Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Hierarchy of the Documents

Perhaps as an introduction to the Second Vatican Council, a good place to begin our discussion is with an understanding of the topics covered at the council as well as the way the church ranked the documents that were produced. Even to this day there are too many people who simply saw the council as primarily about changes in the liturgy, a greater emphasis on ecumenism and an embracing of the modern world. While these were certainly among the topics at the council, they are far from exhaustive. It surprises me to see the number of Catholics who talk a good deal about the “Spirit of Vatican II” who have never read the documents themselves. I have also encountered many members of the church who are unaware that among the documents of the council, certain ones carry more authority than others and contain the lens for reading the rest.

The highest ranking documents are called “constitutions” and of the sixteen documents there are only four. These are the documents on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), on the Church (Lumen Gentium), on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) and on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). I would argue that these four documents have shaped the current character of the Church more than any others to emerge from the council.

The next level of documents were designated as decrees. There are nine of these documents which include the decrees on the Mass Media, on the Eastern Catholic Churches, on Ecumenism, on Bishops, on the Renewal of Religious Life, on the Training of Priests, on the Apostolate of the Laity, on Missionary Activity and on the Ministry and Life of Priests.

The three lowest ranking documents were called declarations. They are the declarations on Christian Education, on Non-Christian Religions, and on Religious Liberty.

My hope is to take a look at each of the sixteen documents and to explore how each has impacted the Church over the last 40 years and perhaps to suggest where they can continue to guide us forward. As always, your comments are most welcome.

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About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • Greg J.

    2 possibly dumb questions:

    1. Was there an overall document that defined the hierarchy the the 16 document (i.e., something that said a constitution carries more weight than a decree) or were those categories already established in Catholicism?

    2. You state that both the second and third level documents are called decrees. Is that correct or was that a slip of the pen?

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Hello again Greg. Thanks for catching the error. The third tier are called declarations, not decrees. I am not sure if the categories were established before hand or not, or whether the council fathers themselves came up with the distinctions. Perhaps another reader has an answer to this question and can answer more quickly than I will be able to go searching for the answer? I will go looking for it in the meantime.

  • http://www.fromthepulpitofmylife.blogspot.com/ Ruth Ann

    I noticed at the Vatican Archives website the hierarchy of documents was arranged: Constitutions, Declarations, Decrees (http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/).

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Ruth Ann,

    They are listed that way in their archives, but the ranking puts declarations at the bottom, though practically they are almost on the same level.

    Greg,

    What I have been able to find by looking at the decrees of previous councils is that these terms have been in use for some time both inside a council or simply when the Vatican creates a legislative document independently of a council. A decree usually refers to something that has to do with Church law or practice. An Apostolic Constitution is the highest level of a church decree. The thing that makes the constitutions of Vatican II so significant is the fact that they were almost universally accepted at a gathering of all the bishops in the world along with the Pope. That kind of agreement is rarely seen. It is one of the reasons I have a difficult time with those who claim the council is the work of a heretical Pope. He was certainly not acting alone, but with the cCatholic leadership of the entire world.

  • Greg

    Thanks so much for the info.. Being from outside the tradition, I didn’t realize how much internal debate there was about Vatican II. I had always thought it was more of the nature of grumbling by traditionalists and had died away by now. Looking forward to future installments.

  • http://happyentanglements.blogspot.com Mark G.

    What is perennially frustrating about the various VCII documents is how general & big-picture much of them are. This has lend a sense of vagueness as to what the Council actually wishes people to do, which has provided cover to many either well-meaning or self-serving souls to enact whatever they wanted, though many of the things specifically mentioned were and are routinely ignored.

    The document titles themselves lend to the confusion. While an Apostolic Constitution is the highest level, what would be comparative level of authority of a Pastoral Constitution, such as Gaudium et Spes? This undefined new title appears to never have been used in a church document before.

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