Posts Tagged Vatican II
Pope Talks Openly about Reform, Sex Abuse, Dutch Bishop Says / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on December 9, 2013
Pope Francis told a group of Dutch bishops this week that the Vatican must continue reforms undertaken by the Catholic church in the 1960s and ’70s, according to one of the participants in the meeting. Bishop Jan Hendricks, who attended the meeting Monday (Dec. 2), later recounted that the pope said implementation of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council is only half complete … The Dutch visit is one of the first for Francis, who has so far received visits only from bishops from several of the regions that make up the Italian episcopal conference.” By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of McElwee’s interview.
Vatican Asks for Parish-Level Input on Synod Document / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on November 1, 2013
Will bishops in the United States truly poll local Catholics to seek input from the People of God in Vatican II’s spirit of collegiality? Here from National Catholic Reporter’s Joshua McElwee is an outline of what the Vatican has asked local bishops to do and differences between how U.S. and other countries might conduct the poll:
The Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to conduct a wide-ranging poll of Catholics asking for their opinions on church teachings on contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce.
“Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops, asked the conferences to distribute the poll ‘immediately as widely as possible to deaneries and parishes so that input from local sources can be received.’
“The poll, which comes in a questionnaire sent to national bishops’ conferences globally in preparation for a Vatican synod on the family next October, is the first time the church’s central hierarchy has asked for such input from grass-roots Catholics since at least the establishment of the synod system following the Second Vatican Council.”
Added emphasis is ours. Read all of McElwee’s article by clicking here.
Francis Is the Exclamation Point on Vatican II / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on October 23, 2013
I already hear concerns that the reformist church of 76-year-old Pope Francis might not survive his pontificate. I hear talk that the anti-reformists who took back the Second Vatican Council will likely do it again once Francis is gone from the scene.
“We ask: Will a church groomed by compassion and mercy, as Francis would have it, be the church of our future? Will our church be guided, as if with a compass, by the lives and needs of marginalized people? Can a pastoral Catholicism, embedded in the Beatitudes, be the Catholicism we offer the world?
“Viewed solely as a moment in church history, the Francis moment might not last. Post-Vatican II history teaches us that entrenched forces have ways of enduring. In this view, Francis could be a passing fancy. However, from the long view of history, the Francis pontificate could well be the exclamation point on Vatican II — change and reform is the default mode of operation, not a one-time activity.” By Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of Fox’s column by clicking here.
Francis Sets a Date in April for Two Popes to Become Saints / The New York Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on October 1, 2013
Pope Francis said Sept. 30 that he would canonize two of his most influential predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, on the same day next spring, a highly unusual move that was taken as an effort to promote unity within the Roman Catholic Church.
“The two popes, who have disparate followings among reformers and conservatives within the church, will be declared saints on April 27, Francis said during a meeting with cardinals at the Vatican. Each achieved considerable international stature: John Paul II for encouraging the fall of Communism in his native Poland and across Eastern Europe, and John XXIII for assembling the liberalizing Second Vatican Council, which ran from 1962 to 1965.” By Elisabetta Povoledo and Alan Cowell, The New York Times
Rest the rest of the story by clicking here.
Francis Wishes to Release Vatican II’s Bold Vision from Captivity / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on September 26, 2013
In the last 50 years, we have had five popes. The first four were at the Second Vatican Council as either bishops or peritus (theological advisers). Francis may not be a pope from the council, but he is quickly establishing himself as a pope of the council. Each of his recent predecessors, to be sure, carried forward particular elements of the council’s teaching. This pope, however, has received the council’s teaching through his distinctive experiences as a Jesuit, a Latin American and, pre-eminently, as pastor. His pontificate represents a fresh new phase in the ongoing reception of Vatican II, one shaped by a variety of post-conciliar developments.” By Richard Gaillardetz, Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology, Boston College, in National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of Prof. Gaillardetz’s article by clicking here.
This is the third in a series of articles in National Catholic Reporter that examine the ramifications of the interview Pope Francis gave to America magazine that was released Sept. 19. The first two articles are “It Will Be Hard to Go Back after Francis’ Papacy” and “The Real Test of Francis’ Reform: Touching the Spiritually Poor.”
Romanizers vis-à-vis Judaizers: Is Overstressing Law as ‘Stupid’ Now as When Paul Applied it to the Galatians?
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Voice of the Faithful on January 7, 2013
Stupid Catholics? Does Paul’s Adjective for the Galatian Church Apply Today?
Lately the term stupid has been used quite frequently. On the left, Chris Matthews of MSNBC called himself ‘not just stupid, but wrong’ for making remarks about Hurricane Sandy’s potential impact on politics. On the right, after the election, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said that Republicans should ‘stop being the stupid party.’ Beyond politics and after Sandy, Bloomberg Businessweek had a cover feature that pictured a flooded city street in virtual darkness with the words: ‘It’s Global Warming, Stupid … ‘
“Stupid has a religious meaning too. This insight came to me on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Oct. 11, 2012. I live in a Capuchin Franciscan community, where we share faith around each day’s Scriptures. The readings for Oct. 11 came from Galatians 3:1-5 and Luke 11:5-13. Both involve the Spirit’s power in the community of believers. In this context, to undermine the power of the Spirit by an overstress on the law, Paul said, would be ‘stupid …’
“From the above texts [and others the author cites] it seems that anontos [the greek translation for ‘stupid’ in Paul’s text ] refers to believers who have reverted to some ‘other gospel’ or teaching that is undermining the integrity of the Spirit-grounded Gospel they once embraced. This certainly represents the case in Galatians. Unnamed ‘Judaizers’ (Galatians 2:14) had effectively undermined Paul’s Gospel about the death, resurrection and embodiment of the Spirit of the Risen One in the community by an overstress on the law. Today we might call them the ‘Romanizers … ‘”
By Michael Crosby, a Capuchin Franciscan priest who lives in Milwaukee, in National Catholic Reporter
Resurrecting Pre-Vatican II Mass Promotes Outdated Worldview of Church
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Vatican, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on December 10, 2012
Attempt to Resurrect Pre-Vatican II Mass Leaves Church at Crossroads
It was curiosity and a sense of irony that moved me to open the Oct. 1 issue of our diocesan newspaper. On the cover was the headline “Moving Forward in Faith” next to a picture of our former bishop vested as would be a prelate from more than 50 years ago. This was a photo from a liturgy in the “extraordinary form” (pre-Vatican II 1962 Latin Mass), welcoming a group of very traditional Carmelite nuns to the diocese … The people attached to the extraordinary form are seriously trying to enact a particular worldview and understanding of church. And it is an understanding that we left behind at the Second Vatican Council. It is a worldview that is incompatible with the council … The extraordinary form is incapable of activating us as the priestly people of God – the vision of Vatican II.” By Ron Schmit, Pastor, St. Anne Church, Byron, California, in National Catholic Reporter
Vatican II: The Verdict(s) 50 Years Later
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Vatican, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on October 17, 2012
The first session of the Second Vatican Council began 50 years ago last week, on Oct. 11, 1962. Vatican II was the largest Church council convened in its 2,000-year history and only the second to take place in St. Peter’s Basilica. What happened there is still being debated. News Media coverage of the anniversary has been extensive. Voice of the Faithful has compiled a representative sample of news stories commenting on the council that you may read by clicking here.
Vatican II: The Catholic Church’s Lost Revolution
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on October 1, 2012
“The Second Vatican Council, which convened 50 years ago next month, has been described as the most momentous religious event of the 20th century. Meeting in four sessions over three years, the world’s Roman Catholic bishops sought to reimagine the role the church — the spiritual home of more than one-sixth of humanity — could play in a rapidly changing world. Yet Vatican II so dramatically failed to fulfill its promise that it registers very little in common memory today, even among Catholics whose faith it was meant to transform. Nevertheless, the changes it initiated were profound, and their current still runs below the surface of an uncertain church … Vatican II, from its half-forgotten place in the past, still points to an urgently needed Catholic renewal.” Commentary by James Carroll, The Boston Globe
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