How sad is this? Letter from Cardinal George will appear in April 29th bulletin. Read and weep!
"Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Second Vatican Council by Cardinal George OMI
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
This coming October 11, the Church will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the opening session of
Vatican Council II. This great Council was the most significant Catholic event of the last century, and
its deliberations and decrees will continue to influence the Church, as have the acts of ecuмenical councils
before it. The creed we say at Mass each Sunday, for example, comes from the earliest Councils of
the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. Vatican II was the twenty first Ecuмenical Council of the
Catholic Church.
Why did Pope John XXIII call the Council? In a letter dated December 25, 1961 (Humanae salutis),
the Pope explained that he hoped the Council would change the relationship between the Church
and the world. He called the Council because the world of the twentieth century was so divided by racism,
nationalism, communism, nαzιsm and wars and hatreds of all sorts that men and women had forgotten
that the human race is a human family. Who would tell the world that we are all brothers and
sisters? Pope John knew that the mission of the Catholic Church is to introduce the world to its savior
in every age, and he believed that the unity of the Church should be a leaven to change the world. The
Second Vatican Council was called a pastoral council because its purpose was not to examine Church
teaching directly but to see what could be changed in the Church in order to place her in better dialogue
with a world headed for self-destruction. The Council was missionary in its purpose; to save the world
from itself, the Church would have to open dialogues on all fronts.
In order to enter into dialogue, elements of the Church’s life were examined and sometimes
changed or adjusted. The Council’s major docuмents examined the Church’s worship of God, the
sources of God’s self-revelation, the nature of the Church herself and the Church in our times. Each of
these four topics will be discussed in future bulletin articles. My hope is that recalling the purpose and
the teaching of the Second Vatican Council will renew the sense of mission of the Archdiocese in the
coming year. We will continue to implement the Strategic Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese and will do
so now in light of the universal Church’s Year of Faith, recently called by Pope Benedict XVI, timed to
begin on the very anniversary of the opening session of the Council. May our hearts be opened anew as
we commemorate this great event in the history of the Church. God bless you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago"
:roll-laugh1: