Ex-Vatican official: Vatican II teachings not optional
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The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are neither optional nor second-class, but must be seen in the proper context, the former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Sept. 26 as he opened a conference at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
The talk by Cardinal William J. Levada focused on three events that share an Oct. 11 date – the opening of Vatican II 50 years ago, the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 20 years ago and the upcoming opening of the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI.
The cardinal, who retired in July after serving as prefect for seven years, was the first speaker at a Sept. 26-29 conference on “Reform and Renewal: Vatican II After Fifty Years.”
He began his talk by recounting a conversation in which a colleague recalled asking high school students if they knew what Vatican II was. “The pope’s summer residence?” one student suggested.
Cardinal Levada, a retired San Francisco archbishop, credited his audience at Catholic University with a much greater understanding of the 1962-65 council but said some confusion and misunderstandings remain, such as whether the council was doctrinal or pastoral in nature and whether its legacy should be seen in the letter of the council – the documents it produced – or in its spirit.
“Vatican II was by intention a pastoral council – it did not develop new dogmas to correct errors of the faith,” he said, describing the council as “doctrinal in principle, but pastoral in its presentation.”
On the letter-versus-spirit question, Cardinal Levada said it is “not legitimate to separate the spirit and letter of the council.”
He talked about two responses to the council – one that reflected a flawed understanding of the continuity of church teaching and another that reflected a correct understanding.
In the former case, a Dominican provincial in the Netherlands wrote to his colleagues urging the ordination of women and married men and lay-led eucharistic celebrations as a response to the priest shortage. That proposal, the cardinal said, was “contrary to church teaching and even heretical.”
On the other hand, Pope Benedict’s establishment of ordinariates that allow Anglicans to become Roman Catholics while retaining some of their Anglican heritage and traditions, including liturgical traditions, is a logical follow-up to the council, he said. [More]
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28 Comments
Vatican II invited the church of the ’60s and onward to reexamine its traditions at every level with the Gospel as a guide. Not everyone felt comfortable with that approach, with the Council, with the church even.
Clouds of council dust and aftermath apathy have obscured the bright sunshine emenating from the two great commandments of love — God and neighbor. And that’s what is “not optional,” if indeed the church offers us anything that is not optional, whereas the doctrinal congregation itself is optional.
Cardinal Levada speaks of the spirit of the Council. Is this the same “spirit of Vatican ll” mentality condemned by Bl. John Paul ll? This Cardinal loves Ecumenism, which is good. But when it comes to the Church’s very faithful sons and daughters of the SSPX, he has the same view on ecumenism as Bishop Williamson of the SSPX. The Society was ready at one point to sign the “Doctrinal Preamble” which he himself put together. But Levada tossed a wrench into his own work when he seen the SSPX was ready to sign. As Archbishop of San Francisco he absolutly forbade any Latin Mass’s as requested by Bl. John Paul ll. It confuses me as to why such a Prelate would be put in charge of the reconciliation process, as it seems he never wanted it to begin with. Levada speaks approvingly as if V2 were a break with the past. Such are those who have caused much confusion among the faithful. Its time for the “Reform of the Reforms” to be set in stone.
Was the part where white Catholic priests sodomize and abuse our young boys optional??
Aly — go find an atheism web site and post there — you’ll be with your own kind there, and you all can go to Hell together (not that I wish that on you, but you appear to be headed in that direction).
Excuse me Jim? I am absolutely disgusted with the effect these type of Catholic teachings have had on our children? Have I lived a life of being a Catholic according to these teachings…YES! What are you suggesting I do?
Aly; I am suggesting that you take your eyes off of men, who sometimes will disapoint you and fix them upon the Lord Jesus Christ who will never be a cause for your disapointmet and will comfort you. “May God bless you Aly and keep you from all harm”.
Thanks for your right-on-target response, Catholic Lady. Aly, maybe I misunderstood your post, but it seems to trash the Church started by the Creator of the universe, the Church that is the surest route to Heaven. I will defend my Church.
Jim; I know that you love the Church and are always ready to defend our Church and it’s precepts and I thank God for christians like you. However, sometimes we need to read between the lines and/or listen carefully before comming to a conclusion as in Aly’s posting. Blessings..
Thanks, Catholic Lady. However, if you look at a later post from Aly, she agreed with another poster who was trashing the Church — so, I see her (I believe accurately) as a person with venom for the Church.
Thank you Jim; I missed the other post from Aly. We should join in praying that God will shed His light into the souls of those who because of their blindness think it is OK to trash the Church.
I love your beautiful humility, Catholic Lady.
Hey Jim tomorrow is the feast of st Faustina, I will pray especially for you during adoration.
Thank you! My eyes are firmly on Lord Jesus Christ. Abuse of our children is NOT optional.
I agree abuse of children is a sin. However you and I Aly must keep are eyes on Christ..He is the Judge of all men, who will answer to Him for the things they have done, said and thought while in their earthly body.
and Jesus wept…
Catholic Lady,
Vatican II was called to be the time in the Church for fresh air – a new openness to the Holy Spirit. It offered a new emphasis where membership in the CHurch was measured not by the rigid adherance to rules but by the belief that each person had to accept ownership. Personal responsibility was to be the guide. It did not diminish what God was asking of us or how God asked us to live – it was to place the responsibility on each person. It’s why the language was changed – so that people could understand what was being asked. It shifted to an openness to God’s Word as revealed in Scripture. prior to Vatican II Catholics were not encouraed to read the Bible, as a matter of fact we were actually told that it was best if we did not, so that we would not get confused. The greatest thing of Vatican II was the desire to return to the original way of the early communities of faith. This is something many can not accept because they beieve what was taking place immediately before Vatican II was the original. But the Church had drifted so far from the original that it was rigid, stuffy and cold. That’s why so many of us who threw ourselves into the teachings of Vatican II find it so untollerable to go back to that which preceeded Vatican II. The bishops have grown fearful that they lost their power. They don’t feel as powerful as before. Vatican II was not simply about knowing the rules and offering blind obedience, it was about allowing God’s revelation to become part of who you were. Of course Vatican II was much more than this, but one could go on forver. But Vatican II has not been fulfilled and more and more of the Spirit of Vatican II is being silenced by the desire to replace it with that old “just do what I say and everything will be okay” attitude.
Dear Concerned, I thank you, for your comment which is most helpful to me in understanding the fears of some of my Catholic friends, that we may be drawn backward into pre Vatican 11. However it has been my experience that once enlightment has come to the people it becomes a part of them. For me being Catholic does not mean that I leave my brain at the church door..however it does mean that I both believe and practice the teachings of the Catholic Church..if it were not so, then I would have remained a protestant christian. Therefore it pains me as I thinik that it must pain our Lord Jesus, when Catholic Christians speak disrespectfully of His Church and it’s leaders.
Concerned — you posted: “The bishops have grown fearful that they lost their power.” I won’t be diplomatic like Catholic Lady. That assertion of yours is a product of your own mind. You have never talked in-depth with any bishop that would allow you to draw that conclusion — how dare you! You come to this website and post your garbage. Why don’t you go to Reconciliation instead and confess your venom for the Church? Make a GOOD HONEST confession. What? You haven’t been to confession in years, because you think Vatican II did away with the need for confession? Aaaah, now I understand — you’re more “advanced” than me — you don’t sin. So, Concerned, when WAS the last time you, who are so wonderful, received the Sacreament of Reconciliation?
Jim, how do you make the assumptions you make? Concerned posts very balanced accurate reflections and As a regular contributor to this site I really appreciate his presence and comments.
Tony — I didn’t make any assumptions — I stated a prima facia fact — that Concerned’s statement is complete speculation on her part. Re-read the part that I quoted — it is, again, face evident that she made an unsupported assumption that is complete speculation.
Tony, I do wish that you would be more respectful of our Church leaders in your comments. Then perhaps I could take what you have to say seriously….Having come into the Church after Vatican 11 and not knowing what it was like previously It would be nice to have someone enlighten me. However I’m not sure that you could be that someone due to your disrespect of our Church leaders. I did have a Catholic friend who grieved for the missing Latin Mass. I myself perfer to be able to understand the words being said during Mass. Yes; I have a limited knowledge of Vatican 11, and how it changed the Church gained from our Aploogetics Group, but what I am asking you is how did Vatican 11, affect you a Catholic on a personal basis?…Perhaps Joseph would also like to comment? Also words like conservative catholic and liberal catholic have no room in my vocabulary, only Catholic…united in Christ through out the world.
And it is easy to see that you are a conservative ewtn catholic.
Tony, So many have misinterpreted the documents and have gone so far over to the left. There needs to be a middle ground. Today’s church is divided between the ewtn catholics and the liberals and their agendas.
Joseph. Vatican II has been a great gift to us of the Holy Spirit………A great wind has swept through our church……..but to appreciate the gift we cant go and hide in a little ivory tower we have to take a great leap of faith and move forward trusting in God.
The old farts in Rome have to trust too as difficult as it maybe to see their power and control diminish.
Benedict and the old farts in the Vatican should listen as they try to destroy all that we have gained from Vatican II.
Blesses John XXIII pray for us.
Tony Benedict co wrote half the documents in Vat 2 then he turned his back on them Strange
Joe, it seems to me that the Pope and the Curia are all about power and contol and are afraid of giving the laity the rights and obligations the laity were given during Vatican II.
they need autonomous control to run the church