General and Introductory Materials
Part 2 History of the Liturgy

Chapter d30 After Vatican II [1975-2050 CE]

Preliminary Questions

Do you feel that the decrees of the Second Vatican Council are being implemented to date?  Why?  Or why not?

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Vincent J. Miller Consuming Religion:  Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture.  A Continuum Book  ISBN 0-8264-1531-8

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50 Years After the Council

John Allen in the NCR (November 7 2007) summarizes the work of two Chicago Cardinals:  "Yet there is a difference. Many historians say the two great impulses that produced Vatican II were aggiornamento, meaning bringing things up to date, and ressourcement, or a return to the wellsprings of tradition, and theologians will tell you that ultimately the two belong together. Nonetheless, in different periods one may wax and the other wane; synthetically, one could say that Bernardin leaned to the aggiornamento end of the equation, while George inclines a bit more to ressourcement.

Work still to be done   A man whose opinion I respect very much, Father Robert F. Taft SJ, writing in America 198:18, P11 gives the following list of "work still to be done." A list of works still to be done would include the order of the Christian initiation of infants, The liturgy of the hours, the practice of taking holy Communion from the tabernacle during Mass and the retreat from any meaningful reform of the sacrament of reconciliation, which has left confession a disappearing sacrament, at least in North America. Regarding all of these except the last, Catholics might learn from the East.

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Consuming Religion

During the Spring of 2006 I taught the course, Liturgical Spirituality in a  Consumer Society.  During the course we read together Vincent J. Miller  Consuming Religion:  Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture.  The quotations from this book which appear below are printed in consideration of the "Fair Use Act."  I presume that those reading the following paragraphs have each purchased a copy of this book and have thus paid royalties to the copy write owners.

Introduction

1.  This book is about the disconnect between religious belief and religious practice.  In a consumer society we form habits of interpretation and use that render the content of beliefs and values less important (1).
2.  The goal:  to become aware of how we are effected by consumer culture so that our religious engagements might be more effective (1). 
3.  Examples:  In a pole conducted by the author of his undergraduate students the majority were anonymous "in admiring and respecting John Paul II.  A majority of tem simultaneously considered the Vatican's policies on sexuality and the treatment of women to be fundamental obstacles to either joining or remaining in the Catholic Church.  Not a single one associated John Paul with any of these issues" (7).
4.  Example:  When one goes to the grocery store to buy a steak it is in its own plastic wrapped package.  we do not think of what happened to the rest of the cow; where it was raised and fed; whether it came from North Dakota or whether part of the rain forest of Brazil was destroyed to make grazing land.
5.  Example:  Formerly a child might have a treasured stuffed animal or teddy bear, which would be loved and protected for many years.  Today a child often has hundreds of stuffed animals and consequently this bond of affection is not formed with any of them.  They become simply disposable items.  Miller tells the story of a young Chinese worker who works herself to death in a factory producing stuffed animals.  Which will become "throwaway" items in the United States.  Miller uses this as an example of the disconnect between objects and values.

Chapter 1.  How to Think about Consumer Culture

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Chapter 2.  The Commodification of Culture

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Chapter 3.  Consumer Religion

1.  "Media infrastructures replace religious institutions" (102). Television and religion:  Pope John Paul II carefully orchestrated his appearance on television.  His face and voice were recognized world wide (just like any other media star).  Catholics could easily recognize the bishop of Rome where as many Catholics do not even know who their own local bishop is.  Thus the media reinforces centralization in the church and greatly diminishes the effectiveness and the authority of the local church and national bishop's conferences.  This explains in part the loyalty of contemporary aspirants to the priesthood. to Pope John Paul II and to his writings.  I have found that the writings of John Paul II are the preferred and favored text of the seminarians in any course I might teach (101).

Note that an "unintended" (at least one would presume that it is unintended) result of this media attention is that it diminishes subordinate institutions.  While the popularity of the Pope may seem an unmixed blessing, note that following remarks by David Hollenbach commenting on an unrelated issue:

"In recent years, for example, we have seen the creativity of bishops' conferences significantly reduced by decisions of the Holy See.  This has been motivated partly by the Vatican's desire to protect the unity of the church by strengthening central control.  It is increasingly clear, however, that complex global organizations are more effective when they grant greater scope for creativity to regional and local decision makers.  Effective transnational management calls for decentralization that respect local conditions.  The church, however, has been moving in the opposite direction" (David Hollenbach, "Joy and Hope, Grief and Anguish" America December 5, 2005 Vol. 193: No. 18, pg. 13)

"Second, the church needs to develop structures to enable clergy and laity to enter into more serious dialogue about how the Catholic community should respond to the challenges of public life today.  Laypeople have deep experience of engagement in all facets of our public life, an the Catholic community must learn from this experience.  Regrettably, centralization of church governance in recent years has significantly impeded such dialogue."  (David Hollenbach, "Joy and Hope, Grief and Anguish" America December 5, 2005 Vol. 193: No. 18, pg. 14)

2.  Mother Angelica's clash with Cardinal Roger Mahoney:  "Mother Angelica's impact also far outweighs that of trained theologians" (107).  The EWTN website gets more hits in an hour than the original press run of a book that was examined by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith who then excommunicated its author.  The point being that because of the media, Mother Angelica has much more influence than a contemporary theologian and the media has given her "quasi-episcopal status" (103).
 

Chapter 4.  Desire and the Kingdom of God

1.  Desire is a key element in both Christianity and a Consumer Society (107).
2.  Religious desire and the desire for consumption are not contradictory but are like "Trains on Parallel Tracks."
3.  Religious desire:  "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee."  (Augustine:  opening lines of the Confessions (110).  Religious desire arises from a "call beyond the self."  (111).  Religious desire calls us to "transcend ourselves, to constantly move forward to the gift of salvation".  (112).  It is related to Benedictine "Stability" (110).
4.  Consumer Desire:  Consumer Desire is manipulated by marketing and advertising and "Desire" comes disassociated from its related value and is directed towards sales.  However it is not directed simply towards acquiring things "consumerism is as much about losing interest in goods as it is about acquiring them."  (114).  "People spend money on personal-appearance products and services, clothing, and luxury items such as watches and cars, not simply out of a desire for those particular products, or even because they enjoy re-imagining and recreating themselves, but to maintain their status in a competitive society" (116).

Chapter 5.  The Politics of Consumption

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Chapter 6.  Popular Religion in Consumer Culture

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Chapter 7.  Stewarding Religious Traditions in Consumer Culture

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Conclusion

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 Cultural and Theological Context

James D. Davidson (in an article "Alienation in the Catholic Church Today" p 22 in Robert J. Kennedy's Reconciling Embrace [Liturgy Training Publications, 1998]) states that Catholics who experienced their formative years during the 1950's and 1960's witnessed the following changes:

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Moving the Furniture

At a gathering of parish leaders on January 19, 2002 from St. Mary's Parish, Evansville (one of the parishes mentioned in Excellent Catholic Parishes by Paul Wilkes) we discussed the metaphor of "moving the furniture."  The theological concepts we hold are something like furniture in a room.  Sometimes when we introduce a new piece of furniture, the old ones need to be rearranged.  Applying this to the arrangement of our "theological furniture" before and after the Second Vatican Council we found several key items have been "moved."  These changes are summarized in the the following table:

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Conclusions at the end of Summer 2006 Sacraments Course

I was raised in a Catholic Church where everyone knew the answers given in the Baltimore Catechism by heart. This gave the impression that in the Catholic Church, everyone thought alike, and believed the same things. At the same time studies showed that Catholics were the group of Christians least likely to discuss their religion. As we seldom explored what was going on "under the iceberg",  we presumed that everyone's unconscious experience was similar.

This (imaginary?) experience of a uniform, monolithic Church, causes me to be uneasy-- and perhaps even a little upset -- when I encounter the great diversity of religious belief among Catholics today. Catholics who get upset when the Pope suggests new mysteries for the rosary and Catholics who do not believe in the trinity or personal resurrection from the dead.

The poet Murray Bodo has written that "who we are is where and how we have journeyed." We have come to this course from a great diversity of life journeys. This has become clear from our first assignments and from our ongoing discussions throughout the course. One of the first and most basic conclusions that we might draw from this course is simply the acknowledgment of the diversity of belief and understanding that exists in the Catholic Church today. In many ways I find that I am more comfortable with (that is more in agreement with) my Protests colleagues in the Societas Liturgica and the North American Academy of Liturgy. I believe this is because our intellectual journeys have been similar.

It is important today for each Catholic Catechist and minister to be aware of this diversity. It is naive to believe "I think what the church thinks and everyone else should think what i think."This naivety opens the door to transference which can impede the Catechetical process.  It takes time to change ideas, attitudes, behavior, and particularly liturgical behavior.

Jerry Austin has written:  "One day while taking a walk with John Tracy Ellis, I asked him,  'Father John, you're a great historian. How do your think these years following the Second Vatican Council will god down in the history books?'  After a minute or two of walking in silence, he turned to me and said,  "Jerry I am convinced they will be known as an era of baptismal consciousness.' .. It is indeed significant that Pope John Paul II wrote the following in his Apostolic Exhortation on the Laity, Christifideles Laici:  "All the baptized are invited to hear once again the words of St. Augustine:  'Let us rejoice and give thanks: We have not only become Christian, but Christ himself...Stand in awe and rejoice: We have become Christ" (CL, 17) This is the famous totus Christus theology of Augustine, that the whole Christ is constituted by Christ the head and Christ the members, forming the one complete Body of Christ. This explains why the baptismal theology of the early Church saw the alter Christus to be the baptized woman or man. Only later on, with medieval theology, would the alter Christus be used exclusively for the ordained priest, almost forcing into oblivion the importance of the priesthood of all the baptized. Forgotten were the words of Augustine:  'As we call everyone Christians, in virtue of mystical anointing, so we call everyone priests because all are members of only one priesthood'  (CL 14)" ...  "What does it mean to be baptized? To aid us in this important task, my Dominican colleague, Paul J. Philibert, has just written a very helpful book (The Priesthood of the Faithful: Key to a Living Church) which ends by stating:  'A living church is a church awake to the dynamic significance of its baptismal vocation, one eager for the investment of its member' lives in the transforming grace of Christ in the world, and one that offers itself as a sacrament -- a living sign -- of the real meaning of human life. A living church is a priestly people  'who consecrate the world itself to God' (LG, 34). '"(Pastores Gregis: Shepherds of the Flock #10) quoted from Jerry Austin, Three Priesthoods: Assembly Volume 32, Number 4, July 2006

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Conclusions at the end of the Fall 2010 Sacraments Course

2010 November 12   Assignment 8:   Make two theological statements about each of the eight topics; one describing the Church's theological understanding in period 8 of the historical grid and a second statement indicating the development of the topic in period 10.  For period 8 of the history, you may want to review the Baltimore Catechism (which Catholics my age know by heart). The 1941 edition is available online at http://www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism  The current (period 10) teaching of the Magisterium is summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law which are available online at http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm and http://www.intratext.com/x/eng0017.htm.

After reading your postings for assignment eight I would like to make the following comments:

It is, of course, difficult if not impossible to express the theological meaning of these sacramental celebrations of the mystery of Christ in a single sentence, entire books could be written on each element of this homework assignment. 

Sacrament in general

In addition to the specific elements of sacramental theology that have been enriched by the teaching of the Second Vatican Council there have been several key shifts "under the iceberg" with regard to the categories of thought in which this theology is expressed.  (In the last assignment I mentioned the "Polaroid camera" exercise to try to get a glimpse of these categories and understandings.)

1.  Sacraments as communal/personal experiences.  The theology of the Council of Trent was expressed in categories that related primarily to the individual person receiving the sacrament.  Currently, while we realize that the celebration of a sacrament is always a deeply personal experience it is at the same time a communal experience.  For all sacraments are sacraments of the Church; indeed the church itself is the first sacrament, the sacrament of Jesus in his humanity, the original sacrament.  Those of you who wrote about this fundamental shift from private to ecclesial experience hit upon a deep truth.

2.  The theology of the Council of Trent was expressed in categories adapted from the Greek philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics.  This led to a vocabulary that was object centered and tended to "reify" sacraments, grace, and even God.  Today we no longer think in ontological terms.  Today's Catholics live in a world of relationships, and the psychological dimensions of relationships often influence meaning more than ontological categories.  Today if one wishes to present the theology of the Council of Trent, it is often necessary first of all to help the one receiving this instruction to learn the language of scholastic philosophy before the theology expressed in this language can be properly understood.  For example, the word "substance" for the scholastic theologian refers to "the essential meaning of an object" whereas today the word substance refers to the physical makeup of an object.  In scholastic terms contemporary "substance" is an "accident".

Scholastic sacramental theology looked at things as they are.  Contemporary sacramental theology is more concerned with process and becoming and has a deeper appreciation that the Holy Spirit works in history and the journey itself is even more important than "where we are now".  I have used two metaphors to help us understand this shift in theology:  A) "Sacraments are more verbs than nouns."  B)  The metaphor of the "seven shoeboxes" in the metaphor of the "stone dropped into a pond with ripples extending out in ever widening concentric circles".

The RCIA is designed to accompany the convert on the initial stages of the conversion journey.  It has been described as conversion therapy.

It is in this context that sacraments are seen as "moments" in a larger process. For example, during the wedding ceremony when the bride and groom expressed their love for one another, we presume that this is not the first nor the last time they have heard "I love you".  Similarly, baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist occur at appropriate moments in a process.  The same could be said for Holy Orders.  The sacrament of reconciliation functions best when forgiveness and reconciliation have already been accomplished (or at least, are in process) through spiritual direction, counseling, and change of life.  This is one reason (among many) why "confession" is not an appropriate time for spiritual direction.

Recently I have been studying The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology, by Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler (Georgetown University Press,2008. ISBN 978-1-58901-208-0) to understand why some bishops have said that it does not express the teaching of the magisterium.  The authors express the critique some contemporary moral theologians make about scholastic moral theology.  I found this paragraph very helpful in understanding my own theological journey in understanding the sacraments.

"Revisionist critiques of traditional sexual anthropology's have parallels with the critique of the implicit moral method and anthropology used in the manuals of moral theology.  The defining aspect of these manuals, which were used to train seminarians for their roles as confessors and were the authoritative source of moral theology before the Second Vatican Council, was probably their focus on individual acts and sins.  In determining the nature of a sin and the corresponding penance, the manuals were preoccupied with the individual act and largely neglected the overall character, formation, and intention of the human person who performed the act.  The manuals have been criticized, therefore, because they did not acknowledge the complexity of the human person who can not be defined by a single act.  The classicist worldview was the prominent worldview in the manuals, and it perceives penitents as doers of isolated deeds that defined them at any given moment.  Historical consciousness rejects this static view of the human person who is infinitely more complex than one single act can reveal.  Acts are important, but they do not fully encapsulate the identity or character of a person.  Though most theologians see this act-centered morality he as an inherent weakness in the manual tradition, traditionalists continue to prioritize this approach to morality in their defense of absolute sexual norms."  (pp 93-94)

This quotation expresses my experience of moral theology during my preparation for ordination -- the manuals presented the various sins (acts), number and kind.  But I had not realized that (under the iceberg) my sacramental theology had been presented in the same way.  Just as sins were individual acts, so were sacraments -- except instead of "committing it" you "received it".  Fifty years of listening to people describe to me their marriage difficulties, their spiritual journeys, etc. has caused me to think of people in their uniqueness (Duns Scouts would say, in their "haecietas") and to see them in their historical and relational context and to consider their individual "moral acts" in this larger context.   This helps me to see how sacraments also must be explained in this larger historical/relational context.   Fifty people may come to Holy Communion at Sunday Eucharist; they each put out their hand and receive the bread and drink from the cup; they each "receive the same sacrament, Eucharist"; yet they do not all experience the same Sacrament -- their experience is influenced by their history (faith journey), their life context (anxieties, grief, joys, etc.) their relationships (especially their faith relationship with God) -- in a word, their iceberg. 

Sacramental character

In scholastic theology "character" has a very specific meaning; it refers to the indelible mark placed on the soul indicating that the sacrament is permanent and can never be received a second time.  All seven sacraments give grace; only three sacraments give character.  If there is any confusion about this point, please see  "character" in the glossary section of my website.

Eucharist

Many of you pointed out that the key shift in the theology of the Eucharist is from Eucharist as sacrifice to Eucharist as sacrament, sacrifice, meal, and presence.  (These are celebrated in the mysteries of Christmas, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.)

Baptism

The key shift, as many of you mentioned is the movement from considering the infant right as normative to considering The Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults as normative.

Confirmation

While the Catechism continues to speak of Confirmation as a separate sacrament, many theologians today, (based on the Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults as normative) consider Confirmation as part of the initiation process and do not assign any independent meanings to the sacrament.  Confirmation means what Baptism means.

Reconciliation

While the definitions of The Sacrament of Penance which many of you quoted from the Baltimore Catechism are correct, in the popular mind and the mind of the hierarchy, even today, Confession is primarily an ascetical devotion by which the pious Catholic through continual reflection and examination works to eliminate venial sins one by one and thus come to a state of holiness.

After the Council, the current Rite for Reconciliation focuses on God's action not our work.  The emphasis has moved from the confession of sins to the celebration of a God who is all merciful.  As the little girl in the story said, "I know what's most important, it's what Jesus does."

Anointing of the Sick

The shift from Extreme Unction, administered when a person was in danger of death, in order to remove sins and the punishment due to sin in order to prepare the soul for less time in purgatory, has moved to a sacrament of Healing.  (Viaticum has been restored as the sacrament of for the dying in those cases where this is appropriate.)  However the Sacrament of Anointing has been restored as a sacrament of healing, healing of the entire person, mind, body, and spirit (mental healing, physical health, forgiving sins).

Note that the sacrament is for those who are "seriously ill" -- they do not have to be "in danger of death."

Matrimony

It was good to read that many of you correctly identified the major shift from "contract language" to "covenant language".  And the shift in the object of this covenant to be not only the procreation of children, but the mutual love and support of the spouses.  Indeed the husband and wife are for one another the principal source of grace; they are the primary sacrament for one another.

Holy Orders

Many things could be said about the changes in this sacrament; perhaps the key change is the movement from describing the priest as "one set apart from" the faithful with special powers, to one who ministers "in the midst of" the faithful.  Actually, the key shift in the understanding of Holy Orders comes from our enriched understanding of the sacrament of baptism which conforms us to Christ. 

Also important is the restoration of the episcopacy as a distinct order and not simply a "priest with extra jurisdiction" and the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent order.  Today we have three Holy Orders: episcopacy, presbyterate, diaconate.

Quoting the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The assignment is listed in the syllabus, made reference to the catechism of the Catholic Church and the code of Canon Law.  I was happy to see how many of you actually referred to these documents.  I think it is important for your theological education to be familiar with what these documents say about sacramental theology.  I do not mean what follows to be in any way a critique or a criticism of those who quoted these documents in their posting for this assignment.  However I would like to make the following comments about each of these books.

The Code of Canon Law.  When quoting from the code of Canon Law it is import and to know that the code employs a variety of "literary forms".  Prof. Ladislas Orsy, S.J., ("Literary Forms in the Code" in CLSA, The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary,1985,  pp 41-45) distinguishes seven:

1.  Statements of belief [which are not to be interpreted in the same way that laws are interpreted].
2. Theological statements that do not represent any article of faith, but are historically conditioned opinions of a theological school.  As such they have no right to demand universal assent.
3.  Canons that touch on issues of morality
4.  Exhortations.  They express what the legislator desires, but do not create right-and-duty situations.
5. Canons with a metaphysical content.
6. Canons that contain scientific statements, e.g., from the field of psychology or psychiatry. If a canon speaks of the effect of mental diseases, it should be interpreted according to the latest advances in medicine and not according to the state of information of the legislator at the time of the promulgation of the law.
7. True legislative pieces which deal with right-and-duty situations.  [Note:  look especially to the (Latin) verbs.  Nefas est, debet, etc.]

Sacramental theologians and canon lawyers have similar but different interests.  They have been trained in separate fields and employee distinctive vocabularies and methodologies.  Metaphor: “If you are driving to work and someone runs a stop sign, hits your car, and breaks your arm, both your family physician and your lawyer have opinions about what you should do about your arm and what you should do about suing the person who caused the accident.  While both men are no doubt very intelligent, it is probably better to consult your physician about how to fix the arm and to consult your lawyer about how to sue the other driver.  It is only logical to employ each person in their area of expertise.

When quoting theological statements from the code it is important to compare this statement with its source which will be indicated in the footnote.  Often the theological context which is the origin of the theological Canon receives a certain "interpretation" when it is placed in the Code of Canon Law.

 The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church (Latin editio typica: September 8, 1997):   In his Apostolic Exhortation introducing his catechism, Pope John Paul II describes a catechism as "an education in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life."  (Catechesi tradendae 18)   It is of the nature of a catechism to be an introduction, a simplification which anyone can understand and a safe source of church teaching.  Note that a catechism is very different from a contemporary book explaining sacramental theology.

A revision of the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) was one of the three objectives that Pope John XXIII expressed (in January 1959) for his pontificate (along with convening an ecumenical council, and revising the Code of Canon Law).

The text was composed by a committee headed by a Swiss Bishop, a retired seminary rector who had been trained in the theology of the Council of Trent and who set about to update the theology in the light of the second Vatican Council.  The committee of bishops examined his text and removed anything that they did not all agree on.  Consequently we have a text containing the undisputed theological opinions of the 1960s.  An examination of the footnotes makes it clear that there is no reference to contemporary theological thought.

Metaphor: an automobile, to be driven safely, needs both an accelerator pedal and brake pedal.  In the Church today theologians may be compared to the accelerator pedal and the bishops may be compared to the brake pedal.  They see their role as preventing the church -- the automobile -- from running into anything.  Their primary concern is condemning new understandings which might not be safe.  At the time of the second Vatican Council there were many great theologian bishops.  However Pope John Paul II appointed bishops primarily for their loyalty to the apostolic see and their ability to safeguard Catholic doctrine.

Martin Luther (who, it seems either invented or popularized the use of the word "catechism") wrote both a Large Catechism and a Small Catechism.  Today we would call them the "teacher's edition" and the "student edition".  The Catechism of the Catholic Church was intended to be the "major catechism" and Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is intended to be the "students edition".  (Pope John Paul II called for the Compendium in 2003 and it was published by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005).   This was adapted by the USCCB for Catholics in the USA:  United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (2006). 

These catechisms are good, standard sources and have an important role to play in the Church.  However, for a student writing a graduate level paper about some aspect of theology and quoting the catechism is similar to a graduate student in history writing a master's thesis and quoting a high school textbook as an authoritative source.

In reading the quotations from the Catechism in your postings, I found it interesting to see how many instances the Council Documents are more "modern" than the Catechism. 

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To Think About

Do you think the spirit of the Second Vatican Council is being implemented today? Why or why not?   [A participant in this class once wrote:   "Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the Second Vatican Council.  But where is the next step, Spirit? Your gentle breeze isn’t moving on to gale force winds. This freshness is rapidly becoming stagnant air.  Soon the smog will cover us all and we won’t remember why we got into this boat to begin with. Some will hide in the bottom of the boat and construct a plan to build a more seaworthy vessel. Some will look to the sky and begin to cry. Some will curse you for meddling in a situation where you don’t belong. Some will become paralyzed and do nothing. But the remainder will leap overboard, put their foot into the water and start walking toward the shore.  Please be ready with breakfast."  [R. Cavanaugh, summer 1993]

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Copyright: Tom Richstatter.  All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 11/11/10 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at  trichstatter@franciscan.org