One of the chief challenges of the Second Vatican Council was to reclaim the meaning of baptism, especially as the foundation of service and mission in the world. Fifty years after the close of that watershed gathering, nineteen distinguished religious leaders and scholars reexamine that challenge and its implications for preaching and ministry today. This book reinvigorates an important conversation. ""These marvelously eclectic essays provide an invaluable witness to the challenge of reanimating the Christian mission to deepen the faith of the baptized. Gathered at the Notre Dame University to celebrate the luminous fifty-year legacy of the Second Vatican Council, What We Have Seen and Heard marks the indelible contribution of the transformation of the 'temporal order' through imaginative evangelization. Saint Leo the Great's famous maxim 'Christian, remember your dignity ' resounds on every page."" --Guerric DeBona, OSB, Professor of Homiletics, St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology ""Once again Fr. Connors has made a significant contribution to the ministry of preachers and teachers of preaching in the United States. He brings together for the wider audience the insights of distinguished pastors and theologians at the 2015 Marten Homiletics Conference. By keeping alive the Vatican II conversation concerning the baptismal dignity of the laity, he highlights for preachers the shifting ecclesial context in which we exercise our ministry today. --Edward Griswold, Knott Professor of Homiletics, St. Mary's Seminary & University, Baltimore ""This timely and engaging work is authored by a diverse group of lay and ordained teachers, shepherds, researchers, and theologians. If you are looking for quick and easy answers or a how-to manual on the topic of the lay apostolate, you won't find it here. Instead, you will discover thoughtful discussions, challenging questions, and rich reflections on the reality of the baptismal witness, viewed through the lenses of history, justice, spirituality, family life, business, preaching, and parish communities."" --Susan Fleming McGurgan, Director, Lay Pastoral Ministry Program, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies, The Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary's Seminary, and President, Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics Michael E. Connors, CSC, teaches homiletics at the University of Notre Dame, where he also directs the John S. Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics. He is the author of Inculturated Pastoral Planning (2014) and To All the World (2016).
