Father Stephanos, O.S.B mentions that Today in 1958 the patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope, and took the name John XXIII.
I recently came across his address at the opening of Vatican II and thougth it could easily have been written today.
In the daily exercise of our apostolic ministry, we are often offended when we learn what certain people are saying, who are filled with religious zeal yet lack correct judgment and level-headedness in their way of seeing things. They see only ruins and calamities in society’s present situation. They are used to saying that our day and age has worsened profoundly in comparison with past centuries. They behave as if history, which is the teacher of life, had nothing to teach them and as if at the time of past Councils, everything had been perfect where Christian doctrine, customs and the Church’s just freedom were concerned.
It seems to us that we must state our complete disagreement with the prophets of misfortune, who always announce catastrophes as if the world were close to its end.
In the present course of events when society seems to be at a turning point, it is better to acknowledge the mysterious plans of divine Providence which, through the succession of times and the work of human beings and most of the time against all expectations, reach their goal and arrange everything with wisdom for the good of the Church, even the events that are in opposition to it.
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I lived through the council.To understand Blessed John XXIII one must realize the times.The church was growing,seminaries were overflowing and so were convents.Catholic schools were increasing together with places of higher learning.Then came the election of John Kennedy (before we knew the real Kennedy).There was euphoria and optimism.Pope John thought that if you gathered all the bishops togeth in solemn council the world would see the Church in her splendor and be converted.That is why he invited representatives from protestant religions.They overlooked communism because that was the albatross in the room.Everything else was fine.Priests behaved,bishops behaved,kids behaved.Andrew Greeley wrote an article in America in 1962 defending catholic teaching on birth control citing polls that showed more than 80% of Catholics supported the teaching and the better educated one was the more he supported it.With the assasination of President Kennedy the “50s” came to an end ,and then there were the vietnam war demonstrations,the birth of pseudo-folk music,etc. Remember Pope John propoesed three things 1)an ecumenical council 2)aRoman synod which was to be the model for the council which would follow it 3)the reform of canonlaw. The roman synod was a highly conservative event with conservative decrees.Pope John praised it to the hilt. Recall also that he told Cardinal Heenan of Westminster that he wanted to END the council for it was headed in a direction he had not intended. It was a different world.
I guess Pope John XXIII didn’t see any problems with the Church so he decided to convene V2 so he could achieve what mess we are in now.
Had to get that out of my system. I hope he doesn’t ever get to sainthood. I’m sure that within a generation or two (at the earliest) we’ll be able to look at V2 objectively and declare if it was another Council of Trent or one of the forgotten Lateran Councils.
Unfortunately we are in the middle of a correction of all the damage misguided liberals did to our wonderful Church. If our generation can correct these past mistakes V2 will probably be looked at as a success.
I wasn’t there– what was going so bad in 1958???
Come now, Tito —
Is it not possible that the Second Vatican Council was the work of the Holy Spirit (and I mean the Council and its documents, NOT all the ideological misinterpretations that have occurred since)?! If you can’t say yes to that (and I’m askin’ for a ‘yes’ to a ‘maybe,’ here), then what do you think John Paul II was up to during his entire pontificate? He said two of his main themes were living out the principles of V2 and sheparding us to and through the Jubilee, into the New Springtime.
What, in a sentence or two, is your gripe with V2? Are you sure it’s not a gripe with the misinterpretations being played out?
Before the Council, there were a lot of whited sepulchres running around only pretending to know and support church teaching. There were also a lot of theologians and younger Catholics champing at the bit to make their mark. If the Church had really been as solid as it looked, the Council would have been a minor blip, a slow implementation of organic changes.
Instead, you get a bunch of folks deciding to treat the magic words “Vatican II” as a wild card to do whatever new thing they wanted, telling everybody else they had to do what they said, or else. And the people down at the bottom didn’t realize this had nothing to do with the actual Council documents, because there wasn’t any way to get hold of those, and because they were used to obeying those set above them. Crazy things happened.
And then when Pope Paul VI said anything people didn’t like (like Humanae Vitae), they used the VII anger _and_ the VII wildcard as an excuse to ignore him.
So yeah, obviously the sixties and seventies weren’t great times for the Church, but equally obviously, it only happened because there was rot where there should have been strength. It may be that Vatican II, as flawed as its implementation was, saved us from worse things.
Maureen,Maureen ,you have spoken the most overlooked fact.You are right .How could have everything collapsed so quickly,instead of over decades,if there were not rotten wood somewhere in the foundation.The council might have been the Holy Spirit’s way of cleaning up by blowing down and then rebuilding.
And the walls came tumbin down….
Pray for a full restoration of the faith, teachings and liturgy back to our beloved church and a leader to take us out of the wilderness
God bless
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