50 Years Later
In the 50 years since the Second Vatican Council, there has been much research, analyses, debates and even schisms over the Vatican II within the Church. After an in-depth study and analysis of the 16 documents promulgated by Vatican II, the renowned Australian theologian Fr. Ormond Rush published a book entitled “The Vision of Vatican II”. In this book he sets out 24 principles, which he drew from 16 documents of Vatican II for citation and explanation. With this work, he hoped that the Church community, and indeed all students of Theology would take a broad view and focus on the whole of Vatican II instead of argument about some details or cling to some of the trivialities.

The 24 principles described in the book represented the different viewpoints and perspectives of Vatican II, whose main task was to renew the Church. These 24 principles are like the 24 streams that accomplish the task. Fr. Rush believed that these 24 principles could also be used as a measure of the depth of Vatican II’s influence in the Church community.

Before and after Vatican II, the European Church could be said to have been immersed in Tridentine theology. The whole European Church was influenced by the culture of Trent, whether in the liturgy, in the relationship between the priests and the laity, or with other Christian churches, or with non-Christian religious groups, etc. Before Vatican II, Latin theology took precedence, and Latin music took precedence in the liturgy. The convening of Vatican II had made the whole universal Church feel the need for renewal so that it could improve its mission of evangelization.

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However, some of the old generation, including some young priests and nuns, kept sticking to the Council of Trent. They felt that they found it difficult to accept the new thinking of Vatican II. However, the book ‘Visions of Vatican II’ clarifies and proves that the ideas of Vatican II are rooted in the Apostolic Tradition and the Bible. Why do some people call the Tridentine Church the closest thing to the image of the Church that Jesus founded? Here, I would like to share an experience with you. The famous master Michelangelo painted many frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, such as “The Creation of Adam” and “The Last Judgment”, which are now several hundred years old. Because there were no electric lights in the past, they were all illuminated by candlelight, so the paintings were covered with thick smoke stains. However, the images and colors of these paintings had been deeply engraved in people’s minds. After the Sistine Chapel was renovated, the centuries-old dirt and soot were removed from the frescoes by highly skilled craftsmen, restoring them to their original colours as they were painted by Michelangelo in those days. However, when some people, who loved the frescoes in their ‘traditional’ form, looked up at the new renovated, original colourful frescoes and they felt that they could not accept these changes. They preferred the traditional one! The craftsmen who did the renovation had purposely left some small parts of the previous one just for comparison. The frescoes covered in dirt and smoke had taken away the status of Michelangelo’s original paintings in people’s minds! What people thought that it was the most traditional had replaced the original Church founded by Christ. Vatican II wanted just to remove the old stains and restore the original appearance of the Church! The vision of Vatican II was to renew the Church, to remove the dirt and bad habits that had accumulated in its history, “to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church” ( Lumen Gentium 1)

Vision and Acceptance
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Each of the 16 Vatican II documents has its own individual theme and vision; but taken as a whole, all the documents share a common vision. At the same time, each of the 16 documents identifies the people and groups that would take up their vision and put them into practice.

In the more than 2,000 years of the Church’s history, there had been 21 ecumenical councils. From the first Council of Nicaea (325) to the First Vatican Council (1869), most of these councils had been convened on a particular subject, such as heresy, or schisms between society and the Church, or conflicts between the Church and other churches, and many had been convened to condemn heresy. Vatican II was unique. Before the opening of Vatican II, Pope John XXIII had made it clear that the main purpose of the Council was to renew the Church so that it could evangelize the modern world, and that no heresy would be condemned at the Council. The Pope’s approach was very striking at the time, and unacceptable by a small number of bishops, because at that time the Church was confronted with many ideologies, such as relativism, communism, socialism and so on. However, the Pope insisted that he would not pass judgment on any of the ideologies of modern society.

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Each of the 16 documents of Vatican II had its own relevant theme, such as liturgy, the Church, the media, and so on. However, the content of each document is inter-textually related to the content of the other 15, in contrast to the previous councils’ documents, which were separate and distinct. In addition, each paragraph of the content of each document is intra-textually related to the content of the entire document. This is a unique feature of Vatican II documents. In other words, exploring the vision of Vatican II as a whole requires a careful examination of the relationship of the documents’ paragraphs to the document as a whole, as well as its relationship to the other 15 documents, which is indeed a very complex task.

Of the 16 documents of Vatican II, there are 4 Constitutions: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) and Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). The first 2 are dogmatic constitutions and the last 2 are pastoral constitutions. Just as the 4 Gospels of the Bible are the foundation of the whole New Testament, so these 4 Constitutions are the foundation of the whole council. To find the Vision of Vatican II it should begin with these 4 charters. However, we must not ignore the other 12 documents of Vatican II, including the 9 Decrees and 3 Declarations, for these 12 documents are useful in understanding the deep meaning of the 4 charters.

In addition, we must not forget that the number of people, countries, nationalities and languages of participants at the Second Vatican Council exceeded any other Council. It was attended by some 3,000 bishops and voting members. Vatican II lasted 3 years (1962-1965). The average attendance at the annual meetings held in autumn was over 2,300, with 480 advisers to the various committees; 41 churches not united with the Catholic Church also sent 173 representatives; all the participants came from 116 countries. For example, the first Vatican II document, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (“Sacrosanctum Concilium”), voted by the Assembly on 4 December 1963, received 2,147 votes in favour and only four against; the last document, the Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity (“Ad Gentes”) voted on 7 December 1965, received 2,394 votes in favour and 5 against. Historians have called Vatican II the greatest gathering in human history. The Second Vatican Council therefore can be considered a model.

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In addition to the 16 Vatican II documents, we must also pay attention to the actions of Vatican II, which were quite meaningful and at the same time indicated an affirmation of what Vatican II advocated and put into practice. For example, there was Mass before each meeting celebrated in different rites of the Church and in a language understood by the participants. Another action, before the meeting started there was a short procession and one bishop carried the book of the four Gospels lifted up and then placed on an elevated platform, signifying that the Word of Christ is the heart of the Church and everyone has to listen to it. In addition, Pope Paul VI auctioned off his tiara (Triple Crown) for helping the poor during Vatican II.

The Vision of Vatican II, as already stated, was the renewal of the Church. Let us take a closer look at the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church to better understand it. Today the Church has to carry out its mission of evangelization in the world of today. Hence the best way to renew the Church was first to ask, what is the Church of Jesus Christ. What is the inner nature of the Church willed by Christ and what are the non-essential elements which were added throughout the long history of the Church. How to remove the non-essential elements that not only are historical accretions no longer understood today, but they obscure the inner light of the Church, the light of Christ, that must be resplendent on the face of the Church to let people see it. How could the Church be restored to its original inner nature and visible structure willed by Christ.

How then, should the nature of the Church look like?

Let us briefly examine the different historical background of the Council of Trent and of Vatican II.

The Council of Trent opened in the year 1546, less than 500 years ago. Not many bishops attended and most of them were European. The participants Vatican II came from all over the world and representatives of other Christian Churches were also invited. The main purpose of the council of Trent was how to face and condemn the split of many European churches from the Church of Rome and how to reform the Church.

The situation was very complicated due to the heavy interference of European states who supported opposing camps.

Vatican II lived in a very different era and aimed at uniting all Christians so that the Church could better witness Christ in society and improve its Evangelization work.

Vatican II wanted to go back to the source of our faith, to Jesus’ teaching, the Apostolic Tradition and the early Church fathers. Two key words used in Vatican II documents can describe the essence of Vatican II teachings: koinonia (communion) and missio (sending). Koinonia occurs 111 times in the 16 Vatican documents and missio 141 times. Let us deepen a bit their meaning.

Communion and sending
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Vatican II uses the words koinonia (communion) and missio (sending) to demonstrate the core value of the Church. These two words are common in the New Testament books of the Bible and were favourite words used by the early Church and early church fathers.

After the documents of Vatican II were published, all over the world, including Hong Kong, the majority of the faithful and clergy, accepted them with enthusiasm. However very quickly a small minority started raising questions and disputing the documents. The majority, as often happens, remained rather indifferent. The more traditionalists and conservatives argued that the language and words of Vatican II were too modern and lacked the taste of Tridentine theology. In Chinese there is a saying that says, “those who do not know are not guilty”, but these words are not applicable to an international city like Hong Kong. In Hong Kong “those who do not know” can easily become “those who know”. It depends on whether they are willing to do so!

What we are about to discuss is indeed very relevant to our lives. First of all, what type of ‘door’ do we enter when we receive the Sacraments of Initiation? Do we enter into a structure, an organization, or an organism, a living body where each one becomes a member of the body and shares in its work and mission?

We will start with the word koinonia, a word whose synonyms are often used, such as union, communion and unity, all of which occur many times respectively, thus demonstrating the importance of this topic.

The word “communion” referred to in Vatican II has two dimensions: “vertical’ and ‘horizontal”. The “vertical” refers to the communion of the people of God with the Trinity, which includes the communion of all mankind with the Trinity. The “horizontal” refers to the communion of brothers and sisters within the Church, which includes the unity of all mankind. Vatican II affirms:

“Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race… so that all men, joined more closely today by various social, technical and cultural ties, might also attain fuller unity in Christ.” (LG 1)

Further, the communion discussed in Vatican II is not merely symbolic, but the Church, in the hands of Jesus, becomes an instrument for promoting human unity.

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“So it is that that messianic people, although it does not actually include all men, and at times may look like a small flock, is nonetheless a lasting and sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race. Established by Christ as a communion of life, charity and truth, it is also used by Him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent forth into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13-16) (LG 9)

At this point, I believe you will understand clearly what the Vision of Vatican II - the renewal of the Church - is all about. The people of God to whom Vatican II refers are you and I. In our real lives, when we interact with others, in our participation in the Mass, we are experiencing this communion with God, with our other brothers and sisters, with all humanity, so that we can move towards this purpose in our daily lives, through all our activities, from work to rest. Vatican II believes that to believe in the Trinity is to have a relationship with the Father. If this faith truly enters into our lives in a tangible way, it would create a new culture, a culture of human communion. In this way, faith makes a real contribution to the building of society. In fact, each religion has its own distinctive character, and if all religions work together in harmony towards this goal, they can make a real impact.

“The union of the human family is greatly fortified and fulfilled by the unity, founded on Christ, of the family of God’s sons.” (GS 42)

Religious beliefs, on the surface, seem to have little to do with the real world; some leaders of certain countries may even argue that religious thinking is “off the ground” and out of touch with the world; some even say that building religious sites is a waste of land and that it would be more beneficial to build schools or hospitals for the people.

The faithful should have confidence and stand firm, trusting that their own belief will have an impact on people’s lives and make a contribution to society; and truly believe that faith in the Trinitarian God is the most beautiful of all!

All are called to the same end, namely, to God Himself. There is a similarity between the union of the Holy Trinity of God and the brotherhood of men that should be established in truth and love. ”Love of God cannot be separated from love of neighbour” ( cfr. gaudium-et-spes 24).

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The triune God created all things, but none of them is like man, who is seen as His child and friend. Man should be like his creator and father, source of love and communion.

“This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself...” ( gaudium-et-spes 24).

In fact, the renewal of the Church is the restoration of the Church as it was founded by Jesus. Our Lord is not alone; He sees us as children, brothers and friends, and so we should not be alone either, but in communion with all as the triune God is. Having understood the meaning of the word ‘communion’, let us begin our discussion of missio (sending). The Church speaks of “sending”, “just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit.” ( Sacrosanctum Concilium 9), “From this source the Church, equipped with the gifts of its Founder and faithfully guarding His precepts of charity, humility and self-sacrifice, receives the mission to proclaim and to spread among all peoples the Kingdom of Christ and of God and to be, on earth, the initial budding forth of that kingdom.” ( Lumen Gentium 5)

“To accomplish this, Christ sent from the Father His Holy Spirit, who was to carry on inwardly His work of redemption and prompt the Church to spread out.” ( （Ad Gentes 4)

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The Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity (Ad Gentes), the last of the Vatican II documents, was adopted on 7 December 1965 by 2,394 votes in favour and 5 against, as already mentioned. It can therefore be quoted to confirm and deepen the meaning of what the other documents say about the evangelization of the Church, which is comes from the Trinity and promoted by the Trinity. “The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father.” ( （Ad Gentes 2)

Jesus was sent by the Father and motivated by the Holy Spirit; the Church’s evangelization work should follow the model of Jesus. In the past, Church documents did not use the word ‘missio’, but rather ‘missionary country’, i.e. evangelization to mission countries was initiated by the Pope, missionaries were assigned by the Vatican to the various missions, and the bishops of the respective missions assigned the work. However, Vatican II states: “Since the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God”, ( （Ad Gentes 35) therefore, all believers as members of the Church must share in its evangelization work. “In the Church there is a diversity of ministry but a oneness of mission. Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His name and power. But the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world.” （ Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem 2))

Revelation and Faith
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The verb revelation has two dimensions: firstly, it is the way in which a master reveals some truths to his disciples, in a way they may grasp them well. On their own the disciples wouldn’t be able to know that there is a mystery, let alone understand it well. In the Catholic tradition, the Church has promulgated many such revelations from God. The doctrine of these revelations is kept either in the Bible or in the Tradition. When the Church with the authority given to her by Jesus Christ, promulgates these doctrines, then we call them dogmas that each faithful must believe. This practice became even more popular during and after the Council of Trent, when the newly separated churches were often at odds with Catholicism over certain doctrines. However, this practice has almost forgotten the most important aspect of revelation; its importance was evident even before the preparation of Vatican II: what does God reveal to us? When the first drafts to be discussed by the Council were distributed, it was evident that these drafts looked more like a list of all past dogmas. Something very important was missing. The majority of the bishops rejected it not because it was wrong, but because it was incomplete. The Pope’s purpose in calling Vatican II was to renew the Church and to restore it to what it was meant to be. The long discussions of the Council produced one of the best constitution of the Council. What God reveals to us is not a set of doctrines to be believed, which is also important, but the most important aspect of God’s revelation is that God reveals Himself to us. God is pleased to reveal Himself to us. “The invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends.” ( Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - DV 2). Through revelation, God warmly invites people to have a relationship with him, a relationship between father and son. Unfortunately, in the centuries after the Council of Trent, the Church continued to focus on dogmas and catechisms, and seldom on reading the Bible. Even before Vatican II, there were many movements, such as the biblical movement and the catechetical renewal movement, which were very close to the teachings of Vatican II. Although the absolute majority of the bishops voted in favour of the Constitution (2,344 yes to 6 no), and the majority of the faithful were glad to have a New Constitution on Revelation again after the council, the small but very vociferous group of traditionalists kept spreading doubts or open opposition to the Constitution. Unfortunately a small number of authoritative church leaders still clung to the practices of the Council of Trent.

The Constitution on Revelation clearly states that God reveals Himself and His plans to His people in their history. ( cfr. Lumen Gentium 9 and Gaudium et Spes 58). From these documents of Vatican II it is clear to us that the emphasis of God’s revelation is not on the “what”, but on the “who”. Vatican II has repeatedly reiterated that God reveals Himself and invites people to converse with Him.

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If you read the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) carefully, you will notice that each time it mentions about revelation, it also talks about redemption. “Through divine revelation, God chose to show forth and communicate Himself and the eternal decisions of His will regarding the salvation of men.” ( Dei Verbum 6 ） Revelation does not reveal any mysterious doctrines, but by revelation it touches people and enables them to obtain salvation. It is not just faith that one accepts, but most important is to accept God himself.

Jesus Christ came into the world to reveal the Father to man, so that man might know Him and accept Him and thus be saved. Vatican II goes on to emphasize that man who accepts the invitation of the Father naturally receives salvation. The most important aspect of God’s revelation is that not only God reveals Himself, but also reveals the mystery of salvation to man. Our faith, like the revelation of God, has two dimensions: first and foremost, we accept the invitation of our Heavenly Father, “and freely assenting to the truth revealed by Him. To make this act of faith, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist” ( Dei Verbum 5). “The Holy Spirit, who calls all men to Christ by the seeds of the Lord and by the preaching of the Gospel, stirs up in their hearts a submission to the faith.” ( Dei Verbum 15). Vatican II refers to the renewal of the life of believers, not only to learn the truth of the faith, but also to be sincerely obedient. The simplest example of this is how Christ speaks to us in the Liturgy of the Word at Mass. After the scriptures have been read, the lector says, “The word of the Lord” and we respond, “Thanks be to God”. This means that we accept the word of God and do not just listen to the contents of a book. The dialogue between God and His people has been going on for thousands of years and will continue until the return of Christ. The believer does not inherit a book from the previous generation, but in each age he dialogues with God and puts it into practice; and the act of practice is different in each age. With the progress of the times, the dialogue between God and the people of God will become deeper and deeper, so the revelation of God is constantly progressing. Moreover, because the community of believers - the Church is like a sacrament - symbolizing the unity of all mankind and their relationship with God, therefore, the community of believers must live out the unity of all mankind. “It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the Church as a whole, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful.” ( Decree on Ecumenism - Unitatis Redintegratio 2) . “All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.” ( Gaudium et Spes 22).

Diversity and Unity
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Vatican II understands the reality of the “diversity” in the Church. “For, from the beginning of her history she has learned to express the message of Christ with the help of the ideas and terminology of various philosophers, and has tried to clarify it with their wisdom, too. Her purpose has been to adapt the Gospel to the grasp of all as well as to the needs of the learned, insofar as such was appropriate. Indeed this accommodated preaching of the revealed word ought to remain the law of all evangelization.” （ Lumen Gentium 44 ） Vatican II also pointed out that “the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures.” （ Lumen Gentium 62 ） Therefore, the Church allows ‘legitimate differences’ （Unitatis Redintegratio 17 ）, “Provisions shall also be made, when revising the liturgical books, for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions, and peoples, especially in mission lands, provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is preserved; and this should be borne in mind when drawing up the rites and devising rubrics.” （Sacrosanctum Concilium 38 ） “By virtue of her mission to shed on the whole world the radiance of the Gospel message, and to unify under one Spirit all men of whatever nation, race or culture, the Church stands forth as a sign of that brotherhood which allows honest dialogue and gives it vigor.” （Gaudium et Spes 92 ） “All men are called to be part of this Catholic unity of the people of God which in promoting universal peace presages it. And there belong to or are related to it in various ways, the Catholic faithful, all who believe in Christ, and indeed the whole of mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation.” （ Lumen Gentium 13 ） Vatican II also recognized the pluralistic nature of modern society and “…esteems highly those civil authorities and societies which, bearing in mind the pluralism of contemporary society and respecting religious freedom, assist families so that the education of their children can be imparted in all schools according to the individual moral and religious principles of the families.” (Declaration on Christian Education - Gravissimum Educationis 7).

As for the teaching of the faith, the Church does not hesitate to affirm that the writers of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who were all inspired by the Holy Spirit, “wrote the four Gospels, selecting some things from the many which had been handed on by word of mouth or in writing, reducing some of them to a synthesis, explaining some things in view of the situation of their churches and preserving the form of proclamation but always in such fashion that they told us the honest truth about Jesus.” （cfr. Dei Verbum 18,19 ）

“However, the heritage handed down by the apostles was received with differences of form and manner, so that from the earliest times of the Church it was explained variously in different places, owing to diversities of genius and conditions of life.” （Unitatis Redintegratio 14）

Despite this “This variety of local churches with one common aspiration is splendid evidence of the catholicity of the undivided Church.” （ Lumen Gentium 23 ）

This is a testimony to the marvelous unity of the Body of Christ in the midst of change, where the difference of spiritual gifts, service and workings unites the children of God, because “But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.” （1 Corinthians 12：11）. （ Lumen Gentium 32 ） “In the Church there is a diversity of ministry but a oneness of mission.” （Apostolicam Actuositatem 2 ）

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The vision of Vatican II is to renew the church, with the aim of purifying the face of the church so that it can reflect the light of Christ and be seen by the world. So, where will this renewal work take place? In the universal church or in the local church? Here, we must be clear about a concept. The essential nature of the Church is koinonia (communion) and missio (sending). The bishop leads a local church, and what is the relationship between the local church and the universal church? Vatican II affirms that “the local Church is a part of the people of God, entrusted to the bishop… who form the local Church; here is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ, present and active.” （Christus Dominus 11）

In this way, the local Church is a microcosm of the universal Church. When we attend Mass, we are naturally in communion with the faithful around the world, for the whole Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, is present in our small Church in Hong Kong, for Jesus Christ is present in our community. All need to understand that the Eucharist is a very important channel that allows us all to express our Catholic Communion and where we can share and receive the common treasure of the universal Church.

With this understanding, we become aware that the renewal of the Church begins with me and you. To renew the Church that is present in our daily context. The local liturgy, evangelization and commitment to society is the work of the local Church as well as of the universal Church.

The local Church can show its universal spirit by welcoming people of all races, of all walks of life and of any social status, without excluding anyone, while keeping a strong unity among its members. In this way the local Church will become Jesus’ sacrament of unity and communion for all. At the same time it will become the best living witness of Jesus’ Gospel. Finally let us never forget that any renewal always starts from me.