Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations (Vatican Council II) (Vatican Council II)

by Austin Flannery

Other authorsAustin Flannery (Editor)
Paperback, 1996

Barcode

4373

Call number

262.91

Status

Checked out
Due 27 Mar 2020

Call number

262.91

Pages

610

Description

The sixteen official documents--constitutions, decrees, and declarations--of the Second Vatican Council are now available from Liturgical Press in the most popular and widely used inclusive-language edition translated by Irish Dominican Austin Flannery (+October 21, 2008). As the worldwide Church continues to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary 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. As Flannery wrote in his introduction to the 1996 edition, "The translation of the texts of the Vatican documents in the present volume differs from that in the previous publication in two respects. It has been very considerably revised and, in place, corrected. It is also, to a very large extent, in inclusive language. "I say 'to a very large extent,' because we have used inclusive language in passages about men and women but not, however, in passages about God, except where the use of the masculine pronoun was easily avoidable."… (more)

Publication

Costello Pub Co (1996), Edition: Revised, 610 pages

Original publication date

1966

ISBN

0918344379 / 9780918344373

Rating

½ (41 ratings; 3.7)

User reviews

LibraryThing member absurdeist
A good but dry resource for discerning what the Holy Roman Catholic Church teaches (whether you believe what they teach or not), so that when perhaps you chance upon a Catholic acquaintance or friend or relative or, even, say, upon someone online - though probably no one here on LT - who constantly
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and, arguably, please pardon the impending negative connotations associated herewith regarding certain descriptives) annoyingly "spews" and/or proselytizes and provides an apologia for Catholic Dogma-this and Catholic Doctrine-that, doing so, in "distastefully disdainful" (if not "outrageously obnoxious," speaking hypothetically, of course) fashion, or, may I add, in an astoundingly non-magnanimous, "hyper-pompous" and "unconscionably condescending" tone on various hypothetical threads here or there or at whatever hypothetical venues in life), who might perhaps state something (I don't know) graceless? regarding Catholic Doctrine...

Well, rather than merely swallow what you might, admittedly, pejoratively term their "subterfuge of spewage," and take what they undoubtedly, clear-consciously consider the Holy Roman truth on whatever issue or doctrine they're hypothetically embroiled in (i.e., "subterfugally spewing") at any given moment, you can look up said issue or doctrine quickly and efficiently from the comfort of your own home in the encyclopedic Index at the back of the handy reference volume, er, tome, The Documents of Vatican II. Then you can conclude for yourself if what they (said "spewer") are claiming jives with the Holy Roman Catholic's (as promulgated by the Vatican's Ecumenical Council, 1963-1965) Doctrine and Dogma and Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) and Declarations and Liturgies and Papal Speeches and Ecumenical Aspirations, and what its role should be as well, the Church's, for example, in Christian Education (Gravissimum Educationis) and Missions (Ad Gentes), as well as its official public stance toward Non-Christians (Nostra Aetate) - all sixteen of Vatican IIs Documents - that the Church's powers-that-be espouse and defend and expect its faithful to obediently abide by.

I recommend The Documents of Vatican II. It's a valuable, topical, and relevant religious resource even for atheists and agnostics and other unspecified, skeptical heathen-types presumably on the path toward Perdition (or in the least, Purgatory), for understanding and thereby more effectively interfacing with Catholics on their own spiritual turf.

The Documents of Vatican II are especially relevant, I should add, in light of recent, regrettable, truly wish the truth wasn't true, multiple incidents of priestly paedophilia that's finally been exposed. Why relevant in that controversial regard? Just to slam or call a sham the the hierarchy (and by association, its adherents) of the Holy Roman Catholic Church? No, not necessarily (entertaining as the temptation might be, though all too juvenile and passé a mild amusement)...

But, by knowing Catholic statutes, and being able to cite specific references like - as a quick example: Chapter V, point 25, second paragraph, from the section, "LAITY," where it states regarding "Bishops, pastors of parishes, and other priests," that they ought to conduct themselves toward the laity in a manner that can "promote proper relations [emphasis mine] between laity and hierarchy," it then becomes easier, since you're then employing the Catholic's own resources and language against them in confronting (hopefully the unreasonable few) unholy enablers that may posit twisted rationalizations either privately or in the press for the unforgivable, heinous behavior perpetrated by priests upon children in their supposed spiritual care.

Criticism aside, The Documents of Vatican II nevertheless contain important (and helpful) distinctions that both define Catholic Doctrine cogently for believers and unbelievers alike, and also crisply differentiates Catholic Doctrine from it's theological "nephew," so to speak, the Protestants, as well as delineating its philosophical and moral matrix of "do's" (but surprisingly few specific "don't's"), from those of other World Religions.

I consider it an invaluable education having recently re-read (okay, skimmed this time) each section and sub-section and sub-sub-section among the sixteen documents, and I've had the good fortune recently of applying the knowledge gleaned from it in helping keep (I pray) Holy Roman Catholic Apologists firmly planted on their toes.
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