Thus, if we were to attempt to guess what Vatican II said from what we see in these areas [meaning the mass liturgy as it currently stands, the music used and the art and statues in churches that were altered] today, we will be nothing short of astonished when we read the actual text of Sacrosanctum Concilium.That is profound point.
Perhaps more profound than the author realizes because many Catholics honestly believe that the Vatican 2 mandated that altar rails should be torn out and that more lay people should appear on the altar. They also believe that the English rite we use in North America is mandated by Vatican 2. None of these things are true.
People who believe this—and who believe in a lot of other things that were never in and never intended to be part of Vatican 2—are likely to see what John Paul 2 and now Benedict 16 have been up to as a betrayal of Vatican 2. They are wrong. The betrayal of Vatican 2 is what English-speaking liturgical reformers did back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Read the whole thing.
In Catholic high school. we studied and disected all of the documents of Vatican II as they were published, from freshman through senior year, and read commentaries on them from a variety of sources. Its been many years and I honestly don't know who said what anymore. I had "The Complete Documents of Vatican II" that I loaned someone many years ago and never got back.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, the "betrayal"--if it rises to that level--was by both the uber-Reformers and those who were against any reform. The latter did nothing to educate the faithful on what Vatican II actually said, I suppose hoping no one would notice. The uber-Reformers perhaps went overboard. As I understand it Vatican II called for the celebration of Mass in the vernacular which, again as I understand it, had been the norm going back I don't know how long in all but English speaking countries. Even here in the US, the "National" parishes--Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukranian, and finally Hispanic--had Mass in the vernacular of the people of those parishes long before Vatican II, and still do.
As far as the altar rails, they started disappearing sometime after Vatican II. New churches were built without them and without the confessional "boxes," instead creating a "reconciliation room" out of part of the sacristy for the few who still felt the need for Reconciliation. Where those directives came from I don't know, but I do know that a few years ago the Archbishop here in CT gave the few churches still with altar rails a deadline to have them removed.
It kind of makes you wonder who's in charge doesn't it? The RC Church is just too big to mandate and enforce a "one size fits all" approach anymore. People should--and are--worshipping in ways that are most meaningful to them, all they have to do is shop around and they will find a Catholic church that best suits them.