The Second Vatican Council: The Legacy Viewed through Methodist Eyes
2013; Duquesne University Press; Volume: 48; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2162-3937
Autores Tópico(s)Christian Theology and Mission
ResumoFrom a Methodist viewpoint most precise legacy from Second Vatican Council resides in bilateral dialogue to which then-Secretariat for Christian Unity invited World Methodist Council. The Roman invitation came in 1966, and dialogue began in 1967. It is not my purpose here to offer a chronological account of nine rounds of dialogue and regular reports coming from Joint Commission for Dialogue between World Methodist Council and Roman Catholic Church. Rather, main and formal part of my presentation will start from ninth and most recent report, whose title and internal structure offer a way of approach to some of chief themes and documents of Vatican II and related developments that have occurred in intervening years, both on Catholic side and on Methodist side, and sometimes together. The ninth report of joint commission--informally known as Durban 2011 (a nickname that I will explain later)--is titled Encountering Christ Saviour: Church and Sacraments. (1) I will, however, begin informally, even anecdotally, in order to recall memories from almost a half-century ago. In academic year 1966-67, I was still a graduate student, and I was awarded a European Fellowship that allowed me--as a Briton-to continue my work at any place of my choice on the Continent. Intrigued as a mere Protestant by what I had picked up, both formally and informally, about Vatican If, I chose Rome as place to go, where there was still excitement about council that had recently concluded. My place of registration--necessary in order to gain admission cards to libraries--was Facolta Valdese di Teologia, Waldensian Faculty of Theology. From there, warning signals went up early, since Waldensians derived from Pietro Valdese, a reformer from twelfth century; their small community had endured a long and bitter history with Catholic Church, from which they had separated. I attended lecture course of Professor Vittorio Subilia, in many ways a respected dogmatician, who nevertheless refused to be fooled by Vatican II. He wrote a book under ironic title La nuova cattolicitd del cattolicesimo (The New Catholicity of Catholicism), which attempted to show that Rome was, in fact, simply up to its old tricks. I spent most of my research time in great libraries of Biblicum and Gregorianum; my main personal contacts came with Catholic students of around my own age whom I met there or in informal contexts. Those from mainly Catholic countries were interested to meet with a studious Protestant who was accompanied by his wife and infant daughter. I was squeezed into a group of Catholic students in order to attend a formal audience with Pope Paul VI; as we walked up toward him one by one, I bowed before pontiff, although I did not kiss his ring. Several of students invited me to their ordinations, and I was fortunate to attend a couple of them in magnificent Sistine Chapel of Vatican. This kind of informal, friendly relationship had been anticipated in 1963-64, while I was a graduate student at University of Geneva; initiative for contacts had been taken by some English Benedictines from abbeys of Ampleforth in Yorkshire and Downside in county of Somerset. When I finally began my teaching career, I worked for six years at recently founded Faculte de theologie protestante at Yaounde in Cameroon, which was intended to serve several Protestant churches along French-speaking West coast of Africa. There we enjoyed cordial relations with priory established by Benedictine monks from Engelberg, Switzerland. Several of these friendships, begun in various places, persisted well after my return to Britain in 1973 and even into my time in United States from 1979 onward. They all helped to mediate to me event and early achievements of Vatican II. Such friendly encounters extended as far as one-on-one conversations graciously accorded me by Joseph Ratzinger while he was Cardinal Prefect of Congregation for Doctrine of Faith, and we could talk--in theological German--about Methodism and its Catholic dialogue, as well as other matters. …
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