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Chapter twenty-two |
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From the Second World War to the Council |
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1939-1958 |
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| I. | Introduction: The second World War had a profound effect on Christians and Churches throughout the world. Theological renewal occurred and the thinkers were at work again. Christians had to make difficult choices and many hopes took concrete shape during the years that followed. | |||
| A. | Christians in the Second World War | |||
| 1. | The evils of war--Christians and non alike were devastated by the war. Holocaust victims, war victims, widespread massacres in Russia, Poland, Germany, Italy and Belgium all caused thinking people to ask some hard questions. What attitude towards the occupying powers be shown? Should they submit or fight back? Could the world just stand by while Jews were being annilated Was violence justified to free one's country? | |||
| a. | In the east--the Germans occupied everything west of Poland. The Germans wanted to make this a part of Germany and closed the Polish church. Polish priests were sent to concentration camps and churches and monasteries were closed. Jews were forced in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Poles appealed to the pope for help, but he thought he would only make their lives worse by any intervention. Poland lost six million in Auschwitz. Father Maximilian Kolbe gave his life in place of another at the death camp and was canonized. In Russia there was a resurgence of religious revival and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church declared themselves separated from Moscow. At the end of the war this was all reversed and persecutions again occurred. | |||
| b. | Slovakia and Croatia-in 1939 Hitler annexed Bohemia and offered Slovakia independent status; i.e., the Eastern part of Czechoslovakia. Monsignor Tiso headed the Slovakian government and aligned himself with Hitler's intent to eliminate all Jews. The independence Hitler gave Croatia was seen by many Catholics as revenge on Serbian Orthodoxy. Civil War broke out between both sides began and is still going on to this day. | |||
| c. | Norway, Holland and Belgium--the Lutheran bishop Berggrav, at first a pacifist changed his mind and opted for resistance against the Nazis. They protested against the persecution of the Jews, conscripted labor and the recruitment of young people into the Nazi party. In the Netherlands the bishops forbade Catholics from joining the Dutch Nazi movement. Both Catholics and Protestants joined forces to protest the deportation of Jews. In retaliation the Germans extended their internment to Christians of Jewish extraction. | |||
| d. | France--many in France viewed their own occupation by Germany as retribution for their secularization of their country and distancing themselves from the church. Jews began to be deported to the concentration camps and the church bishops, which favored the Vichy government, stood by without protest. Individual Christians took it upon themselves to organize resistance groups and hide Jews from the Germans. Many Catholic nuns and priests sacrificed with their lives in this effort. | |||
| e. | Germany--Germans were torn between resisting Hitler meant to resist Germany. German bishops did not oppose Hitler. It would have meant certain death in a concentration camp. Those priests and nuns who stood up against Hitler's systematic elimination of the sick, and mentally retarded were murdered by the Gestapo. | |||
| See Handout #274 | ||||
| B. | The silence of Pius XII--since he had been a German diplomat before the war this pope was very familiar with the German mentality. During the Second World War the pope had been praised during his lifetime for not interfering in the war. In 1960 he would be criticized for his silence. He never spoke out against the extermination of the Jews. He never said anything about the atrocities in Russia and Poland in a public forum, but in his defense he did speak out in diplomatic ways. See #275 for some of his efforts that many came to believe were never enough. | |||
| 1. | Exhortations to peace--in 1939 Pope Pius XII asked Mussolini to stay out of the conflict in Europe. He continued to give Christmas messages and speeches against war, admittedly in general terms, the waste of humans and the advantages of negotiation. He set up an information bureau to provide families with news of prisoners and missing persons. Jewish suspects were hidden by him in convents and monasteries. When the war reached Rome in 1943 the pope tried to protect the Vatican by being neutral. | |||
| See Handout #275 | ||||
| 2. | The extermination of the Jews--at first the news of total Jewish populations being exterminated by Hitler was unbelievable and insane. By 1942 Pope Pius XII could no longer ignore the issue and on his Christmas broadcast he denounced the extermination of any one group of people, though he never mentions the Jews or the Germans. His fear was that his intervention would only bring more harm to this oppressed people. | |||
| II. | The Religious Repercussions of Political Events in the Post-War Period | |||
| A. |
A New Situation for Christians |
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| 1. | The shifting of boundaries--the war resulted in tremendous losses in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe: The USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia. Poland lost almost one third of its population; i.e., their elite of the country: officers, university staff, priests. These were systematically wiped out by the Russians and the Germans. At Dachua there is a memo from Adolf Hitler that says: Poles are the lowest of the lowest form of human and are to be shown no mercy. They are to be the first to be killed upon arrival at the camp. | |||
| 2. | Christians in politics in Western Europe--Christians formed their own political parties against the communists and socialists. This became the hey day of Christian politics in Europe. Catholics came out of the ghettos imposed on them and forced the old guard of conservatives out of office. Democracy became the norm for many European countries that did not come under Communist rule i.e., Germany, France, Italy, Austria. | |||
| B. | The consequences of the Cold War-In Russia, Vietnam, China and Cuba communism took firm control. The Church suffered severe persecution in all of these countries. In the Balkan states of Russia priests resisted the efforts of the government to close down churches and the clergy were exterminated. In the other countries the clergy, including the Cardinals and Bishops were imprisoned even if they cooperated with the ruling governments. In 1949 a decree from the Vatican forbade all Catholics to collaborate in any way with Communists. | |||
| C. | Decolonization and the young Churches-in the twenty years following the war all of the colonial empires claimed by the European powers dissolved. Colonized peoples regained their independence. Nationalism returned these countries and anything that harmed or destroyed their old way of life was destroyed or persecuted. Christianity was one of those elements. Missionaries were expelled and local clergy were imprisoned. The Third World was born Christians and the West was blamed for their backwardness and their poverty. | |||
| 1. | The development of the young churches-- in those countries that allowed Christianity to remain replaced the Vatican's bishops and priests with their own local bishops and priests. They redrew dioceses and they became autonomous from the Papal church. Pope Pius XII encouraged this provincial style of church with its own bishops and priests, but also recognized that they needed direction and he encouraged European bishops to keep sending diocesan priests to these new churches in order to keep them orthodox. | |||
| See Handout #276 | ||||
| See Handout #277 | ||||
| See Handout #278 | ||||
| See Handout #279 | ||||
| III. | Pastoral and Theological Dynamism | |||
| A. |
Theology and ecumenism |
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| 1. | The rediscovery of the Bible by Catholics--in 1943 Pope Pius officially approved the value of Catholics reading and studying the Bible, something unheard of from prior times. The fear was personal interpretation and personal revelations. The ancient fathers' writings were published and made available to everyone, Protestants and Catholics alike. | |||
| a. | Christology and ecclesiology-theological study underwent a whole renewal. Christology the study of Christ) and ecclesiology the study of the church) became exciting new fields of study for theologians in Catholic circles. The Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) never held any official recognition in the church while he was alive, but only was read after his death. His book The Phenomenon of Man describes panchristism(seeing Christ in everything), cosmic mysticism and cosmic christocentricity; i.e., all matter contains a spiritual power behind which Christ reveals himself. The whole universe is converging on the omega point with the return of Christ. Other writers presented their writings on the church by saying that the present church is not the perfect society which Christ had foretold, but the place where Christ is encountered. This paved the way from history for the churches to become coming together. | |||
| See Handout #280 | ||||
| b. | The progress of ecumenism--the World Council of Churches was officially formed and incorporated all of the other ecumenical movements into one body. Any church could belong as long as they held a profession of faith that Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It's not a super church, but a forum and a listening place for an expectant community. The Catholic church refused to participate in this organization and even forbade Catholics from marrying non-Catholics. | |||
| B. | Tensions and crises--in the last years of Pope Pius XII's life the church had to face several tensions and conflicts resulting from a certain amount of fear and misunderstanding. | |||
| 1. | Theology--In August of 1950 Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Humani Generis which addressed some false views which threatened to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine. He challenged the "new theology" and called for theologians to return to Thomistic theology. He cautioned Catholics about sacrificing doctrine for the sake of unity. The doctrine of the Assumption on November 1,1950 delighted the great majority of Catholics, but distressed the ecumenical circles of Protestants and the Orthodox. | |||
| 2. | The worker priest affair-in France Catholics thought that they could work side by side with the Communist party infusing them with their Christian ideals. To show their solidarity with the working classes priests left their parishes and took on factory jobs. The pope thought that the worker priest was no longer a spiritual person and ordered it to stop. Half did and half didn't. Pius XII thought that those who had refused to leave the factory laicized themselves from their priesthood and he would not have the priesthood compromised. The end result of this revolt of priests within the church was a total reformation of the French seminary and its teachings. | |||
| See Handout #281 | ||||
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Handouts |
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| 274 | Christian resistance. A letter to the French people about resistance to the war machine of Hitler. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 275 | The silence of Pius XII. Pope is highly criticized for not being more direct in his texts against genocide. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 276 | The church in Communist China. The Chinese force Catholics to become a state church without the rule of the Vatican. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 277 | A patriotic bishop. A bishop willingly comes under the communist rule and encourages the flock to do the same. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 278 | The church and the independence of the peoples. Bishops warn the people against the dangers of Marxism. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 279 | The bishops are responsible in solidarity for the evangelization of the world. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 280 | The panchristism of Teilhard de Chardin. A mystic priest's view of Christ. Condemned by the Church officials as heretical. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 281 | The career of a worker priest. Priests went to regular jobs to evangelize the communist masses. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
