"...the Council has produced in
the Church the greatest crisis in her history..."
In the
Murky Waters of Vatican II, by Atila Sinke Guimaraes.
Reviewed by Frank M.
Rega, SFO
The book that predicted today's Synodal Church.
[From the publisher: This book broke the myth of Vatican II! In 1997 when it was first published, no one dared to disagree publicly with the Council.]
This book's thesis is that Vatican II launched what was
intended to be a "Copernican revolution" in the Church. Instead of
the laity and the local churches revolving around the ‘sun’ of the Pope and
hierarchy, the "People of God" would become the new center, with priests,
bishops and pope serving and answerable to the People of God and the local churches.
Instead of a Church that is the perfect society (societas perfecta), and without blemish,
it would become a Church in evolution, and in need of constant reform because of her
imperfections, presupposing a sinful Church that must apologize for her guilt. This
decentralized Church becomes hesitant in her doctrine and in her discipline.
The primary way that Vatican II initiated this revolution was
by means of ambiguity, compromise, and obscurity in the conciliar documents. This opened
the door to a progressive, rather than conservative, interpretation and implementation of
the documents. This conciliar ambiguity is the topic of "In the Murky Waters of
Vatican II", the first in a collection of 11 volumes written in Portuguese by the
Brazilian Catholic intellectual Atila Sinke Guimaraes. The title given to the entire
series of books is "Eli, Eli, Lamma Sabacthani?" In the whole collection about
900 authors are cited.
The author attempts to determine the underlying thinking of
the Council. He undertakes this task by studying the principal theologians responsible for
the Council and for its application, in order to determine their methods and goals. He
defines the so-called spirit of the Council as "tolerance towards the world and the
false religions and opposition to Catholic militancy."
After a worthwhile and lengthy series of introductory papers,
the book begins with an analysis of a particular example of ambiguity from the document Lumen
Gentium: "This ...sole Church of Christ which in the creed we profess to be one,
holy, catholic, and apostolic...subsists in the Catholic Church". Subsists -
an ambiguous term par excellence. The Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church,
rather than is the Catholic Church; or it subsists rather than exists
exclusively in the Catholic Church. "As written it implicitly affirms that there
are two distinct realities – the Church of Christ and the Catholic Church – and
that the latter, which is more restricted, receives its life from the former, more
universal and more noble." This idea of two different churches is opposed by
the traditional Catholic teaching of the Magisterium, and by the "Catholic sense of
the faithful, who have always nourished themselves, as children with their mother’s
milk, with the idea that the Catholic Church is the sole Church of Christ."
In the third chapter, the author cites a series of texts by
renowned theologians who acknowledge the ambiguity that exists in the conciliar documents.
He quotes Fr. Rene Laurentin, a conciliar peritus (expert) regarding certain
wordings in the documents: "...they could be looked at from both sides, just like
those photographic tricks whereby you see two different people in the same picture,
depending on the angle you look at it. For this reason, Vatican II already has given, and
will continue to give rise to many controversies." Citing an observation by Fr. Brian
Harrison, "...the conciliar Church issued an uncertain call about practical matters,
achieving the result predicted by the Apostle Paul: ‘For if the trumpet give an
uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?’ (1 Cor. 14:8)"
The book clearly demonstrates that Vatican II was a
convergence of two currents of thought in the church, the traditional vs. the progressive
(liberal, neo-modernist). The well-organized progressives dominated and controlled the
Council and the formulation of its documents, over the less-prepared traditionalists.
Since the final versions of the Council’s documents had to be voted upon, the
progressivists resorted to ambiguity as a strategy to facilitate the winning of
conservative votes, and to "prevent the conservatives from waking up from their
lethargy." But it also served to pave the way for a progressivist spin on
interpreting the documents in the future, allowing the development of more radical
positions.
The sixth chapter in the book details the clash between these
two currents, and the battle over whether the Council was dogmatic or pastoral. He
distinguishes seven chronological phases of this confrontation, from the preparatory
period prior to the Council to the post-conciliar period. Although all phases are
critical, his summary of the third phase conveys the types of interactions that prevailed:
Alleging pastoral attitudes, the progressivists introduce into
the schemata ideas of adaptation to the world and different religions.
The conservatives protest against some of them.
Paul VI, directly or indirectly, uses his authority to silence
the conservatives, and give the victory to progressivists.
Faced with contradictions with traditional doctrine, the
conservatives accept them only by force of the pontifical authority and under the
allegation that they are pastoral attitudes.
This tactic is used until the end of the Council.
The critical seventh chapter examines the question of whether
there is a hidden doctrine within the ambiguous texts. Using the writings of leading
Council figures, he shows that underlying the use of ambiguity is the principal that an
uncertain and hesitating theology should be normal for a Church that is evolving.
Abandonment of dogmatic formulas of the past would be legitimate, "...the lack of
oneness in Church teaching would be considered normal, and a corollary would be to deny
authority – especially that of the pope – the competence to teach always the
same thing everywhere."
Thus, the progressivists favor the concept of dogmatic
teachings that can evolve and change. This implies a Church that is always reforming
herself - her teaching and her liturgy. This evolving, pilgrim Church is filled with
faults and imperfections, is guilty and must confess her sinfulness. This is a new
conception of the Church and of the Faith, which disorients the everyday Catholic.
"How can one imagine that she, one in her Faith, infallible in her extraordinary
Magisterium, as well as, in certain conditions, even in her ordinary Magisterium, by the
special assistance of the Holy Spirit, now shows herself to be hesitating in her dogma,
unsteady in her morals, fragmented by contrasting opinions?"
Salient omissions also lead to ambiguous conceptions of
certain doctrines. The conservatives wished the Council to state clearly that Mary was a
virgin before childbirth, in childbirth, and after childbirth. Instead the Council chose
the formula that Our Lord "...did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity
but sanctified it (Lumen Gentium, 57). Another concept that was downplayed is the
doctrine of original sin. Although mentioned explicitly, a door was left open to the
progressivist concept that "Adam" referred to the species of man, and that it
was humanity’s sin and not the sin of an individual. There was no specific mention of
Hell, allowing council peritus Hans Kung to refer to it as "an
unresolved matter." The "Roman" character of the Church was
downplayed, in order to foster ecumenism, causing ambiguity as to just what is the Church
of Christ. The Concept of the Church Militant, or the Missionary Church, was de-emphasized
since this would interfere with overtures to other religions. The Council also refused to
discuss the discipline of psychoanalysis, leaving an opening to the doctrines of Freud.
Council peritus Yves Congar, who helped compose some of the Council’s final
texts, is quoted in one of his books as saying that today’s man "...seeks a
different culture whose Fathers will be neither Athanasius nor Augustine but Marx, Freud
and modern technology. The Catholic Church is abandoning her old culture, which has been
her own ever since Constantine up to Vatican II."
The Council made serious concessions to other religions and to
the modern world. There was a tendency to "...accommodate the rite of the Mass to the
doctrinal and liturgical desires of the Protestants." Confusion set in
regarding the various types of presence of the Lord in the Mass - his presence in the
minister, in the people of God, the sacraments, The Eucharist, the Word, in the prayer and
song of the liturgy. The priesthood of the faithful and that of the priest are confused.
The Mass is desacralized and democratized. In the Offertory of the Mass: "Only an
allusion to the Transubstantiation of the bread occurs, i.e.: ‘That this bread may
become for us the bread of life.’ Here also we notice the presence of ambiguity since
the word of God is also the bread of life." Further, the removal of the words
"the Mystery of Faith (Mysterium Fidei} at the consecration of the wine contradicts
previous Councils and pronouncements of the popes, and "...could appear to be a
deliberate attempt to eliminate the sacrificial nature of the Mass. This facilitates
acceptance of the Novus Ordo by Protestants and places grave doubts about
Transubstantiation in the minds of Catholic clergy and faithful."
Another ambiguous term in Council documents is "the
world." Traditional Catholic teaching is based on the premise that the world is under
original sin, and it is good only to the degree that it has been redeemed. Christ’s
command was to go into the world, and preach the gospel, teaching all nations to observe
his commandments. In traditional doctrine the Church shaped the world, and her success was
labeled Christendom. But in the documents of Vatican II, the world can mean many things,
including a group of men established as a society, or a temporal order such as the
political structure of a nation, or sometimes it can mean simply modern civilization. This
weakening and ambiguity of the term world, is reflected in the conciliar approach to it,
which allows the church to move in the direction of adapting herself and dialoging with
the world as something of an equal, instead of teaching and converting it. "In the
adaptation of the Church to the world, the Council appears implicitly to deny the divine
mandate of Our Lord to the Church and to accept, also implicitly, the errors of the modern
world." The consequences are the virtual destruction of Christendom, and the
preaching of a messianic-religious socialism.
The tenth and final chapter of the book deals with "other
consequences" of conciliar ambiguity. A very clear picture of these consequences as
they affect the every-day Catholic, was written by French Academy member Maurice Duron,
and is quoted at length in this chapter. Prior to Vatican II, "...never had the
Church, from the simple village pastor to the pope...benefited from a more secure
situation, a more general respect, and such a prestige. Suddenly, she cracks,
deteriorates, loses her roots and – one would say – is about to come crashing
down on herself. Priests turn the altars around, sell Church ornaments, take the saints
away; prelates change their language, shut down the organs, welcome the guitars and bless
the demolishers. No rite is maintained, no rule spared. The gothic arch of dogmas is
cracked. The house of the Good God is opened to all storms. Bewildered, we watch this
internal quake...’ This all-too-familiar description by Duron continues for
almost another page.
There are other even more serious consequences. There is a
crisis in the Faith and of respect for authority. Dissenting theologians listen to the
pope respectfully, but continue doing as they wish, a possible consequence of the new
Church centering around the People of God, whom the pope should serve. But even more
importantly is the crisis in the religious orders and the clergy. Besides the obvious
shortage in religious vocations there are more ominous problems. Thousands of priests are
leaving the priesthood in favor of marriage, with or without permission from Rome. In 1988
reportedly there were 80,000 married priests throughout the world, with 17,000 in the
United States! Even more disturbing are studies showing large numbers of priests living in
concubinage or succumbing to alcoholism. The problem of homosexuality in the priesthood is
treated separately in a 60-page appendix, including the vice of pedophilia.
In conclusion, the author invites the reader to continue to
pursue the search for the truth about Vatican II by reading the other 10 volumes in the
series. "Therefore, taking a stance of resolute vigilance before the enemies of the Church,
of compassion in the face of her sufferings and of interior peace in the certainty of
victory, we invite the Reader to accompany us in the analysis of the spirit of Vatican II,
of the thinking that inspired it and of the fruits that it generated." On the
preceding page the author plants the seed, perhaps desperately, that the only way out
might be to declare the Council null.
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