101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II

by Maureen Sullivan

Publisher:

Paulist Press

, 2002

Overview

In this volume, Maureen Sullivan offers an informative and accessible guide to the most commonly asked questions about Vatican II. Sullivan expounds on how the Second Vatican Council developed the way Catholic doctrine applies to modern times and how the Church refined it’s approach to dealing with the secular world and other religions.

Contents

Top Highlights

“No one challenged his assumption—that earlier Christianity was somehow more pure than later Christianity. But no one had to—no one, at least, who was familiar with the accretions of history that had made the medieval church and the Renaissance church and the modern church such a far cry from the simple church of the catacombs. The radical thing was that John XXIII believed the church ought to look at ‘the signs of the times,’ in order to meet the needs of the times. He used the Italian word aggiornamento, which means ‘a bringing up to date.’ It is a word that some said is dangerously close to Martin Luther’s word reform.” (Pages 12–13)

“In the hundred years since Vatican I, the world had changed in more ways than it had in the entire history of the church. In order to make the Christian message understandable in that vastly changed world, the church had to look for new ways of conveying that message. Pope John said he didn’t want to change any of the articles of faith. He did want the Council Fathers to figure out new ways of getting the faith message across to the world. That’s what the pope meant by a pastoral council.” (Page 13)

“Christian theology maintains that Jesus is the sacrament of God because sacraments make God present.” (Page 16)

“Pope John Paul II said in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint that even though the pope can define dogmas of faith without summoning a council (as the Fathers of Vatican I decreed), even this must be done ‘in communion with’ his brother bishops. Pius IX and Pius XII consulted all the world’s bishops by letter before they defined two Marian dogmas (the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and the Assumption in 1950), so that even these two ‘ex-cathedra, infallible’ decisions were somewhat democratic because the pope didn’t make them until he had asked all the world’s bishops to take part in them.” (Pages 10–11)

Product Details

• Title: 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II
• Author: Maureen Sullivan
• Series: 101 Questions and Answers Series
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Print Publication Date: 2002
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Vatican Council (2nd: 1962-1965)
• ISBNs: 0809141337, 9780809141333
• Resource ID: LLS:QSTNSNSWRSVTCN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:43:56Z

About Maureen Sullivan

Maureen Sullivan earned her ThD from Fordham University and is assistant professor of theology at St. Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire. She is the author of 101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II in the 101 Questions and Answers Series.