CrossCurrents A Catholic Reflects on Faith in Our Times
Bernard
F. Swain, Ph.D. www.CrossCurrents.us
Vatican II: Legacy and Our
Hope
Last week I suggested we risk losing
the legacy of Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) unless the ÒVatican II GenerationÓ convinces
Catholics too young to remember the Council that Vatican II is too important to
forget.
But why do we risk forgetting Vatican II?
And why is it so important to remember?
The most obvious reason for forgetting
Vatican II is that 21st century Catholicism presents a troublingly
negative image for younger Catholics, especially in America. The clergy sex
abuse crisis has scandalized and depressed many Catholics, and provided others
with a convenient excuse to disengage from Church life. The hypocritical and
dishonest leadership of Bishops caused even wider damage than the abusive
behavior of priests. The result: a self-inflicted crisis of credibility that
leaves church authorities powerless to command the respect and compliance of
their flock—and obstructs our view of Vatican IIÕs great accomplishment.
But there is a larger shadow obscuring the
memory of Vatican II: the papacy of John-Paul II. This is ironic, because in
many respects John-Paul IIÕs papacy was a product of the Council, impossible to
imagine except in the post-Conciliar era. But the cult of his personality has
obscured the CouncilÕs importance. For millions of younger Catholics, JP II is their Vatican II – which is to say their Catholic
identity is not as Òpost-Vatican II CatholicsÓ but as ÒJohn-Paul IIÓ Catholics.
For example: it has become commonplace in
the media, both Catholic and secular, to treat the history of late 20th
century Catholicism as though John-Paul II was its most important feature. As I
argued last week, both John XXIII and Paul VI regarded Vatican II as
nothing less than the rebirth of the Catholic Church 20 centuries after its
founding—an event of much greater importance than any one manÕs reign as
Pope.
But assuming I am correct that (1) Vatican
II is too important to forget and (2) recent events may make us forget –what exactly is the legacy that we
risk losing?
Unfortunately, Catholics have floundered
for the answer for 40 years. Too often Catholics have sought answers in the
overwhelming volume of the sixteen documents of Vatican II. In my own view,
those documents provide clear messages about Vatican IIÕs reforms, but they do not send a clear, unambiguous,
uncluttered message about the purpose
of the Council as a whole! Beyond the reforms, everyone seems to know that
Vatican II was about ÒRenewalÓ – but we have been arguing about what that means for 40 years.
For me, the most direct way to understand
what ÒRenewalÓ means (and therefore understand Vatican IIÕs real purpose and
legacy) is to listen carefully to the eloquence and unmistakable clarity of
Vatican IIÕs chief architect, Pope Paul VI.
On October 8, 1965, Paul became the first
ÒPilgrim PopeÓ when he traveled to the New World to address the UN in New York.
Vatican II would end just eight weeks later, but until now it had remained a
distant blip on most AmericansÕ radar. Paul used this speech to announce the
CouncilÕs agenda in the most public way imaginable:
We here celebrate the epilogue of a
weary pilgrimage in search of a conversation with the entire world, ever since
the command was given to us: Go and bring the good news to all peoplesÉThe hour
has struck for our "conversion," for personal transformation, for interior
renewal. We must get used to thinking of humanity in a new way...With a new
manner, too, of conceiving the paths of history and the destiny of the
world...The edifice of modern civilization must be built upon spiritual
principles which alone can, not only support it, but even illuminate and
animate it.
Listen to this man. He is speaking to the
whole world, not just to Catholics. He says the Church has been seeking Òa
conversationÓ with that world. He says our new moment in history demands a new
understanding of humanity and the human future. He says that will only happen
through an inner, Òpersonal transformationÓ in which spiritual principles
animate the whole of our civilized life together.
This agenda goes Ôway beyond turning
altars around or shifting rituals from Latin to English. It is about a new
relationship between the Church and the world.
Over the last 25 years, the Church has
implemented Vatican IIÕs call to reach out to the world – how else to
explain John Paul IIÕs constant globetrotting? But even while reaching out, the
Church in recent years has often seemed fearful and hostile, rather than
charitable and sympathetic.
ItÕs understandable that many Catholics
are disturbed by developments since Vatican II: the spread of legal abortion,
the declining numbers of churchgoers, priests, brothers, and sisters; the
growing secularization and consumerization of modern society; the rise of
terrorism; the decline of Òtraditional moral values.Ó
Any of these might be reasons to abandon
the positive, open, optimistic attitude, except for one thing: all the
troubling developments since
Vatican II pale before the horrific developments before Vatican II. Think of WWI (60,000 dead the first
day at Verdun). Think of WW II, (over
30 million dead, a majority women and children). Think of the Holocaust, and
its systematic attempt to wipe out a people. Think of the Cold War and the
global terror it spawned while condemning most of the world to abject poverty.
HereÕs the bottom line: if those horrors
did not stop John XXIII and Paul VI from proclaiming their vision of
a friendly, optimistic partnership between a ÒrebornÓ Church and a
ÒtransformedÓ world, why should we,
40 years later, fall prey to pessimism, fear, and hostility? Granted, these 40
years have not produced the kind of spiritually ÒilluminatedÓ civilization that
Paul envisioned at the U.N. But was anyone na•ve enough to think that kind of
renewal could be accomplished in a single generation?
Paul VI proposed a Òconversation with the
entire worldÓ to make that vision real. Forty years later, we must ask: are we,
as Church, still speaking to the world? And is the world still listening? If
the answer is yes, then the conversation continues, the legacy is intact, and Renewal
is still our hope for the future.
But if the answer is no, we should not be
surprised if the future is bleak, and we have only ourselves to blame if we
fail to retrieve the vision of Vatican II and convince the next generation to
pick up that conversation anew.
© Bernard F. Swain PhD 2005
Send Your Comments and Questions to bfswain@juno.com
Dr. SwainÕs
opinions do not represent the views of this parish or any other official body.
Bernie Swain has
devoted more than 30 years to adult spiritual formation in dioceses in the US,
Canada, and France. Since 1991 he has maintained a private practice as trainer,
teacher, and consultant to leaders in parishes and other religious
organizations. He holds degrees in theology and political science from Holy
Cross, Harvard, The University of Paris, and The University of Chicago.
His writings include Liberating
Leadership (Harper & Row,
1986) and more than 200 articles in periodicals such as The National Catholic
Reporter, Commonweal, The Miami Herald, The Catholic Free Press, The Pilot,
Harvard Theological Review, and
Liturgy.
A lifelong layperson,
he lives in Boston with his wife and three children. Visit his website at:
CrossCurrents
Is a weekly subscription
service for parish websites.
Individual Subscriptions
are also available.
For Information, contact bfswain@juno or call 617-282-0183