VATICAN II – 50 YEARS

It is hard to believe that Vatican II was 50 years ago! I remember the excitement when Pope John XXIII announced an ECUMENICAL COUNCIL!!!  Then the news that came as the council proceeded!

For me personally, it was so freeing. I personally appreciated the changes in the liturgy: the priest facing the people; everything in the vernacular. I was thrilled with the documents on the Church: LUMEN GENTIUM and, even more, GAUDIUM ET SPES.  Those documents and the one on ECUMENISM were all like opening the windows wide! Each document published  was exciting in its own way.

I was involved in initial formation at the time and, consequently, lived with the challenges in the Church and religious life on the younger Sisters.  It became a time when many evaluated their call and some realized that their call was to a different way of life.

In the Congregation I felt that it was a time when together we opened ourselves to the Holy Spirit in a special way.  Just one of the things that I found very helpful was a community study of the Council documents, following outlines and questions prepared by Father Eugene Maly. For me, Vatican II offered the possibility of really being open to the Spirit in fidelity to the Council and to the Church in the spirit of Blessed Frances Schervier.

Sr. Marie Clement Edrich