In the Year of Faith 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, there are some, like Little Rock, Arkansas, Bishop Anthony Taylor, who are firing off the opening salvoes of tradition-bashing, suggesting that nearly everything about the pre-Vatican Church was wrong-headed. The claim is that the "old Church" manifested a "ghetto" mentality, was utterly ignorant of Scripture, prevented Catholics from the charitable ecumenical gesture of attending Protestant services, exemplified a "fear" of the outer world. The further claim is that virtually all of this has been remedied by the bountiful blessings of the post-Vatican II era, where the Church has come out of her "ghetto," encouraged Catholics to engage in "how-do-you-feel-about-this-passage" Bible studies, embrace ecumenical inter-faith services with Protestants, and, finally accepting "what Jesus taught," overcome its fear of the "outer world." In other words, there is a pre-Vatican Church and a post-Vatican Church, and a significant rupture between the two.
HERE is a sharply focused and hard-hitting response to this fairy tale, exposing many of the common suppositions behind this view.
"The claim is that the old Church ... was utterly ignorant of Scripture..."
ReplyDeleteWhich is hysterical for anyone who has done any reading at all in pre- and post-conciliar authors.
"there is a pre-Vatican Church and a post-Vatican Church, and a significant rupture between the two."
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely true. To deny it is to live in a virtual reality designed by Neocath cartoonists.
The only real question is: on which side of the chasm do you choose to stand?
But enough. There's just no point to arguing this anymore.