Welcome to Conciliaria, where you can relive the moving and hope-filled days of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Council, we offer day-to-day coverage, utilizing archival reporting from that time, contemporary documents and special guest correspondents who will step into a time machine to report on the dramatic events as though they were there 50 years ago.
The Most Authoritative Reporting
Our content partners include some of the most respected Catholic publications in the world: archival content from America, the national Catholic weekly founded by the Jesuits in 1909; Commonweal, the national lay Catholic weekly founded in 1924, and excerpts from the Council Daybook, published by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the predecessor organization to the United States Council of Catholic Bishops. On Conciliaria you will also find documents which are difficult to find in English translation—or that are translated here for the first time. Reference sources include the most authoritative histories, memoirs and journals with a record of accurate information about the Council. Our guest correspondents are prominent writers who will go back 50 years ago to report on events while confining their analysis to what was known then.
What It’s All About
You Can Be a Part of This Historic Event
Pass on the gifts of Good Pope John. Are you a diocesan archivist, historian or communications director who would like to honor the legacy of your past bishop who participated in the Council? Share your official profile or memoirs! A biographer of a Council Father, peritus or observer? Send a chapter! Do you have mementos to share? Send images! Are you the custodian of letters or memoirs? Send us a copy! Do you have archival content? Be a partner! Any language welcome!
Drop us a note at info@conciliaria.com and share what you have with the world!
Some Reliable Sources on the Council
Web Sites
- In Verbo Veritatis. The blog of the eminent Council historian Fr. Joseph A. Komonchak
- Fr. Komonchak’s posts on Dot Commonweal. Some are cross-posts from his own blog, but with the added component of lively discussion.
- The Melkite Church at the Council. Discourses and Memoranda of Patriarch Maximos IV and of the Hierarchs of His Church at the Second Vatican Council
- Letters from Vatican City. The famous series with all the behind-the-scenes drama by the pseudonymous Xavier Rynne in The New Yorker; some articles may require subscription.
- The Conciliar Documents on the Vatican Site. Official translations of all the documents in various languages
- Posts About the Council at Vox Nova. Vox Nova is a group blog of Catholics from diverse backgrounds.
Who’s Who at Conciliaria
William T. Ditewig
Ordained a deacon for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC in 1990, William T. Ditewig, Ph.D., spent 22 years in the Navy as a linguist and cryptologic officer. Bill has a BA in Philosophy, an MA in Education, another MA in Pastoral Theology, and a Ph.D. in Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington. He specializes in ecclesiology and sacramental theology, and has written extensively on Vatican II, lay ministry and on the renewal of the diaconate in the Latin church.
Since retiring from the Navy in 1993, Bill has served in a variety of parish, diocesan, national and international ministries. From 2002-2007 he was Executive Director of the Secretariat for the Diaconate at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington; from 2005-2007 he was concurrently the interim Executive Director of the USCCB’s Secretariat for Evangelization. From 2007-2011, Bill was Professor of Theology and Director of the MA in Theology program at Saint Leo University near Tampa, Florida. He is now Dean’s Executive Professor of Theology at Santa Clara University, and the Director of Faith Formation, Diaconate and Planning for the Diocese of Monterey.
Scott Dodge
Ordained a deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2004, Scott Dodge, M.Div., currently ministers at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. Deacon Scott plans Conciliaria coverage, identifies and recruits correspondents and is himself a contributor. He is the author of the blog Καθολικός διάκονος and a contributor to the Italian news portal Il Sussidario.
Maurice Timothy Reidy
Tim Reidy is the web editor of America Magazine in New York. For Conciliaria he curates archival content that appeared in America during the Council. He joined America’s staff in October 2006 after three years as associate editor at Commonweal magazine. A graduate of Princeton University, he wrote his senior thesis in the religion department on the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. Following graduation, he worked for two years at an inner city Catholic school before attending the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. For three years, he worked as a staff writer at The Hartford Courant. His work has appeared in Commonweal, TNR Online, The New York Times, and the Columbia Journalism Review.
Eric Stoltz
Ordained a deacon of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2004, Eric Stoltz currently ministers at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Deacon Eric is the designer, builder and chief cat herder of Conciliaria. He is a co-author of Ascend: The Catholic Faith for a New Generation, named the best popular explanation of the Catholic Faith for 2009 by the Catholic Press Association. He has organized and co-led three interfaith pilgrimages to the Holy Land with Jews, Christians and Muslims and for four years ministered to incarcerated gang members through the chaplain’s office in Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail. Deacon Eric is employed as a product engineer at a medical information technology company in Los Angeles. When not working at his day job, ministering at the parish or working on Conciliaria, Deacon Eric might be engaged in genealogical research.
Contact Conciliaria: info@conciliaria.com