Proof of the Vatican II effect

More 'user friendly' than a crucifix

One of my nephews recently attended a get together of his year at his old Catholic Primary School somewhere north of Watford.

This was a real re-union of old boys and girls who had attended the school right on the cusp of the changes enforced during and after the Council, a little over forty years ago.

I hope my nephew will not mind my saying that he has drifted away from the Church but I know that the seed of faith lies within him still and I pray (as for all my relations who have fallen away) that, he will, in time return.

His observations on his experience on re-visiting the school for the first time in many years are interesting, riveting, actually.

Here is his account in his own words:-

"Last month I went to a reunion of my primary school and met people I
haven't seen for over forty years.

 I also got to look round my old school - which was quite disturbing - the contrast
is greater because, not having kids myself, I haven't been exposed to the
changes in education. 

The altar in the school hall was gone and has been replaced by a piano.

 I spotted one crucifix in the whole school (previously there was one in each classroom). 

And there were posters on the wall talking about "feeling" and "empathy". 

It didn't feel very Catholic any more.

Also, there were hardly any books in the place other than the kind of
large print children's books which I would say were for five year olds.....

........ this event was its 50th Anniversary reunion.

The posters on the wall had a list of the pupils' names in one column,
and then a series of columns with different "emotions" happy, sad,
depressed, angry etc. 

The title was something like "How do I feel today?

Implication was that each pupil had to mark how they felt each day for
everyone else to see.

When I was a pupil myself, I remember there being a large map of the
Holy Land on the wall.

Quite a shock!"

My note: Heavily edited and made anonymous as far as the school is concerned.

But what can a Bishop do?

                       Get rid of the magic wand and pick up the crozier


I hope that, one day, some interested soul will conduct a review of the past fifty years in terms of practical initiatives as introduced by the Bishops of England and Wales.

To catalogue them and to identify those that were successful and those not.

It would not be an arduous task; the list, I suspect, could be written on the back of a penny catechism.

I can recall one outstanding bit of jiggery pokery, the introduction, back in the 1970s of the pernicious secondary school RE programme called "Weaving the Web".

Maybe I am falsely accusing their Lordships, perhaps "Weaving the Web" was slipped on to the agenda while they were at the annual Eccleston Square Golf Tournament or some such other vital function of the post Vatican II era.

But the fact is, they allowed it to rumble on ad nauseum, spreading disaffection wherever it was taught ('Jesus was a Prophet, you know').

How could the Bishops transform their act today to inspire the hearts of the faithful and foster unswerving loyalty (rather than fear) from their priests?

Here is an episcopal shopping list; it's not long. The Bishops would not have to labour from dawn to dusk to implement it.

In fact, they would have to 'do' very little, just act as leaders. That, in itself would be a great start.

1. Jointly review the Catholic Education Service and create a curriculum for Primary and Secondary Schools designed to inspire love and instil knowledge regarding the Catholic Faith.

2. Assess the ration between priests and parishes and carry out a ten year projection regarding human resource provision. Then, act as Pope Emeritus Benedict suggested they should and look to creating a federated parish system so that groups of priests, living together under one roof could provide for clusters of parishes - it's not sufficient to wave banners stating 'Don't close our parish' something has to be done to ensure provision of the Mass and Sacraments, now.

3. Re-evaluate the policy of taking young priests from developing countries and dropping them into a parish in the middle of nowhere, expecting them to shepherd the flock in a manner often quite alien to the sheep themselves.

4. Require all religious under their command to wear clerical dress or a habit at all times in public.

5. Write a 'Catholic Charter' setting out, bullet point fashion, all the key areas concerning religious/political matters eg No Catholic should approve of homosexual acts as they constitute a mortal sin, All Catholics must oppose Government plans for Same Sex "Marriage" etc.

6. Restore reverence within their churches; genuflection, altar rails, centrally placed tabernacles and altars, rather than tables, to come back while Mass crèches and Extraordinary Ministers to go.

7. Issue a directive regarding liturgical practice, no female altar servers, Masses celebrated Ad orientum, no dancing or shenanigans on the sanctuary.

8. The EF Mass to be provided at least once each week at every church (and not at 4.15pm)

9. Legion of Mary, SVP and Pro Life groups to be encouraged in every parish.

10. Establish a new role for the nuns of the Diocese, give them direction and objectives and targets to achieve.

I am sure that you will be able to add to this list but, even if they could only implement these ten points, just think what changes would be wrought.

And still time for a round of golf on Wednesday afternoon!

You are so NOT Vatican II!

H/T to Ron Garcia for this.......

What did you do in the Great Apostasy Daddy?

Well my child, I, um....I err.......prevaricated. That's it, I prevaricated!

In fact, I even got a medal for prevarication. You see when the changes began I decided that I should go along with all that was proposed, I was even one of the few who ripped out some beautiful old wooden communion rails in an undercover operation.

And then, after the first year or two I really got stuck in and stormed my parish church in an attempt to remove this bulky old marble altar. 

Along with a few other brave lads we managed to establish a foothold on the sanctuary where we placed this very plain wooden table affair in place of the old altar. 

Cor lummy, did we take some flak over that!

I think it's fair to say that when I was made up to lay reader, I felt that it was no more than my due and that really signalled our assault on the liturgy itself when we attacked Gregorian Chant and replaced it with some really crappy secular stuff........that showed 'em who was who.

I have to be honest and say that, at first, we had things easy, nothing could withstand our forces but then the civvy population began to catch on and then we had snipers and rockets coming at us from all directions. 

But we gave as good as we got and before long I was made up to special forces....yes, I became a Special Eucharistic Minister.

Of course, I couldn't tell you kids what was going on - all top secret stuff you understand? Me and your mother managed to keep all of that nasty hermeneutic of continuity stuff well away from you.

You've got a lot to thank my generation for; keeping schtum about the richness of the Latin Mass, making sure you never laid eyes on a catechism, keeping all the essential truths from you.

Blinding you to the fact that, without the true teachings of the Faith you could well end up in H**** (we don't use that word compris?).

I pride myself on being the main one in our household to forbid the 'sin' word. 

After the Great Apostasy I felt that we should be more tolerant so anything remotely resembling sin was banned and we began to put our lives back in order and living comfortably alongside Abortion, Contraception, IVF, Euthanasia, Homosexuality and all our other new allies.

It was me who told you that it was OK to miss Mass on Sundays and that, in no way was it a mortal sin to do so, or that, in all probability it would condemn you to hell that place. 

And you can also thank me for telling you that it was OK for you to shack up with your boyfriend and live as man and wife. After all, it's love really and that is what being a Catholic is all about. Love.

As long as you love things nothing else matters; there, that's my word on the matter, pass me my old magazine will you?......that's it, The Tablet, the best bit of propaganda we had in those dark days in the benches.