Why Stand Up for Vatican II ? |
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Introduction
We feel that our Church is at a crucial point in its history. It is now forty five years since the Second Vatican Council and for many who are now members of our Church it is just an historical event in the past.
For those of us who lived at the time of the Council, we will never forget what an exciting time it was for us.
The changes in our Sunday worship were only part of the sense of renewal that was sweeping through our church. Pope John XXIII had asked for 'aggiornamento' the bringing up to date of our church and we felt that this was really beginning to happen. As the windows of the Church gradually opened the Spirit blew in, giving the People of God worship in the vernacular, breaking down post Reformation sectarianism, endorsing the work of biblical scholars, affirming the primacy of conscience, acknowledging the need to learn from the secular sciences, breathing Joy and Hope into the Church. The Council called for real collegiality and collaboration among all the members of the Body of Christ. The world, God's world, needs once again to embrace this spirit, not a retreat into a museum of the faith of yesteryear. We need a prophetic lead from our bishops to take up this challenge.
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About Stand Up 4 Vatican 2 |
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Stand up for Vatican II came about as a result of a number of people becoming increasingly aware that certain actions being taken by the Vatican appear to be taking the Church back to the way it was prior to the Council. A few examples of our concern are:
- Encouraged by the Vatican, and increasingly evident in many parishes in the UK the celebration of Mass in Latin under the old Tridentine Rite, in some cases this happens not as an occasional event catering for a select group of people but as the main Sunday Mass in a parish.
- Ecumenical relationships which had improved between the Catholic Church and the other churches during and after the Council are now being called in to question by many and instead of seeking greater dialogue, barriers are being placed in the way of working together.
- Greater lay involvement in all aspects of Church life, a key recommendation of the Council, are still not encouraged in many areas of Church life and in particular the role of women in the life of the Church has not been developed.
- The Council encouraged more openness and discussion in the Church with important decisions being made by the Holy Father in consultation with the bishops, yet it is clear that this sense of collegiality has now been discarded.
- It is not unreasonable to assert that many of the decrees emanating from the Vatican in recent times have sought to put a brake on the developments that grew out of the discussions at the Council.
All of the above and many more examples led to a growing concern that the teaching and spirit of the Second Vatican Council was being reinterpreted and a return to the past, to a Church, which were it to come about, would be unrecognisable by a majority of Catholics today.
Those of us who are concerned felt that it was time to stand up for all the good things that happened in our Church as a result of the Second Vatican Council and Stand Up was developed.
We trust that a majority of Catholics in England and Wales will feel the way we do and join us in Standing up for Vatican II. We trust they will look at this website and sign the petition asking our bishops to join with us in standing up for Vatican II.
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The Launch of Stand Up for Vatican II |
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Stand up for Vatican II is a campaign designed to involve the whole Church and we hope that many Catholic organisations and individuals who recognise the benefits the Second Vatican Council brought to the Church will join with us in this.
We want to make the occasion of the forty fifth anniversary of the end of the Second Vatican Council in 2010 an opportunity for our Church to celebrate all that the Council achieved and stands for; to petition our Bishops to re-commit themselves to the teachings of the Council and to implement programmes for the further renewal of our church along the lines that the Council promulgated.
You can join in this celebration by campaigning locally for a celebratory Mass to be said in your Diocesan Cathedral and your local parish. You can also sign the petition asking your local Bishop to the teachings of the Council and to implement programmes for the further renewal of our Church in line with the Decrees promulgated by the Council.
On this site you will find articles of interest regarding the Second Vatican Council, links to other sites which may be of interest to you, you can add your personal comments in answer to the question Why I am standing up for Vatican II?
And most importantly you can sign the petition which will be presented to the Bishops of England a Wales at the end of 2010. |
A Church for the times we are living |
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About fifteen hundred years ago the Church lived the upheaval which accompanied the fall of the Roman Empire and in its wake the social and religious confusion which gave birth to the so called Dark Age. Five hundred or so years later came the Great Schism, the split which became a deep divide between Rome and Constantinople. Five hundred years ago Martin Luther proclaimed a Great Reformation of the Church which resulted in the foundation of the Protestant tradition in Western Europe and beyond.
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Challenging Biblical Patriarchy |
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Written by Adrian B Smith
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A Christian does not follow social fashion blindly but does believe that we have to look for signs of the presence and purpose of the Holy Spirit in the trends of contemporary society. This is what is meant by the World Council of Churches' statement: 'It is the world that must be allowed to provide the agenda for the Churches' (The Church for Others, WCC, 1968). One trend becoming increasingly prominent is the role of women in society and consequently in the Church.
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