Vatican II Gift and Blessing

For the Pauline Family

Vatican II & the Pauline Family Alberione served during the Second

Vatican Council as a peritus (theological expert), participating in the private sessions during which the decrees of the Council were formed and shaped, for the approval of the Council Fathers in full session.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alberione

Vatican Council II 1962-1965

“The world is starving for peace. If the Church responds to its Founder and rediscovers its authentic identity, the world will gain.” Blessed John XXIII

Vatican II and Alberione

This presentation gives a brief overview of some Vatican II documents followed by reflections on how Blessed James Alberione anticipated themes of the Council in many ways and how they are reflected in the Pauline Charism.

On the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Second Vatican Council

Alberione & Pope John XXIII

16 Documents 1. Sacrosanctum concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,

1963.  

2. Inter Mirifica, Decree On the Means of Social Communication, 1963.      3. Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution On the Church, 1964.    4. Orientalium Ecclesiarum, Decree On the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite,1964.   5. Unitatis Redintegratio, Decree on Ecumenism, 1964. 6. Christus Dominus, Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops In the Church,1965.  

16 Documents 7. Perfectae Caritatis, Decree On Renewal of Religious Life, 1965.

    8. Optatam Totius, Decree On Priestly Training, 1965. 9. Gravissimum Educationis, Declaration On Christian Education, 1965.

10. Nostra Aetate, Declaration On the Relation Of the Church to Non-ChristianReligions, 1965.  

11. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution On Divine Revelation, 1965.     12. Apostolicam Actuositatem, Decree On the Apostolate of the Laity, 1965.     

16 Documents

13. Dignitatis Humanae, Declaration On Religious Freedom, 1965.   14. Ad Gentes, Decree On the Mission Activity of the Church, 1965.    15. Presbyterorum Ordinis, Decree On the Ministry and Life of Priests, 1965.    16. Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution On the Church In the Modern World,1965.     

Alberione & Vatican IIFrom 1962-1965, Blessed Alberione was a silent but attentive protagonist in Vatican Council II, attending its sessions daily.  In certain ways Alberione anticipated the themes of the Council though most of his life’s work took place before Vatican II.

Lumen GentiumThe Constitution on the Church stressed the priority

of Christian baptism and affirmed the primary identity as Christian faithful. Our vocation stems from our baptism. The first call we have is not so much to do something, but to be something.* St. Paul reminds us that each one of us is called to be holy (1 Cor. 1:9). Holiness is not identified with any particular state in life.

*http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/848/Called_to_Holiness_and_Mission.html

Lumen GentiumNumbers 4 & 12 of Vatican II's Dogmatic

Constitution on the Church, deals with the person, mission, and gifts or charisms of the Holy Spirit.  It speaks too of the lay faithful’s participation in the church’s sensus fidei, literally “sense of the faith” or “faith instinct”. The document ends with a loving tribute to Mary.

Lumen Gentium & Alberione

According to the Vatican Document Lumen Gentium (LG, 46), every religious congregation makes visible a particular aspect of the mystery of Christ. What particular aspect of the mystery of Christ do Paulines make visible? Is this visibility dependent upon the means we use for mission? Can we simply sum up our gift in the church as “using the modern media to evangelize?”

Lumen Gentium & AlberioneBlessed Alberione committed his life to the

mission of evangelization with the new means of communication. At the same time he felt the inadequacy of his response. Mysteriously and surprisingly Alberione, as St. Paul before him, highlighted the aspect of Christ’s mystery that Paulines are called to reveal: His kenosis. Not to obtain emptiness, but to reach fullness of life. 

Lumen Gentium & AlberioneBrother Al Millela, S.S.P., explains that our Pauline

priority is to constantly re-tune the witness of our specific face of holiness. “Our founder implored us”, he wrote, “to keep first in our apostolic life’s union with the Lord, a living relationship and vital knowing of Jesus. In this is our specific mission, a distinctive prayer response in the world of media.” As Alberione, we put no trust in our works but rely on an unfailing abandonment to the guidance of the Lord so that, as St. Paul tells us, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

Lumen Gentium and CharismThe Holy Spirit makes holy the people, leads

them and enriches them with his virtues. Allotting his gifts according as he wills,

the Spirit also distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank…He makes them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church.”

Lumen gentium, n.12; 1 Cor 12:11

Pauline CharismThe word charism,

frequently used since Vatican II, describes individual gifts for building up the body of Christ. St. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 12 that there are different kinds of gifts distributed

by the same Spirit.

Lumen Gentium & AlberioneLumen Gentium’s

emphasis on the Christocentric nature of Marian devotion was consonant with Blessed Alberione’s Marian teaching:

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/trouve03.pdf Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve, F.S.P.

Mary Queen of Apostles“Mary was created for the apostolate to give Jesus

Christ to the world: He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life; He who is Teacher, Priest, Victim, God! God willed us to have everything through Mary. Jesus is the Apostle: “We have our high priest and apostle, Jesus Christ” (Heb 3:1). Mary is the apostle with Christ, in dependence on Christ, sharing in the apostolate with Christ.” Blessed Alberione

Gaudium et SpesThe Church in the Modern World called the baptized

to an adult faith, inviting their initiative for evangelization in their homes, work, and in politics. “It looked at rapid social change, and how that social change then brought about changes in attitudes and morals and the place of religion in society.  It looked at the changes and it reflected on how these changes often were linked with new aspirations and the on-going questionings of the men and women of the time.”  Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin,

Alberione blessing a film center

Gaudium et Spes & Alberione

“These were his words, his rule: to neglect updating is a mistake for all, but for the men and women of Giacomo Alberione, it is sin.” Domenico Agasso

http://www.alberione.org/beatificazione/beatificazione/stampa/agasso.htm

Gaudium et Spes & Alberione

For Alberione it was all is a matter of understanding the times wherein we live, its ways of communicating, its worries, in order to continue with a discourse that has much more profound roots. To speak the language of the times, in order to continue pronouncing the Word. Francesco Casetti

http://www.alberione.org/beatificazione/beatificazione/stampa/agasso.htm

Blessed Alberione & the future Pope Paul VI

When Pope John XXIII died in June 1963, the Second Vatican Council had barely begun. Pope Paul VI was elected and he immediately declared his intent to see the council through and reaffirmed Pope John's goal of making it an instrument of Church renewal.

Paul VI & Alberione "Here he is, humble, silent, tireless, contained in

his thoughts, which flows from prayer to work, always ready to read the signs of the times. Our Father Alberione has given the Church new instruments to express herself, new means to give vigor and new breadth to its apostolic mission....May the Pope, in the name of the whole Church, express its gratitude." Pope Paul VI

Constitution on the Sacred LiturgyAll Christian faithful are

called to a full, mindful and active participation in the Eucharistic Liturgy.

Christ is always present to his Church, especially in the actions of the liturgy.“Indeed, in this great work which gives perfect glory to God

and brings holiness to men, Christ is always joining in partnership with himself his beloved Bride, the Church, which calls upon its Lord and through him gives worship to the eternal Father.”

“It is therefore right to see the liturgy as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ, in which through signs addressed to the senses man’s sanctification is signified and, in a way proper to each of these signs, made effective, and in which public worship is celebrated in its fullness by the mystical body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the head and by his members.” Sacred Liturgy n. 7,8

Sacred Liturgy & Alberione "Alberione is also an apostle of the liturgy. He

wrote that the liturgy should be lived in its threefold reality: dogma, morals, and worship. The liturgy is the ‘book of truth, morals, and prayer.’ For example, in the liturgy, the Church lays out, in the course of the year, the basic truths of faith. It is a ‘book of morals’ because it reminds us of Christ’s holy commands, his virtues, and the means of salvation. Finally, it’s a ‘book of prayer,’ the most powerful prayer, because it is the prayer of the Church—the prayer of everyone.”   Sr. Margaret Tapang, PDDM

Sacred Liturgy & Alberione “In the liturgy we have the total Christ, Way,

Truth, and Life. In addition, the liturgy of the Church wants to bring the entire person to God: mind, will, and heart. There is to be no false and fragmented liturgy—praying with the Church, then living contrary to what we have just prayed.”

Sr. Margaret Tapang, PDDM

Decree on the Ministry and Life of the PriestsThe Vatican Council II Decree on the Ministry and

Life of Priests tells us that the universal call to holiness for all Christians applies in a particular way to presbyters, who were consecrated by God at the time of ordination. It is through the holy actions they carry out every day, and through the ministry they are engaged in, that Priests live life in Christ. The document indicates the pastoral right and duty of priests to help the faithful find their own truth, their unique vocation and development in love and freedom in the Holy Spirit. n. 4

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione The priest in the Society of St. Paul serves the

congregation by being steeped in God's word and preaching it tirelessly. He is to be immersed in the Eucharist himself and to nourish the congregation, the entire Pauline Family and the Church as a whole in his willingness to proclaim God's truth while living a vowed life of poverty, chastity, obedience and fidelity to the Holy Father.

http://www.vocationoffice.org/priest.htm

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione  Fr. Alberione practically overcomes the concept

that existed at the time, and approaches that which would be an acquired heritage after the openings of Vatican II: "...The starting point of Trent and of Vatican II differ... as regards the theology of the ordained minister in the Church. While Trent starts with the Eucharistic Celebration, Vatican II starts with the mission.

Teófilo Pérez S.S.P. http://www.stpauls.it/studi/maestro/inglese/p%C3%A9rez/ingper4d.htm

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione It refers to the mission of Christ, which is

extended in the apostles and in their successors, the bishops, and has followed and is extended through the presbyters, the bishops’ collaborators. In this manner, the vision and the theology of Vatican II regarding the priestly ministry expands and extends in a profoundly evangelical sense: the priesthood is no longer only or principally the man of worship or of the altar, but is configured and defined by the threefold function wherein the Christian mission is qualified:

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione …the prophetic role (on the word), the role in

worship (on the Eucharist) and the pastoral role (on the people of God). On the other hand, the priest is no longer the center of the Church: the center is the people of God as a whole; in this manner the role of protagonist is restored to the lay persons who recover their essential role in the workings of the Church" (cf. José Ma. Castillo, Orden sacerdotal, in Conceptos..., op. cit., 922)

Teófilo Pérez S.S.P. http://www.stpauls.it/studi/maestro/inglese/p%C3%A9rez/ingper4d.htm

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione The priest lives and works within the community

and generously makes himself available to the local Church for sacramental ministry where needed. The main focus of his [Pauline] apostolic life, however, always remains within the field of mass media and social communications which extends his preaching into the world.

http://www.vocationoffice.org/priest.htm

Life & Ministry of Priests &Alberione The conviction that lies at the base of all the

thought and work of blessed Alberione is that the presence of Catholics in the press cannot limit itself to the simple production of books and magazines of religious inspiration, but requires something more important: “…priestly hearts are needed, because the mission of the Good Press is part of the priestly mission.”

(UCBS 1926, in La primavera paolina, p. 669).

Life & Ministry of Priests &Alberione Preaching is the main task of the priesthood:

“ To make use of the press for the purpose of evangelization, “a priestly heart and soul is

needed. It is an eminently priestly apostolate.”

(UCBS 1926, in La primavera paolina, p. 669)

(Unione Cooperatori Buona Stampa, 1921,

in Laprimavera paolina, p. 143f).

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione

Life & Ministry of Priests & Alberione Pauline priests incorporate into their spiritual

lives the Way, Truth and Life approach of Blessed James Alberione. This distinctive spirituality is Christ-centered and focused on the Word of God and the Eucharist. It is enhanced by devotion to Mary, under the title of Queen of Apostles, and to St. Paul the patron of the congregation.

http://www.vocationoffice.org/priest.htm

Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity From the beginning, Fr. Alberione relied on lay

cooperators to make his dreams of putting the modern means of communications at the service of the gospel come true. He understood that the laity were called to holiness and heroic virtue. Fr. Alberione was convinced that as in all previous centuries, lay creativity, generosity, and enthusiasm would propel forward the Gospel in the twentieth century.

http://www.vocationoffice.org/family.htm

Association of Pauline Cooperators Until recently, the laity were seen more as

marginal collaborators of the religious institutes which recruited them. And yet, the Pauline Cooperators were one of the first branches of the Pauline Family to be established by the Founder. We might well wonder why.

http://daughtersofstpaul.com/PaulineCooperators/tabid/619/Default.aspx

Association of Pauline Cooperators In 1900, as the 19th century came to a close, James

Alberione was sixteen years old. The young seminarian thought and prayed much about the shape of development of the Church in the 20th century. In November of 1900, he read the encyclical Tametsi Futura. On December 31 of the same year, the "Night Between the Centuries," Blessed Alberione felt an unmistakable call from the Lord to do something specific to respond to the encyclical and help the people of the new century. 

http://daughtersofstpaul.com/PaulineCooperators/tabid/619/Default.aspx

Alberione serving a Cooperator

Blessed Alberione & the Lay Faithful

We are called to continually renew our understanding of the vocation of lay Paulines in the light of Alberione’s vision: “The laity, as collaborators in our mission, can bring a contribution of fundamental importance for the dialogue between faith and culture, not only in the matter of content, but also in our way of living the apostolic religious life, and of understanding the specific mission. Sr. Joana Puntel, F.S.P.

Blessed Alberione & the Lay Faithful

It is they, as already stated, who have the duty of ‘enlightening and ordering temporal realities’ (Lumen Gentium). The Founder affirmed, ‘Seek out persons who will associate themselves with us in the apostolate, so that the good can be multiplied!’ (Raggio,1958). Sr. Joana Puntel, F.S.P.

The Pauline Laity

The Pauline Cooperators He intuited both the rise in importance of the new media

of social communication and the development of an expanded role for the laity in the Church. In 1918, he laid out the first Statutes for a lay congregation, formalizing the group under the title “Union of Pauline Cooperators for the Good Press.” 

The Founder’s prescience proved true in developments and documents on the laity that flowed from the Second Vatican Council and continue to the present time.

The Holy Spirit Who sanctifies The People of God through ministry and the

sacraments gives the faithful special gifts also (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7), "allotting them to everyone according as He wills" (1 Cor. 12:11) in order that individuals, administering grace to others just as they have received it, may also be "good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10), to build up the whole body in charity (cf. Eph. 4:16). Decree on Apostolate of the Laity n. 3

The Holy Spirit Who sanctifiesFrom the acceptance of these charisms…there arise for

each believer the right and duty to use them in the Church and in the world for the good of men and the building up of the Church, in the freedom of the Holy Spirit who "breathes where He wills" (John 3:8). This should be done by the laity in communion with their brothers in Christ, especially with their pastors who must make a judgment about the true nature and proper use of these gifts not to extinguish the Spirit but to test all things and hold for what is good (cf. 1 Thess. 5:12, 19, 21).[4]

Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity n. 3

Vision of the Council: Pope Benedict"Hand in hand with a proper appreciation of the

priest's role is a correct understanding of the specific vocation of the laity, as it emerged from Vatican Council II, the vision of the Council was that wherever the lay faithful live out their baptismal vocation - in the family, at home, at work - they are actively participating in the Church's mission to sanctify the world. A renewed focus on lay apostolate will help to ... give a strong impetus to the task of evangelizing society.” Pope Benedict XVI

Alberione & Ecclesiology “Very soon, with the progress of his

foundations, Fr. Alberione gives an original form to the ecclesiology of his time, associating to the ministry of the Pauline priest, the Sister, the Cooperators, the Disciples and the members of the aggregated Institutes.” Don Silvio Sassi, SSP

http://www.paulus.net/supgen/pdf/2010/Sacerdozio_Paolino_eng.pdf

Dei VerbumThe Constitution on Divine Revelation (n.9) presents

the key concept of the connection between Scripture and Tradition: “For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end.”  There are three themes: the “new view of the phenomenon of tradition”; “the application of critical historical methods to the interpretation of Scripture”; and the growth of the “biblical movement.” From a commentary by Cardinal Ratzinger

Dei Verbum & Alberione "The Bible is the letter God has written to people".

In the Catholic world, however, only quite a few had received it through the centuries, till our times. Till his time, we might dare say, although during his time meritorious associations and sodalities were working for the spread of the Word of God. It was he, however, who brought about the absolute novelty: religious men and women were not mere active members, but persons with vows to render this service, as apostles, as auxiliaries in the apostolate.” Domenico Agasso

God’s Letter Written to Everyone

Dei Verbum & Alberione “Giacomo Alberione turned himself

into the mail carrier of ‘God’s letter’ in all languages, printed, turned to movies, spread through radio, entrusted to all the "fastest and most effective" media of the times.”

Domenico Agasso

Inter Mirifica The Decree on the Media of Social Communication

called the Church to a more effective use of these means in carrying out her mission of evangelization and service to mankind. The media are gifts of God.  ”All the members of the Church should make a concerted effort to ensure that the means of communication are put at the service of the multiple forms of the apostolate.” n.13

Inter Mirifica & AlberioneInter Mirifica translates

as “Among the wonders” It is a reference to the new means of communication as wonderful gifts of God.

Inter Mirifica & Alberione “A day of special jubilation was December 4, 1962

during which the Council’s decree, Inter Mirifica on the media of social communications as means of evangelization. Fr. Alberione thus commented: ‘Now you have no more reason to doubt. The Church has spoken.’ Furthermore: ‘I have given you the best. Had I found something else better, I would have given it to you now. However, I have not found it.’” Fr. Luigi Valtorta, SSP

Writer, Producer, Director, Blessed

Inter Mirifica and Alberione “Fifty years ago, Italy was preparing itself for a

second and more decisive modernization that had, as protagonists not just the factories, but also the newspapers, movies, radio. The Italians discovered the role of mass media and, perplexed, they were asking themselves about the new forms of culture that they were bringing in.”

Francesco Casetti 

Inter Mirifica and Alberione “Fr. Alberione’s intuition was to challenge this

new culture in its own grounds, by identifying forms of communication that would allow supplying families with information and orientations attentive to the present, but also bound to a tradition on which the sensibility of Christians were grafted. Today that the media revelation is completed and, by now it seems new horizons and new demands are emerging, that intuition reveals all its profitability.”

Francesco Casetti    

The saint of communications

Fr. James Alberione is one of those saints whose charism and whose works perceive and interpret a turning point of humanity in need of witnessing and prophecy. Sergio Zavoli 

Alberione and the future Pope Paul VI

The desire to follow the light he had received from the Tabernacle had a profound effect on his life.

"As from a life source, everything is born of the Eucharistic Master. Thus was the Pauline Family born, thus it is nourished, thus it lives, thus it works, thus it is sanctified." Blessed Alberione

(UPS III, 10)

Blessed Alberione

“All must work together as artists. who

present a beautiful

artwork, work together." 

On the 100th Anniversary of the

Founding of the Pauline Family

Sr. Margaret C. Kerry, FSP

http://paulinelaity.blogspot.com