Gaudium et spes

Gaudium et spes (Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈɡau̯di.um et ˈspes], "Joy and Hope"), the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, was one of the four constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council. Together, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (LG), and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (GS) stand as the two pillars of the Second Vatican Council. The Dogmatic Constitution treats the nature of the church in itself; the Pastoral Constitution treats its mission in the world.[1]

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Approved by a vote of 2,307 to 75 of the bishops assembled at the council, it was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 7 December 1965, the day the council ended. As is customary with Catholic documents, the title is taken from its opening words in Latin "the joys and hopes". The English translation begins:

The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.

Overview

The document was not drafted before the council met, but arose from the floor of the council and was one of the last to be promulgated.

The previous Vatican Council in 1869–70 had tried to defend the role of the church in an increasingly secular world. Those who interpret the purpose of the Second Council as one of embracing this world use Gaudium et spes as the primary hermeneutic for all its documents. One of the cardinals, Leo Joseph Suenens of Belgium, urged the council to take on social responsibility for Third World suffering, International peace and war, and the poor, sentiments echoed by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini of Milan and Cardinal Lercaro of Bologna.[2]

Thomas Rosica points out that the Council Fathers "... were men who had experienced two world wars, the horror of the Holocaust, the onset of the nuclear weaponry, the hostility of communism, the awesome and only partially understood impact of science and technology."[2] In the Introduction it states, "... the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel."[3] The mission of the Church needed to recognize the realities of secularization and pluralism. Bishop Christopher Butler points out that a key principle behind the "audacious change" in this and in several earlier outward-looking documents of the council was that the Church was Christ himself using us as his instruments to bring salvation to all, and in charity we must presume that those who differ from us are nevertheless people of good will.[4]

Marie-Dominique Chenu, professor of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum was influential in the composition of Gaudium et spes,[5] as was Louis-Joseph Lebret. "The problem of poverty and of overcoming it through a healthy economy, respectful of the primary value of the person, allows for a vast discussion on political ethics in Gaudium et Spes."[2]

Gaudium et Spes was adopted after Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, and it reflects the ecclesiological approach of that text. It also recognized and encouraged the role of the laity in the life of the Church in the world. The decree was debated at length and approved by much the largest and most international council in the history of the Church.[6]

"This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.".[7] This was further expanded in Apostolicam Actuositatem, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, of 18 November 1965.

Contents

The chief focus of Gaudium et Spes was on social teaching. The numbers given correspond to section numbers within the text.

  1. Preface (1-3)
  2. Introduction: The Situation of Men in the Modern World (4-10)
  3. Part 1: The Church and Man's Calling (11-45)
    1. The Dignity of the Human Person (12-22)
    2. The Community of Mankind (23-32)
    3. Man's Activity Throughout the World (33-39)
    4. The Role of the Church in the Modern World (40-45)
  4. Part 2: Some Problems of Special Urgency (46-93)
    1. Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family (47-52)
    2. The Proper Development of Culture (53-62)
      1. The Circumstances of Culture in the World Today (54-56)
      2. Some Principles for the Proper Development of Culture (57-59)
        1. Definition of Culture. Culture in its general sense indicates everything whereby man develops and perfects his many bodily and spiritual qualities; he strives by his knowledge and his labor, to bring the world itself under his control. He renders social life more human both in the family and the civic community, through improvement of customs and institutions. Throughout the course of time he expresses, communicates and converses in his works, great spiritual experiences and desires that they might be of advantage to the progress of many, even the whole family (Gaudium et spes, Part II, Chapter II, Paragraph II).
      3. Some More Urgent Duties of Christians in Regard to Culture (60-62)
    3. Economic and Social Life (63-72)
      1. Economic Development (64 - 66)
      2. Certain Principles Governing Socio-Economic Life as a Whole (67-72)
    4. The Life of the Political Community (73-76)
    5. The Fostering of Peace and the Promotion of a Community of Nations (77-93)
      1. The Avoidance of War (79-82)
      2. Setting Up an International Community (83-93)

Gift of Self

The "gift of self" from GS §24[8] was a phrase used often by Pope John Paul II and particularly in his Theology of the Body. This phrase has also been described as "the Law of the Gift" [9]

Promotion of Peace

The final chapter of the document is "The Fostering of Peace and the Promotion of a Community of Nations". This chapter echoed themes declared near the start of Vatican II by Pope John XXIII in 1963 in his well-regarded encyclical, Pacem in Terris.

Ecumenical impact

The document contributed to the ecumenical movement of its time and has had a huge influence on the social teachings of the wider Christian churches and communities, especially the churches that belong to the World Council of Churches..

References
  1. Hahnenberg, Edward P. . A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II (Kindle Locations 1228-1231). St. Anthony Messenger Press.
  2. Rosica CSB, Thomas. "Gaudium et Spes at 50", Zenit, 20 July 2015
  3. Gaudium et Spes, §4.
  4. "Bishop Christopher Butler writes".
  5. Walter Principe, "Chenu, M.D" in Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Edited by Richard McBrien, 1995
  6. Tanner, Norman. The Church and the Modern World, Paulist Press, 2005
  7. Gaudium et Spes, §43.
  8. Gaudium et Spes, §24. "...man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.".
  9. Weigel, George. "John Paul II and the Crisis of Humanism". First Things (December 1999). Retrieved 23 October 2018.

Works cited

Further reading
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