VATICAN The Continuing Agenda Edited by Anthony J. Cernera
Copyright 1997 by the Sacred Heart University Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, contact the Sacred Heart University Press, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield, Connecticut 06432-1000. ISBN 1-8881 12-02-6
Contents Preface Anthony J. Cernera vii Vatican 11: The Church's Self-understanding Georgia Masters Keightley Revision, Reform, Renewal: The Impact of Sacrosanctum Concilium on Roman Rite Liturgy and Worship Jan Michael Joncas The Roman Catholic Church and the Contribution to Christian Unity Jeffrey Gros Scripture in the Life of the Church Brigid Curtin Frein The Catholic Church and Interreligious Dialogue John Borelli The Church in the Modern World: Rereading Gaudium et Spes After Thirty Years William C. McDonough
vi Con tents Catholic Social Teaching Since Vatican II David J. O'Brien Full, Conscious, and Active Participation: The Laity's Quest H. Richard McCord, Jr. The Journey from the Side Chapel to the Main Aisle: Religious Life in the Postconciliar Church Margaret Palliser Learning to Reason Well: Moral Theology Since Vatican II James F. Keenan, S.J. Vatican II: Pastoral Care and Practical Theology Oliver J. Morgan, S.J. Reading the Signs of the Times: An Ongoing Task of the Church in the World Anthony J. Cemera Notes on Contributors
Preface N THE FEAST of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 01985, a generation after the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul IIsurprised the world by announcing his decision to call an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops to join him in reflecting on that Council. Twenty-six years to the day earlier and almost in the same place, Pope John XXIII had announced his intention to convoke an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Now, John Paul IIwas calling together 165 bishops from around the world to examine how the Council had been received and how to further deepen the application of the Council in the Church's life in the light of new needs that had emerged in the succeeding twenty years. In John Paul II's own words, The aim of this initiative is not only that of commemorating the Second Vatican Council twenty years after its conclusion, but is also and above all to revive in some way the extraordinary atmosphere of ecclesial communion which characterized that ecumenical assembly, through mutual participation in suffering and joys, struggles and hopes, which pertain to the Body of Christ in the various parts of the earth; to exchange and deepen experiences and information concerning application of the Council at the level of the universal
... VIII Preface Church and the particular churches; to favor further deepening and constant application of the Second Vatican Council in the Church's life, also in the light of the new needs. Origins 14 (February 7, 1985): 557. In their two public declarations at the end of the Extraordinary Synod, the Synodal Fathers declared that the Second Vatican Council had been a "gift of God to the Church and to the world." "Indeed," they declared, "we have celebrated the Second Vatican Council as a grace of God and a gift of the Holy Spirit, from which have come forth many spiritual fruits for the universal Church and the particular churches, as well as for all men of our time." The bishops recognized that the large majority of the Catholic Church had received the Council "with zeal" and that only a few had shown resistance to it. For the bishops, there can be no doubt that "the Council was embraced with heartfelt adherence because the Holy Spirit was prompting his Church to do so." The favorable reception of the Council by the Church and also by many people outside the Church took place during a period of rapid changes and profound transitions within the global community. Every major council in the history of the Catholic Church has required time to be received and implemented into the life of the Church. As one who teaches a course on the Church to both gaduate and undergraduate students, I am reminded regularly that many committed and active young Catholics were born after the Council ended. There was no attempt in this book to address all the issues that are on the Church's agenda today. Such an undertaking would have required a multi-volume work. A special word of thanks is due to Michelle Quinn, Manager of the Office of the President, and to Professor Sidney Gottlieb, Ph.D., Professor of English, for their efforts in bringing this work to completion. Anthony J. Cernera, Ph.D.
Notes on Contributors JOHN BORELLI, PH.D., is director of the Institute for Interreligious Leadership, cosponsored by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers. The recipient of a doctoral degree in theology and the history of religions from Fordham University, he has contributed articles, presentations, and reports to such publications as Marian Studies, New Theology Revlew, Ecumenical Trends, Faith Alive, The Living Light, Buddhist-Christian Studies, Pro Dialogo, and Ecumenism. He lives with his wife and three children in Bethesda, Maryland. ANTHONY J. CERNERA, PH.D., has been President of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut since 1988. He earned his doctoral degree in systematic theology from Fordham University and continues to teach at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has lectured extensively on world hunger, on justice and peace issues, on social action, and on a variety of theological topics. His articles have appeared in Living Light, Momentum, and The Way. In 1995 he edited Toward Greater Understanding: Essays in Honor of John Cardinal O'Connor, published by the Sacred Heart University Press. He lives with his wife and four children in Fairfield, Connecticut. BRIGID CURTIN FREIN, PH.D., is an associate professor at the University of Scranton in the Department of Theology/Religious
276 Notes on Contributors Studies, where she also serves as departmental chair. She received her doctoral degree in Biblical Languages and Literature from St. Louis University. Her research focuses on the Gospel of Luke and narrative criticism. She lives with her husband and three children in Scranton, Pennsylvania. JEFFREY GROS, F.S.C., is the Director of the Commission on Faith and Order of the National Council of Churches in the United States. He holds a doctoral degree in systematic theology from Fordham University and graduate degrees from Marquette University and St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota. In 1986 he received the James Fitzgerald Award for Ecumenism from the National Association for Diocesan Ecumenical Officers. Dedicated to the ecumenical movement, he is a frequent speaker for councils of churches, teacher for ecumenical seminars, editor of several studies on ecumenical issues, and writer for theological journals and periodicals. JAN MICHAEL JONCAS is a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his S.L.D. degree from the Pontifico Institute Liturgico at the Collegio Sant' Anselmo in Rome, Italy and has been an assistant professor in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas since 1991. In addition to composing and recording several collections of liturgical music, he has contributed articles, reviews, and interviews to numerous journals, including Worship, Pastoral Music, Modem Liturgy, Church, and Eucharistic Minister. JAMES F. KEENAN, S.J., received his doctoral degree from the Gregorian University in Rome. He is associate professor of moral theology at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His books include Goodness and Rightness in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, The Context of Casuistry (with Thomas Shannon), and Virtues for Ordinary Christians. GEORGIA MASTERS KEIGHTLEY, PH.D., is associate professor of theology at Trinity College in Washington, DC. She is currently chair of a Catholic Theological Society of America task force
Notes on Contributors 277 preparing a study on Communion Ecclesiology and Collaborative Ministry. Program coordinator and host of the cable television series "Making a Just World," she has served as advisor to the Bishops' Committee on Laity and has been consultant to the Family, Women, and Evangelization committees. Her essays on feminism and Catholic social thought have appeared in Things Old and New: Catholic Social Teaching Revisited and Values, Work, Education: The Meanings of Work. She has also published in Horizons, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Church, and America. H. RICHARD MCCORD, JR. has been the Associate Director of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Laity since 1988. Prior to this, he held various administrative and educational positions at diocesan and parish levels of church life. He holds graduate degrees in theology and education. A regular contributor to Faith Alive and to such publications as Church, Liguorian, Catholic World, and Deacon Digest, he has also contributed chapters to several books on lay ministry and family life. He is married and the father of one child. WILLIAM C. MCDONOUGH is a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. For seven years he has been teaching moral theology at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity and the University of St. Thomas. His publications are in the areas of moral epistemology and sexual morality. OLIVER J. MORGAN, S.J., is a pastoral psychotherapist and theologian with expertise in addictionology. He is currently associate professor of counseling and human services at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he also chairs the Center for Mission Reflection. DAVID O'BRIEN is Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. His books include Isaac Hecker: An American Catholic, From the Heart of the American Church: Catholic Higher Education and American Culture, and Public Catholicism: American Catholicism and Public Life.
278 Notes on Contributors MARGARET A. PALLISER, O.P., a Dominican Sister of Sparkhill, New York, earned her S.T.B., S.T.L., and S.T.D. from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Her areas of theological expertise are in spirituality and liturgy. Her critically acclaimed study of Julian of Norwich's theology of mercy, Christ, Our Mother of Mercy, was published in 1992 by the distinguished firm of Walter DeGruyter in Berlin. Dr. Palliser has served since 1993 as Director of Campus Ministry at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, where she is also an adjunct assistant professor of religious studies. She has written for Review for Religious, Celebration, Eucharistic Minister, and The Julian Papers.