{"id":1839,"date":"2013-03-01T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2022-04-19T20:12:25","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:12:25","slug":"75-implications-of-vatican-ii-on-the-participation-of-the-laity-in-the-church1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=1839","title":{"rendered":"75. Implications of Vatican II on the Participation of the Laity in the Church*"},"content":{"rendered":"

“<\/span>But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God\u2019s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span>. [1 Peter 2:9<\/span>]<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[L]\u00a0The pre-Vatican II Church as a pyramidal structure.<\/strong>\u00a0 [R]\u00a0The revolutionary vision of Vatican II on the Church.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On 4 February 2013, at the request of Fr Tony Neelankavil, Dean of Studies at the Marymatha [Mother Mary] Major Seminary in Trichu, Kerela, India, we joined two others, Professor Joris Geldhof from Leuven, Belgium, and Professor Paul Pullikan from the seminary, in presenting papers to faculties, students and invited guests. The Faculty of Theology at the seminary is associated with the Catholic University at Leuven, Belgium and there are lay people doing serious theology degree courses there.\u00a0 Apart from anything else, visits to places like this always make us feel ashamed that back home, our seminary steadfastly imposes a complete bar to lay persons and religious sisters from taking theology classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this topic assigned to us, we did a four-point reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n

We began with an opening thought on the 3 terms: Church, laity, and Vatican II. What is \u201cChurch\u201d? Who are the \u201cLaity\u201d? These are matters for studies in Ecclesiology. Did the Second Vatican Council [1962-65] say something revolutionary about the role of the laity? To appreciate what revolutionary thinking, if any, came out from Vatican II, we must first turn to see the reality before<\/em> the Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. What was it like before<\/em> Vatican II?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In this ASIPA pictorial presentation of the vision before the Second Vatican Council, the Church was seen as a pyramidal structure, with the clergy occupying the apex of the pyramid and the laity filling up the huge space at the bottom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dividing line between the top and the bottom cannot be clearer. It is like a demarcation between the holy and the profane, the religious and the secular, the power of the cloth hovering over the laity and bending them low. Put simply, the clergy were holy, the laity were not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Divine grace, gifts and blessings came directly from \u201cbeyond the clouds\u201d to the clergy, even flooding them with great, overflowing abundance of holy divine stuff. The laity, on the other hand, must humbly receive God\u2019s grace and blessings through the intermediary of the clergy. This vision of church allows for divine grace and blessings to percolate through the clergy to the laity only in dribs and drabs! The masses of poor, ignorant laity would be quite lost without the clergy, their shepherds, and their search for salvation quite untenable without the latter. The message is outlandish, but precise: without the priests, there would be no church. However, all would be well for the laity if they were docile and obedient towards their \u201csacred\u201d pastors. The laity, to be sure, were secular, and nothing like \u201csacred\u201d. In sum, the role of the laity in the pre-Vatican II Church was to \u201cpray, pay, and obey\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what is \u201cChurch<\/em>\u201d?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Recall that we can speak of the Christian Church, because<\/em> there is first the Christ. For the same reason, we can speak of the Eucharist, and have this feast of the Lord\u2019s Supper to celebrate, because<\/em> Someone died for us on the cross. In a very real sense, we cannot do Ecclesiology without Christology. Surely, if we want to reflect on the Church, we had better give due respect to the centrality of Christ before we insist on the importance and indispensability of the priests.<\/span><\/p>\n

To forget any of that is to have no \u201ctheological legs\u201d to stand on in our theologising. \u00a0So next, we turn to the Council to see how it theologized.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. What did Vatican II teach about the role of the laity?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Vatican II procession<\/span>\u00a0\"\"<\/a> The opening of Vatican II.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a real time photograph of the hour-long procession of bishops and cardinals into St Peter\u2019s Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council on 11 October, 1962.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could anything dramatic or revolutionary come from a gathering of seemingly traditional, conservative, elderly bishops that could change the Church in any way? Did \u00a0the Council fathers remember Christ in their theologising? What dramatic rethinking and reshaping of the role of the\u00a0laity<\/em> in the life and mission of the Church could possibly emerge from a gathering such as this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, dramatic and revolutionary theologizing did emerge from the Council. We highlight three elements Vatican II said in its rethinking of the role of the laity.<\/span><\/p>\n

i. Of being called to holiness<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The universal call to holiness is rooted in baptism<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n