This article attempts to bring more clearly into light Yves Congar's contribution to Lumen gentium. During the preparatory period of the council, Congar contributed some vota which influenced the De ecclesia schema of 1962, but more important were his theological publications which helped form the ecclesiological vision of many bishops. During Vatican II, his informal contribution through unofficial meetings and lectures gradually was replaced by a direct role in drafting and revising texts. His influence can be seen principally (...) in the first two chapters of Lumen gentium, rendering it more biblical and patristic and placing into relief 1) the priority of grace over structure, 2) the historicity of the Church, giving better expression to its humanity and catholicity, and 3) its essentially missionary nature. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta una lectura de los números 14 a 16 de la Constitución Dogmática Lumen gentium, sobre la posibilidad de salvación para los no-católicos, dentro del marco de la “hermenéutica de la reforma en la continuidad”, propuesta por el papa Benedicto xvi. En diálogo con los teólogos que han tratado este tema desde el Concilio Vaticano ii, se analiza aquí las líneas de continuidad e innovación que se encuentran en la Lumen gentium, identificando los elementos (...) doctrinales esenciales del axioma extra ecclesiam nulla salus y describiendo la nueva síntesis operada en el Concilio. (shrink)

Light of the Nations is a philosophical work written by the Jewish intellectual and eminent biblical commentator Obadiah Sforno (ca. 1475-1550). His treatise, an apology for both Jewish and universal monotheistic beliefs, was published in Hebrew in 1537 under the title Or 'Ammim and was translated by the author into Latin as Lumen Gentium in 1548. Written in the style of a classical medieval Scholastic summa, the treatise's multilingual and multicultural dimensions reveal key humanist ideas that prevailed in (...) the cities of northern Italy during the early modern period, while also speaking to its author's abiding exegetical rationality. (shrink)

Le terme 'sacrement' a été attribué à l'Église par Vatican II qui en avait retrouvé la signification grâce au récent renouveau de la patristique. Le 'mystère' spécifie traditionnellement tout sacrement. Le mystère fondateur de l'Église-communion en Christ invite aussi à interpréter son essence sans la réduire à n'être qu'une des voies possibles du salut, mais sans lui réserver non plus une exclusivité d'ordre 'physique'. L'Église est structurée selon sa mission de sainteté, sa finalité étant le salut du monde.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:THE HOLINESS OF THE CHURCH IN LUMEN GENTIUM HE NOTION OF the Church as a smner, not often spoken of in Catholic theology of other times, has become quite common in recent years.1 Among the questions of a pastoral and theological nature that have given rise to it, the following may be noted: a) The ecumenical question. Many would wish the Church as such to accuse herself (...) of sin, as a means towards reconciliation. b) The idea borrowed from traditional Protestant theology of a certain compatibility between sin and holiness,2 the simul sanctus et pecca.tor of Luther. c) The notion of evil as a mere deficiency properly belonging to a given stage of development of the Cosmos; such is t:he understanding of Teilhard de Chardin.3 1 The mark of holiness has been applied to the Church more than any of the other three, from the very beginning of Christian times; Baptismal creeds are a clear witness to this. 2 Cf. n. 66 on Kiing. 3 "What is the inevitable complement of anything which results from such a process (an evolutive one) but having to pay the price of some losses? Lack of harmony and physical decomposition in the Pre-Vivant, suffering in the Vivant, sin in the dominion of Freedom..." (Comment je crois) ; "We must say that God, in spite of his power, cannot unite any creature to himself without necessarily entering into battle with Evil, because Evil appears inevitably with the first atom of being which creation 'releases' into existence. Creation and sinlessness are terms as much at loggerheads with divine Power and Wisdom as creature with unicity" (Notes sur les modes de l'ac-tion divine dans l'Universe-yr. 1920). Undoubtedly, sin in its effects is a lack of what man (and creation dependent on him) should have, but the point that Teilhard misses is that the 'deficiency' due to sin (unlike other imperfections found in creation) is due to the responsible action of human beings, and has no inevitability about it. 673 674 PAUL o'cALLAGHAN d) An increased awareness of the social dimension of sm. Undoubtedly sin has numerous (though divisive) social efects.4 But it would be incorrect to affirm that sin is an entirely social phenomenon.5 An application of such a notion to the Church would be an easy next stage. e) A certain undoing of the constrast between the ' Kingdom of God' and the 'world ',6 to the detriment, let it be said, both of the eternity and definitiveness of the former, and the progressive sanctification of the latter. The Church then, not belonging so intimately to the All-Holy, may be more easily looked upon as a sinner. f) Another factor has been the positive humanizing em4 In the Apostolic Exhortation Reeonciliatio et Paenitentia (English translation ; London: CTS, 1984) where Pope John Paul II ga.thers together the findings of the 1983 Synod of Bishops, many acceptable ways of understanding ' social sin' are explained: as mystically ' dragging down ' the whole world; in the sense that it goes in the detriment of our neighbour; in the relationships between various human communities (n.16: p. 51-54). 5 For example, the following words of G. Gutierrez: "No se trata, en la perspectiva liberadora, de! pecado como realidad individual, privada e intimista, afirmada justo lo necesario para necesitar una redenci6n 'espiritual ', que no cuestiona el orclen en que vivimos. Se trata del pecado como un hecho social, hist6rico... El pecatlo se da en estructures opresoras en la explotaci6n del hombre por el hombre, en la dominaci6n y esclavitud de los pueblos, razas y clases sociales. El pecado surge, entonces, como la alienaci6n fundamental, como la rniz de una situaci6n de injusticia y explotaci6n" Teofogia de la liberaci6n (Salamana: Sigueme, 1972), p. 236-237. And in a more recent work of his: " pecar es optar por la opresi6n y contra la liberaci6n " La fuerza hist6rioa de los pobres, (Lima, 1979) p. 19. As J. M. IbaiiezLanglois points out, this statement would be fine if it were to say 'to opt for oppression and against liberation is sinful', that is one more among many possible sins: Teologia de la liberacion... (shrink)

La répartition habituelle des traités en théologie laisse souvent l’ecclésiologie à distance des questions touchant au pluralisme religieux et c’est davantage le christologue ou le spécialiste de la théologie fondamentale qui sont sollicités. Pourtant, les débats ayant trait à cette question ne sont pas sans répercussions sur l’ecclésiologie et spécialement sur l’articulation entre l’Église et le Règne de Dieu. Dans cette perspective, il est utile de revenir sur deux expressions qui qualifient le lien à l’Église au concile Vatican II, à (...) savoir « incorporé à » qui qualifie l’appartenance des catholiques à leur Église et l’expression « ordonnés à l’unité du Peuple de Dieu » qui s’applique à « ceux qui n’ont pas encore reçu l’Évangile ».Cette façon dont le concile a décrit le lien entre l’Église et ceux qui n’en font pas partie appelait à préciser à son tour le lien entre l’Église et le Règne de Dieu. Sur ce point, une étude généalogique permettra de percevoir l’importance de l’évolution opérée par le Magistère et la théologie à la lumière d’une réflexion sur le dialogue interreligieux. De Mystici corporis à Redemptoris Missio se met en place un abandon progressif de la problématique de « l’ordination à » pour traiter de « ceux qui n’ont pas encore reçu l’Évangile », au profit d’une articulation dynamique entre Église et Règne de Dieu. Cette évolution ouvre des pistes à la fois pour le dialogue interreligieux, mais également pour l’ecclésiologie.The usual organisation of theological treatises often leaves ecclesiology apart from questions touching on religious pluralism and leaves these issues to be handled by specialists in Christology or fundamental theology. However, the debates surrounding this issue have a repercussion on ecclesiology and especially on the articulation between the Church and the Kingdom of God. In this perspective, it is useful to come back to two expressions in Vatican II which qualify the link to the Church, that is, “incorporated in” that qualifies the way Catholics belong to their Church, and the expression “related to the unity of the People of God”, which is applied to “those who have not yet received the Gospel”.The way in which the Council described the link between the Church and those who are not yet a part of it entailed elucidating the link between the Church and the Kingdom of God. A genealogical study will enable us to see the importance of the changes carried out by the Magisterium and theology in the light of a reflection upon interreligious dialogue. From Mystici corporis to Redemptoris Missio , we see a progressive setting aside of the problematic of “those who are related to” and its replacement by “those who have not yet received the Gospel”, favouring a dynamic articulation between the Church and the Kingdom of God. This development opens up new ways of thinking for both interreligious dialogue and ecclesiology. (shrink)

La constitución dogmática sobre la Iglesia del concilio Vaticano II profundiza en las relaciones entre la Tercera Persona de la Santísima Trinidad y la Virgen María. La santidad original de la Virgen, formada por el Espíritu Santo como nueva criatura, requerirá de ella una actitud activa y consciente, como colaboradora única en su obra. De este modo, la Madre de Dios aparece con las notas de “Casa de Dios”, “Theotokos” y “Madre de la Iglesia”. La obra de H. Mühlen se (...) convierte en referencia canónica obligada para la recta comprensión de esa relación pneumatológica. (shrink)

What unites Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI to the French is ressourcement, a controversial movement that initiated a brilliant reorientation of Catholic thought and teaching in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the light of the significant work that has already been done on Ratzinger’s original contribution to Vatican II, the objectives of the present paper are, first, to situate him as theologian and Christian humanist at the heart of the ressourcement movement and to evaluate his work for peace and (...) harmony in the confines between past and present. It attempts to illuminate a way forward for the Church, based on the anthropological, philosophical, and spiritual foundations of the new Christian humanism of the ressourcement project, championed by the French and their German allies. Secondly, the paper seeks to document the influence of notable, twentieth-century, French Catholic thinkers, theologians and philosophers, on Ratzinger’s thought and future contribution to Church and culture on a global stage, with particular attention to Yves Congar, Henri de Lubac, Jean Daniélou (1905-74), and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973). Thirdly, it presents a fresh consideration of his vision of the Church, his contribution to the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, and of the turbulent post-conciliar period. The key goals in this domain are, therefore, to articulate Ratzinger’s spirituality and his preponderant contribution to theological anthropology, using the lens of Vatican II. This is a point of some considerable importance and fills a critical lacuna in Catholic theology. As a pertinent comment of Congar’s makes clear. “For there is little awareness of the values of anthropology; we have created an ecclesiology without any anthropology”. Like Congar, Ratzinger sought to construct a theological anthropology concerned to serve the pastoral needs of the Church but without neglecting its cultural and social elements. Spirituality and anthropology are then, unsurprisingly, as luminous, intricately interwoven threads that permeate and fortify his entire theological edifice. (shrink)

La determinación de la identidad de los presbíteros en los documentos del Concilio Vaticano II no es clara. La recepción de la enseñanza conciliar, en consecuencia, ha sido compleja, en especial en la formación del clero. En términos generales, los aportes de Optatam totius y Presbyterorum ordinis deben interpretarse a la luz de Lumen gentium 10, 2, pues este texto constituiría el principio de armonización teológica de la enseñanza conciliar. En esta investigación se da cuenta de la doctrina (...) de dichos textos conciliares, de Pastores dabo vobis, de las normas vaticanas para la formación del clero (rationes) y de la recepción de estos documentos en el magisterio y las directrices correspondientes de la Iglesia en América Latina y el Caribe. El resultado, en pocas palabras, es preocupante. En las rationes nationales se reconoce una involución respecto de las innovaciones más importantes del Concilio. (shrink)

Postulating that Pope Francis continues the unfinished agenda of the Second Vatican Council, the authors propose, through bibliographical analysis, a re-reading of three important texts, showing their relationship with the pontificate of Francis, from the perspective of the conciliar reception: the document still little considered of the Pact of the Catacombs is rescued but inseparable from the council and its reception, especially in our continent, revealing a path of conversion and commitment of the Church of the poor and for the (...) poor; next, some aspects of the two dogmatic constitutions of the council are analyzed, Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium, important matrices for the current pontificate, in its dynamics of reform, aggiornamento, and renewal. In the end, concrete resins in Francis' words, gestures and attitudes can be seen in the texts thematic axes: the principle of pastorality, the centrality of the Gospel, and the displacement of a Church in the process of exit from itself, aspects required that documents end up revealing are agendas still open in the 21st century. (shrink)

This essay argues the image of the ‘Mystical Body’ or ‘Body of Christ’ is fully intelligible only in light of the Cross. The Body of Christ is a cruciform Body. As the Body of Christ crucified and risen, it is presently being configured to Christ in the world through self-sacrificial love. The essay traces the place of the Cross in some representative twentieth-century Catholic theologies of the Mystical Body, in light of the perspective of Thomas Aquinas. I first survey four (...) theologians from the first half of the century who, in their understandings of the Mystical Body, gave a place to the Cross: Emile Mersch, Fulton Sheen, Charles Journet, and Pius Pasch. Here I also examine Pope Pius XII's encyclical Mystici Corporis. Second, I explore the approach of some notable Thomistic theologians or interpreters of Aquinas from the early 1960s onward: Jerome Hamer, M. J. Le Guillou, George Sabra, Jean-Pierre Torrell, and Herwi Rikhof. In this section, I also examine Vatican II's Lumen Gentium. My third and final section treats Aquinas himself, in order to reflect upon the place of the Cross in his understanding of the Mystical Body, as found in his biblical commentaries and the Summa theologiae. (shrink)

Lumen Gentium establishes the relationship «Church - Communion - Mission». In fact the recognition of the connections among these three terms refers back to an understanding of the Church as mystery, set in relation to the trinitarian, christological and anthropological mystery. In the light of Lumen Gentium, the affirmation of the understanding of the Church as mystery cannot be separated from the assertion of the sacramentality of the Church. The focus on the contents of the dogmatic (...) Constitution on the Church and on the historical amd cultural context of the present day allows an understanding of the relationship between Church, communion and mission against the background of the Church understood as the «sacrament of the Kingdom of God». Lumen Gentium does not directly correlate the notions of «sacrament» and of «Kingdom of God», but in its content, it clearly suggests the possibility of such a correlation. (shrink)

La Constitución dogmática Lumen gentium ha rescatado desde la tradición cristiana la expresión Iglesia doméstica para referirse a la familia. Dicha expresión posee en sí misma una riqueza incalculable al momento de descubrir el misterio de la esencia y misión de la familia cristiana, por lo que aporta elementos fundamentales para la elaboración de una teología de la familia. Es por este motivo que la presente investigación pretende levantar una propuesta de lectura eclesiológica de la Iglesia doméstica, a (...) partir de cuatro claves de lectura: cristológica, sacramental, pneumatológica y escatológica. The dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium has rescued from Christian tradition, the expression Domestic Church referred to the family. Such expression possess in itself an invaluable richness considering that discovers the essence and the mission of Christian family. That´s why it contributes with fundamental matters to the elaboration of a Theology of the Family. For this reason, this research pretends to raise a proposal of ecclesiological reading of Domestic Church, based in four key reading points: Christological, sacramental, pneumatological and eschatological. (shrink)

El presente trabajo tiene su centro de interés en el ministerio ordenado, bajo la guía del ordenamiento recíproco que LG 10 establece entre sacerdocio común y sacerdocio ministerial. A este respecto se exponen en un primer momento algunos factores de la situación presente donde puede percibirse la repercusión del tema. Y en un segundo momento se ofrece una reflexión teológica sobre dicho ordenamiento, ubicando el ministerio ordenado en el conjunto del sacerdocio común y haciendo valer el alcance de su realidad (...) sacramental en la forma concreta de servir al sacerdocio común. (shrink)

Fox, Patricia Any study of recent publications, the statistics from diocesan websites and the litanies of anecdotal evidence reveals that the Church in Australia is at present being confronted by some very serious pastoral realities.1 In the face of this, I want to suggest that Vatican II's teaching on the call to holiness can open new pathways for the church by offering a significant challenge to the still widespread assumption among Catholics that God's call belongs only to a select few. (...) I want to propose that a restored and renewed theology of vocation needs to be a crucial element within the church's response to the serious pastoral situations confronting us. I will begin with the teaching on the call to holiness in Lumen Gentium, trace some developments towards a renewed pneumatology and theology of vocation that occurred in the wake of the conciliar teaching on holiness, and then consider briefly the creative impact of this on a theology of ministry and ministerial practice. I want to argue that there is an urgent pastoral necessity in this country for the leadership of the church, universal and local, to receive and enact the church's teaching on being called and sent. (shrink)

This paper will seek to explore some of the implications of the new evangelization from an ecclesiological perspective. A key question is, what is an appropriate ecclesiological context for the new evangelization? Any conclusions or recommendations about how to respond and contextualize the new evangelization need to be grounded in an appropriate ecclesiology; one that sits well with contemporary Catholic scholarship, especially in light of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Following Dulles, no single approach to ecclesiology can fully (...) explain the complex nature of the Church. Taking the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentium as a departure point a number of perspectives will be addressed, but an argument will be made for understanding the new evangelization within an ecclesiology of communion and of discipleship. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Vessel of Honor: The Virgin Birth and the Ecclesiology of Vatican II by Brian A. GraebeAaron Pidel S.J.Vessel of Honor: The Virgin Birth and the Ecclesiology of Vatican II. By Brian A. Graebe (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2021), 351 pp.Though Mary's undiminished virginity in giving birth (virginitas in partu) was long understood to be an event as miraculous and a teaching as authoritative as her virginity in conceiving (...) (virginitas ante partum), virginitas in partu underwent a kind of existential reinterpretation in the middle of the twentieth century. Authors such as Albert Mitterer and Karl Rahner suggested that, physically speaking, Jesus's birth might have happened like any other, rupturing the hymen, distending the birth canal, and causing Mary pain, albeit not in the spiritually disintegrating way common to postlapsarian humanity. These arguments effectively "unsettled" the traditional understanding of virginitas in partu, leading theologians of the highest stature to distinguish between the doctrine itself and the anatomical aspects attached to it over time. Fr. Brian Graebe has written a fine book arguing that the bodily dimensions of the virgin birth, including the physical "seal" of virginity, belong to the substance of the doctrine. This more inclusive understanding not only does better justice to the data of tradition, he argues, but illuminates the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council. The book impresses by its theologically reflective method, its clarity of exposition, [End Page 1106] and its depth of research—especially into the archival and antepreparatory sources of Vatican II.Vessel of Honor responds in effect to Rahner's argument that physical intactness is peripheral to the dogmatic core of Mary's virginity in partu. To show otherwise, Rahner contended, one would need to show that such a doctrine can be found directly in the apostolic teaching, or that it, "being implicitly contained therein, has grown out of the apostolic doctrine, by a legitimate historical, logical, and theological process, as its authentic development" (68–69). If the bodily aspects of this doctrine really belonged to the deposit of faith, in other words, one would need to show how they are implied in the traditio divino-apostolica, as well as how they cohere organically with the rest of the deposit. The two major parts of Vessel of Honor respond in turn to each aspect of Rahner's challenge.The first three chapters argue that Mary's bodily integrity in parturition belongs at least implicitly to the traditio divino-apostolica. Turning first to the postapostolic tradition, Fr. Graebe shows that—apart from the early exceptions of Origen and Tertullian—patristic sources either affirm or strongly imply a miraculous delivery. This constant witness culminates in the Lateran Council (649 AD), which, while not itself an ecumenical council, was received into the magisterium of Pope Martin and affirmed by the Third Council of Constantinople (680 AD). Its teaching that Mary "gave birth without corruption" (incorruptibiliter... genuisse) would be defended by Paschasius, Ratramnus, Thomas Aquinas, and others. This consensus remained undisturbed until the eve of Vatican II.Even at Vatican II, Fr. Graebe argues in the next chapter, the Council Fathers intended to reaffirm the more inclusive idea of virginitas in partu against those who would marginalize its bodily dimensions. Here he really breaks new ground, delving deep into the antepreparatory, preparatory, and conciliar drafting history. He shows convincingly that many of the chief drafters of the final formula—"Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it..." (Lumen Gentium §57)—saw it as excluding Rahner's and Mitterer's minimalizing interpretations. Drawing on material from the Vatican Apostolic Archives, Fr. Graebe shows that some of the very theologians who voted to omit the pointed phrase "in the birth itself" (in ipsomet partu) did so for tonal rather than substantive reasons.The third chapter argues that Mary's physical integrity in birth is to be believed with divine and Catholic faith, despite the ongoing confusion introduced by Rahner and others. Admittedly, Vatican II did not define but merely reaffirmed the traditional understanding of virginitas in partu. But there are other reasons for including it in the traditio divino-apostolica. [End Page 1107] Drawing heavily... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization by Ralph MartinR. Jared StaudtWill Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization. By Ralph Martin. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2012. Pp. 332. $24.00 (paper). ISBN: 978-0-8028-6887-9.The proper interpretation of the Second Vatican Council remains a pressing topic fifty years after the Council’s completion. Pope (...) Benedict XVI made it a hallmark of his pontificate to insist upon a hermeneutic of continuity in interpreting the council in relation to the past, opposing this view to one of discontinuity and rupture (see his “Christmas Address to the Roman Curia,” Dec. 22, 2005). Viewing the council in terms of rupture and correspondingly as an opportunity for disruptive innovation has been described by many as the “Spirit of the Council.” Recently, the conflict of these rival hermeneutics has resurfaced in vehement fashion in relation to proposals for innovation in pastoral practice and even in doctrine regarding marriage and sexuality.Ensuring a proper interpretation of the council requires not only a deep and thorough examination of texts themselves of the council, but also a careful placing of the texts within the Catholic tradition. In this endeavor, [End Page 147] Ralph Martin’s Will Many Be Saved? provides a needed analysis of the council’s teaching concerning salvation and its pastoral implications. In particular, Martin focuses on the meaning, historical and scriptural sources, and theological interpretation of Lumen Gentium (LG) §16. In doing so, he touches on a number of key issues relating to the legacy of Vatican II, most importantly the decline of the missions and evangelization in general. Martin argues that abandoning the proclamation of sin and the possibility of hell in favor of the universality of salvation has led to a serious crisis of evangelization.The first chapter, “Vatican II and the Priority of Evangelization,” places the theme of evangelization at the center of the council’s message. Pope Paul VI declared in Evangelii nuntiandi that the very purpose of the council was to make the Church more fit for the evangelization of the modern world. The topic of evangelization was taken up by Pope John Paul II in his own call for a New Evangelization. Although the New Evangelization focuses on restoring faith in the context of post-Christian cultures, John Paul also sought to reinvigorate the foreign missions, as seen in his encyclical Redemptoris missio. Martin contrasts this emphasis on evangelization with its diminishment in practice due to “a lack of conviction that being a Christian is really necessary in order to be saved. If it is not really necessary... why bother to evangelize?” (5). Although Martin recognizes that the Church teaches the possibility of salvation outside of the visible bounds of the Church, he also posits that “doctrinal ignorance or confusion about what the Church is actually teaching about the possibility of salvation” creates “one obstacle... to evangelization” (6). To respond to this confusion, he turns specifically to LG §16 to clarify the Church’s teaching.The second chapter provides Martin’s initial observations on this central text. Martin divides the text into three sections. The first, 16a, enunciates that those who have not received the gospel are still related to the people of God in various ways, mentioning Jews and Muslims explicitly, and affirms God’s universal will for salvation in 1 Tim 2:4. 16b deals with the possibility of salvation for those ignorant of the gospel, who live rightly in accord with conscience. 16c offers a sobering note, stating that “very often” the deception of the evil one and sin lead to “ultimate despair” and ending with the need to evangelize in order “to procure... salvation.” Martin notes that LG §16 was not controversial during the conciliar debates, though it did raise some concern from missionary bishops, who insisted on a strong reinforcement of the need for evangelization. Though LG only speaks of the possibility of salvation, Martin recognizes a leap from possibility to “probability or even certainty” in the later interpretation of the council (17, italics original), and he cites... (shrink)

In 2016 Pope Francis went to Lund in Sweden for a joint service with the Lutherans to begin the events marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Catholics have also been involved in conferences and other events that have been organized as part of this anniversary. The context and background to the Catholic Church's involvement is the Church's commitment to ecumenical dialogue made at the Second Vatican Council. The theological basis for that commitment is to be found in the Second (...) Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium and its Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. This paper takes the opportunity of this anniversary to take stock of the progress of the ecumenical movement and notes some of the issues and challenges that have impacted upon it. As well as social and cultural factors these include the increasing importance of interreligious dialogue and its relationship to ecumenical dialogue. Ecumenists also have to take account of the widely varying interpretations of the Reformation offered by church historians. Finally the paper argues that in the Catholic Church perceptions of ecumenism often fail to take account of the many ways in which the Second Vatican Council significantly changed the global role and profile of the Catholic Church as a source and agent of peace and reconciliation on many different levels. Ecumenical engagement is an integral part of that continuing development which is increasingly acknowledged by political and religious leaders throughout the world. (shrink)

Cette étude examine cinq principaux changements de méthodologie qui se trouvent dans cinq documents-clé de Vatican II, afin de discerner à quel point ces documents sont cohérents avec ou différents des principales caractéristiques de méthodologie de la période du concile. L'article commence par une introduction à trois approches théologiques en voque dans les écrits catholiques romains au temps du concile: néo-scolastique, transcendantalisme et correlationisme. La conscience historique est aussi examinée comme une note importante de méthode théologique. L'article examine ensuite Sacrosanctum (...) Concilium, Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Dignitatis Huamnae et Gaudium et Spes en vue de ces données. L'étude identifie six changements méthodologiques notoires dans les documents: la mise en sourdine de la néo-scolastique du 19e siècle, la transformation de la néo-scolastique grâce aux ressources bibliques, la montée de questions centrales à la méthode transcendentale, des essais tardifs mais importants de raisonnement transcendental, une corrélation toujours croissante de mode confessionel, une conscience historique en développement. En conclusion, les A. affirment une évolution méthodologique dans Vatican II qui pourrait valider une évolution continue de la méthode théologique aujourd'hui. (shrink)

This article examines the theology of Charles Journet in light of the Second Vatican Council's teaching on sacerdotal and episcopal character. Journet's theology is placed in dialogue with the teaching of the Council and subsequent questions that have resulted from it, from three overlapping perspectives. First, Journet's theology of Orders, especially as articulated in his celebrated work The Church of the Word Incarnate, is presented. Second, in light of his theology of Orders, the content of Cardinal Journet's written submission on (...) the draft of Presbyterorum Ordinis during the final session of the Council is brought to light. Finally, Journet's own reflections on Lumen Gentium are examined for the sake of further pinpointing his own position on sacerdotal character in relation to the teaching of the Council. This article seeks to highlight the value that Journet's thought has in its own right for probing contemporary theological questions and, additionally, to draw attention to his role and presence at the final session of the Second Vatican Council. Journet's presence and role at the Council have, heretofore, been largely untreated by Anglo-American theologians. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:162 BOOK REVIEWS L'un et l'autre sacerdoce: Essai sur la structure sacramentelle de l'Eglise. By DANIEL BOURGEOIS. Paris~ Desclee, 1991. Pp. 243. 89F (Paper). This essay in sacramental theology forms part of the prestigious Desclee collection Essai, which includes works by such celebrated authors as Jean Danielou and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The present author belongs to a recently-formed monastic community, the Fra· ternite des Moines apostoliques, which claims (...) among its principal ministerial priorities the proper celebration of the Church's foll liturgy. The Fraternity staffs the parish church of Saint Jean de Malte, which enjoys a well-earned reputation in the French Proven~al region as a center of liturgical and ecclesial renewal. The present book actually contains two essays. The first essai comprises the book's principal divisions where the author presents his main proposal. Developed during a series of conferences that the author delivered to a group of French bishops, these seven chapters unfold Bourgeois's fundamental thesis concerning the sacramentality of the Church. Unlike a great deal of contemporary ecclesiology, which tends to focus on structural analyses of the institutional Church, the author retrieves a significant theme of the Second Vatican Council's Lumen gentium on the sacramental nature of the Church. In particular, his thesis holds that the sacramentality of the ministerial priesthood forms a living center of the Church's visible presence in the world. While the transcendence of Christ's saving action guarantees the validity of the Church's commission to sanctify, to teach, and to govern, this three· fold mission operates efficaciously only to the extent that the whole Church, priests and Christian faithful together, sacramentally form a catholic Body throughout the world. At the same time, the author strongly insists that one cannot reduce the sacramental dimension of the Church to a number of £unctions which either priests or the Christian faithful discharge. Instead, Bourgeois envisions a complementarity of charisms which, by reason of their common derivation from divine grace, manifest an unambiguous manifestation of the true Church of Christ, in which excessive clericalism finds no quarter. But there is another essay in this book, and it is found in the "Notes" attached to each of the seven chapters and to the appendix significantly entitled, " On a certain ambiguity in post-conciliar ecclesiology." These eight sections of "notes," it is true, contain the ordinary references and bibliographical information which serve to document and support the author's main argument, but there is much more to be found in these 46 pages of fine print text. Here the author BOOK REVIEWS 163 sets forth in a trenchant style his incisive analysis of a wide range of theological issues, from the influence of Heidegger on modern university -centered theology to certain interventions made by a Swiss bishop during the synodal debates over the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici. In reading these notes, one is reminded a hit of the genius of Nietzsche, for instance, in Beyond Good and Evil, who brilliantly exposes the core of critical questions in epigrammatic style and still leaves the reader with something to think about. In fact, the substantial notes are so well constructed that they can he read with profit, even independently of the main text. The author is to he congratulated for sharing his theological culture with us and for contributing such a fine essay on this important contemporary question, the distinctive character of the ministerial priesthood. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D.C. ROMANUS CESSARIO, O.P.... (shrink)

La actual etapa en la recepción del Concilio Vaticano II se caracteriza por recuperar la primacía hermenéutica del capítulo II de Lumen Gentium. De este modo se reconoce el carácter vinculante y permanente del sensus fidei fidelium en la construcción del consensus omnium fidelium. El presente artículo ofrece una profundización de esta eclesiología del Pueblo de Dios a la luz de una reconfiguración sinodal. Esto implicará una renovación de la identidad y la vocación de los sujetos eclesiales, y (...) una reforma de la organización y el funcionamiento de las estructuras. En esta nueva etapa se reconoce a la sinodalidad como dimensión constitutiva de la Iglesia. Sin embargo, esto supone diseñar un nuevo modo de proceder eclesial. En este sentido, proponemos que el reto actual debe enfocarse en la construcción de una eclesialidad sinodal que genere un proceso de sinodalización de toda la Iglesia. Se trata de crear la circularidad entre la escucha, el discernimiento, la elaboración y la toma de decisiones en la Iglesia, ya que la eclesiología del Pueblo de Dios nos enseña que en los procesos sinodales se expresa el sensus ecclesiae totius populi y no solo el sensus ecclesiae de la jerarquía. El presente artículo pretende ofrecer el marco hermenéutico para construir una eclesialidad sinodal, lo cual supone, una relectura y profundización de la Eclesiología del Pueblo de Dios, como la presentaremos en este artículo. (shrink)

Though Orientalium Ecclesiarum received less publicity than Lumen Gentium and Unitatis Redintegratio, all promulgated on 21.11.1964, disputes brought issues to the fore which make one wonder whether Orientalium Ecclesiarum's interpretative key does not lie in these disputes. We may not speak of two conflicting souls in Orientalium Ecclesiarum, but of two perspectives, a Catholic Eastern and an ecumenical. Together they spell out what is at stake in Eastern ecumenism; separated they distort the identity of Catholic Eastern Churches. Offering (...) the hitherto most specific image of the East in a conciliar document, Orientalium Ecclesiarum treats some Vatican II themes better than other documents. The overriding issue is how to keep both identity and communion; for Orientalium Ecclesiarum, it can only mean identity through communion. (shrink)

In 2016 Pope Francis went to Lund in Sweden for a joint service with the Lutherans to begin the events marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Catholics have also been involved in conferences and other events that have been organized as part of this anniversary. The context and background to the Catholic Church's involvement is the Church's commitment to ecumenical dialogue made at the Second Vatican Council. The theological basis for that commitment is to be found in the Second (...) Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium and its Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. This paper takes the opportunity of this anniversary to take stock of the progress of the ecumenical movement and notes some of the issues and challenges that have impacted upon it. As well as social and cultural factors these include the increasing importance of interreligious dialogue and its relationship to ecumenical dialogue. Ecumenists also have to take account of the widely varying interpretations of the Reformation offered by church historians. Finally the paper argues that in the Catholic Church perceptions of ecumenism often fail to take account of the many ways in which the Second Vatican Council significantly changed the global role and profile of the Catholic Church as a source and agent of peace and reconciliation on many different levels. Ecumenical engagement is an integral part of that continuing development which is increasingly acknowledged by political and religious leaders throughout the world. (shrink)

Both John Henry Newman and Vincent Gasser offered influential interpretations of the First Vatican Council’s teaching on infallibility. In contrast to many of theircontemporaries, Gasser and Newman placed papal infallibility alongside episcopal infallibility and the infallibility of the Catholic faithful. After exploring the views of Gasser and Newman, this essay compares their views to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on infallibility in Lumen Gentium and concludes that even though Lumen Gentium cited Gasser, its theology is closer (...) to Newman’s. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:332 BOOK REVIEWS lier Christian dualism into a balanced, theological whole. As a protreptic device, Jackson's book may be, in a certain way, part of a collective movement that may form a prolegomenon for a new synthesis-informed by the patristic authors but written as a vademecum for contemporary inquiry. The Catholic University ofAmerica Washington, D.C. ROBIN DARLING YOUNG Ministry: Lay Ministry in the Roman Catlwlic Church, Its History and (...) Theology. By KENAN B. OSBORNE, 0.F.M. (New York: Paulist Press, 1993). Pp. 722. $29.95 (paper). In his Lay Ministry, Fr. Kenan Osborne, O.F.M., sustains his effort to introduce a program of reform in ecclesial self-understanding inaugurated in his earlier Priestlwod: A History of the Ordained Ministry in the Roman Catlwlic Church (New York: Paulist Press, 1988). The project undertaken in this second installment aims primarily to undermine those traditional patterns of distinguishing klerikos/laikos and ordained/non-ordained that locate "lay ministry" at a lower latitude on the ontological map, and in this way to clear a path for a more adequate understanding of the place of the laity in the ministry of the Church. Of the 609 pages of text, 548 are dedicated to genealogical analysis of the transmission of Christian understanding of ministry. The author's narrative might be condensed as follows. The first millennium was a period marred by theological definitions of ministry and order derived from the terms of debate that emerged in the conflict between temporal and spiritual rulers. Necessary for successful participation in this cultural debate was the embrace of a hierarchical view of reality, a view destined to obscure the truth about the distinctively egalitarian Christian form of life in common (48-332). The second millennium is interpreted as a period of the gradual reemergence of a vision and practice of evangelical life that had been surrendered to alien philosophical and religious doctrines. The primary historical moments in this recovery, treated in three successive chapters, include the late medieval vita evangelica movements (333-90), the Protestant Reformation (391-463), and the French and American Revolutions (464-517). The Second Vatican Council, where it treats of lay ministry, consolidated these post-medieval insights gained into the Christian religion and the nature of man (518-95) and advanced the conclusion : Equality of discipleship is primary in the Christian religion and differences in ministerial function serve only to promote this fundamental good. Osborne is aware that this basic line of thought was that taken by the Reformers and found inadequate by the Council of Trent. But Osborne does BOOK REVIEWS 333 not present his position as an instance of theological dissent. Rather, he argues that the magisterium acting in the Second Vatican Council teaches that there exists no meaningful sense in which "lay ministry" can be understood as subordinate (ontologically) to "ordained ministry" in the sacramental life of the Church. This review will focus on this latter aspect of Osborne's argument which, while limited in scope, appears to be the more original and important element of the book. Osborne himself provides a further narrowing of scope with his selection of two key sources upon which he relies: Lumen Gentium and the 1983 Code of Canon Law. In his interpretation of Lumen Gentium, Osborne argues that the rejection of the preparatory documents signaled the majority bishops' desire to distance themselves from a "hierarchical approach" and move toward "a new form of ecclesiology" (516). This new form is rooted in the primacy of Jesus, and it is He (and not the Church) who is the sole lumen gentium, from which it follows immediately that there can be only one form of "gospel discipleship " (530). "All Church ministry, whether ordained or non-ordained, is relativized by the identical christological base" (528), Jesus, who transcends the distinction between clerical and lay (558). Osborne argues further that Lumen Gentium supports this position in its identification of the Church as "the people of God," "christifidelis," and "priesthood of all believers" (530-40). On the basis of this recovery of the "foundational and most sacred level of discipleship " (541), at which level the distinction between ordained and nonordained "makes no difference" (39), Osborne maintains... (shrink)

Réflexions sur deux publications récentes en ecclésiologie : «Eclesiología 30 años después de Lumen Gentium. Pueblo de Dios - Cuerpo de Cristo - Templo del Espíritu Santo - Sacramento - Comuniοn», Pedro Rodríguez , Madrid : Rialp, 1994 et François Guillemette, «Théologie des conférences Episcopales. Une herméneutique de Vatican II», Montréal, QC : Médiaspaul, 1994.

Ekpo, Anthony The Code of Canon Law is intended to be a canonical reception of the ecclesial and theological insights of the Second Vatican Council. In other words, the Code puts into canonical terms the ecclesial and theological discoveries and rediscoveries of Vatican II. In doing that, the Code also inherited and appropriated the terminological, theological, intratextual and intertextual difficulties evident in the final texts of Vatican II, which were left to theologians to interpret and synthesise in the ongoing reception (...) of the council's theology. Triplex munus is one such difficulty that made its way into the text of the Code. The Latin triplex munus or tria munera is a phrase or rubric used retrospectively by theologians to refer to the priestly, prophetic and kingly offices of the post-resurrection Jesus. This trilogy constitutes the overarching framework of the conciliar documents, particularly Lumen Gentium. This rubric is also one of the most influential structural principles underlying the ecclesiology and theology of the Code, even if it is applied somewhat inadequately in a certain sense. (shrink)