On Wednesday, January 18, took place a School of Theology's Feast Day.

Photogallery

Second Vatican Council/ Prof. Johannes Grohe (Holy Cross):

Council decrees are "binding, and must be accepted by anyone who wishes to enter into communion with the Catholic Church."

Pontifical University of the Holy Cross' School of Theology Celebrates the Feast of its Patron


Rome, Jan 18, 2012—“For the Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council is, and must remain, a supreme and solemn expression of the Magisterium in our time.” It should receive “due importance in ecumenical dialog concerning union with other Churches and Christian communities separated from the Catholic Church.” This means that a Catholic “may not reject its basic texts, just as he cannot renounce the documents issued by the Church's prior ecumenical councils."

These are the words of Rev. Johannes Grohe, Professor of Church History, in his address entitled “The Second Vatican Council in Relation to the Ecumenical Councils.” It was given during an academic celebration in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of the School of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
There is no doubt—added Professor Grohe—that in relation to all of the Ecumenical Councils from the past two millennia, the Second Vatican Council represents an event of “momentous importance” that is “fundamental for the Church's life today.”

Professor Grohe addressed different types of critics who "doubt the ecumenical nature of Vatican II," and therefore the "binding character of the conciliar documents." By providing a series of theological and historical references, he indicated their mistaken approach and refuted their claims.
The Council opened on October 11, 1962 by Pope John XXIII, "did not intend to define new dogmas," but rather to propose "with supreme authority for the whole Christian community, the Church's traditional doctrine in a new way and with a new pastoral approach." Each of its decrees therefore have "universal value." They are each "binding, and must be accepted by anyone who wishes to enter into communion with the Catholic Church."

Among other positions, Professor Grohe is Director of the magazine entitled Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum (http://ahc.pusc.it/), founded in 1968 by Walter Brandmüller and Remigius Bäumer. His address fully engages current theological debate, which is newly focused on the 50° anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. It is also a fitting preparation for the upcoming Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI.

For these same reasons, the Holy Cross' School of Theology has organized a Conference this upcoming March 12-13 regarding the theme "Word and Testimony in the Communication of the Faith: A New Reading of a Critical Pair in the Light of the Second Vatican Council" (http://www.pusc.it/teo/conv2012). It intends to analyze the relationship between word and testimony within the world's current social and religious context.

2012 also marks the 25° anniversary of Annales Theologici, the School of Theology's international magazine. Published twice a year and cataloged by over 300 libraries around the world, the magazine has seen authors such as Cardinals Angelo Amato and Dionigi Tettamanzi, Pierpaolo Donati, Cornelio Fabro, Fernando Ocáriz, Vittorio Possenti, Pedro Rodríguez, Martin Rhonheimer and Anton Ziegenaus.