Being a new Catholic Revert that was born in 1960 I never knew anything about Vatican i and Vatican ii. I am just learning about the differences now. I am somewhat astonished over the videos I see that accuse Vatican ii of being apostate! Sadly, when it comes to Christianity, it seems you just can’t win. Everyone is accusing others of going to hell. I never thought I would see it in the Catholic Church. But I am not here to start trouble. I just want to become more educated on the subject. To be honest, I really like the old fashion tradition of the Church. Perhaps I would like a church that practices in the Vatican i kind of way. Are there Catholics that still do Mass like they did in Vatican i? Is there a schism in the Church?
First, all of Vatican I can be found repeated, almost verbatim, in the texts of Vatican II.
It should be remembered that Vatican I was intended to cover much, much more ground than it did; however, Providence had other plans for the Church. Vatican I left the Church with a lop-sided emphasis on the nature of the Church, focusing on the institution of the Papacy, which Vatican I covered, but not the nature of the whole Church or even just the Church on earth.
Now given the nature of the Papacy as “the rock” upon which the Lord would “build [His] Church”, it makes sense that this would be covered first and its role be emphasized; however, the Papacy exists for the sake of God’s Church, not the Church for the sake of the Papacy. The apparent “change” in some respects in this regard following Vatican I was just the pendulum swinging back to centre; however, and no doubt, in many places it seems to have swung too far in the opposite direction, thus admitting a neglect of the Papal Magisterium, which is a special part of the Church’s Magisterium and cannot be ignored or neglected or dismissed - let alone “cherry picked”. I see a lot of folks from either side of the spectrum (Traditionalists and Progressives) who “cherry pick” the Papal Magisterium or even just ignore it outright. Indeed such appeals can tempt us all when we do not “like” or otherwise we misunderstand some teaching or direction from the Church’s Magisterium.
Some Trads, for example, will try to appeal to what they take for being “Sacred Tradition” over against a Pope, (which is the same error as trying to appeal from a Pope’s judgement to a Council), while Progressives will sometimes select and distort texts from Vatican II (or give a novel reading of them) to try to annul or otherwise cancel something from the Papal Magisterium of the Living Magisterium of the Church. But it’s the Church’s Magisterium that has final authority over the interpretation of the texts of the Council, so this is a vanity. Neither is healthy for a Catholic and each could possibly become a springboard for a schism.