Vatican II Class: Catholicism Meets Modernity

The Catholic Community at Stanford presents a lecture by Catherine Murphy and Barbara Green on 22 April 2013. This is one of a series of talks in the course, offered Spring 2013. See the CTSF page for more information.

This lecture will discuss Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, revolutionized our understanding of the Church, bringing it up to date (aggiornamento) by returning to forgotten understandings alive in the early Church (ressourcement). The implications of the rediscovery of the centrality of baptism and the concomitant re-thinking of who are the ecclesial subjects of mission and ministry prepared the Church for a renewed apostolic vigor in today’s world that, for a number of reasons, has not yet matured. This lecture outlines the achievement of Vatican II in its understanding of the laity and looks to the future implementation of the fullness of its vision.

The complete archive of Vatican II class (and Newman Night lectures and Vatican II Symposium) is available on our CCASweb channel.

About Us

The Catholic Community at Stanford University is a family of students, faculty, staff, administrators, their families, and local community members. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and through a variety of social, educational, liturgical, and community service programs, we seek to form the Christian conscience, help members appropriate the Catholic faith, educate for justice, facilitate personal development, and form leaders for the future. We support the University's efforts to achieve its goals in keeping with our own traditions and in an environment of religious and cultural diversity. We are a personal parish in the Diocese of San José under the pastoral care of Dominicans and lay leaders.