Court Procedures 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Court Procedures 3 - Essay Example s is mostly possible through the arresting and investigating officer’s sworn testimony about the area where the crime was committed being the same area where the trial is being held. This is enough to convince the judge and jury that the place of trial is in accordance with the constitution. Every accused individual has a right to a speedy trial as a constitutional right. There are two major differences between the constitutional and statutory right to a speedy trial. The first difference is that there should be a test to determine if the right was violated. In the statutory right, the test is carried out just in regards to violation of time periods and nothing more. However, the constitutional right examines factors such as the length of delay, justification of that delay, the prejudice that the delay caused and whether this delay was asserted by the defendant or not. The other difference is in regards to the remedy for the violation of this right. The statutory right depends on the statute provided some of which indicate the defendant may be retired while the constitutional right requires dismissal of charges and failure to retry the defendant on the offence. There are two things that are considered in regards to the mental status of the defendant: the first is insanity and the other is competency to stand trial. The two are different even though they sound similar. Insanity regards the mental state of the defendant at the time when the alleged crime took place while competence to stand trial regards the mental state of the patient during the trial which may prevent him from being tried. The competence of any individual to stand trial is protected by the Fifth as well as the Fourteenth Amendments and prevents any incompetent individual from standing trial. Proof is however needed to verify the state of mind of the defendant. The most important thing in chapter 11 is the explanation of the role of the judge as well as the prosecutor which may people do not

IDEAL ACOUSTIC AND INTERIOR DESIGN FOR A JAZZ CLUB Essay

IDEAL ACOUSTIC AND INTERIOR DESIGN FOR A JAZZ CLUB - Essay Example Very often the when dealing with small, closed places, such as a club, there are a few vital aspects that need to be taken into consideration. One such aspect is reverberation. It is the residual sound that remains after the source of sound, or music in this context, is stopped. This occurs due to the presence of highly reflective surfaces such as hard walls and wooden floors. When more such surfaces are present, the reverberation time, i.e. the time duration for which the sound is sustained after the source is turned off, increases. This can cause disastrous effects by increasing the overall noise level. A similar problem is the reflection of sound. This can be very annoying to a listener due to an effect described as the ‘microphone effect’ (â€Å"Education: Acoustics 101†). This is a problem caused due to peaked roofs and reflective corners. Both these problems can be countered by the use of absorptive materials. When the word â€Å"absorptive† is used c ommon materials that come to mind are carpets and wall hangings. While usage of a carpet is a good idea, it will in no way be sufficient to overcome the ill effects of reflection and reverberation. As mentioned before the peaked or domed ceiling should the dealt with. Also if the back walls are flat or, worse, concave they can contribute to the slapping back of the sound to the performer(s) on the stage. Adding absorptive materials to the ceilings and acoustic wall paneling to the back walls can effectively reduce the above mentioned problems (â€Å"Project remedies†). Adding absorptive material, preferably black, to the stage back wall and also sometimes the side walls, is in some cases a very effective measure to obtain same reverberation times both on the stage and the rest of the room. A factor not be overlooked is the audience itself. The audience themselves contribute to the absorption factor. The space is less absorptive without the audience, so care must be taken to m aintain consistency in

Hybridity Concepts In Postcolonial Studies

Hybridity Concepts In Postcolonial Studies The flow of information and the movement of people in this ever evolving, interconnected and interactive world have been a profound reason in the creation of new cultures in the form of mixing of local and foreign ideas and values. This kind of mixing is a tiny part of the loose and slippery meaning of hybridity. The term hybridity is used in many areas such as hybrid economy (the mixture of private enterprises and government active participation in global economy) (Koizumi,2010); hybrid cars, hybrid language (creole and patois), and most importantly in relation to this study is in the arena of hybrid cultures (Tomlinson,1999; Coombs Brah,2000). Easthope (1998) contends that hybridity can have three meanings; in terms of biology, ethnicity and culture. In biological science, hybrid could mean the composition of genetic component in human being, animals or plants. In the second and third definitions, hybridity can be understood to mean an individual who possesses two or more ethnic and cultural identities. However de Toro emphasises that the meaning of hybridity in modern cultural theory has nothing to do with the biological and zoological origin of the term (de Toro, 2004). Hutnyk (2005) on the other hand reveals that the term hybridity and syncretism seem to serve the inner cultural aspects of colonialism and the global market. Several key thinkers in the realm of hybridity includes among others Homi Bhabha, Robert Young, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Stuart Hall and Paul Gilroy, who draw upon related concepts from Deleuze, Derrida, Marx, Fanon and Bakhtin to name a few.(Ref) In particular, Bhabha has developed his concept of hybridity from literary and cultural theory to describe the construction of culture and identity within conditions of colonial antagonism and equity (Meredith, 1998; Bhabha, 1994; Bhabha, 1996). In socio-cultural milieu, hybridity is used as an explicative term and hybridity became a useful tool in forming a discourse of racial mixing which was seen as an aberration in the end of 18th century. The kind of hybrid during this era was largely referring to inter marriage of black and white and the offspring were identified as the hybrid product. It has also been referred to as an abuse term in colonial discourse for those who are products of miscegenation or mixed-breeds. Papastergiadis in Werbner Modood (2000) on the other hand asserts that the positive feature of hybridity is that it invariably acknowledges that identity is constructed through a negotiation of difference and that the presence of fissures, gaps and contradictions is not necessarily a sign of failure. (ibid:258). Therefore hybridity can be seen in both negative and positive forms. Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin (2006) assert that hybridity occurs in post-colonial societies as a result of economic and political expansion and control and when the coloniser diluted indigenous peoples (the colonised) social practices and assimilate them to a new social mold. They also further explain that hybridity extends until after the period of imperialism when patterns of immigrations from rural to urban region and from other imperial areas of influence; such as Chinese and Indian labourers coming in into the Malay Peninsula during the labour intensive period. However, with the end imperialism, with the rising of immigration and economic liberalisation, the term hybridity has profoundly been used in many different dimensions and is one of the most disputed terms in postcolonial studies. It can take many forms including cultural, political and linguistics. It is important to note that hybridity can be interpreted in many different accounts from a slight hybrid to the extreme of culture clash. In the postcolonial studies the term hybrid commonly refers to the creation of new trans-cultural forms within the contact zone produced by colonisation (Ashcroft et al.,2003). One other dimension of this term is the hybrid talk which is associated with the emergence of postcolonial discourse and its critique of cultural imperialism.(elaborate) Easthope (1998) on the other hand asserts that in his discussions of hybridity, it has no fix definition except in relation to non-hybridity: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦that the opposition between difference and absolute presence needs to be relativised by introducing more than one concept of identity, that a coherent, speaking subject cannot live in the gaps between identities. (p.347). Pieterse (2001:221) maintains that New hybrid forms are significant indicators of profound changes that are taking place as a consequence of mobility, migration and multiculturalism. In addition, cultural diasporization (Hall, 1990) signifies a new form of identity as a result of interculturality and diasporic relations (Anthias,2010). However, Anthias (ibid:620) postulates that: If hybrid social identities are now the characteristic identities of the modern world, then struggles over cultural hegemony and the underlying mechanisms that support it, become increasingly empty signifiers; merely to occupy the space of the hybrid constitutes an emancipator human condition. In addition, de Toro (1991,1996a) contends that hybridity is always inherent to culture, identity and nations but it is the object of reflections and definitions of different settings and also applied in very different fields. Correspondingly, de Toro suggests that one has to understand the notion of hybridity in a broader metacontext and has to see hybridity as mixing systems at the base of the combination of different models and processes. The discussion of hybridity in this study focuses on the contemporary debate about culture, ethnicity and identity which underpins de Toros model of hybridity as a cultural category. The main argument of this study is the problematic nature of managing the differences of cultural, ethnical and religious groups in Malaysias plural society in the quest for the construction of shared Malaysian identity. The discussion of hybridity in the Malaysian context in this study therefore is not about finding a midway to the solution of differences in cultures and identity but to identify a space where cultural, religious and ethnic difference can be celebrated. In as much the arguments in the succeeding sections deal with ethnicity, culture and religion, this study does not attempt to explicate an in depth discussion of the cultural theory concept. However, cultural theory will be reviewed at a surface level. In the linguistics setting, Bakhtin (1981) puts forward the notion of linguistic hybridity. He, according to Young (1995) delineates the way in which language, even within a single sentence, can be doubled-voiced. Bakhtin affirms that linguistic hybridity mixes two social languages within the limits of a single utterance but differentiated by other factors of those social utterances. Simplistically, it describes the ability to be simultaneously the same but different (ibid:20). Young further postulates that for Bakhtin, hybridity describes the process of the authorial unmasking of anothers speech, through a language that is double-accented and double-styled. Bakhtin (1981) divides his linguistic hybridity into two; intentional hybridity and unconscious or organic hybridity. The former occurs when a voice has the ability to ironise and unmask the other within the same utterance. The organic hybridity , on the other hand occurs when two languages fused together: . the languages change historically primarily by hybridization, by means of a mixing of various languages co-existing within the boundaries of a single dialect, a single national language, a single branch, a single group of different branches, in the historical as well as paleontological past of languages. (Ibid:358). The language hybridity phenomenon is one of main discussions in this current study as the multicultural society evolves in Malaya then Malaysia respectively, languages evolve in tandem. The discussion involves the emergence of Malaysian English or Manglish in social interactions of the populace within ones own ethnic community or with the other communities at large. This is argued in the discussions and findings chapter of this current study. The section that follows discusses in greater detail of hybridity in the light of Bhabhas (1998) work on cultural diversity and cultural difference. Understanding Bhabhas concept of hybridity in relation to cultural diversity Bhabhas conception of hybridity is developed from literary and cultural theory by which he identifies that the governing bodies (coloniser) translate the identity of the colonised (the other) in tandem with the essentialist beliefs. This action of translation however does not produce something that is known to the coloniser or the colonised but essentially new (Papastergiadis, 1997). Bhabha believes that it is this new blurred boundaries or spaces in-between subject-position that are identified as the locality of the disruption and displacement of predominant influence of colonial narratives and cultural structures and practice. Bhabha (1994) claims that the difference in cultural practices within different groups, however rational a person is, is actually very difficult and even impossible and counterproductive, to try and fit together different forms of culture and to pretend that they can easily coexist. As he affirms: The assumption that at some level all forms of cultural diversity may be understood on the basis of a particular universal concept, whether it be human being, class, or race, can be both very dangerous and very limiting in trying to understand the ways in which cultural practices construct their own systems of meaning and social organisation (ibid:209) There is truth to a certain degree to the statement above in terms of the universality of cultural diversity applied in many pluralistic countries including Malaysia. However, to a larger extent, this present study, at a later stage would render the limitations of that statement amidst difficulties and multitudes of problems in inter-ethnic relationship; Malaysian society has proven its ability to be one of the select few which are able to prove that the differences in cultural practices could be the catalyst not hindrance or counterproductive amongst different groups to coexist. This concept of the third space is central and useful in analysing this current study in terms of its interstitial positioning between cultural and ethnic identity with that of a negotiated identity (shared identity) in the Malaysian context. Bhabha believes that the process of cultural hybridity gives rise to new and unidentifiable, a new era of negotiation of meaning and representation. For him controversies are inevitable and unavoidable in a multicultural society as negotiations happen almost in all circumstances including socio-politics and economy down to minute affairs such as in classrooms context. The implication of western colonial legacy which had changed cultural ideology of a former colonised nation is central to the modern discourse of negotiation and instead of questioning the legality of certain cultural status assigned to immigrant cultures, it is inevitable but to accept, admire and celebrate diversity in ways which are appropriately befitting the society as a whole. The significance of the hybridity concept Post-colonial cultural politics assertions: integration and assimilation to unification As a result of hybridisation, dominant culture becomes diluted and more dispersed; less integrated and can then be negotiated. The process of cultural hybridisation allows greater opportunity for local culture to be emphasised thus presents a greater likelihood for more people to feel the sense of belonging. (Canclini,1995;Pieterse,2004). Hybridity needs to be considered as a continuous transaction of renewals and compromise of the practices of identity A more analytical perspective that reviews the assumption about culture and identity from us-them dualism to a collective sense of both. Therefore acceptance and conciliation of both difference and similarity. 5.0. The Third Space Appropriation of The Third Space to the study Otherness Stereotyping in Post Colonial Studies 9.0 Applying hybridity, otherness and stereotyping to the construction of shared identity Identity in Plural Society Propagating and espousing a new conception of shared identity New opportunities, new challenges to develop a collective sense of identity Identity is multiple, overlapping and context-sensitive (Kwame Appiah in Koizumi) New conception of self hybrid self rejects singular identity and adopt a fluid context-dependent identity Classification of identity formation: inherited and acquired (social and psychological) The Construction Malaysian Identity Summary

Computers in Surgery :: Informative

Computers in Surgery Implementing Computers into surgery is a new and exciting area of study. It has only been in the past 20 years that computers have started to be incorporated with surgery. In 1989, abstracts of the surgical literature were being distributed on 5.25-inch floppy disks. These abstracts were then used in medical operations and evaluations. Doctors could travel though menus in the abstracts and eventually targeting a solution, procedure, or cause of illnesses. This made the time it takes to flip through pages and pages of medical journals and textbooks less expansive and cumbersome. Doctors have now gotten to the point where laptops are brought into surgery and are used to aid doctors and nurses. Instead of saying â€Å"Nurse, scalpel,† surgeons ask their nurses to find information on the laptops. Besides holding information, Computers can also be used to manipulate tools and other things in the operating room. Mechanical arms are often used to perform procedures. Sometimes a computer is used to navigate cameras inside of the human body in order to locate tumors and blockages. Computers are also used to analyze images taken before surgery. Dr. Ninian Peckitt uses software to analyze a CAT scan images in order to understand his patient’s skull. The program in the computer actually directions for making full size replicas of patients heads. In conclusion, there is a huge advancement being made as far as computer aided surgeries go. From holding information, analyzing problems, delivering solutions, to performing operations, computers are the next step in medical tools.

Primary Commodity Exports and Civil War Essay

Fearon’s study particularly pertains to the evaluation on which particular countries are actually prone to undergoing situations such as civil wars. In this article, he along with his co-researchers found out certain elements that contribute to the increase of threat towards the possibility of a country undergoing a civil outburst. According to the said researchers, the most important issues that needs consideration on this part of the situation is the emergence of countries that are involved in primary commodity export appointments in the field of international trade. Apparently, it is in this article that poverty has been noted to be a reactive result of several globalization approaches which also brings about the possibility of social chaos giving way to civil war. The bridge that was supposed to keep nations together through globalization is now serving as the strongest reason of gap between people around the world and even within countries. The widening gap is also producing serious consequences for the richer nations. This is because of their growing dependence on the raw materials of the nations of the â€Å"Third World. † But now these nations have changed their attitudes about how their resources will be used, and paid for. An example of this was the action taken by the oil-producing underdeveloped nations, sending shock waves throughout the industrial lands. For many decades, the poorer oil-producing nations had to sell their oil at a relatively cheap price. Recently, these nations banded together and agreed to quadruple their prices. The poor nations have laid down a clear challenge to the rich nations. They will no longer passively accept what the industrial nations have assumed for more than two centuries. That assumption was that there would always be cheap raw materials available from the poor nations. No longer is this the case. However, the dilemma of the poor nations is that most of them are not blessed with abundant raw materials. Most of them lack abundant mineral and oil resources. They are largely agricultural lands, and in bad years, they have nothing to fall back on to sell to other nations. Therefore, they will not have the money to buy the food and other things they need to help them in bad years. That is just what is happening now to various countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The main idea of studying the way people live in the society is to see how far they have fared in making their way to progress. However, contrary to the aimed unified progress, development is usually shifted only to the â€Å"haves†. Yes, the world may be seemingly unfair, equality may even seem too impossible to be achieved, but through a unified effort, having an equal community could still be worked upon by the entire human civilization; something that is most needed to avoid possible outburst of civil war. Bibliography Fearon, James. Primary Commodity Exports and Civil War. Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 49, No. 4, 483-507 (2005).

Vatican Council Ii

Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum (The Vatican Council II) The Second Vatican Council was formally opened by Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI on 8 December 1965. Its aim was â€Å"†¦ to throw open the windows of the Catholic Church so that we can see out and the people can see in. † – Pope John XXIII. T The main topics discussed were the Church itself, ecumenism and other religions, relation to the modern world and the liturgy of mass. The Catholic Church recognised the increasing rift between people and their relationship with God and the Church, and created four constitutions which addressed the issue.Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy). These documents are responses to the external issues and internal issues that impac ted the Church, and are further discussed later. The 1960’s was a huge counter-cultural movement which challenged the traditional codes of behaviour linked to sexuality and interpersonal relationships.With the sexual revolution brought the normalisation of pre-marital sex, the contraception and the pill, homosexuality and later; the legalisation of abortion. There was a rapid evolution of a youth subculture which encouraged experimentation and change, and religious values were disregarded and replaced with hedonistic attitudes. This impacted the Church because the one of the fundamental teachings of the Church is that sexual intercourse is only to express married love and for the procreation of children.The Church opposed abortion and contraception as it goes against their teachings and this caused an uproar from the feminists. Their argument was that they should have â€Å"free choice because it’s my body†. The Church until this time was also a male dominant bo dy, and women began to fight for the right to become a priest and for female altar servers. The advancement of technology also impacted the Church as prior to TV and travelling technology, society had a narrow view of the world, and mainly stuck to their own local community.The Church had played a huge role in their life because of this. But when TV became more popular, people began to spend more time watching TV and learning about things more relevant to their lives, and it became another â€Å"voice† they listened to. With the rise of technology, the â€Å"voice† of the Church became less significant. These were the major social changes which impacted the Church and some changes were made to counter the issues. During this time the Church was also facing internal issues as well as being confronted with social changes.Mass attendance was falling due to a lot of social changes. This included the sexual revolution, the role of women in society and decreased respect for the church as an authority figure. â€Å"The sexual revolution was a development in the modern world which saw the significant loss of power by the values of a morality rooted in the Christian tradition and the rise of permissive societies of attitudes that were accepting of greater sexual freedom and experimentation that spread all over the world. † (Extract from Wikipedia).Falling mass attendance may also have been due to people not being able to understand the mass, as it was in Latin or maybe feeling that the Church was too hierarchal in the way that the laity weren’t allowed to contribute during mass. Another issue was that religious numbers were also falling as many of the religious and priests had left Europe on missions. There was also tension between Protestant Churches and the Catholic Church, as the Church’s main goal was to convert as many people to Catholicism as possible.The role and structure of the Church was also under speculation as many though t the Church needed an â€Å"update† to society, and others believed that the old traditions should not be changed at all, and this caused some conflict within the Church. In order to deal with these internal and external issues, the Vatican Council II created four documents which responded to these matters. The first dogmatic constitution was Dei Verbum which was about Divine Revelation.Divine Revelation can be defined as God’s activity in making himself and his purposes known to mankind through Christ, the prophets and the apostles. Pre Vatican II, the Church taught that only priests could read and interpret scripture. But Council stated â€Å"Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. But since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sac red ooks. †(Dei Verbum p. 22). This basically meant that anyone could read the bible, but the magisterium alone has been trusted with guiding and teaching the meaning of the scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit. The aim of this change was so that â€Å"Through the reading and study of the sacred books â€Å"the word of God may spread rapidly and be glorified† (Thessalonians. 3:1) and the treasure of revelation, entrusted to the Church, may more and more fill the hearts of men. This change was adopted because the bible was written for everyone and therefore everyone has the chance to learn all about God’s Revelation and his gifts to all people. The second dogmatic constitution is Lumen Gentium which redefined the structure and role of the Church. The church recognises Christ as the head of the body, and as the image of the invisible God, and that all members must be formed in his likeness until Christ is formed in them. It also became more focused on divers ity and pluralism, rather than being a private circle of religious.It said that â€Å"In virtue of this catholicity each part contributes its own gifts to other parts and to the whole Church, so that the whole and each of the parts are strengthened by the common sharing of all things and by the common effort to attain fullness in unity,† (Lumen Gentium p. 13), explaining that the Church is not just about bishops, priests and the pope, but also all the faithful. Priests were described as â€Å"its support and mouthpiece, called to the service of the People of God,† (Willis, M. Lumen Gentium Summary, p. 3), which clarified their vocation as not just preaching the word of God, but also being there to guide and support the community. A dogmatic constitution on the Church was also formed about sacred liturgy. This document revealed the changes made to mass. One of the external issues during the 60’s was falling mass attendance. The youth were rebelling and trying new things and their attitude towards the Church had changed. Before Sacrosanctum Concilium, there were several differences between the traditional mass, and the mass we know today. God who â€Å"wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth† (Timothy 2:4).Probably the biggest change was that the language of the mass changed from Latin to vernacular. This meant that the laity could now completely understand what was going on at mass. To promote participation, the people were encourages to take part by means of readings, responses, hymns and giving out communion. The communion rail was withdrawn, and the priest now has his back to the tabernacle to face the people. The document also allowed altar girls. These changes were made so that the Church was more appealing to people, so that they felt more welcome and interested in the Church again.The last dogmatic constitution made was Gaudium et Spes. This document deals with the relevance of the Church and its pla ce it society. It also talks about interaction with other faiths. The Council expresses a desire to engage in conversation with the entire human family so that the Church can cooperate in solving contemporary problems. It addresses this Constitution to Catholics, to all Christians, and to the whole of humanity. The Council sets out to establish a working relationship with the world, claiming â€Å"Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the political, economic or social order.The purpose which He set before her is a religious one. But out of this religious mission itself come a function, a light and an energy which can serve to structure and consolidate the human community according to the divine law. † (Gaudium et Spes p. 11). The Church is desired to assist the whole of humanity to overcome all strife and conflict between nations, and this sense of unity comes from one of its fundamental beliefs that the Church is one with the Holy Spirit. One way this was shown Pope John XXIII invited other Christians outside of the Catholic Church to send observers to the Council.Acceptances came from both the Protestant denominations and Eastern Orthodox churches. The goal of conforming people to Catholicism was no more, instead the Church now preaches Ecumenism. While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it, the Church has a single intention: that God's kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. â€Å"The Council wished to ponder the many problems and possibilities of the modern world â€Å"in the light of the gospel and of human experience†. Michael Paul Gallagher SJ, Reaching out to the world: Gaudium et Spes). In its final form, Gaudium et Spes encourages a â€Å"new humanism† marked by a greater sense of our responsibility for history. God, so to speak, gives the world into our hands. We are dramatically free and called, with the help of grace, to transform this planet throug h loving service. These responses strengthened the mission of the Church for a contemporary society. The Church acknowledged that there was growing secularism in society, and that growing numbers of people are abandoning religion in practice. Church does not only communicate divine life to men but in some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth, most of all by its healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the person, by the way in which it strengthens the seams of human society and imbues the everyday activity of men with a deeper meaning and importance†, (Gaudium et Spes, p. 40) summarises the mission of the Church in contemporary society; to bring salvation. It was Pope John XXIII who realised that the Church had â€Å"†¦ o throw open the windows of the Catholic Church so that we can see out and the people can see in,† (Pope John XXIII), so that they can understand and come to terms with the always changing society, to reform itself to the needs of the people. Through the four dogmatic constitutions of the Second Vatican Council, the Church was able to renew their relationship with the world, renovate new ways to communicate with the whole of humanity, and achieve its goal of making Church more engaging and relevant to a contemporary society.The Second Vatican Council was the most significant event for the Catholic Church in the 20th century. It had four aims; to impart an ever increasing vigour to the Christian life of the faithful, to adapt more closely to the need of our age those institutions which are subject to change, to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ and to strengthen whatever can help to call all mankind into the Church’s fold.The four dogmatic constituents; Sacrosanctum Concilium, Gaudium et Spes, Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium, addressed internal and external issues that impacted the Church, and endeavoured to answer them. Such issues included the sexual revolu tion of the 60’s, the feminist movement, the reformation of the protestant church, and falling mass attendance. The responses strived to improve these circumstances and help to bring people closer to God. The allowance of female altar servers, the changes to liturgy in order to make it more engaging to people and the preaching of ecumenism helped restore elationships between the Church and the faithful, and the Church and other religions. There are still unresolved issues and debates involving the Church, such as contraception and abortion and the request for female priests, and if the Church was to call another Council, these would be the issues discussed. Overall, the Second Vatican Council was successful in making a difference and re-establishing its role in the world today. REFERENCES Pope Paul VI; Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – Dei Verbum. (n. d. ).Retrieved April  13, 2013, from http://www. vatican. va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/docu ments/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en. html Gaudium et spes | Catholic Social Services Australia. (n. d. ). Retrieved April  15, 2013, from http://catholicsocialservices. org. au/Catholic_Social_Teaching/Gaudium_et_spes Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word-Gaudium et Spes. (n. d. ). Retrieved April  12, 2013, from http://www. vatican. va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en. htmlSexual revolution in 1960s United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. (n. d. ). Retrieved  April  13 2013, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sexual_revolution_in_1960s_United_States Dale A. Robbins; From the book, â€Å"What People Ask About The Church, What is the mission of the church? (n. d. ). Retrieved  April  13 2013 from http://www. victorious. org/churchbook/chur04. htm Michael Paul Gallagher S; Reaching out to the world: Gaudium et spes | Catholicireland. net. (n. d. ). Retrieved  April  12 2013 from, http://www. catholicireland. net/reaching-out-to-the-world-gaudium-et-spes/