The Legacy and Limits of Vatican II in an Age of Crisis

A renewed approach to the critical study of the event and documents of Vatican II, necessary for responding to the challenges facing today’s church.

Packed with new insights from some of today’s most highly regarded voices on the Second Vatican Council, The Legacy and Limits of Vatican II in an Age of Crisis enacts the living tradition of the church by proposing a richer history to be told sixty years from its celebration, and a broader theology to inspire our work today.

Vatican II did not anticipate our contemporary challenges, nor do its documents provide specific guidelines or step-by-step instructions for addressing them. But that does not make the council irrelevant. As a touchstone of the church’s magisterial tradition, the Second Vatican Council remains foundational for the life and mission of the Catholic Church today. However, like any monument of the tradition, the council requires ongoing investigation, critical analysis, and constant reconsideration from a diversity of contemporary perspectives if it is going to contribute to the living tradition of the church.

Through historical and theological lenses, the contributors aim to rediscover forgotten voices and overlooked moments of Vatican II that may have something even more important to say today. Each chapter promises to surprise, enlighten, inspire, and teach in fresh and unexpected ways. The contributors offer readers striking insights on the council’s teaching related to the sexual abuse crisis, antiracism, politics, the Synod on Synodality, and much more. By reexamining the teaching of Vatican II from the perspective of our present ecclesial crisis, readers will have a better understanding of how its legacy and limits affect the ongoing reform of the church in a much-changed theological, ecclesial, and social landscape.

Contributors:
Matteo Caponi
Catherine E. Clifford
Kristin M. Colberg
Agnès Desmazières
Massimo Faggioli
Theresa Gardner
Edward P. Hahnenberg
Timothy Hanchin
Tuan A. Hoang
Mary Kate Holman
Jaisy A. Joseph
Florian Klug
William Kuncken
Josephine Laffin
Martin Madar
Evgeniia Muzychenko
William I. Orbih
Bernard G. Prusak
Daniel A. Rober

Catherine E. Clifford is professor of systematic and historical theology at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. She is presently vice president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and serves as a North American delegate to the XVI General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality. Among her recent publications are The Oxford Handbook on Vatican II (2023), co-edited with Massimo Faggioli, and Vatican II at 60: Re-Energizing the Renewal (Orbis, 2024).

Kristin M. Colberg is associate professor of theology at Saint John’s University and School of Theology and the College of Saint Benedict, and the sole U.S. member to serve on theological commission for the Synod on Synodality. She received her doctorate at the University of Notre Dame in systematic theology. She is the co-author with Jos Moons, SJ, of The Future of Synodality: How We Move Forward from Here (Liturgical Press, 2025), author of Vatican I and Vatican II: Councils in the Living Tradition (Liturgical Press, 2016), and the co-editor of Speaking Truth in Love, a festschrift in honor of Cardinal Walter Kasper (Liturgical Press, 2014). Colberg also serves as a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

Massimo Faggioli is professor in the department of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. He is member of the editorial board of the journal Concilium and steering committee member of the project ＂Vatican II: Event and Mandate＂ for an intercontinental commentary of the council documents. His publications with Liturgical Press include True Reform: Liturgy and Ecclesiology in Sacrosanctum Concilium (2012) and Sorting Out Catholicism: Brief History of the New Ecclesial Movements (2014).

Edward P. Hahnenberg is the Breen Chair in Catholic Theology at John Carroll University. He is the author or co-editor of seven books--including Theodore Hesburgh, CSC: Bridge Builder (2020); Theology for Ministry: An Introduction for Lay Ministers (2014) published by Liturgical Press. He is a past delegate to the U.S. Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue and former theological consultant to the U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee on Lay Ministry.