Lay Appropriation of the Sacraments in the later Middle Ages

Perhaps the most crucial single utterance of the Second Vatican Council, at least in terms of impact on our shared experience as Catholics, occurs at paragraph 14 of the Council's constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. This was the first of the conciliar documents to be promulgated, and in many ways its most bloodily contested production. The paragraph in question runs like this:     

Worship as a Revelation. The Past,Present and Future of Catholic Liturgy

Unitatis Redintegratio (UR), the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, was both the outcome and instrument of ecumenical engagement between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and continues to have a formative influence on their dialogue. In the lead-up to the Council, personal contacts between Church of England leaders and the nascent Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity played a significant part in a change of atmosphere towards other Christian traditions at the Vatican. UR notes the ‘special place’ which the Anglican Communion holds in the communion of churches: the 1966 meeting in Rome between Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI would lead to The Malta Report (1968) and the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). The ‘Principles of Dialogue’ set out in UR – avoiding polemical language; integrating spiritual and academic learning; expounding positions clearly, and committed openness – are affirmed in the light of the experience of ARCIC. The Agreed Statements of ARCIC I and II, focused around the motif of koinonia, are assessed in view of the topics for dialogue listed in UR: Christology; Ecclesiology (including the Blessed Virgin Mary); Sacred Scripture; Life in Christ in communion; Teaching on sacraments and ministry; and Christian personal, family, liturgical and social life. The significance of eschatology in relation to unity in Christ is highlighted, both with reference to Anglican difficulties about gender relations and authority, and to the three-fold use of ‘complete’ in UR. What might it mean for ecumenical dialogue, and ecclesial relationships, to work from the future backwards rather than just from the past forwards – i.e. in terms of faith rather than sight?     

Missionary Institutes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council: the case of the Missionaries of Africa

It is legitimate to imagine that the Church would have been different had it not been for the courage and insight of Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Ecumenical Council, completed after him by Pope Paul VI. It initiated extensive reform in the Catholic Church, both in the way she understands herself and as she sees her presence and interaction with the (secular) world. This Ecumenical Council also invited Religious Congregations and Institutes of Consecrated Apostolic Life to engage in a process of renewal (aggiornamento) that would bring them also into line with the new theology of the Second Vatican Council. The Missionaries of Africa, under the leadership of Fr Léo Volker, undertook this thorough renewal before, during and after the 1967 General Chapter. This article explores how aggiornamento changed our Missionary Family and how it impacted on the local churches in Africa which we served.     

‘But Do Not Use The Rotted Names’: Theological Adequacy and Homosexuality

The Christian evaluation of homosexuality is based primarily on a model which can view homosexuality only as aberrational. From a Christian theological point of view this model articulates an inadequate vision of the dignity of human being. In its deliberations on the process of church, Vatican Council II implicitly developed a relational-progressive model for understanding the salvific engagement of the complete gift of Godlife and creation. This model, in turn, provides a new basis for understanding human dignity and evaluating homosexuality. Viewed from this perspective homosexuality is able to be considered a sacramental embodiment of Godlife.     

Ecology, Justice, Liturgy: A Theological Autobiography

Abstract :  A narrative of the vocational trajectory and theology of a longstanding Christian theologian of nature and church practitioner, from the Lynn White, Jr. controversy to ecojustice issues, through historical Christian attitudes toward nature, cosmic Christology, and the ecological renewal of the Church's liturgy.     

Ecumenical Tensions among Nigerian Christians

This article focuses on recent disturbing trends opposed to Christian unity in Nigeria that have both remote and immediate causes. Although the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was formed to promote unity among the various Christian denominations in the country, it has not been able to achieve its goal. After describing this present situation and the historical factors that caused it, this paper looks to the resources of the Second Vatican Council which CAN should adopt to ease the tension in the country and promote greater dialogue. The article looks at the Roman Catholic‐Lutheran Declaration that was signed in 1999, and officially resolved the disagreements that led to the split led by Martin Luther in 1517. Finally this paper looks at the style of Pope Francis as a living example of effective ecumenism and interfaith dialogue.     

Ethical issues in managed care: a Catholic Christian perspective.

A Christian analysis of the moral conflicts that exist among physicians and health care institutions requires a detailed treatment of the ethical issues in managed care. To be viable, managed care, as with any system of health care, must be economically sound and morally defensible. While managed care is per se a morally neutral concept, as it is currently practiced in the United States, it is morally dubious at best, and in many instances is antithetical to a Catholic Christian ethics of health care. The moral status of any system of managed care ought to be judged with respect to its congruence with Gospel teachings about the care of the sick, Papal Encyclicals, and the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In this essay, I look at the important conceptual or definitional issues of managed care, assess these concerns over against the source and content of a Catholic ethic of health care, and outline the necessary moral requirements of any licit system of health care.     

The roman catholic church and interreligious dialogue: Implications for Christian‐Muslim relations

At the Second Vatican Council, 1965, the Roman Catholic Church, in the declaration Nostra Aetate, opened a new and more positive relationship with Islam and other world religions. In 1984 the Vatican issued a second document, on mission and dialogue, which strongly encouraged interreligious dialogue and set out in detail the breadth of activities involved. Since then there has been in some Catholic circles a growing fear that the emphasis on dialogue has led to an abandoning of the. Church's missionary obligation to proclaim the full Christian Gospel to non‐Christians and to invite them to Christian faith. At the end of 1990 the present Pope issued the encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, ’on the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate’. This was followed five months later by another Vatican document on Dialogue and Proclamation. This paper examines these four documents in the light of the wider debate taking place among Christians on the relationship of Christianity to men and women of other faiths. It concentrates on the specific case of Christian‐Muslim relations and concludes that there is even more need for Christians and Muslims to be religiously sensitive and open; to know and esteem each other's values, and to cooperate for the social, moral and religious well‐being of the whole human family.     

Liturgy and drama: a context of catharsis and transcendence?

This article is concerned with the role of liturgy and drama in the life of the Church and especially with regard to church growth. The assumption that traditional liturgy has only a tangential role in mission is questioned by comparing liturgy and drama and their role in evangelism. Christian worship from the fourth century began to be dramatised; this was a process reinforced by allegorical interpretations of the liturgy. That development and the para-liturgical dramas created from the tenth century onwards were in response to evangelistic needs. Mystery plays, the Holy Week liturgy and popular devotion in medieval Christianity in the West tended to focus on the passion of Christ. They were like tragedy in creating an encounter with death which could lead to catharsis and self-transcendence. Parts of the Holy Week liturgy are looked at in that light. The final section of the article deals with the way the liturgy offers an opportunity for corporate and personal renewal both in terms of inward preparation and outward proclamation of the Easter mystery. In these ways liturgy offers a context for an experience of God and can be seen as having an important role to play in church growth.     

Renegotiating Aquinas

While Roman Catholic feminist ethicists typically endorse moral realism and crosscultural standards of justice, they also have been influenced by the postmodern interrogation of abstract reason and moral universalism. As theologians writing after the Second Vatican Council, they are increasingly sensitive to the communal and ecclesial dimensions of morality and of Christian ethics, and to the integral relation of Christian faith and ethics. This essay will consider two approaches to Catholic feminist ethics that differ in the relative weight they give to constructive work for social justice (realist gender justice ethics), or to the grounding of ethics in prayer and mysticism (postmodern gendered faith ethics). Using critical feminist reappropriations of the theology and ethics of Aquinas as examples, this essay will argue that the two approaches are overlapping and interdependent.     

Ressourcement or Aggiornamento? An Assessment of Modern Liturgical Reforms

This article assesses the liturgical reforms attributed to Alexander Schmemann and New Skete monastery. A close examination of these reforms demonstrates that they were primarily pastoral attempts to continue the work inaugurated by the Moscow Council of 1917–18 (Schmemann), and to restore monastic stewardship of venerable liturgical traditions (New Skete). The author suggests that it would be more fruitful to approach the question of renewing tradition on the basis of the goals of liturgical renewal, which happen to be common to both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, namely liturgical theosis, or divinization of the people through liturgical events.     

The Eastern Catholic Churches and the paradox of Vatican II

The author investigates the challenges to Catholic ecclesiology presented by two Eastern Catholic Churches – the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church – as they assert prerogatives validated by the teachings of Vatican II. In their reception of the Council these Churches highlight the need to develop the Trinitarian and Eucharistic ecclesiology rediscovered by the Council. This practical development is mirrored in the progress of the International Roman Catholic–Orthodox Dialogue and the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Although a final resolution still awaits, it is evident in the treatment of the Eastern Catholics by the Vatican that reception of the Council demands a renewed understanding of the mutual interdependence of primacy and conciliarity. Such a development will only hasten Christian reunification.     

The Worker-Priest Archetype

The concept of the worker-priest archetype, in its most recent official form, originated in France's Roman Catholic Church as a missionary attempt to “rediscover the masses” of the industrial class workers in the French factories of the 1940s. This effort was shut down by the Vatican in the 1950s out of fear of Communist influence within the movement. With the advent of the Vatican II Council (1962–1965) of the Catholic Church, new life seemed to have been infused into this archetype. For example, the liberation theology movement in Latin America was strongly influenced by Vatican II. In the United States, many new forms of liturgical celebration were created, and social reform movements, doubtless as part of the 1960s social-revolutionary energy, emerged and were fostered. When the conservative faction within the Catholic hierarchy reacted to what they perceived as dangerous and threatening developments in the church, they acted to stop this liberal movement. One likely consequence of this slamming shut the windows that had been newly opened by Vatican II was a mass exodus of Catholic priests in the United States who left the clergy and entered civilian life.

?This article focuses on interviews with three of the men who were active Catholic priests, two of whom chose to leave the priesthood and one who remained a priest but moved the focus of his work to the “inner city.” There he cared for young black men as an unofficial social worker/priest, operating on his own to serve a population traditionally underserved by the Catholic Church.     

Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941): mysticism and worship

This article focuses on some themes in the work of Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941). It is now over a century since she began work on the first version of Mysticism (1911). She was a pioneer not only in the study she undertook for this book, but in the specifically Christian theology she was bold enough to work out from it, with Christ in person the paradigm mystic. The Latin Mass of her day she deemed both as recapitulating Christ's own experience, as well as re-presenting the stability and growth of his ‘Body’ present at the Eucharist. Once recommitted to the Church of England in 1921, at a time of liturgical revision and in a deeply troubled political era, her concentration on Christ's sacrifice led her to embrace pacifism as the world lurched towards World War II. Her theological work, summed up in her final major book Worship (1936), reveals her continuing preoccupation with the question of how Christology integrates with liturgy, and therefore with the living of a distinctively Christian life.     

The 40th anniversary of Vatican II: examining Dominus Iesus,and contemporary issues for inter‐religious dialogue between Muslims and Catholics

Since the Second Vatican Council, Muslim–Catholic relations have taken monumental and historical steps in areas of inter‐religious dialogue, in social and religious cooperation, and in collaborating in protecting human freedom. The 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council celebrated last year highlighted this courageous move towards recognizing each other's unique religious traditions. This paper examines Muslim–Catholic relations in recent history under the leadership of John Paul II, and especially within the context of the controversial Vatican document Dominus Iesus issued in 2000. It explores critical areas of concern in Dominus Iesus for Muslim–Catholic relations, as well as analyzing its merits in terms of inter‐religious dialogue.     

The ordo of care

What is the relationship between practices of care towards people living in marginalized life situations and liturgy? This article addresses this question by exploring the liturgical theology of Gordon Lathrop as the theoretical starting point for analysing a practice that would conventionally not be described as “liturgy”, but “ethical practice”. At the heart of the liturgical theology of Lathrop is the idea that the ordo of the Sunday service is organized by juxtapositions and broken symbols. In this article, Lathrop’s theology is brought into a hermeneutical dialogue with empirical material constructed from the Church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway, a Lutheran medieval church located in the middle of the city of Trondheim. Since 2008, the church has been run by the Church City Mission as an open church for all who need an open and hospitable sacred space in the city centre, especially people who live in marginalized life situations. The article demonstrates that when working inductively with an empirical material, Lathrop’s concepts are too narrow and hermeneutically closed. In order to be theoretically sensitive to the experiences of people who live in marginalized life situations and the ethical practices of care, liturgical theology has to reimage its understanding of space.     

Eschatology and Theology of Hope: The Impact of Gaudium et Spes on the Thought of Edward Schillebeeckx

Before the Second Vatican Council, Edward Schillebeeckx O.P. (1914–2009) had begun to reassess and the role and nature of eschatology as a discipline within Catholic theology. He began to formulate an early theology of hope in the 1950s which he would later develop quite extensively. His reflections during the Council on the famous draft of Gaudium et Spes, and on the finished document reveal the urgency of rethinking the essential relationship between ‘church’ and ‘world’. This article examines the impact of Gaudium et Spes on Schillebeeckx's work in two aspects. First, the way that it helped to orient his eschatological thought towards an emphasis on the ‘future’. The distance between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’, coupled with the essential place of creation as the site of God's salvific activity in history, began to push Schillebeeckx towards an eschatological and primarily future‐oriented understanding of Christian praxis and preaching. Second, this article will examine the anthropology that Schillebeeckx reads from Gaudium et Spes and the way in which a ‘new image’ of humanity, in light of a future‐oriented eschatology, contributed to his attempts to rethink the tension between ‘church’ and ‘world’.     

SHOULD WE SAY THAT THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL HAS FAILED?

Forty years after the end of the Second Vatican Council, contrasting opinions dispute the range of its reception and its real effects as the Catholic Church struggles in a changing world of secularization and pluralism. The present paper tries to throw new light on the historical significance of that event, mobilizing different methods and applying some new ‘hermeneutical lenses’. Four topics will serve for this task: the ‘neo‐Enlightened’ mood that affected a fair amount of its reception; the evolutive process of variations and selections associated with it; the forms of ‘rationalization’ and ‘expansion’, which the Council promoted; and the theological challenge of discerning the ‘signs of the time’. In conclusion, the historical judgment on the Council should keep in mind the complexity of the entire process of modernization it assumed.     

RELIGIOUS CULTURE AND HISTORICAL CHANGE: VATICAN II ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

At Vatican II and since Vatican II there have been Catholics who have held that the Council's teaching on religious freedom is in contradiction to the Church's earlier teaching and practice. The Council defended it as a legitimate development of doctrine in part through claiming that changing human experience in history shows us only gradually what human dignity entails, and the Church learns from this experience. True, the Council's teaching is in part a denial of its earlier teaching and practice. The present article defends the legitimacy of this development through showing that there is a change of paradigm by which the Church now views this issue, a change that includes both continuity and discontinuity. This reliance on what is revealed to us by changing human experience is accepted by the Church only when it sees it as critically evaluated by an adequate philosophy and as in accord with Christian revelation, but its acceptance moves us to a growth in our understanding of revelation itself.     

The concept of the mission of the Church in the Anglican tradition

This article examines the inherent social imagery in Martin Luther’s liturgical writings An Order of Mass and The German Mass from a practice theoretical and liturgical theological approach. How can the liturgical writings be apprehended as images both of and for social life in the specific communities where they are enacted as concrete liturgical practice? The article aims at presenting a thorough reading of the actual texts with emphasis on the social implications of the liturgical reflections and recommendations, and of material and performative specifications. The underlying thesis of the article is that the liturgical writings both embed, develop and sustain significant social images and comprise multiple reflections regarding the societal dimensions of partaking in liturgy.