Vatican 2, 50 years later

National Catholic Reporter has a piece on the 50th anniversary (yesterday) of Pope John XXIII’s decision to convene the Second Vatican Council. Granted, Vatican 2 didn’t actually convene until 1962, and didn’t wrap things up until 1965, but it’s a momentous date nonetheless. From the piece by Jason Petosa: “Today, for many liberal Catholics, the […]

National Catholic Reporter has a piece on the 50th anniversary (yesterday) of Pope John XXIII’s decision to convene the Second Vatican Council. Granted, Vatican 2 didn’t actually convene until 1962, and didn’t wrap things up until 1965, but it’s a momentous date nonetheless.

From the piece by Jason Petosa:

“Today, for many liberal Catholics, the successes of the Council remain too little, too late. Crafty, sometimes vengeful conservative prelates have been rolling back reform. They are demolishing Camelot, stone by stone.


What to do now? How do we finally break out of decades of post-Vatican II infighting between those calling for more reform and those resisting it in all shades?

Forgiveness, it seems, is the first step to renewing the stored up hopes of Vatican II. We must forgive our popes – Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI – as well as well as the rest of the church hierarchy, and others responsible for resisting and not carrying out the will of the council, for putting us in our present predicament. And, galling though it may be, we must ask the conservatives and reactionaries to forgive us for what we, too, have done-or not done-to bring us to this sorry state.”

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