Matt C. Abbott
Bishop clarifies stance on Vatican II
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By Matt C. Abbott
January 25, 2011

It made Catholic news headlines in recent days when Bishop Athanasius Schneider, an auxiliary of the Diocese of Karaganda, "suggested the preparation of an authoritative document to expose major errors in the interpretation of the teachings of Vatican II."

According to Catholic World News (click here for the full news item):

    '[Bishop Schneider] argues that the Church has been damaged by inaccurate interpretations of the council documents, which suggest 'an anthropocentric, secularizing, or naturalistic shift by the Second Vatican Council' and a dramatic break from previous Church teachings. Bishop Schneider says that the teaching of the Church has been distorted because of secular influences and because too many Church leaders failed to uphold traditional teachings. The result, he says, is a widespread misinterpretation of conciliar teaching....'

Australian Catholic journalist Andrew Rabel, a contributor to Inside the Vatican magazine, writes (slightly edited):

    'The response to my last story prompted me to telephone Bishop Schneider in Kazakhstan. He is extremely courteous and speaks very good English. The auxiliary bishop is also a member of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, a medieval religious order.

    'Bishop Schneider pointed out to me that in addition to Lima and Bologna, retired Bishop Juan Laise of the Diocese of San Luis in Argentina also banned the practice of Communion in the hand, but this was before Dominus Est was written. In addition, the Kazakh episcopal conference made a decision two years [ago] to restore Communion on the tongue as the sole way in all the dioceses there.

    'Most importantly, Bishop Schneider said to me that his address [should] give no comfort to those who want to minimize the importance of the Second Vatican Council (by commenting that it is only a pastoral council, etc.) and disagree with some of its contents on the proviso that it is a rupture from previous Church teachings.

    'He said Catholics have an obligation to be loyal to the Church's Magisterium and not selectively discount those statements they are not in agreement with. His concern has been the erroneous application of the council documents and the need for the Church to outline what the wrong conclusions are so they can be opposed explicitly. But that is a different thing from saying Vatican II doesn't have to be adhered to.'



Related link:

"U.S. Catholic Church Has Retrogressed Since Vatican II" (Wall Street Journal letter)

© Matt C. Abbott

 

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Matt C. Abbott

Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication, media, and theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He also has an Associate in Applied Science degree in business management from Triton College. Abbott has been interviewed on HLN, MSNBC, Bill Martinez Live, WOSU Radio in Ohio, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 2019 ‘Unsolved’ podcast about the unsolved murder of Father Alfred Kunz, Alex Shuman's 'Smoke Screen: Fake Priest' podcast, WLS-TV (ABC) in Chicago, WMTV (NBC) and WISC-TV (CBS) in Madison, Wisconsin. He’s been quoted in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets. He’s mentioned in the 2020 Report on the Holy See's Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017), which can be found on the Vatican's website. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.

(Note: I welcome and appreciate thoughtful feedback. Insults will be ignored. Only in very select cases will I honor a request to have a telephone conversation about a topic in my column. Email is much preferred. God bless you and please keep me in your prayers!)

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