St. Joseph of the Lakes

The Protestant reformation of Christianity officially began with the priest, Martin Luther, publishing ninety-five thesis that took issue with Roman Catholic Church practices in his lifetime. He did this in 1517. It lit a fire throughout Europe as many others who had issues with the way the Roman Church was operating also begin organizing “protests” against the Roman Church. The Church responded to the growing protests by gathering a Church Council to review the complaints and to organize a response to them. This was called the Council of Trent (Trent was the city the Church Fathers gathered in for their considerations). It began in 1545 and it had three sessions that finally came to a completion in 1563. During this Council the church fathers solidified much of the way the Church lived out its faith and how it celebrated its liturgy. In 1564 Pope Pius IV issued his ratification of the work of the Council in his Papal Bull: Benedictus Deus. In his approval he limited the way anyone, but the Pope, could interpret these documents. It standardized the way we understood and practiced our Catholic faith for several centuries.

There were many positive attributes to this stability, but there were some severe draw backs that emerged over that time period. From the earliest times of the Church the leadership gathered to hammer out exactly what the Church believed and how exactly it should practice this faith. Without the regular gathering of the leadership of the Church it began losing touch with the world it was created to exist in. The core of our faith is the recognition that God became man to make his dwelling with us. He meets us in this created world and through the Church he interacts with each of its members sacramentally. It has always been our understanding that God will always make Himself present in the world through the Church until the end of time. In losing touch with the world, it began to become isolated, and its purpose became frustrated.

In 1958 Pope John XXIII was elected the pontiff. Four months after becoming the Pope he called for a Church Council to address the Church in the modern world. Starting in 1962 all of the bishops of the Catholic Church gathered at the Vatican each Fall until 1965 to consider the many different facets of the Church’s life in the modern world. A Church council is the highest level of authority within the Church. Although it takes the Pope to call a Council; the Pope takes his direction from the considerations of the Council. It issued eighteen different documents, but there are four of them that were defined as “Constitutions”. According to Merriam-Webster a constitution is the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government (or social group) and guarantee certain rights to the people in it. I am going to talk about these four constitutions in the next weeks.

Pope Francis, in announcing the 2025 Holy Year has asked all Catholics to prepare for this Holy Year by studying the Second Vatican Council documents, especially the four constitutions. Their focus are on: 1. The liturgy, (Sacrosanctum Concilium) 2. The Church as the People of God, (Lumen Gentium) 3. Scripture, (Dei Verbum) and 4. The role of the Church in the modern world. (Gaudium et Spes).

Even as I will be giving some summarizing considerations in my upcoming bulletin articles, I would like to recommend to our bible study groups as well as others who are seeking Catholic reflections throughout the Fall to take on the adventure of exploring these documents as a preparation of the upcoming Holy Year.

Thanks for all of your care and prayers during this time of recovery for my shoulder. The operation went well and I no longer have the arthritic pain that I found so debilitating.  I saw my surgeon yesterday and he also agreed that my recovery was coming along well, but he cautioned me to keep wearing my sling for the next four weeks. I begin my therapy sessions next week, then I am sure I will have new complaints, but until then it has been a good recovery.