We need to put on “long-range binoculars” to evaluate the impact of the Second Vatican Council, Archbishop Brugues advised
His address was the Nanovic Institute’s seventh annual Terrence R. Keeley Vatican Lecture, a series which brings important figures from the Vatican or from European dioceses to Notre Dame’s campus.
Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugués, OP, who also serves in the Vatican as the Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, spoke on the theme “The Second Vatican Council Ahead of Us” on March 22.
Archbishop Brugués opened his talk with a joke about his thick French accent, warning that the audience’s “greatest Lenten sacrifice begins now.” His talk covered the mission of Vatican II, what it has accomplished, and what remains to be fulfilled.
He explained that understanding the significance of major councils, from Vatican II to the Council of Trent, requires many years.
Archbishop Brugues described the main concern of the council as “putting listening at the center of Church, society, and all human life.” This concern was pursued in various ways. The council, for example, reflected on the OTHER—both God, the wholly other, and other fellow humans with different beliefs and views.
The council clarified how we as humans are able to know God. We must rely in the intellectual pursuit of God on Scripture as “the salt of theology.” Since God is also present in the world through the Holy Spirit, we should strive to recognize and to develop an appetite for the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments and other earthly interactions.
The other main points from the council, he said, address how the faithful and the Church should understand and interact with the “other” of this world. The council reaffirmed the understanding that Christ’s salvific act was performed for all men.
It also spurred ecumenical dialogue amidst an ecumenical age. Strides were made at the time with denominations like the Lutheran Church, but the archbishop noted that these efforts have since stalled. Some even call the current state a “crisis.”
Archbishop Brugues said the Council’s ecumenical efforts need to renewed, acknowledging that new challenges like women’s ordination in the Anglican Church exist today. Globalization and the rapid changes in science and culture add to the difficulty since they change the context for ecumenism.
Vatican II also focused on seeing the reality rather than imagining a utopia. The archbishop said this understanding has furthered an ethic of human rights in which the Church is an agent of social renewal, for instance in Latin America, or where dictatorships have toppled.
The archbishop’s final point was that the council sought to strengthen the laity’s love for the Church through deeper understanding, affection, and feeling of worth and value. He said Pope John Paul II addressed this concern by producing the new catechism and “putting reform in the hands of all,” but he noted that inconsistent use of the catechism in different parishes and regions leaves much room for growth.
Archbishop Brugues left the audience with a message of hope. He recalled the sharing of peace during the Eucharistic celebration commemorating the death of Pope John Paul II. Many of the world’s leaders were in attendance, and the archbishop caught sight of the Syrian and Israeli presidents shaking hands. He saw this as evidence of hope for the ways that the Second Vatican Council can help further unity and peace.
Contact Kelsey Gemma Clemson at kclemson@nd.edu with your congratulations about her entrance into the Catholic Church this past Sunday.
