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Professor Swidler brings to a close this Chapter with its focus on the implications of Vatican II for Church governance, reform and our self-understanding of our relationship with God and with the other religions of the world. In the final section he provides a recap of what he has termed "the five Copernican Turns of Vatican II".

The five "Copernican" Turns of Vatican II (cont'd)

VI. CATHOLIC REFORM and INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE —
MUTUALLY CAUSALLY LINKED

If one looks again at The Declaration on Religious Freedom it should be clear that much concerning freedom in the Catholic Church is awry and must be set aright; openness to, and concern for the freedom of, the other has far-reaching implications for the freedom of the initiator. Dialogue with others is inseparably linked with self-freedom and self-reform/renewal.

Although the Declaration on Religious Freedom was originally part of the "Schema on Ecumenism," it by no means monopolized the concern for freedom when it became a separate document. Even in the Decree on Ecumenism itself, the need for freedom was recognized explicitly as needed within the Church, stating: "Let all members of the Church...preserve a proper freedom in...spiritual life and discipline...liturgical rites, and even in the elaborations of revealed truth." While this sentence is not a detailed program of the key areas where there ought to be freedom inside the Catholic Church, the clear implication is that there is a need for greater freedom, and the Decree lists the key areas where such further freedom is required inside the Catholic Church.

The reason such a statement is in a decree on ecumenism, of course, is that a Catholic could not possibly enter a true dialogue, which by definition includes an openness to one another, if one were not a responsible person, and this can be so only to the degree that one is free. At the same time it would also be impossible for Catholic authorities to think they were seriously engaged in ecumenical dialogue, with unity as a goal, if freedom for adjustment in matters that can be adjusted were not allowed.

The aim of such internal dialogue is, naturally, change — in the words of the Decree: renewal and reform. This renewal and reform within the Catholic Church will then lead to a more effective inter-church and interreligious dialogue; all four-freedom, intra-church dialogue, inter-church dialogue, inter-religious dialogue — are bound together very intimately. When one suffers, they all suffer. The Decree makes the link quite explicit when it states:

In ecumenical work Catholics must assuredly be concerned for their separated brethren.... But their primary duty is to make an honest and careful appraisal of whatever needs to be renewed and achieved in the Catholic household itself. Finally, all are led to examine...and wherever necessary [no limitations!] undertake with vigor [!] the task of renewal and reform.

Both words, "primary" and "duty" are very important. What is spoken of here is, as noted before, not what just some clergy may engage in if they were so inclined. Clearly all Catholics are to undertake the described renewal as their first and most pressing obligation. It is also very interesting that the writers of the Decree felt it necessary to use the terms "honest" and "careful", intimating that the institutional tendency is toward self-justification and cover-up. Then too, the Council demands that all Catholics — you and I included — make an appraisal of whatever needs to be renewed and achieved in the Catholic household itself. Nothing is excluded from being in need of reappraisal and renewal-not priestly ministry, not episcopacy, not papacy.... It does not seem possible to be clearer or more urgent than the Decree is here.

The bishops summed up their contention that renewal is vital to the ecumenical [and interreligious] dialogue when they wrote: "Church renewal therefore has notable ecumenical importance". The converse is obviously also true, namely, that ecumenical and interreligious dialogue has notable importance for renewal and reform. It also should be clear that Catholics should not be working for the conversion of Protestants and Orthodox to Catholicism, not only because it is now recognized that such conversions can never heal — only exacerbate — the ecclesiastical breaches, but also because piecemeal conversion, or even premature corporate union, would stop the ongoing Catholic renewal and development of freedom. Without dialogue, freedom and renewal would not come to a full flowering in the Church — and the Church, and the world, would be cheated as a result.

The bishops and cardinals of the world assembled at the Second Vatican Council

VII. CATHOLIC DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

Clearly the Five-fold Copernican Turn of Vatican II points ineluctably toward a more democratic governance of the Catholic Church. The Turn Toward Freedom obviously mandates the participation of the governed in governance. How else can all the Catholic faithful exercise their freedom if they are not intimately involved in their own governance? The Turn Toward the Historical/ Dynamic shows that the current governance structure of the Catholic Church grew out of the Roman Imperial and Medieval Feudal governance structures-nothing at all Gospel-based about the Jewish-hated Imperial Rome which murdered Jesus as the mocked King of the Jews. A democratic form of governance, now arrived at in the secular world in the course of history, is without a doubt much more in keeping with human dignity than the authoritarian governance structures of past secular-and ecclesial-history.

The Turn Toward This World means that the lessons we learn in this secular world begin again to take on their proper importance within our religious life, for it is here and now that we are to "work out our salvation". That is, Christianity once again begins to follow the motto of Jesus: "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly", not an other-worldly focus beyond the grave. In this world we have learned that, as Churchill said, although "Democracy is a terrible political system, all the others are worse!" If democratic governance is the best for our secular political world, a fortiori it certainly is best for our even more important religious world! The Turn Toward Self-Reform absolutely mandates that we use the very best practices of our experience to reform the governance structure of our Church. We are obligated, commanded, by all the bishops and the pope as our "primary duty" to reform our Church. If we do not, we are disobedient Catholics!

The Turn Toward Dialogue is a charge given by the Ecumenical Council to all Catholics, not as a luxury, but as a requirement-if we are to take the words of the highest authority of the Catholic Church seriously. At the same time, the Council inextricably linked dialogue with self-reform. The two require and reenforce each other. And self-reform requires taking freedom, as well as our history, and this world seriously-all of which point toward a democratic governance structure of the Catholic Church. There is our goal that we all are charged to pursue.

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©2007 Leonard Swidler

[Index of Commentaries by Prof Len Swidler]