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Television Charismatic Cardinal
By RAYMOND A. SCHROTH
When I was an Army officer and 22,
and still two years short of joining the Jesuits, I watched a local bishop
parading in all his splendid finery and I felt relieved that if I did enter the
Jesuits -- who had a rule against becoming a bishop -- I would be free of the
temptation of at least that particular ambition.
From what I had heard and read, the priesthood, like the military,
business and legal worlds, had its own form of career track -- the bishop who
takes a liking to you, training in Rome, making connections there, a spot of
the bishops staff, the wealthy parish with a successful building program
that earns the rank of monsignor, then bishop, promotion to a bigger diocese,
cardinal, and finally -- why not? -- pope.
Indeed, recently even conservative cardinals have spelled out the
alleged dangers in that scenario. In 30 Days (May 1999), a collection of
articles and an interview with Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, until recently
prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, argue that in the old days (fourth
century) a bishop was considered married" to his diocese and was expected
to stay there for life. Perhaps we should return to that rule, they suggest, to
cut down on the jockeying for power, which the powerful Gantin finds
objectionable.
Today, however, now that the danger has passed, I think it might
be fun to become a bishop -- at least for a few weeks. Its a unique
opportunity to teach. And I can feel for those many wonderful monsignors and
bishops out there whom I have heard about, who, given the opportunity, could
raise their voices on a list of issues that jump off the newspaper pages and TV
screens every day. Some quickly come to mind:
- American cultures growing dedication to violence in both
its political policies and entertainment industries;
- George W. Bushs apparent satisfaction in signing 100
death warrants and executing one person every two weeks since his inauguration;
- continuing resistance of the gun lobby to any controls (how
many Catholics in the NRA?);
- increasingly unjust distribution of wealth;
- unresolved issues of celibacy and the ordination of women;
- continued bombing of Iraq;
- and need for a new renaissance in Catholic intellectual
life.
What a bishop can say
A bishop can say things that editorial writers and political
leaders are already saying but bring to the issues some spiritual dimension and
authority. Most, however, dont. Maybe theyre still wary that saying
what one thinks -- on contraception or womens ordination -- wont
help a career.
These thoughts are prompted by a new documentary film that should
appear on PBS this fall, Author of Reform: The Cardinal Suenens
Story, produced by Journey Films and John Carroll University. Also
available are Suenens autobiography, Memories and Hopes (1991) and
his biography of his friend and collaborator of 50 years, Veronica
OBrien, The Hidden Hand of God (1993).
Ironically, Leo Suenens career for a while smoothly followed
the standard formula. Born in Belgium near Brussels in 1904, he had always
wanted to be a priest. His mentor-sponsor, the brilliant Cardinal
Désiré Mercier, sent Suenens to Rome to study and brought him
back to teach in the seminary. Vice-rector at the University of Louvain during
World War II, he stood up to a Nazi commandant who demanded a list of student
names for conscription.
Bishop and cardinal of Malines, confidant of John XXIII, he shaped
the agenda of Vatican II with the concept of first examining the churchs
renewal of itself and then its approach to the world. When John XXIII died in
1963, eyes turned to Suenens as a possible successor; but the ballots went to
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, Paul VI, who then, as he addressed the
throngs in St. Peters Square, brought Suenens to his side at the window
-- a gesture widely interpreted as a sign that Suenens was to become successor
to Paul VI.
But thats not how it all worked out. Suenens liked to talk.
Not in the sense of gossip or small talk or listening to himself rattle on to
captive audiences, but talk in the theological sense of dialogue. He really
believed that the Spirit worked from the bottom up, that all baptized persons
are equal in that they must all be heard if the truth is to emerge. He acted on
this by traveling around the world, most often in the United States where he
was particularly welcomed by ecumenical groups. He said what he thought and he
wrote books on collegiality, on reforming religious orders of women, urging
them to abandon the traditional habits, which he saw as obstacles to their
interaction with the world.
A general unease
At the council he argued for bishops mandatory retirement at
75 and helped establish the post of permanent deacon, so that people could
become accustomed to seeing a married man at the altar, preparing them for a
married priesthood. On March 19, 1968, following a private discussion with Paul
VI, in which the nervous pontiff told Suenens he feared his emphasis on
collegiality might democratize the church, Suenens wrote Paul a
long letter that anyone who would lead men and women in todays church
might put on the wall.
Taking the two burning issues of birth control and
optional celibacy as examples, he warned the Holy Father that the feeling of
general unease in the church comes not from the issues per se but
from the fact that Your Holiness has reserved for yourself the right to
choose the appropriate solution, whatever it may be -- thus foregoing the
possibility of any collegial input or analysis by the bishops. In short,
without open debate, it will be impossible to create the receptive
climate essential to any authority.
Suenens soon came to believe that the goals of the council were
being compromised as the curia regained control. So he did what he felt he
should; he went public, in interviews in Catholic International and
Le Monde (1973) with his criticisms of the Roman curia, which, he said,
held the pope prisoner. He openly discussed the possibility of a married
priesthood. Paul VI said he was grieved and astonished, and some
called for Suenens resignation. He had lost what anyone in Suenens
position seems to need, his patrons ear.
Then comes a period of Suenens life that, for me at least,
the documentary does not adequately explain. Under the influence of Virginia
OBrien, an Irish woman who had left the convent as a young woman to
become an organizer for the Legion of Mary, Suenens threw himself into the
Charismatic Renewal movement. Jesuit Fr. John Haughey, himself active in
Charismatic Renewal, says the attraction was the prayer; but it is
still not clear how one of Suenens rational, scholarly disposition could,
late in his life, throw himself into a phenomenon characterized by ecstatic
enthusiasm and emotion.
The presence of the Spirit
Perhaps it was a logical development of his devotion to the Virgin
Mary and his confidence in the active presence of the Spirit. Perhaps it was
natural for his love of talk to lead to talking in tongues. Perhaps, too, the
love and enthusiasm of the charismatic crowds helped heal a man rejected by a
hierarchical system, which he also loved but which would not allow him, in
love, to speak the truth.
In 1975 he and Paul VI achieved a moment of reconciliation when
Suenens celebrated the liturgy for a Charismatic Congress at St. Peters,
and Paul VI came in and embraced him.
There are many reasons for TV audiences and theology classes to
study this video, especially for its history of Vatican II and comments by
Monika Hellwig, Joseph Komonchak, Michael Novak and others. Among the viewers
will be priests and bishops who themselves may hold opinions accepted by many
theologians but unwelcome in Rome. They will take Suenens life as a
warning or as an inspiration.
Jesuit Fr. Raymond A. Schroth is on sabbatical at St.
Peters College in Jersey City, N.J.
National Catholic Reporter, September 10,
1999
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