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Yves Congarâs and Hans Küngâs modes of participation at Vatican II reflect different visions of ecclesial reform. Congar followed an âinsideâ path, working on the conciliar commissions that produced Vatican IIâs documents; Küng chose an âoutsideâ path, pursuing his own writing projects and engaging the mass-media. Their choice of differing paths was neither arbitrary nor merely temperamental, but cohered in both instances with substantial theologies of reform. Attending to the inseparability of the historical-biographical and systematic dimensions of their respective trajectories, this article first examines Congarâs evaluation of his own role at the Council and of the roles of other participants, as witnessed by his conciliar journal spanning the years 1960 to 1966. The article then does likewise for Küng, drawing primarily upon his memoirs. It concludes by comparing their paths of reform and addressing the implications of their differences.
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14
âCongar, My Journal, p. 871. See also, Dialogue Between Christians, p. 19.
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36
âCongar, My Journal, pp. 47â48, 143, 282, 483, 484, 492, 595.
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41
âCongar, My Journal, pp. 143. See also pp. 262, 271, 280, 415, 417, 543.
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42
âSee Congar, My Journal, pp. 268, 667, and 727: âI got the impression [reading comments on the draft of Dignitatis humanae], all the same, that the Secretariat [for Promoting Christian Unity] has been too optimistic. It lacked the benefit that the presence of opponentsâBrowne, FraniÄ, Spanneda, etc. who made it necessary to go deeperâbrought, in the end, to the Theological Commission. Has not the Secretariat worked too much in the euphoric unanimity of men won over to open ideas?â.
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43
âSee Alberto Melloni, âThe System and the Truth in the Diaries of Yves Congarâ, in Yves Congar: Theologian of the Church, pp. 277â302. This chapter can be Manichean in the dualism that it establishes between the âsystemâ and âtruth,â but it offers nonetheless a helpfulâand sometimes anguishedâinsight into Congarâs service and suffering.
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50
âCongar, My Journal, p. 861. See also Congarâs evaluation of his collaboration with Ratzinger on the drafting of Chapter I of Ad gentes divinitus: âHe is reasonable, modest, disinterested, a great helpâ. (p. 748)
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51
âCongar, My Journal, p. 733. However, see Congarâs comments, made upon the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithâs revocation in 1979 of Küngâs missio canonica to teach Catholic theology, on account of some of his ecclesiological and Christological views: âIn 1964 or 1965 a cardinal told me what Paul VI had said to him: âIâm looking,â said the Holy Father, âfor young theologians who one day can succeed the older ones. Iâve thought of Hans Küng, but it seems that he has too little love.â I would not say that he lacks love for either Christ or the church; indeed he loves them passionately, but not in the same way as Paul VI and notâif I may be allowed to say soâin the same way that I do. Küngâs love of the church and Christ is expressed in his concern for absolute honesty to history and the needs of the time. That is behind his studyâ (Cited in Küng, Disputed Truth, p. 485).
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53
âCongar, My Journal, p. 519. See also, pp. 473, 508, and 523.
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64
âSee Congar, My Journal, pp. 309, 617, 814 (lack of common effort); ibid., pp. 140, 154, 309, 511 (lack of collaboration with theologians); ibid., 403, 453, 510, 824, 848 (unintellectual piety).
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69
âAvery Dulles, âPrefaceâ, in Yves Congar: Theologian of the Church, pp. 27â29, at p. 27. See also Ãtienne Fouilloux, âFrère Yves, Cardinal Congar, Dominicain: Itinéraire dâun théologienâ, Revue des Sciences philosophiques et théologiques 79 (1995), pp. 379â404, at p. 400: âle père Congar devient le théologien de Vatican II par excellenceâ.
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74
âSee Küng, The Council, Reform, and Reunion, pp. 158â188.
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78
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, pp. 360â361. For another account of the formulation of Lumen gentium no. 12, see Francis A. Sullivan, âVatican II on the Charisms of the Faithfulâ, in Vatican II: 40 Personal Stories, eds. William Madges and Michael J. Daley (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2003), pp. 94â97.
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80
âSee Küng, My Struggle for Freedom, pp. 349â354. The influence of Ernst Käsemann upon Küngâboth in his reading of the New Testament, especially Paul, and in his overall stance towards ecclesiology, freedom, and (ecclesial) authorityâmerits further study.
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81
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 353; also, Disputed Truth, p. 17.
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102
âSee Luis Antonio G. Tagle, âThe âBlack Weekâ of Vatican II (November 14â21 1964)â, in History of Vatican II, Volume IV: Church as Communion: Third Period and Intersession: September 1964 â September 1965, (eds) Giuseppe Alberigo and Joseph A. Komonchak (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003), pp. 387â452.
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121
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 461. Küngâs repeated allegations of Ratzingerâs hierarchical ambition are uncharitable and unsubstantial, not least in the light of Ratzingerâs resignation of the papacy on 28 February 2013.
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128
âSee Küng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 356, for his acknowledgement to Charles Moeller that both âinsideâ and âoutsideâ paths are necessary: âWe must both attempt to achieve what we can for the Councilâ.
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130
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 102. The context for this quotation is Küngâs reflection on his first meeting with Congar in the winter of 1954â1955. Congar was in Rome after having been removed from his teaching post in France.
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132
âSee Küng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 459 (âI could in no way have gone on this march through the institutionsâ.); Disputed Truth, p. 523 (âI havenât entered the service of the Roman system which calls itself simply âchurchââ.).
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134
âSee Jan Grootaers, âDiversité des tendances à lâintérieur de la majorité conciliaire: Gérard Philips et Giuseppe Dossettiâ, in The Belgian Contribution to the Second Vatican Council, pp. 529â562.
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135
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 443. Also, pp. 369, 405â406.
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136
âCongar, My Journal, p. 292 (âoriginal mistakeâ); pp. 464â465 (âoriginal sinâ); Küng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 177 (âparalyzingâ, âunthinkableâ), p. 406.
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138
âKüng, My Struggle for Freedom, p. 353; also, p. 413 (âfatally ambiguous compromiseâ); Disputed Truth, p. 17 (âfateful [verhängnisvollen] compromiseâ), p. 72 (âpernicious compromisesâ).
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141
âCongar, My Journal, pp. 663, 667, 679â680, 682 (on episcopal collegiality); Congar, âA Last Look at the Councilâ, in Vatican II Revisited: By Those Who Were There, ed. Alberic Stacpoole (Minneapolis, MN: Winston, 1986), pp. 337â358, at pp. 352â353 (on the Councilâs affirmation of the Church as the People of God over against a conception of the Church as an âunequalâ society).
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142
âCongar, True and False Reform in the Church, pp. 265â266.
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Yves Congarâs and Hans Küngâs modes of participation at Vatican II reflect different visions of ecclesial reform. Congar followed an âinsideâ path, working on the conciliar commissions that produced Vatican IIâs documents; Küng chose an âoutsideâ path, pursuing his own writing projects and engaging the mass-media. Their choice of differing paths was neither arbitrary nor merely temperamental, but cohered in both instances with substantial theologies of reform. Attending to the inseparability of the historical-biographical and systematic dimensions of their respective trajectories, this article first examines Congarâs evaluation of his own role at the Council and of the roles of other participants, as witnessed by his conciliar journal spanning the years 1960 to 1966. The article then does likewise for Küng, drawing primarily upon his memoirs. It concludes by comparing their paths of reform and addressing the implications of their differences.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 572 | 109 | 36 |
| Full Text Views | 197 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 91 | 2 | 0 |
