Congar’s Developing Understanding of the Laity and Their Mission

The Thomist 65 (2001): 327-59 CONGAR'S DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAITY AND THEIR MISSION RAMIRO PELLITERO Universidad de Navarra Pamplona, Spain It is the task of theology in the twentieth century to announce to the world the mystery of the Church in all her depth and to define the real canonical status of the laity in the Church."1 When Congar wrote these words he was plotting what would constitute a good part of his theological project and work. Today we can say that his theology of the laity already belongs, in its substance, to the deposit of the Church's self-reflection and what the Church, by means of her theological work, has said about her own essence and life. INTRODUCTION: THE HISTORICAL-THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT At the beginning of the third millennium, Catholics feel the need to return to the Second Vatican Council in order to understand the Church and the Christian mission. For this reason it is opportune to reflect on Yves Congar's contribution to an 1 Y. Congar, "Bulletin de theologie," Revue des sciences philosophiques et theologiques 24 (1935): 731. An abstract of this work was presented, as a talk, at the "Congar Ecumenical Colloquium" during the Fifty-fifth Annual Convention of the Catholic Theological Society ofAmerica ("Catholicism and Public Life", SanJose, Calif., 8-11 June 2000). Professors Paul Waisanen, of the St. Herman Orthodox Church (Oxnard, Calif.), and Richard K. Eckley, of Houghton College, responded to my presentation from Orthodox and Protestant perspectives, respectively. I thank the convener of the colloquium, Professor Marc Ginter, of the Saint Meinrad School of Theology, for his suggestions on improving the English text. 327 328 RAMIRO PELLITERO understanding of the lay faithful, an understanding that 1s theological and not merely sociological.2 Congar began his theological journey in the 1930s, years that witnessed the ascendancy ofthe de-Christianization that had been progressing in Central Europe since the end of the nineteenth century. As a theologian and a man of the Church, Congar drew upon his Thomistic education, formed in the theological school of Le Sau/choir, in his search for answers to the pastoral 2 See R. Pellitero, La teologfa de/ laicado e11 la obra de Yves Co11gar (Pamplona: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra/Navarra Grafica de Ediciones, 1996). Besides the specific bibliography on our work of Congar (see below), see on themes related to ours (app. chronological order): B. Mondin, La &clesiologia di Yves Co11gar, Eu11tes Docete 32 (1979): 409-32; T. I. MacDonald, The &clesiology ofYves Co11gar: Foundatio11a/ Themes (Milwaukee: Marquette University, 1981); D..Jagdeo, Holiness and Reform ofthe Church in the Writings o(Yves Congar, 0. P. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1986); M. Meini,Lo Spiritonell'ecclesiologiadiYvesCongar(Siena: Cantagalli, 1988); idem, I riferimenti fondamentali del pensiero teologico di Yves Congar, Vivens Homo 1 (1990): 79100 ; A. Nichols, 0. P., From Newman to Congar: The Idea ofDoctrinal Development from the Victorians to the SecondVatican Council (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990); A. Galeano, La Iglesia y su reforma seg1'n Y. Congar: Una eclesio/ogia precursora del Vaticano II (Bogota:Un. de S. Buenaventura, 1991); J. Fameree, L'ecclesiologie d"Yves Congar, avant Vatican II. Histoire et Eglise. A11alyse et reprise critique (Louvain: Press. Univ., 1992); S. Brown, Faith andHistory: The Perspective ofYves Congar (Ph.D. diss., St Michael's College, Toronto, 1994); C. Van Vliet, "Communio sacramentalis": Das /(jrchenverstiindnis von Yves Congar: genetisch und systematish betrachtet (Mainz: Matthias-Griinewald-Verl., 1995); idem, Die &clesiologie Yves Congar O.P. unddas Zweite Vaticanische Konzil, Theologie und Glaube 86 (1996): 27-38; C. Caltagirone, 'Tutto"e"parte": IlcontributodiYvesCongaral/o sviluppo della teologia della Chiesa locale, Ricerche Teologiche 8 (1997): 5-39; R. Pellitero, Yves Congar (1904-1995), "in memoriam,"inAnales de Historia de la Iglesia 6 (1997): 44346 ; E. Groppe-Sniegocki, The Pneumatology ofYves Congar (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997); D. M. Doyle, Journet, Congar, and the Roots of Communion &clesiology, Theological Studies 58 (1997): 461-79; N. Gaczynsky, L'ecclesiologia eucaristica di Yves Congar, di Joseph Ratzinger e di Bruno Forte (Rome: Pont. Un. Greg., 1998); W. Kohler, Rezeption in der /(jrche: Begriffsgeschichlichtliche Studien bei Sohm, Afanafev, Dombois...

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