Vatican II in Focus - Preface

This section of the site begins with an explanation of the origin of Vatican II, by Bishop Butler himself in Renewal and Adaptation. This is a brief extract from one of his important books, The Theology of Vatican II. It is followed by the address, delivered at the symposium ”Abbot Butler and The Council” in 2002, by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, here under the title A Living Voice.[1] The Cardinal writes: ‘For Butler the Council meant no less than a recovery of hope’ and he refers to the significance of Butler as a theologian at Vatican II. The Cardinal’s address is as apposite here near the beginning of the website as it was to the symposium. The symposium was remarkable for having present two Council Fathers who attended all four sessions of Vatican II. A brief extract from the address of the late Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban, South Africa, after he had heard four of the papers, is also relevant at this point:

Participating in this symposium today has aroused much of the emotional, intellectual and spiritual feelings I experienced in the Council itself.

The other Council Father present, Bishop Remi J. De Roo, Emeritus of Victoria, proved to be one of the stimuli for this website; we are grateful for his regular encouragement in the work of promoting Council teachings. The concluding section of his lecture at the symposium is brought forward as Discerning the Signs of the Times. It reflects and confirms the need for straightforward information about Vatican II, expressed by the many people, priests and religious attending that 2002 symposium. There is also a clear need to place Vatican II in focus - both so that it can be seen as a continuation of tradition, but also as the Church‘s living voice.

While its spirit should be vibrantly alive, for some the Council is little but history. However, history needs especially careful attention. A cautionary article emphasising the importance of studying history appeared in Priests & People (April 2004) entitled Why Study Church History? Written by Professor Eamon Duffy of Cambridge University, among much else, he explains: ‘What now looks like an immemorial aspect of truth may be in fact a quite recent and apparently accidental development’. He gives many examples, including one of ‘Airbrushing Councils from History’ - when, for example, at a particular time the Council message being conveyed was perhaps inconvenient. Mention of some Councils was even omitted from particular lists [2].

There is no such risk of omissions in the broad history of Ecumenical Councils by Professor Norman Tanner SJ, formerly of Oxford University and Heythrop College, London University, and now of the Gregorian University, Rome. Professor Tanner is a specialist in the history of Councils of the Church and is the editor of the decrees of all twenty-one Councils, in two volumes. This is regarded as a standard work and his The Councils of the Church - A Short History [3] includes an account of ‘Councils of the Modern Era’, around which the article, Vatican II—The Historical Context, is formed. This piece refers to the two modern era Councils, Trent and Vatican I, as most relevant to Vatican II. We are grateful to Professor Tanner for permission to use extracts from his book. The article by Arthur Wells, a member of the website team, takes the form of a commentary mainly concerning Vatican II but with adequate reference also to The Councils of Trent and Vatican I. Professor Tanner’s whole book is valuable for any ecclesiastical scholar.

A longer perspective covering the earlier Councils is given in Kevin Clarke’s and Arthur Wells' Councils Through History. Clarke is a layman and by profession a commercial property consultant. A “cradle Catholic” he was deeply interested in Vatican II, but like many others was concerned about the lack of progress in implementation of Council teachings. To deepen his knowledge he took an MA in Contemporary Catholic Theology at Heythrop College, London University and continued there with an MA in Canon Law.

The late Cardinal König (1905-2004) should need no introduction. He was the much-loved Archbishop of Vienna and a major figure at the Council. The website will eventually include much more about this great man, but for the present we simply introduce one of his most recent articles, The Pull of God in a Godless Age [4]. It is an edited version of König’s talk at a Tablet Open Day and it describes how despite the secularisation of society - in western Europe at least - there are human needs in life to discover meaning, an innate desire for God and how the Second Vatican Council fits into that perspective.

The final piece in this section draws on private letters as well as published work to develop the contribution to the Council of another major Council figure. The article, Bishop Butler—Apostle of Vatican II, focuses on the main strands of the Council, to which Butler himself was deeply attached. Among other things he sought to emphasise the Council’s striving towards openness and to Christian unity. He also found that the sacramentality of the Church, developed at Vatican II, is basic to our understanding of the Church.

Footnotes

[1] Symposium: “Abbot Butler and The Council”, Heythrop College, University of London, 12 October 2002. Organising team included website contributors: Fr. Paul McPartlan, Paul Paniccia, Arthur Wells.

[2] Duffy, Eamon, Professor of the History of Christianity, Cambridge University: ’Why Study Church History’, Priests & People, April 2004, p134.

[3] Professor Tanner, Norman J. Gregorian University, Rome : The Councils of the Church - A Short History; Crossroad Publishing, New York, 1981

[4] König, Cardinal Franz. Archbishop Emeritus of Vienna, (The Tablet. 18 Sept 1999)