Saturday, May 12, 2012

Koch: “We cannot exploit the Council for our own ends”

Once they were ideas discussed in the journal Communio; now they constitute the official positions taken the Holy See. 

So, stop using the Council for your own ends, because Vatican II cannot be used as an alibi for those who rebel against the authority of Rome, warns Cardinal Kurt Koch, liaison to the “separated brethren”. 

He is the theologian and pastor to whom Benedict XVI has entrusted difficult relations with other denominations.
  
From the time of his arrival in Rome, his public actions and positions have always been very thoughtful, and his influence in the Roman Curia has increased. In Italian weekly magazine Tempi, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity distances himself from the Austrian dissidents, who are calling for a radical reform of the Church, starting with bioethical issues and the priesthood.  

The Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch, called to Rome from Basel, to direct the Vatican dicastery of ecumenism, has written numerous articles for Communio, the international journal founded in 1972 by the great Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar. 

In an article in Communio written by the founder himself, Balthasar pointed out: “Today, there is no need to free Christianity from the field of tension. If it is not universally (Catholically) relevant, then it falls, with all its speeches - whether pronounced from the biblical word or a Church Magisterium - into the dung heap of religious waste.”
 
Now that he is part of the Pope’s governing team, Cardinal Koch leads the Communio patrol in the Curia alongside two other Vatican ministers (Ouellet and Fisichella). Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (the department that oversees the strategic selection of the episcopal body in much of the world) is a veteran of the “Communio School.” 

Having started from the earliest times with Balthasar, the former archbishop of Quebec is still a member of the editorial board of the magazine. Also heading Communio is Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the New Evangelization and the main organizer of the Year of Faith initiated by Pope Benedict XVI.
  
In the early seventies, the magazine reflected the wager of most post-conciliar theology: that in the years of progressive radicalization, drastic changes would not take place. Now Cardinal Koch can defend those positions from a strong place in the government of the universal Church. 

“My immediate reaction was disbelief: why render such honour to the slogan ‘Call to disobedience’? On the other hand, however, it was now necessary for the Pope to say something about it,” says the cardinal, describing his reaction in the face of the call to obedience addressed to dissident priests by Benedict XVI during the Holy Thursday Mass in Austria. It is a “context,” says the Vatican minister of ecumenism, “where they renew their priestly vows, including that of obedience.” 

Therefore, “it is a meaningful occasion, because not just the words are important, but also the context which makes it absolutely clear.”
  
Even in this case, the Pontiff, Koch points out, has acted “in his own way, clear but very kind.” 

The President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity also focused on the roots of dissent, which seem to extend from Austria to the entire German-speaking area. “I think,” says the Swiss cardinal, “we have accepted the interpretation of the Council given by Hans Kung and, in turn, by many mass media.” 

This, according to Cardinal Koch, “is the basis for the current unrest.” 

In any case, says the head of the dicastery, “many have signed because they perceive the current difficulties, but I do not think that everyone is in agreement with the developments in the case: priests and deacons inciting disobedience is something very unusual.”
  
“The fact that groups of Anglicans are asking to come into the Catholic Church is the fruit of the ecumenical dialogue of recent decades, in recent years. Without the consent acquired through hard work, this situation would not have materialized,” says the close associate of Benedict XVI. 

“The conversion of individuals,” observes Cardinal Koch, “is a constant in the history of the Catholic Church. The novelty lies in the fact that at this stage there are groups of bishops and priests with their people who want to enter. So far there are over one thousand, a new fact that the Holy Father has honoured, opening the door of the Catholic Church to the petitioners and allowing them (through the establishment of ordinariates) to preserve some specific Anglican liturgical forms.” 

“The initiative,” recalls the dicastery's head “was not started by the Holy Father, who gave a positive response to an external request.” 

According to Cardinal Koch, everything depends “on the great dynamics developed in recent years within the global Anglican community.” 

In fact, “the differences between the various national churches on ethical matters are huge. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury is responsible for internal unity, but has no power to impose solutions.” 

And the resigning Rowan Williams “has done a lot and tried to save what he could.”