"Europe is the faith? Schism among Roman Catholics
"On June 30, 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four priests
of his Catholic traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X as bishops, thus
triggering a schism within the Roman Catholic Church. Although the
theological origins of Lefebvre's disagreement with the Vatican may be
traced to his rejection of certain documents promulgated at the Second
Vatican Council (1962-1965), (1) a significant degree of his popular
support may be attributed to resentment toward the many liturgical
changes which followed the Council. The most visible of these was the
replacement of the traditional Latin Mass with the Novus Ordo Missae.
"On a religiocultural level, this schism may be considered the end of the
image of the Roman Catholic Church as a popular expression of
European Christianity. For at least the preceding millennium, from the
coronation of the Saxon King Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope
John XII on February 2, 962, to the opening of the Second Vatican
Council by Pope John XXIII on October 11, 1962, the religiocultural
orientation of popular Roman Catholicism was predominantly European
and largely Germanic. (2) An example of a popular pre-Vatican II
Eurocentric view of Christianity has been provided by Avery Dulles
in his study The Catholicity of the Church, where he cites Hilaire
Belloc's affirmation, "The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith."
(3)". [p. vii.].
Notes.
1. The primary Vatican II documents rejected by Lefebvre were
Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World) and Dignitatis Humanae Personae (Declaration on Religious
Freedom). Additional information regarding the events and documents
preceding the schism may be found in L'Osservatore romano, English
edition, June 27, 1988 and in Francois Laisney, Archbishop Lefebvre
and the Vatican (Kansas City, MO: Angelus Press, 1989).
2. An interesting Russian Orthodox parallel is discussed in Ernest
Gordon, " A Thousand Years of Caesaropapism or the Triumph of the
Christian Faith, " The World & I, 3:8 (1988): 681-698.
3. Hilaire Belloc, Europe and the Faith (London: Constable, 1920), p.
331; quoted in Avery Dulles, The Catholicity of the Church, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985), p. 75. Dulles comments: "Originally centered
in the Mediterranean countries, Catholic Christianity later found its
primary home in Europe ... As a plea to Europeans to recover the
religious roots of their former unity, this slogan could be defended.
Christianity was in possession as the religion of the Europeans, and
the Christianity that had united Europe was Catholic. But what
about the people of different stock? Did Belloc mean to imply that to
become Christian they would first have to be Europeanized? If so,
his thinking was too particularist." Dulles's thoughts on the catholicity
of the Church in the future are the focus of his article, "The Emerging
World Church: A Theological Reflection", Proceedings of the Catholic
Theological Society of America, 39 (1984): 1-12.
Russell, James C. (1994). The Germanization of Early Medieval
Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation.
New York: Oxford University Press.
The Orthodox Church, and Orthodox Christians, do not say,
"Constantinople is the faith, and the faith is Constantinople, or Russia is
the faith, and the faith is Russia, or Greece is the faith, and the faith
is Greece, let alone Mount Athos is the faith, and the faith is Mount
Athos." But in general, Europe is opposed to Russia, and Russia to
Europe. Hence, NATO and Western Europe and Russia and the
Balkan and Eastern European nations.
All because the West says "And the Son", and Russia and all the
Orthodox Churches say "from the Father". But Greece is part of
the European Union. So there are exceptions.
In Erie PA USA Scott R. Harrington
PS Perhaps Roman Catholics will understand this Lefebvre schism
better than the rest of us, including myself, a non-Roman Catholic.
And they will have to remember the Old Catholic schism, too.
The Old Catholics, at one time at least, in the past, were close to being
the same belief as Eastern Orthodox. ISTM. But they depart today
from some sound teachings of Roman Catholicism, as the Old
Catholics, unless I am mistaken, are thinking of ordaining women.
That's a kind of Protestantization of the Old Catholics, liberalization.
Modernization.
"On June 30, 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four priests
of his Catholic traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X as bishops, thus
triggering a schism within the Roman Catholic Church. Although the
theological origins of Lefebvre's disagreement with the Vatican may be
traced to his rejection of certain documents promulgated at the Second
Vatican Council (1962-1965), (1) a significant degree of his popular
support may be attributed to resentment toward the many liturgical
changes which followed the Council. The most visible of these was the
replacement of the traditional Latin Mass with the Novus Ordo Missae.
"On a religiocultural level, this schism may be considered the end of the
image of the Roman Catholic Church as a popular expression of
European Christianity. For at least the preceding millennium, from the
coronation of the Saxon King Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope
John XII on February 2, 962, to the opening of the Second Vatican
Council by Pope John XXIII on October 11, 1962, the religiocultural
orientation of popular Roman Catholicism was predominantly European
and largely Germanic. (2) An example of a popular pre-Vatican II
Eurocentric view of Christianity has been provided by Avery Dulles
in his study The Catholicity of the Church, where he cites Hilaire
Belloc's affirmation, "The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith."
(3)". [p. vii.].
Notes.
1. The primary Vatican II documents rejected by Lefebvre were
Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World) and Dignitatis Humanae Personae (Declaration on Religious
Freedom). Additional information regarding the events and documents
preceding the schism may be found in L'Osservatore romano, English
edition, June 27, 1988 and in Francois Laisney, Archbishop Lefebvre
and the Vatican (Kansas City, MO: Angelus Press, 1989).
2. An interesting Russian Orthodox parallel is discussed in Ernest
Gordon, " A Thousand Years of Caesaropapism or the Triumph of the
Christian Faith, " The World & I, 3:8 (1988): 681-698.
3. Hilaire Belloc, Europe and the Faith (London: Constable, 1920), p.
331; quoted in Avery Dulles, The Catholicity of the Church, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985), p. 75. Dulles comments: "Originally centered
in the Mediterranean countries, Catholic Christianity later found its
primary home in Europe ... As a plea to Europeans to recover the
religious roots of their former unity, this slogan could be defended.
Christianity was in possession as the religion of the Europeans, and
the Christianity that had united Europe was Catholic. But what
about the people of different stock? Did Belloc mean to imply that to
become Christian they would first have to be Europeanized? If so,
his thinking was too particularist." Dulles's thoughts on the catholicity
of the Church in the future are the focus of his article, "The Emerging
World Church: A Theological Reflection", Proceedings of the Catholic
Theological Society of America, 39 (1984): 1-12.
Russell, James C. (1994). The Germanization of Early Medieval
Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation.
New York: Oxford University Press.
The Orthodox Church, and Orthodox Christians, do not say,
"Constantinople is the faith, and the faith is Constantinople, or Russia is
the faith, and the faith is Russia, or Greece is the faith, and the faith
is Greece, let alone Mount Athos is the faith, and the faith is Mount
Athos." But in general, Europe is opposed to Russia, and Russia to
Europe. Hence, NATO and Western Europe and Russia and the
Balkan and Eastern European nations.
All because the West says "And the Son", and Russia and all the
Orthodox Churches say "from the Father". But Greece is part of
the European Union. So there are exceptions.
In Erie PA USA Scott R. Harrington
PS Perhaps Roman Catholics will understand this Lefebvre schism
better than the rest of us, including myself, a non-Roman Catholic.
And they will have to remember the Old Catholic schism, too.
The Old Catholics, at one time at least, in the past, were close to being
the same belief as Eastern Orthodox. ISTM. But they depart today
from some sound teachings of Roman Catholicism, as the Old
Catholics, unless I am mistaken, are thinking of ordaining women.
That's a kind of Protestantization of the Old Catholics, liberalization.
Modernization.