Will Pope Francis or a Successor Call a Vatican III Council?

John Raymaker spent twenty-five years as a missionary in Japan where he worked at the Tokyo Oriens Institute for Religious Research. He taught cultural anthropology and biblical studies at Junshin and Hosei Universities in Tokyo. He is the author of Pope Francis, Conscience of the World: Building Needed Bridges in a Troubled World.Gerald Grudzen is the founder and president of Global Ministries University. He has worked on educational and development projects in Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt and now in Kenya for the past eight years in addition to his teaching in the United States. He is the author of Pope Francis, Conscience of the World: Building Needed Bridges in a Troubled World.

Over sixty years since the close of the Second Vatican Council, it has become ever clearer that the church has arrived at a new moment in her history, what Pope Francis has called “a change of epoch.” Climate change, pandemics, migration, economic and cultural globalization, the growing political power of women, the breakdown and rise of new ideologies, massive advances in the sciences and in technology, and fundamental shifts in gender gestalts are just a few of the factors that mark a world radically different from the world of the early 1960s. Within the church, questions about the role of the laity and forms of ministry continue to emerge, even as there has been a growing realization of the opportunities and challenges of deeply encountering other religions and spiritualities. The authors ask whether a new ecumenical council can help the church address the complex set of realities within which the church stands so as more effectively to promote the Gospel and Christian life. Grounded in their years of hands-on pastoral experience and a lived understanding of the global church, Grudzen and Raymaker propose a theologically-grounded rationale for a new council and sketch a hope-filled vision of the church of the future.

• IntroductionPart I Challenges Facing the Church in the 21st Century 1. A Glimpse at the Church's Reconciling Role through the Centuries 2. The Challenges of Globalization, Migration and Religious Fundamentalism 3. The Challenges of Secularity, Alienation, Ideologies and PluralismPart II Has the Church Been out of Touch with the Modern World? 4. Conflicts between the Church's Resistance and Openness to Modernization Part III Principles and Strategies for the Church to Help us Bridge Divides 5. Liberation Theologies in the Light of Scripture and Justice Issues 6. Interfaith and Cross-cultural Implications of Globalization 7. Historical, Philosophical and Ecumenical Perspectives on World Problems 8. Solutions based on Small Christian Communities Striving for Social JusticeAppendix 1Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4Appendix 5 Appendix 6Glossary Selected BibliographyIndexAbout the Author