Who do we think we are?

A New Era!

In writing about the Second Vatican Council last week, I used the image of a watershed as a way of describing that Council’s effects within the Church’s history.

There were several turn-abouts on the part of the Church in the course of the workings of the Council. 

There was a definite shift in the vision of the Church’s relationship to the world.  The document called ‘The Church in the Contemporary World” (officially called by its first words: Gaudium et Spes) presented a vision of the Church’s relationship to the world which can probably be best summed up in the word ‘dialogue’.  That is, there needs to be conversation and mutual understanding between the Church and the society in which it lives – and that means the society in which all of us as believers live.  It is our society; we are part of it and we need to have a serious voice within that society.  Dialogue does not mean agreement on every issue but it does mean that people listen to each other and seek to understand each other’s point of view, even on issues they disagree about.  They also seek to appreciate what each of them has to contribute.  This dialogue has many different forms and deals with many different issues.

This is a point that has been picked up strongly by Pope Francis.  He keeps insisting that we need to be turned towards the world in which we live so that we can speak of Christ and his gospel in a way that can find resonance with those who do not yet know Christ and the treasure that he is for our world. 

In fidelity to Christ, we cannot be a people only interested in ourselves and our own issues; we cannot be turned in on ourselves.  And we cannot speak in a way that only makes sense to ourselves.  We are witnesses to Christ. 

There were several other turn-abouts that we shall look at over the next few weeks.

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

Published: 8 November 2024