Agreed.I fall into camp 1. I also think many of the problems of the Church in the US stem from the social impact of the '60s. Not even including V2.
I couldn’t agree more. However, most of the Traditional Catholic I know have no problem with Vatican II. They just love the Tridentine Mass. Of course, these are the younger generation of people who are not shell shocked at some of the scandalous changes that happened during the 60s and 70s. I sympathize with them, even though I don’t agree with them.Agreed.
I think the social pressures including the so-called sexual revolution, the drug culture, civil rights issues, gender issues etc, etc have had an intense impact on every institution.
I agree with most of the people posting to this thread that the implementation of VII was abrupt and at times poorly thought through.
On the other hand, I am in the minority in believing that the “perfect storm” of cultural change would have been much worse on the pre-VII church than the stresses and impact on the VII church. Vatican II created a chuch that has been perhaps too flexible, but I also believe that the rigid reactionary romanticism of some ultra right wing Catholics today, full of lamentation and judgement while fantasizing a golden age that never existed would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous.
The 19th century Roman Catholic Church would not have survived the 20th century except as a haven for sentimentality and escapism. Our God who never changes is also infinitely creative.
Its an interesting question…what if Vatican II had never happened? I don’t know, but I have the feeling that future generations will see Vatican II as a positive turning point in the history of the church.The Chancellor