Review article
Modern Day Signs of the Times and the Mission of the Church
Stjepan Baloban
orcid.org/0000-0002-3138-3222
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The article discusses the topic of the signs of the times and the mission of the Church in Croatia. Since the expression itself, and also the meaning of the signs of the times, are fundamentally connected with Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, the author in the first two parts gives historical-ecclesiastical-theological contours that help to understand the meaning of the signs of the times, as well as help to find and interpret the modern signs of the times.
Consequently, the work is divided into three parts. The first part, under the title Pope John XXIII – the Pope optimist, points to the key role that Pope John XXIII had in starting the Second Vatican Council and especially in searching for the renewal and modernization of the Church, which is also connected with the signs of the times. The second part, the Council as an inspiration for reading the signs of the times and the mission of the Church, deals with the difficulties that the term signs of the times had to go through before gaining its place in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World 'Gaudium et Spes'.
The third part, The signs of the times in the Church in Croatia, brings, according to the author, truly important signs of the times on which the mission of the Church in Croatia depends. These are the following sings of the times: the confidence in an individual, the atmosphere of cooperation, healthy and regular communication, the active participation of laity in the Church’s life, the development of internal church dialogue.
Keywords
the signs of the times; the mission of the Church; Pope John XXIII; cooperation; the laity; communication; internal church dialogue
Hrčak ID:
99619
URI
Publication date:
5.4.2013.
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