Not since the Reformation has Roman Catholic theology been such a popular topic as in the years following the Second Vatican Council. New opinions by theologians on such diverse subjects as sexual morality, original sin, papal infallibility and even the nature of the Mass and sacraments have provoked applause, shock and division. Last week, in an attempt to arrive at some "common denominators" that might ease the division, 225 of those theologians —mostly Catholics but including a few Protestants—met in Brussels to discuss 'The Future of the Church."
Their consensus turned out to be a major statement for Catholic theology embracing 15 resolutions, each passed by more than two-thirds of the theologians voting. The congress called for more democratic methods of choosing the Pope, bishops and priests. It called for pluralism in both theology and church structure, insisted on Christian involvement in securing political freedom, and urged investigation of a role for women in the ministry.
At first it seemed as if the congress might simply have been a good opportunity for theologians to gather and learn how far they had come since Vatican II and how far they had yet to go. Sponsored by Concilium, a five-year-old international journal of theology edited by some of Catholicism's most progressive thinkers, the congress provided an array of theological superstars including The Netherlands' Edward Schillebeeckx, France's Yves Congar, Germany's Karl Rahner, Hans Küng and Johan Metz. Participants came from 32 countries, including 40 from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some 700 observers signed up and nearly 200 journalists arrived for the five-day conference. Earnest, grave, mostly business-suited in the now-common European priestly fashion, the theologians gathered in Brussels' vast Palais des Congrès. The conference began peacefully enough. Then, when Schillebeeckx and his Concilium colleagues offered 28 rough-draft resolutions for the congress to consider, the lid came off.
Three a Day. A U.S. liberal, Fordham Jesuit Ladislas Orsy, led the rebels. "Are you trying to manipulate us?" he asked the organizers from the floor. Liberals and conservatives alike protested the prepackaged resolutions. After two days of sometimes bitter floor debate, the participants finally voted 144 to 47 to publish their own resolutions.
This crisis behind them, the theologians went briskly to business. Three-a-day speeches, directed toward such topics as the contemporary meaning of the Christian message and the place of the church in society, had begun during the resolutions squabble. Yves Congar spoke of the rise of small, experimental Christian communities, arguing that despite irregularities "they represent something valuable, and must be accepted." Belgian Theologian Antoine Vergote argued for a more relaxed church attitude in promulgating sex ethics, charging that too many potential Catholics are discouraged by moral laws presented as "finished and perfect systems that one must take or leave." Johan Metz reiterated the political corollary of the theology of hope: that the memory of Jesus Christ's passion, death and resurrection is "a dangerous and liberating remembrance of freedom" that requires Christians to challenge oppressive systems.