This discussion of possible areas of reform of the upcoming Council is an excerpt from the 1962 Lenten pastoral letter of Cardinal Richard Cushing to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Boston, “The Call of the Council.”

It may seem strange to some that words like change and reform, adjustment and adaptation are often used when the Church and the forthcoming Ecumenical Council are discussed. Certainly the Church, like her divine Founder and Head, is “ever the same…yesterday, today, and always”; ever giving the same apostolic witness of one Lord; ever professing the one Catholic Faith; ever renewing men in holiness through the same sacraments; ever showing herself as the faithful and constant spouse of her divine Bridegroom, in a very real and true sense then the Church is unchanging—she can never lose or deform that which the Apostles have left her or what our Lord requires of her. To this end Christ has promised his continuous presence in the Church through the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth. Continue reading →