The fight for a lay senate… in Rome

Proposals from the International YCW World Council in Bangkok in 1965

(NB: This article is a repost from my Cardijn Research blog.)

This video is extracted from a recording of a report by Australian delegates from the International YCW World Council in Bangkok, Thailand, in December 1965. It illustrates that lay leaders were already battling to build a church based on fraternal not paternal dialogue between clergy and laity, or, as Pope has characterised it, a synodal church.

I don’t know who the person making the report is. If I manage to find out, I will update this post.

The title of the report is “Representative action to Rome and the hierarchy.” Today, we’d probably say “Advocacy to the Vatican and the bishops.”

The first point made is (not quite verbatim but close):

The necessity of a dialogue between clergy and laity, a dialogue of speaking and listening, based on a mutual, brotherly relationship between clergy and laity rather than a paternal relation as envisioned in the Vatican II Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium.

By itself, this wouldn’t be a bad start towards an explanation of Pope Francis’ concept of a synodal church!

The second point made is the role of lay people, which the report says is:

To reveal life and its problems to bishops and priests, to promote contact with leaders and bishops, even local leaders, not only of life but also the opinion of leaders engaged in the work of the Church, and to make suggestions regarding pastoral work. This also applies at local level.

“If the laity is to take its place in the Church,” the report continues, “and not just ask for priests and money for our movement, (it must) also inform, not only about life, but also the opinions of life.”

Towards a lay senate in Rome

The report continues on to explain how such a dialogue could and should take place, and the kind of structures needed to foster this.

“With Rome, it’s easy to give reports. On the top level, there must be a possibility of dialogue between laity and the central government of the Church.

“Each bishop when he goes to Rome is a nobody. With other bishops in the Council, he can say something. Therefore the same is true of lay people.

“Possibly a secretariat ought to be formed among laity. Not a congregation similar to the ones already set up.

“However, such a secretariat because of its nature would be removed from daily life and would lose its lay character.

“It would simply be a new name for COPECIAL.” This was the French acronym stands for “Permanent Committee for Organising International Congresses on Lay Apostolate,” the pre-Vatican II body established by Pope Pius XII after the First World Congress on Lay Apostolate in 1951.

“The International YCW has worked very hard with MIJARC and other total life apostolate movements but there’s a big fight ahead for a REAL lay senate,” the report concludes.

A lay senate

Now, as mentioned, this was a report from the 3rd World Council of the IYCW, which took place in November-December 1965, just as the Second Vatican Council was concluding.

Cardijn, now a cardinal was present, as was IYCW international president, Bartolo Perez, a lay auditor at the Council, Fr Marcel Uylenbroeck, Cardijn’s successor as IYCW chaplain, and many other experienced movement leaders and chaplains.

They knew what they were talking about! And they did not hesitate to criticise existing structures or to propose new ones.

Cardijn himself had written on multiple occasions about the need for a Roman centre on lay apostolate that would not have the structure of a congregation or a dicastery, to use the modern term.

It would not be like COPECIAL, which was clearly seen to be inadequate.

It would be a “lay senate” of the Church in Rome!

They knew it would be difficult to achieve. But I doubt they expected that their hopes would be dashed to the extent they have been.

As I’ve written in previous articles here, Cardijn and lay leaders were already deeply disappointed by the structure of the eventual Pontifical Council of the Laity established in 1967. Cardijn’s critique was devastating.

They were even more disillusioned with its operation, as Marguerite Fiévez said and wrote. And still more, when it was transformed into the Pontifical Council FOR the Laity in 1976.

I don’t even dare to think how Cardijn would have reacted to the creation of the Dicastery on Laity, Family and Life created by Pope Francis in 2016!

Sixty years after Vatican II, a big battle still lies ahead!

Stefan Gigacz

LISTEN TO THE FULL RECORDING FROM THE BANGKOK WORLD COUNCIL