The Synod of Pistoia and Vatican II

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
High Water ◽  
Church Reform ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

This book sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated the Council. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of late Jansenism. Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the ultramontane nineteenth-century Church. Nevertheless, much of the Pistoian agenda—such as an exaltation of the role of bishops, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire Church, religious liberty, a simpler and more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions—was officially promulgated at Vatican II. The career of Bishop Scipione de’ Ricci (1741–1810) and the famous Synod he convened are investigated in detail. The international reception (and rejection) of the Synod sheds light on why these reforms failed, and the criteria of Yves Congar are used to judge the Pistoian Synod as “true or false reform.” This book proves that the Synod was a “ghost” present at Vatican II. The council fathers struggled with, and ultimately enacted, many of the same ideas. This study complexifies the story of the roots of the Council and Pope Benedict XVI’s “hermeneutic of reform,” which seeks to interpret Vatican II as in “continuity and discontinuity on different levels” with past teaching and practice.

scholarly journals The Nature and Missionary Role of the Lay People in the Light of Vatican II; Convenience or Conviction?

2020 ◽  
pp. 28-36
Author(s):  
Francis Appiah-Kubi ◽  
Robert Bonsu
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Lay People ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Church

The nature and the missionary role of the laity in the church is one of the issues currently vital to the church and theologians. From the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) perspective, the word laity is technically understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Catholic Church (LG31). These faithful are by baptism made one with Christ and constitute the People of God; they are sharers in the priestly, prophetic and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the church and in the world. However, the distinction between the ordained and the lay is a real one. A great deal of attention has been paid to the ordained ministry of the Church, its nature, its authority and its functions. The laity tends, by way of contrast, to be taken very much for granted, as though in their case no special problems arise. This study discusses the nature, role, and participation of lay people in the mission of the Church as proposed by the Second Vatican Council. It treats succinctly the historical development of the Laity and the challenges and opportunities inherent in their mission.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 248-254
Author(s):  
Shaun Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Reform Movements ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Pius Ix ◽  
The Church ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

This book has argued that Vatican II should be understood as a point on an arc of reform that extends all the way back to the eighteenth century. Pushing the roots of the council back beyond the twentieth-century reform movements, modernism, Newman, and the Tübingen School helps us to better understand and interpret Vatican II reforms. Thus, the complexities of a hermeneutic of reform, which interprets the council as having both continuity and discontinuity, on different levels, with past Catholic teaching and theology, become clearer. A hermeneutic of reform should not only return to the “deepest patrimony” of the fathers or the early Church, but must also recognize that the agendas of failed Catholic reformers of the more recent past have sometimes survived, and have even been vindicated in certain ways. John O’Malley’s work has shown that to fully understand Vatican II, we must recognize that “in St. Peter’s, beside the thousands of [Council] Fathers . . . Pius IX and Pius XII, Marx and Freud, Lagrange and Rosmini, and De Maistre and Lamennais were there, listening to the infinite debate that changed the church.”...

scholarly journals Lay Catholic Support for Exiled Polish Intellectuals in Britain, 1942–1962

2017 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bush
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Education ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Subordinate Role

This article examines the hitherto unexplored role of lay Catholics in the tertiary education of Polish exiles in Britain, from the early 1940s to the beginning of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. It will examine the work of the Newman Association, a predominantly lay Catholic graduate society, as a case study to reveal how lay activism towards European exiles was influenced by a range of social, theological and political factors. It will highlight the ways in which support for Polish Catholic education could be manifested, including the establishment of a cultural hub in London, a scholarship programme to assist Polish students in British and Irish universities, and the development of cultural links with individuals and organisations within Poland. Ultimately, this article demonstrates the growing confidence of educated lay Catholics in breaking out of their historically subordinate role within the English Catholic Church in the years prior to Vatican II.

A Hermeneutic of True Reform

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-42
Author(s):  
Shaun Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Catholic Reform ◽  
The Church ◽  
Different Levels

This chapter argues that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, are best understood through a triadic grid: ressourcement (retrieval of past Christian thought and texts, especially scripture and of the church fathers), aggiornamento (updating), and the development of doctrine. It highlights four areas in which Vatican II sought to reform the Church—ecclesiology, religious liberty, liturgy and devotions, and ecumenism. The interpretation of Vatican II is still heavily contested. The chapter argues that the best hermeneutic for interpreting the council, advanced by Pope Benedict XVI and praised by John O’Malley, is a “hermeneutic of reform,” a theologically rigorous and historically conscious hermeneutic that sees Vatican II as having “continuity and discontinuity on different levels” with past teaching. It argues that such a hermeneutic can aid conciliar interpretation and deepen reflection on the nature of Catholic reform through a study of forerunners of Vatican II, who attempted aggiornamento and ressourcement.

scholarly journals Interpreting The Council: Archbishop Manning and the Vatican Decrees Controversy

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Paul von Arx
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Ecumenical Council ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
The Church

Contemporary Roman Catholics have realized in the last thirty-five years that when an ecumenical council has concluded, it is far from over. The interpretation of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council has become today as critical and controverted as the formulation of the decrees was during the Council itself. The present controversies centre on ecclesiology—the nature of the Church—and questions at issue concern continuity and innovation. Did Vatican II, and especially the Decree on the Church in the Modern World, reform the structure and the governance of the Church toward a greater degree of consultation, subsidiarity, decentralization—‘collegiality’, to use the expression of the Council itself? Or was the vision of the Council for the Church in basic continuity with the centralized, papal-monarchial Church of the First Vatican Council? Around these questions centres most of the contention that engages the Church today: debates having to do with the rôle of bishops’ conferences, the operation of the Roman curia, the relationship of the magisterium or teaching authority to theologians.

scholarly journals ‘Scrupulous and Timid Conformism’: Ireland and the Reception of the Liturgical Changes of Vatican II

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Gary Carville
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Short Time Span ◽  
Irish Catholics ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council and, in particular, its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, changed much in the daily life of the Church. In Ireland, a country steeped in the Catholic tradition but largely peripheral to the theological debates that shaped Vatican II, the changes to liturgy and devotional practice were implemented dutifully over a relatively short time span and without significant upset. But did the hierarchical manner of their reception, like that of the Council itself, mean that Irish Catholics did not receive the changes in a way that deepened their spirituality? And was the popular religious memory of the people lost through a neglect of liturgical piety and its place in the interior life, alongside what the Council sought to achieve? In this essay, Dr Gary Carville will examine the background to the liturgical changes at Vatican II, the contribution to their formulation and implementation by leaders of the Church in Ireland, the experiences of Irish Catholic communities in the reception process, and the ongoing need for a liturgical formation that brings theology, memory, and practice into greater dialogue.

scholarly journals The Tenacity of Popular Devotions in the Age of Vatican II: Learning from the Divine Mercy

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Robert E. Alvis
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pope John Paul Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
Therapeutic Tool ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Divine Mercy

Despite is global popularity in recent decades, the Divine Mercy devotion has received scant scrutiny from scholars. This article examines its historical development and evolving appeal, with an eye toward how this nuances our understanding of Catholic devotions in the “age of Vatican II.” The Divine Mercy first gained popularity during World War II and the early Cold War, an anxious era in which many Catholic devotions flourished. The Holy Office prohibited the active promotion of the Divine Mercy devotion in 1958, owing to a number of theological concerns. While often linked with the decline of Catholic devotional life generally, the Second Vatican Council helped set the stage for the eventual rehabilitation of the Divine Mercy devotion. The 1958 prohibition was finally lifted in 1978, and the Divine Mercy devotion has since gained a massive following around the world, benefiting in particular from the enthusiastic endorsement of Pope John Paul II. The testimonies of devotees reveal how the devotion’s appeal has changed over time. Originally understood as a method for escaping the torments of hell or purgatory, the devotion developed into a miraculous means to preserve life and, more recently, a therapeutic tool for various forms of malaise.

The Natural Law in Catholic Ethics

2015 ◽  
pp. 387-402
Author(s):  
Kevin L. Flannery
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Classical Traditions ◽  
John Finnis

This chapter presents Catholic teaching on the natural law as the product of a conversation over millennia. After offering some basic conceptual distinctions, the chapter begins by considering ancient non-Christian sources for Christian reflection on the natural law, especially Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. The chapter then considers relevant biblical texts and the teachings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Attention is particularly played to Thomas’s adaptation of Classical traditions, and his argument concerning the unchangeablness of natural law. The final section of the chapter focuses on discussion of natural law after the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) in the work of Germain Grisez and John Finnis.

scholarly journals Pedagogia Prymasa Tysiąclecia Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Bogusław Śliwerski
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Catholic Church

Pedagogy of the Primate of the Millennium, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński An analysis of source texts and selected biographical studies of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński was carried out from the perspectives of the processes of secularization taking place in Poland in the year AD 2020, the radical attacks of left-wing politicians on the Catholic Church and its relationship with the current governing coalition known as the United Right [Zjednoczona Prawica]. This strikes at the foundations of the Second Vatican Council and the role of the Polish Church in regaining the nation’s freedom from socialist domination in 1989. The author therefore recalls not only the exceptional merits of the Polish Primate during the period of totalitarianism of the „People’s Poland” [Polska Ludowa], but also his message to educator-practitioners, parents, and scientists.

Freedom in Religion, Freedom in the State

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Mirjam Künkler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Intellectual Biography ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Role Of Religion

This article provides an overview of Böckenförde’s writings on issues of religion, ethos, and the Catholic Church in relation to law, democracy, and the state. It presents Böckenförde as an inner-Catholic critic, who attempted to persuade Catholicism that one’s own freedom can be defended only as part of the general freedom. This was finally achieved, at least dogmatically according to Böckenförde, with the Declaration of Religious Freedom at the end of the Second Vatican Council. The article lays out how Böckenförde sees the role of religion and natural law in secular democracy, namely as one informing the citizens’ ethos. Democracy cannot survive in the long term unless it is carried out by people who consider themselves part of the same demos and work towards a shared democratic culture. The article includes information on his intellectual biography, a periodization of his academic writings in seven phases from 1957 to 2012, a discussion of some of his core arguments as an inner-Catholic critic, a reflection on the cover images he chose for the two volumes, and closes with concluding remarks on Böckenförde’s view of religion in democracy compared to other theorists of democracy and secularism.

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