Vatican II and the Future Church

PERSONAL MEMORIES OF VATICAN II ERA

Eugene FINNEGAN: Remembering Vatican II
Remembering the major events from Vatican II to today. READ MORE

Martin MOLESKI: Embracing the Catholic Tradition
From baptism in the Holy Spirit and the Jesus Freaks to the Body of Christ, Scripture, and Tradition. READ MORE

Francis BERNA: From History to New Life
The excitement of the post-Vatican II era has now become History. It is our responsibility to make it a New Life. READ MORE

Comments about Personal Memories

INTERPRETATIONS OF VATICAN II

Gregory BAUM: The Catholic Church’s New Self-Understanding
Three aspects of the Church's self-understanding: in relation to outsiders, the whole world, and God’s redemptive presence in the whole of humanity. READ MORE

Michael G. LAWLER: Vatican II and Lumen Gentium
The communion model of Church dominated in the first millennium and the institutional model dominated in the second. My hope is that the communion model will dominate again in the third millennium. READ MORE

Neville Ann KELLY: Gaudium et Spes: An Incarnated Theology
“It is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.” READ MORE

Marc TUMEINSKI:  The diaspora Church
The Lumen Gentium vision of the Church as "Journeys in a foreign land" or diaspora is explored in its various dimensions. READ MORE

Ella JOHNSON: Vatican II and “Lay Ecclesial Ministry”
The theology for lay ecclesial ministry is laid out in the Vatican II and the Co-Workers documents. The on-the-ground application, however, will take some time to operate smoothly. READ MORE

Comments about Interpretations of Vatican II

THE POST-VATICAN II ERA

Nathan R. KOLLAR:  Vatican II and its Changing Contexts
The context of Vatican II was one of excitement; it was the time of a “new” liturgy that we thoughtfully and joyfully celebrated, critiqued, and passed on... Today the context is different. READ MORE

Noelle HOEH: The Lost Children of Vatican II
The Church I knew as a child was in flux, implementing the changes brought about by Vatican II. READ MORE

Candice NEENAN:  Unexpected Ruah
The post-Vatican II restoration created disillusionment. The Church needs reform, which may come as an unexpected ruah. READ MORE

Daniel LEVINE: The post-Vatican II Church in Latin America: A Personal Journey
My experience of the post-Vatican II church in Latin America has changed and enriched my life in ways that I am still learning about.  READ MORE

LOCAL CHURCHES

Elsie MIRANDA: Vatican II and the Church in Cuba
The odyssey of the church of Cuba, from Vatican II, the visits of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, to the upcoming visit of Pope Francis. READ MORE

Jakob Egeris THORSEN: The Church in Scandinavia
The successful pre-Vatican II church and the cultural changes of the 1960s. READ MORE

Richard SHIELDS: The Church in Canada
Forty years ago the church was inspired by Vatican II. What has changed is the disappearance of Catholics from active Church life, along with the increasing invisibility of the Catholic hierarchy. READ MORE

Thao NGUYEN: Mission In Dialogue: Asian Roman Catholic Church’s Vision
"We encounter people of other religions as fellow pilgrims on that path to God, rather representative of a system of religious ideas." READ MORE

Oswald John NIRA: The Latin@ Church: From Encuentro to Mestizaje
These two effective processes established after Vatican II are in question today. READ MORE

Andrew CHESTNUT: Pope Francis and the Charismatic Renewal
Pope Francis participated in the Annual Convocation of the Charismatic Movement in Rome in June 2014. The Charismatic Renewal is very strong in Latin America. READ MORE

Comments about post-Vatican II & local churches

MORAL THEOLOGY

Dee CHRISTIE: A Moral Lens on Vatican II and its Legacy
At Vatican II a new moral vision emerged. It placed the human person at the center of the moral project. READ MORE

James T. BRETZKE: Re-Reading Moral Theology 50 Years after Vatican II
The role of the Paraclete for an understanding of both a hermeneutics of continuity as well as one of rupture. READ MORE

Conor KELLY: A split between moral theology and family ethics?
The Church has often conflated moral theology and family ethics, and identified family with marriage. READ MORE

Jason T. EBERL: Science, Faith, and Bioethics Today
Catholic bioethicists contend with a host of issues: embryonic stem cell research, reproductive cloning, synthetic biology, gene editing, and various forms of genetic enhancement of human beings. READ MORE

THE LITURGY

Susan K. ROLL: The Secret Life of Sacrosanctum Concilium
The liturgical reforms of Vatican II developed from the grass roots of the Church. READ MORE

Joseph MARTOS:  Completing What Vatican II Started
When the Catholic bishops in 1963 called for the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, they thought they knew what they were doing. It took me almost 50 years to realize that the bishops were wrong. READ MORE

Lea HUNTER and Consilia KARLI: Vatican II and Roman Visions for the Church: Do They Really Sync?
The liturgy lost so much of its Vatican II spirit because of Rome’s understanding of unity is order, uniformity, hierarchy and obedience to hierarchy. READ MORE

Bruce T. MORRILL: Positives and Negatives in the Liturgy Today
"Liturgy, however divinely inspired, is nonetheless human ritual." READ MORE

Comments about Moral Theology and the Liturgy

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH

Zeni FOX: The Role and Place of Women in the Church
Parishes and dioceses have created spaces for women. More is expected from the papacy now. READ MORE

Anne E. PATRICK:  Vatican II and the Status of Women
The seeds of change of Vatican II have produced a remarkable post-conciliar fermentation. The pause of papal silence may buy time before more fundamental changes. READ MORE

Patricia WITTBERG: The Alienation of Millennial Catholic Women
Young Catholic women are more likely to leave the church than young males, less likely to attend Mass, and less likely than males to accept controversial church teachings. READ MORE

Comments about Women in the Church

SPIRITUALITY

Michael DALLAIRE: The Church and the Presence of God
When I was four years old I had my first conscious experience of God... A few years later, facing death, I experienced the presence of a loving ‘other’ just beyond the veil of the ordinary... It was the Church that provided the container for interpreting and living from the experience of presence.  READ MORE

Robert RUSSO: Dorothy Day and the Hope for the Future Church in America
Anyone with Day’s past can see the light of God by following her path. READ MORE

Moni McINTYRE:  Vatican II: The Death Knell for Religious Life?
Vatican II empowered women religious to claim their identity as baptized Christians with a serious obligation to become themselves at their best: a real challenge. READ MORE

Jeff MORROW: Holiness in the World: On Rereading Lumen Gentium Chapter 5
Three common mistakes in the interpretation of the Call to Holiness. READ MORE

AUTHORITY, DISSENT, & PLURALISM

Mary DOAK: Religious Freedom: the Unrecognized Contributions of Vatican II
Not a privatization of religion. Not an absolute right. READ MORE

William SHEA:   Two Sides of the Council Coin
I have been disappointed by the aftermath of the Council... The papal monarchy was celebrated by Vatican II rather than curbed by it. READ MORE

Todd SALZMAN: A Church that Respects Conscience
“Over the Pope... there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else." A theory more than a reality. READ MORE

Richard VILADESAU: Religious Freedom and Institutionalism
Pope Francis has frequently inveighed against “institutionalism” in the church and against the related error of using faith as an ideology. But the temptation to institutionalism is a deep-seated one. READ MORE

Comments about authority and dissent

THE FUTURE CHURCH

R. Robert CREECH: Being the Church in Challenging Times
By 2030-2050 about 9 billion people worldwide will live in huge, overcrowded cities. What will the situation of the churches be then? READ MORE

Lluis OVIEDO: Perspectives on the Future Church
In light of demographic projections, the present and the future of the Church appear grim. What can be expected in the future? READ MORE

Pierre HEGY: A New Constitution for the Church
The pope reigns but the Curia governs. The Synod of 1967 wished for a constitution in the modern sense of the word, the so-called Lex Fundamentalis, but the idea got lost.  READ MORE

Eileen FAGAN: The Synod Envisioned by Vatican II: Challenges for the Future Church
Three recommendations for the 2015 and future Synods. READ MORE

Daniel LLOYD: The Diaconate “Sacramentalizes Service”
The possible danger of this language comes with implicitly equating “sacramentalize” with “clericalize.” READ MORE

Roger HAIGHT: Spirituality in the Future Church
Four principles of the American experience apply to Catholic spirituality: religious freedom, the role of women, the importance of the laity, and religious pluralism. READ MORE

Kenneth L. PARKER: J. H. Newman, Vatican II, and Pope Francis
Development of Doctrine and the Sensus Fidelium in our Time. READ MORE

Comments about the Future Church

ECUMENISM & INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Joseph LOYA: West Engaging East
"The Church of the West can best discern remedies for its historically-conditioned ossifying predilections in and through engagement with the East." READ MORE

Hans GUSTAFSON: Nostra Aetate: In the Classroom and Looking Forward
Nostra Aetate introduces Catholic students to the ecumenical dimension of the Church and offers the opportunity to explore interreligious dialogue today. READ MORE

Jeffrey KIRCH, C.PP.S.: Ecumenism at the Council and Beyond
In the 21st century the difficulties lay in moral issues, specifically issues of gender and sexuality. Ethical issues touch upon Church order, ecclesiology, family life, etc. READ MORE

Marinus C. IWUCHUKWU:  A Shift from Religious Inclusivism to Inclusive Religious Pluralism
Many scholars have identified in Vatican II a new paradigm shift, namely inclusive religious pluralism. READ MORE

SimonMary Asese AIHIOKHAI: A New Path for Interreligious Dialogue
A way to overcome the biased self-understanding of the church in relation to other religions. READ MORE

Comments about Ecumenism and Inter-religious dialogue