Second Vatican Council Research Paper

Throughout religious history, there have been many religious events that have reshaped the religious landscape of Australia for the nation to become a multicultural, multi-faith and multi-denominational country. A significant event that has impacted and reshaped the religious landscape of Australia was the Second Vatican Council, which was an event associated with the Christian denomination of Catholicism, was a meeting held in the Vatican City of all the bishops from around the world and all from different Christian denominations. It was held from 1962 to 1965 and its aims were to reform and renew the life of the church in modern society, as well as addressing the internal and external issues of the world in the 1960s. The Vatican II presented

The 1960s was a time of political, social, economic and cultural change, and was also a time where many began to question the validity of the church and the existence of God. Peace on earth was threatened by another war due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the world was on the brink of another world war. After many people witnessed the horrific aftermath of World War II, many began to question the existence of God and resulted in many losing faith and dropping their beliefs in God. The church became irrelevant due to these threats to peace, however, other reasons for the church losing relevance in society was also due to it’s strict hierarchical structure and its hypocritical nature. The church was then provoked by these internal and external issues to respond to these issues and re-introduce them to make the church become relevant again in modern day

The Ecumenical Movement was the call for all Christians to come together and build bridges of mutual understanding with people of different beliefs, whist respecting and recognising their practices and beliefs. There were many attempts of establishing Ecumenism during this time, however, the most successfully attempt was the “Unitatis Redintegratio,” otherwise known as the “Decree Of Ecumenism.” The Decree of Ecumenism was established in 1964, and was one of the most important documents in the church next to the four constitutions. The decree made a major move-forward for the church to challenge themselves to establish understandings between other beliefs and respect those beliefs. Pope John XXIII says, “Today more than ever, we are called to serve mankind as such, and not merely Catholics; to defend above all and everywhere, the rights of the human person and not merely those of the Catholic Church,” echoing the aims of the Vatican II - to have mutual understandings between Catholics and those of other beliefs and to respect people of other beliefs to be able to “serve