Monday, May 04, 2009

Three-part Series on Vatican II

Over the next three Mondays, I will be attending a three-part series on Vatican II at a nearby parish one diocese over:
Focusing on the Second Vatican Council

Monday, May 4, 2009 – “Opening the Windows” This first session will explore the context in which the Second Vatican Council was conceived, announced, and planned. We will explore and discuss the world situation, the election of Pope John XXIII, the trends in Catholic Theology, the pastoral situation, and the ideas and forces that preceded the announcement of the Council.

Monday, May 11, 2009 – “Word and Sacrament” This session will present and discuss the Constitutions on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) and on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium). By exploring the background and the main themes of each, it is hoped that participants will come to a greater appreciation of God’s Word (Bible) in their everyday lives and their call to “full, conscious, and active participation” in the Liturgy of the Church.

Monday, May 18, 2009 – “The People of God in the Modern World” Crisis Intervention: Danger and Opportunity. This final session will present and discuss the two main documents on the Church: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), and The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) with additional focus on connected ideas such as Religious Liberty and Ecumenism (Christian Unity).

Presenter: Marty Arsenault, Director, Office of Catechesis. Time: 7:30 pm at The Church of St. Ann, Lawrenceville. This series is free. Light refreshments and conversation begin at 6:30 pm. Call 609-882-6491 - push zero and let the receptionist know you are coming. All registered participants will receive a Vatican II Resource Packet.

I've put together some reading prep for this first session: a 23-page booklet (129 K) of the documents of Pope John XXIII which make reference to the Council. It's folio-sized, so if you print it as a booklet, make sure you tell your printer the document-size is "folio". (Please note: the copy of Humanae Salutis in the Word document is an automatic English translation of an Italian dcument, so it's full of bizarre grammar, typoes, and is probably not particularly faithful to the original Latin!)

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