Religion and Theology

The second Vatican council was convened at a time when Roman Catholic was facing a lot of challenges, among them a stiff competition from the protestant churches. While convening this council Pope John the twenty third talked of the church need to open its windows to allow fresh air. This meant brining in some changes in the Roman Catholic to make it more relevant as times changed. Vatican knew very well that there was a dire need to give the church a facelift, most of its policies seemed out of place with the masses while some forms of worship were outdated and stiff. As the Pope proclaimed it was the time to move the church from the dark ages and bring it in line with modernity. Many people were taken by surprise as the events unfolded, the church had for long remained conservative and non responsive to the changes taking place in the world but now it had come to  reality and for it to survive in the modern world it had to address some of its practices. There was a general feeling among the bishops that Roman Catholic Church needed to evolve with time for it to remain relevant in a period that was characterized by science and individualism. (Doyle, M.  1992 9)

There were several areas which were discussed among them the celebration of mass and the participation and involvement of the lay people in the church affairs. The convention of almost three thousand bishops under the guidance of the Pope worked on revolutionary changes that came to grant more freedom to the lay people, reaching out to the non Catholics, allowing the congregation to celebrate mass in their local languages with the priest facing them. Before the second Vatican council the priest used to recite the mass in Latin while facing away from the congregation. The new changes emanating from the convention brought some sort of life as far as the celebration of the mass was concerned. The congregation could now participate as they were now aware of what was happening. This meant that they were part of the celebration and no longer spectators as had been before. These reforms have been attributed to the Roman Catholic Church gaining popularity in different parts of the world especially in Africa and Asia. (Doyle, M.  1992 81)

Active participation of the lay people in the church activities meant that they had a chance to learn what went on behind the scenes. This opened the church allowing the congregation a chance to have a closer scrutiny. This opened the floodgates, people could no longer accept things as gospel truth they could now question some of the things which they were not comfortable with. This new found freedom has been criticized by those traditional Catholics, the so called conservatives who saw it as erosion of church morals which was not called for. (Alberigo, G and Kumonchak, J 2005 43)

The new found freedom gave way for activism and tolerance of other denominations. The convention achieved this though the embracing of the existing denominations and churches. People now had wider choices. The democratic space which was created due to the new changes which were introduced made the church weaker since it could no longer be the sole decision making organ as far as personal life was concerned. The faithful no longer relied on the church to influence their personal decisions such as reproductive roles.

Participation of the laymen in the church affairs also meant that the bishops and the priests did not have the sole responsibility of leading the church. The changes brought about by the second Vatican convention allowed the congregation to democratically elect their representatives who will sit in the parish council to assist in the governing of the church at this level. This meant that the congregation now had a role to play as far as leadership of the church was concerned since they were able to elect their representatives. Lay leadership in church became an integral part of the reforms that were carried out consequently it increased partly due to the declining numbers of the priests in the period. The increased emphasis on the individual responsibility brought with it new problems in the church as there emerged opposing groups with different ideologies among the lay Christians. These groups were described as traditionalist and charismatic. They held different views with one group vehemently opposing the reforms on one side while the other group went overboard to implement the changes brought about by Vatican council (Greeley, A 2004 45).

The changes as far as the celebration of the mass was concerned triggered a new dawn in the church. Apart from using own language in this celebration, local cultures were incorporated ,use of drums, guitars and other music equipments was introduced depending on the cultures of the worshippers. This led to domestication of the mass with each region having its own way of celebrating the mass depending on their tradition. This does not mean that the content of the liturgy was changed. It more remained the same save for the change in language and the mode of delivery.

The two important changes regarding the celebration of the mass had a great impact in the participation of the congregation especially the lay people. This meant that the church was becoming responsive to the peoples needs. The lay people needed to understand what religion was all about, they wanted freedom to choose their destiny. The old order of the mass could not offer this since it was celebrated in a language which most of them could not understand. They were only mere spectators. This opened doors and created some space where the lay people could learn and ask questions. It also presented a chance for them to own the celebration and be part of the worship. The second Vatican council may have been criticized for introducing radical changes but in essence it brought the church to a position why people could identify with it.