Misreading of Vatican II led to ‘collapse’ in Marian devotion, studies
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Holy Cross Father James Phalan
Devotion to Mary “collapsed” in some parts of the United States after the Second Vatican Council even though the council fathers had upheld her critical place within the Catholic faith, said a leading American expert in Marian studies.
The council’s decision to integrate a draft text on Mary into a larger dogmatic text — “Lumen Gentium” — rather than publish it as a separate document — sent an unintended message to the rest of the church, Holy Cross Father James Phalan, president of the Mariological Society of America, said in a presentation at an academic conference in Rome.
Even though bishops felt Mariology, like the church as a whole, needed to be renewed in light of tradition, liturgy and the Bible, later an “overly rationalist” historical approach reduced the role of the Holy Spirit and marginalized most forms of devotion, Father Phalan said.
Worsening the problem, he said, was the timing: post-Vatican II coincided with the upheaval of the 1970s when religious traditions and beliefs were being intensely questioned or completely dismissed by society.
Marian devotion “was caught up in this confusion” and there was a drop-off in practice and study, he said.
“The apparent change in emphasis on the Blessed Virgin contributed to a full-scale collapse of Mariology that has had very notable effects on the life of the church,” he said in his talk on “Mary and the Second Vatican Council.”
Father Phalan, who is also director of Family Rosary International, was one of the scholars, experts and theologians speaking at the 23rd Mariological Marian International Congress held in Rome Sept. 4-9.
In light of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the talks focused on “Mariology since the Second Vatican Council: Reception, Results and Perspectives.” More than 300 people from 37 countries attended the meeting, which was sponsored by the Pontifical Marian International Academy.
The council fathers had drawn up what Father Phalan called “the most complete and conclusive doctrinal statement about the Blessed Virgin Mary ever written” and made it the final chapter of the 1964 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (“Lumen Gentium”).
Its placement within a document about the church as the body of Christ underlines the council fathers’ vision of Mary “in relation to Christ and the church,” not as someone separate or independent of Christ and the church, he said. [More]
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41 Comments
I am so blessed to have a love and devotion to Mary. It is ironic that you all are fighting to minomize her role and forms of devotion to Mary who is the mother of God. Todays feast day is “The Most Holy Name of MARY.” The Ants.from the liturgy of the hours are: “Blessed are you, O Mary, for the world’s salvation came from forth from you; now in glory, you rejoice forever with the Lord. “You are the the glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Isral; you are the fairest honor of our race. Question? Do you think Jesus feel slighted when we honor his mother Mary? Of course not! Why? Because he being God himself loves her infinately. If you have such a love for Jesus and stress in loving and praying to Mary, you might join the Protestant church. “Happy feast day, Mary.” I love you.
Today is September 11th – A day that the world will never forget. I for one will be at 8:30 Mass this morning and will be praying for your beautiful country. May God Bless and Keep America strong and free.
Going to Church does not make you a Christian (Catholic) any more than standing in a garage makes you a car..
Exactly, if you don’t live the Beatitudes and see Jesus in the poor, the hungry, the marginalized and minister to him in others you might as well forget identifying yourself as a Christian.
The term of art used to describe Marian devotion at and post Vatican II is “de-emphasized.” But even today, most Catholics remain unaware of the historical and theological subtleties of Marian history and tradition, such as the radical uplifting of the poor “Indians” and their culture, over against the Spanish conquistadores in the Guadalupe events back in century XVI. (BTW, note that the famous Guadalupe image portrays la Virgencita as pregnant — encinta — that black belt is way more than a judo belt!)
That of course gets us in the back door of the chapel of liberation theology, but that’s material for another article . . .
As far as the Rosary goes, didn’t Jesus, in the Gospels remind us not to multiply our prayers like the Pagans do. The Hindus use mantras in their prayers,
Tony — truly, this is the typical objection of my Protestant friends. Meditation on the life of Jesus and Mary is a great thing to do. Meditation on Jesus suffering in the sorrowful mysteries in particular is a way many saints have grown closer to Jesus.
He did – and that is the problem with the Rosary today – too many think they are meditating on the action and life of Jesus simply by getting through the recitation of the rosary. It has no where close to the meaning that it was supposed to have.
Then, Concerned, that is the fault of the pray-er, not the fault of the devotion. Many saints have said they grew closer to Jesus through, in particular, meditating on His passion.
It’s not the fault of the prayer to get involved in the numbers game with prayer it is the fault of those who teach us to SAY three rosaries, or SAY umpteen hail Mary’s. The Say screws people up and the emphasis is on the number of prayers not the quality.l
exactly Tony – to often the devotions have taken on the air of magic – say this many Rosaries and you won’t die without a priest present. Say this many to get this person out of purgatory sooner. Say this many to reduce your own time in purgatory. What’s next? Say 75 rosaries to remove warts? Prayer is not magic – and reducing it to that is just plain wrong.
Well, let’s see, Concerned — should I believe you, or the Blessed Mother at Fatima? Tough choice, I don’t know, I don’t know … but, maybe I should go with the Blessed Mother. First, she told Francisco, in response to his question that he would go to Heaven, but only after saying many Rosaries (oops … “many” refers to quantity — I thought for sure you said quantity wasn’t important). Then, the Blessed Mother said her Immaculate Heart would triumph in the world through recitation of the Rosary. But, you know, what does the Blessed Mother have to recommend her? I mean, she only hovered in the sky, was seen by tens of thousands, but … what are your credentials, Concerned? How many times have you hovered in the sky? How many times have you given birth to the Creator of the universe?
let’s see it is under the category of “popular devotion” therefore not obligatory, not proven, not declared with 100% certainty. But according to Jim Almighty’s religion it’s a different story.
Of course it’s not obligatory, Concerned — but again, literally tens of thousands saw the Blessed Mother hover in the sky. I guess it was just a mass hallucination, as Tony has said.
The Blessed Mother, as a woman, Concerned, would be a great person after whom you should model yourself — not the nasty, aggressive feminists from the 1970s that are a complete turn-off to any man who is an actual man, not the effeminate version the feminists have tried to create.
oh and you never judge anyone!!!!! More of the nonsense from a poor, little man who would do well to enter into a real relationship with God that comes from the heart and not a rulebook. And especially not Jim Almighty’s book of double standard rules.
As for me, I’ll rely on my conscience and relationship with God over the supermarket religion wher you buy things with the multiplication of prayers.
Concerned — if you read the Catechism, you will find that a person’s conscience must be “well-formed” — and Church teachings are the basis for that formation. But, you have started your own church, I know — and your beliefs and behavior are in complete conformity with the doctrine of your own church. And, if your beliefs and behavior change, not a problem — because you change the dogma of the Church of Concerned at the same time, thus ensuring your constant conformity to your own church. Congratulations.
Jim, you make God into your image and likeness and project your dysfuctionality on to God.
Dear Concerned, I pray because I love God. I worship God through prayer thanking Him for all the blessings He has bestowed on me. Acknowledging my humanity and my sins and asking forgiveness. I ask God to help me forgive others, to teach me to be humble as My Lord Jesus was humble. I pray for miracles to happen in the lives of those who I know are in need of a miracle and I believe that God answers prayer. Even when the answer is No, or Wait. I pray the Rosary but to give it justice I must have a block of time (takes me aprox. 2 hrs to pray and meditate on the mysteries) so I do not do so as often as I would like to. I also have a well formed conscience, a gift from God but I do not rely on conscience exclusively, seeking out my priest and asking him many questions and I depend on my Priest to steer me in the right direction. I pray for my own priest and all God’s priests and those Religious and others who do their best to serve our Lord.
Catholic Lady — not a surprise that you say the Rosary — people like you, who are humble and virtuous, typically say the Rosary. All of the liberal posters here, who talk incessantly about “social justice” and how THEY are going to change the world, don’t pray the Rosary. My personal friendds are devoted to the Rosary — these are the finest people to have as friends. If we were members of the same parish, Catholic Lady, I suspect you would join me and others in saying the Rosary after Mass.
If as we know, the mass is the greatest prayer we can offer to God the Father, why would you rattle off a manta after?
Tony — all grace comes from God, and, as a Jewish man, Jesus wanted to honor His mother by allowing God’s reign on Earth to be ushered in through her Rosary.
So the Rosary is the instrument of Gods Grace, and not the Mass? I don’t think so.
J.O. — let’s take it back to the second grade level now. If the Rosary is an instrument of God’s grace, does that mean it is the ONLY instrument? Think before you answer. Okay, I’ll help you — the answer is NO. In fact, the Mass of course is the richest source of grace on Earth. However, by the wishes of the One Who is sacrificed at the Mass, He wants to honor His mother, and thereby has allowed her to choose the weapon for the triumph of peace of Earth. Let me know if this doesn’t make sense to you, J.O., and, if so, I’ll try to make it a little simpler.
Oops, that last comment directed to J.O. should have been directed to you
Tony.
Jim
It is you who has started his own church – a church built only the the limited understanding of Jim the Almighty. Every word out of your mouth is dogma (in your mind). You have a crystal ball that tells you the heart of every person. But the fact is, your responses demonstrate that you are nothing but a religious bully (well you think you have the ability to do so). You mislead people. You judge people. You condemn people. You accuse others of sins that have no bearing on anything and for which you have no knowledge to even make an accusation. You believe you are well informed when in fact you simply rattle off those things that have been fed to you. You are a small little man filled with hypocrisy and duplicity. Then you dare to speak of the beatitudes? There is nothing in your words that indicate you have any concept of what the beatitudes are. HYPOCRISY will be your downfall. Why not open your heart to God – you just may find that it brings a lot more happiness than your self-righteousness.
Of course the Eucharist is not enough for Jim – he has to demonstrate his self-righteousness by saying the rosary after Mass. A time when the words are simply said – not prayed. Get through it – meditate? people who say the rosary after Mass are not meditating – they are getting it done! Catholic Lady – you should stay away from people like Jim Almighty – they will lead you down the wrong path and away from God. He fills you with compliments so that you might worship Jim Almighty.
Did you say something, Concerned?
Well, I’ll answer my own question. If “something” is defined as something that is valid and has value, then the answer is no. If “something” is defined as anything that exists, then yes, you said something — I just wish it were truthful. I love you, Concerned. Call me, I have a new telephone number — here it is, ready? Okay — 911.
Poor, poor little Jim. When no one is worshipping him he gets so forlorn and inchorent. But don’t worry, everyonoe has your number. HYPOCRISY AND DUPLICITY
Concerned — when’s the last time you’ve been to Reconciliation? Or don’t you need it?
So Jim, is the Blessed Mother filling in for us what Jesus forgot to mention to us in the GospeL.
Jim to blame the prayer is like Groeschel blaming the victim of sex abuse.
Pray-er
MARY is my model of faith, not my little goddess.
The Rosary a most useful tool for meditation and prayer which if prayed correctly will indeed bring us closer to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Mary rightfully has been taken off her pedestal and is seen next to us wHo struggle to be a disciple of her son. She is one with us, a fellow human being she becomes our life, our sweetness and our hope next to us as we journey together on our earthly pilgriamage.
Not even close to being true, Tony. She was selected by God from all eternity to be the mother of His Son. She was conceived without sin, and never committed a sin herself. You are one of the persons this article is talking about, and this is why the Church has had so much trouble with sexual perpetration within its ranks. As a Church, we need to get back our devotion to the Blessed Mother. At Fatima, the Blessed Mother said her Immaculate Heart would triumph here on Earth through the recitation of the Rosary.
Mary is a human being like us and not Venus or some other Greek or Roman Godess that you want her to be. I believe that the exaggerated devotion to Mary was brought about male chuvanests who can’t see that God may have a feminine side to Godds nature. Even Jesus compares God to a hen who nurtures her eggs. As far as Fatima it is not obligatory for Catholics to believe in what may just be a hallucination.
The exaggerated devotion to Mary was brought about to deflect people from God. If people did not delve into their relationship with God then everything about God was seen as mystery that was only understood by the CHurch. It preserved the “power” of those who benefitted from accumulating more and more power. It was the same reason that people were told not to read the Bible – they could not understand it. It was the same reason that Mass was celebrated in Latin and the Priest had his back to the people – it preserved the mystery and gave clerrics “power.” Vatican II wanted to change that – it sought to bring people closer to God. It sought to make it so that evry person could feel that a personal relationship with God was possible. Mary has a rightful place but the Mary of Scripture would never have agreed with the exaggerated title, devotion and other things that developed. She was modest, humble, reliant on God, trusting in God. She was meant to show us the ideal way of participating in God’s plan. Other than that, we know very few facts about Mary – many are made up stories. She can and should be a symbol of the possibility of being raised up. She is a symbol of hope for the down trodden. The rosary was started by monaticism as a way of clearing the mind to enter into prayer. It was never intended as an end – it was supposed to be a means to an prayerful relationship with God. It has become for many simple a multiplication of prayers. Say the Rosary and gain a special reward. It is meaningless unless it leads to something else.