This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II. Why is the Church not doing anything to mark this significant occasion?
In fact, Pope Benedict has announced a “Year of Faith” to mark the 50th anniversary of the second Vatican Council. It will begin on 11 October, the day that the Council was formally opened by Blessed Pope John XXIII. The focus of the Year of Faith will be the new evangelisation: something very much in accord with the concerns of the Fathers of the Council.
In his message for the opening of the Council, Pope John said that the Council wanted “to transmit doctrine, pure and whole, without attenuations or misrepresentations,” but also in a way that corresponds to the needs of our time. On the 20th anniversary of the closing of the Council, the Synod of Bishops (one of the fruits of the Council) called for a new Catechism as a sure point of reference for local catechisms. This new Catechism was completed in 1992, the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Council.
Pope Benedict has explained that Vatican II should be understood in terms of reform and renewal in the continuity of the one subject Church which was founded by Christ, rather than as a rupture with the past. It is wrong to speak as though everything before the Council was bad and everything after it was good. The Catechism, the recent movement to reform the Sacred Liturgy, the laity’s pro-life witness to the world, the foundation of new movements for evangelisation, and many other initiatives of young Catholics, all put into practice this vital concern of the Holy Father and of the Council itself.
The Year of Faith will be an opportunity to rediscover the teaching of Vatican II, to read the documents again, to see how the vision of the Council Fathers is presented in the new Catechism, and to reflect on our own role in the new evangelisation. The Council is often presented in terms of quasi-political slogans. By studying its actual teaching, we can learn instead about how the Church encourages us to evangelise the world.
Catholic Dilemma 249 published in the Catholic Herald
8 comments:
"This new Catechism was completed in 1992, the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Council."
1992-1962=30^^
:-)
This would be the perfect time to release a syllabus of errors on the interpretation of Vatican II.
Why is it the 'Year of Faith' in English when in other languages it is the 'Year of the Faith'?
Perhaps somethings are better left unspoken. The 50th anniversary of VII is hardly a cause to celebrate considering all the evil it has wrought over the years from the beginning. If the original intentions have been called into question and not just by 'Traditionalists' but by many more who supported it and have lived through the havoc.
The less said about this particular anniversary the better. Amen.
Thanks, Marcus. Doh! Corrected now.
Motuproprio - not sure about that. If the original document was issued in Latin (as it should be) then there is no definite article and it would be reasonable to say either.
How about releasing a syllabus of errors on the Council documents themselves?
Not the infallible restatments but the often ambiguous parts of the documents and the several parts where it breaks with previous Church teaching.
"Why is the Church not doing anything to mark this significant occasion?"
Three possible reasons.
1.Sheer embarrassment.
2.The "Spirit of Vatican 11" interpretation is now seen for what it is, and its formerly loud proponents are at last silenced.
3.The the true interpretation, renewal in continuity, is only now being understood, particularly since the Pope's December 2005 speech, and we are all still taking it in and just beginning to openly talk about it?
May I suggest a CD question on the use of ministers of other Christian denominations preaching at Mass during the Octave of Prayer for Christian denominations? I was under the impression that only a priest or deacon is allowed this privilege but this, if correct, seems to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance.
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