholics and his leadership among the ecumenical observers to the council. His reflections on the Second Vatican Council back to the WCC in reports and presentations represent a significant literary legacy. The timeframe in this account of Faith and Order's engagement with Vatican II (1962–1965) begins before and ends after the council, from 1959 to 1968. The widest timeframe of Faith and Order's relationship with the Roman Catholic Church for the purposes of this narrative is from 1928 to 2012; that is, from the 1928 encyclical of Pius XI, Mortalium animos, to the completion of the second Faith and Order convergence text, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, in 2012. In an odd way, Mortalium animos (“Mortal souls”) signals how important Faith and Order had become to the Roman Catholic Church. In a clear reaction to the World Conference on Faith and Order in 1927, the ecumenical movement as a whole was condemned. In the encyclical, Pope Pius XI condemned the ecumenical movement and prohibited Roman Catholic participation in it. Previously, Roman Catholics were forbidden to attend the Life and Work conference in 1925 as well as the First World Conference on Faith and Order in 1927. At the other end, in 2012, the Faith and Order Commission brought to completion its 20-year reflection on ecclesiology, which includes a reflection on “the question of a universal ministry of Christian unity.”33 The Church: Towards a Common Vision, Faith and Order Paper 214 ( Geneva: WCC, 2013), §§ 54–57. Significantly, given the beginnings of the timeframe of this narrative in 1928, the convergence text on ecclesiology in 2012 not only contains a reflection on the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, but it was completed during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, himself one of the first Roman Catholic members of the commission elected in 1968. In short, precipitated by the first meeting of Faith and Order, in 1928 one pope formally condemned the ecumenical movement, and 84 years later, during the pontificate of another pope who was a former member of Faith and Order, the commission encouraged the churches to reflect on the papacy, ending its reflection with the question “If, according to the will of Christ, current divisions are overcome, how might a ministry that fosters and promotes the unity of the Church at the universal level be understood and exercised?”44 Ibid., § 57. The accounting of this extraordinary progress between 1928 and 2012 can only be explained with reference to the Commission on Faith and Order and its role in Vatican II. It seemed likely that participation would be limited to Roman Catholics, and the question of unity dealt with primarily in that domestic context; considering the lack of contact with other parts of Christendom of many Roman circles it was perhaps better for the ultimate cause of church unity that no more was attempted at this time. The Roman Church was probably not prepared theologically or otherwise to make the right ecumenical decisions now.66 Ibid., 18– 19. The expressed role of Faith and Order in the present context was “constant prayer for our Roman brethren” and a “constant willingness to enter into discussion when opportunities were presented.”77 Ibid., 19. More concretely, the commission agreed that the possibility be explored to have one or two Roman Catholic observers attend the meeting of the commission in 1960. The minutes of the August 1960 meeting of the commission indicate the presence of the first three official88 Roman Catholics had attended Faith and Order meetings before. The list of delegates and others to the Third World Conference at Uppsala, 1952, for instance, notes the presence of three individuals identifiable as Roman Catholics. However, they are listed as “accredited visitors” and no indication of church affiliation is given. See Third World Conference on Faith and Order, Lund, 1952: List of Delegates appointed by their churches together with others attending the Conference (Commission on Faith and Order, August 1952). Roman Catholic observers: Fr René Beaupère, OP, a prominent member of the generation of French ecumenical pioneers; Fr Bernard, Leeming, SJ; and Fr Jérôme Hamer, OP, who would be the first consultant to the commission from the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.99 Minutes of the Faith and Order Commission, August 1960, St Andrew's, Scotland ( Geneva: WCC, 1960), 2. In the course of the meeting, Fr Hamer was invited to speak on behalf of the Roman Catholic observers. He began by presenting a detailed summary of Roman Catholic ecumenical engagement throughout Europe – Germany, France, Holland, England – in terms of theological dialogue, common academic study, prayer, study and formation. He addressed the upcoming council, and more specifically the recent creation of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity in preparation for the council. The creation of the Secretariat, he stressed, signalled an official organization dealing with relations between the Catholic Church and other churches. Further information would have to wait until the WCC central committee meeting a short time afterwards.1010 Ibid., 108– 109. In a discussion on the implication of Faith and Order work, the commission readily acknowledged the importance of the Catholic Church and its work for Christian unity: first, because of its size; second, because of Roman Catholic interest in this particular work of the WCC; third, because of the contributions of Roman Catholic theologians to the work of Faith and Order. The openness to furthering the dialogue was expressed: “We believe that this theological discussion should be pursued in whatever ways may be mutually acceptable.”1111 Ibid., 117. In June 1960, just prior to the August meeting of Faith and Order, Cardinal Bea sent Mgr Willebrands to Geneva to meet with W. A. Visser ‘t Hooft to convey the news to him of the creation of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and to plan a meeting between Cardinal Bea and Visser ‘t Hooft. Willebrands was also authorized to attend the August meeting of the WCC central committee. When Bea and Visser ‘t Hooft did meet at the end of September 1960 in Milan, they discussed the possibility of Roman Catholic observers at the 1961 WCC assembly, and conversely, the presence of ecumenical observers at the upcoming Vatican Council. Significantly, the advice on this question was sought first from the WCC. The solution proposed between Visser ‘t Hooft and Willebrands was to send observers from the WCC and the “confessional federations or alliances.”1212 See Visser ‘t Hooft, W. A., Memoirs ( Geneva: WCC, 1987), 329– 330. The positive experience of the New Delhi assembly for the Roman Catholic Church further encouraged the invitation of ecumenical observers at the Vatican Council. As the official history of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said, “The mediation of Geneva would turn out to be fundamental in the task of having other churches send observers to the Vatican Council.”1313 Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Christian Unity: Duty and Hope. For the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1960–2010) ( Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010), 94. At the meeting of the Working Committee of Faith and Order during the summer of 1962, Lukas Vischer reported on the visits that he and his Faith and Order staff colleague Patrick Rodger had undertaken to a variety of Roman Catholic centres in Europe, and the importance of commission members taking their own initiatives with Roman Catholics. He announced that with the agreement of Mgr Willebrands and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, a consultation would be held at the Bossey Institute in 1963 among ten to 15 Faith and Order members and a similar number of Roman Catholic theologians to study the final reports of the various working theological commissions of Faith and Order. The other aim of the consultation was a preparation for the World Conference of Faith and Order, to be held in Montreal in 1963. Significantly, Vischer announced that “several Faith and Order Commission members would be present in Rome at the Second Vatican Council as officially appointed Observers of their respective denominations, and it was suggested that they should keep in contact throughout the duration of the Council.”1414 Minutes of the Faith and Order Working Committee, 1961 & 1962, New Delhi, India and Paris, France ( Geneva: WCC, 1962), 8. Under the heading of “Major Items in the Programme of Faith and Order,” note was made of the involvement of Roman Catholic theologians, especially in the preparation for the World Conference of 1963. There is also the proposal that at the first meeting of the commission after Montreal in 1964, a long-term commission be established with Roman Catholic theologians to determine and initiate appropriate areas of joint study. The working committee also encouraged members of Faith and Order globally to initiate visits to Roman Catholic seminaries and other centres, and to plan hospitality for return visits. Moreover, Faith and Order was prepared to cover travel and entertainment costs to the sum of $8,000.00 per year to be covered by “Supplemental Funds for WCC Programme” work.1515 Working Committee Minutes, 1962, 26. I spoke of the deep astonishment that such a meeting was now possible. At last we could not only speak with each other and give common witness, but also pray together openly and publically [sic] for the unity of the church. It seemed that we had arrived at a period of acceleration of ecumenical developments. We had become accustomed to say: The Roman Catholic Church and the ecumenical movement. Now we had to learn that the Roman Catholic Church was becoming an active participant in the ecumenical movement.1616 Visser ‘t Hooft, , Memoirs, 330; see also Paton, David's comments on the same in his “ Montreal Diary,” Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: The Report from Montreal, 1963, Faith and Order Paper No. 42 ( London: SCM Press, 1964), 33– 34. In the presence of our brethren from the Roman Catholic Church who are here as observers, we should like to say that the churches belonging to the World Council do not regard the Vatican Council as an event that does not concern them, but as an event which affects them all because it really concerns the history of the true universal church.1717 In P. C. Rodger and L. Vischer, eds., The Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order: The Report from Montreal, 1963, Faith and Order Paper No. 42 ( London: SCM Press, 1964), 10– 11. It is a mark of the progress that had taken place in the nineteen months between New Delhi and Montreal, that in Montreal a main paper in General Session was given by a Roman Catholic scholar, and that in Section and Sub-section it was usually impossible to tell the status of the participants, since all participated with equal freedom.1818 Paton, , “ Montreal Diary,” 20. Roman Catholic scholars took initiative in engaging with Faith and Order before the world conference by sending a number of important responses to the preparatory papers on what would become the section reports on “The Church in the Purpose of God,”1919 Rodger, and Vischer, , Fourth World Conference, 21. “Scripture, Tradition and Traditions,”2020 Ibid., 23. “The Redemptive Work of Christ and the Ministry of the Church,”2121 Ibid., 26. “Worship and the Oneness of Christ's Church”2222 Ibid., 28. and “ ‘All in Each Place’: The Process of Growing Together.”2323 Ibid., 30. Roman Catholic participants worked on each of the five section reports. Ultimately, Montreal 1963 marks the first truly global gathering of Orthodox, Roman Catholics and churches shaped by the Reformation. Following the Fourth World Conference, the commission met on 24 July 1963. The commission noted the success of the consultation of 15 Faith and Order members and 15 Roman Catholic scholars in March 1963. The minutes also note the engagement of Lukas Vischer as an observer to the Second Vatican Council, as well as ten members of the commission. It also noted the engagement of Faith and Order staff with Roman Catholic institutions, and their participation in various colloquia.2424 Minutes of the Faith and Order Commission and Working Committee, Montreal, Canada, 1963, Faith and Order Paper No. 41 ( Geneva: WCC, 1963), 38. After the success of the World Conference, the commission explored various ways of sustaining theological dialogue with Roman Catholic theologians. One possibility noted was the creation of a special joint commission to co-ordinate various study projects between the commission and Roman Catholic scholars,2525 Ibid., 42. which would become in 1965 the joint theological commission under the auspices of the joint working group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church. The roll call in the minutes of the meetings of the commission and the working committee from 1964 reflects the presence of two Roman Catholic observers, Fr J. Long and Mgr J. Vodopivec.2626 Minutes of the Faith and Order Commission and Working Committee, The University of Aarhus, Denmark, 15–27 August 1964, Faith and Order Paper No. 44 ( Geneva: WCC, 1965), 6. The commission took note of the presence of Roman Catholic observers at its meetings and participation of Faith and Order members at Vatican II. And again, future possibilities for ongoing cooperation were discussed, such as inviting individual Roman Catholic scholars to be regular members of study commissions and the creation of a special mixed theological commission,2727 Ibid., 11. raised earlier in 1963. While no decision could be made until after the completion on the Decree on Ecumenism, Faith and Order was preparing for a new relationship with the Roman Catholic Church after the council. The Roman Catholic observers are recorded to have appreciated the desire for ongoing collaboration.2828 Ibid., 38. The minutes also reflect Faith and Order's preparedness to take up the request from the 1963 WCC central committee meeting for a Faith and Order consultation after the close of Vatican II to discuss the results of the council with the WCC member churches.2929 Ibid., 11. The minutes of the 1965 meeting of the Working Committee reflect increasing levels of collaboration between Faith and Order and the Roman Catholic Church in areas such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and at the level of Faith and Order's theological study commissions.3030 Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Committee of Faith and Order, held as Bad Saarow, German Democratic Republic, 9–12 July 1965, Faith and Order Paper No. 45 ( Geneva: WCC, 1965), 5– 16. For example, the studies on “The Nature of the Church,” “The Eucharist: A Sacrament of Unity” and “The Fixing of the Date of Easter” all included Roman Catholic consultants. The year 1965 marked the creation of the joint working committee between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church, which first met in May of that year. Of the eight members from the WCC on the Joint Working Group, four were from Faith and Order: chairman of the commission Oliver Tomkins, Vitaly Borovy, E. W. L. Schlink and Lukas Vischer. A number of recommendations from the Joint Working Group that had consequences for Faith and Order were placed on the agenda of the working committee.3131 Ibid., 16– 17. Of first importance was the recommendation of the creation of a special theological commission by both Faith and Order and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity that would consider the theological issues between the Roman Catholic Church and other churches. The two topics immediately proposed were on “Unity and Authority” and the “Work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.” While the working committee discussed the idea of Roman Catholic membership in the commission, it was considered to be premature. Other kinds of Roman Catholic participation in the commission were considered, such as “observer” status or “consultants” to the commission. The working committee decided to forgo any comment or decision on the creation of a joint theological commission until its meeting in 1966, after further consultation with the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity on questions such as the size of the proposed commission. The second issue was the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The joint working group had asked for a joint consultation on “Common prayer, communicatio in sacris, and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” The working committee saw that the questions around common prayer and communicatio in sacris were different from some of the questions around the preparation of the text of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and proposed two distinct consultations. Issues around the former were held to be more urgent in the light of the Secretariat for Unity's need for advice from theologians from other churches in preparation for the directorium at the fourth session of the Vatican council. It was proposed that such a consultation take place in Rome during the fourth session, and that it involve as many Faith and Order commissioners as possible who were representing their churches at Vatican II. Lastly, the staff report appended to the minutes of the 1965 meeting of the working committee notes from February to May of 1965 that an American Roman Catholic priest from the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, Fr William Sullivan, “gave valuable assistance to the Secretariat as a student from the Graduate School at Bossey” and would replace a member of the Secretariat on a leave of absence from September to December 1965. The note continues with some qualification: “It is emphasized on the side of the WCC that, although Father Sullivan will be salaried, this is not a ‘staff appointment’ of a permanent character, but rather an emergency measure.”3232 Ibid., 23. Nevertheless, this appointment signals a new development within the secretariat of Faith and Order regarding its own relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. The report on the various Faith and Order studies reflects the ongoing participation of Roman Catholic theologians: Fr Jérôme Hamer, for instance, is mentioned as a consultant to the study on Unity; Roman Catholic (as well as Orthodox) participation was urged in the study on creation, new creation, and the unity of the church.3333 Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Committee, 1966 Zagorsk, Faith and Order Paper No. 48 ( Geneva: WCC, 1967), 7. The working group resumed the conversation on the joint theological commission between the Commission on Faith and Order and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. The WCC central committee had earlier approved of the proposal, and proposed that there be seven members from Faith and Order and five members from the Roman Catholic Church. The first topic on the agenda was to be “Catholicity and Apostolicity.”3434 Ibid., 15. The working committee met on July 29 and August 9, before and after the meeting of the full commission at Bristol. In a discussion on possible membership of Roman Catholics in the commission, Bishop Oliver Tomkins, the chairman of the commission, noted that “it was now becoming increasingly important to have adequate Roman Catholic membership in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of work.”3535 Minutes of the Meeting of the Working Committee, 1967 Bristol, Faith and Order Paper No. 51 ( Geneva: WCC, 1967), 5. The duplication was in reference to the joint theological commission, which, like Faith and Order itself, was preparing a study on hermeneutics. Lukas Vischer noted as a further complication the amount of time being asked of Faith and Order staff and commissioners who were active on both commissions.3636 Ibid., 8. The 1967 meeting of the Commission on Faith and Order took place 29 July to 9 August 1967. The list of participants of the 1967 meeting of the commission indicates the presence of four Roman Catholic observers: Fr R. Beaupère, Fr J. Coventry, Fr J. Long and Fr K. McNamara.3737 New Directions in Faith and Order, Bristol, 1967: Reports – Minutes – Documents, Faith and Order Paper No. 50 ( Geneva: WCC, 1968), 84. In his opening address to the commission, Lukas Vischer recalled the impact of Vatican II on the theological work of Faith and Order in terms of agenda, but also in terms of theological dialogue within the wider ecumenical movement.3838 Commission Minutes, 1967, 116– 117. For instance, he notes the emergence of the bilateral dialogues within and between the “world confessional bodies” – later the Christian World Communions – “in part,” he notes, “as a result of the Second Vatican Council.”3939 Ibid., 117. Because of the particular conversations with the Roman Catholic Church and various Christian World Communions, there were new relations at the international level, such as Anglican–Orthodox dialogue and Lutheran World Federation–World Alliance of Reformed Churches dialogue. While Vischer notes that the bilateral conversations were extensions of the Faith and Order movement, there was the challenge about how the various dialogues would relate to one another. One response, agreed upon earlier by the working committee in 1966, was to invite the theological secretaries of the Christian World Communions to participate at the 1967 meeting of the Commission on Faith and Order;4040 Ibid., 18. in fact, there were six such representatives present at Bristol. The inclusion of representatives of the Christian World Communion as Fraternal Delegates moved Faith and Order beyond its traditional constituency of member churches to include the level of world communion representation. While the Joint Working Group gives us a beginning, the time has come to go further, and our new constitution helps us in this regard. We approved a proposal to increase the number of representatives of non-member churches. Steps towards filling these seats are to be taken without delay, with the necessary tact and through proper channels. In particular it is essential that by our next meeting we have sufficient Roman Catholic members to reflect the wide spectrum of Roman Catholic theological opinion.4141 Ibid., 93. Perhaps I could say here a word about Roman Catholic participation in Faith and Order work. We are very happy indeed at the discussion of this matter; it is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot continue to do our work in isolation from each other. I can assure you than any proposals coming from the Faith and Order Commission for closer collaboration will be very positively received. What we have heard here leads us to hope for an increase in work together in the near future.4242 Ibid., 111. Directly after the Bristol meeting, a letter was sent to the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity to explore the poss