Vatican II: Expériences canadiennes – Canadian experiences

Introduction

13 introduction T he Second Vatican Council (1962–65) is recognized as the most significant religious event of the twentieth century, having a global influence. Its importance is no less significant when viewed from a Canadian perspective. In fact, this was the first time that a substantial number of Canadian bishops took part in an ecumenical council. Moreover, the Second Vatican Council was held at a moment when Canadian society was beginning to undergo a period of profound change, at a time when the Catholic Church in Canada was called to an unprecedented transformation due to its changing place within this evolving culture and society. The Canadian church, whose foundation was laid at the beginning of the seventeenth century and which had undergone a rapid expansion from the second half of the nineteenth untilthe middle ofthetwentieth, hadlivedformorethan threecenturies with the legacy of the Council of Trent and the developments spurred on by that council, which deeply marked the Catholic Church. The importance of Vatican II in Canada is undeniable. More than forty years after its opening, we have yet to fully measure its impact. The studies written thus far have shown how important it is to examine the influence of this event in order to understand fully the evolution of the Catholic Church in Canada and to shed light upon the extent of the council’s reception into the life and practice of the church, a complex and multi-faceted reality. On the fiftieth anniversary of the announcement of the council, the editors of this work considered it essential to encourage renewed attention to the study of Vatican II in Canada, including the history of Canadian participation in the council, Canadian interpretations of the council, and its reception in this country. In retrospective literature about the council, Vatican II emerges as a moment for the second founding of the episcopal conference of the 14 vatican ii Canadian Catholic bishops. Indeed, although the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was first established in 1943, the bishops had not really had an opportunity to meet each other often, to work in common , or to share their vision of the future of Catholicism in Canada. Twenty years after the conference’s inception, Vatican II thus provided an opportunity for a more intensive exchange between the bishops. Over a period of four years, bishops from across the country encountered one another daily and worked together regularly. It thus seemed appropriate for us to envision our own project of research into Vatican II in Canada as a collaborative effort that would bring together scholars from across the diverse regions of this country, and from several Canadian universities. The fiftieth anniversary of the announcement of the council, on January 25, 1959, provided an occasion for scholars in theology from across Canada to revisit this event, its reception, and interpretation in Canada. We wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to invite the contributions of colleagues from across many disciplines and interests to gather together to reflect on a subject of common concern. An invitation went out from three Canadian faculties of theology (University of St. Michael’s College, Saint Paul University, Université Laval) to undertake a common research project on Vatican II in Canada. The results of our research were shared within the context of three scholarly colloquia throughout the course of 2009, one in each of these respective universities. Most of the papers presented in these meetings are now offered in this volume. Because Vatican II was not merely an affair of the bishops, the papers found in the first part of this work approach the event from a variety of perspectives, including those of the media, influential actors at the council, even though the debates in aula and the workings of the commissions remained closed to them; non-Catholic Christians, designated as official observers at the council and who in reality played a very active role; and theologians, who some have called the “engineers” of the council. The second part of this book looks at the activities of Canadians— bishops and theologians—during and following the council, and at the experiences of those for whom the council became a turning point, not 15 introduction only for the Catholic Church as a body but also for individual persons. It was a thrilling experience for some, but for others a traumatic one (at least for those who could not have imagined that the council would...