| Launch Report |
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| Written by Bernard Wynne | |||
| Friday, 05 February 2010 20:53 | |||
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Stand Up For Vatican II
The meeting to launch Stand up for Vatican II was held in London on the 26 January 2010 attended by more than 200 people. The atmosphere was positive and committed to bringing about a renewed effort in the Catholic Church to reignite the feelings that permeated the Church at the time of the Second Vatican Council. At that time people were energised by a feeling that the Church was to be renewed in a way that would enable it to grasp the challenges of the world; would endeavour to use fully all the resources available, clergy and laity; would speak to its people in a language they understood; the leaders would listen, consult and collaborate in seeking to achieve the Sacred Mission of the Church.
Those attending the meeting did so because they are concerned that in recent times our Church has appeared to drift away from the earlier commitment to the teaching of the Council by the Bishops of England and Wales. This commitment is shown most notably in their report into Collaborative Ministry The Sign We Give (1995) when in the introduction to this report they said “we are convinced that the manner and style of relationships in the Church are part of the sign it gives and, for this reason, we must develop patterns of collaborative ministry as a key feature of Church life to come”. The report goes on to say “The Second Vatican Council gave the Catholic Church a renewed and dynamic understanding of its nature and purpose”, where we ask has this renewed dynamic purpose gone?
Stand up for Vatican II is an initiative designed to appeal to our bishops to renew their commitment to all they said in the past about this new and dynamic approach to how we are Church.
The meeting
The meeting was opened by our chair Frank Regan, who welcomed all and told us “we are here to renew the spirit of Vatican II and celebrate its fruits”.
Derek Reeve, a retired priest, set the tone and context for our gathering saying “we are not here to criticise or complain but to follow Jesus in the community of the Church”. Derek expressed his appreciation of Pope John who called the Council to represent the changeless mission of Jesus in a new way and the work of all the theologians who prepared the way for the Council. He then asked for a few moments of silence to open our hearts in love.
Robert Nowell, who as assistant editor of The Tablet attended the Council, shared some of his memories and expectations. Collegiality was increasingly sidelined leaving a fundamental problem about how bishops are appointed. As an example of the way appointments have been centralised, he cited the length of time it took to appoint a new bishop in Northampton following the rejection of Rome’s Opus Dei candidate. This centralisation coupled with constant surveillance by the Curia, made possible by modern technology, has curtailed open and legitimate debate and stifles discussion about the future.
Michael Winter a theologian and author of Whatever happened to Vatican II? Told us that reform can be doctrinal, moral or institutional and while Vatican II, was successful with liturgical reform it did not reform the institution. It is important to remember that the Church exists for the laity not the other way round; one can envisage a church without clergy, but not a church without laity.
He concluded with some suggested remedies:
Myra Poole SND de Namur - Educator, Historian, Feminist Theologian and activist for women, spoke of the role of the laity at the Second Vatican Council. Myra described with passion how women in the Church have been ignored and dismissed as irrelevant not least by misogynist bishops and priests. They have struggled to overcome barriers placed in their way and still struggle to gain acceptance. She expressed concern about the lack of education in parishes, so different to the excitement and enthusiasm created during and in the days after the Second Vatican Council.
She told us about a selection of the women who had played their part in making the Council such a success referring to a book entitled 'Guests In Their Own House: The Women of Vatican II' Carmel McEnroy, 1996. This tells the story of how women at the Council managed to overcome the obstacles and make their own unique contribution. She concluded by reminding us that “there can be no Church unless we have an equal Church”.
The meeting was then passed to the audience for comment and discussion, this included:
Stand Up For Vatican II
We then had a final reminder of what next? This was to remind people that we need to keep up the pressure, to group together locally in order to ask our local bishop to agree to celebrating a Mass in the Cathedral Church in recognition of the 45th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, organise local groups and meetings.
The evening concluded with a short meditation and prayer led by Valerie Stroud
A more detailed report about the meeting including the text the speakers used will be available in due course.
If you have not signed the petition please go to www.standup4vatican2.org.uk click on petition and follow the instructions.
Bernard Wynne (with thanks to Joe Mulrooney for his excellent notes)
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