Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Church Before and After Vatican II - Class 2

The conversion of Constantine to Christianity resulted in 1500 years of struggle within the Church. Actually, we don't really know what it was like before, we can only presume, because nothing was written about the Church because she was "The Church". Nevertheless, there were dramatic differences in the Church after Vatican II. The Church went from a static world view to a dynamic world view and from an anti-historical world view to a historical world view. The anti-historical view that dominated between the Council of Trent and Council of Vatican II is one of the reasons that the Catholic Church had such a hard time adapting. The Church also went from a Neo-Scholastic view to an experiential view. Previous to Vatican II the Church worked from given principles and deduced answers and explanations; thus "God created the world therefore evolution couldn't be possible".

The goal of Vatican II also deviated from the earlier councils of decrees (legal documents) to a more pastoral / internalization of Christianity. The primary characteristic of the Council of Trent was reform, whereas the characteristic of Vatican II was renewal. The defensive mode adopted by the Council of Trent continued until Vatican II. When Pope John XXIII announced the council he said, "Let us now look at ourselves", which was truly a gift from God. It's interesting to note that the Pope wasn't the head of all diocese until the beginning of the Franco Prussian War and after WWII the Church was becoming a World Church, no longer dominated by Western European thought. Bishops from throughout the world attended and participated in Vatican II, and these representatives could be divided into two basic groups; the conservatives insisted on never changing, and the liberals were intent on change without end.

After Vatican II, the Church was not prepared for the rush to make the changes visible, and some feel that unintended results now need to be corrected. Restorationists argue that changes were announced although no guidelines were provided, which led to these errors in implementation. The question for a world church is how can we be many and yet be one, not Western-European-Italian-Vatican, and the rhetoric within the Church profoundly changed in answering this question. The Catholic Church is a world church, no longer Western European; it is the worldwide Church of Christ.

As an example; the Orthodox view of the Church is circular with the Bishop (and God) at the center, while the Roman view of the Church is pyramidal, with the Bishop (and God) at the top. Another example is the new liturgy being introduced this fall. It contains earlier translations from Latin that are not well received within the English speaking Church. The German, Italian, and Spanish speaking world have been using this wording in Mass all along, because it more closely matches the original Latin. Participating in Liturgy, by breaking bread, is how we are Church, and it's how we inspire the faithful to become one heart, in Love.

Mary, the Holy Mother of God, has always been seen as nurturing the Church, so why has this developed as a division between Catholics and Protestants? After Trent there was a conscious effort to emphasize those things that were rejected by the Protestants. It's encouraging to note that integrating Mary in the Vatican II documents was well accepted by Protestants. Another issue is that Protestants have lost the value of repetitive prayer, even though most religions have traditions of repetitive prayer. For Protestants, the ability to make meaning in prayer has become the responsibility of the individual. The opposite of repetitive prayer, however, might be thought of as multitasking. Multitasking is difficult, and few of us are capable of breath in, breath out, be silent, be still. Nevertheless, this difference in style between Protestants and Catholics doesn't necessarily indicate a difference in beliefs. Repetitive prayer is beneficial, as is individual prayer.

Where do we go from here? It would be helpful to go back to Vatican II and see what the documents say, since every Bishop from every diocese in the world came together to create these documents. Truly the Holy Spirit was at work at the council, and each of us must be on our knees for guidance in understanding the result of the council. The Church always needs renewal, just as we humans need renewal. The Church is made up of pilgrims on a journey, and it's obvious that not everyone is a saint. Everything does not revolve around the Church; the church revolves around the Kingdom of God. Something we've learned through hospice workers is that God comes to the dying through the people who are present to the dying. That which is good in me is God's Grace, and that which is bad in me is my fault. Sometimes it's important to look not just at the painting but to the light shining on the painting, so it is for the Church, we can't just look at the Church we must look to Christ who is the light of the world.

All models are valid! The model of the Church as Servant to the world didn't exist in the early Church because the early Church expected the eminent return of Jesus. Only after 70 AD and the destruction of the Temple did the Church as Servant become important. The model of the Church as the Body of Christ is very old: Catholics and non-Catholics have to understand that the Liturgy of the Word is important. Sacrament as a model for the Church didn't emerge until post WWII, it sees the Church as a symbol, a visible sacrament that points to some reality beyond itself; that is God. It recognizes that the Holy Spirit "blows in other winds" and that God's Grace is present in other places. This is unlike the medieval idea of Sacrament, in which the sign itself was the thing itself. Today the idea of unity of all things in Christ encourages us to believe that the Church does not equal Kingdom; instead the Church is within the Kingdom.

Where do we go now? It's time for a renewal of the process of renewal, of not being afraid to take risks or of trusting others; it's learning to trust the Holy Spirit. God does not want us to be flawless, yet despite our flaws we must always place Christ at the center of our lives. It’s time to worry less about our relationship with other churches, and worry more about our relationship with the secular world. One thing unique about our culture is that people no longer leave the commitment of one community to join another community, today people are leaving the commitment of one community and not joining any other community. No culture has run from death like ours in the present day. People no longer see or value their connection to the past, but instead they are abandoning the historical, while at the same time the Church is becoming reconnected with its history. The Church must continue to learn how to renew its future by continuously revisiting its past. We must make the Church welcome and open to everyone.

No comments:

Post a Comment