Hans K�ng: My Struggle for Freedom

by admin · September 2, 2004

MY STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM, by Hans K�ng. Translated by John Bowden. Continuum, London, 2003. 478 pp

Reviewed by Paddy Kearney

This is the first volume of Fr Hans K�ng�s memoirs, covering the period from his birth in 1928 to 1968. The publication of this volume is something of an event given K�ng�s fame/notoriety as the world�s leading dissident theologian, his extraordinary influence as a peritus (theological expert) at the Second Vatican Council, and his best-selling previous works such as Justification, The Council and Reunion, The Church and Infallible.

The central theme of the first four decades of his life as described in this book has been a struggle for freedom, with his Swiss background giving him “an almost instinctive antipathy to all dictatorship in state, church and society.”

Already at the age of 11 he made his first major decision�to become a priest�and claims never to have wavered in his choice, though he was “no stranger to falling in love” at school. His second fundamental decision was to attend a state secondary school rather than be part of a “Catholic ghetto”, and the third to study at the German College in Rome, rather than at a seminary in his own country.

He was well on his way to becoming a dissident (he claims he learnt to resist in Rome) when he decided only to attend lectures if he thought they were worthwhile, a criterion they seldom met.

Dissident or not, he is determined to remain a Catholic: “I am and remain Catholic because the whole, universal, comprehensive Catholic Church is important to me. To the present day it has an ongoing continuity which persists in all the breaks, and a universality of faith and a community of faith which embraces all groups, nations and regions.”

K�ng�s first conflict with authority was about the workers at the German College whose wages and conditions of service were hopelessly out-of-date and unjust. After he had left the College, he learnt that his demands had been met.

As a young doctoral student he read and subsequently met the elderly Karl Barth, probably the most notable Protestant theologian of the 20th century and was highly stimulated by their discussions. K�ng regarded Barth�s “Church Dogmatics” as “simply magnificent” and was delighted that his own writings were highly approved of by Barth. (Neither here nor anywhere else is K�ng sparing of the details of praise and honour he has received).

Of course he didn�t only receive acclaim. For his Justification he already at the age of 29 had a file in the Holy Office.

After some years as an assistant priest in his native Switzerland, in 1960 he accepted a position as professor of theology at the German university of T�bingen�at the age of 32. When the Vatican Council began he was chosen as a peritus by the Bishop of Rottenburg and later by Pope Paul VI. During this time he loved the influence he enjoyed with bishops whose speeches he wrote or brushed up for delivery in the plenary sessions in St Peter�s.

Though K�ng recognised the greatness of John XXIII in calling the Council and in his openness to new ideas, he is critical of John for failing to tackle the inherent conservatism of the curia, failing to make creative new appointments when vacancies occur in the curia, instead simply appointing people with whom the old curial guard wouldn�t have any difficulties.

K�ng is much more critical of Paul VI. Like John, he too didn�t seize the opportunity when he became pope and all curial posts were officially vacant, to bring in people who really would have effected change. K�ng speculates about a “dream team” that the pope could have appointed, including such progressives as Suenens of Brussels (to be Secretary of State), Leger of Montreal (Congregation of Bishops), K�nig of Vienna (to head a radically reformed Holy Office) and Hurley of Durban (to lead the newly-established Justice and Peace Commission).

However by the second half of the Council�s second session it was clear to K�ng that Pope Paul was more a “brake” on the Council than an “inspiration”. He hadn�t followed up his bold words on curial reform with any bold actions.

And worst of all, he removed from the agenda birth control and priestly celibacy, reserving to himself to make a decision about these. Such was the manipulation that K�ng felt it was like being at a party congress in a totalitarian state.

K�ng recalls Paul VI offering him a curial position. This would require conforming and adapting, the pope explained. K�ng, with his passion for freedom, was unwilling to pay that price.

K�ng�s final verdict on Paul VI? “�not a liberal or collegial pope, but through and through a curial pope.” Nevertheless he spoke of the pope�s tendency to self-doubt and reflection as “a gift which one will again rightly learn to treasure in view of his all too self-confident successor from Poland.”

My Struggle for Freedom is essential reading for those who would like to understand the problems of the Church now, nearly 40 years since the conclusion of Vatican II. The reader has to put up with quite a hefty dose of K�ng�s arrogance and self-congratulation, as well as a rather strange use of the present tense for the entire 40 years surveyed in this book, and some very awkward translations: “episcopal ordinaraiate”, “large scale and through-composed trains of thought”, “renewed Catholic synodicality” and “a historic centre with own grandeur”. Perhaps K�ng should find a better translator for Volume II ?

How has K�ng managed to write so many and such lengthy theological tomes ? Well, first of all he says he has to have the book largely in his head before he srtarts writing and then he must work day and night, through university terms and vacations, with very little sleep. But he also has regular exercise, swimming as often as possible and skiing in winter. He has a fine music collection for relaxation, enjoys discussion, keeps good wine in his cellar and has many guests, prays (mostly spontaneously) at midday and in the evening (no mention of the Divine Office!) and has very good relations with the women and men who surround him. “I lead a contented and�despite all cares and fights � a happy life.”