Posted on 6/18/2013 8:18 AM By Jay
June 24, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
As the second session of the Second Vatican Council drew to a close on Dec. 4, 1963, the mood among the council fathers was sombre. Only two conciliar decrees had been approved, disorganization had slowed the progress of the council and a deep chasm existed among the fathers on religious liberty, ecumenism and collegiality.
Posted on 6/13/2013 8:18 AM By Jay
June 17, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
Maximos IV Saigh, the patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church, was one of the most outspoken fathers of the Second Vatican Council.
Posted on 6/11/2013 8:59 AM By Jay
June 10, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
One feature that distinguished the Second Vatican Council from the 19th-century Vatican One and the 16th-century Council of Trent was the presence of "observers" from other Christian churches.
Posted on 5/28/2013 9:45 AM By Jay
June 3, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
The draft version of the Decree on Ecumenism presented to the fathers of the Second Vatican Council in November 1963 had two chapters that never made it into the final version of the document.
Posted on 5/17/2013 1:19 PM By Jay
May 27, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
When Catholics in the Western world think of ecumenism and full Church unity, our natural tendency is to think first of healing the breach of the 16th century Reformation.
Posted on 5/14/2013 11:58 AM By Jay
May 20, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) staked the cause of Christian unity clearly on the ground of Church renewal.
Posted on 5/6/2013 2:24 PM By Jay
May 13, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
Perhaps the most important traditional Catholic teaching that received new life at the Second Vatican Council was that of the hierarchy of truths. The Decree on Ecumenism, no. 11, presented the notion that some truths are more central than others.
Posted on 4/29/2013 12:52 PM By Jay
May 6, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism had several important things to say to the Catholic community. However, the most important things about the decree were that it was written, it was overwhelmingly approved and it called for dialogue among separated Christians.
Posted on 4/23/2013 9:53 AM By Jay
April 29, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
For the French Dominican theologian Yves Congar, the presentation of a schema on ecumenism on the floor of the Second Vatican Council must have seemed like a dream, one too good to be true.
Posted on 4/16/2013 7:17 AM By Jay
April 22, 2013
GLEN ARGAN
WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER
On Nov. 18, 1963, Vatican II's proposed document on ecumenism reached the floor of the council. One of the main reasons Pope John XXIII had called the Second Vatican Council was to further the quest for Church unity and so this was an historic day.