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Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II
www.HarvestingTheFruit.com

The only program of its kind to bear a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur.

Excellent article. I wish we can all help our fellow Catholics understand the true spirit of Vatican II.

From the article by Louie Verrecchio;

"Since so many Catholics have but limited knowledge of Vatican II, the first half of the presentation dealt with the basics – the what, when, why, and how of the Council.

Of these four basic questions, the “why” of the Council is the one I consider to be the most important, because if we don’t know why the Council was called — or put another way, if we don’t know what the Council hoped to accomplish — we are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to interpreting its teachings correctly.

For insight on the Council’s mission, it is helpful to turn to the Opening Address of Pope John XIII:

The salient point of this Council is not a discussion of one article or another of the fundamental doctrine of the Church,” the Holy Father told the bishops present in Rome for the Council’s inaugural session. “The sacred deposit of faith has repeatedly been taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theologians, and is presumed to be well known and familiar to all.

OK… So the sacred deposit of faith is presumably well known by all, but that’s not enough, is it? The answer is no, it’s not. You see, our Catholic faith isn’t just meant to be known, it’s meant to be lived!

And so the Second Vatican Council was called in order to take the timeless truths of our Catholic faith as defined by popes and councils past, and to present them to the world anew; expressing them in ways that modern men and women from all walks of life could most readily understand, and most importantly would find relevant and be able to employ amidst all of the distractions, all of the challenges and indeed all of the new opportunities that exist in the world as we know it.

Now it’s very important we get this right; the Council was called to present the deposit of faith to the world anew — not to present a new deposit of faith to the world; a very big difference and a mistake that far too many people make.

The second half of the presentation was the one that really hit home for those in attendance. It was dedicated to the Council’s view of liturgical reform; a topic that easily could have taken up the entire hour and then some. So getting right to the point I offered the following:

Removing the altar rails and kneelers from so many of our churches
Stripping our sacred places of sacred statues, sacred art and other ornamentation
Getting rid of Gregorian Chant
Introducing the Folk Mass, and instruments like tambourines and drums
Inviting parishioners to receive the Most Holy Eucharist in their hands
Turning the priest around to face the people
Building new churches to resemble theatres in the round
Moving the tabernacle from the high altar to places of relative obscurity
Stripping the Liturgy of the Latin language

What do all of these things have in common? None of them — not one — was even remotely suggested much less encouraged by the Second Vatican Council. Not one.

Some individuals were clearly taken aback to discover that the Council didn’t author these innovations, in fact, one very kind and sweet lady approached me afterwards in tears saying that she was “blown away” by what she had learned.

So why have we moved so far away from the Council’s view of liturgical reform in general — from the elimination of the Latin language, to the introduction of pop music, to a veritable army of laity putting on robes, crowding our sanctuaries, and calling themselves “ministers?”

The reason I suggested to those in attendance is largely this:

We haven’t taken the time to understand what the Council Fathers truly meant by encouraging “fully conscious and active participation on the part of all the faithful in the Sacred Liturgy.”

Given that the Liturgy is “the summit toward which all of the Church’s activity is directed, the font from which all of Her power flows,” (cf SC) and the very centerpiece of our Catholic lives, we spent a little more time on this one topic than any other — more than I can fully relate in this space — but here are some highlights.

The Council Fathers tell us very plainly that pastors of souls “must zealously strive” to promote active participation through “the necessary liturgical instruction” of the faithful.

Now, this instruction does not entail things like telling Agnes to put on the white robe and to join in the opening procession while Walter reads the parish welcome statement. That’s not liturgical instruction; that’s choreography! Yet isn’t this the extent of the instruction that most of us have received in many places over the last forty years? ..."


More here;
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1145