Gifts of Vatican II Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; 1 Thes 5:1-6; Mt 25:14-30 The story Jesus told about a wealthy landowner and three of his servants was true to life, if not based on actual events. The landowner entrusted each of his three servants with a sum of money. Two of the servants invested the funds, gaining a profit for their master. One servant did nothing with the funds. Upon his return, the landowner commended the initiative of the servants who invested his money, but scolded the servant whose timidity and lack of initiative led him to take what he considered the safest path. Jesus entrusted the church with gifts of word and sacrament. The Second Vatican Council was the church’s latest attempt at sharing those gifts with people of every race and culture. Most Catholics, laity and clergy, espouse one of three attitudes toward Vatican II. Some Catholics see the council as the end of a process of reform and updating of the Catholic tradition. They recognize that the preparations for the council, the interventions of the bishops during its sessions, the documents issued by the pope and the bishops, and the immediate post-conciliar documents as works of the Holy Spirit. They believe that the church’s task now is to put into practice the initiatives set out by the council. Other Catholics regard Vatican II as the beginning of a process of reform. The experience of the council and its aftermath make it clear that reform must continue. The church should be alert as it reads the signs of the times and be creative in responding to them. This will ensure that the Gospel will speak to people where they are. In doing so, this group believes, the church sheds the light of Christ contemporary life. To accomplish its mission, the church must listen and respond with faith, hope and love. The church should be self-critical, ready to change and eager to recast the way it fulfills its mission to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, they believe. A third group that is small but vocal regards Vatican II as a huge mistake. Such folks believe that the council led to an abandonment of Catholic tradition in liturgy, dogma, morals, devotional practices and church discipline. Some suggest that the church retract the reforms of Vatican II and return to the state it had at the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. They regard the diminishment of vocations to the priesthood and religious life and declining Mass attendance as fruits of misguided attempts at reform. The arena in which these different views of Vatican II have played out is the church’s worship. Many Catholics have embraced the council’s liturgical reforms, which led to the use of their own language as the language of prayer, active participation of the laity in worship and the augmented role of Scripture at Mass. They have welcomed the implementation of the council’s vision of Christian worship and are careful to observe liturgical norms. Other Catholics recognize that the church has made a good beginning in adapting its pattern of worship to the contemporary world. They look for continued efforts at making the liturgy more inclusive and less clerical. They envision a liturgy that is open to the cultural diversity of the Catholic population. They call for a process of inculturation of the liturgy so that all people can find ways to worship in forms that reflect their experience. For such Catholics, the liturgical reforms of Vatican II were great beginning, but just a beginning. The third group of Catholics oppose all changes in the liturgy. They prefer the Tridentine rite for dogmatic, devotional, nostalgic or aesthetic reasons and chafe at the restrictions that have been put on the celebration of the Mass according to that rite. A few have abandoned the church for a schismatic group because of their conviction that the Tridentine rite is the only legitimate form of the Mass. The Holy Spirit guides the church as it moves ever closer to the day when the full extent of the salvation of the human family that is the work of Christ. The church then always looks forward and not backward. It embraces the future with the confidence of faith, with the assurance of hope and with the spirit of love.
About the Author Father Leslie Hoppe, OFM, is professor emeritus of Old Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union, 5416 S. Cornell Ave., Chicago.