Vatican II

Questions for Further Study

• 1. In your view, did the Second Vatican Council change Catholicism, or did the council reflect and institutionalize changes in Catholicism that had already taken place? Or both? Explain your position.
• 2. The Second Vatican Council could be regarded as an end point in a host of geopolitical, economic, and historical changes throughout the world in the preceding decades. Explain in detail how this is the case.
• 3. Still in the twenty-first century, some conservative Catholics grumble about Vatican II, arguing that it liberalized the church beyond recognition. They prefer masses conducted in Latin, use of traditional hymns (accompanied by an organ rather than guitars), and adherence to traditional practices that Vatican II either eliminated or deemphasized. Why do you think some Catholics feel this way?
• 4. Make the argument that Vatican II was part and parcel of the revolutionary, anticapitalist, countercultural decade of the 1960s.
• 5. One commentator remarked pithily, “If the post-Vatican II theology did anything, it drew attention to the person in the pew instead of the priest in the pulpit.” Explain this statement in light of the Vatican II documents.