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Home , Aggiornamento, Second Vatican Council

VATICAN II Why Did the Occur?

(particularly as the growing John XXIII (now Blessed populations of Christians in John XXIII) called the Second various parts of Africa and Asia Vatican Council on January 25, attest). The Council addressed 1959. His intention for doing so these issues by introducing suggests that the purpose of the changes in the liturgy that Council was twofold. First, the included (local) lan- Council was to be pastoral. Just guages, calling for an openness as a shepherd pastors his land to new styles of , and sheep, John XXIII, as the stressing concern for the pope and pastor of the Roman Church’s mission to evangelize Church, sought to (witnessing to and building build the of those within Mengeling Photo © Carl F. faith), and highlighting the Church. This Council was the need for a more just and to do more than simply look inward to the faith of the equitable social order. Of course, these are only a few of the Church’s members; it was to be ecumenical as well. Today, concerns of the Council that we know and experience regu- when we hear the word “ecumenical,” we usually think of the larly. Overall, this updating was not, as John XXIII stated, among various faith with one another. In a changing of beliefs, but the updating of how beliefs a broad sense, this dialogue tends to focus on the similarities are presented. and divergences on how various faith traditions understand Of course, this concern is closely related to living faith. and practice the faith. The human response to God’s gift of is faith. Faith To be ecumenical, according to the Greek root of the is not only intellectual; it is also something that is felt and word, means to take care of and order one’s own household. acted upon within human lives in daily activities. The The Second Vatican Council, as an ecumenical event, was an Council met from 1962 through 1965, though John XXIII ordering of the household in the presence of representative died in the summer of 1963. He attended only the first ses- Christians from other faith traditions, who listened to but sion of the Council. The Council continued under the newly could not formally take part in the proceedings. While his- elected Pope Paul VI. torically the major councils of the fourth through sixth cen- The Council was called to update the presentation of turies dealt with right or correct faith (for instance, how we faith and to spiritually strengthen the lives of all the faithful understand Christ as both fully divine and fully human in the modern . Giuseppe Alberigo, a noted historian comes from the early councils), the Second Vatican Council of the Second Vatican Council, suggests that the Council was pastoral. Again, pastoral because its first concern was to was indeed quite successful in its goals. Not only did the car- discuss how to build and strengthen faith as it is lived and dinals, , and who voted to approve the practiced by all of the faithful. final Conciliar documents wel- The second John XXIII called the council was come the documents, but the to “update” () the Church to modern times. Church as a whole enthusiasti- Since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment Western cally embraced the documents’ Europe had been growing more secular. Since that time, faith contents (A Brief History of was increasingly viewed and practiced as private and individ- Vatican II, trans. Matthew Sherry ual. The other reality, as , sj, has suggested, was [Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, the rapidly growing reality of around the globe; 2006], 130). the Church is not limited to Western Europe, but is global

The 50th Anniversary of the on the Sacred Liturgy: A Celebration © 2013 Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. Orders: 1-800-933-1800. Written by Kristopher W. Seaman. This material originally appeared in Pastoral Liturgy® magazine. granted by the Reverend Monsignor John F. Canary, , Archdiocese of Chicago on June 5, 2013.