USD Magazine, Spring 1995

By Trisha J. Ratledge

n1

Dr

T T ti ess1ngs 1n 1sgu1se T

A t the midnight hour on Christmas Eve, St. Norbert's Church - a church like many across the nation - was alive with activity. Choir members raised their voices in harmony as the priest, deacon and altar servers waited in the vestibule to enter. Bundled against the cold, parishioners continued to file in, though the church was nearly full. In the pews, which form a tight horseshoe around the altar, friends greeted each other, families settled in, young couples whispered to each other and bleary-eyed children strug– gled to stay awake. As the lights dimmed, the priest entered the church and Christmas Eve Mass began. In many ways, the Mass represent– ed enduring traditions of the Catholic faith as expressed through teachings,

"The idea of Vatican II was to make everybody realize - both clergy and laity - that it's baptism that consti– tutes the church," says Florence Gillman, USD associate professor of theological and religious studies. "That everyone by baptism is equally a mem– ber of the church and that no one is more important than anyone else. That major shift has meant that the lay peo– ple have just as much a sense of owner– ship in the church as the clergy do." At St. Norbert's, that ownership was reflected by the many contributors to midnight Mass. The lectors were lay people, the altar servers included both boys and girls - a position once reserved only for boys - and when the time came for communion, eight parish– ioners rose from the pews to take their place at the altar and distribute conse– crated hosts and wine. In addition, the

deacon, a married man, holds a role that bridges the worlds of the laity and the clergy. Ordained a permanent deacon, he can remain married but is considered clergy by the church and can administer four of the seven sacraments. Changes such as these have been celebrated by most mem– bers of the church and denounced by a few, but they certainly haven't been ignored by any. Dlvlne GulJance Coinciding with the changes of Vatican II was the beginning of a steady - some would say alarming - decline in vocations, or people who are called to a religious life. Some historians attribute this drop to the social upheaval in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. America's youth were satisfying their need to serve the world through political activism and pro– grams of social change rather than through religious life. Wom– en were breaking with tradition and forging new roles in the

rites and prayers. At the same time, however, the participants exemplified the monumental changes that have taken place in the church since the Second Vatican Council concluded in 1965. Considered a turning point in modem Catholicism, the council - which was held in four annual sessions beginning in 1962 - brought the church into the 20th century and set the charter for the future. Headed by the pope, the council com– prised more than 2,800 bishops who drew up 16 documents designed to inspire renewal and reform in the church. From those documents came a pronouncement that changed the role of every person in the church: the belief that the peo– ple don't just belong to the church, but that they are the church. This single shift in theological emphasis enabled parishioners to claim ownership of their faith and move from being passive observers to participants and even leaders in the church. It also led to a transformation within the church in which the roles of the religious were redefined.

U S D

M A G A Z