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| (Photo courtesy of Catholic News Service) |
The Second Vatican Council issued 16 documents but Pope John Paul II suggested that the key for understanding the four-year event might be the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (Light of the Nations).
Approved
in 1964, the document considers the Church as both a mystery, with elements
hidden from the human eye, and an institution, with a visible structure. It
sets forth an understanding of the Church that has profoundly shaped beliefs
and practices for the past 50 years. Here are five significant developments
from the document.
(1)
Universal call to holiness. The council said that the purpose of the Church,
and of all human life, is holiness. This is the fundamental call of all
Christians, and it will be lived out in various ways, depending on one’s state
in life and personal gifts. This emphasis on the call to holiness prompted a
spiritual re-awakening among the laity. Many renewal movements blossomed in the
wake of the Council. Lay Catholics began to study the Bible, explore various
forms of prayer, and seek spiritual guidance. As the U.S. bishops observed,
“The laity’s hunger for God’s word is everywhere evident” (Called and Gifted, 1980).
(2)
The Church as the People of God.
The Council emphasized that we are saved not just as individuals but as
a community – the People of God. As a result, we have seen a renewed
understanding of the family as “domestic church,” the primary community in
which the faith is nurtured. Moreover, within many parishes small faith
communities have formed, along with support groups and a deliberate focus on
welcoming a diversity of cultures and generations.
(3)
The role of the bishops. While the First Vatican Council (1869-70)
emphasized the papacy, the Second Vatican Council emphasized the dignity and
authority of the bishops. The word “collegial” expressed the Council’s
understanding of the role of the college of bishops in leading the Church. It
declared that the bishops, always in union with the Pope, “have supreme and
full authority over the universal Church” (#22). Collegiality has had practical
implications for church governance. For example, it has led to the
establishment of the Synod of Bishops, through which the Pope periodically
consults with representatives of the world’s bishops. The most recent synod, on
the topic of the New Evangelization, was convened in October 2012.
(4)
The permanent diaconate. Two paragraphs in LG have had a huge impact,
especially in the U.S. They authorize the restoration of the diaconate as a
permanent order of ministry. That is, mature married men can be ordained as
deacons to assist bishops and priests in their pastoral ministry, including
preaching and officiating at baptisms, weddings and funerals. Many U.S.
dioceses have taken full advantage of this opportunity. The U.S. leads the
world in the number of permanent deacons; nearly 15,000 serve in active
ministry, and over 90 percent of them are married.
(5) The lay vocation. Running
through the entire document, and picked up by other Council documents, is the
theme of lay participation in the Church’s mission. All the faithful, by virtue
of their baptism, are called to proclaim Jesus to the world. The lay faithful
live out this call by witnessing to Christ in the family, the workplace, and
the civic community. This is the “secular character” of the laity, which
demands their active engagement with the world. If the role of the laity was neglected
in the past, Lumen gentium restores
it to its proper place, proclaiming, “And so, worshipping everywhere by their
holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God.”
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Archbishop Roger Schweitz is the former chairman of the U.S. Bishops Liturgy Committee.
Archbishop Roger Schweitz is the former chairman of the U.S. Bishops Liturgy Committee.
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