News: Roman Catholic Church is doing its basic job rather well

“Among the accomplishments of this union was the updating of the Church’s principal resources, namely the Scriptures and the Sacraments.”

A conviction, often expressed, of this website has been the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is doing its basic job rather well these days. That is largely due to the works emanating from Vatican Council II. The Council witnessed a remarkable union between church scholars and the bishops, two of the principal groups of church members. Among the accomplishments of this union was the updating of the Church’s principal resources, namely the Scriptures and the Sacraments.

Now, the Vatican is summoning bishops to Rome for another meeting of the World Synod of Bishops. The bishops who will attend this meeting are to represent various groups of bishops throughout the world and together they form a Vatican-designed approach to a legislative body that aids the pope in the governance of the universal Church. The fact that they do no such thing is not the point here. The fact that they do meet and consider matters chosen by the Vatican is, nevertheless, of significance.

The topic chosen for this meeting is the Scriptures and their use by Catholic today Cardinal Carlo Martini, S.J., the retired archbishop of Milan and one of the the Church’s chief biblical scholars, has some important things to say about the forthcoming meeting. He urges the synod to focus on practical initiatives to bring Catholic closer to the Scriptures in the spirit of Vatican Council II. In other words, the cardinal wants to see the work begun during Vatican Council II to move forward.

It will be a serious test as to whether the bishops continue to listen to the biblical scholars or not. They will either continue the cooperation that was so productive during the Council or go off on their own.

Needless to say, we hope they are wise enough to continue with the cooperation with the scholars that has brought us to this fortunate point. The Synod is not authentic in any real sense, but it is a step, a small one, in the right direction. Of course, the third and largest group of people within the Church, the laity, will not be present or represented. Nevertheless, they will be the
principal beneficiaries or victims of its results.