
The Fury of the Death Throes of the “Spirit” of Vatican II
by Father Richard Cipolla
It was always about the Liturgy. Bugnini and those who preceded him in the
twentieth century redefinition of the Liturgical Movement, away from a
rediscovery of the Traditional Liturgy to a drive to change and adapt the Liturgy to
the “needs of modern man”, always knew and understood this. The Documents of
the Second Vatican Council will meet the same fate as the great majority of the
Canons of past Ecumenical Councils—save the first seven— mostly forgotten,
except for what was part of the genuine unfolding of Catholic Tradition. No one
remembers the Canon from Lateran IV calling for provincial councils for the
purpose of reforming morals, nor the Canon that condemned the teaching of
Joachim of Fiore. What is remembered and therefore became a part of the
Tradition is the definition of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in terms
of “transubstantiation”. Even more recently, who remembers or refers to the
teaching of Vatican I on faith and reason, or its condemnation of rationalism? The
definition of Papal Infallibility is what is remembered in the living Tradition. In no
way does this reduce the central importance of the Ecumenical Councils in the
Tradition of Catholic Church. It merely reminds us that what is fundamentally
important in the decrees of these Councils in the development of dogma becomes
apparent in the voice of the Holy Spirit who is not encumbered by the limitations
of time, space and human frailty.
When one looks at and reads the Documents of Vatican II –there are no
Canons—one is constantly struck by the language that tries to include the voice of
the Tradition and openness to “the modern world”, or at least the world of the
1960s.
This is clearly seen in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Document on the Liturgy.
There we read that the Latin language is to be preserved, but in those parts of the
Mass that include instruction of the faithful the vernacular may be used. Pride of
place is to be given to Gregorian chant as the music of the Mass. But other forms
of music, including contemporary compositions, may be used if it helps with
“active participation.” The fact is that both Latin and Gregorian chant disappeared
within a few years after the imposition of the Mass of St. Paul VI. Le trahison des
clercs used the cultural forces unleashed in the !960’s and the decades following to
not only reduce the Liturgy to a permanent replay of the Brady Bunch complete
with polyester and bad taste, but also invented what became known as the “Spirit”
of Vatican II, the actual documents of which Council were of little interest to those
imbued with this “Spirit”.
It is not as if that “Spirit” were not opposed by both clergy and lay men and
women. But for the most part, the laity that were so eloquently championed in a
real way by St. John Henry Newman a century before were all too happy, guided
by this “Spirit” to become chierichetti, little clergy, happy to have the honor of
being lectors, eucharistic ministers, and running CCD classes, instead of attending
to their vitally important role in their families and in the world in which they live
and worked.
The greatest accomplishment of those imbued with the “Spirit” of Vatican II was
the work of the Concilium set up by St Paul VI to do the work of the reform of the
Liturgy based on the admittedly sketchy hopes of Sacrosanctum Concilium. What
they produced was the product of a deep antipathy to the Traditional Roman Mass,
(rather an antipathy to the Tradition itself) and of a longing to embrace the world
around them that they identified as the future of mankind. One cannot and must
not deny the reality of the grace that Catholics have received while participating in
the Novus Ordo Mass these past six decades. The validity of that form of the Mass
is not in question. What is in question is the continuity of the Novus Ordo Mass
with the Roman Mass of Catholic Tradition. This author is one of many, who are
much more learned than I, who have shown clearly that there is a discontinuity of
content and form between the Novus Ordo rite and the Traditional Roman Mass.
The fact that 70% of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in
the Eucharist and that in many if not most places in the Western world fewer than
20% of Catholics go to Mass is strong evidence that something went wrong after
the imposition of the Mass of St. Paul VI and still is wrong.
One of the most important hopes of the Concilium inventors of the Novus Ordo
Mass and those who invented the “Spirit” of Vatican II is that by this time no
Catholic would have heard of (except in history books) or experienced the power
and beauty of the Traditional Roman Mass in an actual celebration of that rite.
And they almost succeeded. Thanks to St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict
XVI, and to the working of the Holy Spirit in his own time and manner, thousands
of Catholics, especially young Catholics both priests and lay, have discovered the
power and beauty of the Traditional Roman Mass.
The Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes, the following “Response to the Dubia”
and now the latest salvo just published by Cardinal Roche completely taking away
the bishops’ fundamental right as Pastors of their flock to regulate worship in their
diocese is the fury of a death throe. Boldly eliminating the power of Canon Law as
a potent spray-can deterent to get rid of roaches and other insects that infest the
holy house of the Church: this is an intensification of the Fury of the Death
Throes of the SPIRIT of Vatican II. And we have cause to await a further death
throe in Holy Week (irony) with yet another document that will not only proclaim
the death of the Traditional Roman Mass but also issue restrictions on how some
young priests celebrate the Novus Ordo in a way that this “Spirit” fears as redolent
of the Tradition.
But we must not fear this “Spirit”. For it will die with my generation, which is the
generation of the present Pope. The malodor of the “Spirit” will linger in puffs
throughout the world, from Rome to San Diego to parts of Europe. But the air will
clear.
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs–
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
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