Catholic style over substance

Gregory Baum 

Would you take style tips from this man?

The Second Vatican Council came to a close on December 8, 1965.  Less than four years later, Gregory Baum, a Canadian priest and theologian who had served at the Council as a peritus, was near despair.   Here is the reason, in Baum's own words:

". . . I could not understand why the Catholic Church, despite the good will of clergy and laity and the extraordinary institutional event of Vatican II, had been unable to move and adopt the new style of Catholicism outlined in the conciliar documents."

How great an ignorance of human nature is displayed in Baum's expectation that in a matter of a few years, hundreds of millions of people worldwide would not only read the very voluminous documents of the Council, but discern within their vague and wordy contours the "new style of Catholicism," and then immediately adopt this new style, putting aside the familiar religious practices of their entire lives to do it.  No wonder Baum shortly left the priesthood.  It's unclear whether he is still Catholic.

We will have more on Baum's views on the "new style of Catholicism" in coming posts.

Holy Office silenced on Day Three of Vatican 2

C

 Cardinal Ottaviani, Head of the the Holy Office, 1959 AD - 1968 AD

And thenceforward, to laughter and cheers, according to Msgr. Brunero Gherardini, who was present.  Rorate Caeli has more here.

"The Same Again, Please" (part 2)

 

Saintly priest celebrating Mass

 
The following excerpt from an article published in the November, 1962 Spectator by Evelyn Waugh is taken from "A Bitter Trial," which mainly concerns the correspondence between Waugh and Cardinal Heenan on the post- Vatican 2 changes to the liturgy:

"There is a party among the hierarchy who wish to make superficial but startling changes in the Mass in order to make it more widely intelligible.  The nature of the Mass is so profoundly mysterious that the most acute and holy men are continually discovering further nuances of significance.  It is not a peculiarity of the Roman Church that much which happens at the altar is in varying degrees obscure to most of the worshippers.  It is in fact the mark of all the historic, apostolic Churches.  In some the liturgy is in a dead language such as Ge'ez or Syriac; in others in Byzantine Greek or Slavonic which differs greatly from the current speech of the people."

Hermeneutic of Reform

"Hermeneutic of Reform" performs similar magic on Vatican II

According to Pope Benedict, if you view Vatican II through "hermeneutic of reform" - tinted glasses, it looks much more appealing.   The Lefebvrists have always balked at putting on the magic goggles.  Sandro Magister has more here.

In that case, I would say they fell somewhat short of their object

No enhanced sense of Paschal Mystery here

Pope Benedict says the object of Conciliar Reform was a renewed sense of Paschal Mystery in liturgy.