Problems facing the Church

In 1962, a thirty-five year old theology professor, Father Joseph Ratzinger, was invited by the Archbishop of Cologne, Joseph Cardinal Frings, to accompany him to the Second Vatican Council as his theological advisor.

At the end of each of the four sessions of the Council, Father Ratzinger wrote an essay on the significant points raised in the Council deliberations. These essays have been published in English as Theological Highlights of Vatican II.

In his reflections on the third session of the Council in the fall of 1964, he,  in response to the question, “What concrete problems did the Council face” wrote: “These problems may be crystalized into the following groups:

1.      The problem of divine worship.

2.     The problem of centralism in the Church.

3.     The problem of relations with non-Catholic Christendom and the ecumenical movement.

4.     The problem of new directions in the relations between Church and State, or what might somewhat imprecisely be labeled the end of the Middle Ages, or even the end of the Constantinian era.

5.     The problem of faith and science, or, more specifically, the problem of faith and history, which had become a basic problem for faith through the triumph of the method of historical criticism.

6.     The problem of the relation of Christianity to the modern ethic of work, to technology, and in general to the new moral problems posed by a technological society.

While the Council attempted to address most of these problems, they continue to be issues for the Church today.