50th Anniversary of the Last Council: 1962 - 2012

There will be lots of talk in the media. There already is.

But nobody really talks about VII anymore. Except maybe the rebel nuns. And the SSPX.

As a student in the pontifical university network in Rome, I hardly heard the Council mentioned, if ever. It was largely ignored.

The Ratzinger Report, penned in the early 1980s, makes note that the Council was already long forgotten by then. The liberals complained the Council did not go far enough. Others complained it went too far.

Once while driving along the Adriatic Sea with an SSPX cleric, I asked if he had ever read the Council. He said no, only bits of it. I guess I was a bit surprised; he mentioned the Council in nearly all his sermons.

We the people need to read the Council. One of the smartest things I ever did was read it start to finish. Then you can know the full story. Do the same. My advice is simple: do not start with Sacrosanctum Concilium, but instead, end with this document. Then you will see how odd this first document is, in a fuller, more complete light.

Needless to say, the Council could not have come at a more tricky time.

The dawn of the '60s was an active crucible of revolt and unrest. At American universities there were banners, slogans, leaflets. Protest rallies. FBI agents taking pictures. Castro's rebels overthrowing the Batista. Signs were everywhere, made by students and professors alike, ranging from "Cuba Libre" and "Equal Rights for All," to "Socialism," "Time for Revolution," "Free Speech" and "Abolish ROTC."

Today we pick up the pieces. Read the Council. Judge for yourself. Better yet, read it in Latin. Fr. Reggie Foster often said, "The Latin of of the Vatican Council, which I attended," he would say, "is some of the most beautiful modern Latin ever written."