101 Questions and Answers on Vatican II

By Maureen Sullivan

Book Overview

Pope John XXIII called Vatican II a new Pentecost in the church's life. While the great meetings of 1962-1965 opened the church's windows to let the stale air out and the fresh winds in, the years since have been decades of contradictory movements: tradition and progress, conservation and innovation, reform and renewal, status quo and change. Vatican II has become so much of a battleground that some who lived through it may have lost sight of its original intentions. Many believers do not even remember the pre-Vatican II world of Catholicism. Still others have tried to continually apply and update the spirit of the Council without appreciating the context in which the church gathered and the global circumstances that surrounded the Council's implementation. 101 Questions & Answers on Vatican II brings us back to the beginning-to the preparations and expectations for the Council, to the meetings and developments in 1962-1965, to the internal church struggles and the exterior influences that shaped the final documents, and to the many layers of experience and perspectives within the church since the Council adjourned. For people who have heard of Vatican II but have only experienced the Council through a glass darkly, this book takes them back to the beginning to a basic question: "Just what was Vatican II?" Highlights: --no other guide like this one. --user-friendly format. --sure to be a hit in parishes, lay leadership groups, RCIA and catechist groups. +

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809141337
• ISBN13: 9780809141333
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Paulist Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Book for Curious Young Adults and for Reflective Old Timers

Sr. Maureen Sullivan, OP, has provided a very helpful aid for Catholic young adults who are attending courses in Catholic theology or participating in discussion groups. For people in this age grouping the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) is merely foggy history. However, it remains a pivotal event for understanding contemporary theological methods, biblical studies, liturgical renewal, spiritual self-understanding, approaches to ethical issues, as well as an overall sense of Catholic sensibilities. The information and insights that the author provides in "101 Questions about Vatican II" should provide the younger reader with a foundation for a better grasp of the issues still being explored and debated. It is also the intent of the author to instill a sense of enthusiasm for the significance of this momentous event. As a Catholic priest ordained in early 1963 immediately after the conclusion of the first session of the Second Vatican Council I suspect that the original ecstasy of the Council and its aftermath will be difficult to replicated in the lives of those who did not share the agony of that period as well. For some members of an older generation this helpful guide may well provide memories that only now, some forty years later, fully reveal their significance.