Vatican II Research Articles

Decolonization of the Filipino Church after Vatican II

Decolonization of the Filipino Church after Vatican II

Ecclesiological Themes in the Teaching of Pope Francis

This article is an exploration of and theological reflection on the teaching of Pope Francis about the nature and mission of the church, as expounded in his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium and in the talks and presentations he has given in a number of venues. The author identifies three salient themes in Francis’ thought about the church: (1) the church as communion, (2) a church in solidarity, and (3) a servant church. The author relates Francis’ statements about the church as communion to the ecclesiology of Vatican II, especially as articulated in Lumen Gentium . The article expounds the pope’s emphasis on the need for the church to be in solidarity with the poor and other suffering people in the world, connecting it with statements made by Pope Benedict XVI at the 2007 CELAM gathering at Aparecida. Finally, the author reflects upon Francis’ summons to Christians to embody a spirit of service in their mission to the wider world and in their approach to ministry within the church. The author concludes by acknowledging that Francis’ ecclesiology will undoubtedly continue to develop, but he suggests that these three themes will remain central to the pope’s vision of the church in the modern world.

Wybrane aspekty posłannictwa wiernych świeckich według Kodeksu Prawa Kanonicznego

Wierny to ten, ktory przez chrzest zostal wlączony do wspolnoty Kościola. W aspekcie prawnym chrzest oznacza nabycie praw i zaciągniecie zobowiązan wla­ściwych chrześcijanom. Prawa te i obowiązki zostaly określone w Kodeksie Prawa Kanonicznego z 1983 r. Osobowości prawnej nabytej w Kościele, ze wzgledu na jej charakter sakramentalny, nie mozna utracic ani jej znieśc. Świeccy, odznaczający sie odpowiednią wiedzą i nieposzlakowaną opinią mogą byc do­puszczeni do pelnie­nia niektorych urzedow i zadan kościelnych. Na tego rodzaju udzial Kodeks Prawa Kanonicznego z 1917 r. nie zezwalal, rezerwując calą wladze jurysdykcji dla du­chownych. Wplyw na dopuszczenie wiernych świeckich do kościelnej wladzy jurys­dykcyjnej mialy postanowienia Soboru Watykanskiego II wyrazone przede wszyst­kim w Konstytucji dogmatycznej o Kościele Lumen gen­tium oraz Dekrecie o apo­stolstwie świeckich Apostolicam actuositatem . Przepisy zezwalają wiernym świec­kim – zarowno mezczyznom, jak i kobietom – na pelnienie wielu funkcji sądowych. Ponadto katolicy świeccy wchodzą w sklad rad dusz­pasterskich (diecezjalnych i pa­rafialnych), mogą brac udzial w synodach diecez­jalnych. Z powodu braku duszpa­sterzy, jeśli tego domaga sie koniecznośc, rowniez wierni świeccy mogą przewodni­czyc modlitwom liturgicznym, udzielac sakramentu chrztu św. i Komunii św. Ob­serwuje sie wspolcześnie rozwoj ruchow i stowarzyszen o charakterze religijnym, ktore realizują wiele inicjatyw w spo­leczności lokalnej. Coraz cześciej misja świec­kich w Kościele jest dostrzegana i uznawana.

The Concept of Human Flourishing in Charles Taylor

This essay was written for people who are not yet familiar with A Secular Age and other publications by Charles Taylor, as well as for those who are already acquainted with his work. Here I attempt to summarize, introduce and reflect upon Taylor’s massive oeuvre, with particular attention to the specific and central topic of human flourishing. I have chosen this special theme because it is essential to comprehending Taylor’s definition of what a secular age is, and because it is also a vital component of the renewal of moral theology after the Second Vatican Council. Furthermore it is an important concept for Christian humanism and Christian secularity. This essay follows Charles Taylor on his intellectual journey, as he strives to guide both secular and Christian minds to a mutual comprehension of the other’s true intentions, as well as to uncover shared values and the common concern for the human predicament. The article concludes with a reflection on the ways in which Taylor’s arguments could be improved by theology. I consider this to be the unity and distinction of nature and grace, as well as virtue ethics examined from a first person perspective.

Newman on Vatican II by Ian Ker

Newman on Vatican II by Ian Ker

Church and art: from the second Vatican Council to today

Summary This text deals with the relationship between the Catholic Church and art from the Second Vatican Council to today. For this reason it considers some of the most important interventions about art by recent popes (Montini - Paul VI; Wojtyla - John Paul II; Ratzinger - Benedict XVI, Bergoglio - Francis) also mentioning some activities that the Holy See is currently promoting. These pages are intended to offer a contribution, mainly theoretical, for those who are working in the field of the planning and promotion of artistic and cultural events, especially if these events are related to religious heritage. Riassunto Il testo presenta - dal Concilio Vaticano II fino ad oggi - il rapporto tra Chiesa ed arte. Si evidenziano per questo alcuni dei principali interventi a proposito dei piu recenti pontefici (Montini - Paolo VI; Wojtyla - Giovanni Paolo II; Ratzinger - Benedetto XVI, Bergoglio - Francesco) e si accenna ad alcune attivita che attualmente sta svolgendo la Santa Sede. Si intende cosi offrire un contributo di carattere prevalentemente teoretico a coloro che intendono operare nella progettazione e promozione di eventi artistici e culturali o si dedicano ad inerenti attivita formative ed educative, soprattutto se a contatto con beni che riguardano il patrimonio di carattere religioso. Resume Le texte illustre la relation entre l’Eglise et l’art, du Concile Vatican II au jour d’aujourd’hui. Les principales interventions des papes plus recents sont evoquees dans ce cadre (Montini - Paul VI; Wojtyla - Jean-Paul II; Ratzinger - Benoit XVI, Bergoglio - Francois), en complement d’un survol des activites que le Saint-Siege developpe en ce moment. Notre contribution se veut une contribution essentiellement theoretique, destinee a ceux qui souhaitent intervenir dans la conception et promotion d’evenements artistiques et culturels, ou qui se consacrent a des activites de formation et d’education dans ce domaine, surtout en lien avec des biens du patrimoine religieux. Zusammenfassung Der Text stellt die Beziehung zwischen Kirche und Kunst vom II. Vatikanischen Konzil bis heute dar. Zu diesem Zweck werden einige der wichtigsten, diesbezuglichen von den Papsten der jungeren Zeit eingeleiteten Masnahmen in den Vordergrund gestellt (Montini – Paul VI.; Wojtyla – Johannes Paul II.; Ratzinger – Benedikt XVI.; Bergoglio - Franziskus) und einige der Aktivitaten angedeutet, die derzeit vom Heiligen Stuhl vorangetrieben werden. Damit soll denjenigen, die im Bereich der Planung und Forderung kunstlerischer und kultureller Veranstaltungen zu arbeiten beabsichtigen oder sich in diesem Umfeld der Ausbildung und Erziehung widmen wollen, speziell wenn sie dabei mit Monumenten religioser Art in Beruhrung kommen, ein Beitrag vorwiegend theoretischer Art geboten werden. Resumen El texto trata sobre la relacion entre la Iglesia y el arte desde el Concilio Vaticano II hasta nuestros dias. Para ello pone de relieve algunas de las principales intervenciones de los ultimos pontifices al respecto (Montini - Pablo VI; Wojtyla - Juan Pablo II; Ratzinger - Benedicto XVI, Bergoglio - Francisco) y alude a diversas actividades que la Santa Sede esta llevando a cabo actualmente. De esta manera se pretende brindar una aportacion principalmente teorica a quienes deseen planificar y promover eventos artisticos y culturales o se dediquen a labores formativas y educativas propias de este ambito, en especial si tienen que ver con bienes relacionados con el patrimonio religioso. 简介 这份文字介绍了从第二次梵蒂冈大公会议至今教会与艺术之间的联系。其中提及了 几位近代教皇的一些重要讲话（Montini教皇 - Paolo VI教皇; Wojtyla Giovanni Paolo II 保罗二世教皇 -; Ratzinger - Benedetto XVI本笃十六世教皇, Bergoglio - Francesco弗 朗西斯教皇），以及一些圣座正在参与的活动。希望借此为那些想要从事文化艺术活 动规划或推广，或是从事相关教育、培训工作，尤其是具有宗教特性文化遗产的机构 及个人做出一份贡献。 Резюме В работе исследуются отношения между Католической церковью и искусством, начиная с Второго Ватиканского собора и до сего дня. Поэтому, выделены основные меры, принятые последними понтификами (Монтини - Павел VI, Войтыла - Иоанн Павел II, Ратцингер - Бенедикт XVI, Бергольо - Франциск) и описываются некоторые действия, которые предпринимает Святой Престол в настоящее время. Так преследуется цель предоставить в основном теоретическую помощь тем, кто занимается разработкой и выдвижением художественно-культурных мероприятий, или выполняет связанные с ними воспитательно-образовательную работу, особенно с привлечением объектов культурного наследия религиозного назначения.

Word and Worship: Artists' Archives: Saving the Heritage of Vatican II

Word and Worship: Artists' Archives: Saving the Heritage of Vatican II

Religious Life in the United States: A Vocation of Border Crossing

It is said that apostolic religious women communities in the U.S. are experiencing an identity crisis along with a decrease in membership. This essay explains identity construction by critiquing the current approach to identity as a status, and provides a model of identity as border crosser. This study is significant in providing innovative ideas with regard to the identity of women religious, critiquing the life of apostolic women religious, and posing suggestions for the future of religious life in light of a vocation of border crossing. The author employs Jacque Lacan’s concepts of the “master signifier” and the “empty signifier,” in which identity is an ongoing process that can be found in the experience.Using these ideas, the author examines the early history of women religious in the U.S. and explains the distinct identity of women religious as border crosser. Women religious’ vocation of border crossing functioned as a bridge between US society and the immigrant Catholic Church, as well as the primary foundation for their spirituality. This border crossing identity has existed in the midst of apostolic work of women religious since Vatican II. Furthermore, the identity of women religious in the U.S. as border crosser is in the process of being shaped and reshaped in relation to the world, and this border crossing identity will lead women religious to connect with others globally, to create their community in a multi-ethnical way, and to serve immigrants.

Liturgical Language as a Course for Theological Thought: The Case of Dom Prosper Guéranger and the Vatican II Council

In 1962, the fathers of the newly opened Vatican II Council heatedly debated on the language to be used in the celebration of the liturgy of the Roman rite, mainly revolving around two provisions contained in the Schema on the Liturgy: 24. [Liturgical language]. The use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Western liturgy. However, when “in not a few rites, the use of words in the vernacular can appear to be greatly advantageous to the people,” a greater place may be granted to it in the liturgy. The Episcopal Conferences in each region—having consulted with the bishops of the neighboring regions of the same language, if this be the case—may propose to the Holy See the limits and manner for the vernacular to be admitted into the liturgy. 41. [Language]. A more suitable place may be assigned to the vernacular in Masses with a congregation, primarily however in the readings, communal prayers, and some songs according to the norm of article 24 of this Constitution. Using this conciliar debate on liturgical language as a point of departure, this article demonstrates how the eventual decision of Vatican II in Sacrosanctum Concilium 36 and 54 to allow a greater use of the vernacular in the Latin rites indicates and constitutes a certain shift away from the position of the French ultramontanist and polemicist Dom Prosper Gueranger (1805–1875) and his operative ecclesiological context. The founder of the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes is widely recognized as the main catalyst for the total Romanization of the liturgy in France during the nineteenth century. With the publication in 1841 of the second of his three-volume Institutions Liturgiques, he further intensified his ongoing campaign against the various French diocesan rites, sometimes also called the “neo-Gallican rites,” consequently implicating himself in a public controversy with some French bishops who in turn defended the legitimacy of their own local liturgies. Despite this level of opposition, Gueranger was nevertheless able to ultimately realize in 1875, the year of his death, the goal of his lifelong project—the uniform implementation of the Roman liturgical books across the whole diocesan landscape of France. This article deals with one particular aspect of Gueranger’s liturgical theology, namely his liturgical essentialization of Latin which, to this day, is considered as the language proper to the celebration of the Mass in its Tridentine form. Gueranger’s views on liturgical language, as will be shown later, were later carried into the discussions during Vatican II by some Council fathers aligned with or sympathetic to his liturgical school of thought.

Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization by Gerald O’ Collins SJ

Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization by <i>Gerald O’ Collins SJ</i>

A new «strategic vision». The Communist Party and the political reception of the Second Vatican Council (1958-1968)

The paper deals with the reactions of the Italian Communist Party to the celebration and the initial reception of the Second Vatican Council. Based upon examination of the Communist press and the documentation of the Communist leadership, it investigates how the Vatican II resolutions modified the Party's electoral and political strategies. Particularly, the research focuses on the political debate concerning the crisis of the Christian Democracy Party after Vatican II and the Communist plan to take advantage of the Catholic protest against the alliance between the Church and political power. In the Communist view, the most important result of Vatican II was the «End of the Constantinian Era». The operation's failure to involve some leaders of the Catholic «dissent» in the electoral rolls for the Senate was to represent one of the proofs of the Communists' difficulty in understanding the depth of this transformation and in reacting to the Catholic crisis of 1968.

The Liturgy Debate at Vatican II: An Exercise in Collective Responsibility

The Liturgy Debate at Vatican II: An Exercise in Collective Responsibility

The Fourth Session of Vatican II and Pope Francis Francis, Authority, and the “Other”

The Fourth Session of Vatican II and Pope Francis Francis, Authority, and the “Other”

Znaczenie kultury w dziele ewangelizacji

The article focuses on the concept of culture, its etymology, various anthropological interpretations and the way in which the Catholic Church has historically understood the reality of culture. The analysis of evolution of such an understanding culminates in evaluation of the contributions of the 2nd Vatican Council and the consequences of this development for the missionary involvement of the Church. While the Church is historically related to concrete cultural contexts, the Gospel is not limited to any of those contexts. The main challenge of the missionary work is to set up fruitful relations with the local cultures in order to establish mutual relations between the Gospel and cultural values.

Vatican II and Women

Vatican II and Women

Integrism towards the contemporary religious education and teaching of the Second Vatican Council

Integrism towards the contemporary religious education and teaching of the Second Vatican Council

Chronicles of a Vatican II Bishop

Chronicles of a Vatican II Bishop

Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II actually Teaches and its Implications for the New Evangelization. By RALPH MARTIN.

Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II actually Teaches and its Implications for the New Evangelization. By RALPH MARTIN.

‘If You Wish to be Perfect’: Change and Continuity in Vatican II's Call to Holiness

‘If You Wish to be Perfect’: Change and Continuity in Vatican II's Call to Holiness

A different fire: Vatican II and new evangelization

This article, based on an address given to the ‘Fruits and Future of Vatican II’ symposium, explores the relationship between the insights of Vatican II and John Paul II’s call for a ‘new evangelization’ and considers their implications for today. It argues that the church’s mission to the world is strongly related to its commitment to the contemplation of the face of Chris and to encounter ‘a different fire’.