Emeritus I

The tradition of popes serving for life has been a significant influence on the cardinals who gather in conclave. Another, perhaps less obvious factor, is the impact of modern medicine which contributes to longer lives. Currently, there are ninety-one cardinals over the age of 80, forty-four of them over than Benedict XVI, and fifteen who are in their 90’s.

In this context, Joseph A. Komonchak’s comments in Commonweal seem particularly to the point:

“There is potentially great significance in Benedict’s action, and it may be that his resignation will be his greatest contribution to ecclesiology. He has so subordinated his person to the office that he could renounce it. His frank admission that he no longer had the strength of mind and body needed for the Petrine ministry not only humanizes the pope himself but helps bring the papacy back within the church, down from what Hans Urs von Balthasar called its “pyramid-like isolation.” All those unique titles that seemed to place the papal office above and beyond all other offices and ministries in the church suddenly have to yield to what their occupants all have in common: a fragile, sinful, and mortal humanity. The pope—and not just this one—loses something of his sacral apartness. He rejoins the rest of us.

“Benedict’s action also suggests the thought that if a pope can resign for reasons of health or of age, he might resign for other reasons too. There could come a pope who agrees with what John Henry Newman wrote in 1870, during the longest pontificate in church history: “It is not good for a pope to live twenty years. It is anomaly and bears no good fruit; he becomes a god, has no one to contradict him, does not know facts, does cruel things without meaning it.” In other words, even though no term limits may be assigned to the papal office, a pope can have his own term limits in mind, and say to himself, and to the church, “Basta!” If papal resignations were to become something normal (that is, more frequent than every seven hundred years), then there might be less reluctance to elect someone younger and still energetic without worrying that he will fall victim to the tendency Newman feared.”

more

Problems facing the Church

In 1962, a thirty-five year old theology professor, Father Joseph Ratzinger, was invited by the Archbishop of Cologne, Joseph Cardinal Frings, to accompany him to the Second Vatican Council as his theological advisor.

At the end of each of the four sessions of the Council, Father Ratzinger wrote an essay on the significant points raised in the Council deliberations. These essays have been published in English as Theological Highlights of Vatican II.

In his reflections on the third session of the Council in the fall of 1964, he,  in response to the question, “What concrete problems did the Council face” wrote: “These problems may be crystalized into the following groups:

1.      The problem of divine worship.

2.     The problem of centralism in the Church.

3.     The problem of relations with non-Catholic Christendom and the ecumenical movement.

4.     The problem of new directions in the relations between Church and State, or what might somewhat imprecisely be labeled the end of the Middle Ages, or even the end of the Constantinian era.

5.     The problem of faith and science, or, more specifically, the problem of faith and history, which had become a basic problem for faith through the triumph of the method of historical criticism.

6.     The problem of the relation of Christianity to the modern ethic of work, to technology, and in general to the new moral problems posed by a technological society.

While the Council attempted to address most of these problems, they continue to be issues for the Church today.

Retirment

What may not be obvious is that retirement by those in ordained ministry is something relatively new in the Roman Church. Prior to the Second Vatican Council it was normal for bishops and pastors to remain in office until they died. Likewise there were no limits on the roles of Cardinals either in the Roman Curia or in the Conclave.

However the Council in its Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops it the Church (CHRISTUS DOMINUS) stated:

“Since the pastoral office of bishops is so important and weighty, diocesan bishops … who have become less capable of fulfilling their duties properly because of the increasing burden of age or some other serious reason, are earnestly requested to offer their resignation from office either at their own initiative or upon the invitation of the competent authority. “(#21)

The Decree also stated that:

‘Pastors who are unable to fulfill their office properly and fruitfully because of the increasing burden of old age or some other serious reason are urgently requested to tender their resignation voluntarily upon the invitation of the bishop. “(#31)

In 1966 Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Letter, ECCLESIAE SANCTAE, Implementing Decrees of Vatican Council II issued norms which were to “be observed by way of experiment, that is until the new Code of Canon Law is promulgated, unless in the meantime some other provision is to be made by the Apostolic See.”

“RESIGNATION OF BISHOPS

“(NO. 21 OF THE DECREE CHRISTUS DOMINUS)

“(11) That the prescription of No. 21 of the Decree Christus Dominus may be put into effect, all bishops of dioceses and others who are juridically their equals are earnestly requested of their own free will to tender their resignation from office not later than at the completion of their 75th year of age to the competent authority which will make provision after examining all circumstances of individual cases.

“(#20 - 3) So that the prescription of No. 31 of the Decree Christus Dominus may be carried out all pastors are asked of their own free will to submit their resignation from office to their own bishop not later than at the completion of their 75th year.”

Then in 1970, Pope Paul VI issued a motu proprio that decreed that cardinals over the age of 80 would cease to be papal electors.

Pope Paul VI designated  the point of entry to the conclave as the determining date but this was modified by Pope John Paul II in his 1996 who changed this so that you had to be under 80 on the day prior to when the start of the sede vacante.

The revised Code of Canon Law, issued in 1983 set a retirement age of 75 for cardinals that head up dicasteries (Curial offices) or other permanent Vatican institutes as well as for diocesan bishops. The Code also specified the right of the Pope to resign his office, a resignation that did not need acceptance by any body.

Pope Benedict’s decision to retire is part of a process begun by the Council which introduced the practice of retirement from ministry for the good of the Church.

Implementing a Vision

As Church, particularly on the parish level, I think that we have barely begun to give practical shape to the implications of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.  The Council document on the Liturgy describes the liturgy as the action of Christ. However, we still use the language of things for the sacraments; we speak about receiving the sacraments not initiating people into the mystery of Christ.

Sacraments are deeply personal because they are celebrations of faith. But the sacraments are not private; they are communitarian because they celebrate the interaction of the faith of the individual and the faith of the community.

However, I do not see evidence that this view has permeated the thinking of people at large. I find that parishioners have yet to take ownership of the responsibility for growing the Church. How many parishioners have ever extended an invitation to someone to explore the Christian faith? How many parishioners take responsibility for engaging with the catechumens in their faith journey?

It still seems a common practice to deal with the catechumenate as a program rather than as a faith journey. The invitation is extended to “join the RCIA” rather than to explore who Jesus is. The timetable often follows the calendar which is not necessarily the way faith develops.

The vision of Church that underlies the Rite of Initiation of calls for a renewal of parish life that remains to be implemented.

Adult Bptism

In the General Introduction to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (for use in the United States) we read:

In the sacraments of Christian initiation we are freed from the power of darkness and joined to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

Baptism incorporates us into Christ and forms us into God’s people.
Baptism is, above all, the sacrament of that faith by which, enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we respond to the Gospel of Christ.

The preparation for baptism and Christian instruction are both of vital concern to God’s people, the Church, which hands on and nourishes the faith received from the apostles.

In the actual celebration, the people of God… should take an active part. Thus they will show their common faith and the shared joy with which the newly baptized are received into the community of the Church.

Prior to the Council, the focus of baptism was on the removal of original sin and the celebration was essentially private.

The revised rite for adult baptism looks to the paschal mystery of Christ, sees the Church in biblical terms as the people of God, identifies the goal as a faith response to the Gospel, and is communitarian.

Christian Initiation

One of the important and far reaching actions of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council was their decision in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy directing that the ancient practice of Christian Initiation be restored:

The catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps, is to be restored and to be taken into use at the discretion of the local ordinary. By this, means the time of the catechumenate, which is intended as a period of suitable instruction, may be sanctified by sacred rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time. (#64)

In January of 1972, the Congregation for Divine Worship published the “typical edition” of the rite for the Christian initiation of adults. An English translation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was then prepared by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy and, as of September 1, 1988, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults became the mandatory rite for use in the United States.

In the United States, many “converts” are Christians, that is, they have already been baptized and are seeking admission to the Catholic Church.  There are also those who have been baptized and infants but never catechized. A catechumen however is a person who has never been baptized.

Pastoral practice in the United States often brings these three groups together. While there are benefits to this practice, it also runs the risk of minimizing the unique place of baptism in the life of a Christian.
Whereas earlier pastoral practice tended to focus on membership in the Catholic Church, the restoration of the catechumenate focuses attention on the process of conversion by which an individual seeks to be united to Christ as a disciple. We are called to discipleship not simply to membership.

The implications of this change in focus have yet to permeate our thinking. (Not long ago, I was present for the celebration of a baptism in which the priest spoke of membership in the local community and in the larger Church community but never mentioned Jesus or the Holy Spirit!)