D
Don_Schneider
Guest
We all know the criticism leveled at the Second Vatican Council by Catholic traditionalists and even many conservatives. Vatican II was an unmitigated disaster in the history of the Church, the worst self-inflicted wound to any institution in all history. What follows is a link to an article written by Patrick Buchanan, the ultra-conservative Irish-Catholic American commentator and on and off again politician. It saliently summarizes the Church’s litany of woes in the United States since Vatican II:
olrl.org/misc/jones_stats.shtml
For many years, I was a strident Vat-II basher. Pope John XXIII said let us open the window and let in the fresh air. Rather, he unwittingly allowed in the pollution. But lately, I have been reassessing my views. Perhaps I have blamed too much on the “reformers” of Vatican II, a bunch of old fools, as I would always maintain. After all, there is no fool like an old one, or so it is said.
What many Americans fail to realize is that the Church here prior to Vatican II was far different than it had been in many other parts of the world, such as Latin America and, most especially, in Europe, Her heart. Catholics in America had been a minority. Our ancestors faced the “Know-Nothings,” the KKK, and all sorts of less drastic forms of persecution and discrimination. Therefore, the Church here adopted a sort of fortress mentality and, as a result, being a Catholic was more than just being a member of a particular religion. It became a badge of honor and a source of pride. Being Catholic in the United States meant something. It was an identity to be fervently grasped.
In Europe, however, most countries were either predominately Catholic or Protestant, one or the other. In contrast to the spit and polish posture (as a point of pride) of the American Church, the Church within countries where Catholicism was the historic state religion seemed rather slovenly. Most of the impetus behind Vatican II and its lust for reform came from the European prelature and not from the very conservative American bishops of the time. (Look what has happened to them since!)
However, at the time of Vatican II, the Western World stood on the threshold of radical new changes regarding technology, travel, mass communication and financial prosperity. As dismal as the Church’s state of affairs might be in Southern Europe today, She might be judged as thriving compared to Her “separated brethren” churches in Protestant Northern Europe, where many once flourishing Protestant denominations now seem to be on the point of extinction. Indeed, many within the media have dubbed the current state of affairs to be “post-Christian Europe,” and not without justification.
The rap against Vatican II is that it destroyed faith, and this lack of faith it engendered (by having the perhaps unintended effect of inviting people to question virtually everything) has been responsible for every Church malady since, from the dearth of vocations and radically declining church attendance, to every scandal within the Church in recent times, culminating with the pedophilia crisis. In short, relatively few people, laity and clergy alike, believe anymore. Few believe in eternal punishment and Hell, beliefs that once successfully deterred such behavior far more effectively than the temporal punishments of man.
But what would have been the result today had there been no Vatican II, the dearest, wistful desire of all traditionalists? Could the influence of Protestant countries, steeped in materialism and non-religiosity, been kept at bay in an age of television and easy and convenient travel? Could the Church have kept women in dresses, veils, their homes and maternity clothes within such a paradigm shift within the broader Protestant and Jewish dominated Western culture? Could She have kept her young shielded from the influences of Elvis, the Beatles, Hollywood and the like? Can any faith be long maintained within the midst of such material prosperity? I wonder. “It is easier for a camel….”
In my short story, I make use of the “Many-Worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics which postulates the existence of parallel universes, just as real as our own reality. I, for one, would love to have this question definitely answered by being privileged to view such a parallel universe (if such exist) where all other factors remained as they were in our universe, but there had been no Vatican II. That would be a very interesting hypothetical adventure and, perhaps, a most enlightening one.
So what say ye? Had there been no Vatican II, what do you think the Church would be like today?
olrl.org/misc/jones_stats.shtml
For many years, I was a strident Vat-II basher. Pope John XXIII said let us open the window and let in the fresh air. Rather, he unwittingly allowed in the pollution. But lately, I have been reassessing my views. Perhaps I have blamed too much on the “reformers” of Vatican II, a bunch of old fools, as I would always maintain. After all, there is no fool like an old one, or so it is said.
What many Americans fail to realize is that the Church here prior to Vatican II was far different than it had been in many other parts of the world, such as Latin America and, most especially, in Europe, Her heart. Catholics in America had been a minority. Our ancestors faced the “Know-Nothings,” the KKK, and all sorts of less drastic forms of persecution and discrimination. Therefore, the Church here adopted a sort of fortress mentality and, as a result, being a Catholic was more than just being a member of a particular religion. It became a badge of honor and a source of pride. Being Catholic in the United States meant something. It was an identity to be fervently grasped.
In Europe, however, most countries were either predominately Catholic or Protestant, one or the other. In contrast to the spit and polish posture (as a point of pride) of the American Church, the Church within countries where Catholicism was the historic state religion seemed rather slovenly. Most of the impetus behind Vatican II and its lust for reform came from the European prelature and not from the very conservative American bishops of the time. (Look what has happened to them since!)
However, at the time of Vatican II, the Western World stood on the threshold of radical new changes regarding technology, travel, mass communication and financial prosperity. As dismal as the Church’s state of affairs might be in Southern Europe today, She might be judged as thriving compared to Her “separated brethren” churches in Protestant Northern Europe, where many once flourishing Protestant denominations now seem to be on the point of extinction. Indeed, many within the media have dubbed the current state of affairs to be “post-Christian Europe,” and not without justification.
The rap against Vatican II is that it destroyed faith, and this lack of faith it engendered (by having the perhaps unintended effect of inviting people to question virtually everything) has been responsible for every Church malady since, from the dearth of vocations and radically declining church attendance, to every scandal within the Church in recent times, culminating with the pedophilia crisis. In short, relatively few people, laity and clergy alike, believe anymore. Few believe in eternal punishment and Hell, beliefs that once successfully deterred such behavior far more effectively than the temporal punishments of man.
But what would have been the result today had there been no Vatican II, the dearest, wistful desire of all traditionalists? Could the influence of Protestant countries, steeped in materialism and non-religiosity, been kept at bay in an age of television and easy and convenient travel? Could the Church have kept women in dresses, veils, their homes and maternity clothes within such a paradigm shift within the broader Protestant and Jewish dominated Western culture? Could She have kept her young shielded from the influences of Elvis, the Beatles, Hollywood and the like? Can any faith be long maintained within the midst of such material prosperity? I wonder. “It is easier for a camel….”
In my short story, I make use of the “Many-Worlds” interpretation of quantum mechanics which postulates the existence of parallel universes, just as real as our own reality. I, for one, would love to have this question definitely answered by being privileged to view such a parallel universe (if such exist) where all other factors remained as they were in our universe, but there had been no Vatican II. That would be a very interesting hypothetical adventure and, perhaps, a most enlightening one.
So what say ye? Had there been no Vatican II, what do you think the Church would be like today?