Monastic and Lay Life in the Roman Catholic Church in the Light of Decisions of Vatican II

Abstract

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) challenged the monastic orders to renew the fundamentals of their way of life returning to the original understanding of monastic practice and asceticism. Later the reform virtually equated the monastic way of salvation to the layman’s way, and this caused ambiguous changes in catholic societies of consecrated life. The article analyzes the consequences of these changes brought into the life of the Roman Catholic Church due to Vatican II. In particular, it is indicated that the council started the process of administrative and, above all, conceptual reforms in the catholic monasticism. This process is still ongoing and periodically takes the shape of a crisis.