VATICAN II: Why is it still important?

 

Recently I did a presentation on Vatican II for our Religious Education parents and, as I looked at them, I realized that many were not even alive when the Second Vatican Council took place in the early 60’s.  So why continue talking about it?  Well, it was probably the greatest event in the Catholic Church in 400 years, and it was a council of renewal that put in place sixteen documents that we are still trying to fully implement.

 

For most of us, when we think of Church we think of our local parish where, hopefully, our faith is nurtured and challenged.  But we need to remember that we are part of something much broader than that. One of the persons who came out of curiosity to the Vat. II presentation was of another Christian denomination. Afterwards, she shared with me that, in viewing the videos, she was impressed by the universality of the Catholic Church and how this was expressed liturgically in a huge array of diverse cultures around the globe. (This diversity was one of the rich blessings of the Council.) 

 

When Pope John XXIII called the Council, he stated that the Church needed “to let in the fresh air…and to read the signs of the times and respond to them.” Pope Benedict, in his recent time with us, continued to do that by responding to what has been happening in the American Church as well as, in his address to the UN, what is happening in the broader world.   

 

The Church cannot stand still. As an old adage reminds us, what does not change and grow dies, and so we, as Church, continue to search out how to respond to new times and new challenges.  In a forthcoming book on the Church, Frederick Parrella of Santa Clara University states “If there is one missing piece in our understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ today, it may be our inadequate sense of history.  Whatever the Church is today, its present reality results from two millennium of growth and decline, of action and reaction to political, social, and economic forces within and without.  New questions, unimaginable to Christians of earlier centuries, have emerged.  How can the Church be faithful to the mission of the Gospels today?”

 

If you would like to hear more from Professor Parrella, he will be at St. Joseph’s on Tuesday, May 13.  Save the date!  Check the bulletin for details.

 

 

 

Sister Marie, O.P.