Rev. Ralph Wiltgen: The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber: A History of Vatican II

[Stone]

THE FOURTH SESSION

September 14 to December 8, 1965

AUTHORITY OF BISHOPS OVER SCHOOLS

The schema on the pastoral office of bishops in the Church was discussed at the second session, revised in the months that followed, and was scheduled to be voted upon at the third session on November 5, 1964. In Article 35 on the relationships of bishops with religious orders, it was stated that the local bishop should have control over “the general management of Catholic schools." The official report prepared by the commission pointed out that the interpretation of these words was to be found on page 96, Number 10, in the fifth appendix of the schema “On the Care of Souls.”

Those Council Fathers who took the trouble to check what Number 10 of the fifth appendix had to say saw that it gave diocesan bishops the right to inspect—besides the usual things like divine services, care of souls, preaching, religious and moral instruction, and catechetical and liturgical training—also every other possible aspect of education, like student life, discipline, studies, personnel, and even the tuition fee.

Section 2 of Number 10 extended the powers of the bishops even further, since it authorized them, either directly or through a delegate, to check whether or not “the just civil laws concerning pedagogy, hygiene, and insurance were being observed in all schools, hospitals, orphanages, and similar institutes, as well as in all religious, charitable, spiritual and temporal activities of all religious, even those who are exempt, regardless of whether these institutions are their own, or have been entrusted to them.”

In short, the religious orders could continue to supply manpower and funds to their institutions, but the bishops would be the principals, supervisors, managers and directors. To combat this legislation the Bishops’ Secretariat issued a letter on November 3, 1964, signed by its Franciscan president and Jesuit vice-president, and by the Carmelite president of the Roman Union of Superiors General. This letter invited the Council Fathers to cast a negative vote on the single ballot covering Articles 33 to 35, and to sign and submit a special qualification for Article 35. Largely as a result of this letter, 172 Council Fathers cast negative votes against Articles 33 to 35, and 889 submitted qualifications on the chapter as a whole. Since the straight affirmative votes amounted only to 57 per cent, the necessary two-thirds majority was not reached, and the commission had to revise the entire chapter.

The qualification on schools, prepared by the Bishops’ Secretariat, was submitted by 273 Council Fathers, and had to be taken into consideration by the commission. The amendment called for the addition of the following phrase to Article 35: “The legitimate autonomy of these schools, however, should remain intact.” As the text of the schema stood, these Council Fathers argued, legitimate autonomy was diminished, and this was contrary to the principle of subsidiarity, which was “necessary for the normal conduct and healthy development of Catholic schools.” The qualification also asked for the deletion of the reference to Number 10 in the fifth appendix of the schema “On the Care of Souls,” because here the commission was asking the Council to approve a doctrine “in a certain appendix to a certain schema which had never come up for discussion.”

A long list of supporting reasons was appended to the qualification: The fine detail regarding tuition fees and insurance policies was said to be contrary to die otherwise general tenor of the decree. The Roman Curia had repeatedly been cridcized for violating the principle of decentralization, and now the schema was guilty of the same violation, by indicating that everything connected with schools was to be under the bishop’s control. The long pedagogical experience of religious orders was not sufficiently esteemed, and the individual character proper to each school was threatened. Finally, the principles laid down for religious in this schema were substantially different from those which the Council had laid down in the schema on the Apostolate of the Laity, when treating of the responsibilities and rights of adults.

When the schema was once again presented to the Council Fathers for a vote on October 6,1965, during the fourth session, the proposed addition on legitimate autonomy had been made, and the objectionable reference to the fifth appendix had been deleted. The handling of the qualifications was then judged acceptable by a vote of 2167 to 15, and at the public session of October 28,1965, the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church was accepted by a vote of 2319 to 2. It was then promulgated
by Pope Paul VI.

The Post-Conciliar Commission on Bishops and the Government of Dioceses, made up of the same members as the corresponding Council commission which was responsible for this decree, incorporated verbatim in its “Instruction” the text of Number io in the fifth appendix of the schema “On the Care of Souls,” in spite of its having been defeated by ballot during the Council. The ruse was discovered shortly before the “Instruction” was to be published, and by order of Pope Paul VI publication was delayed so that the citation could be removed and a new text, in full conformity with the document as accepted by the Council, could be substituted.