426 - Vatican Summer Seminar

Vatican Summer Seminar
By Robert P. Montgomery

"We know that your visit is inspired by and organized for a serious dialogue, part of that search for Christian unity which is a noble sign of our times. With all our heart we welcome you."

POPE Paul VI addressed these words to the 125 clergy and lay members of the first Catholic-Protestant Seminar held in Rome, June 24-July 7, 1972. We had come to the magnificent new hall in Vatican City, designed by the famous Italian architect Nervi, along with 6000 other visitors to Rome to share in the Pope's weekly general audience. Our front row seats in the Hall, made possible by Cardinal Willebrands' office at the Secretariat for Christian Unity, underscored for all of us the warmth of our welcome. One was vividly aware of the universal character of the church as Pope Paul for over an hour greeted the various groups in Italian, French, Spanish, German, and English.

At the conclusion of his remarks, he descended the marble steps and was introduced to the leaders of the various groups present who occupied the front row for the audience. As Director of the Seminar, he presented me with a beautiful bronze medal after having expressed his interest in our Seminar and the assurance of his prayers for its success. The Pope was then introduced to the Rev. Gerard Bekes, O.S.B., Dean of the Theological Faculty of the Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, the Rome-based coordinator of the Seminar; Prof. Alberto Soggin, President of the Waldensian Theological Faculty in Rome; and Prof. John Macquarrie of Christ Church Oxford, one of the lecturers at the Seminar.

I

Pope Paul's calm demeanor as people surged forward to touch him, coupled with his ability for complete concentration in speaking to individuals, was a tribute to his inner resources. I confess, and my fleeting observation was shared by other members of our group, that having lived through the recent series of assassinations in our country, I was frightened by the extreme vulnerability of the Pope in such a public audience.

The Pope's last personal greeting prior to returning to his Papal Chair was with one of our clergy confined to a wheel chair. Pope

Robert P. Montgomery served as Presbyterian Chaplain at Princeton University for fifteen years and is now Associate Professor of Philosophy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. Those who wish to inquire about the Rome Summer Seminar H can address: Robert P. Montgomery, 11 Piedmont Drive, Cranbury, N.J. 08512.

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Paul offered a short prayer with him and presented him with a special medal for invalids. The Pope concluded the audience by leading as many of the 6000 present whose Latin was intact in singing the Nicene Creed in the third Gregorian Melody.

Cardinal Willebrands spent an hour after the Papal audience with a delegation of nine Seminar participants who represented the various denominations attending the Seminar. The Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, an office brought into being by Pope John XXIII at the Second Vatican Council, pursues a very delicate mission in its effort to promote relationships with the "separated brethren." The delicacy of the mission stems not exclusively from the need to overcome hardening of the categories on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant or Catholic-Orthodox divide, but even more in the effort not to become over-identified with the well marked divisions within the Roman Catholic Church today. These divisions find extreme expression in two 1971 books by knowledgeable laymen-in England, Jacob Eppstein's Has the Catholic Church Gone Mad; and in our country, a new book by Michael Novak, All The Catholic People, Where Did The Spirit Go? Among the Catholic priests represented at the Seminar, both viewpoints found their supporters. Cardinal Willebrands' wide experience on the ecumenical scene has led him to the conviction that, while acknowledging that there are now still unresolved ecumenical issues, a sense of unity between Roman and non-Roman Christians is today a fait accompli. The problem of articulating in a satisfactory theological mode this awareness is hampered by the lack of a fresh vocabulary, since the vocabulary at hand is conditioned by long centuries of separation. He expressed his hope that theologians will devote themselves to finding such a vocabulary.

Our warm welcome to Rome was not confined to the hierarchy (in addition to the Papal welcome and that of Cardinal Willebrands, Cardinal John Wright met with the Seminar at the International Center for informal conversation early in the Seminar).

II

The Seminar was housed at the International Center located about halfway between Leonardo da Vinci Airport and Saint Peter's Basilica, operated by the Scalibrini Fathers, an order of priests devoted to working with immigrants throughout the world. Though not officially involved in the Seminar, one of the Scalibrini priests described the Seminar as "one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life." He bad never had such an extended exposure to Protestant clergy. They came, many with their wives, some with wives and children, from twenty states and Canada. Each morning they sang and prayed together with their Roman counter-

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parts in the lovely chapel of the Scalibrini Fathers, led by a priest and a pastor and on one occasion by a nun from Guam and an Episcopal deaconess from the Diocese of California.

Two classes were held each morning, with a short intermission between classes at which time the espresso coffee-bar at the Center was crammed with Seminar participants. Professor Bruno Corsani of the Rome-based Waldensian Seminary and Fr. Bernard Orchard, O.S.B., General Secretary of the World Catholic Federation for the Biblical Apostolate, each devoted one week to an exposition of St. Paul's Roman Epistle. Professor Bernard Haring of the Collegio, Sant' Alfonso in Rome stimulated the Seminar in a week of lectures devoted to taking a fresh look at the role of natural law in the twentieth century, while the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Christ Church, Oxford, John Macquarrie, imparted provocative perspectives on the Ethics of Peace, Work, Sex, and Marriage. On four afternoons the Seminar took guided tours of Rome under the leadership of Fr. Bekes, a Rome resident of over 25 years.

In an evening lecture Monsignor Giovanni Vodopivec of the Pontifica Universita Urbaniana noted the difficulty that some Roman Catholics were having in accepting the directives of the Second Vatican Council.

One must understand that it was not easy for many bishops, priests and laymen to change their mentality-so very traditionalist, fearful, and hesitant in accepting the principles of an opening toward the other churches and toward the world. Such change, however, must now be made out of a sense of duty. Whatever the personal disposition, be it progressive or conservative, the Council is the norm and the guide.

Addressing the Seminar in another evening lecture, the Rev. Dr. Renzo Bertalot, a Waldensian pastor and presently Secretary of the Italian Bible Society, called attention to the subtle role the churches have played in a violent world.

Polemically-minded persons have no concern for others, as others are like a land to be conquered by means of violence. Christians used to indulge in polemics among themselves, using the Bible as a sort of supply of ammunition. Therefore many others have learned from us how to be imperialist and violent. We must not forget this when we stand up and speak for peace in our present world. How can they believe us? Can they believe us? The credibility of our mission is once again at stake on this point.

III

Any tendency on the part of the Seminar participants to assume that the roadblocks to belief was primarily a result of the Christian communities' disagreement over transubstantiation, holy orders, or the numbers of sacraments was vigorously countered by Fr. Stan-

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ley Jaki's lecture on "Scientific and Biblical Knowledge of the Creator." Jaki, physicist and theologian, whose Brain, Mind and Computers won the 1970 Pierre Lecomte DuNouy award, reminded the Seminar that the early Christian martyrs did not shed their blood in defense of the Papacy but on behalf of a personal creator, the first article of the Apostles' Creed. Christian unity, he argued, will be furthered by those in every communion who refuse to abandon this view of creation in the face of a growing return to a pagan cyclic view of the created order as represented in sophisticated scientific circles by the cosmological view of an oscillating universe.

The spirit of the Seminar was expressed in Fr. Haring's prayer at the conclusion of his final lecture.

Lord, we thank you for the miracles we have seen in our lifetime in Christian communities coming closer to each other. Let us, O Lord, honor your name by hoping even much more from you.

Inspired by the conviction that such miracles have not ended, Rome Seminar II, for Catholic and Protestant clergy, will convene in Rome in June, 1973.