Joseph F. Kelly - The Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: A History

To Gerard Anthony Kelly,
a good man, a good teacher,
and a good father

Contents

Preface

Like most church historians, I often wish that my fellow believers knew more about the forces and people who shaped the church over the centuries. Part of this problem is that many church historians, unlike theologians and biblical exegetes, have little interest in writing for general audiences. Years ago, my friend Joseph Tylenda, SJ, of the University of Scranton, told me that, after years of focusing on scholarly writings, he also wished to write for an educated but general audience, which he did with some fine books on the Jesuits. I never forgot what Joe said, and it has been my hope to do the same. The ecumenical councils have always interested me, and a study of them seemed a good topic.

But a book needs a publisher. I approached Liturgical Press, publisher of several other titles of mine, and the director, Peter Dwyer, and the editorial director, Hans Christoffersen, were both interested and supportive, as they have traditionally been for my efforts, and they encouraged me to go ahead with the book. My thanks to them for their confidence.

As an undergraduate teacher, I routinely taught church history surveys and so had a broad knowledge of the field, but the councils demanded more specialized knowledge, and so I turned to some friends for help. My thanks to Joseph Lienhard, SJ, of Fordham University, who read over the chapters on the first eight councils and offered valuable advice. For the late medieval councils and Trent, my friend and colleague at John Carroll University, Dr. Paul Murphy, director of JCUs Institute of Catholic Studies, provided valuable help on a number of historical points. Joseph Tylenda, who inspired this work some time ago, also read the chapters that Dr. Murphy did along with the one on Vatican I. He provided much valuable help on the history but especially the theology of those councils along with very useful advice. For Vatican II, my thanks to my department colleagues Dr. Joan Nuth and Rev. Jared Wicks, SJ, who drew from his virtually unrivaled knowledge of Vatican II to aid me with the books most difficult chapter. All these scholars helped to make this a better book; the books deficiencies are solely the responsibility of the author.

John Carroll University has a history of supporting scholarship, a history continued by my department chairperson, Dr. John Spencer, who recommended me for reduced loads to pursue my writing, as well as by Dr. Linda Eisenmann, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who approved Dr. Spencers recommendation, and by Dr. David LaGuardia, academic vice president at the time I started this work, who officially granted me the reduced loads. Thanks also to Dr. Lauren Bowen, associate academic vice president and chair of the University Committee on Research and Service, who approved research funds for me to purchase books necessary for the research. My final academic thanks go to Mrs. Elizabeth England, my graduate assistant, who read this book more times than anyone should have to.

As always, my sincerest thanks go to my wife Ellen, a loving, thoughtful, and generous spouse, who took time from her own busy schedule and made myriad sacrifices, both large and small, so that I would have time to write.

This book is dedicated to my younger brother, Gerard Anthony Kelly, my childhood companion with whom I share so many warm memories.

Joseph F. Kelly
John Carroll University

Introduction

This book deals with the twenty-one councils considered ecumenical by the Roman Catholic Church, which would make it of interest to Catholic readers, but hopefully it will attract readers from other churches and traditions as well. The first eight councils were held before the eleventh-century schism between the Western, Latin Christiansancestors of modern Catholics and Protestantsand the Eastern, Greek Christiansancestors of the Orthodox churches of today. In fact, all eight councils met in Greek-speaking areas and were conducted in Greek. The next ten councils, all Western, Latin-speaking councils, occurred before the Protestant Reformation. To be sure, Protestants do not consider these councils to be in any way authoritative, but they do form part of the common history of Western Christians in the pre-Reformation period. Even the archetypal Catholic council, Trent, which met intermittently from 1545 to 1563, opened while some Protestant and Catholic leaders were still negotiating to prevent the split in the church from becoming permanent, and Protestant observers attended some sessions at Trent. This book is meant to be ecumenical, but not like a council.

Councils

What exactly is an ecumenical council? The word council refers to a meeting of any group of people with responsibility to deal with issues facing the group, for example, a student council or a parish council. In the Catholic Church the term usually means a meeting of bishops, either on their own or with the pope. Most common are provincial councils or synods, where the bishops of a particular ecclesiastical province get together, usually under the presidency of the metropolitan or senior bishop of the province. These bishops can legislate for the province, providing that their decisions do not contradict those of higher authorities.

When bishops from several ecclesiastical provinces or from an entire country meet, they constitute a plenary council, such as the three plenary councils of Baltimore (1852, 1866, 1884), which determined the institutional development of Catholicism in the United States for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sometimes, especially in missionary areas, councils call together bishops from various countries and territories under the presidency of the bishop senior in status, for example, a cardinal, or of a papal representative. Thanks to modern transportation and communication, bishops can meet as often as annually.

Distinct from all these is the ecumenical council, a gathering of the bishops of the entire world under the presidency of the pope or, more likely on a day-to-day basis, one or more papal representatives. The pope alone can now summon a council, and he alone can give the decrees final approval. The word ecumenical comes from the Greek okoumene , meaning the inhabited world. Often the pope invites to the council important ecclesiastical figures such as superiors of religious orders and abbots. Since a councils business routinely involves theological and canonical issues, experts ( periti in Latin) in theology and canon law take part as advisors, some of whom exercise great influence.