Gaudium et Spes – Communio

Gaudium et Spes: The Right Reading of Vatican II

In a 55 minute presentation Father Robert Barron takes a keen review and analysis of Gaudium et Spes for the 5oth anniversary of Vatican II.

The Benedictine monks of Saint Procopius Abbey (Lisle, IL) and Benedictine University have offered several presentations to help us understand the importance of the key documents promulgated at the Second Vatican Council.

Father Barron is the author and host of the critically acclaimed Catholicism series. Barron is trained in theology. His full time ministry as a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago is to serve at the President/Rector of Mundelein Seminary.

CDF Prefect rehearses work at hand for moral formation, dignity of the person

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard L. Müller, addressed the Pontifical Academy of Life on 22 February 2013. It was the annual meeting in Rome. Müller’s talk didn’t shatter too many windows by unearthing new problems, nor did it break new ground in the Church’s teaching. Müller gives a brief assessment of the situation and that we have gone off the tracks in some ways. He does, however, shed light on the fact that we need to take more seriously our moral and faith formation and to put in the time doing the hard work to know the issues and how to respond to them according the parameters of the Catholic Faith. Too often we are afraid to do the hard work. And that’s the ministry of the Prefect: to illumine and offer a corrective. Archbishop Müller did challenge, to a degree, the theological professorial establishment, even if the talk may be seen a bit anemic.

The full text: Gerhard Müller Human Life in Some Documents of the Magisterium.pdf

Continue reading CDF Prefect rehearses work at hand for moral formation, dignity of the person

Cardinal Ortega given Knights of Columbus Gaudium et Spes award

Introducing the
2010 Gaudium et Spes recipient tonight the Supreme Chaplain, Bishop William Lori,
quoted the opening words of the Vatican II document by the same name reminding us that: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this
age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys
and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (Gaudium
et spes, 1).

Lori continued by saying that faith is more cherished when
challenged which has been particularly true for the people of Cuba and
certainly for the honoree tonight, Jaime Lucas Cardinal Ortega y Alamino, 73,
Archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana.

Steadfast in his witness to Jesus
Christ with apostolic zeal and courage, Cardinal Jaime Ortega was ordained priest in 1964 (he celebrated his 46th anniversary on August 2); he’s been a bishop for 31 years
and a cardinal for 15. In 1998, Cardinal Ortega welcomed Pope John Paul II to
Cuba which paved the way for warmer relations between the Church, Cuba and the
world. Himself imprisoned for his Catholic faith he’s been an outspoken
advocate for the oppressed and poor. In November, Cardinal Ortega will open new
the San Carlos y San Ambrosio National Seminary to train men for the priesthood
in Cuba. Jaime Lucas Cardinal Ortega y Alamino is the 8th recipient of the
Knights of Columbus Gaudium et Spes Award.

This award was established by the Knights in 1992 to recognize those people who made outstanding contributions to both the Church and to society. The award is a gold medal with an honorarium of $100,000. The intellectual and spiritual orientation of this award is based on the belief that Christians and all people of good will ought to be united, that is, to live in solidarity with all of humanity with its joys and trials. The hope of the Church for all of her children to live a life of total self-giving for Christ and our sister and brother. All of life, as the Vatican II Council Fathers exhorted, ought to “be aroused to a lively hope –the gift of the Holy Spirit– that some day at last they will be caught up in peace and utter happiness in that fatherland radiant with the glory of the Lord” (GS, 93).

The citation is here and Cardinal Ortega’s address can be read here.

Past Gaudium et Spes recipients:

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1992
John Cardinal O’Connor, 1994
James Cardinal Hickey, 2000
William Cardinal Baum, 2001
Patriarch Michel Sabbah, 2002
Jean Vanier, 2005
Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, SDB, 2007