The Transformation Of The Medieval Into The Modern Church

â€Å"Assembled under trying conditions it was almost doomed to failure before it commenced; the task, which confronted this reform council, was gigantic. For it was asked to revitalize and renew the Church weighed down with the burden of the centuries. In effect, the reform, which the Fathers of this Council achieved, initiated the transformation of the medieval into the modern Church.†(McNalley pag 36) This assembly of the sixteenth century in which Robert E. McNally, S.J., a historian of the medieval Church, describes is considered to have the greatest impact upon Christendom. The course of church history was dramatically changed as Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Wittenberg chapel. The reformation was not a†¦show more content†¦page 5) Many leaders of the Catholic Church recognized the need to respond, and yet it took almost twenty years for Emperor Charles V to finally interject. This response was formulated after years of pressure from the various reformers and the Church engaged in an effort that extended eighteen years with crises after crisis overrunning their desire to for reconciliation with the reformers. Prior to the Council of Trent, concerns for the teachings, practices, and actions of the Roman Catholic Church had caused great controversy that extended far beyond Luther’s original appeal. It hosted a wide spectrum of theological debates concerning doctrine, the sacraments, abuse of authority within the clergy and many other essential issues of the Church. These issues required answers that demanded moral reform at all levels of the Church. The Church was experiencing moral lapses that caused the people to lose trust in the Church and the clergy. A deep dissatisfaction and skepticism was widespread throughout the Church. Luther’s Theses, extended far beyond struggles within the Roman Catholic Church, it unofficially gave permission for others, even in this modern world to listen to our own consciousness and not a single authority, challenging all to cross beyond a once very rigid line created between the authority of the church and the laity. Luther’s courageous act provided a gift and a foundation for even us today, to seek answers and accept the difficult questions