New book calls for close Christian encounter

Pope John XXIII called for the Second Vatican Council to present the Catholic faith in ways his contemporaries could better understand. He made this one of the council’s two main purposes; the other was restoring the unity of the Christian Church.

Pope John likely never read the works of the Catholic media theorist Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan was famous for quips such as “The medium is the message”; “We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”

Vatican II marked a major shift in the “tools” the Church uses to present her faith in Jesus as the living God. The shift moved from the Gutenberg world of the printed page to a personal encounter with Jesus. Dogma is not obsolete, but it needs to be lived. The “medium” needs to be involving, not dispassionate.

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McLuhan wrote: “I never came into the Church as a person who was being taught. I came in on my knees. That is the only way in.” We encounter Jesus in the eyes of those who suffer, by praying with Scripture and by joyfully celebrating the liturgy.

One of Vatican II’s most profound statements is that the liturgy calls for our full, conscious and active participation. Before Vatican II, the Church paid scant attention to lay participation. Laypeople were observers; only altar boys recited the Latin responses to the priest’s prayers during the Mass.

My new book, Jesus Christ: The Heart of Vatican II, focuses on the heart. That is, it argues that the council called all the faithful, clergy, consecrated and laity, to a close encounter with Jesus. His presence demands our involvement.

All previous ecumenical councils were called to deal with a crisis. But when Pope John XXIII called Vatican II, no crisis existed. However, it was coming, and the Council was a providential event.

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The Council met in four sessions, each lasting two to three months, from 1962 to 1965. It produced an array of teachings in its 16 documents. At the heart is the notion of our closeness to Jesus. The previous notion of the Church as a perfect society gave way to that of the Church as a communion of the People of God. The Council’s Constitution on the Church began with these words: “Christ is the light of the nations.” Christ, not the Church.

The Council’s other dogmatic constitution, on Divine Revelation, said, “People can draw near to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the Divine nature.”

The Constitution on the Church in the Modern World included these words that Pope John Paul II repeated constantly: “Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, fully reveals humanity to itself and brings to light its very high calling.”

Despite these statements, most attention given to the council focused on liturgical and institutional changes. Too often, we overlook the encounter with Christ, the foundation of all Christian living. How do we encounter Jesus? We meet Him through the Eucharist and the other sacraments. We encounter Him through reading, studying and especially praying with Scripture. We encounter Jesus through the Holy Spirit, who renews the person from within.

It goes further. We meet Jesus in the poor, especially through our acts of solidarity with those on society’s margins. We also encounter him in places pre-Vatican Catholics thought He was absent: the modern, secular world, other Christian churches and even, to some extent, non-Christian religions.

The two councils before Vatican II focused on Catholic identity amid the crises of their day. For the 16th-century Council of Trent, Catholic identity meant upholding Catholic teachings rather than Lutheran ones. The 19th-century First Vatican Council grounded Catholic identity in the pope’s person and teaching.

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However, Vatican II de-emphasized Catholic identity and brought Christian mission to the forefront. Every baptized person has a unique, God-given mission that, if fulfilled, will help realize God’s kingdom. Each of us has a high calling. As such, the Council gave mission priority over identity.

Today, some want to restore a unique Catholic identity as the central priority. To do so means either a lack of awareness of Vatican II’s emphasis or an attempt to deny it. Jesus Christ: The Heart of Vatican II will raise awareness of our call to draw near to Jesus and carry out our mission of solidarity with “the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time.”

(Argan is a Catholic Register columnist and former editor of the Western Catholic Reporter. He writes his online column Epiphany.)

A version of this article appeared in the October 18, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "New book calls for close Christian encounter".