Changes To The Catholic Church

During the times of the old Catholic Church, people were caught up in the ways of thinking that they deemed appropriate for the time. These ways were a narrow and negative way of thinking, only promoting the Catholic religion, as the only religion of any importance, which would have meant many members of society, did not feel valued. But as time went on, the world changed but the ways of the Catholic Church did not. Pope Paul the sixth, a significant member of the Vatican II during the 1962 to 1965 period, identified that changes needed to be made to ensure the Catholic Church was prominent in the modern world and had meaning to the people of today and did not die like the dinosaurs. The changes to the documents were referred to as “The Signs …show more content…
The establishment of this council was considered a significant event in the modern era of the Catholic Church. The purpose of this council was to address relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world (Hebblethwaite, 1982). The Council, led by Pope Paul the sixth, set about to change the values that were once considered important to the older Catholic Church, and achieve a fresher and more modern set of values (Lyon, 2008). The Vatican II published sixteen documents that outlined the changes proposed. Two of the documents that I will explain to you are: “Declaration on Non-Christian Religions” and “Declaration on Christian Education”. You will see how different the old set of values are compared to the new set of values and how relevant they are to the modern …show more content…
Again, in the past, the Catholic Church was determined that their religion was the only religion, and so, introduced compulsory Catholic education within their schools (Elias, 2002). This proved to be extremely difficult, as during these times, Catholic school numbers were too few in numbers, which made it difficult to compete against public schools. The way Catholic schools taught was also considered outdated, as they had a primary focus on preserving truth in their religion rather than developing minds, so it was altered by the Vatican II to reflect this day and age. The new declaration proposed more student centred initiative when it came to their Catholic Education, by allowing them to make a choice on how they go about their education. Catholic schools were also encouraged to accept non-Catholic students into their schools as a way of broadening their accessibility to the wider community (Cusick & DeVries, 2013). The Catholic Church also chose to focus on Catholic students in non-Catholic schools, to promote their religion in a different educational setting. Again, we see how these changes reflect the modern day educational system. No student is forced into Catholic Education, but they are empowered to make decisions that reflect their religion, which again, is leading away from the