Blessed is the Kingdom

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Vatican II & Growing Pains

This week I would like to begin a series of posts on the Second Vatican Council and its effects on the Catholic Church today as we continue our attempt to put the documents of the council into practice. My own thoughts on the council are that we are still struggling to come to terms with all that it produced. As someone who was born shortly after the close of the council as the child of converts to the faith, I never experienced the church prior to the council, nor was I brought up in a family whose nostalgia for the old days was present. My first experiences of hearing people talk about how the church is now versus how it used to be came about during my time as a seminarian.

One thing that continues to strike me is the wide agreement among both those who consider themselves progressive as well as those who would call themselves traditional Catholics about what happened at the council and my disagreement with both groups. Throughout my ten years as a priest I have heard again and again from the so-called progressive wing of the church that Vatican II was a huge break from tradition and what a breath of fresh air that break was at the time. The only thing that saddens this group is that the council did not go far enough. On the other side of the fence, I have heard repeatedly from those claiming the traditional stance that Vatican II was a huge break from tradition and for that reason we need to rescind most, if not all, of what came about as a result of the council. For all the disputes between these two groups, it seems that one thing they can agree on is this break from tradition. This is where I respectfully disagree. In my time of studying the council documents, I see time and again not a break from tradition, but a connection that flows back to the earliest years of our church.

In the coming posts I hope to explore what I believe to be some of the things I have found less than useful in the polarization that has occurred in our church since the council and why I believe these arguments are the wrong ones for us as a church to be engaged in. I hope you will add your voices to this discussion by sharing your impressions of both the Second Vatican Council and the way it has effected the Church up to this present day.

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About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • http://www.fromthepulpitofmylife.blogspot.com/ Ruth Ann

    Fr. Christian, I am delighted that you want to explore this topic, and I will be an avid reader of your posts on the topic, and I will contribute, too.

    For now I will offer this. I was 16 when Vatican Council II began. At my Catholic H.S. in Chicago, my homeroom teacher and religion teacher, Sr. M. Jerome, assigned us to follow the Vatican II events as they emerged. Every week I read The New World, the newspaper of our Archdiocese, which had outlines of the schemas that were being discussed, debated, and voted upon. The television and radio also had glimpses of Vatican Council II news. It was thrilling for me to learn what was happening. It was a great benefit to be “in the loop” and by the time the decisions of the Council were implemented, which happened gradually, I was ready. But for many of those who were older, no longer in school, and who didn’t follow what was happening, I think the changes were upsetting.

    I was a happy Catholic before the Vatican Council II, during the Vatican Council II, and afterwards as well. I truly believe the Holy Spirit is at work in our Church and guides it.

  • http://adorotedevote.blogspot.com Adoro

    I’m looking forward to what you are going to say, Father.

    My Master’s degree (completed just this May) was very heavy on Vatican II, which I agree revealed strongly the hermeneutic of continuity. It wasn’t intended to bring about extremes or to deny tradition, but rather to address issues within the Church that needed to be addressed!

    Having had to read deeply of the documents for three years in nearly (if not every) course we took really opened my eyes and I truly wish EVERYONE could see the beauty within them.

    (By the way, I’m neither a progressive or a trad…I am Catholic. Pure and simple.)

  • Greg Jobe

    For the first time, I don’t think that I will have anything to offer, but I am very interested to follow the discussion. I hope that you don’t mind someone from the Protestant tradition eavesdropping.

    Continued blessings on your service to the Lord.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thanks for the early comments y’all. I am pretty sure that we will have a good discussion, especially with some folks present who lived through the council and who have studied it probably more thoroughly than I have. My hope is to open a discussion on how we can still find a source of renewal for the church in these beautiful documents of the council, instead of turning to the silliness and bitterness that has characterized most of the conversation and actions in the church since the close of the council. And by the way Greg, you always have something to offer, but if eavesdropping is more comfortable with the subject matter, you are welcome to do all of it you like!

  • http://avowofconversation.wordpress.com Macrina Walker

    Father Christian, I’m pleased to see you addressing this. I’d probably better not say to much, although I pretty much appreciate your perspective here. But I wanted to ask you if you know Timothy Radcliffe’s What is the point of being a Christian? It’s a few years since I read it, but he has a couple of chapters that address the polarisation between progressive and conservative Catholics, and some very insightful remarks which I think are important.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thanks Macrina. I have not read the book, but will check it out. I had Dominican teachers in high school, so maybe they planted similar thoughts in my brain without my realizing it.

  • http://pithlessthoughts.blogspot.com/2004/08/election.html s-p

    I’m looking forward to the series even as a now-Orthodox Christian. ALL Churches have voices crying out for the old days and others for making Tradition relevant to the culture and time. The EO is no different.

  • http://www.fromthepulpitofmylife.blogspot.com/ Ruth Ann

    Radcliffe’s book is very good. I also heard him speak on the subject of healing divisions in the Church about 4-5 years ago, when he was keynote speaker at the L.A. Religious Ed. Congress .

  • http://happyentanglements.blogspot.com Mark G.

    I’m glad you’re doing this series, Father, though I’m not sure I will survive the elevation in blood pressure it is sure to engender!

    I also won’t be able to comment as I’m sure I’d like – I’m studying for my Philosophy final exam this Thursday & I leave for China on Friday.

    I’m not sure your comment box is big enough anyway. Perhaps I will counter-post responses on my blog site as I have a chance to think them through.

    One quick thought…

    It is impossible for a Catholic to not be a Traditionalist, that is, to understand & live the Faith in the light of Sacred Tradition.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Hey Mark,

    Well if I am getting your blood pressure up, I know that I am succeeding at my job!

    I do think you are right that Catholics have to be tied to Tradition. The question in my mind is what is the definition of Tradition? My challenge to many “traditionalists” is that our Tradition goes back further than the 1950′s American version of the Council of Trent.

    Of course we haven’t yet gotten to Dei Verbum, but I would imagine that will bring about a good discussion on the subject of Sacred Tradtion.

  • http://happyentanglements.blogspot.com Mark G.

    Yeah, I agree; I know a lot of those people (to give them credit, though, nostalgia for the old days is probably better in many respects than the what has been served up in many parishes in recent times).

    But I’m thinking of a drug-out-of-you-house-in-the-middle-of-the-night-because-your-neighbors-turned-you-in-for-being-suspected-Christians kind of Tradition that goes back to the beginning and strikes down to the roots. Tradition is what you’re willing to die for when standing before the tribunal.

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