Tag: Vatican 2

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.

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

Wise Words on Wednesday: Peace On Earth

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justice

“Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship.

Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice. Peace results from that order structured into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after ever greater justice.”

– Vatican II, Church in the Modern World 78.

Vatican 2 on the The Eastern Churches

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As part of my continued service to the students of Franciscan University of Steubenville ;-), I have just recorded the audio for the document “Orientalium Ecclesiarum”.

This document was produced by the Second Vatican Council and concerns the Churches in the Catholic Church which follow an Eastern Rite. Given that I attend an Eastern Rite parish during the summers, it’s rather odd that I’ve never actually sat down and read this document before.

Still, better late than never I suppose…

A long time ago, when I first began this blog, I start producing a series entitled “V2 we love you!”. At the time, the JP2 Group was reading the document “Dei Verbum”. I anticipated that we would work through more of the Council’s documents. My hope was that the series of blog entries would provide a helpful accompaniment to our study.

We didn’t end up studying any more of the documents and so I never wrote the blog posts. However, a little while ago I signed up for a course on the Second Vatican Council at the Diocesan Institute which starts this October. Hopefully that’ll get me motivated and I will once again be renewing my efforts with the series.

Anyway, the text for the document is available here and the audio is available below:


Orientalium Ecclesiarum

Nostra Aetate

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In the concluding post for the “Introduction to Islam” series I quoted the Second Vatican Council document “Nostra Aetate” since it provides Church teaching regarding non-Christian religions in general, and Islam in particular.

In the JP2 Group we will be working through this Council document, once we have concluded our current series.

In preparation for this study I have put together a formatted PDF of this document. I also recorded the text onto MP3, which I thought I would also post here:

Nostra Aetate (Download)

Introduction to Islam (Part 5 of 5): The Catholic Response

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Today I would like to conclude my introductory series to Islam. This series wasn’t intended to be an apologetic response to Islam, just an accurate and objective description of Islamic belief and practice. It is my hope that this will lead to a better understanding of Islam by Christians.

Over the course of this series we have looked at the origins of Islam, Muhammad, the teaching of the Qur’an, as well as the faith and obligations of Muslim life.  I would now like to conclude by looking at what the Catholic Church had to say about Islam at the Second Vatican Council.

The Catholic Church sets forth its binding teaching regarding Islam in the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions” (also known as “Nostra Aetate”, literally “In our time”):

#1 In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.

One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. One also is their final goal, God…

The church says that she sees it her task to “promote unity and love”. This unity and love is fostered by considering what unites humankind and, in this “big picture” vision of the world, we are reminded that every single person comes from God and every single one will, some day, return to Him.

#2 … The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.

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V2, We Love You: Introduction

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m planning on offering a series of blog entries about the “Ecumenical Council” commonly known as “The Second Vatican Council”, or simply “Vatican 2”.

Most Catholics will be able to tell you that Vatican 2 was important, but, in my experience, fairly few are actually able to articulate well why it was important.  Many are not able to explain what exactly Vatican 2 was, what it actually taught and why it is important in the history of the Catholic Church.  It is my hope that this blog will help shed a little light on these issues.

I think that it is best, before I get stuck into the meat of Vatican 2, that I attempt to give something of a general introduction to the concept of councils in general, and ecumenical councils in particular.

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