episode 5 this is CBS and now here's your host David Ross so welcome to episode 5 this is where I really get started I'm actually gonna have some content for you today I've decided to start looking at the 16 documents of Second Vatican Council I think it's important to dig into them a little bit I'm not going to go too in-depth I'm just gonna look at the highlights and it's interesting for me just a document what did I highlight and try to figure out why I highlight I'm always interested when I highlight a book that I'm reading whether it's a concrete physical book that I mark with a pencil in the margins I just put a little mark or whether it's on my Kindle with an electronic highlight I'm always curious to know why is this phrase important to me is it is it is it just me or is it a universal appeal that these certain paragraphs or sentences have I'm not sure but I guess Kindle does offer a sort of statistical thing where you can look at popular highlights I've never done it let's just hop right over to the Kindle and to start taking a look at the documents of Vatican 2 so we can see here the cover age I'm just going to open my highlights do I have highlights here want to see show no but is it gonna show this layout is completely different I was looking at it on a different computer and it's a completely different layout so just give me a minute while I that I'm going to change the color that's a little bit better okay so this the introduction or a sort of commentary on the first document that was published in the Second Vatican Council and if I'm not mistaken it's a bishop Avery Dulles if I'm not mistaken he said Jesuit this little note just says polysix in his Christmas message for 1965 would write quote the dominant mood of the council was inspired by the gospel image of the shepherd getting out in pursuit of the law setting out in this pursuit of the lost sheep allowing himself no peace until he has found it awareness that mankind represented with touching simplicity by the strange sheep belongs to the church was the guiding principle of the council were mankind by universally valid decree does not belong does belong to the church mankind belongs to her by right of love since the church no matter how distant or uncooperative or hostile mankind may be can never be excused from loving the human race for which Christ shed his blood so this sort of sets the tone this is a prescient sort of a note in the preface that's referring to the words of st. Paul polysix and it puts emphasis on the church as the mother of all people and that we're lost were lost sheep and the church is there to bring us back back into the fold you're gonna see this theme in the document the dogmatic Constitution on the church which is the first document and let's move along here to throw it the first two years of the council some bishops complained about newspaper references to the council as a congress or a parliament with conservative and progressive or liberal parties they wished it to be understood that the council was quite unlike political bodies so those who are protesting those bishops who were complaining they wished it to be understood that this is not just a political left/right scenario and as popular is that political spectrum is that's not what was happening in that council not this council not any camp Council it's it's a completely different situation so I wanted to I guess I highlighted that because that's one of my pet peeves is the whole left-right here we are okay so that that was not every doll is what I was just quoting this with footnotes from that from the introduction but this is Avery Dulles just with this next note that I'm going to read that first that first footnote was probably by the author and if we go to the cover we see Walter M Abbott Society of Jesus the general editor and the translation editor the very Reverend Monsignor Joseph Gallagher so it's the so this is just an introductory this is that introductory note that I was talking about from Avery dollars he says a preparatory Commission of Vatican 1 drew up a lengthy draft declaration on the church but the deliberations of the council were cut short by the franco-prussian war and the invasion of the papal States by the PA amantes armies instead of the planned constitution of the Church of Christ consisting of 15 chapters the council succeeded in enacting only 4 chapters on the papacy the definitions regarding the primacy and infallibility of the Pope unaccompanied by any treatment of the other bishops and members of the church gave a somewhat unbalanced picture many critics of the council charged that it had converted the Catholic Church into an absolute monarchy in which the other bishops would be merely lackeys of the Pope other facets of the Catholic doctrine concerning the church were set forth by leo xiii in his encyclical on the unity of the church and especially by Pope Pius the 12th in his great encyclical on the mystical body which dwelt on the mysterious vital relationship of the church to Christ and to the Holy Spirit but other questions regarding the nature and organization of the church still clamored for attention thus in 1959 when john xxiii announced his intention of convening an ecumenical council it was generally surmised that the coming council would deal with the church as its major theme all the six made this clear in his first encyclical the paths of the church in which he stated that the church was quote the principal object of attention of the Second Vatican a key Medical Council so I highlighted this just because the emphasis that's given to the mystical body of the church in the entire council is being emphasized here and this is this is crucial to understand if you're going to understand the documents of attica - we need to understand that it's about the church and the the role of the church and resourcing the church from early sources and an updating of the church these are the two that are held in tension these two concerns of the count pastoral concerns but concerns that are legitimate nonetheless so still within this Avery Dulles section we continue it is in its teaching regarding the church as a whole the hierarchy and the lady the council frequently divides its considerations under three headings corresponding to what traditional theology has recognized as the threefold office of Christ Christ according to this conception may be viewed as prophet priest and King those who have authority in the church must carry on his work by the three functions of teaching sanctifying and governing the people of God and the church as a whole including the lady has a total task which make suitably be summarized under the three captions of witness ministry and fellowship these last three items these last three terms are strongly biblical they appear in the Greek New Testament as martyria on the Konya and Kino Mia Ananya I think it's pronounced Kino Nia from an ecumenical point of view it is significant that these were the three terms about which the third General Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting at New Delhi in 1961 centered its discussions so this this idea of prophet priest and King it's emphasized strongly enough in this Second Vatican Council and in the new Catechism that it's sort of burned into my heart and my soul it's something that did strike me when I read the Catechism I read the Catechism before I read the documents of vatican ii and so it's probably why i highlighted that because it it resonates with me and it is a major theme of the documents of the so just locating where where am I now so here we are actually within the text itself the first text that was promulgated the dogmatic Constitution on the church in a chapter 1 the mystery of the church so we'll just hop down to my communicating his spirit to his brothers called together from all peoples Christ made them mystically into his own body in that body the life of Christ is poured into the believers who through the sacraments are united in a hidden and real way to Christ who suffered and who was glorified through baptism we are formed in the likeness of Christ or in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body in this sacred Rite a union with Christ's death and resurrection is both symbolized and brought about or we were buried with him by means of baptism into death and if we have been United with him in the likeness of his death we shall be so in the likeness of his resurrection also so here we have an emphasis on the mystical body of Christ and how it is that we are members of the mystical body of Christ moving on to my next highlight still in the still and proof still in pilgrimage upon the earth we trace in trial and under oppression the paths he trod made one with his sufferings as the body is one with the head we endure with him that with him way we may be glorified so just mark the same here from him the whole body supplied and built up by joints and ligaments attains a growth that is of God he continually distributes in his body that is in the church gifts of ministries through which by his own power we serve each other unto salvation so that carrying out the truth in love we may through all things grow up into him who is our head in order that we may be unceasingly renewed in him he has shared with us his spirit who existing a as one and the same being in the head and in the members vivifies unites unifies and moves the whole body that is the Holy Spirit this he does in such a way that his work would be compared by the Holy Fathers with the function which the soul fulfills in the human in the human body whose principle the soul is having become the model of a man loving his wife as his own body Christ loved this Christ loves the church as his bride for her part the church is subject to her head or in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily he fills the church which is his body and his fullness with his divine gifts so that she may grow and reach all the fullness of God Christ the one mediator established and ceaselessly sustains here on earth his Holy Church a community of faith hope and charity as a visible structure through her he communicates truth and grace to all the society furnished with higher level agencies and the mystical body of Christ are not to be considered as two realities nor are the visible assembly in the spiritual community nor the earthly Church and the church enriched with heavenly things rather they form one interlocked reality which is comprised of a divine and a human element the church is comprised on repeating now the church is comprised of a divine and a human element for this reason by an excellent analogy this reality is compared to the mystery of the Incarnate Word so the church is an extension of the Incarnation just as the assumed nature inseparably United to the Divine Word serves him as a living instrument of salvation so in a similar way as the communal communal structure of the church served Christ's spirit who vivifies it by way of building up the body this is very heavy this is very deep and any enemy of Vatican to a set of accantus they need to read this they to meditate on this and any Protestant that's staying away from the church because they think it's evil they should read this document they should read all of the sixteen documents of African - very powerful very inspiring very mystical kind of a sip of tea here this continuing out this is the unique Church of Christ which in the Creed we allow as one Holy Catholic and Apostolic after his resurrection our Savior handed her over to Peter to be shepherded commissioning him and the other apostles to propagate and govern her her he erupted for all ages as the pillar and mainstay of the truth this church constituted and organized in the world as as a society subsists in the Catholic Church I'll say that again 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 union with that successor although many elements of sanctification and of truth can be found outside of her visible structure these elements however as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ possess an inner dynamism toward Catholic unity so basically what the council fathers are saying here is that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church that is the fullness of the expression of Christ's Church but there are there are elements outside of the visible structure and those elements they those elements possess an inner dynamism toward Catholic unity what that means is that everything is designed everything up side of the church is designed by that inner dynamism toward Catholic unity everything is designed to bring non Catholics into the body of Christ there is no salvation possible outside of the body of Christ so Christ has allowed for those who are outside of the body of Christ to come in there are means of salvation outside of the visible structure and these are designed by God to bring everyone into the fold so that everyone can have life because God desires that everyone be saying none be lost very powerful so Vatican 2 did not do away with no salvation outside of the Catholic Church Vatican 2 reinforces that and it explains it and it explains in a beautiful way how God in His mercy and in his humility is always bending down low to accommodate us in our weakness and darkness of our intellect in the weakness of our will he's there to give his church that inner dynamism toward Catholic unity so we can't we can't stop striving for unity Christian unity is at the heart of the documents of attica - it's at the heart of the Godman Jesus Christ so continuing that just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and under oppression so the church is called to follow the same path in communicating to men the fruits of salvation so it has to be a suffering Church Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus though he was by nature God emptied himself taking the nature of a slave and being rich he became poor for our sakes thus although the church needs human resources to carry out her mission obviously she is not set up to seek earthly glory but to proclaim humility and self-sacrifice even by her own example so there's that fine line between a sort of radical Franciscan spirituality and then the church who adopted and accepted but moderated that extreme poverty of a st. Francis of Assisi for example there's a moderation that takes place we have to have a balance we have to have a balanced approach we are in the world but we cannot be of the world but we are in the world we do need to be a church that's poor and suffering but we also need to serve we need to serve the human race the church needs human resources and other resources to carry out our mission this is very clear it's emphasized it's a very very extremely moderate position that the Catholic Church always takes and we see it once again here in the documents the beautiful documents of the Second Vatican Council I'm amazed and I really appreciate the Second Vatican Council now continuing Christ was sent by the father to bring good news to the poor to to seek and to save what was lost similarly the church encompasses with love all those who are afflicted with human weaknesses human weakness indeed she recognizes in the poor and the suffering the likeness of her poor and suffering founder which is to say Jesus Christ you think of mother Teresa and how she saw in the poor and suffering Jesus Christ she the church does all she can to relieve their need and in them she strives to serve Christ well Christ wholly innocent undefiled knew nothing of sin but came to expiate only the sins of the people the church embracing sinners in her bosom bosom is at the same time holy and always in need of being purified again that balance it is a holy church but it's a church in need of purification continuing now and incessantly pursues the path of penance and renewal the church like a pilgrim in a foreign land presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God announcing the cross and the death of the Lord until he comes by the power of the risen Lord she has given strength to overcome patiently and lovingly afflictions and hardships which assail her from within and without and to show forth in the world the mystery of the Lord in a faithful though shadowed way until at the last it will be revealed in total splendor so what I want to emphasize this juncture is the threefold nature of the church we have the church militant here below which is far from here but it is a holy church the members are sinners but it's it's part of the church which is holy so we need to keep that intention and we need to remember that the church has two other portions there's a portion in the church suffering which is being purified in an octave and uni-directional way meaning that everyone in purgatory is guaranteed heaven and then of course we have the church triumphant in heaven where everyone has been purified because nothing impure can stand before but so I often emphasize this and the documents of that can too clearly are emphasizing the same point that we have to understand and keep in in mind always that the members of the church here below in the church militant have free will and they are being tested in there they're not tested beyond what they can handle with God's grace but many do fall away God willing I hope they will all come back and even the wolves in sheep's clothing I hope will come back but there is this idea that there's more to the church than what we see here the church militant is just one part and the church suffering is full of those who are on their way to heaven and it can help us by their prayers and they can be helped by our prayers and so we need to do we need to bear in mind that the church is not limited to what we see in the church militant here below because you can find a lot of corruption you can find a lot of greed you can find perversion of all kinds in every sinner that's walking the face of the earth even in the greatest saint it's walking the earth today there will be some selfishness and imperfection and so we need to bear that in mind the church has three parts but it is one church moving on now we are would have we got still in pilgrimage upon the earth we trace in trial are we I've already said this one what is going on where's the next one the body of the faithful as a whole anointed as they are by the holy one cannot err in matters of faith and belief this is that manifestation of the sensus fidelium a manifestation of infallibility so therefore manifestations in the Church of infallibility this one that's being highlighted here is the sensus fidelium the sense of the faithful the whole church as a whole anointed as they are by the holy one cannot err in thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith that sensus fidelium which characterizes the people as a whole it manifests this unerring quality when from the bishops down to the last member of the laity it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and morals or by the sense of faith which is aroused and sustained by the spirit of truth well its people accepts not the word of men but the very word of God it clings without fail to the faith once delivered to the Saints penetrates it more deeply by accurate insights and applies it more thoroughly to life all this it does under the lead of a sacred teaching Authority which it royally defers this is the difference between a Catholic and a non ethic Christian a Catholic Christian defers to the church the non Catholic Christian defers to his own private judgement I'm sorry to put it in harsh terms but that is what's happening in 100% of the cases it's not to judge these people and we'll see in the documents of Attica too that we are not to judge those who are born into a non Catholic Christian tradition we're not to judge their hearts we can objectively judge their doctrines we can objectively judge even their actions the morality of their actions their thoughts words and deeds the to the extent that their manifest we can judge the objective morality of them but we can't judge the heart we can't judge the intention we can't judge their intellect what do they know how well - how well do they know it and how much consent of their will are they're giving we don't know that we can't know that we can only know what subjectively manifest right so we can't judge the heart and to be in the state of mortal sin you need all three you need the objective matter but you also need the those two subjective components the intellect and the freewill and so we can't judge them for that but it is worth emphasizing here that we Catholics have the privilege of deferring to the church the authority of the church the infallible authority of the church and the Protestants just don't have that so they're left deferring to their own private judgement and that includes obviously the private judgment that this man has good teachings the other man has good teachings and this person in history had good teachings and so on and so forth but that's that remains a private judgment on their part the buck now moving on I can probably only do I don't think I'm gonna be able to get too much here but this sacred synod turns its attention first to the Catholic faithful basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and tradition it teaches that the church now sojourning on earth as an exile isn't necessary for salvation so again we have this idea that there's no possibility of salvation without membership in the visible Catholic Church now searching on earth Alexa is necessary for salvation for Christ may 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 and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the church birth through baptism as through a door men entered the church whosoever therefore knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by God through Jesus Christ would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved so it couldn't be more clear there is absolutely no possibility of salvation outside of the visible boundaries of the holy roman catholic church they are fully incorporated they are fully incorporated into the society of the church who possessing the Spirit of Christ except her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her and through union with her visible structure are joined to Christ who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops this joining is effected by the bonds of professed faith of the sacraments of ecclesial of ecclesiastical government and of communion he is saved however moved through though he is part of the body of the church is not persevere in charity I'm gonna have to continue another day it's been nice seeing you we'll talk for as little as $1 Vermont you can support a terrible mission of CBS which has already enrolled hundreds of guests and patrons and their immediate families in the Scalabrine League of divisionary fathers of st. 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