hospitals into public institutions.16 Generally, however, Québec society avoided the tragic cultural schism that marked the movement into secular modernity of Catholic countries like France and Italy. In Québec, the Church did not withdraw into a ‘Catholic ghetto,’ anathematize the new society, and work towards a restoration of the old order.17 Part of the reason for this was that many of the supporters of the reforms were members of the Church. Part of this also had to do with Vatican II. Both of which I will cover in the following sections.
IV. VATICAN II AND RELIGIOUS MODERNITY
VVThe Révolution tranquille coincided with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which radically altered the Church’s self-definition, and the emergence of faith and justice movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. Vatican II advocated a new openness to modernity, defended the autonomy of secular institutions, fostered ecumenical relations with Protestants, expressed its respect for religious pluralism, and urged lay people to become responsible actors in their society.18 Interestingly, it just so happened that just as the Québec state was declaring its autonomy from the Church, the Church was itself affirming the autonomy of political society, the freedom of individual consciences in political matters, and the need for citizens to involve themselves in the important debates and projects of their societies. As a result of this coincidence, Canadian theologian Gregory Baum reasoned that Vatican II helped ease Catholics in Québec into being critical of the old Québec and its religious nationalism, while still helping them to remain good Catholics. Despite misunderstandings, heated disagreements, and personal grievances, the Québec Church and state learned to cooperate and compromise in a spirit of pluralism, reform, and tolerance.[2] This is not to say that Vatican II and the emergence of a faith and justice movement were the direct causes of the Church’s acceptance of the new Québec society and the new nationalism, but these developments had a sort of elective affinity, that, in one sense, allowed the Church to become more open to compromise and undermined the position of Catholic conservatives who dreamed of a restoration of the old society.
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8816. Jean Hamelin et Nicole Gagnon, Histoire du catholicisme québécoise. Le XXe siècle. Tome 1 : 1898-1940, (Montréal : Boréal Express, 1984), pp. 245-59.
8817. Gregory Baum, The Church in Québec, (Ottawa: Novalis, 1991), pp. 15-47. See also David Martin, A General Theory of Secularization, (New York: Harper and Row, 1978).
8818. José Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), pp. 71-73.
8820.