“One Teacher”: Doctrinal Authority in the Church by Le Groupe des Dombes (review)

468 the jurist This book contains much valuable information and wisdom—canonical , theological and historical—on the extraordinary form of the Roman Missal. The text is presented in a scientific manner with extensive footnotes . The author offers a critical evaluation of each article of the motu proprio, indicating different possibilities in the document’s interpretation and various opinions of well-known canonists. The scientific analysis of the motu proprio is excellent and offers possibilities for further study. Michael Nobel Faculty of Canon Law Saint Paul University Ottawa, Ontario “ONETEACHER”: DOCTRINALAUTHORITYINTHE CHURCH by Le Groupe des Dombes. Trans. Catherine E. Clifford. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010. Pp. xii–161. Each year the Church celebrates a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In his Vespers homily for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, which traditionally closes the Week of Prayer, Pope Benedict XVI again reminded the Christifideles of the importance of dialogue in this area. “It is our duty to continue enthusiastically on our way towards this goal with a strict and serious dialogue in order to deepen the common theological, liturgical and spiritual patrimony; with reciprocal knowledge, with the ecumenical formation of the new generations and, especially, with conversion of heart and with prayer.”1 The Groupe des Dombes (hereafter the “Groupe”), which consists of “Western Christians, Catholics and Protestants, with no Orthodox members ” (xii), are scholars from the French speaking regions of Europe who have engaged in such an unofficial ecumenical dialogue. In their 2005 document entitled “Un seul Maitre”: L’autorité doctrinal dans l’Église,” which Catherine Clifford has translated into English in this 2010 manu1 Benedict XVI, “Homily of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI: Liturgy of Vespers for the Conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011 /documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110125_week-prayer_en.html). script, the Groupe considered the nature of the Church’s doctrinal authority which they describe as “the church’s mission to proclaim and teach what it has received from Christ.” (5).The document is divided into five chapters with an introduction and conclusion. Chapters one and two present an historical overview of authority from the Fathers of the Church, through the MiddleAges and the Reformation, to the Second Vatican Council and subsequent developments. (1–73). Chapter three addresses Sacred Scripture with special consideration devoted to the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Pauline corpus (75–94). Chapter four considers a variety of issues pertaining to doctrinal authority and proposes the reconsideration of certain more sensitive issues from an ecumenical perspective (95–131). Finally, chapter five suggests concrete measures that might be undertaken to address ecumenical concerns about authority issues (133–157). The Groupe should be commended for the breadth of dialogue considered in this document. It provides a general overview of the issues from an ecumenical perspective and could serve as a helpful tool for understanding the points of agreement and divergence among the various groups involved in the dialogue. Such a task can be quite challenging. Nevertheless, the reader, and in particular the canonist, should be reminded that it was not the Groupe’s purpose with this document to create a canonical treatise on the issues raised. Rather, the Groupe endeavored to develop areas in which the ecumenical dialogue might be advanced if certain issues were reconsidered to find a middle ground upon which those involved in the dialogue might agree. For example, the question of infallibility seems to be of particular concern to the Groupe. It called for a reassessment of the Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility so that it might be reformulated within the specific context of a communio ecclesiology. (See, e.g., 129: “has the time not come to reformulate the dogma of Vatican I, which remains a stumbling block for the Protestant and Orthodox traditions, within the framework of an ecclesiology of communion?;” see also, 152–153). Similarly, the Groupe also called for a greater expression of collegial decision making through the canonical structures of the diocesan synod, episcopal conferences, and the synod of bishops (145–147). The canonist reader would be well advised to investigate...