Good council: Readers on Vatican II

Vatican II still looks “fabulous at 50” to U.S. Catholic readers, who say the golden years are no time to retire its reforms

Monday, September 10, 2012
Megan Sweas

Neither fans nor critics of U.S. Catholic should be surprised that its readers love Vatican II. When the magazine surveyed readers about the Second Vatican Council in 2005—to mark the 40th anniversary of its closing—91 percent said the church was a better place because of it. And at the 50th anniversary of its opening, three-quarters call it “the best thing that’s happened to the church in centuries.”

But a few things have changed since 2005, the year that Pope Benedict XVI took the reins of the church. Changes to the liturgy, an attempt to repair the schism with the Vatican II-rejecting Society of St. Pius X, steps back from ecumenical and interfaith relations, and, most recently, the Vatican action against the Leadership Conference of Women Religious have caused concern for readers, with a strong majority feeling that the church has started moving away from the reforms enacted by the council. While lauding the efforts of the council to bring the church into conversation with the modern world in the 1960s, many express a concern for the future.

There are many social, liturgical, and sexual issues that readers hoped the council would have addressed, but according to Judy Lovett of Dover, Delaware, the most important missing element was “somehow making sure the reforms were not rolled back.”

“I know that’s impossible, but I can wish!” she adds, echoing the sentiments of many readers.

http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2012/09/good-council-readers-vatican-ii