Craig, Barry M Review of: Vatican council II: Reforming liturgy, by Carmel Pilcher, David Orr and Elizabeth Harrington, eds., pp. xxviii + 307, $49.95.

Further research on the theological contributions of experts at Vatican Council II has led to identifying six texts by Prof. Joseph Ratzinger, which are presented here. The theological themes expressed in these texts include an insistence on the interior dynamics and questioning of human beings in conceiving the present-day "hearer of the word" to which Vatican II will speak. One is not surprised by the Professor's repeated call for doctrinal formulations drawn from the biblical and patristic sources (...) instead of borrowing from recent theological textbooks. The lecture of October 10, 1962, develops, among other topics, an impressive account of God's self-revelation, which has primacy over the codified witness given by Scripture and tradition, which derive from the one fons that is God's self-manifestation. On biblical inspiration the Council should not attempt a systematic account but simply make reference to essential aspects: those active as human authors, their context which is salvation history, and the communities that they served by writing. All missionary activity in the Church arises ultimately from God's love poured out upon the world in the missions of the Son and Spirit and such action has its summa in Jesus' inaugural proclamation, "Be converted and believe in the Gospel" . In approaching its dialogue with the contemporary world, the Church speaks out of a complex conviction combining awareness that hum. (shrink)

(The Second Vatican Council and the catholic anticommunism in Brazil and Argentina) O artigo propõe analisar a disjunção interna surgida no catolicismo no contexto das renovações teóricas e doutrinárias suscitadas no entorno dos debates referentes ao Concílio Vaticano II, tendo como referência os jornais de Porto Alegre Correio do Povo (CP) e Diário de Notícias (DN) e os jornais de Buenos Aires Clarín (CL) e La Razón (LR). Percorrendo o período da publicação da primeira Encíclica de João XXIII (...) (1961), perpassando pela realização das seções do Concílio (1962 a 1965) e chegando até as primeiras repercussões da Encíclica Populorum Progressio , de Paulo VI (1967), o artigo analisa os debates surgidos no interior da instituição entre os setores conservadores e aqueles considerados progressistas, buscando interpretar o lugar assumido pela prática anticomunista neste processo. Na primeira parte, a proposta é apresentar uma análise da forma como as renovações do catolicismo acabaram imergindo no bojo das disputas políticas que desencadearam nos golpes militares da década de 1960 em ambos os países (1964, no Brasil e 1966, na Argentina). Já na segunda, o artigo apresenta um eixo temático pelo qual é possível visualizar, através das imprensas, as representações anticomunistas manifestadas naquele cenário. Palavras-chave: Concílio Vaticano II. Anticomunismo católico. Brasil. Argentina.The paper aims to analyze the internal disjunction emerged in the Catholicism in the context of theoretical and doctrinal renovations raised in the environment of debates concerning to Second Vatican Council, having as reference the newspapers of Porto Alegre, Correio do Povo (CP) and Diário de Notícias (DN) and the newspapers of Buenos Aires, Clarín (CL) and La Razón (LR) . Going through the time of publication of the first Encyclical of Pope John XXIII (1961), passing through the implementation of sections of the Council (1962-1965) and reaching to the first repercussions of Populorum Progressio Encyclical, by Paul VI (1967), the paper analyzes the debates that arose inside of the institution among the sectors considered conservative and those considered progressive, seeking to interpret the place assumed by the anticommunist practice in this process. In the first part, the proposal is to present an analysis of how the renewals of Catholicism immersed in the midst of political disputes that led to military coups of the 1960s in both countries (1964 in Brazil and 1966 in Argentina). In the second part, the paper presents a central theme which is possible to view, through the presses, the anticommunist representations manifested in that scenario. Keywords : Second Vatican Council. Catholic anticommunism. (shrink)

O artigo propõe-se a, num primeiro momento, pensar o significado do Concílio Vaticano II e seu esquecimento. Em relação a seus frutos, aponta a nova realidade eclesial, particularmente na América Latina, em termos de rompimento com o passado legalista, antimodernista e eurocentrista, e a construção de caminhos alternativos. Sobre o esquecimento do Concílio, destaca que a Cúria romana, os últimos dois papas e a parcela conservadora do episcopado, ainda quando mantinham um discurso de filiação e reverência pelo legado do Concílio, (...) trabalhavam pelo desvanecimento de seu caráter formativo e vinculante. Num segundo momento, o artigo especula, a partir de alguns questionamentos, sobre as dimensões e possibilidades de “um novo Pentecostes”. Pergunta: Considerando a longa duração dos processos históricos, pode-se afirmar que “o Concílio passou”? Que pressões estruturais e condições objetivas favoreceriam um novo processo de mudança na Igreja? Que podemos aprender do crescente Pentecostalismo em nossos países? Terá futuro o milenar modelo de organização da Igreja frente aos processos de “teia de relações” trazidos pela globalização? A teologia tradicional se sustentará frente às exigências do diálogo inter-religioso? Que é “religião”? Qual seria a contribuição das religiões frente às grandes questões planetárias? Palavras-chave: Igreja. Vaticano II. Episcopado. Pentecostalismo.This article aims to reflect on the meaning of Vatican II and their oblivion. In relation to its fruit, the article firstly highlights the new ecclesial reality, particularly in Latin America in terms of breaking with the past legalistic, anti-modernist and Eurocentric, and the construction of alternative paths. The article postulates that the Roman Curia, the last two popes and the conservative portion of the episcopate struggled for the attenuation of the formative dimension of the Council. Secondly, the article raises some questions about the dimensions and possibilities of “a new Pentecost”. Here are some of these questions: a) taking into account the long-term processes, could one say that the Vatican II is already outdated? b) What structural pressures and objective conditions would facilitate a new process of change in the Church? c) What can we learn from the growing of the Pentecostalism in our countries? d) Faced with the processes of “web relationships” presented by globalization, would the old model of church organization continue to succeed? e) Will the traditional theology survive to the demands of inter-religious dialogue? f) What is “religion”? g) What would be the main contributions of religions to the great planetary questions? Keywords: Church. Vatican II. Episcopate. Pentecostalism. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1267. (shrink)

Cathedrals of the Catholic Church, as a rule, are gathering at the turning points of the development of the world and the life of the Church. II Vatican Council took place after the curves of the second drama of humanity in the Second World War, in the conditions of the post-war split of the world, first of all in Europe, in two opposing camps and the establishment of totalitarian regimes in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the (...) collapse of the colonial system and the appearance on the political map of the world of young independent countries. At the same time, the world was once again faced with the threat of a new, already thermonuclear war, which, like the Damocles sword, hangs over humanity. The problems of the post-war world development in the conditions of the growing scientific and technological revolution, the launch of the space era, as well as the uneven economic and social development of the world in the coordinates of the North-South, arose. (shrink)

Autor podrazumijeva činjenicu da su Crkva i kršćanstvo nastali, razvijali se i širili u ozračju grčko-rimske ili helenističke kulture u koju su, navješćujući vjeru u Krista, Otkupitelja i Spasitelja, unijeli određene sastojke tadašnje židovske kulture, omogućujući tako razvoj europske culture. U misionarskom djelovanju, posebno nakon otkrića Amerike, Crkva susreće i prihvaća i druge kulture. U novom vijeku Crkva sve više postaje svjesna važnosti tih kultura, da bi počevši s II. vatikanskim saborom počela govoriti o pluralizmu kultura, o važnosti autohtonih kultura (...) trećeg svijeta, tražeći načine kako ih plodonosno povezati s navještajem Evanđelja. Autor iznosi kako Crkva u dokumentima II. Vatikanskog Sabora, posebno u pastoralnoj konstituciji Gaudium et spes, naširoko govori o kulturi , prihvaćajući također činjenicu pluralizma kulturâ. U spomenutoj saborskoj konstituciji susrećemo definiciju kulture u br. 53. Govoreći o poslije-saborskom govoru Crkve o kulturi, autor analizira različite papinske dokumente i govore poslije II. vatikanskog sabora, dokumente različitih vatikanskih ureda, kao i one biskupa iz Latinske Amerike. Autor posebno analizira crkveni govor o problematici kulture i inkulturacije u navještaju vjere, želeći pokazati kako je Crkva u svojem djelovanju nakon Sabora susretala i prihvaćala nove izazove, posebno antropološki pristup kulturi i inkulturaciji, koji su je poticali da još jasnije progovori o kulturi, o pluralizmu kultura, i o inkulturaciji vjere na kraju dvadesetog stoljeća.The author comprehends the fact that the Church and Christianity emerged , developed and spread in the atmosphere of the Greek-Roman or Hellenistic culture in wich they brought, by proclamation the faith in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Savior, the certain ingredients of Jewish cultur, making in such way possible the developement of European culture. In missionary work, especially after the discovery of America, the Church meets and accepts the other cultures. In the modern world Church more and more becomes conscious of these cultures. Beginning with the Second Vatican Council the Church speaks of a plurality of cultures and the importance of authentic cultures of the third world in order to find the ways how to fertile connect cultures with the proclamation of Gospel. The author brings out that the Church in the documents of Second Vatican Council, particularly in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, widely speaks of culture accepting the fact of a plurality of cultures. The same pastoral constitution brings the definition of the word ‘culture’ in the number 53. Based on the topic of culture after the Second Vatican Council the author analyzes the different papal document and speeches, the document of various Vatican offices, as well as documents of bishops from Latin America. The author particularly analyzes the Church’s speech founded on the problem of culture and inculturation in the proclamation of faith, in order to show how Church, in its work after the Second Vatican Council, met and accepted new challenges, especially anthropological admission to culture and inculturation, that gave an impulse to the Church to speak more clearly of culture, of a plurality of cultures and of inculturation of faith at the end of 20th century. (shrink)

The materials and spirit of the Second Vatican Council have largely outstripped the comprehension of the extremely important religious, social, economic, and spiritual problems faced by the modern globalized world. This concerns in many respects the problems of labor, the understanding of the value-motivational factors of attitude towards it. Moreover, the attitude to work has its own social, economic, spiritual and, of course, religious studies. All this can not but correct the problem of attitude to work as a (...) Christian phenomenon in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In this regard, the very fact that in our time the socio-philosophical science is not sufficiently adapted to the Ukrainian needs and realities of the idea of ​​the II Vatican Council of the Catholic Church and the council documents of this Church. (shrink)

Minns, Denis Review of: Vatican II notebook: A council journal, 1962-1963, by M.-D. Chenu, critical edition and introduction by Alberto Melloni, translated by Paul Philibert, Adelaide: ATF Theology, 2015, pp. xi + 163, hardback, $34.95, paperback, $29.95.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Benedict XVI, A Life: Volume 1, Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council 1927–1965 by Peter SeewaldEmil AntonBenedict XVI, A Life: Volume 1, Youth in Nazi Germany to the Second Vatican Council 1927–1965 by Peter Seewald, translated by Dinah Livingstone (London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2020), xi + 500 pp.What better way to spend Pope Benedict XVI's ninety-fourth birthday than by reviewing a Ratzinger (...) biography while having Apfelstrudel and some traditional Bavarian beer?German journalist and author Peter Seewald, who in his many interviews has asked Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI a total of two thousand or more questions (ix), has written a splendid biography that surprises even someone who has already read dozens of books by and about Benedict XVI. Written in an extremely enjoyable style and divided into chapters of just the perfect length, this page-turner deserves the highest praise. It will likely take its place alongside George Weigel's famous (and equally massive) biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope.The German biography has been divided into two volumes in English (vol. 2 was just published in November of 2021). Volume 1 deals with the years 1927–1965, dominated by two historic "Twos": World War II and Vatican II. Theologically, this is the period of the progressive Ratzinger (regardless of whether he "converted" to a more conservative stance later on), or as Seewald puts it, a man formed by "liberal Bavarian Catholicism" (124).Seewald provides lots of new and interesting information about Joseph Ratzinger, both bitter and sweet. One example from the early chapters concerns the origins of Ratzinger's mother. It turns out that she was an illegitimate child and not actually from South Tyrol, contrary to what her children had thought. A local historian has discovered that Ratzinger's mother Maria was actually born in Mühlbach "in the district of Rosenheim,... in a house that specialized in helping unmarried pregnant women to give birth" (15).For the romantic, the sweetest story of the book comes when Seewald [End Page 963] pushes the reserved Pope Emeritus to reveal more about the "painful decisions" that the young Munich seminarian had to make in relation to his vocation as a celibate priest. "'Were you in love with a girl?' 'Perhaps.' 'So, yes?' 'It could be interpreted like that.' 'How long did this passionate time last? A few weeks? A few months?' 'Longer'" (219). Ratzinger was in love! Or at least it could be interpreted like that! Other heart-warming details include the revelation that Ratzinger's childhood teddy from Marktl followed him all the way to the Apostolic Palace, as well as the fact that, when his blind brother Georg (now deceased) needed a housekeeper, Benedict XVI personally organized the job interview in the Vatican gardens.A darker episode, minimized in Ratzinger's autobiographical memoirs, concerns his role in the radar crew of the German anti-aircraft forces in World War II. The future Pope was entrusted with the task of targeting British bombers. Seewald fills in the narrative: "Ratzinger delivered readings for three guns,.... The more precisely Joseph measured, the higher the hit rate. As the war demanded" (101). Years later, Ratzinger confessed that these experiences still occasionally gave him sweaty nightmares.Seewald goes on to describe the exceptional postwar context in which Ratzinger prepared for the priesthood. The future priests knew that they would soon have to hear confessions of ex-Nazis who had shot people in the war (153). Indeed, after the war, many old Nazis turned to the Church and attempted to get de-Nazification certificates. Ratzinger's parish priest even joked that one day "they will say the only Nazis were the priests" (131).As did everyone, Ratzinger also felt the effects of poverty in postwar Germany. Whenever a festive dinner had to be given for a visitor at the seminary, "we went hungry on the most meagre rations for four long weeks in order to gather the ingredients" (189). After a short period of pastoral ministry subsequent to his ordination, the stellar theologian went back to the seminary as a teacher. Barely twenty-five-years-old, he was younger... (shrink)

O'Collins, Gerald Different templates are available for assessing where Pope Francis has been leading the church since his election on 13 March 2013. The fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council on 8 December 1965 suggests one broad template for interpreting and evaluating the Pope's continuing contribution. It is not that Francis has been beating the drum about the teaching of Vatican II and how he wants to put it into practice. Yet much of (...) what he has already taught and done shows him picking up themes of the council's teaching and taking them further. He is faithful to Vatican II, with a fidelity that is properly creative. (shrink)

Problematic issues of freedom of religion in their theoretical and practical comprehension, in particular their contemporary analysis in the context of the principles enshrined in the Vatican II adopted by the document on freedom of religion - the Declaration of "Dignitatis humanae" - "Dignity of the human" are extremely relevant and important as a philosophical- legal and religious studies, and in theological discourses.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity: The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom: A New Translation, Redaction History, and Interpretation of “Dignitatis humanae.” by David L. Schindler and Jr. Nicholas J. HealyBarrett H. TurnerFreedom, Truth, and Human Dignity: The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom: A New Translation, Redaction History, and Interpretation of “Dignitatis humanae.” By David L. Schindler and Nicholas J. Healy, (...) Jr. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2015. Pp. xiv + 477. $45.00 (paper). ISBN: 978-0-8028-7155-8.“I fear that you are going to give the inaccurate impression that this document was exclusively the work of the Americans at the Council, or nearly so,” wrote Ernest Primeau, an American bishop who helped revise Dignitatis humanae (DH) at Vatican II, to a priest-journalist. “The truth is... that many others from other nations played an important role in the writing and passage of the declaration.” Despite Primeau’s warning, popular and scholarly interpretations of DH have often hewed closely to John Courtney Murray’s juridical approach, usually in contrast to the integralism of Cardinal Alfredo [End Page 309] Ottaviani and the Spanish episcopate. Yet “many others” did not fit into those two groups, for a large contingent of bishops favorable to religious liberty nonetheless sought to undergird the juridical reasoning for the right with an ontological foundation.David L. Schindler and Nicholas Healy promote these other voices in Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity. Indeed, they argue that the other voices—the “French” or “ontological” school comprised of bishops such as Alfred Ancel and Karol Wojtyła—provide the true key to DH’s meaning and significance. The book thus responds from the perspective of Communio theology to Murray-ite political theologies that are critical of John Paul II’s emphasis on truth as the basis for freedom. Accompanying Schindler’s and Healy’s essays are conciliar texts charting the origin and influence of this ontological school: the six conciliar drafts, the oral and written interventions of Wojtyła, and an oral intervention of Ancel. These texts, transcribed from the Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II (AS), have been translated by Patrick T. Brannon, S.J., and Michael Camacho. Also included is a side-by-side comparison of the third and sixth drafts that displays the changes made to the juridical position in response to the ontological school.Schindler’s 170-page essay, “Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity: An Interpretation of Dignitatis Humanae on the Right to Religious Freedom,” is the heart of the work. Schindler recapitulates in a fresh way themes from his prior analyses of liberalism and Murray. In section 1, he summarizes how Wojtyła’s interventions influenced the evolution of DH such that Murray’s juridical approach became subordinated to an emphasis on truth as the foundation and telos of freedom. He conveys Wojtyła’s concern that DH not divide reason and revelation, but that reason be presented as capable of knowing that religion is “nature’s crown and summit” (50). Section 2 outlines Murray’s postconciliar objections to DH’s final version, namely, that it assumes that the American juridical approach leads to relativism and that its insistence on truth as religious liberty’s foundation undermines the universality of the right by degrading the liberty of those in error. To the first, Schindler replies (in section 3) that Murray’s juridical approach necessarily entails what Servais Pinckaers, O.P., called the “freedom of indifference,” Murray’s denials of relativism notwithstanding. The juridical approach leads to the conception of civil space as something neutral to truth-claims about God, but finally results in a state-enforced indifferentism that limits the religious liberty of those who hold that all of existence, prior to human freedom, is intrinsically ordered to God. “The human act, considered from the perspective of the juridical order, is first empty; and truth thus becomes, from that same juridical perspective, adventitious, something that, as such, cannot but logically burden the free-intelligent human act by arbitrarily limiting and closing what is considered by government, for legal purposes, to be simply open, or abstracted from all (metaphysical-religious) content... (shrink)

O artigo recorda as linhas fundamentais das mudanças produzidas pelo Vaticano II, dentre outras: a recuperação da eclesiologia de comunhão, típica do primeiro milênio da história da Igreja; a afirmação de uma eclesiologia orientada ao Reino; o surgimento de uma igreja que passa a se autocompreender como sacramento de salvação, servidora, caminhante, comprometida com os pobres. Em contraposição a esses avanços, o artigo refere-se às lacunas e sombras que envolvem o Vaticano II: a dualidade entre a afirmação de uma Igreja (...) povo-de-Deus e o acento jurídico da eclesiologia tradicional; o silêncio sobre temas candentes como o celibato sacerdotal e a ordenação de mulheres; a falta de mediações eclesiais para efetivar as propostas do Concílio. Destaca especialmente alguns episódios de “inverno eclesial”, posteriores ao Concílio, protagonizados por setores conservadores da Igreja, de fechamento e resistência às propostas do Vaticano II. Frente à “volta à grande disciplina” que caracteriza o atual momento do Igreja – e considerando o Concílio um divisor de águas em sua história, uma autêntica irrupção do Espírito sobre a Igreja –, a reflexão postula um novo concílio, um Jerusalém II. Palavras-chave: Concílio Vaticano II. Eclesiologia. Igreja.This article presents the basic lines of the changes produced by the Vatican II. For this purpose, three points are highlighted: a) the recuperation of the ecclesiology of communion, typical of the first millennium of the history of the Church; b) the affirmation of an orientated ecclesiology to the Kingdom; c) the development of a new conception of church that starts to understand itself as sacrament of salvation, always committed to the poor. On the other hand, the article refers to the gaps and shadows that comprise the Vatican II: a) the dualism between the affirmation of a ´Church People of God` and the emphasis in the legal dimension of the traditional ecclesiology; b) the silence of the Church on relevant subjects such as the sacerdotal celibacy and the women's ordering; d) the lack of ecclesial mediations to bring the proposals of the council into effect. The article stands out the spirit of resistance and of closure of the conservative sectors of the Church to the proposals of Vatican II. Facing the “return to the great discipline” that have characterized the current moment of Church and taking the Council as a basic landmark in its history, and as an authentic outbreak of the Spirit on the Church, the article postulates a new council, a Jerusalem II. Keywords : Vatican Council II. Ecclesiology. Church. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1257. (shrink)

This article presents the working hypothesis which guided my research on the Reception of the Second Vatican Council, based on the partial results published in a first volume and in anticipation of a second. The principal arguments supporting this hypothesis are presented and possible objections are entertained. Having accounted for the presentation of the results in two volumes, details about the underlying notions informing this overall approach to Vat II follow, including a treatment of the concepts “corpus” and (...) “pastoral style” — the notion of “the pastoral” (la pastoralité) being precisely the principle which allows us to bring together two different approaches to the Council, one inspired by the tenets of church historiography and the other by reception criticism. Given that the first volume is interested in the Council’s practice of hermeneutics, a description of the reception theory suggested by this hermeneutical practice is offered. From this vantage point the inner logic of the entire project should become clear. (shrink)

This article is a critical investigation of the buildings and writings of Étienne-Joseph Gaboury, a prolific French Canadian architect who, in the 1960s, designed several modern parish churches and engaged with various liturgical documents issued in the context of the Second Vatican Council. How have the various calls of priests and theologians advocating for artistic and liturgical renewal—calls which became increasingly frequent in the North Atlantic world after World War II—been adapted and implemented in specific architectural landmarks by (...) Gaboury, such as his famous Précieux-Sang Church and Blessed Sacrament Church in Manitoba? I argue that Gaboury’s account of the origins of Christianity and his description of religious experience in both embodied and spiritual terms, found in his essay “Design for Worship”, can be understood not simply as an aggiornamento, or bringing the Church “up to date,” but also as echoes, in aesthetic and architectural terms, of some of the key tenets of the “new theology,” which were central to the changes put forth by the Second Vatican Council. I also argue that Gaboury’s interests in materiality and in the evocative power of light need to be read through the rise of phenomenology in postwar North American architecture. By looking at various archival documents, I propose that Vatican II was not a unilateral, top-down paradigm shift, or a rupture with tradition, but rather a complex and ongoing negotiation between the architect, ecclesial authorities and lay people. (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar o processo de recepção do Concílio Vaticano II nas “Igrejas locais” do Maranhão a partir da teoria do agir comunicativo de Jürgen Habermas. A partir de uma questão levantada por José Oscar Beozzo, historiador brasileiro do Concílio Vaticano II, queremos saber de que modo áreas relativamente periféricas para a gestação e produção do Concílio aprestaram-se para a sua recepção e a realizaram à sua maneira. O tema se torna interessante porque foram justamente nessas áreas relativamente marginais (...) durante a gesta conciliar, que se tornaram das mais relevantes para sua recepção, durante o período pós-conciliar. O que pensar, então, da recepção do Vaticano II em áreas periféricas à periferia? No caso brasileiro, estamos nos referindo àquelas “Igrejas” que estariam longe dos grandes centros urbanos, dos centros de decisão política e econômica, dos avanços tecnológicos e das inovações culturais. Para responder, lançamos a hipótese de que por meio da “verbalização do sagrado” a Igreja no Maranhão veio (e vem) realizando sua recepção do Concílio tendo como fio condutor a construção de uma esfera pública democrática no “mundo da vida” contra a colonização pelo “sistema”. Palavras-chave : Concílio Vaticano II, Igreja Católica, Jürgen Habermas, teoria do agir comunicativo, esfera pública democrática.This article aims to analyze the process of reception of Vatican II in "Churches" of Maranhão by the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas. From a question raised by José Oscar Beozzo, brazilian Vatican II historian, we want to know how relatively remote areas, during the gestation and production of the Council, were preparing for their reception and made his own way. This is interesting because it was in these relatively marginal areas, during the Council, which became the most relevant for the reception, during the post-council period. Then, what think about the reception of Vatican II in the periphery of periphery? We are referring, in Brazil, to those “churches” that are far from major urban centers of political and economic decision, technological and cultural innovations. The hypothesis is: by "sacred verbalization" the Maranhão Church’s which continues doing his reception, lead by the construction of a democratic public sphere in the "life world" against "system" colonization. Key words : Vatican II Council, Catholic Church, Jürgen Habermas, theory of communicative action, democratic public sphere. (shrink)

Laffin, Josephine The archbishop of Adelaide, it must be acknowledged, did not play a prominent role at Vatican II. Matthew Beovich never gave a speech in the aula, the Council 'hall' inside St Peter's Basilica, nor did he prepare a written submission. At first glance, his seemingly minimal participation reinforces the damning judgment of Patrick O'Farrell that members of the Australian hierarchy were 'frequently uncomprehending and even resistant to the spirit of change'. With this from the doyen of (...) Catholic historians in Australia in the late twentieth century, it is not surprising that Ian Breward concluded in his survey of Australian religious history: 'Most Australian bishops were bemused observers of a process which shattered their convictions about the uniformity of the Roman Catholic Church. Australian contributions to Council debates were few. The pragmatism and traditionalism of the Australian Church stood nakedly exposed'. (shrink)

This volume explores how Catholicism began and continues to open its doors to the wider world and to other confessions in embracing ecumenism, thanks to the vision and legacy of the Second Vatican Council. It explores such themes as the twentieth century context preceding the council; parallels between Vatican II and previous councils; its distinctively pastoral character; the legacy of the council in relation to issues such as church-world dynamics, as well as to ethics, social (...) justice, economic activity. Several chapters discuss the role of women in the church before, during, and since the council. Others discern inculturation in relation to Vatican II. The book also contains a wide and original range of ecumenical considerations of the council, including by and in relation to Free Church, Reformed, Orthodox, and Anglican perspectives. Finally, it considers the Council’s ongoing promise and remaining challenges with regard to ecumenical issues, including a groundbreaking essay on the future of ecumenical dialogue by Cardinal Walter Kasper. (shrink)

Some forty years on from the great events of the Second Vatican Council, there is still much debate about the interpretation of the Council and its documents. In recent years there has been what might be termed a hermeneutical project: to develop an understanding of the complex processes involved in the genesis of the texts and to explore the interactions of the various individuals and groups that helped to shape the Council. What has emerged is a (...) view of the Council as something organic and dynamic. This article seeks to outline the questions that this hermeneutical project has raised; such as the various sources that can be used to interpret the Council, the impact of various theological strands of tradition present at the Council, the authorship of the texts and the methodologies adopted by the Council. It also provides a review of the work that has taken place with this project, especially in the last ten years or so. (shrink)

Pedagogy in moral theology follows some of the particular concerns Catholic theologians have had since the Second Vatican Council as well as the aftermath of John Paul II’s encyclical on moral theology, Veritatis splendor. Most of the textbooks reviewed here teach virtue, Christian practice, and Thomas Aquinas’s theology, as largely positive responses to the Council and John Paul II. Catholic moral theology thus appears as a relatively stable field, though the authors use multiple approaches. There are, however, (...) some moral theologians offering alternative perspectives on moral theology. One book reviewed here contends with Humanae vitae and resists both Thomas Aquinas’s authoritative voice and Veritatis splendor’s argument against proportionalist thought. The textbooks offer a range of pedagogical tools for varying student levels. Two of the overall gaps in the field, as indicated by these textbooks, might be more direct engagement with Scripture, and a proper locating of Catholic social teaching within moral theology. (shrink)

Time's man at Vatican Council II has produced an informed and intriguing account of the men, trends and events before and during the first session of Vatican Council II. The book is not as detailed as Xavier Rynne's Letters from the Vatican, and is certainly more argumentative. But the things being argued for are well worth study. Kaiser does bring out some details not found in Rynne's book, notably the undercurrent of problems related to anti-semitism. (...) Unfortunately, Kaiser does not share the tolerance and charity of either Pope John or Rynne toward the person and motives of his conservative antagonists. The book is somewhat repetitive and structurally confused.--W. G. E. (shrink)

Resumen: El artículo establece paralelos entre el Concilio Vaticano II (1962-1965) y la Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano (Medellín, 1968), bajo la perspectiva común de la historicidade del “mistério de la Iglesia”. Un paralelismo fundamental: la creación del CELAM (1955) anticipa en la práctica la doctrina de la colegialidad episcopal, promulgada por el Concilio ( Lumem Gentium 22). Bajo el foco de la colegialidade eclesial, toda la intensa actividad de preparación de la Conferencia de Medellín, así como su realización y (...) su documento final, se construye “a la luz del Concilio”. Desde la autocomprensión de la Iglesia inserida en la historia –expresada y compartida en los dos acontecimentos- se formulan los grandes temas y compromisos de la Iglesia latino-americana: la opción evangélica por los pobres; la nueva manera de ser Iglesia que se concreta en las comunidades eclesiales de base; y la dimensión teológica de las aspiraciones y exigências de liberación, formulada posteriormente por la teologia de la liberación. Leídos en clave teológica, el Concilio y Medellín fueron un signo de los tiempos, un kairós en el caminar histórico de la Iglesia hacia el Reino. La reflexiópn se refiere también a un actual “tiempo de exilio” de la Iglesia, que se caracteriza por la distancia de las grandes y exigentes convocaciones del Concilio y de Medellín. En el exilio, voces proféticas conclaman a superar el olvido de la historia. Palabras-clave : Iglesia. Concilio Vaticano II. CELAM. Conferencia de MedellíThis article draws parallels between the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965) and the Second General Conference of Latin American Bishops (Medellín, 1968), under the common view of the historicity of the “mystery of the Church”. A basic parallel arises: the creation of CELAM (1955) anticipates the doctrine of episcopal collegiality, promulgated by the Council (Lumen Gentium 22). Under the focus of the ecclesial collegiate, all the intensive activity of preparation for the Conference of Medellin, its realization and its final document, were made through the Council inspiration. By comprehending the Church as inserted in history the major themes and commitments of the Latin American Church are formulated: the evangelical option for the poor, the new way of being church founded in ecclesial communities, the theological dimensions of the aspirations and demands for liberation later formulated in Liberation Theology. Seen with theological eyes, the Council and the Conference of Medellín were a sign of the times, a historical movement of the Church towards the Kingdom of God. This discussion also refers to the current time of the Church as a “time in exile”. The present time is characterized by its detachment from the demands of the Council and of Medellín. In exile, prophetic voices call on to overcome the forgetting of history. Keywords: Church. Vatican Council II. CELAM. Conference of Medellín. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1233. (shrink)

This article explores recent questions regarding the interpretation of Vatican II by examining the council's theological and historical relation to what John O'Malley has called ‘the long nineteenth century’. This period, which O'Malley dates from the French Revolution until the end of the pontificate of Pius XII , connotes a time when political and philosophical developments ‘traumatized’ the Church. This sustained trauma left the Church in a defensive position which deeply informed its view of itself and its relation (...) to the world. While a great deal of attention has been directed at examining the council's degree of continuity or discontinuity with the conciliar tradition, not enough has been done to understand its relationship to developments within this more immediate setting. This study argues that a more contextualized appreciation of the Church's efforts to respond to the challenges of the long nineteenth century, expressed especially in the teachings of Vatican I, can illumine key elements of the meaning of Vatican II's documents and the continuity and/or discontinuity that they represent. (shrink)

A propos de l’Histoire du Concile Vatican II, 1959-1965 réalisée sous la direction de Giuseppe Alberigo, P. Vallin apprécie les enjeux de ce Concile tels que le recul du temps et donc la distanciation historienne permettent d’en parler. Mais son analyse de l’œuvre va plus loin dans la mesure où il tente d’apprécier l’action historienne dans le travail même des historiens. En dehors du fait qu’ils ont le recul du temps, ils disposent d’un ensemble de documents et surtout d’archives (...) plus ou moins personnelles d’acteurs et de témoins qui posent la question de la « relecture » de l’évènement. A quoi s’ajoute la « construction du récit ». « Problème complexe, sur lequel tous les collaborateurs des entreprises d’histoire sociale, culturelle, voire politique, ne donnent pas les mêmes réponses ». Les auteurs de cette œuvre monumentale et tout à fait remarquable, n’échappent pas à cette question et à la multiplicité des réponses.Concerning the Histoire de Concile Vatican II, 1959-1965, written under the direction of Giuseppe Alberigo, P. Vallin evaluates the issues of this Council insofar as the intervening years, and therefore the historian’s perspective, allow one to speak of them. But his analysis of the work goes further, in so far as he attempts to evaluate the influence of the historian in the very work of historians. Aside from the fact that they have the benefit of distance in time, they have at their disposal a group of documents, especially the more or less personal archives of the participants and witnesses, which pose the question of a “re-reading” of the event. To this is added the “construction of the historical account.” “A complex problem to which all the collaborators of the undertaking of social, cultural, even political history, do not give the same answers.” The authors of this monumental and quite remarkable work do not skirt this question or the many possible answers. (shrink)

André Naud was a French‐Canadian Catholic theologian who served as a peritus or advisor to Cardinal Leger, the Archbishop of Montreal at the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965. Naud’s entire theological career was informed by the teachings of the Council. This was the reason why during the Papacy of John Paul II after 1978 he became alarmed at the expansion and the distortion of the authority of the magisterium. Over the last fifteen years of his (...) life, he wrote three remarkable books on this theme. In the last book (2002) entitled Les Dogmes et le Respect de l’Intelligence: Plaidoyer Inspiré par Simone Weil (The Dogmas and the Respect for Intelligence: An Argument Inspired by Simone Weil), he undertook an in‐depth analysis of Simone Weil, who had argued in the 1940s that Catholicism was in need of a philosophical cleaning up. This paper elaborates and explains the particular ways that Weil’s writings helped Naud to reformulate in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council the role of the magisterium with regard to dogmatic formulations, the manner of the reception of that teaching, the inspiration of scripture, the interpretation of miracles and the understanding of the Church itself. (shrink)

The present article provides an analysis of the way in which the Council Vatican u (1962-1965) understood and related to the human realms of Science and Technology. As one of the greatest events in the life of the Church in contemporary times, the Council Vatican II sought to meet the necessities of contemporary society, particularly its pastoral needs. By recognizing the importance played by the mathematical and the natural sciences in the formation of the contemporary human (...) being, the Council was led to produce some very important statements about Science and Technology. Thus, the article gives us a glimpse of the overall spirit that animated the Council and of the extent to which some of its special features played a major role in determining the attitude it took towards modern developments such as those related to the field of Science and Technology. Moreover, it also shows how Vatican u came to understand Science and Technology not as "devices of the devil", but rather as a real boon to humanity, recognizing in particular that they are ordained by divine dispensation. Finally, the article also elucidates how for the Council Religion and Science must preserve their autonomy and their distinctiveness, so that neither is Religion to be founded on Science nor is Science to be seen as an extension of Religion. Rather, each one of them should possess its own principles, its pattern of procedures, its diversities of interpretation and its own conclusions. /// O presente artigo oferece-nos uma análise do modo como o Concilio Vaticano II (1962-1965) compreendeu e se relacionou com esferas tão importantes da vida humana contemporânea, tais como a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Sendo um dos grandes acontecimentos na vida da Igreja, o Concílio Vaticano II procurou responder às necessidades da sociedade contemporânea, facto este que lhe imprimiu um carácter verdadeiramente pastoral. Com efeito, ao reconhecer a importância que hoje têm a matemática e as ciências naturais na formação do ser humano dos nossos dias, o Concâio fez questão de se pronunciar explicitamente acerca da Ciência e da Tecnologia. Assim, dando-nos uma impressão do espírito que animou o Concílio no seu todo, o artigo mostra-nos sobretudo o modo como o mesmo interpreta as realidades da Ciência e da Tecnologia não mais como "obras do demónio", mas sim como verdadeiros benefícios para a humanidade no seu todo, especialmente na medida em que também elas fazem parte da providência divina. Em suma, o artigo elucida-nos acerca do modo como o Concílio Vaticano II interpreta a relação entre Religião e Ciência, relação esta que para os Padres Conciliares deve estar assente no princípio da autonomia e da distinção de cada uma delas, de modo que nem a Religião se quer fundada na Ciência, nem a Ciência deve ser vista como uma extensão da Religião. Pelo contrário, cada uma delas deve estar orientada pelos seus próprios princípios, pelos seus respectivos padrões de procedimento, pela diversidade das suas interpretações e, obviamente, pelas suas próprias conclusões. (shrink)

Gilles Routhier | Résumé : L’enseignement de Vatican II sur le magistère a été plusieurs fois commenté et analysé. Trop souvent cependant on oublie que c’est dans l’exercice même de la fonction magistérielle que le pape et les évêques réunis en Concile ont donné l’enseignement le plus éloquent sur le magistère lors du concile Vatican II. C’est en adoptant une posture , à travers une forme et un style que les Pères conciliaires définissent un nouveau mode d’exercice du (...) magistère. C’est enfin à travers les silences du texte que se précise une vision de l’exercice du magistère dans l’Église. |: The Vatican II teaching on the Magisterium has been commented on and analysed several times. Yet too often we forget that it is in the very exercise of the magisterial function that the Pope and the bishops assembled in the Council have given the most eloquent teaching on the Magisterium during the Second Vatican Council. It is by adopting a stance , through a form and a style that the Conciliar Fathers define a new mode of exercising the magisterium. It is ultimately through the silences of the text that a vision of the exercise of the magisterium of the Church makes itself clear. (shrink)

Resumen El artículo parte de una situación que tendrá gran importancia para la posterior evolución del Concilio en la Iglesia: la existencia de una minoría conciliar conservadora, representada por la Curia Romana, estratégicamente presente en las comisiones preparatorias. De las tensiones entre renovadores y conservadores, resultaron documentos ambiguos, anunciando temas nuevos, a los que se contraponían viejas facetas de la tradición papal. Paralelamente a lo que el Concilio representó en términos de renovación de la Iglesia, el artículo traza el perfil (...) de otro cambio ocurrido en la historia do Occidente: la revolución cultural, simbólicamente representada por 1968. Esta significó la crítica radical a todas las instituciones establecidas y de todos los sistemas de autoridad. Con relación a la Iglesia, la revolución cultural (marcada, entre otras cosas, por el descubrimiento de la píldora anticonceptiva y por la explosión feminista) puso en jaque sus dogmas y valores. Concomitantemente, los cambios en el modo de producción capitalista caminaban en dirección a la desvalorización del trabajo y a la exacerbación del consumo. En crisis y desprestigiada por el impacto de los cambios culturales, la Iglesia reaccionó con el “retorno a la grande disciplina”. En América Latina, donde la recepción del Concilio prometía frutos auspiciosos, quedan tímidas reformas. Frente a todo esto, la reflexión propuesta por el artículo señala caminos de esperanza para la vivencia de la fe. Palabras Clave: Iglesia. Concilio Vaticano II. Curia Romano. Revolución cultural. 1968.This article starts from a situation of great importance in the subsequent evolution of the Council within the Church: the existence of conservative minority represented by the Roman Curia, strategically present within the preparatory commissions. Tensions between reformers and conservatives led to ambiguous documents and announced new issues to which the papal tradition was opposed. Next to the Council represented in terms of renewal of the Church, the article traces the profile of another change that took place in Western history: the Cultural Revolution represented symbolically by 1968. The revolution meant a radical critique of all established institutions, and all systems of authority. The Cultural Revolution (marked by the discovery of the pill and the feminist explosion) also put into question the dogmas and values of the Church. Concomitantly, changes in the capitalist mode of production devaluated the work and encouraged consumption. In crisis and discredited by the impact of cultural changes, the Church responded with a “return to the great discipline”. In Latin America, where the reception of the Council promised auspicious fruits, timid reforms remained. Given this, the reflection proposed by the article points out the way of hope for living the faith. Keywords : Church. Vatican II. Roman Curia. Cultural Revolution. 1968. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1207. (shrink)

The results of Vatican II for the study of Scripture produced both expected and unexpected fruits. Those combined fruits provide the opportunity for some reflection on the current status of biblical scholarship in relation to the Church. This current status helps identify what we must appreciate and celebrate, but also helps identify remaining gaps to be filled. By assessing some of the gaps, the fruits of the second Vatican council are used to provide one way of approaching (...) these remaining gaps, and charting a hopeful way ahead. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization by Ralph MartinR. Jared StaudtWill Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization. By Ralph Martin. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2012. Pp. 332. $24.00 (paper). ISBN: 978-0-8028-6887-9.The proper interpretation of the Second Vatican Council remains a pressing topic fifty years after (...) the Council’s completion. Pope Benedict XVI made it a hallmark of his pontificate to insist upon a hermeneutic of continuity in interpreting the council in relation to the past, opposing this view to one of discontinuity and rupture (see his “Christmas Address to the Roman Curia,” Dec. 22, 2005). Viewing the council in terms of rupture and correspondingly as an opportunity for disruptive innovation has been described by many as the “Spirit of the Council.” Recently, the conflict of these rival hermeneutics has resurfaced in vehement fashion in relation to proposals for innovation in pastoral practice and even in doctrine regarding marriage and sexuality.Ensuring a proper interpretation of the council requires not only a deep and thorough examination of texts themselves of the council, but also a careful placing of the texts within the Catholic tradition. In this endeavor, [End Page 147] Ralph Martin’s Will Many Be Saved? provides a needed analysis of the council’s teaching concerning salvation and its pastoral implications. In particular, Martin focuses on the meaning, historical and scriptural sources, and theological interpretation of Lumen Gentium (LG) §16. In doing so, he touches on a number of key issues relating to the legacy of Vatican II, most importantly the decline of the missions and evangelization in general. Martin argues that abandoning the proclamation of sin and the possibility of hell in favor of the universality of salvation has led to a serious crisis of evangelization.The first chapter, “Vatican II and the Priority of Evangelization,” places the theme of evangelization at the center of the council’s message. Pope Paul VI declared in Evangelii nuntiandi that the very purpose of the council was to make the Church more fit for the evangelization of the modern world. The topic of evangelization was taken up by Pope John Paul II in his own call for a New Evangelization. Although the New Evangelization focuses on restoring faith in the context of post-Christian cultures, John Paul also sought to reinvigorate the foreign missions, as seen in his encyclical Redemptoris missio. Martin contrasts this emphasis on evangelization with its diminishment in practice due to “a lack of conviction that being a Christian is really necessary in order to be saved. If it is not really necessary... why bother to evangelize?” (5). Although Martin recognizes that the Church teaches the possibility of salvation outside of the visible bounds of the Church, he also posits that “doctrinal ignorance or confusion about what the Church is actually teaching about the possibility of salvation” creates “one obstacle... to evangelization” (6). To respond to this confusion, he turns specifically to LG §16 to clarify the Church’s teaching.The second chapter provides Martin’s initial observations on this central text. Martin divides the text into three sections. The first, 16a, enunciates that those who have not received the gospel are still related to the people of God in various ways, mentioning Jews and Muslims explicitly, and affirms God’s universal will for salvation in 1 Tim 2:4. 16b deals with the possibility of salvation for those ignorant of the gospel, who live rightly in accord with conscience. 16c offers a sobering note, stating that “very often” the deception of the evil one and sin lead to “ultimate despair” and ending with the need to evangelize in order “to procure... salvation.” Martin notes that LG §16 was not controversial during the conciliar debates, though it did raise some concern from missionary bishops, who insisted on a strong reinforcement of the need for evangelization. Though LG only speaks of the possibility of salvation, Martin recognizes a leap from possibility to “probability or even certainty” in the later interpretation of the council (17, italics original), and he cites... (shrink)

This book assesses how Vatican II opened up the Catholic Church to encounter, dialogue, and engagement with other world religions. Opening with a contribution from the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, it next explores the impact, relevance, and promise of the Declaration Nostra Aetate before turning to consider how Vatican II in general has influenced interfaith dialogue and the intellectual and comparative study of world religions in the postconciliar decades, as well (...) as the contribution of particular past and present thinkers to the formation of current interreligious and comparative theological methods. Additionally, chapters consider interreligious dialogue vis-à-vis theological anthropology in conciliar documents; openness to the spiritual practices of other faith traditions as a way of encouraging positive interreligious encounter; the role of lay and new ecclesial movements in interreligious dialogue; and the development of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue. Finally, it includes a range of perspectives on the fruits and future of Vatican’s II’s opening to particular faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. (shrink)

This book assesses how Vatican II opened up the Catholic Church to encounter, dialogue, and engagement with other world religions. Opening with a contribution from the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, it next explores the impact, relevance, and promise of the Declaration Nostra Aetate before turning to consider how Vatican II in general has influenced interfaith dialogue and the intellectual and comparative study of world religions in the postconciliar decades, as well (...) as the contribution of particular past and present thinkers to the formation of current interreligious and comparative theological methods. Additionally, chapters consider interreligious dialogue vis-à-vis theological anthropology in conciliar documents; openness to the spiritual practices of other faith traditions as a way of encouraging positive interreligious encounter; the role of lay and new ecclesial movements in interreligious dialogue; and the development of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue. Finally, it includes a range of perspectives on the fruits and future of Vatican’s II’s opening to particular faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. (shrink)

This volume explores how Catholicism began and continues to open its doors to the wider world and to other confessions in embracing ecumenism, thanks to the vision and legacy of the Second Vatican Council. It explores such themes as the twentieth century context preceding the council; parallels between Vatican II and previous councils; its distinctively pastoral character; the legacy of the council in relation to issues such as church-world dynamics, as well as to ethics, social (...) justice, economic activity. Several chapters discuss the role of women in the church before, during, and since the council. Others discern inculturation in relation to Vatican II. The book also contains a wide and original range of ecumenical considerations of the council, including by and in relation to Free Church, Reformed, Orthodox, and Anglican perspectives. Finally, it considers the Council’s ongoing promise and remaining challenges with regard to ecumenical issues, including a groundbreaking essay on the future of ecumenical dialogue by Cardinal Walter Kasper. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Vessel of Honor: The Virgin Birth and the Ecclesiology of Vatican II by Brian A. GraebeAaron Pidel S.J.Vessel of Honor: The Virgin Birth and the Ecclesiology of Vatican II. By Brian A. Graebe (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2021), 351 pp.Though Mary's undiminished virginity in giving birth (virginitas in partu) was long understood to be an event as miraculous and a teaching as authoritative as her virginity (...) in conceiving (virginitas ante partum), virginitas in partu underwent a kind of existential reinterpretation in the middle of the twentieth century. Authors such as Albert Mitterer and Karl Rahner suggested that, physically speaking, Jesus's birth might have happened like any other, rupturing the hymen, distending the birth canal, and causing Mary pain, albeit not in the spiritually disintegrating way common to postlapsarian humanity. These arguments effectively "unsettled" the traditional understanding of virginitas in partu, leading theologians of the highest stature to distinguish between the doctrine itself and the anatomical aspects attached to it over time. Fr. Brian Graebe has written a fine book arguing that the bodily dimensions of the virgin birth, including the physical "seal" of virginity, belong to the substance of the doctrine. This more inclusive understanding not only does better justice to the data of tradition, he argues, but illuminates the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. The book impresses by its theologically reflective method, its clarity of exposition, [End Page 1106] and its depth of research—especially into the archival and antepreparatory sources of Vatican II.Vessel of Honor responds in effect to Rahner's argument that physical intactness is peripheral to the dogmatic core of Mary's virginity in partu. To show otherwise, Rahner contended, one would need to show that such a doctrine can be found directly in the apostolic teaching, or that it, "being implicitly contained therein, has grown out of the apostolic doctrine, by a legitimate historical, logical, and theological process, as its authentic development" (68–69). If the bodily aspects of this doctrine really belonged to the deposit of faith, in other words, one would need to show how they are implied in the traditio divino-apostolica, as well as how they cohere organically with the rest of the deposit. The two major parts of Vessel of Honor respond in turn to each aspect of Rahner's challenge.The first three chapters argue that Mary's bodily integrity in parturition belongs at least implicitly to the traditio divino-apostolica. Turning first to the postapostolic tradition, Fr. Graebe shows that—apart from the early exceptions of Origen and Tertullian—patristic sources either affirm or strongly imply a miraculous delivery. This constant witness culminates in the Lateran Council (649 AD), which, while not itself an ecumenical council, was received into the magisterium of Pope Martin and affirmed by the Third Council of Constantinople (680 AD). Its teaching that Mary "gave birth without corruption" (incorruptibiliter... genuisse) would be defended by Paschasius, Ratramnus, Thomas Aquinas, and others. This consensus remained undisturbed until the eve of Vatican II.Even at Vatican II, Fr. Graebe argues in the next chapter, the Council Fathers intended to reaffirm the more inclusive idea of virginitas in partu against those who would marginalize its bodily dimensions. Here he really breaks new ground, delving deep into the antepreparatory, preparatory, and conciliar drafting history. He shows convincingly that many of the chief drafters of the final formula—"Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it..." (Lumen Gentium §57)—saw it as excluding Rahner's and Mitterer's minimalizing interpretations. Drawing on material from the Vatican Apostolic Archives, Fr. Graebe shows that some of the very theologians who voted to omit the pointed phrase "in the birth itself" (in ipsomet partu) did so for tonal rather than substantive reasons.The third chapter argues that Mary's physical integrity in birth is to be believed with divine and Catholic faith, despite the ongoing confusion introduced by Rahner and others. Admittedly, Vatican II did not define but merely reaffirmed the traditional understanding of virginitas in partu. But there are other reasons for including it in the traditio divino-apostolica. [End Page 1107] Drawing heavily... (shrink)

Face aux trois tentations majeures du catholicisme traditionnel, à savoir le particularisme absolutisé de la compréhension qu’il a de lui-même, le supranaturalisme de sa compréhension de Dieu, l’an-historisme de la théologie mystique, face ainsi à la théologie dualiste de la délimitation par rapport à ce qui n’est pas lui, le concile Vatican II représente, dans sa visée, l’ouverture au réel tel qu’il est, dans un esprit non de discrimination mais de discernement, avec la question : qu’est-ce qui dans le (...) réel est constructeur, qu’est-ce qui est destructeur? Il est mû par la conscience que Dieu est le Dieu du réel et la foi, foi au coeur du réel. Il marque l’ouverture à une théologie de la récapitulation selon laquelle toutes choses sont récapitulées par Dieu en Christ, et ainsi à une intégration critique du réel, dépassant par là l’exclusivisme du catholicisme traditionnel et accédant à l’exigence d’une théologie critique — exclusive et inclusive à la fois — de la catholicité. Over against the three major temptations of catholicism, which are the absolutized particularism of its autocomprehension, the supernaturalism of its comprehension of God, the nonhistorical character of mystical theology, then over against the dualistic conception of its distinction from what is different from itself. Council Vatican II stands for an opening to the real as it is, in a spirit not of discrimination but of discernment, with the question : what in the real is creative, what is destructive? It is motivated by the consciousness that God is the God of the real, and that faith is to be found at the heart of the real. It means the opening to a theology which recapitulates everything in Christ, that is, the opening to a critical integration of the real, according to the requirements of a critical theology of catholicity — at the same time exclusivist and inclusivist — over against the exclusivism of traditional catholicism. (shrink)

Rush, Ormond Vatican II still has a long way to go. Its vision is far from becoming a reality in the church. The council opened on Thursday 11 October 1962. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of that day, it is an opportunity to recall the Australian participation in that historic event, to recall its vision, and for some self-examination as to how well we have received it.

Resumen El artículo parte del presupuesto de que el Concilio Vaticano II es el acontecimiento eclesial más significativo de los últimos siglos, y, como tal, todavía posee la capacidad de provocarnos y sacudirnos. Construir su memoria puede ser fuente de energía, de resistencia y creatividad para la Iglesia al escuchar y seguir la Ruah que siempre renueva. Para que la memoria del Concilio sea un impulso que nos lance a crear y recrear el presente y a imaginar el futuro de (...) la Iglesia pueblo-de-Dios, la reflexión que se propone en este artículo indica algunas exigencias: (i)Superar la actitud del simple recuerdo nostálgico, apologético e idealizado del Concilio y de sus frutos, como si representara una ruptura revolucionaria de la Iglesia con respecto al passado; (ii) No condenar, sin más, las actitudes que parecen expressar um distanciamento de las propuestas del Concilio; (iii) Construir una memoria contextualizada, no excluyente, que convoque a la creatividad eclesial. Palabras-clave : Concilio Vaticano II. Memoria. IglesiaThe article assumes that the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council is seen as the most significant ecclesial event of the last centuries; and, as such, the Council has the power to provoke us. The building of the memory of the Council could be a source of energy, strength and creativity to the Church, in listening and following up the “Ruah” that is always in process of renovation. The article indicates some demands that make possible a memory of the Council able to launch us towards future and to help us to recreate the present and to imagine the future of the Church comprehended as ‘People of God’. Some of these demands are as follows: (i) Overcome some sort of idealized, nostalgic and apologetic memory that takes the Council as a total break of the church with its past; (ii) Avoid the condemnation, without any reason, of those attitudes that seem to express a distancing of the proposals of the Council; (iii) Build a contextualized memory that propitiates some ecclesial creativity. Keywords: Vatican Council II. Memory. Church. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1314. (shrink)

This article aims to present a reflection on the Conference of the Bishops of Latin America in Rio de Janeiro in 1955. Lived in previous ecclesial context of the Second Vatican Council II, this conference reveals, in many ways, another ecclesiology. This study, so specifically, points out its relationship with Sacred Scripture. It is proposed to analyze the quotes that the Final Document of this Assembly makes the use of the Bible for animation of church’s life. In the (...) same way, it also wants to present that in the first Conference of the Bishops of Latin America had already been released some assumptions that favored a creative reception of the conciliar indications specifically the document Dei Verbum. (shrink)

Fermina Álvarez Alonso | : Contrairement à ce qui avait été reconnu précédemment, on a été frappé du surprenant silence et du manque de réception théologico-juridique des instituts séculiers durant le concile Vatican II. Beaucoup de membres de ces instituts s’attendaient à ce que le concile Vatican II accorde une attention particulière aux nouvelles formes de vie consacrée, en précise la nature, l’action, indique le lieu qui leur convienne dans le corps organique de l’Église et, enfin, exprime un (...) jugement positif à leur égard. Mais, en fin de compte, ils ne furent mentionnés que brièvement au no 11 de Perfectae Caritatis et dans le Décret Ad Gentes. Un excursus historique présente les instituts séculiers depuis leur reconnaissance juridique initiale en 1947, à travers la Constitution apostolique Provida Mater Ecclesia, et met en évidence, en particulier, la contribution apportée par quelques religieux clarétains comme Tabera et Larraona, qui travaillèrent à l’approbation de cette réalité. En suivant la trace des instituts séculiers durant les travaux du concile Vatican II jusqu’à l’étape préparatoire, on a retrouvé quelques interventions qui mettaient en relief leur nouveauté et leur apport pour l’Église. Les instituts séculiers, bien qu’impliqués dans les discussions sur les religieux, seraient davantage à inclure dans l’environnement laïc ; en fait, les caractéristiques de sécularité, de mission et d’état de perfection lié aux conseils évangéliques, sont le patrimoine commun de tous les chrétiens du fait de leur consécration baptismale. Ainsi, à travers une diversité multiforme de formes juridiques, aux dons et charismes élargis dans l’Église, les laïcs rendent possible le prolongement de l’Incarnation. | : Contrary to that which has previously been affirmed, in the Second Vatican Council one observes a surprising silence about and an absence of a theological-juridical reception of secular institutes. Many members of these secular institutes expected the Second Vatican Council to give special attention to the new forms of consecrated life, to clarify their nature and action, to indicate the place they would have in the organic body of the Church and, finally, to express a judgment encouraging such institutes. In the end, however, they are mentioned briefly in no. 11 of Perfectae Caritatis and in the Decree Ad Gentes. An historical excursus presents secular institutes from their first juridical recognition in 1947, in the Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesiae, and in particular the contribution made by a few Claretian religious, such as Tabera and Larraona, who worked for the approval of this reality, is pointed out. Following the journey of the secular institutes during the work of the Second Vatican Council from the preparatory phase, a few interventions are extracted which demonstrate their originality and their contribution to the Church. Secular institutes, while forming part of the discussion regarding religious, should also be included in the discussion regarding the laity ; in fact, the characteristic of being secular, of mission, and of a life of perfection reached through the evangelical counsels are the common patrimony of all Christians as a result of their baptismal consecration, and under a variety of juridical forms, according to the gifts and charisms bestowed upon the Church, the laity make possible an extension of the Incarnation. (shrink)

Attridge, Harold W I am honoured to be with you this evening for this year's Knox lecture. When Master Shane McKinlay, and Associate Dean Rosemary Canavan invited me for tonight's lecture they indicated that during these fiftieth anniversary years of the Second Vatican Council the Knox lecturers are being asked to reflect on the significance of that watershed event in the life of the Church. I shall do so this evening from both scholarly and personal vantage points, since (...) my experience as a student of scripture was shaped in fundamental ways by the spirit of Vatican II. My study of Scripture has developed in a context and among a fellowship of scholars who have pursued the vision sketched by the Council's document on divine revelation, Dei Verbum. We have also worked very much in the spirit of a subsequent document, the Pontifical Biblical Commission's paper, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church presented in 1993. I shall come back to both of those texts. But first, remember where we were fifty years ago. (shrink)

This study offers a comprehensive survey of developments in moral theology since the Second Vatican Council. The author discusses the call of the Council for the renewal of moral theology and the role the Council itself played in this renewal. Odozor also explores the various issues and controversies which have marked the discipline since the 1960s. The dramatic changes and developments in moral theology during this period rival any in the history of the Church. of Christian (...) morality, natural law, scripture and ethics, moral norms, the Church's teaching authority, virtue ethics, and casuistry. Odozor provides a constructive proposal for a common ground which makes these debates in moral discourse possible. ethicists, systematic theologians and anyone interested in Catholic cultural and intellectual history since Vatican II. (shrink)

Resumen El artículo recuerda El Concilio Vaticano II a partir del ecumenismo. Trata del ambiente anterior al Concilio que hizo posible nuevas relaciones ecuménicas. Indica los debates del periodo conciliar relativos a la misión de la Iglesia ante el mundo, a la libertad religiosa y a la relación de la Iglesia con las otras Iglesias, y con otras religiones, debates importantes en la redacción de varios documentos conciliares como Lumem Gentium, Dei Verbum, Dignitatis Humanae, Nostra Aetate e Unitatis Redintegratio. Paralelamente (...) a los pasos ecuménicos alcanzados por el Concilio, el artículo destaca tres reacciones: (i) El nacimiento de una Iglesia latinoamericana cuyo rostro se presenta en las positivas respuestas de las Conferencias del Episcopado latinoamericano, en la efectiva construcción de una Iglesia “pueblo de Dios” y en el “ecumenismo social”; (ii) La posterior “restauración eclesiocéntrica”, marcada por la rigidez doctrinal y disciplinar del ambiente católico; (iii) La esperanza de un nuevo proceso conciliar, iluminado por la perspectiva liberadora propiciada por el Vaticano II, en el contexto de un mundo diversificado y pluralista. Palabras clave: Concilio Vaticano II. Ecumenismo. CELAM. PluralismoThe article addresses the Second Vatican Council under the focus of ecumenism. In this way, the article mentions the climate, prior to the Council that made possible new ecumenical relations. The text also points out the debates that took place at the time of the Council, especially those connected with the mission of the Church, the freedom of religion, and the relationship of the Church with the other Churches and with other religions. Among others, the article mentions the following documents: Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Dignitatis Humanae, Nostra Aetate and Unitatis Redintegratio. In correlation to the ecumenical steps reached by the Council, the article highlights three reactions: (i) The birth of a Latin American Church, whose face shows up in the positive answers of the Conferences of the Latin American Episcopate, in the effective construction of a Church understood as “People of god” and in “Social Ecumenism”; (ii) The subsequent ecclesiocentric restoration, marked by doctrinal and disciplinal rigidity within catholic environment; (iii) To hope of a new Conciliar process, illuminated by a liberator perspective favored by the Vatican II, in the context of a diversified and pluralist world. Keywords: Vatican Council II. Ecumenism. CELAM. Pluralism. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n24p1221. (shrink)

Philippe Roy-Lysencourt | Résumé : Le Coetus Internationalis Patrum, dirigé par Mgr Marcel Lefebvre, fut le principal groupe d’opposants au sein du concile Vatican II (1962-1965). Dans cet article, après avoir présenté l’historiographie et les sources permettant d’écrire l’histoire de ce mouvement, l’auteur propose une évaluation de l’organisation, de l’activité et de la stratégie du Coetus tout au long des sessions et intersessions du Concile. Il analyse ensuite l’impact du groupe sur les documents promulgués par Vatican II. |: (...) Under the leadership of Msgr Marcel Lefebvre, the Coetus Internationalis Patrum constituted the principal opposition group active during the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). After a presentation of the historiography and sources for writing the history of this movement, this paper will offer an assessment of the organization, activity and strategy of the Coetus all along the council’s sessions and intersessions. After wich it will evaluate the impact of this group on the documents promulgated by the Council. (shrink)

No presente artigo tratar-se-á da reforma do Ordo Missae perpetrado pelo Concílio Ecumênico Vaticano II (1962-1965), em seus aspectos históricos e teológicos, bem como as incidências pastorais da mesma. Buscar-se-á como delimitação somente analisar a reforma do Ordo Missae, no que tange as Orações Eucarísticas implementadas pela reforma conciliar, especialmente ao problema da ‘reforma’ do Ordo Missae , do Cânon Romano e das novas Orações Eucarísticas. Em suma, vislumbra-se a reforma litúrgica, os aspectos teológicos da Sacrosanctum Concilio e o ‘problema (...) do Cânon’. O Concílio optou por retornar às fontes, redescobriu as Anáforas Eucarísticas Ocidentais e Orientais e adaptou-as nas Novas Orações Eucarísticas: a Anáfora de Hipólito de Roma em sua obra Traditio Apostolica que foi adaptada para ser a Oração Eucarística II; a Oração Eucarística III é inspirada na liturgia galicana e moçarábica; a Oração Eucarística IV de inspiração na Anáfora de Basílio e no Brasil somente, a Oração Eucarística V. Palavras-chave: Ordo Missae. Concílio Vaticano II. Orações Eucarísticas.: The Reform Ordo Missae Vatican II: historical, ,theological and pastoral aspects. This article deals with the reform of the Ordo Missae held by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), in their historical and theological aspects, as well as its pastoral implications. The text will analyze the reform of Ordo Missae regarding the Eucharistic Prayers implemented by the Conciliar reform, especially the problem of 'reform' of the Ordo Missae, the Roman Canon and new Eucharistic Prayers. In short, this analysis aims to liturgical reform, the theological aspects of Sacrosanctum council and the 'problem of the canon'. The council opted to return to the sources, rediscovered the Eucharistic Anaphoras and adapted them in New Eucharistic Prayers: the Anaphora of Hippolytus of Rome in his Traditio Apostilica which was adapted for the Second Eucharistic Prayer. The Eucharistic Prayer III is inspired by the Gallican and moçarábica liturgy. Eucharistic Prayer IV is inspired in the Anaphora of Basilio. Keywords : Ordo Missae . Second Vatican Council. Eucharistic Prayers. (shrink)

Lennan, Richard Ecclesiology became a growth-industry in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Although it was principally Lumen Gentium, promulgated in 1964, that sparked a new wave of theological engagement with 'the church', Vatican II as whole, as 'a Council of the Church about the Church', was a model of that engagement. As it harvested the theological richness of the pre-conciliar ressourcement and embraced the need for aggiornamento, the council both practised and stimulated creative (...) theologising about 'the church.' By situating the church in relation to revelation, the source of the life and mission of the worshipping community on its pilgrimage to the fullness of God's kingdom, Vatican II enabled Catholic ecclesiology to expand beyond the portrayal of the church as societas perfecta, which had been the characteristic emphasis since the Council of Trent. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Dogma and Ecumenism: Vatican II and Karl Barth's Ad Limina Apostolorum ed. by Matthew Levering, Bruce L. McCormack, and Thomas Joseph White, O.P.Gavin D'CostaDogma and Ecumenism: Vatican II and Karl Barth's Ad Limina Apostolorum edited by Matthew Levering, Bruce L. McCormack, and Thomas Joseph White, O.P. (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press of America Press, 2020), ix + 369 pp.In May 1966 Karl Barth visited Rome. He (...) was invited to reflect on the Second Vatican Council, to ask questions to leading curial figures, and peritus theologians, as well as Pope Paul VI. Barth's book Ad Limina Apostolorum: An Appraisal of Vatican II contains his questions and an account from Barth of his visit, along with some other important essays. It is still deeply challenging in its incisiveness, despite its brevity. I have always been struck by Barth's Marian criticisms that are so central to his viewpoint about divine agency and human cooperation. These give us an excellent insight into his ecclesiology. They represent the reasons for much of his questioning of various Roman Catholic positions on all sorts of matters. Eberhard Busch's diaries, while Barth's assistant during this period, form a fascinating complimentary account of the visit. These tell of the not-so-fruitful visit to Augustin Cardinal Bea and the great highpoint (for Barth) of his one-hour audience with Pope Paul VI. Barth was impressed by the Jesuits during his visit, but not so much by the Dominicans. He thought the latter had absorbed too many streams of liberal modernity. The two Dominicans participating in this book turn those tides. Indeed, all the authors could be located within the conserving wings of their ecclesial membership, which makes the volume all the stronger in raising serious unresolved disagreements and noting important common ground. It is testimony to Barth's enduring value that this volume seems so timely. The Barth Centre at Princeton and the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House in Washington were the sponsors of this collection.The volume is structured around five of the key documents commented on by Barth, with a Catholic and Reformed voice reflecting on both the particular document and Barth's input (with the exception of Francesca Aran Murphy, who deals with George Lindbeck rather than Barth), thereby simultaneously pushing forward the Catholic–Reformed engagement with the Council and with Barth. There is a preface with a penetrating introduction by Thomas Joseph White, O.P., and an irenic opening chapter by Matthew Levering on biblical renewal at Vatican II. Then follow the twin reflections on the five documents.First (and rightly so) comes the Dogmatic Constitution on Revelation, Dei Verbum. Katherine Sonderegger develops a nuanced reflection on the metaphor of Scripture as mirror of God (found in Dei Verbum), showing [End Page 971] a deep appreciation of currents within Dei Verbum that Barth had not detected, but which are more connective with his concerns and preoccupations. Lewis Ayres rather impishly takes what Barth saw as the main weakness of the text (its chapter 2: "Handing on Divine Revelation") and makes it the greatest strength. Ayers provides a deeply learned and original exploration of the concept of "tradition" as sacramental. In this duet, Barth comes out looking like he may have missed hearing the melodies while too closely studying the score.Then follow two profound essays on Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Christoph Schwöbel builds up a strong Protestant case for the necessary visible ecclesial identity of the Church, thus showing a deep convergence without denying differences that remain. White, in a deeply insightful and probing essay, goes to the heart of the ecclesiological difference between Barth and Yves Congar (and some other key Catholics at the time): the relationship between uncreated divine agency and created human agency, especially within the context of the post-apostolic Church. White suggests that, without some stable ecclesial mediations, there can be no proper relationship envisaged between the transcendent causality of God operating in Christ and the created, active cooperative acts with this grace. While building up both a metaphysical and a theological case against Barth's criticisms... (shrink)

A collection of talks and lectures given by Father Küng during and after the first session of Vatican Council II, ranging over a variety of theological and religious issues. One essay is especially valuable, "'Early Catholicism' in the New Testament As a Problem in Controversial Theology," a technical discussion of the problems raised by exegetical discoveries of the early "Catholic" elements in the New Testament. Küng analyzes the solutions given by Kasemann and Diem, showing the basic weaknesses of (...) each position. He then formulates the problem as a fundamental challenge to Reformed exegetes and theologians alike.--W. G. E. (shrink)