title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema that was presented to the Council on October 15 sought to defend their particular traditions against the inevitable tendency to “Latinize” them. Some thought the schema was still “too Western” but on the whole it was well received by the Council Fathers, and only a few revisions were necessary before it was ready for final approval a few weeks later.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Presented on 6 November, the schema sought to give a renewed vision of the Church's missionary activity, by arguing for less control by Rome and greater adaptation to local cultures. It was judged to be too cursory and was sent back to its commission to be expanded.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema called for religious orders to adapt to modern conditions while remaining faithful to their original purpose and spirit. After 2 days of discussion (November 10–12) it too was judged to be too brief and was sent back to be expanded.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: This schema, introduced on 12 November, presented a renewed vision of the training of priests. It put forward a few innovative proposals: the program of priestly training should be determined by the bishops of each country rather than by Rome (though Rome's approval would be required), and the study of Scripture should be the basis for seminary studies. Some conservatives complained that the schema did not insist on the centrality of the theology of Thomas Aquinas in the curriculum. But the bishops' reception of the document was overwhelmingly positive.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Introduced on November 17, four days before the end of the Session, this schema was a bland document that mainly reiterated what the Church had been saying about Catholic education. Coming as it did during the last week of the Third Session, it found itself embroiled in the turbulent events of that week (see below). So the bishops gave it a hasty preliminary approval, to get it out of the way.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: On October 20, the last of the great doctrinal schemas was presented to the Council Fathers. It had had a lengthy genesis and had not been ready before this late date. The idea for a “social” schema, one that discussed the problems of the modern world and the Church's willingness to take part in solving them, was born during the interval between the First and Second Periods, and the project had gone through many drafts before it was ready for the Council Fathers. No previous Council had ever attempted such a project: instead of being concerned with internal Church matters, the schema addressed contemporary social problems, such as economic and social justice, and problems of war and peace.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema included 4 short chapters of a more theoretical nature giving the theological basis for the Church's – and the individual Christian's – involvement in social matters, and 5 appendices addressing practical issues:


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Certain themes could be found throughout the document, such as the dignity of the human person, the need for solidarity among people of all racial, ethnic, religious or socioeconomic groups and the obligation of all people to work for a world of greater justice. The schema presented the Church as a beacon of hope in a troubled world and a helpmate for all persons of good will. While the Church had a specific message to present to the world – that of the Gospel – she wanted to play a “servant” role, and was ready to “dialogue” with the modern world in a search for solutions. And she even acknowledged that the world could help the Church be true to herself.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Most speakers welcomed the schema. Few thought it was a bad idea in principle, but there were many suggestions to improve it. From the conservatives: the Church should be talking more about its supernatural mission than about human endeavours, and the schema should contain a condemnation of Marxism. From the reformers: the schema should promote the position of women in society; there should be a strong condemnation of racism; the schema should condemn nuclear war.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The most interesting result of the discussion was the division it created among the reform-minded bishops and theologians. The French loved the document, which reflected typical concerns of recent French theology, while the Germans thought it was too optimistic and discounted the sinfulness of the world. Congar and Daniélou represented the first view, Rahner and Ratzinger the second.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Birth control was the burning issue of the day. In 1963 Pope John had set up a papal commission to study the issue. There was a general understanding that the council should avoid discussing the issue and wait until the papal commission had reported. But that was easier said than done. Various Council Fathers began suggesting that perhaps the time had come to revisit the Church's ban on contraception.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: After 2 weeks of debate, the schema was returned for revision by the joint Commission that had produced it.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: At the beginning of the last week of the Third Session (Monday, 16 November), the schemas on the Church and on Ecumenism were ready for final approval that week, and that on Religious Freedom was almost there. But the Council Fathers were about to experience the most dramatic and disturbing week of the whole Council. The reformers nicknamed it “Black Week”.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: These three schemas were still being opposed by a dogged group of conservatives. Because they did not have the votes to prevent final approval, their only recourse was to lobby Pope Paul to prevent their adoption in their present form. The pressure on the Pope was unrelenting, and eventually he gave in.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema on Religious Freedom that the bishops were to vote on had been considerably amended since the earlier debate at the beginning of the current session. The opponents now raised a procedural point: the text was substantially different from the one discussed earlier, and Council Regulations required that there be a new debate on this amended text rather than simply proceed to a vote. The Pope was lobbied by both groups, the reformers insisting the vote should go ahead, the conservatives that it should not. He finally sided with the conservatives, and the Council Fathers were told the schema on Religious Freedom would be postponed until the Fourth Session. While many Council Fathers were furious at the time, in retrospect his decision now seems reasonable.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: As the earlier votes on each of its chapters had shown, the schema on Ecumenism had overwhelming support. But some conservatives had convinced the Pope that some of the wording was dangerous. On November 19, two days before the end of the session, Pope Paul sent the Council Fathers 19 changes he insisted be made to the schema before he would agree to promulgate it. The changes had little effect on the substance of the schema, but seemed to many people to be petty. Some of them offended the Protestant observers: for instance, in the section listing the positive features of Protestantism, the passage that said Protestants “found” Christ in the Scriptures had to be changed to say they “sought” Christ in the Scriptures. Faced with this ultimatum, the Council Fathers agreed to the changes and the final vote on the schema was again a landslide: 2,054 to 64.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The most important intervention by Pope Paul concerned chapter 3 of the schema on the Church, the chapter dealing with collegiality. Opponents of the schema argued that it diminished the Pope's powers, and Pope Paul came to be convinced of this. So he insisted that a "Nota explicativa praevia" (“Preliminary Explanatory Note”) be added to the schema, saying collegiality did not diminish the Church's traditional teaching about the primacy of the Pope. The conservatives were satisfied this note robbed collegiality of all its force, while reformers thought it would have no effect on the way collegiality would be understood after the council. But the note did have two immediate consequences: this last-minute unilateral intervention created great resentment among the reformers and damaged relations between them and the Pope, but it also convinced most of the holdouts to accept the schema. The final vote on the schema on November 19 was almost unanimous: 2,134 to 10.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Saturday, November 21 was the closing day of the Third Session. Three schemas now became official Council documents when they were promulgated by the Pope: the very important Constitution on the Church, the Decree on Ecumenism and the Decree on the Eastern Churches.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: During the closing ceremony, Pope Paul delivered a long address in which he expressed satisfaction with the work of the Third Session. Halfway through the address, he began speaking of the Virgin Mary, and then spent the last half of the address on this subject. He announced he was conferring on Mary a new title, that of “Mother of the Church”. This displeased many people: the title was not traditional, it was an obstacle to ecumenism, and it placed Mary above the Church rather than within it. This move capped a week of initiatives by the Pope that frayed relations between him and the Council Fathers. After a very stressful week, everyone was happy to go home.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: In early December 1965, Pope Paul travelled to India to take part in the International Eucharistic Congress held in Bombay (now Mumbai). By visiting a non-Christian third-world country, he wanted to show the Church's openness to non-Christian religions and to the problems of the modern world, two topics being discussed at the council.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The previous September, the "Consilium" for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy had published the first changes to the celebration of mass, changes to come into effect on 7 March 1965. On that day, Catholics around the world experienced for the first time mass celebrated partly in their own language and “facing the people”. To show his support for these changes, Pope Paul began celebrating mass according to the new rules each Sunday in a different Rome parish.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: At the end of the third session, 11 schemas remained unfinished and during the interval between the sessions the commissions worked to give them their final form. The schemas that were having the bumpiest ride were those on Revelation, Religious freedom, Non-Christian Religions, and The Church in the Modern World. Cardinal Ritter observed that, "We were stalled by the delaying tactics of a very small minority" in the Curia who were more industrious in communicating with the pope than was the more progressive majority.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The last period of the Council opened on September 14, 1965. There were still 11 schemas making their way through the conciliar process. Given the number of schemas, the session was planned to be 12 weeks long, 2 weeks longer than the others.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Pope Paul gave a long opening address, extolling the council as a great event in the life of the Church and expressing great support for the Church's concern for the fate of the world (echoes of the schema on the Church in the Modern World).


title: Second Vatican Council

text: He then made 2 surprising announcements. He planned on creating a body of bishops that would meet occasionally with him in an exercise of collegial responsibility for the whole Church. Great applause. Secondly, he would go to New York to speak at the United Nations about the Church's interest in fostering “concord, justice, fraternal love, and peace among all human beings”. More applause. The two announcements buoyed the spirits of the Council Fathers at the beginning of what promised to be a long and possibly difficult Fourth Session.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The very next day, the Pope issued "Apostolica sollicitudo", the "motu proprio" creating the Synod of Bishops. Enthusiasm waned when it became clear that the Synod would be a purely advisory body completely under the authority of the Pope. Those who thought the Synod of Bishops might one day exercise power over the Curia were disappointed. Some believed the sudden announcement was a preemptive move to forestall any vote by the Council in favour of a more powerful episcopal body.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Though a procedural maneuver at the end of the last session had succeeded in prolonging debate on the schema, nothing new was being said. The same arguments were being advanced for and against by the same people as before. After three days of repetitive debate, the vote on whether the schema was acceptable in principle took place September 21: 1,997 in favour, 224 opposed. Some 10% of the Council Fathers were opposed, but this was far less than was feared.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema on Revelation returned to the Council hall, changed slightly from the previous Session, when it had been approved in principle. It still did not say what the conservatives wanted: a clear statement that Tradition contained revealed truths not found in Scripture. Instead, the schema had adopted a compromise position: “The whole of Catholic doctrine cannot be proved from Scripture alone.” That wasn't enough for the conservatives. But the time for debating was over: the schema had returned to the Council hall only to be voted on. There were multiple votes, ending on September 22. The schema passed easily, but 1,498 amendments were proposed. And so the schema was returned to the Doctrinal Commission.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: As the conservatives realized they could not win in the Council hall, they went to the Pope. Two days later, Cardinal Ottaviani, head of the Doctrinal Commission, received a letter from Pope Paul indicating that he wanted the schema to be more specific about Tradition as a “source of revelation”. This created division within the commission, as many were dead set against this, while others did not want to antagonize the Pope. After days of debate, the commission finally settled on the following: “The Church does not draw her certainty for all revealed truths from Scripture alone.” This seemed to satisfy the Pope. After the Commission dealt with all the amendments submitted by the Council Fathers, the schema would return for a final vote later in the session.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: On September 21, the Council Fathers began discussing the schema on the Church in the Modern World. Many changes had been made to the text first seen during the previous session, but they were mainly matters of detail. The 5 appendices of the previous version had been converted to chapters, so it was now a schema of two parts, a more theoretical one of 4 chapters about the vocation of man and the Church's role of service for the well-being of mankind, and a more practical one of 5 chapters discussing topics such as marriage, culture, social justice, and war and peace.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema was a remarkable document, unique in the history of councils. The Church, it said, sees itself as a partner in cooperation and dialogue with the whole of humanity. All members of the human family must work together for a more humane world. For Christians, “nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts.” The text went so far as to say that the Church could learn from the secular world. It was a far cry from the condemnations of the errors of the world that were so typical of Church pronouncements.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Among the problems facing the schema was the fact that the Germans thought it was too optimistic. The French and German bishops met to try to come to an understanding. Eventually, many German bishops would accept the schema grudgingly as better than nothing.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The conservatives attacked the schema: the supernatural mission of the Church was being forgotten. Some Fathers wondered if it deserved to be a Constitution, or whether it shouldn't be a letter or message to the world. But, after 3 days of discussion the Fathers voted to accept it in principle, and then moved on to study each of its chapters.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The theoretical part of the schema was generally well received. Some bishops wanted an explicit condemnation of communism; as a compromise, the schema referred to previous papal condemnations but did not issue a condemnation of its own.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The chapter about marriage and the family still did not say that procreation was the primary end of marriage. Many bishops were shocked when a Melkite archbishop said the Church should find a way to allow an abandoned spouse to remarry.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Most bishops said nice things about the chapter on culture. A notable speech was given by archbishop Pellegrino of Turin: he called for greater freedom of research in the Church and a less punitive attitude by Church authorities – he was thinking here especially of the Holy Office, headed by Cardinal Ottaviani – towards thinkers who choose to pursue new issues in theology.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The next chapter, on social and economic matters, discussed issues that had been treated by the papal encyclicals that formed what is known as the Social Doctrine of the Church. Some Council Fathers questioned the need for such a chapter, since the papal encyclicals already said everything that needed to be said. But the chapter was well received by most Fathers.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The last chapter was about war and peace. The main issue was whether the availability of nuclear weapons made obsolete the traditional distinction between just and unjust wars. Many speakers thought so: no war that made use of nuclear weapons could be a just war. A related issue was whether it was legitimate to even have nuclear weapons. Many thought it was legitimate to have them (as a deterrent) but not to make use of them. A few American bishops, wanting to defend their country's possession of nuclear weapons, organized a campaign urging Council Fathers to vote against the schema's position on nuclear arms, but it fizzled out.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The debate on the schema ended on October 8 after 13 days of discussion. The schema now returned to its originating Committee for revision. There were 400 pages of proposed amendments to deal with, and the question was whether the commission could sift through them and return the schema to the full assembly in time for the schema to be accepted before the end of the session.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Part way through the debate on the Church in the Modern World, the Council Fathers' attention turned towards North America, for on October 4, Pope Paul travelled to New York City to deliver an address to the United Nations. It was the first time a Pope visited the Western Hemisphere. The trip attracted world attention.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: On October 8, the Council Fathers began discussing the schema on the missions, completely rewritten since the last session. It stressed the importance, in a post-colonial age, of accommodation to local cultures. The basic question was: How to be Catholic without being Western? Some African bishops wanted more autonomy from Roman supervision. The schema was very well received and the discussion lasted only 3 days.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: For two days (October 13–14), the Council Fathers discussed the schema on Christian Education. It said little that was new. Like many other documents issued by Church authorities, it insisted on the importance of Catholic schools. The situation of Catholic schools varied from country to country – some were state-supported, others were not – and so it was difficult to say anything that applied to all of them. Many bishops wanted the schema rewritten, but they were told there was no time for a new text. So after two days of discussion, the schema was accepted without much enthusiasm. Close to 10% of the Council Fathers voted against it, to show their displeasure with its lack of aggiornamento. It is one of the two Vatican II documents considered something of a failure (along with the decree on the Modern Means of Communication). “Even at the last minute, dissatisfaction with the text was widespread and wide-ranging”


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The opposition to this schema that was originally about “the Jews” came from theological conservatives as well as the Arab bishops who feared repercussions from their governments. The Secretariat for Christian Unity decided to win over the Arab bishops, and succeeded in doing so by agreeing to a few textual changes during the interval between the 3rd and 4th sessions. There was also a diplomatic offensive to convince the predominantly Muslim governments in the Middle East that the schema was not just about “the Jews” since there was also a section that had positive things to say about Islam.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The various votes on the revised schema took place on October 14 and 15. The final vote was 1,763 in favour, 250 opposed, a much better result than could have been imagined a year earlier.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Two concepts of the role of priests could be discerned in the debate. The more traditional one was about the priest as sacramental minister with special powers, especially those of consecrating the bread and wine at mass and absolving penitents of their sins. This conception also stressed authority: the priest exercised authority over laypeople, just as the bishop exercised a similar authority over priests. The newer conception, the one advocated in the schema, saw the priest as someone who serves the Church and society through his leadership; in this view, the relation between priests and those they served is closer to one of friendship (“the good shepherd”) and the same is true of the relationship of bishop and priest.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: In the first conception, the word “priest” expresses the cultic function performed by the ordained minister. In the second conception, the preferred term is “presbyter”, the term used in the early Church, because it implies more than the sacramental role suggested by “priest”. The presbyter shares in the threefold ministry of Christ: he is prophet (preacher of the Word of God), priest (minister of the sacraments) and king (leader of the community). Instead of the traditional conception that his main function was celebrating mass and hearing confession, the schema stated that his primary duty was proclaiming the Gospel to all.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The one important issue the schema did not address was that of compulsory celibacy for priests of the Latin Church. On October 11, two days before the schema was to be discussed, Pope Paul preempted the debate by announcing he was withdrawing the issue of celibacy from the conciliar agenda. Bishops who wished to address the issue could send their comments in writing to him. It was expected the Pope would hand the issue to a special committee. But no committee was ever set up, and in 1967 Pope Paul issued "Sacerdotalis caelibatus", the encyclical maintaining clerical celibacy for Latin priests.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The schema was approved in principle on October 16, and after further voting on amendments, it received final approval on November 12.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: By Saturday October 16, the end of the session's fifth week, 5 schemas had received final approval, and the remaining ones had all been accepted in principle. Things were moving along faster than expected. And the Fathers were suffering from Council fatigue. So the sixth week of the session (17-24 October) was declared a holiday from conciliar work, and everyone was able to relax. When the Fathers returned on October 25, debates were over: since all remaining schemas had been accepted in principle, the only work left for the General Congregations was to vote on the amendments as the schemas were returned by the respective Commissions.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: There was a Public Session on October 28, when the 5 schemas approved so far became documents of Vatican II: the decrees on the renewal of religious life "Perfectae caritatis", on Christian Education "Gravissimum educationis", on the pastoral office of bishops "Christus Dominus", on Priestly Training "Optatam totius", and the declaration on Non-Christian Religions "Nostra aetate".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: There were no General Congregations during the following week (31 Oct – 7 Nov), because the Commissions were falling behind in their work of sifting through all the proposed amendments and revising the schemas before sending them back to the Council Fathers. So the eighth week of the Fourth Session was devoted exclusively to Commission work, as their members worked feverishly to clear the backlog of amendments.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: After the Council Fathers' second one-week break, there were 3 weeks of practically non-stop voting on the 6 remaining schemas: for each one, there were multiple votes on amendments, then on chapters and finally on the whole schema. In the course of those weeks, the six remaining schemas received their final approval.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Last-minute moves were sometimes successful in winning over opponents, sometimes not. On religious freedom, the Pope urged the Secretariat for Christian unity to take into account the wishes of the schema's opponents in the hope the final vote might be almost unanimous. The Secretariat made some changes, but the opponents were not swayed and 11% of the Fathers voted against the schema. On the matter of Tradition in the schema on Revelation, the conservatives realized they could do no better than the compromise formula “The Church does not draw her certainty for all revealed truths from Scripture alone”: as a result, many of them chose to accept the schema and there were only 27 negative votes on the day of final approval. For the schema on the Lay Apostolate, the Pope sent 12 amendments to the Commission responsible for the schema. They were basically matters of wording: the Commission accepted some, and dropped others, and the schema was adopted with only 2 negative votes.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: As for the schema on the Church in the Modern World, it still avoided saying anything about contraception (because a papal commission was studying the matter). Some conservatives began lobbying the Pope to step in. On November 24, Cardinal Ottaviani received a letter from Paul VI insisting that the schema had to condemn the use of contraception; leaving the matter open as the schema did would suggest the Church was ready to change its position. The Doctrinal Commission decided to include in the schema references to previous papal rejections of contraception, but not to issue any condemnation of its own. The Pope was satisfied with this solution. Nevertheless, when time came for final approval, the opposition stayed firm: 11% of the Council Fathers still rejected the schema.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: In the midst of all this voting, there was another public session on November 18, and two of the remaining schemas became the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation "Dei verbum" and the decree on the Apostolate of the Laity "Apostolicam actuositatem".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: One of the issues some bishops wanted discussed at the council was that of indulgences, but the topic never made it onto the conciliar agenda. A month after his being elected pope in the summer of 1963, Paul VI set up a commission to study the issue. The commission produced a report suggesting a mild modernization of the practice of indulgences, but no important changes.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Once it became clear that the workload of the fourth period would be less than originally expected, the Pope decided to use some of the available time to ask the national groups of bishops for their reaction to the report. November 10 and succeeding days were set aside for responses. Eleven national groups delivered oral responses in the Council hall, and 12 others written responses. The Italian and Spanish bishops were favourable to the report, while most others were highly critical: they cast doubt on the theological foundation of indulgences, and suggested a complete reform of the system, some even urging outright abolition. Patriarch Maximos IV insisted there was no evidence of indulgences during the first millennium. The presentations were cut short after 2 days. Two years later, Pope Paul would decree a modest reform of the system of indulgences, while insisting on their importance.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: On December 4, Pope Paul took part in an ecumenical prayer service with the hundred or so non-Catholic observers present at the Council in the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls. It was the first time a Pope had prayed publicly with non-Catholic Christians, something unthinkable just a few years earlier.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: On December 6, there were speeches at St. Peter's thanking everyone who had taken part in the council. Each Council Father received a gold ring to commemorate the historic event. The Pope declared a jubilee from 8 December to Pentecost 1966 (later extended to 8 December 1966) to urge all Catholics to study and accept the decisions of the council and apply them in spiritual renewal. He also issued a "motu proprio" reforming the Holy Office. The reform was fairly minor: the office's name was changed to Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and procedures were set in place ensuring that theologians accused of deviating from Church teachings would have a hearing before any action was taken against them (a procedural safeguard that did not exist up to that point).


title: Second Vatican Council

text: December 7 was the day for the promulgation of the 4 remaining schemas: they became the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World "Gaudium et spes", the decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests "Presbyterorum ordinis", the decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church "Ad gentes", and the declaration on religious freedom "Dignitatis humanae".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Before the promulgation, the Council Fathers witnessed a moving moment in the history of Christianity. A Joint Declaration by Pope Paul and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople was read out, deploring the mutual excommunications of 1054 which resulted in the Great Schism between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, recognizing the responsibility of both parties for the separation and promising to work for complete communion between the two Churches. This was followed by the reading of the Pope's Apostolic Letter lifting the Catholic Church's excommunication of the Orthodox in 1054. At the same time, in the Patriarchal cathedral in Istanbul, the Joint Declaration was read out in Greek and the Orthodox excommunication of the Catholics was lifted.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: December 8: the final day of the council had arrived. A huge crowd, estimated at 300,000 people, gathered in St. Peter's Square for an outdoor mass closing the council. The mass was broadcast worldwide by radio and television. The Pope's homily was addressed to all humanity because for the Church “no one is a stranger, no one is excluded, no one is distant”.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Mass was followed by a series of messages (in French) addressed to various categories of people, including heads of government, women, workers, young people, and the poor and sick. The Secretary General of the Council then read the Apostolic Letter declaring the Council concluded, and instructing that “everything the Council decreed be religiously and devoutly observed by all the faithful”. The Pope gave his blessing to all present and dismissed them: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, go in peace”. To which all responded with enthusiasm (and probably relief): “Thanks be to God!”


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Vatican II's teaching is contained in sixteen documents: 4 constitutions, 9 decrees and 3 declarations. While the constitutions are clearly the documents of highest importance, "the distinction between decrees and declarations, no matter what it originally meant, has become meaningless".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The vote on the day of promulgation was "basically ceremonial". It is the vote on the final text that indicated the degree of support for, or opposition to, the document. In only 6 cases were the negative votes in the triple digits. In 3 of these cases (Church and Modern World, Non-Christian Religions and Religious Freedom), 12% to 14% of the Fathers rejected the document on theological grounds. In 2 other cases (Media and Christian Education), the negative votes mostly expressed disappointment in a bland schema, rather than opposition.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The first document passed by the council was "Sacrosanctum Concilium" ("Most Sacred Council") on the church's liturgy. Benedict XVI explained that an essential idea of the council itself is the "Paschal Mystery (Christ's passion, death and resurrection) as the center of what it is to be Christian and therefore of the Christian life, the Christian year, the Christian seasons, expressed in Eastertide and on Sunday which is always the day of the Resurrection." Thus, the liturgy, especially the Eucharist which makes the Paschal Mystery present, is "the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The matter that had the most immediate effect on the lives of individual Catholics was the revision of the liturgy. The central idea was that there ought to be lay participation in the liturgy which means they "take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects" (SC 11). Since the mid-1960s, permission has been granted to celebrate the Mass in vernacular languages. It has been emphasized that the language used should be known to the gathered people. The amount of Scripture read during Mass was greatly expanded, through different annual cycles of readings. The revised version of the Latin text of the Mass remains the authoritative text on which translations are based. The invitation for more active, conscious participation of the laity through Mass in the vernacular did not stop with the decree on the liturgy. It was taken up by the later documents of the council that called for a more active participation of the laity in the life of the Church, a turn away from clericalism toward a new age of the laity.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen gentium" "(""Light of the Nations") gave direction to several of the documents that followed it, including those on Ecumenism, on Non-Christian Religions, on Religious Freedom, and on The Church in the Modern World (see below). According to Paul VI, "the most characteristic and ultimate purpose of the teachings of the Council" is the universal call to holiness. John Paul II calls this "an intrinsic and essential aspect of [the council Fathers'] teaching on the Church", where "all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity" ("Lumen gentium", 40). Francis, in his apostolic letter "Evangelii Gaudium" (17) which laid out the programmatic for his pontificate, said that "on the basis of the teaching of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium"" he would discuss the entire People of God which evangelizes, missionary outreach, the inclusion of the poor in society, and peace and dialogue within society. Francis has also followed the call of the council for a more collegial style of leadership, through synods of bishops and through his personal use of a worldwide advisory council of eight cardinals. A most contentious conclusion that seems to follow from the Bishops' teaching in the decree is that while "in some sense other Christian communities are institutionally defective," these communities can "in some cases be more effective as vehicles of grace." Belgian Bishop Emil de Smedt, commenting on institutional defects that had crept into the Catholic church, "contrasted the hierarchical model of the church that embodied the triad of 'clericalism, legalism, and triumphalism' with one that emphasized the 'people of God', filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and radically equal in grace," that was extolled in "Lumen Gentium".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The council's document "Dei Verbum" ("The Word of God") states the principle active in the other council documents that "The study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul of sacred theology". It is said of "Dei Verbum" that "arguably it is the most seminal of all the conciliar documents," with the fruits of a return to the Bible as the foundation of Christian life and teaching, evident in the other council documents. Joseph Ratzinger, who would become Benedict XVI, said of the emphasis on the Bible in the council that prior to Vatican II the theology manuals continued to confuse "propositions about revelation with the content of revelation. It represented not abiding truths of faith, but rather the peculiar characteristics of post-Reformation polemic." In spite of the guarded approval of biblical scholarship under Pius XII, scholars suspected of Modernism were silenced right up to Vatican II. The council brought a definitive end to the Counter-Reformation and, in a spirit of "aggiornamento", reached back "behind St. Thomas himself and the Fathers, to the biblical theology which governs the first two chapters of the Constitution on the Church." "The documents of the Second Vatican Council are shot through with the language of the Bible. ...The church's historical journey away from its earlier focus upon these sources was reversed at Vatican II." For instance, the council's document on the liturgy called for a broader use of liturgical texts, which would now be in the vernacular, along with more enlightened preaching on the Bible explaining "the love affair between God and humankind". The translation of liturgical texts into vernacular languages, the allowance of communion under both kinds for the laity, and the expansion of Scripture readings during the Mass was resonant with the sensibilities of other Christian denominations, thus making the Second Vatican Council "a milestone for Catholic, Protestants, [and] the Orthodox".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: This document, named for its first words "Gaudium et Spes" ("Joy and Hope"), built on "Lumen Gentium"'s understanding of the Church as the “pilgrim people of God” and as “communion”, aware of the long history of the Church's teaching and in touch with what it calls the “signs of the times”. It reflects the understanding that Baptism confers on all the task that Jesus entrusted to the Church, to be on mission to the world in ways that the present age can understand, in cooperation with the ongoing work of the Spirit.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Pastoral Office of Bishops – The decree "Christus Dominus" ("Christ the Lord", 1965) places renewed emphasis on collegiality and on strong conferences of bishops, while respecting the papacy.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Ministry and Life of Priests – The decree "Presbyterorum ordinis" ("The order of priests", 1965) describes priests as "father and teacher" but also "brothers among brothers with all those who have been reborn at the baptismal font." Priests must "promote the dignity" of the laity, "willingly listen" to them, acknowledge and diligently foster "exalted charisms of the laity", and "entrust to the laity duties in the service of the Church, allowing them freedom and room for action." Also, the human and spiritual needs of priests are discussed in detail.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life – The decree "Perfectae Caritatis" ("Of perfect charity", 1965) calls for "adaptation and renewal of the religious life [that] includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Apostolate of the Laity – The decree "Apostolicam actuositatem" ("Apostolic Activity", 1965) declares that the apostolate of the laity is "not only to bring the message and grace of Christ to men but also to penetrate and perfect the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel", in every field of life, together or through various groups, with respectful cooperation with the Church's hierarchy.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Eastern Catholic Churches – The decree "Orientalium Ecclesiarum" ("Of the Eastern Churches", 1964) recognizes the right of Eastern Catholics in communion with the Holy See to keep their distinct liturgical practices and avoid Latinisation. It encourages them to "take steps to return to their ancestral traditions." It established the equality of the Churches in the Catholic communion. Catholic Church is a communion of the eastern and the Latin Churches Sui Iuris. Latin Church is no more considered as THE Church, but it is only one of the Churches Sui Iuris in the Catholic communion. All Churches Sui Iuris in the Catholic Communion are equal in dignity, in rights as well as in their obligations, even concerning the preaching of the Word of God to the entire world.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Christian Education – The declaration "Gravissimum educationis" ("Extremely important [time] of education", 1965). Many observers found the declaration disappointing; it was called "probably the most inferior document produced by the Council".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Mission Activity – The decree "Ad gentes" ("To the Nations", 1965) treats evangelization as the fundamental mission of the Catholic Church, "to bring good news to the poor." It includes sections on training missionaries and on forming communities.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Ecumenism – The decree "Unitatis redintegratio" ("Reintegration of Unity", 1964) opens with the statement: "The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Non-Christian Religions – The declaration "Nostra aetate" ("In our time", 1965) reflects that people are being drawn closer together in our time. The Church "regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.<nowiki>"</nowiki> And Jews today "should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God" for what happened to Jesus. The Jews of the time of Christ, taken indiscriminately, and all Jews today are no more responsible for the death of Christ than Christians.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Religious Freedom – The declaration "Dignitatis humanae" ("Of the Dignity of the Human Person", 1965) is "on the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters religious".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The Means of Social Communication – The decree "Inter mirifica" ("Among the wonderful", 1963) addresses issues concerning the press, cinema, television, and other media of communication.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The questioning of the validity of the Second Vatican Council continues to be a point of conflict among various religious communities, some of which are not in communion with the Catholic Church.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Various Traditionalist Catholics allege that some council statements conflict with earlier papal teaching regarding faith, morals and doctrine declared prior to the council, for instance "questioning" the previous notion of the Catholic Church's supremacy over other religions.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The 1917 "Code of Canon Law", in force in the Latin Church at the time of the council, stated: "An Ecumenical Council enjoys supreme power over the universal Church."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The issue of the authority of Vatican II was addressed by pope Paul VI five weeks after the end of the Council in the talk he gave at his general audience of 12 January 1966:


title: Second Vatican Council

text: There are those who ask what is the authority, the theological qualification, that the Council wished to attribute to its teachings, knowing that it avoided giving solemn dogmatic definitions engaging the infallibility of the ecclesiastical magisterium. And the answer is known to those who recall the conciliar declaration of March 6, 1964, repeated on November 16, 1964: given the pastoral character of the Council, it avoided proclaiming in an extraordinary way dogmas endowed with the note of infallibility; but it nevertheless endowed its teachings with the authority of the supreme ordinary magisterium, and this ordinary -- and obviously authentic -- magisterium must be accepted docilely and sincerely by all the faithful, according to the mind of the Council regarding the nature and purposes of the individual documents.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The 1983 "Code of Canon Law" states that Catholics may not disregard the teaching of an ecumenical council even if it does not propose its teaching as definitive:


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Although not an assent of faith, a religious submission of the intellect and will must be given to a Doctrine which the Supreme Pontiff or the College of Bishops declares concerning faith or morals when they exercise the authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act; therefore, the Christian faithful are to take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: By "the spirit of Vatican II" is often meant promoting teachings and intentions attributed to the Second Vatican Council in ways not limited to literal readings of its documents, spoken of as the "letter" of the council (cf. Saint Paul's phrase, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life").


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The spirit of Vatican II is invoked for a great variety of ideas and attitudes. Bishop John Tong Hon of Hong Kong used it with regard merely to an openness to dialogue with others, saying: "We are guided by the spirit of Vatican II: only dialogue and negotiation can solve conflicts."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: sometimes soared far beyond the actual, hard-won documents and decisions of Vatican II. ...It was as though the world (or at least the history of the Church) were now to be divided into only two periods, pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II. Everything "pre" was then pretty much dismissed, so far as its "authority" mattered. For the most extreme, to be a Catholic now meant to believe more or less anything one wished to believe, or at least in the sense in which one personally interpreted it. One could be a Catholic "in spirit". One could take "Catholic" to mean the 'culture' in which one was born, rather than to mean a creed making objective and rigorous demands. One could imagine Rome as a distant and irrelevant anachronism, embarrassment, even adversary. Rome as "them".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: For the new churches it recommended adaptation to local cultures, including philosophical and theological adaptation. It also recommended that Catholic missionaries seek ways of cooperating with missionaries of other faiths and of fostering harmonious relations with them. It asserted that art from every race and country be given scope in the liturgy of the church. More generally, it made clear that the church was sympathetic to the way of life of different peoples and races and was ready to appropriate aspects of different cultural traditions. Though obvious-sounding, these provisions were portentous. Where would they lead?


title: Second Vatican Council

text: The council addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world. Several changes resulting from the council include the renewal of consecrated life with a revised charism, ecumenical efforts with other Christian denominations, interfaith dialogue with other religions, and the universal call to holiness, which according to Paul VI was "the most characteristic and ultimate purpose of the teachings of the Council".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: According to Pope Benedict XVI, the most important and essential message of the council was "the Paschal Mystery as the center of what it is to be Christian and therefore of the Christian life, the Christian year, the Christian seasons". Other changes that followed the council included the widespread use of vernacular languages in the Mass instead of Latin, the allowance of communion under both kinds for the laity, the subtle disuse of ornate clerical regalia, the revision of Eucharistic (liturgical) prayers, the abbreviation of the liturgical calendar, the ability to celebrate the Mass (with the officiant facing the congregation), as well as (facing the "East" and the Crucifix), and modern aesthetic changes encompassing contemporary Catholic liturgical music and artwork. With many of these changes resonating with the perspectives of other Christian denominations who sent observers to the Second Vatican Council, it was an ecumenical "milestone for Catholics, Protestants, [and] the Orthodox". These changes, while praised by many faithful Catholics, remain divisive among those identifying as traditionalist Catholics.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: "Dignitatis humanae", authored largely by United States theologian John Courtney Murray, challenged the council fathers to find "reasons for religious freedom" in which they believed, and drew from scripture scholar John L. McKenzie the comment: "The Church can survive the disorder of development better than she can stand the living death of organized immobility."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: As a result of the reforms of Vatican II, on 15 August 1972 Paul issued the "motu proprio" "Ministeria Quaedam" which in effect suppressed the minor orders and replaced them with two instituted ministries, those of lector and acolyte. A major difference was: "Ministries may be assigned to lay Christians; hence they are no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders."


title: Second Vatican Council

text: To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II, in October 2011, Benedict XVI declared the period from October 2012 to the Solemnity of Christ the King at the end of November 2013 a "Year of Faith", as:


title: Second Vatican Council

text: It has been suggested that the pontificate of Francis will be looked upon as the "decisive moment in the history of the church in which the full force of the Second Vatican Council's reformist vision was finally realized." Francis returned to the Vatican II theme of "ressourcement", breaking with the Catholic philosophical tradition that had originated with Thomas Aquinas seven centuries before, and looked to original sources in the New Testament. In contrast to John Paul II who emphasized continuity with the past in Vatican II's teachings, Francis' words and actions were noted from the start for their discontinuities, with an emphasis on Jesus himself and on mercy: a "church that is poor and for the poor", "disposal of the baroque trappings" in liturgical celebrations, and revision of the institutional aspects of the church. From his first gesture when elected Pope, calling himself simply Bishop of Rome, Francis connected with the thrust of the council away from "legalism, triumphalism, and clericalism". He made greater use of church synods, and instituted a more collegial manner of governance by constituting a Council of Cardinal Advisers from throughout the world to assist him which a church historian calls the "most important step in the history of the church for the past 10 centuries." His refocusing the Church on “a moral theology that rests on scripture and Jesus’ command to love” is also seen as coming from the council, as is his lifting up the laity for mission and calling for the presence of women in theologates. He has softened the "forbidding" image of the Church by applying Vatican II's views on respect for conscience to issues like atheism, homosexuality, and the sacraments. This has led to a struggle between "anti-Vatican II diehards and clerics who prefer John XXIII’s (and Francis’s) generosity of spirit." On the issue of liturgy, he has tried to advance the renewal initiated by Vatican II that would elicit more conscious, active participation by the people. And while his predecessors had taken a dim view of liberation theology, his more positive view is seen as flowing from a discernment of "the signs of the times" called for by "Gaudium et spes".


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Of those who took part in the council's opening session, four have become popes: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, who on succeeding John XXIII took the name Paul VI; Bishop Albino Luciani, the future John Paul I; Bishop Karol Wojtyła, who became John Paul II; and Father Joseph Ratzinger, present as a theological consultant, who became Benedict XVI.


title: Second Vatican Council

text: Several of the fathers and theologians-experts, as well as several Roman Popes and council observers, became canonized saints or are in the process of canonization. These include:


title: Flapper

text: Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes in public, driving automobiles, treating sex in a casual manner, and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms. As automobiles became available, flappers gained freedom of movement and privacy. Flappers are icons of the Roaring Twenties, the social, political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of World War I, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe. There was a reaction to this counterculture from more conservative people, who belonged mostly to older generations. They claimed that the flappers' dresses were 'near nakedness', and that flappers were 'flippant', 'reckless', and unintelligent.


title: Flapper

text: The slang term "flapper" may derive from an earlier use in northern England to mean "teenage girl", referring to one whose hair is not yet put up and whose plaited pigtail "flapped" on her back, or from an older word meaning "prostitute". The slang word "flap" was used for a young prostitute as early as 1631. By the 1890s, the word "flapper" was used in some localities as slang both for a very young prostitute, and, in a more general and less derogatory sense, of any lively mid-teenage girl.


title: Flapper

text: The standard non-slang usage appeared in print as early as 1903 in England and 1904 in the United States, when novelist Desmond Coke used it in his college story of Oxford life, "Sandford of Merton": "There's a stunning flapper". In 1907, English actor George Graves explained it to Americans as theatrical slang for acrobatic young female stage performers. The flapper was also known as a dancer, who danced like a bird—flapping her arms while doing the Charleston move. This move became quite a competitive dance during this era.


title: Flapper

text: By 1908, newspapers as serious as "The Times" used the term, although with careful explanation: "A 'flapper', we may explain, is a young lady who has not yet been promoted to long frocks and the wearing of her hair 'up'". In April 1908, the fashion section of London's "The Globe and Traveller" contained a sketch entitled "The Dress of the Young Girl" with the following explanation: Americans, and those fortunate English folk whose money and status permit them to go in freely for slang terms ... call the subject of these lines the 'flapper.' The appropriateness of this term does not move me to such whole-hearted admiration of the amazing powers of enriching our language which the Americans modestly acknowledge they possess ..., [and] in fact, would scarcely merit the honour of a moment of my attention, but for the fact that I seek in vain for any other expression that is understood to signify that important young person, the maiden of some sixteen years. The sketch is of a girl in a frock with a long skirt, "which has the waistline quite high and semi-Empire, ... quite untrimmed, its plainness being relieved by a sash knotted carelessly around the skirt."


title: Flapper

text: By November 1910, the word was popular enough for A. E. James to begin a series of stories in the "London Magazine" featuring the misadventures of a pretty fifteen-year-old girl and titled "Her Majesty the Flapper". By 1911, a newspaper review indicates the mischievous and flirtatious "flapper" was an established stage-type.


title: Flapper

text: By 1912, the London theatrical impresario John Tiller, defining the word in an interview he gave to "The New York Times", described a "flapper" as belonging to a slightly older age group, a girl who has "just come out". Tiller's use of the phrase "come out" means "to make a formal entry into 'society' on reaching womanhood". In polite society at the time, a teenage girl who had not come out would still be classed as a child. She would be expected to keep a low profile on social occasions and ought not to be the object of male attention. Although the word was still largely understood as referring to high-spirited teenagers, gradually in Britain it was being extended to describe any impetuous immature woman. By late 1914, the British magazine "Vanity Fair" was reporting that the Flapper was beginning to disappear in England, being replaced by the so-called "Little Creatures."


title: Flapper

text: A "Times" article on the problem of finding jobs for women made unemployed by the return of the male workforce, following the end of World War One, was titled "The Flapper's Future". Under this influence, the meaning of the term changed somewhat, to apply to "independent, pleasure-seeking, khaki-crazy young women".


title: Flapper

text: In his lecture in February 1920 on Britain's surplus of young women caused by the loss of young men in war, Dr. R. Murray-Leslie criticized "the social butterfly type... the frivolous, scantily-clad, jazzing flapper, irresponsible and undisciplined, to whom a dance, a new hat, or a man with a car, were of more importance than the fate of nations". In May of that year, Selznick Pictures released "The Flapper", a silent comedy film starring Olive Thomas. It was the first film in the United States to portray the "flapper" lifestyle. By that time, the term had taken on the full meaning of the flapper generation style and attitudes


title: Flapper

text: The use of the term coincided with a fashion among teenage girls in the United States in the early 1920s for wearing unbuckled galoshes, and a widespread false etymology held that they were called "flappers" because they flapped when they walked, as they wore their overshoes or galoshes unfastened, showing that they defied convention in a manner similar to the 21st century fad for untied shoelaces. Another suggestion to the origin of the term, in relation to fashion, comes from a 1920s fashion trend in which young women left their overcoat unbuttoned to allow it to flap back and forth as they walked, appearing more independent and freed from the tight, Victorian Era style clothing.


title: Flapper

text: By the mid-1930s in Britain, although still occasionally used, the word "flapper" had become associated with the past. In 1936, a "Times" journalist grouped it with terms such as "blotto" as outdated slang: "[blotto] evokes a distant echo of glad rags and flappers ... It recalls a past which is not yet 'period'."


title: Flapper

text: One cause of the change in young women's behavior was World War I, which ended in November 1918. The death of large numbers of young men in the war, and the Spanish flu pandemic which struck in 1918 killing between 20–40 million people, inspired in young people a feeling that life is short and could end at any moment. Therefore, young women wanted to spend their youth enjoying their life and freedom rather than just staying at home and waiting for a man to marry them.


title: Flapper

text: Political changes were another cause of the flapper culture. World War I reduced the grip of the class system on both sides of the Atlantic, encouraging different classes to mingle and share their sense of freedom. Women finally won the right to vote in the United States on August 26, 1920. Women wanted to be men's social equals and were faced with the difficult realization of the larger goals of feminism: individuality, full political participation, economic independence, and 'sex rights'. They wanted to have freedoms like men and go smoking and drinking. In addition, many women had more opportunities in the workplace and had even taken traditionally male jobs such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and pilots. The rise of consumerism also promoted the ideals of "fulfilment and freedom", which encouraged women to think independently about their garments, careers, social activities.


title: Flapper

text: Society changed quickly after World War I. For example, customs, technology, and manufacturing all moved quickly into the 20th century after the interruption of the war. The rise of the automobile was an important factor in flapper culture, as cars meant a woman could come and go as she pleased, travel to speakeasies and other entertainment venues, and use the large vehicles of the day for their popular activity, petting parties. Also, the economic boom allowed more people the time and money to play golf and tennis and to take vacations, which required clothing adapted to these activities; the flapper's slender silhouette was very suitable for movement.


title: Flapper

text: The first appearance of the flapper style in the United States came from the popular 1920 Frances Marion film "The Flapper", starring Olive Thomas. Thomas starred in a similar role in 1917, though it was not until "The Flapper" that the term was used. In her final movies, she was seen as the flapper image. Other actresses, such as Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Colleen Moore and Joan Crawford would soon build their careers on the same image, achieving great popularity.


title: Flapper

text: In the United States, popular contempt for Prohibition was a factor in the rise of the flapper. With legal saloons and cabarets closed, back alley speakeasies became prolific and popular. This discrepancy between the law-abiding, religion-based temperance movement and the actual ubiquitous consumption of alcohol led to widespread disdain for authority. Flapper independence was also a response to the Gibson girls of the 1890s. Although that pre-war look does not resemble the flapper style, their independence may have led to the flapper wisecracking tenacity 30 years later.


title: Flapper

text: Writers in the United States such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Anita Loos and illustrators such as Russell Patterson, John Held, Jr., Ethel Hays and Faith Burrows popularized the flapper look and lifestyle through their works, and flappers came to be seen as attractive, reckless, and independent. Among those who criticized the flapper craze was writer-critic Dorothy Parker, who penned "Flappers: A Hate Song" to poke fun at the fad. The secretary of labor denounced the "flippancy of the cigarette smoking, cocktail-drinking flapper". A Harvard psychologist reported that flappers had "the lowest degree of intelligence" and constituted "a hopeless problem for educators".


title: Flapper

text: Another writer, Lynne Frame, said in her book that a large number of scientists and health professionals have analyzed and reviewed the degree of femininity of flappers' appearance and behavior, given the "boyishness" of the flapper look and behavior. Some gynecologists gave the opinion that women were less "marriageable" if they were less "feminine", as the husband would be unhappy in his marriage. In Frame's book, she also wrote that the appearance of flappers, like the short hair and short dress, distracted attention from feminine curves to the legs and body. These attributes were not only a fashion trend but also the expression of a blurring of gender roles.


title: Flapper

text: The Gibson Girl was one of the origins of the flapper. The invention of Charles Dana Gibson, the Gibson Girl changed the fashion, patterns, and lifestyles of the 1920s; these were much more progressive than the traditions of women's styles in the past. Before the Gibson Girl movement, women's voices as a group were infrequently heard. While some may see the Gibson Girl as just a fashion statement, it was much more broadly influential than that. "She depicted the modern woman, known popularly as the 'new woman', at a time when more women gained independence, began to work outside the home, and sought the right to vote and other rights." Gibson's illustrations showed feminist women of all kinds who worried more about themselves than about pleasing the men in their lives. It was the first time a woman could actually concentrate on her own dreams and goals. The Gibson Girl also exemplified the importance of intelligence and learning rather than catering to men's needs


title: Flapper

text: According to a website on Kate Chopin, "The Gibson Girl influenced society in the early 1900s much like Barbie influenced society of the late 1900s. The Gibson Girl crossed many societal lines opening the way for women to participate in things they had never done before. She, like Barbie, portrayed women as strong individuals who could play sports while maintaining perfectly coiffed hair and dress. She was criticized by many, much like Barbie, for creating an unrealistic ideal of what women should look like: perfect proportions and long flowing hair. Despite the criticism she was a trend setter, a model for women in both dress and action, just like Barbie."


title: Flapper

text: The fashion of the Gibson Girl allowed women a much more active lifestyle than previously, in both work and recreation. "Skirts were long and flared, and dresses were tailored with high necks and close-fitting sleeves. The style was considered masculine, and this was sometimes emphasized by wearing a necktie. Though women still wore the restrictive undergarments known as corsets, a new health corset came into style that was said to be better for the spine than earlier corsets. An S-shaped figure became trendy, with a large bust and large hips, separated by a tiny, corseted waist. These styles [were] worn with confidence and poise by modern women. ... She might be pictured at a desk in a tailored shirtwaist or at a tennis party in an informal sports dress. She wore her long hair upswept in an elaborate mass of curls, perhaps topped by a simple straw hat. Though she was capable and independent, the Gibson girl was always beautiful and elegant." According to the Library of Congress, "Gibson's meticulous depiction of their hats accentuates the Gibson Girls' stylish attire and visually reinforces the impression of height, leading the eye to the mountains. ... Gibson shows off the classic Gibson Girl as a figure who embraced outdoor physical activities."


title: Flapper

text: The Gibson Girl was uniquely American compared to European standards of style. She was an ideal: youthful, feminist, strong and a truly modern woman. Gibson emphasized that any women can be represented as a Gibson Girl, both those in the middle and the upper class. Minnie Clark, known as "the original Gibson Girl", was a model for Gibson and could portray any type of women needed for his illustration. Gibson drew with characteristic grace women of all races and classes so that any woman could feel that they, too, could be a graceful Gibson


title: Flapper

text: In 1922, a small-circulation magazine – "The Flapper", located in Chicago – celebrated the flapper's appeal. On the opening page of its first issue, it proudly declared flappers' break with traditional values. Also, flappers defended them by contrasting themselves with earlier generations of women whom they called "clinging vines". They mocked the confining fashions and demure passivity of older women and reveled in their own freedom. They did not even acknowledge that the previous generation of female activists had made the flappers' freedom possible.


title: Flapper

text: In the 1920s, new magazines appealed to young German women with a sensuous image and advertisements for the appropriate clothes and accessories they would want to purchase. The glossy pages of "Die Dame" and "Das Blatt der Hausfrau" displayed the "Girl"—the flapper. She was young and fashionable, financially independent, and was an eager consumer of the latest fashions. The magazines kept her up to date on fashion, arts, sports, and modern technology such as automobiles and telephones.


title: Flapper

text: Although many young women in the 1920s saw flappers as the symbol of a brighter future, some also questioned the flappers' more extreme behavior. Therefore, in 1923, the magazine began asking for true stories from its readers for a new column called "Confessions of a Flapper". Some of these were lighthearted stories of girls getting the better of those who underestimated them, but others described girls betraying their own standards of behavior in order to live up to the image of flappers. There were several examples: a newlywed confessed to having cheated on her husband, a college student described being told by a boyfriend that she was not "the marrying kind" because of the sexual liberties she had permitted him, and a minister's daughter recounted the humiliation of being caught in the lie of pretending she was older and more sophisticated than she was. Many readers thought that flappers had gone too far in their quest for adventure. One 23-year-old "ex-vamp" declared: "In my opinion, the average flappers from 15 to 19 were brainless, inconsiderate of others, and easy to get into serious trouble."


title: Flapper

text: So, among the readers of "The Flapper", parts of them were celebrated for flappers' spirit and appropriation of male privilege, while parts of them acknowledged the dangers of emulating flappers too faithfully, with some even confessing to violating their own codes of ethics so as to live up to all the hype.


title: Flapper

text: According to a report in 1922, some banks across the United States started to regulate the dress and deportment of young female employees who were considered to be "flappers". It began with a complaint of a mother in New Jersey who felt dissatisfied because her son did business only with a young female employee, whom she considered illegally attractive. The incident was duly reported to the officials of the bank, and rules adopted regarding requirements in dress for female employees. Those rules included that the dress should not have a pattern, it should be bought from a specific store, it must be worn in either black, blue or brown, its sleeves must not be shortened above the elbow, and its hem must not be worn higher than 12 inches from the ground. After that, the anti-flapper code soon spread to the Federal Reserve, where female employees were firmly told that there was no time for them to beautify themselves during office hours.


title: Flapper

text: The flapper stands as one of the more enduring images of youth and new women in the 20th century and is viewed by modern-day Americans as something of a cultural heroine. However, back in the 1920s, many Americans regarded flappers as threatening to conventional society, representing a new moral order. Although most of them were the daughters of the middle class, they flouted middle-class values. Lots of women in the United States were drawn to the idea of being a flapper. There were rival organizations of flappers – the National Flapper Flock and the Royal Order of the Flapper. Flappers shrugged off their chaperones, danced suggestively, and openly flirted with boys. "Flappers prized style over substance, novelty over tradition, and pleasure over virtue." Ruth Gillettes, a 1920s singer, had a song titled "Oh Say! Can I See You Tonight?" which expresses the new behavior of girls in the 1920s. Before the 1920s, for a woman to call a man to suggest a date would be impossible. However, in the 1920s, many girls seemed to play a leading role in relationships, actively asking boys out or even coming to their homes.


title: Flapper

text: Flappers' behavior was considered outlandish at the time and redefined women's roles. In the English media, they were stereotyped as pleasure-loving, reckless and prone to defying convention by initiating sexual relationships. Some have suggested that the flapper concept as a stage of life particular to young women was imported to England from Germany, where it originated "as a sexual reaction against the over-fed, under-exercised monumental woman, and as a compromise between pederasty and normal sex". In Germany, teenage girls were called ""Backfisch"", which meant a young fish not yet big enough to be sold in the market. Although the concept of ""Backfisch"" was known in England by the late 1880s, the term was understood to mean a very demure social type unlike the flapper, who was typically rebellious and defiant of convention. The evolving image of flappers was of independent young women who went by night to jazz clubs such as those in Harlem, which were viewed as erotic and dangerous, where they danced provocatively, smoked cigarettes and dated freely, perhaps indiscriminately. They were active, sporting, rode bicycles, drove cars, and openly drank alcohol, a defiant act in the American period of Prohibition. With time, came the development of dance styles such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, the Bunny Hug, and the Black Bottom, which were considered shocking, but were a symbolic badge of the flapper's rejection of traditional standards.


title: Flapper

text: Flappers also began working outside the home and challenging women's traditional societal roles and the monolithic historical idea of women being powerless throughout social history.


title: Flapper

text: They were considered a significant challenge to traditional Victorian gender roles, devotion to plain-living, hard work and religion. Increasingly, women discarded old, rigid ideas about roles and embraced consumerism and personal choice, and were often described in terms of representing a "culture war" of old versus new. Flappers also advocated voting and women's rights.


title: Flapper

text: In this manner, flappers were a result of larger social changes – women were able to vote in the United States in 1920, and religious society had been rocked by the Scopes trial.


title: Flapper

text: For all the concern about women stepping out of their traditional roles, however, many flappers were not engaged in politics. In fact, older suffragettes, who fought for the right for women to vote, viewed flappers as vapid and in some ways unworthy of the enfranchisement they had worked so hard to win. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, a noted liberal writer at the time, summed up this dichotomy by describing flappers as "truly modern", "New Style" feminists who "admit that a full life calls for marriage and children" and also "are moved by an inescapable inner compulsion to be individuals in their own right".


title: Flapper

text: "Petting" ("making out" or foreplay) became more common than in the Victorian era, for example, with the rise in popularity of "petting parties". At these parties, promiscuity became more commonplace, breaking from the traditions of monogamy or courtship with their expectations of eventual marriage. This was typical on college campuses, where young people "spent a great deal of unsupervised time in mixed company".


title: Flapper

text: Carolyn Van Wyck wrote a column for "Photoplay", an upmarket magazine that featured articles on pop culture, advice on fashion, and even articles on helping readers channel their inner celebrity. In March 1926, an anonymous young woman wrote in describing petting as a problem, explaining, "The boys all seem to do it and don't seem to come back if you don't do it also. We girls are at our wits' end to know what to do. ... I'm sure that I don't want to marry anyone who is too slow to want to pet. But I want to discover what is right. Please help me." Van Wyck sympathized with the problem the writer faced and added, "It seems to me much better to be known as a flat tire and keep romance in one's mind than to be called a hot date and have fear in one's heart."


title: Flapper

text: In the 1950s, "Life" magazine depicted petting parties as "that famed and shocking institution of the '20s", and, commenting on the 'Kinsey Report', said that they have been "very much with us ever since". In the Kinsey Report of 1950, there was an indicated increase in premarital intercourse for the generation of the 1920s. Kinsey found that of women born before 1900, 14 percent acknowledged premarital sex before the age of 25, while those born after 1900 were two and a half times more likely (36 percent) to have premarital intercourse and experience an orgasm.


title: Flapper

text: Flappers were associated with the use of a number of slang words, including "junk", "necker", "heavy petting", and "necking parties", although these words existed before the 1920s. Flappers also used the word "jazz" in the sense of anything exciting or fun. Their language sometimes reflected their feelings about dating, marriage and drinking habits: "I have to see a man about a dog" at this period often meant going to buy whiskey, and a "handcuff" or "manacle" was an engagement or wedding ring. Moreover, flappers invented slang terms like "hush money", which meant the allowance from a father or "dropping the pilot", which meant getting a divorce. Also reflective of their preoccupations were phrases to express approval, such as "That's so Jake" (okay), "She/he's the bee's knees" (a superb person), "Cake-eater" (a ladies' man), and the popular "the cat's meow" (anything wonderful).


title: Flapper

text: There were two more slang terms that reflected flappers' behaviors or lifestyles, which were "treating" and "charity girls". "Treating" was a culture or habit mainly for the working-class flappers. Although they earned money from work, they still wanted to earn some more for them to live. Women were willingly invited to dance, for drinks, for entrances up to jewelry and clothing. For the "return service", women granted any kind of erotic or sexual interaction from flirting to sexual intercourse. However, this practice was easily mistaken for prostitution. So, some people would call them "charity girls" to differentiate them from prostitutes, as the girls claimed that they did not accept money in their sexual encounters with men.


title: Flapper

text: In addition to their irreverent behavior, flappers were known for their style, which largely emerged as a result of French fashions, especially those pioneered by Coco Chanel, the effect on dress of the rapid spread of American jazz, and the popularization of dancing that accompanied it. Called "garçonne" in French ("boy" with a feminine suffix), flapper style made girls look young and boyish: short hair, flattened breasts, and straight waists accentuated it. By at least 1913, the association between slim adolescence and a certain characteristic look became fixed in the public's mind. Lillian Nordica, commenting on New York fashions that year, referred to


title: Flapper

text: At this early date, it seems that the style associated with a flapper already included the boyish physique and close-fitting hat, but a hobble skirt rather than one with a high hemline.


title: Flapper

text: Although the appearance typically associated now with flappers (straight waists, short hair and a hemline above the knee) did not fully emerge until 1926, there was an early association in the public mind between unconventional appearance, outrageous behavior, and the word "flapper". A report in "The Times" of a 1915 Christmas entertainment for troops stationed in France described a soldier in drag burlesquing feminine flirtatiousness while wearing "short skirts, a hat of Parisian type and flapper-like hair".


title: Flapper

text: Despite the scandal flappers generated, their look became fashionable in a toned-down form among respectable older women. Significantly, the flappers removed the corset from female fashion, raised skirt and gown hemlines, and popularized short hair for women. Among actresses closely identified with the style were Tallulah Bankhead, Olive Borden, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Bebe Daniels, Billie Dove, Leatrice Joy, Helen Kane, Laura La Plante, Dorothy Mackaill, Colleen Moore, Norma Shearer, Norma Talmadge, Olive Thomas, and Alice White.


title: Flapper

text: Beginning in the early 1920s, flappers began appearing in newspaper comic strips; Blondie Boopadoop and Fritzi Ritz – later depicted more domestically, as the wife of Dagwood Bumstead and aunt of Nancy, respectively – were introduced as flappers.


title: Flapper

text: Flapper dresses were straight and loose, leaving the arms bare (sometimes no straps at all) and dropping the waistline to the hips. Silk or rayon stockings were held up by garters. Skirts rose to just below the knee by 1927, allowing flashes of leg to be seen when a girl danced or walked through a breeze, although the way they danced made any long loose skirt flap up to show their legs. To enhance the view, some flappers applied rouge to their knees. Popular dress styles included the robe de style. High heels also came into vogue at the time, reaching 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) high. Favored shoe styles were Mary Janes and T-straps in classic black, gold, silver, or nude shades.


title: Flapper

text: Flappers did away with corsets and pantaloons in favor of "step-in" panties. Without the old restrictive corsets, flappers wore simple bust bodices to restrain their chest when dancing. They also wore new, softer and suppler corsets that reached to their hips, smoothing the whole frame, giving women a straight up and down appearance as opposed to the old corsets that slenderized the waist and accented the hips and bust.


title: Flapper

text: The lack of curves of a corset promoted a boyish look. Adding an even more boyish look, the Symington Side Lacer was invented and became a popular essential as an everyday bra. This type of bra was made to pull in the back to flatten the chest. Other women envied flappers for their flat chests and bought the Symington Side Lacer to enhance the same look; large breasts were commonly regarded as a trait of unsophistication. Hence, flat chests became appealing to women, although flappers were the most common to wear such bras.


title: Flapper

text: Boyish cuts were in vogue and released the weight of the tradition of women being required to grow their hair long, through popular cuts such as the bob cut, Eton crop, and shingle bob. Finger waving was used as a means of styling. Hats were still required wear, and popular styles included the newsboy cap and cloche hat.


title: Flapper

text: Jewelry usually consisted of art deco pieces, especially many layers of beaded necklaces. Pins, rings, and brooches came into style. Horn-rimmed glasses were also popular.


title: Flapper

text: As far back as the 1890s, French actress Polaire pioneered a look which included short, disheveled hair, emphatic mouth and huge eyes heavily outlined in kohl. The evolving flapper look required "heavy makeup" in comparison to what had previously been acceptable outside of professional usage in the theater. With the invention of the metal lipstick container as well as compact mirrors, bee-stung lips came into vogue. Dark eyes, especially kohl-rimmed, were the style. Blush came into vogue now that it was no longer a messy application process. Women shaped their eyebrows needle-thin and penciled them in dark, emulating such actresses as Clara Bow.


title: Flapper

text: Originally, pale skin was considered most attractive. However, tanned skin became increasingly popular after Coco Chanel showed off a tan after a holiday – it suggested a life of leisure, without the onerous need to work. Women wanted to look fit, sporty, and, above all, healthy.


title: Flapper

text: Being liberated from restrictive dress, from laces that interfered with breathing, and from hoops that needed managing suggested liberation of another sort. The new-found freedom to breathe and walk encouraged movement out of the house, and the flapper took full advantage. The flapper was an extreme manifestation of changes in the lifestyles of American women made visible through dress.


title: Flapper

text: Changes in fashion were interpreted as signs of deeper changes in the American feminine ideal. The short skirt and bobbed hair were likely to be used as a symbol of emancipation. Signs of the moral revolution consisted of premarital sex, birth control, drinking, and contempt for older values. Before the War, a lady did not set foot in a saloon; after the War, a woman, though no more "a lady", entered a speakeasy as casually as she would go into a railroad station. Women had started swearing and smoking publicly, using contraceptives, raising their skirts above the knee and rolling their hose below it. Women were now competing with men in the business world and obtaining financial independence and, therefore, other kinds of independence from men.


title: Flapper

text: The New Woman was pushing the boundaries of gender roles, representing sexual and economic freedom. She cut her hair short and took to loose-fitting clothing and low cut dresses. No longer restrained by a tight waist and long trailing skirts, the modern woman of the 1920s was an independent thinker, who no longer followed the conventions of those before her. The flapper was an example of the prevailing conceptions of women and their roles during the Roaring 1920s. The flappers' ideal was motion with characteristics of intensity, energy, and volatility. She refused the traditional moral code. Modesty, chastity, morality, and traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity were seemingly ignored. The flapper was making an appeal to authority and was being attached to the impending "demoralization" of the country.


title: Flapper

text: The Victorian American conception of sexuality and other roles of men and women in society and to one another were being challenged. Modern clothing was lighter and more flexible, better suiting the modern woman such as the flapper who wanted to engage in active sport. Women were now becoming more assertive and less willing to keep the home fires burning. The flappers' costume was seen as sexual and raised deeper questions of the behavior and values it symbolized.


title: Flapper

text: The flapper lifestyle and look disappeared and the roaring '20s era of glitz and glamour came to an end in America after the Wall Street Crash of 1929


title: Flapper

text: Unable to afford the latest trends and lifestyle, the once-vibrant flapper women returned to their dropped hemlines, and the flapper dress disappeared. A sudden serious tone washed over the public with the appearance of the Great Depression. The high-spirited attitude and hedonism were less acceptable during the economic hardships of the 1930s. When hemlines began to rise again, numerous states took action, making laws that restricted women to wear skirts with hemlines no shorter than three inches (7.5 centimeters) above the ankle. The ever-popular bobbed haircut was the cause for some women being fired from their jobs.


title: Flapper

text: Transitioning into the 1930s was no easy task. Campaigns such as the "Make Do and Mend" slogan were becoming prevalent to ensure there was no overconsumption throughout society.


title: Flapper

text: Fabric choices were among the many items to be cut back during this poverty-stricken time. Artificial fabrics were used instead of elegant fabrics such as silk, which were so popular in the early 1900s. No longer were party dresses adorned with decorative embellishments or made brightly colored. Instead, women headed to work to take over roles of men at war. The physically demanding jobs called for the creation and social acceptance of women's pants in society.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael Mauldin, a Columbia Records executive. Dupri's promising musical career began before he was even 10 years old. His father, also an Atlanta talent manager, had coordinated a Diana Ross show in 1982; to the delight of concert-goers, Dupri managed to get on-stage and dance along with Ross. Dupri got his start as a dancer for the hip hop group Whodini when he was twelve. He made an appearance in their music video for the song "Freaks Come Out at Night". He began performing around the country, appearing with Herbie Hancock and Cameo before he opened the New York Fresh Festival, with Run-D.M.C., Whodini, and Grandmaster Flash.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 1990, he produced his first act, the female hip hop trio Silk Tymes Leather. He later formed the teen duo Kris Kross (Chris Kelly and Chris Smith) after meeting the boys at a local mall in 1990. The group's first album, "Totally Krossed Out", was released in 1992 and went multi-platinum due to the success of their singles "Jump" and "Warm It Up", both written and produced by Dupri. He established his own record label called So So Def in 1993. Shortly after, he discovered female R&B group Xscape at a festival in Atlanta and signed them to the label. Their debut album, produced entirely by Dupri, "Hummin' Comin' at 'Cha", went platinum with the support of the singles "Understanding", "Love on My Mind", "Tonight" and "Just Kickin' It", with the later peaking at number 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. During the same year, on Yo! MTV Raps he met Da Brat through Kris Kross, signed her to his label So So Def Recordings, and released her debut "Funkdafied" (1994) which went platinum. So So Def Recordings entered into a distribution partnership with Columbia Records in 1993. In 1995, he collaborated with Mariah Carey for the first time on the number one hit single "Always Be My Baby." He contributed to Lil' Kim's 1996 album, "Hard Core" on the track "Not Tonight". He also produced and co-wrote singles for MC Lyte ("Keep On, Keepin' On"), The Braxtons ("So Many Ways"), and Whodini ("Keep Running Back"). In the same year, Dupri linked up with Kris Kross one last time for their third and final studio album. Producing the entire album, as well as its moderately successful singles ("Tonite's tha Night" and "Live and Die for Hip Hop").


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 1997, Dupri co-wrote and produced several tracks on Usher's second album, "My Way". The lead single, "You Make Me Wanna", reached number-one on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The follow up single "Nice & Slow" went to number-one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and the last single, "My Way" peaked at number-two on "Billboard" Hot 100. All three singles have been certified Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A featured guest on the album, Monica, would also later become a protégé of Dupri, with her second album, "The Boy Is Mine", dropping in July of that year. Dupri produced the single of the album "The First Night", which peaked atop the U.S. "Billboard" charts, with the album receiving triple platinum certification and universal acclaim from critics.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 1998, Jermaine Dupri was involved in the release of Destiny's Child's eponymous debut album, producing and co-writing the track "With Me Part I". Dupri renewed the focus on his own music career, which proved successful with release of the singles "Sweetheart" featuring Mariah Carey (US#126), "The Party Continues" featuring Da Brat and Usher (U.S. #26), and "Money Ain't a Thang" featuring Jay-Z (U.S. #52), the three singles from his debut studio album "Life in 1472." The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month and half after release. Also that year he met soon-to-be frequent collaborator and production partner Bryan-Michael Cox, as well as 11-year-old rapper, known then as Lil' Bow Wow and signed him to So So Def Recordings. The two would later part ways after only 2 albums, but continued to frequently collaborate on later projects. The distribution deal with Columbia was terminated in 2002, with Dupri switching to Arista Records in 2003. Dupri worked on Tamar Braxton's debut album, "Tamar" on the track "Get None" as well as with Weezer and Lil Wayne on the song "Can't Stop Partying." He also collaborated with DJ Chuckie to make a vocal version of the song "Let The Bass Kick". He soon released his sophomore studio album "Instructions" in October 2001, featuring the single "Welcome to Atlanta", and containing a myriad of features (similar to his debut).


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2004, Dupri connected again with Usher contributing to "Confessions" co-writing and co-producing three consecutive singles "Billboard" Hot 100 number one songs "Burn", "Confessions Part II", and "My Boo". Confessions won Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Confessions has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and, as of 2012, has sold 10 million copies in the US and over 20 million copies worldwide.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In early 2005, Dupri reunited with Mariah Carey on her tenth studio album "The Emancipation Of Mimi," which features the massive smash hit "We Belong Together". The album also featured the hit singles "It's Like That", "Shake It Off", and "Don't Forget About Us". "We Belong Together" stayed at number one for fourteen non-consecutive weeks, becoming the second longest running number one song in US chart history, behind Carey's 1996 collaboration with Boyz II Men on "One Sweet Day". We Belong Together" won Grammy's for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. The same year he worked on "Wanted" with Bow Wow, he co-produced and co-wrote the Hot 100 top 5 singles "Let Me Hold You" and "Like You". Later in December, Dupri produced and co-wrote Nelly's single "Grillz", which struck atop the "Billboard" charts yet again.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In early 2006, Dupri signed both Dem Franchize Boyz and Daz Dillinger to his label So So Def after transferring it from Arista Records to Virgin Records. The latter's album, So So Gangsta, was released in September of that year, while the former's label debut was released the following year with the album "On Top of Our Game" which topped the US Top Rap Albums with the hit songs "I Think They Like Me" and "Lean wit It, Rock wit It." The group also featured alongside Dupri on Monica's snap single, "Everytime tha Beat Drop" (U.S. #48) off her fifth album, "The Makings of Me". In late 2006, Dupri executive produced the album "20 Y.O." by his then-partner, Janet Jackson, along with co-producing and co-writing half the tracklist and all of the singles. He returned for her ninth album, "Discipline" in 2008, producing the single "Rock With U".


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2007, Dupri produced singles for Paul Wall ("I'm Throwed"), Donell Jones ("Better Start Talking"), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony ("Lil' L.O.V.E."), as well as multiple tracks for labelmate Jagged Edge. In October 2007, he published his memoir, "Young, Rich and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul" (via Atria Books). In November 2007 co-produced and co-wrote with So So Def intern No I.D. this time on Jay-Z's tenth studio album "American Gangster". The two contributed to the songs "Success" and "Fallin".


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2008, Dupri reunited with Usher, Mariah Carey, and then-girlfriend Janet Jackson for their respective studio albums ("Here I Stand", "E=MC2", and "Discipline" respectively) producing multiple tracks on each. He also produced singles for Ashanti ("Good Good") and Nelly ("Stepped On My J'z").


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2009, Dupri produced singles for Fabolous ("Money Goes, Honey Stay [When the Money Goes Remix]") and Bow Wow ("Roc The Mic").


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: On October 7, 2013, he replaced Randy Jackson as Carey's talent manager. He later parted ways with Carey in August 2014, though they still maintain a professional relationship, as he was a producer on nearly all of her albums since "Daydream" (1995).


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2014, Dupri produced multiple tracks for Mariah Carey and Jagged Edge on their respective albums ("Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse" and "J.E. Heartbreak 2").


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2015, Dupri and Queen Latifah created a reality television series, "The Rap Game". The eight-episode series premiered on Lifetime on New Year's Day, 2016. It followed five emerging artists, ages 11–16, who were immersed in the Atlanta hip-hop scene in a quest to become a rap star. Dupri was joined by guests including Usher, Ludacris, Da Brat, T.I. and Silentó; they gave the competitors advice on what it takes to be in the industry.


title: Jermaine Dupri

text: In 2018, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This made Dupri the second musician from the hip-hop genre to be inducted, with only Jay-Z being inducted prior.