Dear People Whom God Loves,

X

REFLECTIONS ON

VATICAN COUNCIL II

Again, these thoughts come from Keys to the Council.  What do we mean when we say that our church is Catholic?  We have often thought that our church is universal in the sense of spreading across the world.  That is a superficial meaning.  Rather, the word points to unity in diversity.  This means that we are diverse but not divisive.  Our fundamental doctrine is the Blessed Trinity.  There we find unity in diversity.

Notice that unity in diversity excludes two extremes.  It excludes uniformity and it excludes diversity that causes separation.  I see that this is possible only when we listen and learn from our various perspectives.  When we un-humbly believe that our perspective is the whole truth, the result is either uniformity or separation.  When we allow the Love that is God to work in us, that Love will dissolve our egocentricity and we will be able to listen, learn, and love.

“Catholic” also reminds us that the message of Jesus can take root in any culture.  We so often think that our own culture is the only proper one or, at least, the best one.  We are so immersed in it that we don’t see how the way we think is influenced by—and even formed by—the culture in which we live.  All humans are in a culture.  We could no way be able to live without a culture than a fish could live outside of water.

A mistake we have made is to spread the Good News along with our western culture.  The Good News is universal.  Western culture is not.

Fr. Karl Rahner said that we functioned “as an export firm which exported a European religion as a commodity it did not want to change but sent throughout the world together with the rest of the culture and civilization it considered superior”.

This should remind us that we must make the Good News available to people in the culture of the United States and to the diverse people within our country’s culture.

I would judge that if people do not see love and compassion in us, the Good News will not be heard.

Smile, God Loves You,

Father Clay

Dear People Whom God Loves,

XI

REFLECTIONS ON

VATICAN COUNCIL II

With the document “On the Right to Religious Freedom” came a big change in the position of our church.

With the emperor Constantine in the beginning of the Fourth Century, Christians became protected.  Later in the century, Emperor Theodosius I declared that Christianity would be the only religion tolerated in the empire.

This idea of one religion in the state remained the position in the West until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.  With the Peace of Augsburg, either Catholicism or Lutheranism could exist.  The religion of the prince of the region determined which religion was embraced.

In the next century, Calvinism was added to the previous two with the addition that the other two religions would be tolerated.  That is…the two that were not the official religion of the territory.

With the restoration of Charles II in the 17th century, those not belonging to the Church of England were penalized.  This included Catholicism, dissenting Protestants, Puritans, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists.  Many of these fled to the American colonies of New England.

In the 18th century during the French Revolution, church properties were confiscated and tens of thousands of priests fled the country to escape prison or the guillotine and the papal states were seized.

With this background, in 1864 Pope Pius IX issued the Syllabus of Errors which included condemnation of religious freedom (which was seen as rooted in the nationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment).  This was also condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907.

This was the background preceding Vatican Council II.

More next time.

Smile, God Loves You,

Father Clay

Dear People Whom God Loves,

XII

REFLECTIONS ON

VATICAN COUNCIL II

As Vatican II began, because of the different experiences in their homelands, Spanish and Latin American bishops favored repeating the teachings of Popes Pius IX and X.  Bishops from the Eastern Catholic Churches wanted to promote the principle of religious freedom.

The position of the church as the council opened was that where Catholics were in a majority, they should have the exclusive right to exist.  However, when Catholics were in a minority, they should be tolerated and protected.

The council document stated, “the search for truth must be carried out in a manner appropriate to the dignity and social nature of the human person”.  “The individual must not be forced to act against conscience nor be prevented from acting according to conscience in religious matters.”  “He [Christ] did not wish to be a political messiah who would dominate by force but preferred to call himself the Sun of Man who came to serve, and ‘to give his life as a ransom for many’.” (DH11)

We can see here that the council saw the primacy of conscience. In discussions before the opening of the council, some held that error has no rights.  Others said that even if that is true, people have rights.  It was also recognized that for an act of faith to be genuine, it must be free and not a coerced act.

We can see from all of this that our church has the capacity to learn and to change.  I believe that the Spirit of God blows where it will in mysterious ways  in our long and often confusing journey.  I trust that the Spirit will prevail in the long run over our frail humanness.

Smile, God loves You,

Father Clay