Second
Vatican Council (1962-65)
The most significant event in the modern era of the
Catholic Church
"Pope John XXIII called the Council very soon after he was elected. He saw that the Church needed to make the message of faith more relevant to people in the twentieth century. He called for an Aggiornamento, a freshening of thinking and practices that would better enable the Church to do God's work and serve the whole people of God on earth. The pope also hoped the Council would pave the way for Christian unity. He did not have a fully formulated plan. Consequently there were many different hopes and expectations. Also, therefore, there were many different forms of preparation between Pope John's announcement in 1959 and the actual start of the Council on 11 October 1962." [1]
"The Council was instrumental for
renewal in the self-understanding of the Church, its inner life and its
relationship to other Christian traditions, other religions and the world.
Those participating in or who lived through the time of the Council felt a profound,
exhilarating sense of renewal and virtually experienced a new Pentecost. Pope
John XXIII set the tone when opening the Council:
'The Church should never depart from the sacred treasure of
truth inherited from the Fathers. But at the same time she must ever look to
the present, to the new conditions and the new forms of life introduced into
the modern world.'
With the passage of time, there is a widespread
feeling that the Vatican II legacy is being lost. Even to speak positively
about the Council is to incur suspicion in some quarters. It would be well to
recall the words of Pope Paul VI speaking soon after the close of the Council
to establish its status:
'Whatever were our opinions about the Council's various
doctrines before its conclusions were promulgated, today our adherence to the
decisions of the Council must be whole hearted and without reserve; it must be
willing and prepared to give them the service of our thought, action and
conduct. The Council was something very new: not all were prepared to
understand and accept it. But now the conciliar doctrine must be seen as
belonging to the magisterium of the Church and, indeed, be attributed to the
breath of the Holy Spirit.' (Paul VI to
the Roman Curia, 23 April, 1966)
The Second Vatican Council
took place in the 1960's it has lost none of its relevance nearly fifty years
on and should still be center place in the consciousness of the Church." [2]
What Vatican II Changed
"Vatican II
brought some major changes to the Roman church. Most obvious were changes in
the mass, which had been said in Latin, with priest facing away from the
congregation, often speaking quietly (even mumbling). It was impersonal at
best, and for most, not understandable.
After the
council, the feel of the mass changed drastically. It now was to be conducted in
the language of the people, and participation was encouraged in new ways, with
new possibilities granted for music and singing, and women allowed into upfront
roles as readers, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers
in some places (though some bishops and priests still discourage it). The
sweeping reforms also included no longer forbidding Catholic attendance at
Protestant services or reading from a Protestant Bible.
Another major
course correction was Catholicism’s orientation on the Jewish people and
non-Catholics. According to Catholic author Greg Tobin, this was
one of the most important theological
and global breakthroughs, in terms of what came out of Vatican II. The church
radically changed its position on the teaching about Jews, and really opened up
to dialogue with the Jewish community; and encouraged — and demanded — that
Catholics not consider the Jews as “other” or enemy but in fact, as brothers
and sisters under the same God. And it was a monumental shift in the position
of the church, and in the teachings of the church. So it was a sea change, in
terms of the Catholic Church.
Vatican II
aimed to produce not only a very different experience of the mass, but also a
repositioning of the church in relation to the modern world. But many have
wondered, despite all the felt flashpoints of change, whether it hasn’t proved
to be much more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." [3]
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