Each year I try to watch Charles Craigmile's Summer School of Faith. This year the topic is,
Vatican II, 60 Years Later. This is the 10th year, although they probably didn't meet in 2020.
https://youtu.be/Zb19B8uHOTU . I enjoy his style, humor, and excellent sources. He is not a Catholic priest, he's a business man, but he did go to seminary. The first part is Dei Verbum (Persons and Propositions). Because we're Lutherans, whenever I hear history or culture or arts and entertainment discussed by Craigmile, I'm again reminded of the librarian's phrase, "to the victor belong the archives." Everything in our culture is taught and told and discussed from a Protestant viewpoint. The statistics he presents applies to all our lives and he points out that the changes of the 60s were already in place and not a result of Vatican II. The huge drop in religious orders, in attendance and in respect had already begun by the 60s. He says from a demonic view, if you're going to destroy and army, you start with the infantry. Baptisms and marriages have both dropped over 50% in the last 60 years. Interestingly the stats he gives for clergy abuse for the 1970s show those men (mostly homosexuals) had been ordained to the church much earlier than the 1970s--the 50s, so Vatican II standards weren't to blame. When Craigmile uses the word "church" he means of course, the Roman Catholic Church, however, if you've been attending any Christian church for the last 60 years, you'll recognize the cultural tsunami of changes he discusses many of which are societal, and affecting us all.
Class 1: Dei Verbum – Dogmatic Constitution On Revelation (Persons and Propositions)
Class 2: Lumen Gentium – Dogmatic Constitution On the Church (True and False Reform)
Class 3: Sacrosanctum Concilium – Constitution On the Liturgy (Active Participation)
Class 4: Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World (Nature and Grace)
Class 5: Other Topics from the Council Theological themes – interpretation and development of doctrine Ecumenism Religious Liberty
Recommended Bibliography:
The Documents of Vatican II, Walter Abbott, SJ, 1966
An Introduction to Vatican II, Matthew Levering, 2017 (Excellent!)
Vatican II Collection, Word on Fire, Bishop Barron, 2021
Reclaiming Vatican II, Father Blake Britton, 2021
The Disputed Teachings of Vatican II, Thomas G. Guarino, 2018
The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, Father Ralph Wiltgen, SVD, 1966
Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1968
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