Opinion on Catholic Video

[CSPaxChristi]

Can I have your opinions on this video. I find it very similar to the story of my family. My family was devoutly catholic before I was born, but I always wondered why that changed. I never got a clear answer by them but I truly belive that it was because of the changes that occurred to the church after V2. Now sadly; I am the only practicing Catholic in my family who is begining to go to mass again every Sunday.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I am a convert to the Catholic faith. I was born in 1952 and grew up in the Episcopal
church. I V2 also influenced the Episcopal church, but in the Catholic church you still had your authority in the Pope and the Magesterium. The Episcopal church didn’t and it continued to unravel.
We can’t go back and I hear people in their
80’s who loved the changes brought by V2.
To be honest, if I woke up tomorrow and the Pope announced a return to the Mass
in Latin, I would be okay with that. It would not make me leave the Church.
We get nostalgic about the past. I was born in a Catholic hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy. I miss those Catholic hospitals run by the Sisters.
The times were changing. Did our churches let us down? I know the Episcopal church let me down. Humanae
Vitae was a warning for our generation and nobody paid attention so we can’t blame falling church attendance all on V2.
A lot of us wanted to be selfish and live for pleasure.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think there were positives and negatives to V2, but I don’t think V2 is why people quit practicing their Catholicism. Most likely they would have quit even if V2 hadn’t happened. People want to use birth control, get divorced and remarried, have sex and live together before marriage, maybe even have abortions, etc and they don’t want to hear a church telling them it’s not OK, nor do they want to be told they need to go to church every Sunday or else.

In past eras (up through about the 1950s) there was a big social stigma attached to most of the above things, with the possible exception of birth control, but the Pill hadn’t been invented yet so birth control wasn’t as prevalent or as effective as it became when women could just take the Pill. The Pill also caused a huge increase in previously forbidden sexual behavior, like sex before marriage, because the fear/ risk of an unwanted pregnancy was greatly reduced.

Add in the clergy sexual abuse scandals that have plagued the Church since the late 1980s and the fact that so many priests and religious during the 70s and 80s didn’t act in ways that would command respect and in many cases just quit their religious vows or even quit the Church entirely, and people have more excuses to leave… “well who’s that priest to be telling me what to do when the priests are all committing sex scandals of their own, and quitting the church so they can marry ex-nuns” etc.

It’s pretty easy for people to walk out on a church that handing them difficult teachings and going through scandals when they don’t have much idea why they were even going to church in the first place, didn’t have a personal connection to Jesus or the Eucharist or didn’t think experiencing Jesus through the Catholic faith was important. It’s not like keeping a traditional Latin Mass would have fixed this problem by making everybody more reverent or making them see how the Eucharist was important etc.

 

[TomH1]

I think people have a tendency to see the past through rose-tinted glasses. They have this unfounded idea that everything was better in the past. My mother always talks as if everyday of her childhood was filled with hot sunny days. Unless the British weather has significantly changed, and it has not, that cannot be true. I think priests wielded greater power back in say the 40s and 50s than they do now, but then people were generally more pliant to any source of authority. Those who think the Church was in a wonderful position prior to Vatican II do not have historical fact on their side. Society was changing before St John XXIII called his council and it would have continued to change and Catholics would have changed with it even if nothing in the Church had changed.

 

[Crusader13]

The video was decent. It hints at what could’ve been, had V2 not altered so much of what many now refer to as Traditional Catholicism. I used to be one of those Catholics who didn’t give much thought to V2. The Novos Ordo, The NAB, Communion in the hand, lay Eucharistic ministers, contemporary Christian music during mass, holding of hands during the our Father, etc etc… This was the Catholic Church that I grew up with, so I didn’t know how different things were prior to the 70’s.

It is true that much of what took place during V2, didn’t just emerge during the council. In reality, many of the seeds were planted decades prior to Pope John XXIII’s papacy; V2 was merely their opportunity to begin implementing many of those ideas. I’m not a fan of V2 as a whole, to me it seemed like a power struggle between those who chose to cling to our Traditions and those who wanted to strip them away in favor of a more modern and protestant friendly form of Catholicism.

 

[Justin_Mary]

The video was decent. It hints at what could’ve been, had V2 not altered so much of what many now refer to as Traditional Catholicism

I’m not getting that. His neighborhood changed. All our neighborhoods changed. Schools changed.

Vatican II or not, that neighborhood he grew up in, in the shadow of the steeple changed.

I grew up post Vatican II. for all I know, we (as a people) would be in a worse place had it not been for Vatican II weeding out the chaff (I’m not saying that is what it was, just that it could have been).

There was a time when God scattered His people all over the known world so they would turn back to Him. Still He was not recognized when he came to them.

Some did recognize Him. They were in the minority.

All I’m saying, whatever is happening God has not left us. The gates of hell will not prevail.

 

[CSPaxChristi]

Thank you all for your responses. I also don’t believe that V2 was completely at fault for the current condition of the church. I believe that after V2 many priest, bishops, etc… saw an opportunity to implement their agendas. As for the changing of culture; it is true that culture began to change, but what many clergy within the church did was not mention or combat the change. Many clergy instead went with the change. Also my grandmother before her passing was still a Catholic who went on pilgrimages, church, etc…, but I belive that she did not like the changes implemented by her local priest. Out of many local priests that she had one of them even said that as long as you feel sorry for your sins and confess them personally to God that’s all you have to do before receiving communion. It’s sad to see all these changes in the church, but I belive that God has not abondend the Church and that it will be restored to it’s once former glory.

 

[Crusader13]

There was a time when God scattered His people all over the known world so they would turn back to Him. Still He was not recognized when he came to them.

Well Bruce isn’t the first “celebrity” I’ve heard mention that they had fond memories of growing up with the Tridentine Mass. I think many who do recall what Mass was like prior to the implementation of the NO, have a tendency to refer to it with more admiration than what they see now. I’m not saying that Springsteen or any of the others should be the standard by which we compare the changes, but it is worth noting.

I realize this isn’t an easy topic to discuss, simply because there are volumes of books that have been written documenting the changes made after V2 and the connections between those who made them. I just feel that everything is connected in some way to the losses we endured as a result of the liturgical changes which, I don’t think were ever intended.

 

[Justin_Mary]

Well Bruce isn’t the first “celebrity” I’ve heard mention that they had fond memories of growing up with the Tridentine Mass. I think many who do recall what Mass was like prior to the implementation of the NO, have a tendency to refer to it with more admiration than what they see now. I’m not saying that Springsteen or any of the others should be the standard by which we compare the changes, but it is worth noting.

I know Bruce says he appreciated the Latin Mass & that the whole culture, Mass, school, neighbors… influenced who he is, but I didn’t hear him contrast it to what we have today.

In fact I don’t think that is a good video for the point the producers were shooting for. “Here is a man who grew up with the old way & loved it. Never mind his politics & fallen state. He is a product of the old way which is better.”

 

[CradleRC58]

I don’t think Bruce had Vatican II in mind that night. And I did not sense he was painting a rosy picture. At the end before he started singing he mentioned the demons.