Eyewitness Impressions of the Role of the American Hierarchy in Rome

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Maurice Timothy Reidy

A few cynics have taken a bankrupt view of Vatican II. In their eyes, it was a failure before it began on October 11, 1962, and this because it bad set itself the task of doing too much in too short a time, with inadequate preparation and against forces of traditionalism too entrenched to be overcome by the Holy Spirit Himself. The correct and realistic view, on the other hand, is that the Council was a success before it met in the first general congregation of its first session.

This hopeful appraisal is supported by several considerations. Vatican II, besides focusing the eyes of the world on the Church assembled in all her impressive solemnity and solidarity, has, by the very fact of being convoked, created a new atmosphere of amity and urgency with respect to the unity of all Christians. It has opened windows locked for centuries. It has provided an immense showcase for a display of the democratic side of the Church’s life. It has ventilated questions long shut away unanswered. And it has done this in a setting of overwhelming evidence of the faith, devotion, zeal, general competence and amazing catholicity of the bishops of the whole earth. Continue reading →

Reports From Rome

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Maurice Timothy Reidy

From America, November 24, 1962:

Two letters furnish some on-the-spot observations of the Council’s progress

ROME—Pomp and circumstance have their place in deliberations of the Ecumenical Council which convened in Rome the second week of October. But the big televised moments are few, while the hours upon hours of close, detailed, generally serene, but often momentarily heated discussion are many.

Council Fathers who wish to speak must present their names three days in advance. At the beginning of each day’s meeting—after Mass, which has become by custom a dialogue Mass—the names of the day’s speakers are read out in the order in which they are to address the Council. Continue reading →

49 Bishops at Council From Communist Countries

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Deacon Eric Stoltz

Forty-nine bishops from Red-ruled countries secured permission to attend the Second Vatican Council.

Most numerous are bishops from Poland and Yugoslavia. But other bishops are from Cuba, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and East Germany.

Only one of the three cardinals whose nations have been taken over by communism is present. He is Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, Primate of Poland and Archbishop of Warsaw. The other two cardinals are impeded in their duties.

Among the conspicuously absent are bishops from mainland China where brutal physical persecution of the Church and its officials continues and where the regime has set up a fake “Catholic Church.” Continue reading →

Expanded Role Suggested for National Bishops’ Conferences

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Deacon Eric Stoltz

A proposal has been advanced at the ecumenical council to permit national episcopal conferences to deal with the detailed application of changes in the liturgy.

This was disclosed at a press conference held (Oct. 27) after the eighth general council meeting and conducted by American priest-experts to help the English- speaking press follow the work of the council.

Father Edward Heston, C.S.C., procurator general of the Holy Cross Fathers, said a proposal to allow national conferences of bishops to deal with changes and alterations in the liturgy has been made, but that it is not clear at present how these conferences might act.

He said the question is whether a conference would be allowed to make decisions without referring them to Rome for final approval.

If the proposal is adopted, it would be up to the council Fathers to lay down general norms and principles governing liturgical renewal within the universal Church, while letting the working out of details remain with regional or national bishops’ conferences, which would be able to make decisions more accurately and sensitively meeting the needs of their various areas.

Father Frederick R. McManus, canon law professor at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and past president of the U.S. Liturgical Conference, pointed out at the time that in several instances national conferences have been authorized to handle liturgical changes for their areas.

As an example he cited the recent decree on adult Baptism, which authorized national conferences to draw up the appropriate vernacular for the rite and to supervise its usage. This, he said, serves as a precedent which could be used as a more general solution to the problems of applying universal principles to specific problems in specific areas.

From Council Daybook: Vatican II, Sessions 1 and 2, Floyd Anderson, ed. © 1965 by The National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. Used by permission of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the successor organization to the NCWC. All rights reserved.

The First Vatican Council

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Maurice Timothy Reidy

From the September 8, 1962 of America, an brief account of the American bishops who went to another Council in 1869:

The First Vatican Council opened amid great pomp and splendor on December 8, 1869. Not quite eleven months later, it was adjourned sine die in consequence of the occupation of Rome by the troops of Victor Emmanuel II. For all practical purposes, the working sessions of the Council had ceased on July 18, 1870, the day on which Pope Pius IX solemnly proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility.

In the seven months between December and July, some 700 Fathers met in 86 general congregations and four public sessions to discuss topics, which ranged from contemporary German philosophical theories and the interrelation of faith and science, to the elaboration of a universal elementary catechism. But it was the final two months of debate which have written the largest page in the history of the Church.

From May 14 to July 16, the Council considered the twin topics of papal primacy and infallibility. On July 18, the Fathers gave their nearly unanimous consent to the definition of these two prerogatives. A few inconclusive and sparsely attended meetings were held during the summer of 1870. The Council was then suspended by an Apostolic Letter dated October 20, 1870. Its sessions were never resumed. The coming Second Vatican Council will be an entirely new assembly. Continue reading →

The Call of the Council

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Deacon Eric Stoltz

Within the space of a few years, the annual Pastoral Letters of Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, have achieved an important place in American Catholic life. His The Christian and The Community (1960) and Moral Values and The American Society (1961) were widely and justly acclaimed for the balanced and wise contributions they made to some central and persistent discussions. His latest Pastoral Letter, The Call of The Council, is equally worthy of praise.

Describing, first of all, the role of the Councils in the history of the Church, Cardinal Cushing goes on to point out the moral crisis apparent in contemporary life. He then discusses the purposes of the forthcoming Second Council of the Vatican: the growth of the Church, the renewal of the spirit of the Gospel, the adjustment of Church discipline to modern life, and the unity of Christians. Continue reading →

Cardinal Montini: ‘Pensiamo al Concilio’ Part VII

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Deacon Scott Dodge and Stefania Gioia Wiley

The seventh and final installment of Cardinal Montini’s Lenten pastoral letter, written from Rome, where he is serving on boards and commissions that are making preparations for the upcoming council. See also Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.

55- Therefore, the Church celebrating the coming council is planning to get in touch with the world. Think about it carefully: this is a great act of love. The Church will not only think about herself, the Church will think about the whole of mankind. She will think about it, bearing in that She is the continuation of Christ, the incarnate Word, who entered the world to save it, whatever situation he would have found (Cfr Congar..: “the Church “does not exist just to be beautiful and to look at herself in the mirror saying: how beautiful I am, I am the bride of the Lord, I am the queen. The church exists propter nos et propter nostram salutem” trans. Ed. “for us and for our salvation”). For this reason she will try to become sister and mother to mankind: she will try to be poor, simple, humble and lovable, in her speech and attitude. For this reason she will try to be intelligible, and provide people of our times the ability to listen to her and to talk to her using an easy and ordinary language. Continue reading →

New Orleans Archbishop Announces End of Segregation in Parochial Schools

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Deacon Eric Stoltz

Today Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel announced that all schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans will begin the 1962-63 academic year fully integrated. The decision, coming two years after a bitter and violent struggle against integration of the city’s public schools, is expected to uncover much ugly racism before it becomes a reality for the 75,000 students enrolled in the Catholic schools of the archdiocese. Continue reading →