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The following is the translation of an article which appeared in La
Civilta Cattolica in the issue of June 15th, 1968.
Some significant facts show us that we are facing a crisis of faith
in the teaching authority of the Church. In fact members of the faithful
are denying or doubting, if not the teaching authority of the Pope and
bishops, then at least the validity or the obligatory power of their
doctrinal interventions. In this regard one cannot but remember the
reserved acceptance in some Catholic circles and even ecclesiatic of the
encyclical Sacerdotalis caelibatus—a target for bitter
criticisms.
Appeal to the prophetical function
Some Catholics appeal against the decisions of the magisterium to the
fact that the teaching or prophetical function in the Church does not
belong only to the hierarchy but to all the People of God, as they share
in the teaching or prophetical function of Christ; or they make an
appeal to the freedom that everyone has to follow his own conscience
when he is convinced that he is in the right.
Finally, in order to deny assent to the decisions of the teaching
authority, in regard to doctrine, others again appeal to the fact the
Pope and the Bishops are not sufficiently informed, or that they are
badly informed. Their decisions, therefore, because of lack of knowledge
of the situation in hand or because of failure to take account of recent
theological and scientific findings, would not have obligatory value.
Why the crisis of faith?
Hence there is a crisis of faith in the Church’s teaching authority
and its capability as a doctrinal guide for the People of god. Thus
there arises that sense of irritation with which her decisions are
received, and also the critical spirit with which such decisions are
weighed and discussed—almost as if they were private opinions of some
theologians.
And yet more strange is the fact that while there is extreme caution
regarding the teaching authority of the Church, there is, on the other
hand, complete trust in the ideas, even the most unusual and
questionable, of some fashionable theologian whose critical attitude
really makes an impression—as if one were dealing with a new Father of
the Church!
How this crisis of faith in the teaching authority of the Church
originated is difficult to say. Certainly the critical spirit of
our times and the prejudice against authority have played their part.
The man of today wants to see with his own eyes how matters stand; to
obey, he must be convinced of the justice of what is told him. He does
not accept anything imposed on him by authority. First he must evaluate
the validity of the motives for a decision before he accepts. As the
Christian of today lives and breathes the atmosphere of his era, it is
little wonder that the critical spirit of the times influences
his attitude regarding the teaching authority of the Church.
Hierarchical teaching a dogma of faith
However, we think that this crisis of faith in the teaching authority
of the Church is set in a wider background of a crisis of Christian
faith which our age faces. Hierarchical teaching is, in fact, a dogma of
faith. The Catholic believes that Christ constituted the Pope, and the
Bishops united with the Pope, as teachers of the faith, its guardians,
its interpreters. He promised them the special assistance of the Holy
Spirit so that they do not fall into error when they propose for belief
the truths contained in revelation. In other words the teaching of the
Church is not a natural fact, imposed by the need that the Church must
be an authority on doctrine for the sake of order and unity. It is,
rather, a supernatural fact, freely willed by Christ who gave Peter as
head of the Apostolic College, the command to confirm his
"brethren" in the faith: that is, the other Apostles, and in
and with them, all the faithful (cf. Luke 22,32); and invited the other
Apostles to preach the Gospel to all the people.
All the more so because the deepening of the Mystery of the church,
with its new relations between the hierarchy and the laity, between
pastors and the faithful—all this has made more complex the
restatement of the nature, the duties, the prerogatives of the
ecclesiastical teaching of the Church. The old distinction between a
"Teaching Church" and a "Church taught" has been
shown to be inadequate, as the "Teaching Church" is distinct—yes,
but it is also organically united to the "Church taught" of
which it expresses and attests the "faith" that the Holy
Spirit kindles and sustains, giving them also special "charisms"
of wisdom and doctrine for a fuller knowledge and assimilation of the
faith. The "Church taught" not only "learns" but it
can and must collaborate with its charisms, both in the formulation of
the truth of the faith and in the teaching of it.
Teaching of Vatican II
"The holy People of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic
office. It spreads abroad a living witness to Him, especially by means
of a life of faith and charity and by offering to God a sacrifice of
praise, the tribute of lips which give hour to His name (cf. Heb. 13,5).
The body of the faithful as a whole, anointed as they are by the Holy
One (cf. Jn 2,20, 27), cannot err in matters of belief. Thanks to a
supernatural sense of the faith which characterizes the People as a
whole, it manifests this unerring quality when "from the bishops
down to the last member of the laity," it shows universal agreement
in matters of faith and morals."
There musts be then between "the teaching" Church and
"the learning" Church a communication, a vital exchange, so
that the one can better fulfil its teaching mission and the other can
more easily and more joyfully believe. It is likely that the uneasiness
some Catholics feel today in regard to the Church’s teaching may be
ascribed to the fact that the vital exchange that must exist in the
Church between the one who "teaches" and one who
"receives" the faith is lacking or insufficient—or better,
that the instruments adapted for such communication are not yet
sufficiently developed.
Teaching office is one of service
It is clear, however, that if the whole Church—pastors and faithful—must
work together in the growth and deeper understanding of the faith, under
the action of the Spirit whose work is precisely this, to lead the
Church "to all truth", one must not forget that in the Church
the Pope and the Bishops "have received through episcopal
succession the sure gift of truth" (Dei Verbum, no. 8).
Such a charism belongs only to them. It is certainly for the benefit
of the faithful because God has granted it to the hierarchy that the
People of God do not fall into errors of faith. It is therefore a gift
that God makes to the entire Church. It is not given to the faithful,
but only to the hierarchy. For this reason, "the office of
interpreting authentically the Word of God written or handed down is
entrusted only to the living Teaching Authority in the Church, whose
authority is exercised in the Name of Christ. (ibid. no. 10).
That does not mean that the hierarchy is superior to the Word of God or
can judge it. It is at the service of the Word of God and judged by it
like the rest of the faithful: "This teaching office is not above
the word of god, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on,
listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it
faithfully by divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit; it
draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for
belief as divinely revealed." (ibid.)
The authentic Magisterium
In this mission of teaching at the service of all the People of God,
the hierarchy—that is, the Pope alone or the universal episcopate
united with the Pope—possesses in determined cases, as Vatican Council
II confirmed, the charism of infallibility.
However, it is not to be thought that only the infallible magisterium
of the Pope or of Ecumenical Councils is to be regarded as the sole form
of "authentic" magisterium which must be accepted by the
faithful. Besides this "extraordinary" magisterium (and here
we may note in passing that Ecumenical Councils, while classed as part
of the "extraordinary" magisterium, need not always teach
infallibly. The Second Vatican Council, for example, in proposing
Catholic doctrine to the faithful, did not wish to do so in an
infallible manner), there must also be regarded as authentic the
"ordinary", that is, the common teaching—not solemn nor
infallible—of the Pope, and of the bishops throughout the world, but
in communion with him. This teaching can range from more binding forms,
such as an encyclical and, on the national level, a collective letter of
the episcopate of a whole country, to forms which are less binding.
"Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to
be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In
matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak I the name of Christ and
the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a
religious assent of soul. This religious submission of will and of mind
must be shown in a special way to the authentic teaching authority of
the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra. That is, it
must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged
with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to,
according to his manifest mind and will." (Lumen Gentium, n.
25).
On what must this "religious respect" and this sincere
acceptance be founded? Not so much on juridical motives or even on human
motives such as the intellectual endowment, the perspicacity or prudence
of the Pope and the Bishops, or the assurance that they thoroughly
studied a problem and know a situation perfectly (such motives can
help); but on the conviction that Christ directs and governs His Church
through the Pope and the Bishops—that is, "through those whom the
Holy Spirit has placed to rule the Church of God" (Acts 20:19) and
assists them with special graces in their difficult task of teachers and
pastors.
Confidence in the Magisterium
Confidence in the teaching authority is, therefore, the expression
and the consequence of our faith in Christ, head and guide of the
Church, and in the Holy Spirit, "soul" of the Church,
"given" to assist her and lead her to the knowledge of the
"inexhaustible riches of Christ" (Eph. 3,8). We know that in
the words of the hierarchy Christ Himself speaks to us, "Prince of
Pastors, and Shepherd of our souls" (1 Pt. 5, 4); 2, 25), for He
said to Peter and to the Apostles, and in them to their successors:
"He who hears you, hears Me; he who despises you, despises Me"
(Luke 10, 16). Priests are the mouthpieces of the hierarchy and also
speak in the name of Christ. They must be true witnesses of the
Christian faith, rather than fomenters of troubles and disputes.
But above all, trust in the teaching authority must be founded on the
sense of the Church, on love for the Church. The way of the Church in
the world is difficult and dangerous. It is not exempt from deficiencies
which, however, do not affect the substance of the faith. Trusting the
word of Christ, the Church faces the tempestuous sea of history. The
true Christian does not stand on the shore as a mere spectator to judge
the Church with the eye of a stranger. He is in the ship, involved with
all the brethren in the faith in the same adventure. He feels he is
jointly responsible for the destiny of the Church, and does all he can
so that the difficulties may be more easily overcome. Above all, he
allies himself solidly with those who carry the heaviest burden—the
Pope and the Bishops—and he offers them his confidence, his obedience,
and his love. Yes, it is in this feeling of solidarity with the
hierarchy and with his brethren in the faith, in his love of the Church
that the Catholic finds a valid reason for nourishing a filial trust in
the teaching of the Church. Sometimes obedience to the hierarchy may
exact from him great sacrifices; but love of the Church, the awareness
of being part of a community whose weakest members in the faith are
helped and not scandalized—this will help him to obey generously.
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