Transcript Gaudium et Spes - Catholic Diocese of Townsville

Gaudium et Spes
The Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World
Outline of Presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Background Context of the document
Story of the doc’s drafting
Structure of final draft
Significant Shifts and Innovations
Compromises and Weaknesses
Remaining Issues for the Church
The Enduring Symbolic Value of GS
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General Remarks
not among the preparatory documents for
the council
emerged from the floor of the council
by far the longest of the sixteen
documents
the only document published with
subtitles
3
promulgated the very last working day
of the Council
addressed to all humanity (not just to
Catholics, or Christians)
came to be symbolic of the Council’s
“style”
dialogic
collaborative
participative
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Previous Social Teaching
Encyclicals
from Rerum Novarum (1891) to Pacem in
Terris (1963)
using a “deductive” methodology, these
documents attempted to ground social teaching
on the prior foundation of a philosophical and
theological anthropology
couched in the categories of Scholastic Theology
appealed to “natural law”
GS will come to use a more “inductive”
method (but with elements of the old)
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History of the Drafting
at the very end of the first session (4
Dec 1962), a plan for the Council’s
program was proposed by Cardinal
Josef Suenens
a focus not only on the church “ad intra”
(the internal life of the church)
but also on the church “ad extra” (the
church and its mission in the world)
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History (cont’d)
the long list of topics for the council’s
discussion was then revised and
reduced according to this plan
no. 17 on the list was “Schema XVII”
later became “Schema XIII”
then finally “Gaudium et Spes”
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“Ad intra” / “Ad extra”
Distinction
While this distinction was helpful for dividing
up the workload of the Council,
it can be a misleading distinction
IF it is taken to mean that “church” and
“world” are like oil and water
This issue of how to best name the
relationship plagues the whole debate
and remains somewhat unresolved in GS
 The world is not something apart from the
church, nor the church from the world
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The Drafting Commission
A “Mixed Commission”
drawn from members of the
Doctrinal Commission
Commission for the Lay Apostolate
but various sub-commissions were set
up to deal with the many sections
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the various drafts were prepared in
French, and then translated into Latin
fourth session: translations provided in
the major European languages (first
time)
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Theological tensions
a significant influence of the Frenchspeaking theologians
Chenu, Congar
tension with the theological vision of
the German-speaking theologians
Rahner, Ratzinger
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Structure of the final version
 Preface and Introduction (1-3; 4-10)
 Part 1: The Church and the Human Vocation
 Introduction: Responding to the Promptings of the Spirit (11)
 Chapter 1: The Dignity of the Human Person
 Chapter 2: The Human Community
 Chapter 3: Humanity’s Activity in the Universe
 Chapter 4: Role of the Church in Today’s World
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Structure (cont’d)
 Part 2: Some More Urgent Problems
 Preface (46)
 Chapter 1: The Dignity of Marriage and the Family (47-52)
 Chapter 2: Proper Development of Culture (53-62)
 Chapter 3: Economic and Social Life (63-72)
 Chapter 4: The Political Community (73-76)
 Chapter 5: Fostering Peace and Establishment of a
Community of Nations (77-90)
 Conclusion: Role of Individual Christians and of Local
Churches (91-93)
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A “Pastoral” Constitution
John XXIII’s original desire that the
Council have a “pastoral” focus
Special footnote on the significance of
title:
“The constitution is called ‘pastoral’ because, while
resting on doctrinal principles, it sets out the relation
of the church to the world and to the people of today.
In Part I, therefore, the pastoral emphasis is not
overlooked, nor is the doctrinal emphasis overlooked
in Part II.”
The “doctrinal” principles (Part 1) and the “pastoral”
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applications (Part 2) are intertwined
Four Interrelated Levels of
Doctrine
1. Anthropology
the “nature” of the human person
GS, 3: “It is the human person, therefore,
which is the key to this discussion, each
individual human person in here of his
totality, body and soul, heart and
conscience, mind and will.”
2. Christian Ethics in Contemporary
Society
the nature of moral human action
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3. Ecclesiology
the nature and mission of the church
GS, 3: “The church is not motivated by earthly
ambition but is interested in one thing only – to
carry on the work of Christ under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit.”
Gaudium et Spes as complement to Lumen
Gentium
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4. Christology
the human and divine natures of Christ
any teaching on the nature of the human
person is to be grounded in teaching about
Christ as the model for human personhood
GS, 10: “The church believes that the key,
the centre and the purpose of the whole of
human history is to be found in its Lord
and Master.”
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Interrelated Leitmotifs
“solidarity”
“dialogue”
“reading the signs of the times”
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“Solidarity”
 GS, 1: “The joys and hopes, the grief and
anguish of the people of our time, especially of
those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and
hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of
Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human
fails to find an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a
community of people united in Christ and guided
by the Holy Spirit in their pilgrimage towards the
Father’s kingdom, bearers of a message of
salvation for all humanity. That is why they
cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the
human race and its history.”
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“Dialogue”
the motif of the divine-human dialogue
the motif of church’s “dialogue with the
world”
a church open to learning (GS 44)
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Paul VI and the Dialogue motif
Encyclical Ecclesiam Suam
6 August 1964 (during the third session)
the influence of “personalist”
philosophies
Gabriel Marcel
Martin Buber
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GS, 3
“And so the council… can find no more
eloquent expression of this people’s solidarity,
respect and love for the whole human family,
of which it forms a part, than to enter into
dialogue with it about all these various
problems, throwing the light of the Gospel on
them and supplying humanity with the saving
resources which the church has received from
its founder under the promptings of the Holy
Spirit.”
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GS 92
Four concentric circles of dialogue
dialogue
dialogue
dialogue
dialogue
within the church itself
with other Christians
with other religious believers
with non-believers
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Reading “the signs of the
times”
starting with contemporary context (inductive
method)
attentiveness to the God of history
GS 4
GS 11
GS 44
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GS 4
 “To discharge this function [with the guidance of the
Paraclete Spirit, to continue the work of Christ (GS, 3)],
the church has the duty in every age of examining the
signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the
gospel, so that it can offer in a manner appropriate to
each generation replies to the continual human
questionings on the meaning of this life and the life to
come and on how they are related. There is a need, then,
to be aware of, and to understand, the world in which we
live, together with its expectations, its desires and its
frequently dramatic character.”
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GS 11
 “Impelled by its belief that it is being led by the Spirit
of the Lord who fills the whole earth, God’s people
works to discern the true signs of God’s presence and
purpose in the events, needs and desires which it
shares with the rest of modern humanity. It is faith
which shows everything in a new light and clarifies
God’s purpose in his complete calling of the human
race, thus pointing the mind towards solutions which
are fully human…
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GS 11 (cont’d)
 … The council’s first aim is to subject the values most
highly regarded today to this light and to relate them
to their divine source, since these values are very
good insofar as they proceed from the God-given
character of the human person, but are in need of
purification from the distortion they often receive
from the corruption of the human heart…
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GS 11 (cont’d)
 … What is the church’s view of woman and man?
What does it consider is to be commended in
constructing today’s society? What is the ultimate
significance of human activity in the world as a
whole? These questions require answers which will
show more clearly that the people of God and the
human race of which it is a part are of service to
each other, and that the church’s mission is seen to
be a religious one and by that very fact an
outstandingly human one.”
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GS 44
“It is for God’s people as a whole, with the
help of the Holy Spirit, and especially for
pastors and theologians, to listen to the
various voices of our day, discerning them
and interpreting them, and to evaluate them
in the light of the divine word, so that the
revealed truth can be increasingly
appropriated, better understood and more
suitably expressed.”
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GS 62
 meaning/expression of doctrine
 “evaluating and interpreting everything with an
authentically Christian sense of values”
 “it is hoped that more of the laity will receive
adequate theological formation and that some of
them will dedicate themselves professionally to these
studies and contribute to their advancement. But for
the proper exercise of this role, the faithful, both
clerical and lay, should be accorded a lawful freedom
of inquiry, of thought, and of expression, tempered
by humility and courage in whatever branch of study
they have specialized.”
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Three Major Innovations
1. primarily a Biblical vision
2. an increased historical awareness
3. a relating of the Church’s mission and
its social vision
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1. A Biblical Vision
 a biblical vision more than “natural
law”
an appeal to revelation
 and secondarily an appeal to the order
that God has inscribed in human nature
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2. Historical Awareness
Deductive methodology
from general unchanging principles to their
application
from abstract natural law to concrete new situations
the rise of “historical consciousness” (19-20th
centuries)
an appreciation of the changing historical
conditions of social, cultural and political spheres
all elements of the human situation are
conditioned by history
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Inductive methodology
from an examination of the concrete situation
to the application of the Gospel in that
situation
What are the features problems of the
contemporary world that require solutions?
GS 5: “The human race is moving from a more
static view of things to one which is more dynamic
and evolutionary, giving rise to new combinations
of problems which call for new analyses and
syntheses.”
an emerging methodology of the council
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3. Relating the Church’s
mission and its social vision
Lumen Gentium: the church “ad intra”
looking “to within”
what is the nature of the church?
Gaudium et Spes: the church “ad extra”
looking “to outside”
given the nature of the church, what is the
mission of the church?
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The Mission of the Church
“the religious mission” of the church
to proclaim and to realize the Reign of God
The Reign of God is to permeate all
aspects of human life and society
Shift: from church as an end in itself
to church as a servant of the Reign of God
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GS, 40-42
Part One, Chapter IV
summary of the basis of the church’s
social mission
37
Four Specific Tasks
of the Church’s Proper Mission
to defend human dignity
to promote human rights
to cultivate the unity of the human
family
to make clear the meaning of human
life
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Relation of the Church to the
Reign of God
the church is not equivalent to the Reign of
God
related, however, in two ways
the Reign of God transcends every political
authority
therefore, the religious mission is to critique political
ideology
the Reign of God relates to diverse dimensions of
social and economic reality
therefore, the religious mission is related to the right
ordering of the social and economic order
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Summary of Shifts in Church
Teaching
 Methodology
 from deductive to inductive
 Historical Consciousness
 from “ahistorical” to an historical
approach
40
 Evolutionary not static view of reality
 GS, 5: “The human race is moving from a
more static view of things to one which is
more dynamic and evolutionary, giving
rise to new combinations of problems
which call for new analyses and
syntheses.”
 Modernity
 From rejection of modernity to
engagement with its strengths
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Shifts (cont’d)
 The “world”
 from the world as Godless to the world as
the place of God’s redeeming activity
 Natural Law
 parallel to the inductive/more historical
approach
 Notion of the human person
 a move away from an eternal “nature” of
the human person, to one historically
situated
42
 Church and State
 from achieving “Christendom” to the
Church as leaven, as prophetic witness
 Conscience
 War
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Marriage: from “contract” to “covenant”
previous legalistic framework
contract
shift to a personalist framework
intimate partnership and covenant
the “ends” of marriage
not only reproduction and the rearing of
children
also conjugal love
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Other Docs the social mission
(1) Decree on Laity
Laity have a twofold role
to work for evangelization
to renew the temporal order
Presupposition
Christ’s work of redemption is primarily related to the
salvation of the human being
but involves “the renewal of the whole temporal order”
(AA, 5-7)
a shift in the theology of grace: from extrinsic to
intrinsic
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(2) Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity
to work for Christ’s redemption includes “the right
ordering of social and economic affairs”
the church’s missionary activity involves
collaborating with all peoples
for eliminating hunger, disease, ignorance
for establishing peace and justice and “human” working
conditions for workers (AG, 12)
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Some Weaknesses and Open
Questions
overly optimistic about “progress”
too “60s”
not enough emphasis on evil and the
effects of original sin
ecological crisis not mentioned
in fact, a perpetuation of some of the
mentality causing it
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 “Little attention is given in the document to
environmental pollution, the depletion of nonrenewable resources, and general environmental
exploitation. The council fathers’ language
concerning nature and the relation of humankind to
nature is rather disturbing. Humanity should
“consolidate its control over creation” (9), “subject to
himself the earth and all that it contains” (34),
“subdue the earth” (57), and hold “increasing
domination over nature” (63)… The council fathers
seem oblivious both to the environmental problems
already evident in the world and the impact of
framing the human/nature relationship in terms of
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domination.” (Lois Ann Lorentzen)
Issues taken off the agenda
by Paul VI
divorce
mixed marriages
birth control
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