We briefly interrupt our series on the New Age to note this possibly landmark day.
It is the fourth anniversary of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum and if rumours reported in the French press (Le Figaro) are to be believed, a day of potential earthquake (English translation here).
If such reports have truth, they suggest nothing less than a tectonic shift – a reversal of Vatican policy in the 46 years since Vatican II.
We shall need to wait and see – and pray.
Even if the reports are not true, there is substance for hope. At least something posted at a very liberal Catholic forum (www.catholica.com.au) has come to my attention and brought me hope.
It speaks volumes in itself, I think.
Given time, I could comment at great length. Lacking time, I shall just post it as is (albeit with some paragraph breaks added) – with one or two brief remarks afterward.
The reality is Vatican II is as dead as a dodo now.
In the official church of the future you can look forward to a return to all the old devotions, the look, the language, the music, even the architecture and vestments, and the mindset encouraged by the likes of Pius IX and Pius X.
The small remnant element who never accepted anything about Vatican II, who were originally led by Cardinal Ottaviani, have won.
They sincerely believe that when they have created their “smaller, purer church” the vast masses of humanity will eventually come flooding back to what they see as the “beauty” of this style of Catholicism.
Only time will be the judge if they have made the right call or otherwise.
These people who have siezed [sic] back control of the Catholic agenda are as zealous and self-righteous that they are the only one’s who know the will of Almighty God as Islamic fundamentalists who wish to impose Sharia Law on the world. They are not going to let go.
The vast, vast majority of Catholics are totally apathetic about the development and prefer to simply vote with their feet and leave the ideologues to their games.
Look forward to far more perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the return of altar rails, mantila lace veils for the ladies, the first Friday and first Saturday devotions, more plaster statues, no eating meat on Fridays, Saturday afternoon novenas, nuns and priests in habits, etc., etc. etc.
For those into all this sort of stuff a “golden age” of Catholicism is returning.
You can almost guarantee though there will be very few in the pews and eventually there will be very few pews or even churches needed to hold them.
Welcome to the future of Catholicism!
Yes just in itself, there is so much to reflect on here. For now, just two hurried comments.
There are two tremendous ironies – at least! – here.
First:
The massive emptying of Catholic pews happened in the aftermath of the changes this writer evidently applauds.
That is to say, when the altar rails were ripped out, the statues destroyed, the First Friday and Saturday devotions to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts cancelled, nuns and priests stopped wearing habits, etc etc – this was the precise time when church attendance began to plummet, vocations plummetted, baptisms and confirmations, conversions plummetted etc.
Conversions in the UK for example reached an all-time high in 1959. People were evidently attracted by what they saw. The pattern in America in the 1950’s was similar. Catholicism gained ground in these strongly Protestant cultures right up until the 1960’s. It was only following the changes of the 1960’s that this pattern clearly reversed and the mass exodus from the Church began in earnest.
Second, regarding:
“These people who have siezed [sic] back control of the Catholic agenda are as zealous and self-righteous that they are the only one’s who know the will of Almighty God as Islamic fundamentalists who wish to impose Sharia Law on the world. They are not going to let go.”
The phrase “seized back control” is very telling.
Because dear Reader, in fourteen years of studying this problem – reading thousands of pages on both sides from ultra-liberal to extremely traditional, I am convinced of the following:
In the 1960’s and 1970’s an often ruthless group did indeed seize control of the Church … The writer of the post above seems to recognise the same, even if unconsciously.
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