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New,
Invaluable Volume on the Council
By Msgr. George Higgins
The Yardstick
Vatican Council II (1962-65) was by far the largest ecumenical council in church history. Those with a right to attend the first session numbered 2,904, although only 2,449 (89.34 percent) actually were present.Sixty percent of the council fathers were not yet 62 years old. The largest bloc had been born in the present century's first decade, and 59.12 percent between 1900 and 1920, so that they were between the ages of 42 and 62. Only 20 were born after 1920.
These figures are found in the recently published Volume II of the projected five-volume "History of Vatican II," edited by Giuseppe Alberigo and, for the English version, Father Joseph A. Komonchak of The Catholic University of America (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, N.Y.).
The Alberigo-Komonchak history, published simultaneously in five languages at intervals of 18 months, is a monumental undertaking. It is sponsored by the Institute for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy, which is directed by Alberigo.
As one who attended the council as a consultant, I have read the first two volumes with consuming interest and profound admiration for the scholarship of its multinational contributors. I am especially proud as an American to salute Father Komonchak's indispensable contribution.
Although Father Komonchak did not attend the council (he was a seminarian in Rome at the time), he probably knows more about the council than any other American.
The age statistics I cited from Volume II should give us pause, for they suggest that only a handful of today's active bishops (foremost among them Pope John Paul II) took part in the council. It is also my impression that only a handful of the consultants or "periti" (experts) at the council are still alive and active.
It goes without saying that unless church leaders understand Vatican II in some depth they will not be able to serve the church effectively as we enter the new millennium. The fact that they did not take part in the council is a handicap, but not an insurmountable one.
I would say that by a careful reading of the Alberigo-Komonchak series they will learn at least as much about the council as (and perhaps more than) they would have learned had they actually taken part in it.
I followed the council studiously from the inside, but reading this series' first two volumes taught me much I did not know about the council when it ended. For the editors and contributors have had access to invaluable sources (archives, diaries, interviews, etc.) which did not become available until well after the council ended.
Volume II is particularly valuable in this regard, for, in addition to covering the council's first session (1962), it also covers the intercession (October 1962-September 1963) when many decisions which crucially affected the council's outcome were made in Rome.
I dare say most bishops attending the council were unaware of, or at best poorly informed about, these decisions. I know that I and many of my fellow consultants were largely unaware of them.
Both volumes in the series are perfectly honest about the internal, behind-the-scenes politics of the council. Some Catholics may object to this. I do not.
I think the editors and contributors, by honest reporting, help us understand more clearly that the Holy Spirit works through fallible human beings beset with the usual mix of personal frailties.
By painstakingly recording the fits and starts of the council's extremely frustrating and largely unproductive first session, the editors and contributors also have shown that it took time for the council to develop its own dynamics and to find its own identity.
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