Contents
Translator's Introduction
Preface to the Second Edition (1967)
Foreword
The Methodology of This Study
The Plan of the Book
Introduction (1950)
I. The Church Is Constantly Reforming Itself
II. Contemporary Self-Criticism and Reformism (Especially in
France)
III. The Church Today: How Did Self-Criticism Become
Suspect?
IV. Four Traits of Contemporary Self-Criticism
V. The Reasons for Today's Self-Criticism: A Passion for
Authenticity
VI. Applying These Insights: The Need to Adapt or Revise
PART ONE
Why and How Does
the Church Reform Itself?
1 THE CHURCH'S HOLINESS AND OUR FAILURES
I. The Point of View of Antiquity and That of the Present
with Respect to the Problem of Evil in the Church
II. The Teachings of the Bible, the Fathers, and the Magisterium
Holy Scripture
The Fathers: Their Theology Is
Essentially "Symbolic" The Teaching of the Magisterium and of
Theologians
III. Principles for a Solution: Several Meanings of the Word
"Church"
God Alone Is Infallible
Two Aspects of the Church:
Institution and Community
Four Meanings of the Word
"Church"
Additional Remarks on This Theme
IV. Application of These Principles: Holiness and Failure in
Light of the Different Meanings of Church
In Its Formal Principles (Given by
God) the Church Is Infallible
As a People Made Up of Human
Beings, the Church Is Fallible
The Church as the Ensemble of
Churchmen or Hierarchical Persons
The Concrete Church, Synthesizing
the Preceding Elements
Excursus: Evil in the Church in the View of
Several Contemporary Theologians
2 WHY AND IN WHAT WAY DO THE PEOPLE OF GOD NEED TO BE
REFORMED?
I. God's Plan and How God's People Should Respond to It:
Situating the Problem of Reform
II. The Need for Reform in Light of the Temptation to
"Pharisaism"
III. The Need for Reform in Light of the Temptation To Become
a "Synagogue"
3 PROPHETS AND REFORMERS
Prophets: Their Role and Their Character
Prophecy in the Church
1. Specially Insightful Knowledge
about the Things of God
2. A Knowledge or Mission Related to
Executing God's Plan
3. Predicting the Future:
"Natural Analogs of Prophecy"
The Reform Spirit and Prophecy
The Situation of Prophecy within
the Church
The Perils of Prophetic Activity
Why St. Augustine Was a Source of
Encouragement for Reformers
Schematic Table Summarizing These
Points
PART TWO
Conditions for
Authentic Reform Without Schism
The Problem
The Possibility of Deviations in
Any Reform Movement
The Ambivalence of
"Seeds"
Möhler's Distinction: Gegensatz
(Contrast) and Widerspruch (Contradiction)
Two Types of One-Sidedness
First Condition: The Primacy of Charity and of Pastoral
Concerns
The Prophetic Initiative Should Not
Develop into a System
Successful Reforms Were Motivated
by Pastoral Concern
Reforms That Tried to Create a
System Turned Out Badly
Second Condition: Remain in Communion with the Whole
Church
The Whole Truth Is Grasped Only in
Communion with the Whole Church
This Communion Makes the Difference
between Catholic and Schismatic
Sentire cum Ecclesia
The Center and the Periphery
Need for Support from the Base
Need for Approval from the Central
Powers of the Church
"Pneumatological" and
"Prophetic" Functioning of the Hierarchy
Application of These Principles to
Religious Orders (Troeltsch)
Being Connected to the Community
Communion Justifies the Possibility
for a Breakthrough
The Responsibility of the Center to
Listen to the Periphery
Third Condition: Having Patience with Delays
The Nature of Patience and Its Role
The Boastful Spirit of the
Reformers
The Link between Impatience and an
Intellectual and Dialectical Point of View
Blocked by the Church, the
Impatient Reformer
Appears to Be Persecuted
The Church Is Against Ultimatums
and the Via Facti The Church's Via Facti vs. the Wrong and Revolutionary Via
Facti
The Tension that Results for the
Faithful Reformer
Responsibility of Church Leaders
Not to Be Too Patient
Fourth Condition: Genuine Renewal through a Return to the
Principle of Tradition (Not through the Forced Introduction of Some
"Novelty")
Two Kinds of Adaptation: As
Development and as Innovation
Adaptation as Development Comes
About through Ressourcement
The Church Needs to Live in Contact
with Its Deepest Tradition
PART
THREE
The
Reformation and Protestantism [omitted in this translation]
CONCLUSION
Perspectives
on the Attitude to Take toward
Concrete
Reform Initiatives
A) About the Élan and Spirit of
Reform in General
1) For or Against the Idea of
Reform
2) Among Reformers, the Distinction
between the Faithful and the Revolutionaries
Medieval Apostolic and Evangelical
Movements
Sixteenth-Century Reforms
Lamennais and Lacordaire
B) Considering Contemporary Reform
(Text from 1950)
1) Three Motives for Optimism about
Contemporary Reforms (in France)
2) The Problem of a Divided Spirit
among Catholics
AFTERWORD (July 1968)
APPENDIXES
Appendix I:
Collective Responsibility
Appendix II: Two
Types of Fidelity
Appendix III: His Holiness Paul VI
Speaks about the Reform of the Church (From the Encyclical Ecclesiam Suam,
August 6,1964)
