Hans Kung was stripped of his teaching authority by Pope John Paul II. Everything is turning around from what the “reformers” wanted in the 1960s.
God bless,
Ed
I think that things are beginning to turn around, but the American hierarchy, as a whole, is not happy about that. And yes, Kung was stripped of his teaching authority, but it didn’t stop his writing, his interviews, etc., etc. In fact, HCC. is correct about the cadre of northern European “intellectuals & theologians”. They pretty much hijacked the council.
When plans for the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) were announced,
Edward Schillebeeckx responded as coauthor of a statement, signed by the seven Dutch bishops, that anticipated virtually all the progressive changes that would come out of Vatican II on issues like liturgy, ecumenism and openness to other faiths and the encouragement of lay initiative. Although Schillebeeckx was not a peritus (expert) at the council, he worked closely with** Utrecht Cardinal ****Bernard Alfrink **and others to emphasize the collegial nature of the episcopacy, as a balance to papal infallibility pronounced at Vatican I (1869-70). The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church reflected his views on the subject. Also during the Second Vatican Council, **Schillebeeckx joined with fellow theologians **Hans Küng, Karl Rahner and Yves Congar
in launching the theological journal Concilium.
One of our posters, Layman is his screen name, has a link in his signature line that takes one to the following page:
latin-mass-society.org/leomass.htm
For two years before the Council a group of 871 scholars of international repute had been busy preparing all the draft documents of the Council on the instructions of Pope John. **These documents were totally orthodox and in complete accord with the traditions of the Church. In July 1962, some four months before the opening of the Council, these preparatory documents were sent to all the bishops of the world for their consideration. **
At that time there was a growing liberal influence among the clergy in the Rhine countries of northern Europe, particularly Germany and Holland, and many of these clerics were appalled by the orthodoxy of these documents. They wished to move towards a much more liberal outlook and greater collaboration with the Protestant religions, and particularly the Lutheran Church . These liberally minded clerics formed themselves into groups, held secret meetings throughout Europe and arrived in Rome in October 1962 with a plan of action. The Dutch hierarchy issued a commentary on these preparatory documents, attacked them for their content, suggested they be completely re-written and that their own documents be considered first. The great majority of the Council Fathers, the world’s bishops, had arrived in Rome with no pre-conceived ideas and were lulled into accepting these well-argued policies by people who were clever and persuasive. (Our own Bishops have always been overimpressed by the European hierarchy & took in every word they said.) They voted to accept the Dutch demands. Well, to cut a long story very short,** the original preparatory documents on which the 871 international scholars had worked for two years were thrown out by the Council, the first General Congregation was suspended after only 15 minutes, and only two weeks after the opening of the Council **
not one of these carefully prepared documents remained. Not a single sentence was retained. All were consigned to the wastepaper basket.
Father Ralph Wiltgen, wrote a book called “The Rhine flows into the Tiber.” Father John O’Malley wrote one called:
“What Happened at Vatican II.”
Both of these books should be “must-reads” for every Catholic.
I really didn’t like having to work so hard to find things that were positive about a Mass.