One of the benefits of studying Church history is learning how events and the people who participated in them are part of a bigger picture, a particular expression or facet of the Church’s tradition, that continues to make an impact long after the event and the life of those who were a part of it.
On Oct. 11, 1962, St. John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council. In his remarks to the Council Fathers, the Holy Father said: “Present indications are that the human family is on the threshold of a new era [emphasis added]. We must recognize here the hand of God, who, as the years roll by, is ever directing men’s efforts, whether they realize it or not, towards the fulfillment of the inscrutable designs of [God’s] providence, wisely arranging everything, even adverse human fortune, for the Church’s good.”
Among those participating in the council was auxiliary Bishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, who, in 1964, would become Krakow’s archbishop and in October 1978, Pope John Paul II. Also present among the “periti’ (theological experts) assisting the bishops of the council was Father James Aloysius Hickey, celebrating his 42nd birthday on Oct. 11. Many years later, he would be named archbishop of Washington, who I assisted for 10 years as priest secretary. I was just 4 months old on that date, having been born on June 11 that year.
What we experienced during the pontificate of St. John Paul II was his recognition that our Church was on the threshold of a new era, preparing to influence the world. His whole pontificate was focused upon, and directed toward, leading the Church into its third millennium.
The threshold of this new era was the Jubilee Year 2000. In 1994, when he outlined how the Catholic faithful were to prepare for and celebrate the jubilee, he noted that preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000 began at the council, saying, “…the Second Vatican Council was a providential event, whereby the Church began the more immediate preparation for the Jubilee of the Second Millennium…
“The Second Vatican Council is often considered as the beginning of a new era in the life of the Church. This is true, but at the same time it is difficult to overlook the fact that the Council drew much from the experiences and reflections of the immediate past…”
In a 2002 address to members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Holy Father provided what 20 years later might be seen as a foundation block in the synodal process undertaken by Pope Francis. St. John Paul II said, “The Gospel lives in conversation with the culture [emphasis added], and if the Church holds back from the culture, the Gospel itself falls silent.”
Conversation! That is what our parishes, advisory bodies and organizations had this spring and which Pope Francis encourages us to continue having. The synodal process is about listening to the people of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts in this ongoing process. (You can read a national synthesis of the synodal process in English at https://bit.ly/NationalSynodEN and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/NationalSynodES.)
Why has Pope Francis invited the universal Church to immerse itself in synodality? Because we are on the threshold of a new era. Just as the Council Fathers and St. John Paul II identified those thresholds, so, too, has Pope Francis. In doing so, he is asking us to continually bring the fruits of the Holy Spirit into the Church through listening to God in prayer and one another in charity, discerning — asking the Holy Spirit for the gift of counsel or right judgement, and implementing not only with new initiatives and projects, but primarily with personal holiness and the practice of virtue.
In his letter for this year’s observance of World Day of Social Communications, Pope Francis termed the synodal process “a great opportunity to listen to one another” and stated, “The true seat of listening is the heart.”
This is the way the fathers of the Second Vatican Council would want us to approach the threshold of a new era.