Tag: Second Vatican Council

PWJ: S1E15 – MC B3C3 – “Social Morality”

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SocialMorality

In today’s episode, Jack asks what a truly Christian society would look like. He’s going to say some things to upset people on the Right and people on the Left…

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher and TuneIn). Please send any objections, comments or questions, either via email through my website or tweet us @pintswithjack.

Episode 15: “Society Morality” (Download)

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PWJ: S1E8 – MC B2C1 – “The Rival Conceptions Of God”

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Jesus

With Book I of “Mere Christianity” complete, we now move on to Book II! Having concluded that the Moral Law points to God, C.S. Lewis now examines the “Rival Conceptions of God”.

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or through a service like iTunes, Google Play or Podbean. As always, if you have any objections, comments or questions, please send us an email through my website or tweet us @pintswithjack.

Episode 8: “Rival Conceptions of God” (Download)

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Fully conscious, active participation

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Today I would like to reflect a little more on the development of liturgy following the Second Vatican Council. In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (“Sacrosanctum Concilium“), the Council called for the laity to have “fully conscious, and active participation” in the liturgical celebration.

Participation

As someone who grew in the post-concilliar Church, I have often felt that there was an attempt to respond to this call of the Council by simply giving the laity as many jobs as possible. Tasks previously performed by priests and deacons in the Liturgy were now given to those who sat in the pews.

While I appreciate what was being attempted, I have recently been thinking that the implementation of the Council’s teaching contained rather flawed logic. After all, if “fully conscious, and active participation” necessitates that I have some kind of liturgical role at Mass, what about those who don’t get assigned a job that week? There are only so many things that need doing! We can’t have everybody read the Readings or bring up the gifts! If participation requires a job, does that mean that those without a job are not participating in the Liturgy? Obviously not.

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Why it pays to actually *read* the Vatican 2 documents…

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I saw this a while back and it just made me cringe. The ladies in this video say so many things which make me sigh deeply.

Having said that, I think quite a few things that can be learned from this video.

Firstly, I think we can all learn something from the manner of the priest who, throughout the video, is calm, gentle and amiable. Personally, I think I would have had enough after five minutes.

Secondly, unlike his discussion partners, Fr. Ted clearly knows his stuff – Scripture, Vatican II documents and the Catechism and he explains the Church’s position clearly.

These are things we could all do with emulating.

UPDATE: The original video was broken, but I’ve now updated the post to point to a different video.

Bible Translations

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One of my friends sent me an email asking about Bible translations and requesting an introductory post on the subject. Well Ricardo, here you go…

Before we start talking about different translations, let’s begin by considering the language of the original Biblical manuscripts, which are known as “autographs”. In what language were these originals documents written? Despite what Henry Higgins suggests, the Bible was not originally written in English…

true story

So, if it wasn’t English, in what language was the Bible initially written?  Well, the original Biblical documents were, in fact, written in several languages. Different languages were used for the Old Testament and New Testament, so let’s look at them in turn…

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Wise Words on Wednesday: The Laity’s Mission

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Vatican 2

Today, many Catholics (including some bishops) seem to think that Vatican II was about the role of the laity in the Church – Eucharistic ministers, lectors, and so forth. But it was really about the role of the laity in the world. The true Catholic life is one of personal conversion and evangelization; it does not involve hanging around the sacristy.

Recently, Francis Cardinal George of Chicago said that the biggest failure of the post-Vatican II Church was her failure to get out the council’s message about the laity – who, after all, comprise 99% of the Church.

– George Sim Johnston

Smelling the conciliar coffee

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coffee Since this Year of Faith marks the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, I’d like to publish more posts concerning the Council this year.

Today I would like to share a little anecdote concerning the Council I came across in Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s autobiography, Treasure In Clay:

“Under the two great tiers which seated about 1,200 bishops on each side of the basilica, there were two coffee bars. It was not long before the Fathers found names for them. One was called Bar-Jona, which was part of the Hebrew name for St. Peter” – Fulton Sheen, Treasure In Clay, Page 302

How adorable is that?! Archbishop Sheen later writes that there was a lot of humour at the Council and that there were little poems written and passed around throughout the gathering. At the close of the Council, Bishop John P. O’Loughlin wrote the following:

As we bishops depart from old Roma
We can proudly display our disploma
     At the Council’s finale
     We say “buon natale”
And “goodbye” to Bar-Jona’s aroma

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