Vatican II at 50: "People of God"

A death in the family took me home to Western Pennsylvania last week.   The longer I am away from home, the stranger it feels to return.   The places that shaped my childhood now seem like a flicker in a distant past.   Many of my high school friends are gone, forced to find work outside of a town that never recovered from the demise of the steel industry;   but, many of my mother’s friends and acquaintances are still there.   Though my mother has been gone for many years, I am remembered mostly for being the “daughter of Violet.”   It is through the memory of my mother that I remain connected to the people and place of my home.

In the same way, the term “People of God” is designed to help all of us remain connected to one another by remembering whose we are.   The term was first used in the book of Exodus to describe the intimate relationship God desired with his people.   “People of God” was given greater prominence by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council who devoted the second chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium to the “People of God.”   In this document, the Church was attempting to bridge ecumenical gaps by recognizing that all people, “Jew and gentile” belong to one human family:  “…though there are many nations there is but one people of God, which takes its citizens from every race.”   This signified a departure from previous thinking.   Rather than trying to flex its ecclesial muscle as the “One, True, Church,” the Council leveled the playing field, affirming that all people belong to God.

Fifty years later, this term and its underlying theology has huge implications for our world, as wars rage over and in the name of God.  It says that all of us, man, woman,  Hispanic and Anglo,  yes, even Democrat and Republican are called to remember whose we are, to affirm our commonality, to build relationships with and for each other  so that the world can live in peace.