On 11 October 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and the 20th anniversary of publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the worldwide Church will begin a ‘Year of Faith’, to conclude on the Solemnity of Christ the King 24 November 2013. Pope Benedict XVI announced this in an Apostolic Letter Porta fidei on 11 October 2011. The Year of Faith will be an important occasion “to make Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church more widely and deeply known,” he said. It will be a time of reflection and rediscovery of faith for the whole Church.
The Pope writes,
“It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church's Tradition ... I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.”
Click to download "Church Councils and Vatican II" Click to download "Pope John XXIII Address on Vatican II"
THE STORY AND TEACHINGS OF VATICAN II
- 1 HOUR per WEEK ‘SHORT COURSES’
Download guide sheets for informal individual or group ‘short courses’
SHORT COURSE 1 ‘A Friendly Guide to Vatican II’ guidesheet
2 or 4 week - one hour meetings course based on the book
A Friendly Guide to Vatican II by Fr Max Vodola. Click to download Vatican II Short Course 1
SHORT COURSE 2 ‘Keys to the Council’ guidesheet
2-4 or 8-10 week – one hour meetings course based on the book
Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teachings of Vatican II by
Richard R. Gaillardetz & Catherine E. Clifford Click to download Vatican II Short Course 2
STUDY A DOCUMENT OF VATICAN II
- 1 HOUR per WEEK, 1 CHAPTER per WEEK
CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY Click to download Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy - for small group study
SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM (December 4, 1963)
Introduction
Chapter I General Principles for the Restoration and Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy
Chapter II The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist
Chapter III The Other Sacraments and the Sacramentals
Chapter IV The Divine Office
Chapter V The Liturgical Year
Chapter VI Sacred Music
Chapter VII Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings
[Appendix A Declaration of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican on Revision of the Calendar]
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION Click to download Dogmatic Constitution on divine revelation Dei Verbum
DEI VERBUM (November 18, 1965)
Chapter I Revelation itself
Chapter II Handing on Divine Revelation
Chapter III Sacred Scripture, its Inspiration and Divine Interpretation
Chapter IV The Old Testament
Chapter V The New Testament
Chapter VI Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH Click to download Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
LUMEN GENTIUM (November 21, 1964)
Chapter I The Mystery of the Church
Chapter II On The People of God
Chapter III On the Hierarchical Structure of the Church and in Particular on the Episcopate
Chapter IV The Laity
Chapter V The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church
Chapter VI Religious
Chapter VII The Eschatological Nature of the Pilgrim Church and its Union with the Church in Heaven
Chapter VIII The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church
PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD Click to download Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Click to download Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Small Group Study
GAUDIUM ET SPES (December 7, 1965)
Preface
Introduction The Situation of Men [Humanity] in the Modern World
PART I THE CHURCH AND MAN'S CALLING
Chapter I The Dignity of the Human Person
Chapter II The Community of Mankind
Chapter III Man’s Activity Throughout the World
Chapter IV The Role of the Church in the Modern World
PART II SOME PROBLEMS OF SPECIAL URGENCY
Chapter I Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and Family
Chapter II The Proper Development of Culture
Chapter III Economic and Social Life
Chapter IV The Life of the Political Community
Chapter V The Fostering of Peace and the Promotion of a Community of Nations