"The Second Vatican Council's document Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World) continues to inspire Call To Action.

• Bill Callahan: Alive and Believing for the 1980's
  Talk given at a special Call To Action gathering, April 1980
  
• Hans Küng: The Church From Above and the Church from Below
  Talk given at Call To Action Conference, November 1981
  
• Gregory Baum: The Church Since Vatican II: Prophetic Sign of Hope
  Talk given at Call To Action Conference, November 1982
  
• Bryan Hehir: American Catholics and Public Policy
  Talk given at Call To Action Conference, November 1984
  
• Rosemary Ruether: Crises and Challenges of Catholicism Today
  Talk given at Call To Action Conference, November, 1985
  
• Rembert Weakland, OSB: Living the Gospel in an Affluent Society
  Talk given at Call To Action conference, November 1986
  
• Charles Curran: Catholic Ethics in Tension: Sexuality and Social Justice
  Talk given at Call To Action conference, November 1987
  
• Matthew Fox: Creation Spirituality: Renewing Ourselves, Our Planet, and Our Church
  First talk given by Matthew Fox after his year of silence imposed by the Vatican - presented at a special Call To Action Conference focusing on Creation Spirituality in February, 1990
  
• Chung Hyun-Kyung: Welcome the Spirit: Hear Her Cries
  Talk given at World Council of Churches Assembly in Canberra, Australia, February 1991
  
• Miriam Therese MacGillis: Living the New Story" (CTA web site)
  

    A virtual who's who of dissent and heresy. But notice that an important thing is missing here. CTA mentions only one Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes. They take pride, supposedly, in following Vatican II, but they never mention or refer to one very important document of the Council, "Lumen Gentium", "Light of the Nations."

    "The document obviously remains unread because it's professed devotees appear unaware that it contains the strongest possible reaffirmations of hierarchal authority, including statements about papal authority as strong as anything in the decrees of the First Vatican Council, which Vatican II allegedly 'corrected'. [The late Jesuit theologian Richard McCormick once published an essay on the ecclesiology of Vatican II without even mentioning Lumen Gentium. Presumably, having read it, he found it an impassable stumbling block to the kind of ecclesiology he was advancing.]" (The Subversion of Lumen Gentium by James Hitchcock; Catholic Dossier, May-June 2000, pg. 37)

    What is it about Lumen Gentium that our enlightened, dissident brothers and sisters refuse to even acknowledge it? Why are so many Catholic's being taught by them without ever mentioning it?

    The preface of the document says a lot. "Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. 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, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission. This it intends to do following faithfully the teaching of previous councils. The present-day conditions of the world add greater urgency to this work of the Church so that all men, joined more closely today by various social, technical and cultural ties, might also attain fuller unity in Christ."

    The Council intends to bring the light of Christ to the world, and to do this by "following faithfully the teaching of previous councils." Don't the advocates of the 'spirit' of Vatican II say that Vatican II did away with the teachings of the previous Councils? Aren't we supposed to ignore them and follow the 'signs of the times'? In it's opening preface, Lumen Gentium sets itself in opposition to CTA and the 'spirit of Vatican II'.

    The first chapter speaks to the mystery of the Church. From the beginning, it points out, God has sent the means for us to reach salvation by believing in Him. Through Christ's obedience, to become man, to die and rise again, He redeems us, making us "Thus, the Church has been seen as "a people made one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." (LG, Chap I; #4) Yet, we hear from Call To Action, et al, that we don't need to be obedient, nor even follow or believe in God, just 'A' god. Even if that 'god' is simply ourselves. So, the 'We Are Church" crowd openly rejects obedience, preferring to find the truth of God via opinion polls or personal desires. The Church, to them, is simply an organization, an institution, run by men, for men. But the mystery of the Church is the same as the mystery of the Incarnation. "Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body.(ref. Eph. 4:16)… This is the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after His Resurrection, commissioned Peter to shepherd,(Jn. 21:17) and him and the other apostles to extend and direct with authority,(Matt. 28:18) which He erected for all ages as "the pillar and mainstay of the truth".(1 Tim. 3:15) This Church constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him, although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure. These elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity." (LG Chap I, #8) So, "We Are Church" when we follow those Christ has sent to guide and teach us, not a Gallop poll.

    "This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism(Mk. 16:16; Jn. 3:5) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved." (LG, Chap. II, The People of God, #14) Haven't the followers of the 'spirit of Vatican II said that Vatican II got rid of this teaching? Rather, we hear that we're a 'pilgrim Church' as if we're wandering lost and without direction but our own senses. Yet, pilgrims followed set routes. In fact, in the Middle Ages, travelers and pilgrims could tell which way they were going by seeing the town's Cathedral in the distance. Appropriate since we to look to the Church to guide us on our 'pilgrimage' through life. But the most grievous change to Lumen Gentium and Vatican II is the claim that the 'People of God' are the teaching authority of the Church.

    "Two generations of Catholics have now been educated to believe that in effect it (Vatican II) abolished the hierarchical concept of the Church, substituting in it's place the idea of "the people of God," which is then understood as essentially a democracy." (The Subversion of Lumen Gentium by James Hitchcock; Catholic Dossier, May-June 2000, pg. 37)

    Enter Chapter III of Lumen Gentium, The Church is Hierarchal. "For the nurturing and constant growth of the People of God, Christ the Lord instituted in His Church a variety of ministries, which work for the good of the whole body. For those ministers, who are endowed with sacred power, serve their brethren, so that all who are of the People of God, and therefore enjoy a true Christian dignity, working toward a common goal freely and in an orderly way, may arrive at salvation.

    This Sacred Council, following closely in the footsteps of the First Vatican Council, with that Council teaches and declares that Jesus Christ, the eternal Shepherd, established His holy Church, having sent forth the apostles as He Himself had been sent by the Father; and He willed that their successors, namely the bishops, should be shepherds in His Church even to the consummation of the world. And in order that the episcopate itself might be one and undivided, He placed Blessed Peter over the other apostles, and instituted in him a permanent and visible source and foundation of unity of faith and communion. And all this teaching about the institution, the perpetuity, the meaning and reason for the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and of his infallible magisterium, this Sacred Council again proposes to be firmly believed by all the faithful. Continuing in that same undertaking, this Council is resolved to declare and proclaim before all men the doctrine concerning bishops, the successors of the apostles, who together with the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, the visible Head of the whole Church, govern the house of the living God."(Lumen Gentium, Chap. III, #18)

    This chapter clearly sets the bishops, in union with the Pope, as the shepherds of their flock, their Dioceses. "Bishops, therefore, with their helpers, the priests and deacons, have taken up the service of the community, presiding in place of God over the flock, whose shepherds they are, as teachers for doctrine, priests for sacred worship, and ministers for governing. And just as the office granted individually to Peter, the first among the apostles, is permanent and is to be transmitted to his successors, so also the apostles' office of nurturing the Church is permanent, and is to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops. Therefore, the Sacred Council teaches that bishops by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the apostles, as shepherds of the Church, and he who hears them, hears Christ, and he who rejects them, rejects Christ and Him who sent Christ." (IBID #20)

    But the Bishops cannot work, or teach alone, on their own authority, except for the administration of their Dioceses. "But the college or body of bishops has no authority unless it is understood together with the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter as its head. The pope's power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power. The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head. This power can be exercised only with the consent of the Roman Pontiff. For our Lord placed Simon alone as the rock and the bearer of the keys of the Church, and made him shepherd of the whole flock; it is evident, however, that the power of binding and loosing, which was given to Peter, was granted also to the college of apostles, joined with their head. This college, insofar as it is composed of many, expresses the variety and universality of the People of God, but insofar as it is assembled under one head, it expresses the unity of the flock of Christ."…. The individual bishops, who are placed in charge of particular churches, exercise their pastoral government over the portion of the People of God committed to their care, and not over other churches nor over the universal Church…. For it is the duty of all bishops to promote and to safeguard the unity of faith and the discipline common to the whole Church, to instruct the faithful to love for the whole mystical body of Christ, especially for its poor and sorrowing members and for those who are suffering persecution for justice's sake, and finally to promote every activity that is of interest to the whole Church, especially that the faith may take increase and the light of full truth appear to all men. (IBID #22; 23)

    So, no Bishop, however popular he may be, can teach against the teachings of the Church. He is required to bring the light of truth to all mankind, even if mankind doesn't want to hear the truth. He is not to follow the 'Zietgeist', the 'spirit of the times'. "Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent….. Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they nevertheless proclaim Christ's doctrine infallibly whenever, even though dispersed through the world, but still maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter, and authentically teaching matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement on one position as definitively to be held. This is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church, whose definitions must be adhered to with the submission of faith." (IBID #25)

    So, Bishops cannot teach in opposition to the Pope, and the Magisterium and expect to be witnesses of divine and Catholic truth, nor can they expect the faithful to accept them nor give their religious assent. "This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will….And this is the infallibility which the Roman Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith, by a definitive act he proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals. And therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment."(IBID #25)

    Lumen Gentium is the key to Vatican II, it tells us what the Church is and why it is the 'Light of the Nations' No democracy, but a humble submission of the will to Christ through His Church. The people of God, led and taught by Christ through the successors of His Apostles, NOT the will of the 'people of God'.

    When Sister Maureen Fiedler stated at a CTA Conference in Detroit,

"there is conflict in the Church because the hierarchy refuses to listen to the people of God",

"we need people with chisels inside (the church) chiseling away at that institution or it is never going to fall."

    If we understood Lumen Gentium and followed it's teaching, the key of Vatican II, then all of their rhetoric, classes and articles, show that they have usurped an authority that is not theirs to take. If they can convince that Lumen Gentium was not a part of Vatican II, and their distorted version of the Council is the correct one, then Christian truth and Catholic teaching, goes by the wayside. God would be replaced by man (or women) as the objective teachers of truth.

    We can either follow Lumen Gentium and Vatican II and be a light to the nations, or we can follow the 'spirit of Vatican II' and be overcome by the darkness of the world.

Pax Christi, Pat.