Forty Years After Vatican II: A Report Card on the Church Richard R. Gaillardetz, Ph.D. Murray/Bacik Professor Catholic Studies University of Toledo

Areas of Conciliar Teaching: Our Understanding of the Church The Church’s Mission in the World The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership

I. Our Understanding of the Church A.Conciliar Shift: From a Church that was…  Clericalist  Juridicist  Triumphalist …to a Church that is…  The Body of Christ  The People of God  The Temple of the Holy Spirit  A Pilgrim Church

I. Our Understanding of the Church B.Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching  The People’s “Ownership of Church” on Display in Recent Crisis  Flourishing of Lay Ministry Reflects Church as a “Symphony of Charisms”  Purification of Memories and the Church’s Honest Recognition of Past Sins

I. Our Understanding of the Church C.Work Still to Be Done  Need to See Reform and Renewal as Integral to the Church’s Life Not Just an Occasional “Course Correction”  Need to Cultivate a Deeper and More Ecclesial Eucharistic Spirituality D.Grade: B+

II. The Church’s Mission in the World A.Conciliar Shift: From Siege Mentality to Dialogical Engagement with the World  Church in the World not Church and the World  Laity Have Positive Role in Applying Gospel to Issues and Concerns of Humankind Today  Church Has Both Something to Offer the World (Christ) and Something to Learn From the World

II. The Church’s Mission in the World B.Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching  Recognition of the Importance of the Diversity of Cultures and the Christian Faith’s Engagement with Those Cultures  Recognition of Importance of Inter-Religious Dialogue  Recognition of Importance of Positive Engagement between Religion and Science  Pope and American Bishops are Consistent Advocates for Justice in the World

II. The Church’s Mission in the World C.Work Still to Be Done  Church Must Apply Social Justice Teaching to Its Own Life  Catholic Social Justice Teaching Has Not Yet Been Received by Large Numbers of the Faithful as Integral to Their Faith D.Grade: A-

III. The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church A.Conciliar Shift: From a Mechanistic View of Sacraments to a Genuine Liturgical Spirituality  Renewed Emphasis on the Active Participation of All in the Liturgy  Renewed Emphasis on the Communal Dimension of All Sacraments  Renewed Emphasis on a Theology of the Liturgy as Trinitarian and Paschal  Acknowledgement of Legitimate Diversity in Liturgical Life of Local Churches

III. The Liturgical andSacramental Life of the Church B.Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching  More Active Participation of the Faithful  Liturgy More Intelligible (Use of Vernacular)  Reforms in Liturgical/ Sacramental Life Have Recovered More Ancient Liturgical Sensibility  Liturgical Ministries Have Been Expanded

III. The Liturgical and Sacramental Life of the Church C.Work Still to Be Done  Liturgical Theology not Sufficiently Appropriated by the Faithful  Recent Signs Pointing to a Return to Rubricism and Formalism  A Re-Centralization of Liturgical Decision- making that is Ecclesiologically Unjustifiable and Opposed to the Spirit of the Council D.Grade: C+

IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership A.Conciliar Shift: From Governance Over the Church to Leadership in Service of the Church  Magisterium not Above Word of God but in Its Service  Bishops and Priests are to be Pastors more than Rulers  Bishops are not Vicars of Pope but Vicars of Christ and Ordinary Leaders of Their Local Churches  Collegiality: College of Bishops Share with the Bishop of Rome, Head of the College, Pastoral Care of Universal Church  Clergy Should Consult Lay Faithful Because the Latter Possess a Genuine Instinct for the Faith (Sensus Fidei)  Called for Establishment of Permanent Diaconate

IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership B.Evidence of Implementation of Conciliar Teaching  Rights of the Laity Are More Explicitly Articulated in New Code of Canon Law  Canon Law Provides for a Number of Consultative Bodies  Laity Engage in Many Ministries of the Church  Papacy Divested of Many Monarchical Trappings  Instruments of Collegiality Established  Flourishing of Diaconate in US

IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership C.Work Still to Be Done  Need to See Lay Ministry as Gift and Not a Threat to Clergy  Church Still Needs a Coherent Theology of Presbyteral and Diaconal Ministry and Their Relationship to Lay Ministry  Curia Exercises an Authority over Local Bishops that Lacks Adequate Ecclesiological Foundation  Synod of Bishops Falls Well Short of the Permanent Episcopal Synod Possessing Deliberative Authority Hoped for by Many Council Bishops

IV. Structures and Exercise of Church Leadership C.Work Still to Be Done  Current Procedures for Episcopal Appointment and Transfer Undermine Bishops’ Relationship to Local Church  Little Serious Effort Made to Consult the Faithful  Little Serious Effort Made to Consult Theological and Biblical Scholarship Across a Diversity of Perspectives. D.Grade:D