Reflecting on the Legacy of Vatican II
As many of you know, each year the priests of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester gather together for a few days in Okoboji, IA. In my time as a priest, this gathering has always occurred in the Fall, though the timeframe has shifted a bit now and then; this year, it fell in mid-October, specifically from October 12-15. We convene for this annual “Presbyteral Days” event to share fraternity and gain enrichment from a few presentations offered by a speaker, and we dedicate one evening to an “anniversary dinner” in which we honor those members of our presbyterate celebrating significant milestones in their walk of priesthood. The days defy easy categorization: I hesitate to call them a “retreat,” as the main focus of the time is not intensive prayer and recollection (though prayer, including Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, is a constitutive facet of our time together, to be sure). I tend to use the word “workshop” as a designation, given that there’s a combination of educational, social, and professional/vocational elements in play during these days; I remain uncertain whether “workshop” is the best term, but it is the best I have yet to find for my own use!
The aforementioned speaker was our own Bishop Barron, and the theme he addressed was the Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II, as it’s often called). Much of what he shared was familiar to me from my theology studies prior to ordination, but as those concluded decades ago, a refresher was welcome. In the days since this year’s Presbyteral Days drew to a close, I have been reflecting on the legacy of the Council a bit. Admittedly, the specific contours of that legacy may be a matter of some debate and controversy; at the same time, it certainly seems (to me, at least) that the legacy is, in fact, still being written. There’s a saying that’s been variously attributed: “it takes 100 years to receive a Council,” and we’re a mere 61 years out from the concluding session of Vatican II. For a Church with a two-millennium history that has been punctuated by 21 ecumenical councils, 61 years (or even 100, for that matter!) is not all that long. And to the God who faithfully sustains his Church, those 61 years are a mere blink of an eye (if that!). As the Psalmist reminds us, “a thousand years in your eyes are merely a day gone by” (Psalm 90:4, NABRE); the New Testament reiterates this theme when we read that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day” (2 Peter 3:8, NABRE).
As we continue to absorb the teaching of Vatican II and discern how the Holy Spirit is prompting the Church of the 21st century to receive this 21st ecumenical council, then, perhaps it may be apt to pray for a patience that is not complacency and a zeal that is not presumption. With such patient zeal and zealous patience, we may discover how God is inviting us to continue mining the riches of Christ—especially as those riches have been articulated in the documents of the Council—and share them with the world.
