Why is Vatican II so Significant in the Modern Church?
INTRODUCTION: VATICAN II
Vatican II was the 21st ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic church, which became the symbol of the church's openness to the modern world.
The council was announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, and held 178 meetings in the autumn of each of four successive years. The first gathering was on October 11, 1962, and the last on December 8, 1965. Of 2908 bishops and others eligible to attend, 2540 from all parts of the world participated in the opening meeting. The U.S. delegation of 241 members was second in size only to that of Italy. Asian and African bishops played a prominent role in the council's deliberations. Only Communist nations were sparsely represented, the result of government pressures. The average attendance at the meetings was 2200.
ESSAY
Vatican II, as we can clearly see from the above information, was a very large and important meeting in the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican II has altered the Roman Catholic Church more that any other council that took place. It has great significance as it made the church more reasonable and realistic. The
Church, after the council, was much more down-to-earth and open-minded.
One of Vatican II's changes that took place was that Mass became vernacular. This change was very important because it made people feel more at a personal level when mass was held seeing as though the priest was speaking their language. It made them feel more at home and increased their understanding and ability to respond.
Another very major and important change that took place due to Vatican
II was the relationship with the Church and the world. "The Church is a human organization steered by the Holy Spirit and composed of the gifts and talents of its members. It is acknowledged that at this time the Church community has not yet reached its highest potential and is faced with the limitations and of human shortcomings and temporal constrictions. With an understanding of its abilities and its boundaries, the Church seeks to work with the world community to come closer to the life to which God calls the world." As this quote from one of the
Documents in Vatican II states, the Church need have a relationship with the
"outside world" as the Church itself is comprised of humans. And that the
Church having a good relationship with the outside world is necessary for the
Church to reach its highest potential.
These are some of the changes that took place in Vatican II and naming
In conclusion, the Roman Catholic Church was a major influence on the people of Europe and changed the people lives in many ways.
Each man trying to correct from within were pushed further and outward away from the goal of unity. We would have a different story if it were only one man who rejected the idea of the Church being one with the world. The individual would have been marked as the antichrist. Instead, we see a few men take a stand for what they felt was the truth, which we had strayed. Noted, Campbell has seen the destruction with takes place when man messes with God’s desire for gathering of the Church. Campbell states, “What awful and distressing effects have those sad divisions produced! What aversions, what reproaches, what backbitings, what evil surmisings, what angry contentions, what enmities, what excommunications, even persecution!!!” (Campbell and Thomas) Campbell’s biggest fight was pulling back the reigns of the world. Campbell extends ejecting all human creeds that cause divisions among Christians. He states, “… for their faith must not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power and veracity of God. Therefore, no such deductions can be made terms of communion, but do properly belong to the after and progressive edification of the Church. Hence, it is evident that no such deductions or inferential truths ought to have a place in the Church’s confession.” (Campbell and Thomas) Reaching out to across all divisions, Campbell has to be unprejudiced. “That although the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are inseparably connected, making together but one perfect and entire revelation of the Divine will, for the edification and salvation of the Church, and therefore in that respect cannot be separated.” “From the nature and construction of these propositions, it will evidently appear, that they are laid in a designed subserviency to the declared end of our association; and are exhibited for the express purpose of performing a duty of pervious necessity, a duty loudly called for in
The changes made by Vatican II were essential, as society was becoming more liberal, and religion was becoming increasingly irrelevant with its old and conservative ways of practicing Catholicism. Without Vatican II, almost certainly the Church would have lost its appeal to the increasingly liberal societies of the late 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and now. Vatican II stopped the Catholic Church from becoming an irrelevant part of our society, and now is stronger than ever. But, many Catholics, and Christians believe it is time for further reform as the undirected youth of today strays from the church.
With the hindsight of the 1960s, it is easy for us to view how influencers of the era have reformed and revitalised the Christian tradition to a great extent. Because of this hindsight of the 1960s, an era in which the zeitgeist was full of intellectuals, poets, musicians and authors, we can see the traditions of Christianity were considered to be backward to a world that was changing in terms of beliefs and ethics as society embraced these social reforms. The statement then clearly reflects Pope John XXIII and his impacts on Catholicism. Pope John XXIII recognized these changes and through his leadership, the impacts he had on Christianity had a substantially large influence over the Catholic Church as he ultimately altered the Christian tradition by creating the Vatican II. By doing so, he adjusted traditional Church Scriptures (ressourcement), involved himself with promoting ecumenicalism and also interfaith-dialogue as well as becoming engaged in the modern world (aggiornamento), therefore meeting the needs of the evolving society by revitalising the old traditions.
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