Vatican II Revisited: The Influence of Cardinal Newman

Holy Family Parish in Concord, Massachusetts, will be hosting renowned scholar and Boston College professor Reverend Robert Imbelli on Tuesday, September 18 at Monument Hall in Concord Center at 7:30 PM. Father Imbelli is the inaugural speaker in a year long program of special adult Faith Formation sessions under the rubric Vatican II Revisited.  In this year when we are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Father Imbelli will explore the precedents leading up the calling of the council by Pope John XXIII, especially the influence of the nineteenth century scholar and clergyman, John Henry Cardinal Newman.

As Father Imbelli notes:  "The beatification of John Henry Newman is a providential event in the life of the Church. Newman not only foresaw the need for a new Council to complete the partial labors of Vatican I, he can provide precious guidance in our ongoing appropriation of Vatican II. Fifty years is, of course, a considerable span in the life of an individual. But in the life of the Church Vatican II was only yesterday --- and tomorrow."

 Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, studied in Rome during the years of the Second Vatican Council and was ordained there in 1965. He received his B.A. from Fordham University and his S.T.L. from the Gregorian University. After parish ministry in New York, he obtained his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Yale University. He has taught theology at the New York Archdiocesan Seminary and at the Maryknoll School of Theology; and has been visiting lecturer at Princeton Theological Seminary and Fordham University.

 From 1986 to 1993 Father Imbelli was Director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College and is currently Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College. He is a member of the Steering Committee of Boston College’s Church in the 21^st Century Initiative.