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Cardijn appointed to the PCLA

Cardijn’s planned five month trip to Africa had to be cut short, probably because of the Congo Crisis that was already under way.

This meant he was back in Brussels to receive his letter of appointment to the newly constituted Pontifical Commission on Lay Apostolate (PCLA) to prepare for the Council.

“I have just received from His Eminence Cardinal Tardini the announcement of my appointment as a member of the Pontifical Commission on the Apostolate of the Laity for the preparation of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,” he wrote immediately to Cardinal Cento.

“I will be so pleased to be able to collaborate in the work of this Commission under the presidency of Your Eminence.

“A few weeks ago, I wrote to Your Eminence to say how much the problem of the apostolate of the laity concerned me and how desirous I was to work to seek an increasingly effective solution to this important question.

“Events prevented me from continuing my trip to the Congo,” he explained. “I was unable to travel to the countries of East and Southern Africa and I had to return to Brussels via Brazzaville.

“I will shortly communicate a short report of my trip that I am drafting for the Secretariat of State and Propagande Fide,” Cardijn concluded.

SOURCE

Cardijn au Cardinal Cento 1960 09 07 (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

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Fears of a ‘pre-fabricated Council’

Cardinal Tardini’s announcement that much of the Council’s work would be done by correspondence even before the bishops met in Rome immediately raised fears.

Belgian Dominican Jérôme Hamer reported Tardini’s comments in a letter to Yves Congar on 7 November 1959:

“The Cardinal gave us to understand that a great part of the work prior to the Council could take place by correspondence, thus shortening the presence of the Fathers in Rome. Here is the outline he presented:

a document prepared in Rome by one of the preparatory commissions to be named; sent to the bishops;

registering their reactions (refusal, simple acceptance or with amendments); redaction of a new document or reworking of the previous one;

finally, meeting of the Fathers in the Vatican to take a stance on a document that has already been reworked and would have received an initial rather general approval in the way indicated above.”

Congar recorded his reaction in a margin note on the letter:

“It’s a prefabricated Council. It’s the procedure followed for the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. This wouldn’t be a real Council!”

SOURCE

Joseph Komonchak, The antepreparatory period (JA Komonchak)

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Council name announced: “Vatican II”

At a press conference on 30 October, 1959, Cardinal Tardini officially announced that the Council would be called “Vatican II.”

The chief aim would be “to foster the growth of the Catholic faith, a healthy renewal of
the Christian people’s practice, and an updating of Church discipline according to the needs of the day.”

While it would be “an internal affair of the Catholic Church,” it would “represent so
marvelous a spectacle of truth, unity, and love as to constitute, even for those alienated from the Apostolic See, an invitation to seek and to achieve that unity to which many of them aspire.”

Whether non-Catholics would be invited as observers was a matter under discussion.
The preparations were well underway, Tardini reported.

Eighty per-cent of the residential bishops had already submitted recommendations, and it was likely to require a full three years of further work before the Council could meet. He expected that it would not be of long duration, both so that bishops would not be absent from their sees too long and because of the highly organized preparations.

“An immense correspondence with Bishops all over the world” was to be carried on prior to the Council to ensure that “we will already be agreed on many things by the time the Council meets,” Tardini noted.

SOURCE

Joseph Komonchak, The antepreparatory period (JA Komonchak)

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Clarify Catholic Action

Himmer to Tardini 1

On 26 October 1959, Bishop Charles-Marie Himmer of Tournai, a long-standing proponent of the JOC and Specialised Catholic Action, wrote to Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal DomenicTardini, with his reflections for the Ante-Preparatory Commission.

He first sought clarification on “moral” issues, particularly marital questions. He also raised the issue of using vernacular language in the mass and the use of more appropriate scriptural readings.

Finally, he sought clarification of the notion of Catholic Action, which had been under challenge in various quarters.

He wrote;

“Rogatur ut conceptus actionis catholicae a Pio XI traditus elucidetur et servetur ad rite secernendam hanc apostolatus laicorum formam nostris temporibus maxime adaptatam ab aliis speciebus apostolatus in quibus laici sese devovent.”

Rough translation based on Google

It is requested to clarify the concept of Catholic Action that Pius XI regarded as especially adapted to our times for the promotion of the apostolate of lay people…

SOURCE

Archives Himmer (Diocèse de Tournai)

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Universities invited to respond

On 18 July , the Holy See wrote to Catholic universities and all faculties of theology seeking their feedback and advice on the preparation for the Council.

They were given until 20 April, 1960 to respond, a period explained by Cardinal Tardini’s suggestion that they may wish to send him their draft responses beforehand.

SOURCE

Joseph Komonchak, The antepreparatory period (JA Komonchak)

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Study commissions foreshadowed

The second meeting of the Antepreparatory Commission took place on 30 June 30, 1959, in the presence of Pope John XXIII.

Cardinal Tardini began by thanking the pope “for having chosen to entrust the important task of carrying out the acts preparatory to the Council to representatives of the sacred congregations of the Roman Curia, who, in virtue of their offices, are in a position to know in a special way the present needs, to give an adequate evaluation of the obstacles to be overcome, and to formulate appropriate suggestions.”

He reported that since the first meeting instead of sending out a questionnaire to the world’s bishops, it had been decided to send a Circular Letter that simply provided very general indications on how the bishops should reply on their concerns and wishes for the Council. Pope John had already approved this letter which was in the process of being mailed out, Tardini reported.

He added that he had asked the heads of the curial dicasteries to establish “study-commissions, with the participation of consultors, officials, and scholars of various languages and nations, to formulate concrete proposals to present to the Fathers of the future ecumenical council.”

Offices for the Secretariate had been found, he concluded, and “some willing priests” had been found to staff it. Pope John concluded the meeting with a short address to encourage the Commission in its work.

SOURCE

Joseph Komonchak, The antepreparatory period (JA Komonchak)

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Identifying the major problems facing the Church

With the approval of Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Tardini sent a letter dated 18 June 1959 to all Cardinals, archbishops, bishops (both residential and titular), and superiors general of clerical religious orders, asking them to submit their views on the Council by 1 September 1959.

The letter read:

“I am pleased to communicate to Your Excellency that the Supreme Pontiff, John XXIII, happily reigning, on May 17, 1959, the Feast of Pentecost, established an Antepreparatory Commission, which I have the honor of chairing, for the forthcoming Ecumenical Council.
The august Pontiff first wishes to know the opinions and views and to gather the advice and recommendations of the bishops and prelates who by right are called to take part in an Ecumenical Council (c. 223). His Holiness attaches the greatest importance to the views, advice and recommendations of the future Fathers of the Council, which will be most useful in preparing topics for the Council.

“Therefore, I strongly ask Your Excellency, in complete freedom and honesty, to send to this Pontifical Commission whatever views, advice and recommendations your pastoral care and zeal for souls may suggest to Your Excellency with regard to the material and topics which might be discussed at the next Council. Such topics may concern points of doctrine, the discipline of the clergy and the Christian people, the various activities which engage the Church today, the major problems which it must confront today, and whatever else Your Excellency may consider it opportune to present and develop.

“In this effort, Your Excellency may make discreet use of the advice of prudent and expert churchmen.

“This Pontifical Commission, for its part, will welcome with deep consideration and submission whatever You consider useful for the good of the Church and of souls.

“The responses, to be written in Latin, should be sent to the Pontifical Commission as soon as possible and not later than September 1st of this year.”

It was thus already becoming clearer that the concerns of the Council would go well beyond the need to clarify points of doctrine. And an open-ended process thus emerged as the best way forward.

SOURCE

Joseph Komonchak, The antepreparatory period (JA Komonchak)