Vatican II closed its sessions nearly four decades ago. Anyone who remembers the church before the council knows that the church has been radically changed in...
Church history
1. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium): The church is a mystery, or sacrament, the whole People of God, in whose service the hierarchy is...
1959 January 25 – After celebrating a Mass for Christian unity, Pope John XXIII announces his intention to call the 21st ecumenical councilor of the...
The Second Vatican Council, which opened on October 11, 1962 and concluded on December 8, 1965, was the central event of Catholic life in the 20th century...
Imagine a television commercial for Vatican II: Hundreds of bishops are gathered in a local beer joint. One prelate lifts his frothy stein in a toast...
In our December 2005 issue, Paul Boudreau reflected on the 40th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary...
More than 2,000 website visitors to USCatholic.org offered their take on the Second Vatican Council for our October Reader Survey. Although we don’t...
Vatican II still looks “fabulous at 50” to U.S. Catholic readers, who say the golden years are no time to retire its reforms. Web exclusive: Readers sound off...
While there are several definitions of the word “doctor,” they all go back to the Latin word for “teacher.” It is this meaning whence doctors of...
James Joyce said it best in Finnegans Wake that “Catholic means here comes everybody.” Our word “catholic” comes from a Greek adjective meaning “universal” and...
