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Vera e falsa riforma nella Chiesa, by Yves Marie Congar

The Congar's argument True and false reform in the Church is a classic of the theology of the twentieth century. Until now no one had studied this aspect of the life of the Church from a theological point of view. He has done it at a crucial moment.

Juan Luis Lorda-September 9, 2022-Reading time: 7 minutes
yves marie congar

Testo originale del articolo in inglese qui

On December 6, 1944, at the will of Pius XII, a telegram was sent to Roncalli, who then represented the Holy See in Bulgaria (1925), Turkey and Greece (1931), nominating him nunzio a Parigi.
It was not a promotion, but a fire to be put out. Just after the end of the Second World War, the new head of the French Republic, General De Gaulle, a Catholic, wanted to change the name Valeri, because he felt too close to Pétain's regime. It was urgent that the change should take place before Christmas, when traditionally the diplomatic corps was renewed and the nuncio was the dean. In addition, the French government, for the same reason, wanted to change 30 vescovi in France.

Angelo Roncalli was 63 years old. He would have been elected Patriarch of Venice (1953) and then Pope (1958), with the name of John XXIII.

Anni fecondi e complessi

The war years in France were, from the Christian point of view, extraordinarily rich. There was a magnificent flourishing of Christian intellectuals and theologians, as well as of apostolic initiatives, which renewed the panorama of the French Catholicism, already begun after the First World War.

This, between great cultural and political tensions. On the one hand, the one sustained by the large sector of traditional Catholics, refractory to the Republic, proud of the French Catholic past and hurt by the secular repubblican arbitrariness, which had lasted for 150 years. And, on the other hand, the temptation that communism put to the Catholicism with social sensibility and to the young clergy, because it tried to assimilate them to its political project.

In this context, everything was easily confused and politicized, and unresolved tensions emerged. The Holy See -the Holy Office- received in those years hundreds of complaints from France, and a climate of suspicion was created in front of the so-called "New Theology" that made difficult the right discernment and complicated a lot the life of some great theologians like De Lubac and Congar. In 1950 Congar separated from De Lubac de Fourvière.

Genesi di Vera e falsa Riforma

On August 17, 1950, Father General of the Domenicani, Manuel Suarez, visiting Paris, met Yves Marie Congar (1904-1995) to talk about the book Cristiani divisi (1937), the pioneering work that Congar had written on Catholic ecumenism.
The subject was then on the agenda, and it would have been only with the will of the Second Vatican Council, becoming a mission of the Church, but at the same time arousing historical perplexities. Moreover, since the Holy See wished to prevent ecumenical relations from slipping out of hand, the Ecumenical Council of the Churches had just been created.

Congar attentively noted that conversation in a memorandum (published in the Diary of a theologian): "I tell you that I am correcting the words of a book entitled Vera e falsa riforma... [I am following a little stupified Father General]; and that undoubtedly this book will cause me difficulties, the weight of which will have to be borne even by the poor Father General. [...] But what can I do? It is not possible for me to stop thinking and saying what seems true to me. Sii prudente? I do my best to be so".
Reading the book today, after the highs and lows of the post-conciliar period, one has the feeling that it could serve as a guide to change. But when it was published, things turned out differently. At the end of the beginning, the only use of the word "reform", at least in Italy, seems to reject the Protestant system.
Although the book has now received some enthusiastic reviews (including that of the Osservatore Romano), suspicions were also raised that it had more to do with the content than with the book itself. 

Congar racconta l'aneddoto di quella signora che era andata a comprare uno dei suoi libri e alla quale il libraio domandò: "anche lei è comunista?"

Current complications

The Father General of the Domenicani, Manuel Suarez, was a prudent man in a difficult situation. Everything was complicated by the question of operating prices, in which several French Domenicani (but not Congar) were involved. This audacious and interesting evangelizing project, perhaps in a different context, and with greater pastoral attention on the part of the involved parties, would have been able to bear its fruits serenely.
However, with the two tensions that had succumbed, it was unfeasible. On the one hand, criticisms and denunciations were increasing; on the other hand, there were opportunities for the communists to recruit.

All this was caused by some defections. And this provoked an intervention in the Dominicani of France in 1954, but through the same Father General. Among the other things, Congar was asked to stop teaching (even if not writing). Also the second edition of Vera e Falsa Riforma and its translations were rejected (but the Spanish edition was published in 1953). No further sanctions were imposed and nothing was added to the Index, as feared. However, for many years he would not have been able to return to the regular inspection.

And the nunzio Roncalli? He was one who studied them. Certainly he was a man faithful to the Holy See, who acted with good sense and great humanity. He was punished both by the denunciations that arrived directly to Rome (also from the vestrymen) and by the measures that were taken through the general superiors. However, when as Pope convoked the Council, both de Lubac and Congar were called to the preparatory commission. And they would have played a great role: De Lubac more as inspirer, but Congar also as writer of many texts. Church, ecumenism... These were his fears! 

The intention of the book

So the title is in itself a program of True and False Reform in the Church. It is not about the "Riforma della Chiesa", ma della "Riforma nella Church". And this because the Church is not in the hands of men. The Reformation is made by its own nature, renewing that which it is more inventive than inventive. And it is necessary to work to adapt the life and mission of the Church to the changes of the times. Not for the convenience of the context, but for the authenticity of the mission. For this reason, in reality, "the reforms turn out to be a constant phenomenon in the life of the Church, as well as a critical moment for the Catholic communion.", sottolinea Congar nel prologo del 1950.

In a moment of effervescence such as the one we were living, it seems also important to study the phenomenon, in order to reform it properly, learning from historical experience and avoiding mistakes. In the same place he lucidly says: "The Church is not only a framework, an apparatus, an institution. It is a communion. There is in it a unity that no secession can destroy, the unity that its constitutive elements generate by themselves. But there is also the unity exercised or seen by men. This interrogates its attachment, it is constructed or distributed by that attachment and constitutes the communion".. 

In this there is an echo of Johann Adam Möhler, always admired (and edited) by Congar. 

The preface of 1967 shows the change of the context from that of when he wrote the book. On the one hand, the magnificent Ecclesiology of the Council, but also the relationships with a world much more independent of the ecclesial one. This is positive in a certain sense; but, on the other hand, "what comes from the world risks to be seen with an intensity, a presence, an evidence that exceeds the faith claims and the commitments of the Church". This calls for a new evangelizing presence.

On the other hand, Congar warns (we are in 1967) that "it seems that some, imprudently, put everything under discussion without sufficient preparation [...]. In the current situation, we will not underwrite such as the optimistic lines that we have riserved to the reformist spirit of the immediate post-war period. Not because we are pessimistic, but because certain orientations, and also certain situations, are truly worrying". In spite of everything, it seems to me that the book maintains a sustained validity.

The structure

Ne describes the structure in the 1950 prologue as follows: "Between an introduction that studies the fact of reform as it is presented today and a conclusion, we insert two large parts, to which it seems appropriate to add a third: 1. Why and in what sense the Church is constantly reformed? 2. Under what conditions can a reform be true and carried out without causing trauma? 3. Reform and Protestantism". 

Add the third part to better understand the Reform and the breakage it entailed. It should have been a reform of life, but it was decided to reform the structure, which led to the crisis.

The introduction confirms the fact of reform in the history of the Church: "The Church has always seen itself reforming [...] its history has been marked by movements of reform. [...] Sometimes religious orders have to correct their own reformation [...] with such respect that the whole of Christianity is moved (St. Benedict of Aniano, Cluny, St. Bernard). A volte furono gli stessi papi a intraprendere una riforma generale degli abusi o di uno stato di cose gravemente carente (Gregorio VII, Innocenzo III)".

 Next, the author notes that the time in which the book is written is a time of ferment. He then deals at length with the "situation of criticism in the Catholic Church". There is, in fact, a self-criticism to which we must pay attention in order to facilitate improvements.

The first part, the longest one, is entitled "Why and in what sense is the Church reformed?". It is articulated in three chapters and studies the binomial of the sanctity of God and of our weaknesses, of which the Church is composed. And he does so by examining the theme in patristics, in scholasticism, in other theological contributions and in the Magisterium. It underlines the meaning of the Church's mission as a thing of God. And it determines what in the Church is fallible and what is infallible.

Conditions for a reform without a pithy reform

This is the title of the second part of the book, which contains the most corposa and lucid part of the book. He notes that in every movement there is room for an authentic development or a deviation, and that often the reaction to a unilateral error also provokes a unilateral interpretation. He then studies what are the conditions of a true reform. And it indicates four conditions.

The first is "the primate of charity and pastoral care". It is not possible to try to reshape the Church only with ideas or ideals, which can remain theoretical statements: it is necessary to pay attention to the pastoral practice, which is what guarantees effectiveness. Often, the Church is treated as an idea and the reality is mistreated, creating distractive tensions.

The second condition is "to remain in the communion of everything". It is also the condition of being Catholics, united to the universal in the Church. Many times the initiative starts from the periphery, but it is integrated with the center, which develops a normative role.

The third condition follows the previous one and is "peace of mind, i.e. to avoid the shortfall". Unity and integration have their times, which are respected, and the precipitation causes ruptures. That peace, sometimes painful, is a proof of authenticity and accuracy of intentions. Congar has seen it in his own flesh, even if he has not always been able to be very peaceful.

The fourth condition is that true renewal presupposes a return to the principle and the tradition, not the introduction of a novelty by virtue of a "new".mechanical adjustment". Congar distinguishes what is an adaptation, i.e. a legitimate development that must be made by collaborating with the sources of the Church, from what would be the introduction of a novelty that would be added as something unforeseen. In this he was also inspired by Newman, another of his great references.

Also on the Riforma

As if it were an echo, the encyclical Ecclesiam suam (August 6, 1964) of Paul VI, in the context of the Council, still to be concluded, speaks of the conditions for a true reform of the Church; and of the method, which must be dialogue. It is a matter of "restoring to it always its perfect form which, on the one hand, corresponds to the original plan and which, on the other, is recognized as coherent and approved in that necessary development which, like a tree from the seed, from that design has given to the Church its legitimate historical and concrete form". 

Benedict XVI will also refer to the necessary distinction between reform and rupture in the interpretation of the will of the Second Vatican Council and will specify the ermeneutics with which it is to be read.

Bibliographic notes

A great biography of Congar has just been published by Étienne Fouillox, who has also curated his Diary of a theologian (1946-1956), and is in France a historical note of that very interesting period. In addition, by the way, you can also find, also online, several studies by professors Ramiro Pellitero and Santiago Madrigal.

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