WHAT HAPPENED AT THE COUNCIL - PART II

Of the 70 draft documents submitted by the Curia for discussion, the bishops rejected 69 and asked that they be rewritten. The draft on the Liturgy was debated with massive support for sweeping changes. At an early session of the council an American bishop pointed out that most participants lacked fluency in Latin and offered to finance a system for simultaneous translation of the proceedings. At the suggestion of Cardinal Suenens, the bishops decided to start with the Constitution on the Church from which most of the other documents would follow. While the council was in recess in 1963, Pope John XXIII died and was succeeded by Pope Paul VI, a progressive committed to the ideas of his predecessor.



The council closed in 1965 having issued 14 decrees and 2 constitutions, covering all aspects of the Church’s nature, organization and mission in the world. Two of the most significant were "On the Church" (Lumen Gentium) and "The Church in the Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes), while other notable documents dealt with ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) and religious liberty (Dignitatis Humanae.)

During the debates on the Church in the Modern World, Cardinals Leger, Suenens and Alfrink called for a reevaluation of traditional Catholic teaching on marital morality, especially in regard to birth control, divorce and remarriage. However the conservative minority of the council diluted the positions of the majority. Apart from the vernacular instead of Latin in the Mass most Catholics experienced few changes.

The overall tenor of the council documents represented a realization that Catholics were no longer the hungry, uneducated poor of the slums or the serfs of a powerful aristocracy but well-educated, successful professionals and businessmen, familiar with their faith and asking questions which needed answers. The Council documents encouraged them to ask those questions.

Some problems are inevitable in a time of change. In the Church, as in any bureaucracy, there are those with established interests who are threatened by new ideas, and new approaches. They argue for less radical ways to deal with situations, solve problems, and address issues. They resist cautiously. They drag their feet, point out possible difficulties, postpone deadlines for action, and refer matters for committee consideration. They throw up their hands in despair at those who confidently dive headlong into uncharted waters without a life jacket. They give superficial assent and achieve apparent compliance, waiting for this madness to blow over, for these liberals to lose their fiery enthusiasm and settle for nominal reformation. Avery Dulles describes their mindset: “In every society the ruling authorities are tempted to suppress inquiry or criticism in order to protect their own position and to avoid questioning their own competence." This happened after the Vatican II Council and still continues today.