Vaticans Organizational and Operational Structures - Coursework Example

Number: Day/Month/Year Behind The Scenes at the Church and Honest Responses to Hard Questions LESSON 5: VATICAN’S ORGANIZATIONAL AND OPERATIONAL STRUCTURES The Vatican Council II was developed between 1962 and 1965 with the motive to impart the ever-increasing robustness to Christian life. After its establishment, the council efficiently declared a few unique religious magnitudes that would act as a base for the foundation of a new societal reform. At the foremost, the council emphasized developments in the educational climate to ensure knowledge assistance to each student, with due significance to religious ideologies in human life. The council has also been dealing with the changing world and their altering needs, striving to preserve religious beliefs of Christianity in the mechanical life of the 21st century. In addition to the above, the Vatican Council II even relaxed the dietary restrictions and changed the confessional obligations wherein the changes were brought in by the Catholic Churches to initiate progressive sociological facts and motivate creative organizational development with enhanced flexibility (Wilde 576-602). The organizational structure of the Vatican Council II provides Pope with all legislative, judiciary as well as decision making powers to control the Catholic Church. Each Vatican dicastery share a formal communication channel amid them, which is deemed to add sophistication and systematize the flow of information in the council in a one-direction manner. This phenomenon also helps enhancing the organizational operations of the dicasteries, with strong emphasis on its competence to offer unbiased judicial proceedings. This formal working relationship amid the dicasteries was developed with the motive of maintaining a supreme and autonomous mode of operations amid the congregations. However, to make the judicial system more consistent, the inter-dicastery coordination was developed. In the present day, dicasteries operate within its stipulated surroundings dealing with their individual issues, wherein their role and influence on the wider society has become limited as compared to the mid-20th century. Correspondingly, to develop better coordination among employees, reasonable decision making is considered as the most significant element (Allen 29-50). Change in the Vatican Catholic Church, after the formation of the Vatican Council II, enhanced the degree of tolerance to the other religious beliefs in the ideologies of modern Christianity, further assisting the Vatican to integrate a balanced administrative system with an open minded nature. The developed multicultural perspective even enhanced the need of developing the administrative system as a broader process to increase its efficiencies in manifold. The Vatican’s multicultural perspective has also helped in developing a balanced administrative system and subsequently, creating an unbiased judiciary system. The steps incorporated by the Vatican schools to enhance the level of the education, irrespective of their class, standard and religion have further enforced its strategic organizational abilities to develop a balanced administrative system (Russo, Adams and Seery 1-11). Moreover, to meet the requirements of the present day societies, the Vatican Churches have been rearranged and more inclined towards developing a multicultural makeup and thereby, become flexible enough to incorporate the changes of the modern society. In order to mitigate these challenges, the church has been changing their operational structure at various levels to meet the varying needs. To eliminate the doctrine challenges the church has also been spreading awareness about the faith and also to develop greater tolerance towards the interrelationships among cultures. To develop their multiculturalism features as well, the church has integrated several societal policies to develop a better jurisdiction for the society (Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Educating to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love”). A vital dicastery of the Vatican Council II is the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, which were developed through the Eastern liturgical theological traditions and has a detailed description in Orientalium Ecclesiarum. The Eastern Catholic Churches were developed in full association with the Roman Catholic Churches. Furthermore, the Eastern Rite Catholic was termed as the orthodoxy groups of the catholic Churches. These are traditional institutions having high regards of rightful praise. The traditional orthodoxy of these Churches coincided with the Roman Catholic Churches in the late seventeenth century. This new settlement developed an ethno-religious identity that served for both the orthodox beliefs of the Eastern Rite Churches and the non-orthodoxy beliefs of the others (Foszto 44-54; Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite”). However, the Vatican Council II, at the third session, declared that the tradition of the Churches should be preserved but the church should also be adopting itself with the changing times. Subsequently, the Vatican Churches revitalized the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches to adapt the changes currently observed in the 21st century (Libreria Editrice Vaticana Believe “Second Vatican Council”). The ever changing environment has also raised the need for developing new policies for the church and the pastoral roles that are assigned to the Bishop, whereby the unconventional method of performing jurisdiction procedures by the church demanded amended in order to enhance transparency and responsibility in the overall process. The Vatican Council II also emphasized development in the domain of jurisdiction applicable for the clergymen, considering few most sensitive issues of the modern society, like child abuses and sexual abuses. Based on these newly set norms, the pastoral bishops must ensure greater effectiveness in providing assistance to the superior pastors and must be manifesting the guidelines of the church (Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus”). The revaluation brought in by the Vatican Council II also dictated about spiritual sacrifices the priests if required, to enhance their involvement with common people and the God as well. Several reforms have been brought into measure in this regard that specifies the lifestyles they need to maintain. The Vatican Council II has even revalued the spiritual sacrifices that the priests need to make, in order to develop the lifestyle of the people they are serving. The priests should also be treating human affairs with esteemed efficiency. In addition to the above, the document also highlights that priests must be following the rules laid in regards to the goodness at heart and sincerity towards the common people (Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis”). The training provided to the priesthood further aims to provide and update their jurisdiction system to meet the needs of the present day society. Moreover, priests are provided with training to follow the path of unbiased practices and to deliver better care services to the community. With the changed societal needs, the priesthood requires updating them to enhance their level of sanctity (Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis”; DeBona 199-220). The renewal of religious life also enhances the operations of the church in the societal norms wherein the religious life needs to be renewed in order to enhance the level of services provided by the church to the common people and suffice the requirement of proper societal reforms (Confoy 269-280). The apostolate suggests that with the changes taking place with time and the developments apparent in the field of science and technology, it has become imperative to bring in changes into the religious field. It is in this context that the areas of the human life must be dealt in an imperative manner to bring in the ethical standards within the religious practices (Libreria Editrice Vaticana “Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem”). Pope Benedict XVII has been giving a detailed explanation of the operations and the services through Facebook page of the pope. The baptism and the other operations of the church and the Vatican are displayed through Facebook. To meet the changes of the present day and to reach the youth at a greater extent the pope has been increasing their presence in the social media. Moreover, to enhance their promotional tactics the Vatican council has been increasing their presence in the social websites at large to influence the youth towards the operations of the church. The Facebook profile of the Pope Benedict XVI is given hereunder. Summary. The Vatican Council II has been quite diligent in updating their norms as per the requirements of the developing society since its formation in the mid-20th Century. They have been altering their organizational system depending on the need of the changing times. It has been observed that the church has also been developing their judiciary system. With the introduction of these norms, changes have been incorporated in regards to the development of the youth. To spread the knowledge of the institution, the church has also taken many attempts to spread the knowledge about its religious intent and societal care ideologies through the recent incorporation of the web pages through the social media. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Allen’s Account in All the Pope’s Men. The book titled, “All the Pope’s Men”, elaborates on the different practices of the Vatican Council II highlighting upon its theological and sociological practices. The book even elucidates the scandals and the different illegal practices that were argued as prevalent within the institution. In addition, the stereotype views of the church have been criticized in the book, arguing about the corrupt practices of the church that came into focus through the recent studies. Contrast the Stereotype Regarding Well-Known Vatican Council II Documents with More Specific Documents in the Assigned Readings. The stereotypical views of the well-known Vatican Council II documents refer to the social changes associated with woman ordination and other aspects of the modern society. However, in practice, the different laws passed are very less effective in reality. Position of women in ordination is still less effective than the position of men in the catholic Churches. Moreover, different malpractices within this institution are still prevalent and jurisdiction for the same is still less strict than the required norms. Describe the Ways in Which Social Media Activities Can Be Inspired By Vatican Council II. The social media activities are directly related with the society. The different reforms brought in by the Vatican Council II for the societal development has also been observed as a major inspiration for the social media to spread the idea of societal development. Moreover, the different developmental measures adopted by the church to enhance the societal development have inspired the media to spread the knowledge of teachings in Christianity. Illustratively, “teaching papacies” was noted to have strongly inspired the social media to spread the teachings of the Pope related to the social development, justifying the stated account of Church inspiring the social media. LESSON 6: COMMUNION ECCLESIOLOGY AND ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS To meet the needs of the modern society, the Roman Catholic Churches have incorporated a series of developmental strategies in their operational systems and processes. These changes have been apparently observed as a positive force for the development of the communion of the Christian religion. These changes have further been idealized to bring in religious reforms into the social life of people in the 21st century wherein the catholic teachings were characterized to hold the teachings of the Christianity, but in a more flexible and open-minded way that the traditional system (Himes and Cahill 100-150). With a commitment to develop unity and faith amid the society, and perhaps also to regain the societal status of a prime dictator, the Churches have emphasized delivering different teachings to the priests to enhance their level of acceptance within the modern society. The Roman Catholic Churches, in order to develop a unified set of reforms suggest that the bishops are the final decision makers. The first ecclesiology bounds the church’s sociological dimensions those were developed on the basis of the common priesthood among the bishops. The traditional methods of the church were developed, designed and aligned with the present day societal requirements. In order to develop a community with the semantic shift in the society, the Roman Catholic Churches have also established the Eucharistic Theology in pursuit of the modern culture. In lieu to this theology, the church has also been developing worldly affairs to enhance the acceptance within the society. The catholic Churches have also developed social teachings in order to enhance their acceptance among the different cultures (Himes and Cahill 100-150). A major difference in the traditional and the unconventional bases of Christianity can be further identified in terms of women ordination of the Roman Catholic Churches, which was gradually incorporated by the other Churches during the 20th Century. The women were provided with offices at various altars. With the ordination of female priests, the Churches made it mandatory to develop a priestly ministry for women, which can also be interpreted as the influence of modern society on the structure of Catholic Churches. This was however opposed by those who condemned providing women the power to hold offices, raising a degree of volatility and rebellion in the Christian community. Moreover, to enhance the chances of the Churches to incorporate the societal reforms, women ordinations were incorporated that fuelled the need for the Churches to change according to the social reforms and practices, strengthening the communal involvement of the Churches altogether (Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance “The Roman Catholic Church and female ordination”). While on one hand, these norms can be believed and interpreted as a step taken by the Churches as the representative of Christianity, on the other hand, it can also be argued as a politically infused initiative to regain power and administrative say within the society. For instance, the ordination of women in the ministerial priesthood can be interpreted as a measure taken by the Churches in order to enhance its societal acceptance by setting an example to the society, wherein the practice is illustrated as unorthodox that gives equal respect to both the genders. However, a critical inspection of the system reveals that following the conventional methods of allocating highest ministerial posts were still held by male, to which, the Churches seemed reluctant on involving any female member. This in turn ignited a wide array of debate in the contemporary society concerning the real intent of the Church, i.e. whether to incorporate the modern changes in the society or to regain political control on the same. Correspondingly, several rules were framed in order to enhance the consciences of the male priesthoods, wherein the ordination of women emerged as a question that remains unanswered even today (Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance “The Roman Catholicism & female ordination recent history of the debate”). To be mentioned in this regard, John Paul II was the key figure who patronized the democratic transition of Latin America, whose contribution dialects against the assumption that the Churches have been intended towards strengthening their political existence in the community. The teaching papacies of the Pope were majorly focused on developing secularism of European nations. With the reform initiated through World Youth Day, the Pope created an appeal to the younger mass to preach about Christianity that was further transited as a solution to their need to be calm, focused and disciplined. In lieu to this, adopting different measures, the Pope has been successful in spreading the knowledge of secularism among the European Community. The Pope has also conducted several meetings to spread the teachings on mercy and tolerance amid the young people in the society. Through the solidity movement, Pope has also aimed to spread the message of peace in the various turbulent parts of the world. John Paul II even humanized the papacies by advocating the poor to lead a better life. Initiation of Christianity thoughts amid the young mass has also been a major contribution of the Pope. The different teachings of Pope were apparently observed to have enhanced the level of acceptance of Churches among the people and thereby, improve the living standard of the society considerably, exhibiting an understanding in contrast to the orthodox behavior of the Churches. These measures have curtained helped the Pope to incorporate huge developments among the youth of the present day. The Pope has also initiated a greater role to be played by the Churches to meet the social needs of the society and not limited to religious preaching to a section of the community only. It was the initiative of the Pope that the European nations developed a secular state instead of the communalism. In a wider context, the different humanization of the papacies has also enhanced the requirement of spreading the catholic faith worldwide (Catholic Appeal Update “Church History—Part 20: The Papacies of John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis”). Pope John Paul II was succeeded by Benedict XVI, who took the Catholic Churches to a new developed level with the escalated development of the relation between the Catholic Churches and the Islamic nations. The Catholic-Muslim interrelationship development envisaged the focus of the Catholic Churches to enhance their level of tolerance to each other, as well as to other religious beliefs spread around the world. The Pope even elucidated several stages of moral persuasion. By the teachings, Benedict XVI enhanced the notion of religious freedom to be a right of every human being. He also influenced several situations to enhance their religious tolerance among catholic Churches taking several steps against the cases of the sexual abuses that have been affecting the operations of Churches. This provided a strong message to the society regarding gender roles and equality, further aligned with the modern social structure. Through his charismatic characteristics, the Pope could spread the Catholic ideologies in a wider arena and also enhance the level of societal practices conducted through the Churches. The Churches’ jurisdiction system enhanced to the next level with the development of the fast track rules to take strict actions against Church representatives (even involving pastors and bishops) found involved in unethical practices, such as sexual offences. Emphasis was also laid to enhance transparency in the organizational structure of these Churches with the implementation of corruption prevalent practices in a multidimensional manner. Through his unorthodox teachings, Benedict XVI was able to bring significant transitions in the beliefs of Christianity that was facing a decline in European nations since the beginning of the 20th Century. The different writings of the Pope on Christianity have also been successful in influencing modern readers of both Catholic and Non-Catholic backgrounds, grounding the theological views of the same (Catholic Appeal Update “Church History—Part 20: The Papacies of John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis”). Summary. The operations of the Churches have developed with an objective to transform the orthodox ideologies, especially those concerning the gender roles of females. Correspondingly, the hierarchy of women is discussed in respect to the ordination system of the Churches. Nevertheless, critics have been arguing that this measure adopted by the Churches have been more focused on building their political power rather than creating long term value for the society, as the position of women was observed to be quiet detrimental in respect to the position of men in Churches even after the establishment of equality norms within the society. However, offering a contradictory view to this notion, the teachings of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been depicted as solely aimed at the development of the social position of the Churches to meet the needs of today’s changing society, implying a polarized view to be existent in the Catholic world. Works Cited “The Ecclesiology of Communion, 50 Years after the Opening of Vatican Council II.” Adoremus. 2012. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. Allen, John L. “All the Popes Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks.” London: Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, 2007. Print. “Second Vatican Council.” Believe. 1962. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. Confoy, Maryanne. Religious Life and Priesthood: Perfectae Caritatis, Optatam Totius, Presbyterorum Ordinis. USA: Paulist Press, 2008. Print. DeBona, Guerric. Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church: The Seven-Step Ladder toward Successful Homilies. USA: Paulist Press, 2009. Print. Foszto, Laszlo. Ritual Revitalization after Socialism: Community, Personhood, and Conversion among Roma in a Transylvanian Village. Netherlands: LIT Verlag Munster, 2009. Print. Himes, Kenneth R., and Lisa Sowle Cahill. “Modern Catholic Social Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations.” Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2005. Print. “Educating to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love.” Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2013. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. “Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite Orientalium Ecclesiarum Solemnly Promulgated By His Holiness.” Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1964. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. “The Roman Catholicism & Female Ordination Recent History of the Debate.” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2005. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. “The Roman Catholic Church and Female Ordination.” Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 1995. Web. 07 Sep. 2014. Russo, Charles J. “Catholic Schools and Multicultural Education: A Good Match.” Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practices 2.2. 2013: 1-11. Print. Wilde, Melissa J. “How Culture Mattered at Vatican Council II: Collegiality Trumps Authority in the Councils Social Movement Organizations.” American Sociological Review 69.4 (2004): 576-602. Print. Read More