BOOK REVIEW.

Ralph M. McInerny, What Went Wrong with Vatican II: The Catholic Crisis Explained, Sophia Institute Press, 1998, 170 Pages, $13.95 (US)

Ralph M. McInerny has authored more than sixty books. Among them, in addition to his scholarly works, are numerous novels, including his popular Father Dowling series. There may be no Catholic writer today who is more versatile and polished at his craft than Dr. McInerny, who is also the Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, and Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, at Notre Dame University.

His latest effort explains what went wrong with Vatican II. It is a model of clarity and readability. McInerny wants as many readers as possible to understand exactly what went wrong and what we can do about it.

It has been said that prior to Vatican II only the Pope was infallible, whereas after the Council everyone except the Pope became infallible. This tragic/comic situation did not derive from a careful reading of the Council's documents. It originated from a widespread dissent from Humanae vitae that led directly to a crisis in authority. What is the Church? is it anybody's guess? Where is the authority for Church teaching? Is it in opinion polls? Is it sourced in what dissenting theologians have referred to as the "Second magisterium"?

St. Ambrose, fourth-century bishop and friend of St. Augustine, once remarked that Christ did not become a man in order that men might become theologians. One can become a Christian, and even a saint, without ever being a theologian.

The proper role of the theologian is not to undermine the Church or to spread dissent. It is essentially an ecclesial role and, as such, relates to the whole Church. Indeed, not even bishops have any authority in the Church if they act apart from the Pope. Vatican II states the following in Lumen gentium, sec. 75:

The college or body of bishops has for all that no authoritv unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head whose primal authority, let it be added, over all, whether pastors or faithful, remains in its integrity. For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as the Vicar of Christ, namely, and as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.

How ironic, then, that "liberal" theologians should invoke Vatican II as a warrant for their dissent from the Pope and the Church's magisterium, when the Council specifically proscribes such a course of action.

The "crisis," therefore, is not one of theology or argumentation, but of authority. The dissenters are not more Catholic than the Pope. As was made clear in the Ratzinger Report (1976) and the two extraordinary synods, it is the self-described progressives, not the Pope and the magisterium, that are out of step with both the spirit and the letter of Vatican II.

Canon 750 of Canon Law now states that "each and every thing concerning Faith and morals which is definitively taught by the magisterium of the Church must be firmly embraced and held.... Therefore whoever refuses to accept such definitive propositions is opposed to the teaching of the Catholic Church."

Dissent can no longer be tolerated. The division between the so-called conservatives and liberals is artificial and politically motivated. There is one Church and those who belong to it are its faithful. Catholicism is something we receive rather than invent.

McInerny closes this important work by suggesting that it will be by following Mary's wishes as expressed to the children of Fatima that the promise of Vatican II will be fulfilled. Not all of us can be theologians, but we can all pray and fast, and in so doing, be instrumental in driving out the demons of dissent.

Donald DeMarco is a professor of philosophy at St. Jerome's College in the University of Waterloo.