Now available: The Great Grace: Receiving Vatican II Today, edited by Nigel Zimmermann (Bloomsbury Publishing; 160pp+).

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Publication description:

Nigel Zimmermann presents critical reflections from leading Catholic prelates and scholars on the significance of the Second Vatican Council fifty years after it began. These include two senior Cardinals, one of whom is the head of the Congregation of Bishops and the other a member of Pope Francis’ new advisory body on reforming the Roman Curia, as well as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Together with thinkers from North America, the UK, Rome and Australia, they take up key themes from the Conciliar documents and assess the reception of the Council half a century on from its inception. In doing so, they open up new avenues for thinking through the authentic witness and teaching of the most important ecclesiastical event of the twentieth century. These avenues include discussion of themes such as the liturgy, communio, the Council in its historical context, the role of the laity, communicating the Council in a social media world, and the task of mission in the future. This volume marks a turning point in the Council’s reception in the wider Church.

Blurbs:

“Ecumenical Councils have typically begun in controversy, have been conducted in further controversy, and have always been followed by yet more controversy. Little wonder, then that there have been only twenty-one of them, by Catholic reckoning, in over two millennia of Christian history. The Great Grace is an important contribution from Down Under to the ongoing interpretation, reception, and implementation of the Second Vatican Council. All those committed to the real Vatican II, as distinguished from the Rorschach Blot Vatican II, are in debt to this book’s distinguished authors for their insights and for their passion for authentic Catholic renewal.” –  George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC, USA

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Nigel Zimmermann, University of Notre Dame Australia

1. Yesterday’s Council for Tomorrow’s World
George Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy

2. Communio: The Key to Vatican II’s Ecclesiology
Marc Cardinal Ouellet PSS, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

3. A Council for the Laity? The Vision of Vatican II in Empowering the Lay Faithful
Anne Hunt, Australian Catholic University, Australia

4. From Correlationism to Trinitarian Christocentrism: Receiving the Council in the Church in Australia
Tracey Rowland, Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Australia

5. Vatican II: Spirit and Letter
Anthony Kelly CSsR, Australian Catholic University, Australia

6. Mission to the Media: Lessons from Catholic Voices
Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero, Catholic Voices, UK

7. To Awaken the Spirit: Proposing a Vatican II Faith to a Secular World
Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia

8. Conclusion
Peter Comensoli, Bishop of Broken Bay, Australia

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A special discount for Australian residents may be downloaded here [PDF].