Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church Books

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Book SynopsisThis third volume of the History of Vatican II describes the period during which the Second Vatican Council began to assume its mature and distinct character. With the succession of Pope Paul VI to Pope John XXIII the Council had a new head. With the revisions of texts accomplished during the firts intersession the council had a new agenda more in line with the desires of the majority that had emerged during the first period. With the appointment of four Moderators the Council had a new leadership. The volume describes the peculiar situation of Paul VI as a pope elected in the midst of an ecumenical council and the vision of the Council - and the Church - that he outlined in his opening speech, which was followed immediately by a consideration of the text on the Church. Both in this discussion and in the one that followed, on bishops, the issue of collegiality would be passionately debated. The Council also completed its work on the first two documents promulgated: the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and the Declaration on the Communications Media. The ecumenical commitment of the Council became visible, not only in the discussion of a decree on ecumenism, but in the visit of Paul VI to the Holy Land. During the second intersession the work of the Council continued, the most important features of which were the beginnings of the liturgical reform, the revision of the major texts still to be considered or voted on, and a plan to reduce many other texts to simple sets of propositions that was designed to make it possible for the Council to end with the third period.

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Book SynopsisThe number of Catholic communities with no priest available to celebrate Sunday Eucharist has increased steadily over 60 years. For many, other forms of Sunday celebration are the statistical norm. This dramatic development coincides with Vatican II's insistence on liturgical catechesis: for the baptised the main source of their Christian spirit comes from active participation in the liturgy, especially the Sunday Eucharist. Celebrating the liturgy in all its symbolic fullness leads to inner participation in the mystery. A more profound appropriation of this living relationship with Christ comes about through well-celebrated rites and reflection on personal experience of the rites. Yet, liturgical catechesis is largely ignored or dismissed because it is not understood. Liturgical celebrations frequently lack the vitality capable of leading people into the depth of the sacred mysteries they celebrate. Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest are no exception. This book presents a systematic treatment of the modern church's teaching on liturgical catechesis. It proposes ten general principles of liturgical catechesis. These principles are used to explore and criticize the "Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest" (1988), as well as the rituals prepared from the "Directory" by the USA, and Canada. Even when there can be no Sunday Mass in parishes, hospitals and nursing homes, navy ships and jails, liturgical prayer is to be a privileged place of evangelisation, catechesis, spirituality and discipleship in Christ.

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Book SynopsisThis fourth volume of the "History of Vatican II" reconstructs the work of the Council during the third session, which was to produce two of the most significant texts, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church and the Decree on Ecumenism. As with previous volumes an international team of scholars tracks the daily progress of the assembly and its numerous assisting bodies. Using sources from all the Council's groups, as well as an unprecedented acquisition of previously unpublished documents, they provide the reader with a rich, multidimensional knowledge of the event that more than any other shaped the Roman Catholic Church.The enthusiasm of the two previous sessions had given way to a greater awareness of the enormity of the conciliar task. The general desire on the part of the bishops to conclude the Council with this third session added to the pressure from many sides to produce significant results. The agenda thus included many complex issues in various schemas, and none surrounded by more tension than the question of collegiality, which was the source of passionate debate in the previous session.Other issues to be taken up by the Council included discussions and votes on sections on eschatology and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the schema on the Church; on the care of souls in the schema on the pastoral role of bishops; an entirely new text on divine revelation; declarations on religious freedom and on the Jews in the schema on ecumenism, and two entirely new schemas on the lay apostolate and on the Church in the modern world. Many conciliar fathers were disappointed by events during the last days of this session (the "Black Week," some called it), and this created even greater interest in what would be the fourth and final session of Vatican II.

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Book SynopsisIn the course of his long and distinguished scholarly career, Jan Lambrecht has been a prolific writer from both an academic and a pastoral perspective. Since 1994, attempts have been in process to collect as many as possible of his shorter writings into volumes that would be more accessible, resulting in four publications up to this point.In 1994, many of Professor Lambrecht's writings on Paul appeared in "Pauline Studies" (BETL, 115) and, together with some from his former student, Reimund Bieringer, in "Studies on 2 Corinthians" (BETL, 112). In 2001, upon completion of his teaching at the Biblicum, he was honored with a volume of "Collected Studies" (AnBibl, 147) representing his then more recent works. This volume, as its full title indicates, consists for the most part of studies on Pauline literature and the Book of Revelation, but it also includes a short article on Christian freedom in 1 Peter.In 2002, a collection of articles in Dutch, some that had appeared previously and some new, was published as "De kracht van het geloof" ("The Power of Belief"). Nonetheless, there remain some of his works that have not yet been brought into a collection, and important articles in the recent Dutch collection are not available to a wider audience. This present offering attempts to address that situation.Although the twenty-two studies in the present volume have all been written or published relatively recently, they are reflective of Professor Lambrecht's academic and pastoral interests over his entire career, ranging from Mark's use of Matthew, and possibly Q, to the Book of Revelation, and including Luke, Acts, and Paul.Some of the writing is less technical because of the audience for which it was intended. Thus within this volume there will be some writings that will challenge scholars to rethink some positions and others addressed to a more general audience. This work is offered in the hope that the dialogue will continue and be fruitful in bringing forth old and new out of the treasure of the biblical writings.

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Book SynopsisThis book seeks to inject into the general discussion of the "Parting of the Ways" of Judaism and Christianity the social realities of the separation of a particular Christian community and a particular Jewish community. By drawing upon the literary and the historical data available concerning the church in Rome, Spence seeks to discover when and how Christians came to see themselves as an identifiably distinct community. His findings will surprise those who see the "Parting of the Ways" as a slow process. He argues that although the "parting" was early, it was not without its complications. Drawing upon the work of Rodney Stark, a sociologist of religion, Spence suggests that within the church in Rome there was a struggle between those who saw the church as a Jewish sect and those who saw the church as a Roman cult - a struggle already underway when the Apostle Paul wrote Romans. This struggle, however, was not an even one, because it was the cultists, those for whom the church's primary social location was the pagans of Rome, who held the positions of power over the numerically smaller sectarians who sought to maintain the church's primary identity as a Jewish sect acceptable within the synagogues of Rome.

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Book SynopsisThe volume contains the text of 23 papers read at the colloquium (Louvain, 21st-23rd September 2000) on Zeger-Bernard van Espen (1646-1728), the most important canonist of the ancient Louvain University.Several contributions seek to gauge the influence of Van Espen in a number of European countries: France, Italy, Spain, the German Empire and the United Provinces. Van Espen's influence was not merely investigated from a geographical perspective. The question was also raised as to how well his ideas survived the passage of time. How was Van Espen viewed in the 19th century? How was he used or misused?Hitherto, those who inquired into the personality and work of Van Espen have treated him almost exclusively from a 'Jansenist' perspective. The present volume seeks to break through this one-sidedness by approaching the man and his work from a legal and theological viewpoint, and from that of canon law and ecclesiology.From Gratian's "Concordia discordantium canonum" to Van Espen's "Separando certa ab incertis explicare et conciliare": the Louvain canonist was eminently aware of the canonical tradition within which he developed and formulated his ideas. More than being a Jansenist or a regalist or a Gallican, Van Espen was a jurist, who thought and reasoned on the basis of the law and structures of the Church. The protection of "that which is right", including the subjective rights of clerics and lay people, was his subject, his goal and his duty. On the basis of a sincere scientific, historical and philological approach to canon law, he came to conclusions which did not necessarily correspond to Rome's views on Church and State, moral theology, law and ecclesiology. This is not merely attributable to his Jansenist, rigorist, Gallican and regalist prejudices in these sensitive areas, but, probably to a greater extent than has been assumed hitherto, to his training as an academic, as a jurist, and as a canonist.

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Book SynopsisIn the 40th year after the close of the second Vatican Council, here is the final volume of its most definitive history. "History of Vatican II, Volume V" takes the reader through the approval of texts such as the "Constitution on Divine Revelation," the "Decree on Religious Liberty," the "Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity" and the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World."Reconstructing and commenting on the final session and the transition to a post-Conciliar world Volume V includes chapters on the critical period between the third and fourth sessions by Giovanni Turbanti and the beginning of the fourth session by Gilles Routhier. The third chapter by Mauro Velati deals with events that settled how the fourth session would approve key texts, and the fourth chapter by Christophe Theobald reveals how "the Church under the Word of God" came to be the central focus of Vatican II Theology. Chapters by Peter Hunermann, Lukas Vischer, and Giuseppe Alberigo tell the story of the final days, interpret the Council as an ecumenical event, and show how the reception of the Council's work by the Church at large foreshadows the struggles over the meaning of the Council that continue to this day.An unprecedented and unsurpassed effort of international scholars, "History of Vatican II", will remain a key resource for historians, theologians, and religious professionals for years to come.

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Book SynopsisThis volume, Understanding what One Reads II: The Gospels and Paul (2003-2011), supplements the volume with the same main title which contains New Testament Essays from 1992-2002 and appeared in 2003. It continues the attempt (described in the preceding volume) to collect Professor Lambrecht's shorter writings into volumes that would be more accessible. The present volume brings together 35 studies, some rather brief, others more expanded. The first 34 are "bookended" by the cover illustration and the final article, which reflects on how Dei Verbum has functioned through forty years in attempting to understand what one reads in Scripture. As elsewhere in previous studies, Professor Lambrecht examines the relation between Q and Mark; he more than once reacts against a too easy reference to intertextuality which is methodologically not justified. He always carefully analyzes the line of thought (and the literal sense) in a number of passages, asking the question "How does the New Testament author reason and argue?". The majority of the articles in this volume have been published in journals or festschrifts. Most of the studies are strictly scientific; a few however have been written as conferences or essays for a nonspecialized Christian public. As the reader will observe, quite often a brief article is a reply to a recent publication. It is hoped that this collection of dispersed published studies and unpublished material will be appreciated by colleagues and students alike.

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Book SynopsisThe collection of essays in Religious Modernism in the Low Countries aims at instigating a comparative analysis of Protestant and Roman Catholic modernisms. The contributions make abundantly clear that the modernist landscape in the Low Countries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries offers an exceptional variety of views and perspectives that invite a comparative study. Where should we look for commonalities and where for inevitable differences? To what extent is there a simultaneity in the emergence of progressive thought in these religious traditions? What is the impact of ecclesiastical, geographical, and political structures? The essays show that the story of modernism is closely allied with that of a sometimes virulent anti-modernist reaction. A differentiated understanding of these intellectual developments and confrontations sheds further light on the 'shared history' of Roman Catholics and Protestants in their efforts to respond to the various challenges posed by the modern world.

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Book SynopsisLe rôle de Mgr Charue, évêque de Namur, au Concile Vatican II a été fort important. Exégète de métier et théologien de l’épiscopat, il a été élu membre de la commission doctrinale en octobre 1962 et vice-président de cette commission en décembre 1963. Il a exercé une influence considérable dans la rédaction de Dei Verbum, de Lumen Gentium et de Gaudium et Spes. Ses archives, qu’il avait soigneusement conservées, témoignent de la qualité de son travail et nous révèlent le réseau de ses collaborateurs au sein de la « squadra belga ». Dans l’inventaire, les documents ont été groupés selon les périodes du concile et classés selon les documents conciliaires. Pour chaque document sont mentionnés l’auteur, la langue et la date. Les lettres de la correspondance sont accompagnées d’un bref résumé. » Cet inventaire constitue un complément indispensable aux Carnets conciliaires de l'évêque de Namur A.-M. Charue, publiés à Louvain-la-Neuve en 2000.

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Book SynopsisLe Père Emmanuel Lanne, moine de Chevetogne, théologien compétent et ÷cuméniste renommé surtout pour les relations avec les Églises d’Orient, a joué un rôle important au Concile Vatican II. Comme interprète pour les observateurs non catholiques, comme membre du Secrétariat pour l’Unité et comme recteur du Collège grec à Rome, il a été un homme de contact et de liaison avec les Églises orthodoxes et orientales catholiques. Son rôle a été prépondérant dans la rédaction du chapitre 3 du Décret Unitatis redintegratio sur l’÷cuménisme et il fut particulièrement proche de Mgr Willebrands, du patriarche Maximos IV, de Christophe Dumont, de Mgr Edelby. Il a conservé soigneusement ses archives du Concile, non seulement les nombreux projets de texte mais aussi des notes personnelles et des études théologiques sur l’Église locale, la collégialité, la Nota Explicativa Praevia etc. Dans l’Inventaire ses papiers ont été classés chronologiquement selon les documents du concile. Un bref résumé des lettres de la correspondance a été rédigé. Un index onomastique complète le volume.

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Book SynopsisMgr Prignon (1919-2000), recteur du Pontificio Collegio Belga pendant le concile, a été un acteur particulièrement bien informé des événements conciliaires. En tant que recteur du Collège belge, il hébergeait le cardinal Suenens, la plupart des évêques belges et un bon nombre d’experts, dont Mgr Philips et le Père Congar. Devenu en 1963 peritus officiel du concile, il a surtout suivi de près les délibérations de la commission doctrinale. Conseiller ecclésiastique de l’Ambassade de Belgique auprès du Saint-Siège, il a également noué de multiples contacts dans le monde diplomatique. Ajoutons à cela que, dès 1963, Prignon était devenu l’homme de confiance du cardinal Suenens, dont le rôle au concile n’est plus à souligner. Conscient de l’importance des informations dont il disposait, Prignon a pris des notes personnelles – parfois fort éparses – concernant les événements du concile. Après quelque temps, il a privilégié l’enregistrement de ses remarques sur des bandes magnétiques, bandes qui déjà à l’époque ont été dactylographiées par son vice-recteur, L. Declerck. Pour la 4e session, ces bandes ont été éditées par L. Declerck et A. Haquin, Mgr Albert Prignon, Recteur du Pontificio Collegio Belga, Journal conciliaire de la 4e session, Cahiers de la Revue Théologique de Louvain, 35, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2003. Le volume actuel édite les notes sur les événements de la 2e session et de la 2e intersession. Période cruciale en raison du problème des 5 Propositiones (octobre 63), de la discussion sur la collégialité dans la commission de coordination en avril 1964, et des premières prises de position du cardinal Suenens au sujet du Birth Control. L’édition comporte un apparat critique, souvent indispensable vu le caractère assez succinct et peu ordonné des Notes de Prignon. Dans son Journal, Y. Congar donne un émouvant témoignage sur Prignon: «Il [Prignon] a à la fois le sens théologique, le sens pratique et le sens tactique. … Il est très renseigné. Il a présent à l’esprit tous les détails, sans perdre la ligne des intérêts plus grands … Sans tout cela, le Collège belge et le groupe belge n’auraient, ni été ce qu’ils ont été, ni joué le rôle qu’ils ont joué» (Mon Journal du Concile, Paris 2002, II, p. 72-73).

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Book SynopsisIn this first volume, Giuseppe Alberigo begins with the extraordinary announcement of the newly-elected Pope John XXIII to convene "a general council for the universal church." Etienne Fouilloux explores the gradual development and shaping of the preparatory commissions. Joseph A. Komonchak then describes the internal struggles to define the scope and nature of the council; J. Oscar Beozzo examines the external climate and focus of the world media, governments, and other religious leaders. Finally, Karl Wittstadt recounts the organizational and logistical refinements that lead up to the eve of the council itself.

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Book SynopsisThis second volume of The History of Vatican II describes the dramatic first session of the Council as it was electrified by Pope John XXIII's inspiring and liberating speech. It tells the story of how the bishops repudiated the doctrinal texts they had been expected to rubber stamp and gave overwhelming approval of the call to reform the church. Volume II describes the main protagonists, the issues at stake in the debates, and the gradual emergence and triumph of the desire for spiritual renewal and pastoral reform. It concludes with a study of the Council's agenda, an agenda that permitted this desire to become effective in subsequent sessions. In the pages of The Formation of the Council's Identity, such important ecclesiastical personages as the Cardinals Siri of Genoa and Suenens - virtual polar opposites on questions of aggiornamento - and soon-to-be famous periti such as Ives Congar, Hans Kung, and Karl Rahner make their appearances. The mood of the conservatives was one of trepidation in the face of unknown possibilites; the mood of the progressives a mixture of gloom and apprehension in the face of reactionary legalistic preparatory documents and commissions. In the midst of such contradictory expectations, John XXIII injected something completely unexpected in his "moonlight address" on the evening the Council opened. His deep humanity impressed itself upon the Council delegates and the world at large. Chapters include a preface by G. Alberigo; (1) "The Dramatic Opening Days" by A. Ricardi; (2) "The Council Gets Underway" by G.P. Fogarty; (3) "The Debate on the Liturgy" by M. Lamberigts; (4) "A Portrait of the Assembly" by H. Raguer; (5) "The Clash over Divine Revelation" by G. Ruggieri; (6) "The Brief Debate on Communications Media" by M. Lamberigts; (7) "Beyond an Ecclesiology of Polemics; The Debate on the Church" by G. Ruggieri; (8) "The Second Preparation of the Council during the Intersession" by J. Grootaers; (9) "Ebb and Flow: Conciliar Dynamics during the Intersession" by J. Grootaers; and (10) "The Conciliar Experience" by G. Alberigo.

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