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Commemorating Vatican II Marking 50 years since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) promulgated Sacrosanctum Concilium, “The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” Manhattan College celebrated the anniversary of the document in a four-day series of events that reflected on the transformation and renewal of liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church. “Vatican II was a global event that not only changed the landscape for Catholic Christians but also transformed the way people from all faiths engage each other and the world,” says Michele Saracino, Ph.D., professor of religious studies and chair of the department. “The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” was the first major document to come as a result of Vatican II, which was held in four sessions between 1962 and 1965. Pope John XXIII convened the Council to update church practices, and the event helped to lay the foundation for the modern Catholic Church with the creation of 16 documents. The College’s commemorations began on Oct. 20, when the community gathered for a Eucharistic celebration in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. It highlighted the 1963 liturgical constitution calling for a “full and active participation of the faithful.” The Rev. Jack Rathschmidt, OMF, Cap., was the guest homilist and spoke of the reformation of the Eucharistic celebration’s call for the church to serve the world, and to help those left on the margins of society’s affluence. Members of the College’s Music Ministry offered their choral
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talents, which complemented the hymns and liturgical chants. The next day featured a lecture by Massimo Faggioli, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology at St. Thomas University and author of Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning and True Reform: Liturgy and Ecclesiology in Sacrosanctum Concilium. His lecture, Pope Francis and the Council: Vatican II or III, focused on Vatican II’s liturgical reform and the more recently disputed legacy of the Council. With the first half of the 20th century containing so many historic
legial governance; and third, an opening up in the Catholic Church to the topic of sexuality and the role of women, which Vatican II said little to nothing about. John Barry Ryan, Ph.D., professor emeritus of religious studies, who participated in the Council, and Vatican II historian and educator Rita Ferrone shared their own perspectives on the event at a faculty teach-in, titled The Past and Future of Vatican II, on the third day. They spoke about the Council’s history and how it accomplished the most extensive
Massimo Faggioli, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology at St. Thomas University, discusses liturgical reform at the College’s celebration of Vatican II this fall.
forces and catastrophes, Faggioli stressed that, as a result, the Catholic Church had to change. He ended his lecture by explaining that the real post-Vatican II period began with Pope Francis’ election. He also pointed out three areas in which the church needs continuing reform: first, trajectories in ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and globalization of Catholicism, which have all been interrupted in the past two papacies; second, a reform of col-
liturgical reform in the Church’s recent past. Two students, Vincent Jennosa ’14 and Diana Luzuriaga ’15, from the Schools of Engineering and Science, respectively, who took a course on Vatican II in the spring of 2013, gave presentations on the future of Vatican II and their visions of what the Church should look like in the next 50 years. The series concluded on Wednesday, with an interfaith prayer service highlighting the
reform of worship and its impact, which has resulted in new opportunities for cultural diversity and the active involvement of the faithful in the church’s innermost act of worship. The afternoon event was led by Lois Harr, director of Campus Ministry and Social Action and adjunct instructor of religious studies, Rabbi Judith Lewis, D.D., M.H.L., of the Riverdale Temple, and Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center and assistant professor of religious studies. This service integrated Hebrew, English and Arabic prayers, as well as allocutions from each faith, encouraging peace and the building of a world together where a shared belief in God the Creator is embraced, as God would want. “I am delighted that the Manhattan College community came together to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium, a vital constitution promulgated by the Second Vatican Council,” says Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Ph.D., associate professor of religious studies. “Taken together, these events commemorated the letter and the spirit of the Council, which is so central to our Lasallian mission and our mission as an institution of higher learning that values the intersection of faith and reason in the multicultural, multiethnic and interreligious context of New York City.” The Vatican II event series was sponsored by Manhattan College’s School of Arts, department of Religious Studies and Catholic Studies program.