aspirations and concerns of contemporary men and women in language that speaks to them in a
way both intelligible and pastorally inviting.” Pope Paul VI in his 1964 encyclical, Ecclesiam
Suam would also use the term “ressourcement”, “the effort to rediscover, with fresh eyes, the
wellsprings of faith, in particular the Scriptures themselves and the reception of and reflection
upon Scriptures by early bishops and theologians of the Church.” 54
The Council opened on October 11, 1962. During the pre-preparatory phase preceding
Vatican II, a petition for restoration of a permanent diaconate, sponsored by Caritas International
was sent to all the council fathers. Numerous proposals in favor of a restored diaconate were
authored. Edward Echlin documents that, “a preparatory commission De Sacramentis which
included Karl Rahner, responded positively to the numerous vota requesting restoration by
54
Matthew Levering, An introduction to Vatican II as an Ongoing Theological Event (Washington, DC: The
Catholic University of America Press, 2017), 178
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