Roman Catholics: Democratizing Theology

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Rome last week was almost as busy with ecclesiastical affairs as it had been during the Second Vatican Council. At the Vatican Palace, about 200 bishops from all over the world ended the second week of a month-long synod convened by Pope Paul. Near by, at the Pius XII auditorium, more than 2,800 Catholic men and women assembled for the Third World Congress for the Lay Apostolate, a kind of summit conference of leading lay leaders.

The mood of the two gatherings was markedly different. Shrouded in secrecy, the bishops at the synod have so far been debating issues that are relatively far removed from the real concerns of most Catholics: reform of canon law and doctrinal aberrations. So far, the most concrete result of the synod has been a suggestion to create an international theological commission that would review questions regarding doctrine.

Unfettered by a narrow churchly agenda, delegates to the lay congress were in a mood to tackle more down-to-earth problems. The spirit of the meeting was set by the keynote address of Steering Committee Secretary Dr. Thorn Kerstiens. "We must put questions to the theologians which often coincide with those put by men who are not Christians," he said. "Modern man wants to see things from the viewpoint of his daily existence." As an example, Kerstiens asked delegates to consider such questions as, "What should be our attitude towards revolutionary movements?", and "Is racial discrimination a sin to be confessed?"

Delegates to the eight-day congress are spending most of their time at workshops dealing with such general topics as the conflict between generations, the family—a subject that has already led to a discussion of birth control—and world economic development. Like the synod, the congress has no legislative authority over its church and can only make recommendations to the Pope. But some Roman observers were betting that Paul VI might get at least as much good advice from the congress' laymen as from the synod's bishops.