As we approach the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council (October 11, 1962), Catholics of a certain age will recall the story of the council as a story of “before and after.” The Mass in Latin, clericalism, a closed Catholic ghetto—that was before Vatican II, part of our past. Participation in liturgy, parish collaboration, an openness to the world—that is after Vatican II, part of our future.
The “before and after” story is a true story, and it needs to be remembered. But for more and more Catholics, the story holds less and less meaning. Particularly for those who grew up after the council, the interesting comparison is not so much between the pre-Vatican II period and the post-Vatican II period. Instead, the interesting comparison is between the time of the council and our own time.
So much has changed in the past 50 years. When those 2,500 bishops gathered in Rome in the early 1960s, the Western world was in the midst of the Cold War, facing Communism and the threat of all-out nuclear war. At the same time, the 60s were about to explode—with its shock waves of student demonstrations, women’s liberation, civil rights and anti-war activism. In the midst of all of this, the Church took up the challenge of updating its enormous institutions—institutions run by a huge corps of clergy and religious.
Today, it is not the Cold War and civil unrest, but an open-ended War on Terror and the Great Recession that shake our security. The social movements of the 60s have been replaced by complicated questions of bio-ethics, globalization, and the role of faith in a pluralistic society. Now the institutions of the Church are struggling to survive with fewer and fewer priests to run parishes and with resources—and trust—strained by the sexual-abuse crisis. And yet, at the same time, lay ministries have expanded, Catholic colleges are thriving, and parish communities are more active than ever in planning their worship, sharing their faith, and reaching out in service to their neighbors in need.
All of this makes for a challenging—and genuinely new—context for ministry. As we celebrate the council’s anniversary, perhaps we should focus less on what happened then, as on what is happening now. Where are we as a church today, and how we might response with faith, integrity and hope to the vision of Vatican II?
Edward P. Hahnenberg is the Breen Chair in Catholic Systematic Theology at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of Awakening Vocation: A Theology of Christian Call (Liturgical Press, 2010), A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2007), and Ministries: A Relational Approach (Crossroad, 2003). He served as theological consultant to the U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee on Lay Ministry in its preparation of the document Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord and is currently a delegate to the U.S. Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. He will be speaking at the Mid-Atlantic Congress for Pastoral Leadership on “The Struggle to Serve: Ministering with Hope in Today’s Church”
Sponsored by Liturgical Press
Comments