The Second Vatican Council undoubtedly sought the comprehensive renewal of the entire Church. Three of its sixteen documents focus on the unique roles of various persons in the Christian community: priests and religious. Optatam Totius (OT) centered on priestly formation; Presyterorum Ordinis (PO) addressed the life and ministry of the ordained clergy; Perfectae Caritatis (PC) focused on the renewal and adaptation of religious life.
The Council addressed the importance of solid and comprehensive priestly formation for the Church’s ordained ministers; they are to be formed as “true shepherds of souls after the model of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest, and shepherd” (OT, 4). This journey actually begins in the Christian community, especially in families, where priestly vocations are fostered.
Formation in major seminaries should include “all forms of training, spiritual, intellectual, disciplinary” and these “are to be ordered with concerted effort towards pastoral ends” (OT, 4). In addition, “the spiritual training should be closely connected with the doctrinal and pastoral” so that “students might learn to live in an intimate and unceasing union with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit” (OT, 8).
Comprehensive seminary formation must seek to integrate multiple dimensions (already noted); in addition, it should incorporate a vision of future ongoing education and formation. Finally, training should be realistic and practical, making students “clearly aware of the burdens they will be undertaking and no problem of priestly life is to be concealed from them” (OT, 9).
Life and Ministry of Priests. To foster a profound ecclesial renewal, the Council included an in-depth focus on priestly ministry and life; it addressed the priestly roles of minister of God’s word, celebrant of the sacraments, and educator in the faith. Priests come from the Christian community and are “ordained for people in the things that belong to God” and are called to “live on earth with others as brothers” (PO, 3).
Already in their years of formation, young men should realize that the calling to priesthood is “a precious gift of God” (OT, 10) for which they should humbly pray. Important virtues needed in the priesthood are “sincerity of mind, a constant concern for justice, fidelity to one’s promises, refinement in manners, modesty in speech coupled with charity” (OT, 11). Priests are to develop collaborative relationships with others (e.g. their bishop, other priests, men and women religious, and the laity), so that together “they will be able to recognize the signs of the times” (PO, 9).
Vatican II emphasized the pivotal virtue of pastoral charity for priests “as they fulfill the role of the Good Shepherd”; this virtue “flows out in a very special way from the Eucharistic sacrifice” which is “the root and center of the whole life of a priest” (PO, 14). In addition, other spiritual requirements needed by priests are humility, obedience, celibacy, and poverty; they “should avoid everything which in any way could turn the poor away,” making them appear “unapproachable to anyone, lest anyone, even the most humble, fear to visit them” (PO, 15-17).
Renewing Religious Life. The Council addressed religious life in several documents, particularly in Perfectae Caritatis which focused on the renewal and adaptation of religious life in the contemporary Church. Members of religious societies pursue “perfect charity through the evangelical counsels … of chastity, poverty and obedience … [following] the example of the Divine Master” (PC, 1).
For religious communities, authentic renewal “includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time” (PC, 2). Religious families of men and women, contemplative and active, are to adapt their “manner of living, praying and working” (PC, 3) so as to better serve humanity today–with ever greater apostolic zeal and in imitation of Christ’s self-emptying love.
The Council asserted that religious communities “should continue to maintain and fulfill the ministries proper to them”; in addition, they “should adapt them to the requirements of time and place, employing appropriate and even new programs and abandoning those works which today are less relevant to the spirit and authentic nature of the community. The missionary spirit must under all circumstances be preserved … so that the preaching of the Gospel may be carried out more effectively in every nation” (PC, 20).
As one reviews the numerous, profound insights regarding various special charisms in the Church, one begins to better appreciate the comprehensive renewal initiated by Vatican II. Though the Council successfully concluded six decades ago in 1965, its challenges remain eminently relevant for the worldwide Church of today. The call to listen to the Holy Spirit remains urgent!
James H. Kroeger served mission in Asia for over five decades; recently he authored Walking with Pope Francis; The Official Documents in Everyday Language (Paulines, Manila) and A Joyful Journey with Pope Francis (Claretians, Manila).
