Vatican II and Church Teaching on Cultural Diversity
To print, download this activity as a Word document.

* This activity is recommended for academically gifted or advanced groups.

Take a study-group/book-club approach to Gaudium et spes: the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, paying particular attention to Chapter 2: Proper Development of Culture.

The document is available in many formats, as an independent booklet from the Daughters of Saint Paul or in one of several anthologies of the documents of the Second Vatican Council. One particularly fine anthology, because of its translation and thorough use of inclusive language is: Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations. The Basic Sixteen Documents (Austin Flannery, OP, ed., Northport NY; Costello Publishing Company, 1996.) You may purchase copies at Amazon.com by entering Vatican Council II in the book search slot.

Depending on your group's schedule, break the document down into manageable portions that participants read ahead of time, and then come together to discuss.

Ask each participant to send to you via e-mail one question that he or she has upon reading each section. This will give you the opportunity to research an answer to that question if you do not know it. It will also help you organize the discussion, as you can begin each class or session by asking and answering participants' questions.

Consider using a resource such as Destination: Vatican II (CD-ROM), The Faithful Revolution (video series with additional high-school appropriate study guide) or Vatican II in Plain English: The Constitutions (book) before reading and discussing Gaudeum et spes. All are available from the Resources for Christian Living bookstore .