Forty Years After Vatican II: A Report Card on the Church

1. Forty Years After Vatican II:A Report Card on the Church Richard R. Gaillardetz, Ph.D.Murray/Bacik Professor Catholic StudiesUniversity of Toledo

2. Areas of Conciliar Teaching: • Our Understanding of the Church • The Church’s Mission in the World • The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church • Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership

3. I. Our Understanding of the Church • Conciliar Shift: From a Church that was… • Clericalist • Juridicist • Triumphalist …to a Church that is… • The Body of Christ • The People of God • The Temple of the Holy Spirit • A Pilgrim Church

4. I. Our Understanding of the Church • Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching • The People’s “Ownership of Church” on Display in Recent Crisis • Flourishing of Lay Ministry Reflects Church as a “Symphony of Charisms” • Purification of Memories and the Church’s Honest Recognition of Past Sins

5. I. Our Understanding of the Church • Work Still to Be Done • Need to See Reform and Renewal as Integral to the Church’s Life Not Just an Occasional “Course Correction” • Need to Cultivate a Deeper and More Ecclesial Eucharistic Spirituality • Grade: B+

6. II. The Church’s Mission in the World • Conciliar Shift: From Siege Mentality to Dialogical Engagement with the World • Church in the World not Church and the World • Laity Have Positive Role in Applying Gospel to Issues and Concerns of Humankind Today • Church Has Both Something to Offer the World (Christ) and Something to Learn From the World

7. II. The Church’s Mission in the World • Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching • Recognition of the Importance of the Diversity of Cultures and the Christian Faith’s Engagement with Those Cultures • Recognition of Importance of Inter-Religious Dialogue • Recognition of Importance of Positive Engagement between Religion and Science • Pope and American Bishops are Consistent Advocates for Justice in the World

8. II. The Church’s Mission in the World • Work Still to Be Done • Church Must Apply Social Justice Teaching to Its Own Life • Catholic Social Justice Teaching Has Not Yet Been Received by Large Numbers of the Faithful as Integral to Their Faith • Grade: A-

9. III. The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church • Conciliar Shift: From a Mechanistic View of Sacraments to a Genuine Liturgical Spirituality • Renewed Emphasis on the Active Participation of All in the Liturgy • Renewed Emphasis on the Communal Dimension of All Sacraments • Renewed Emphasis on a Theology of the Liturgy as Trinitarian and Paschal • Acknowledgement of Legitimate Diversity in Liturgical Life of Local Churches

10. III. The Liturgical andSacramental Life of the Church • Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching • More Active Participation of the Faithful • Liturgy More Intelligible (Use of Vernacular) • Reforms in Liturgical/ Sacramental Life Have Recovered More Ancient Liturgical Sensibility • Liturgical Ministries Have Been Expanded

11. III. The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church • Work Still to Be Done • Liturgical Theology not Sufficiently Appropriated by the Faithful • Recent Signs Pointing to a Return to Rubricism and Formalism • A Re-Centralization of Liturgical Decision-making that is Ecclesiologically Unjustifiable and Opposed to the Spirit of the Council • Grade: C+

12. IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership • Conciliar Shift: From Governance Over the Church to Leadership in Service of the Church • Magisterium not Above Word of God but in Its Service • Bishops and Priests are to be Pastors more than Rulers • Bishops are not Vicars of Pope but Vicars of Christ and Ordinary Leaders of Their Local Churches • Collegiality: College of Bishops Share with the Bishop of Rome, Head of the College, Pastoral Care of Universal Church • Clergy Should Consult Lay Faithful Because the Latter Possess a Genuine Instinct for the Faith (Sensus Fidei) • Called for Establishment of Permanent Diaconate

13. IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership • Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching • Rights of the Laity Are More Explicitly Articulated in New Code of Canon Law • Canon Law Provides for a Number of Consultative Bodies • Laity Engage in Many Ministries of the Church • Papacy Divested of Many Monarchical Trappings • Instruments of Collegiality Established • Flourishing of Diaconate in US

14. IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership • Work Still to Be Done • Need to See Lay Ministry as Gift and Not a Threat to Clergy • Church Still Needs a Coherent Theology of Presbyteral and Diaconal Ministry and Their Relationship to Lay Ministry • Curia Exercises an Authority over Local Bishops that Lacks Adequate Ecclesiological Foundation • Synod of Bishops Falls Well Short of the Permanent Episcopal Synod Possessing Deliberative Authority Hoped for by Many Council Bishops

15. IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership • Work Still to Be Done • Current Procedures for Episcopal Appointment and Transfer Undermine Bishops’ Relationship to Local Church • Little Serious Effort Made to Consult the Faithful • Little Serious Effort Made to Consult Theological and Biblical Scholarship Across a Diversity of Perspectives. • Grade: D