The Second Vatican Council met from 1962 through 1965 and is the most significant event in the last 400 years of Christian history. It changed the face of the Roman Catholic Church forever and dramatically affected all the people of the world. Author and theologian Bill Huebsch has provided a thorough and thoroughly readable telling of the story of Vatican II.
The story and promise of the Second Vatican Council are part and parcel of the church's daily life throughout the world. It isn't possible to prepare for or enact pastoral ministry today without being a student of Vatican II. From participatory liturgy to whole-family faith formation, from the RCIA to the deaconate, and from the renewed call to holiness to the renewed age of mercy, the springboard of the modern church is Vatican II. Because of this, knowing about the story of Vatican II is essential to understanding its promise. This volume tells that wonderful story of the council-and it does so in plain English. It follows an exciting chronological pathway from the beginning of the council to its final bell. But the deep promise of the council is found in the documents themselves. Church documents don't always make for compelling reading but the plain English presentations which author Bill Huebsch provides here make this book a page-turner! Huebsch captures the excitement and rapidly unfolding drama-all set in the theater of St. Peter's Basilica during those four years in the early 1960s. He treats each character with dignity and respect, moving beyond the judgments of "too liberal" or "too conservative" that have dogged the Church and created division rather than unity. This book fills its readers with hope and equips them to unfold the promise of the Second Vatican Council in today's world.
As Pope Francis leads the worldwide church wholly within and from the teachings of the Council (1962-65), there is a great need in college classrooms and parish faith formation groups—as well as for individuals—to again have access to these documents in contemporary English. This volume contains the sixteen official documents—constitutions, decrees, and declarations—of the Second Vatican Council in the most popular and widely used inclusive-language edition translated by Irish Dominican Austin Flannery (+2008). This edition is also presented with a larger, more readable font than previous editions. Table of Contents: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilum Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, Christus Dominus Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis Decree on the Training of Priests, Optatam Totius Decree on the Up-to-Date Renewal of Religious Life, Perfectae Caritatis Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, Apostolicam Actuositatem Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes Divinitus Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches, Orientalium Ecclesiarum Decree on the Mass Media, Inter Mirifica Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis Each of these sixteen documents is also available as separate eBooks (PDF, ePub, and Mobi) priced at $2.99 each. An affordable solution for students and scholars who only need to reference particular decrees or declarations. See more on our digital edition page. https://litpress.org/LP/vatdoc_chapter_ebook
