POPE TO TABLET….

You will recall that The Tablet recently published a dopey editorial about Vatican II. They got just about everything wrong. I wrote about it HERE.

It seems Pope Benedict agrees with me.

In his homily for the opening of the Year of Faith, His Holiness quoted John XXIII at the opening of the Council:

We now turn to the one who convoked the Second Vatican Council and inaugurated it: Blessed John XXIII. In his opening speech, he presented the principal purpose of the Council in this way: “What above all concerns the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be safeguarded and taught more effectively […] Therefore, the principal purpose of this Council is not the discussion of this or that doctrinal theme… a Council is not required for that… [but] this certain and immutable doctrine, which is to be faithfully respected, needs to be explored and presented in a way which responds to the needs of our time” (AAS 54 [1962], 790,791-792).

And later, he describes the Tablistas:

If we place ourselves in harmony with the authentic approach which Blessed John XXIII wished to give to Vatican II, we will be able to realize it during this Year of Faith, following the same path of the Church as she continuously endeavours to deepen the deposit of faith entrusted to her by Christ.  The Council Fathers wished to present the faith in a meaningful way; and if they opened themselves trustingly to dialogue with the modern world it is because they were certain of their faith, of the solid rock on which they stood. In the years following, however, many embraced uncritically the dominant mentality, placing in doubt the very foundations of the deposit of faith, which they sadly no longer felt able to accept as truths.

During the Year of Faith, the Tablistas – and the Fishwrapers – need to return to an “authentic approach” to the Council and, especially, to the fundamentals of the Faith.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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7 Comments

  1. PhilipNeri says:

    “During the Year of Faith, the Tablistas – and the Fishwrapers – need to return to an ‘authentic approach’ to the Council and, especially, to the fundamentals of the Faith.”

    I couldn’t agree more and I pray that they will; however, none of my paltry monthly allowance will go to a wager that they will. Their identities and livelihoods are inextricably bound to being opposed to the deposit of faith. To return to the faith would mean abandoning wholesale not just a belief system but an entire Way of Being Me in the World. Talk about a psychic shock!

    This is why dissident priests and religious cannot leave the RCC and join the Episcopal Church. Who would they be in an ecclesial community where there was nothing for them to oppose?

    Fr. Philip Neri, OP

  2. Late for heaven says:

    Ouch. Father I fear your assessment is all too true.

  3. Sissy says:

    “This is why dissident priests and religious cannot leave the RCC and join the Episcopal Church. Who would they be in an ecclesial community where there was nothing for them to oppose?”

    Bingo! Their whole schtick is “protest”. They are protestants, but wouldn’t have anything to protest if they joined the TEO.

  4. cjcanniff says:

    I like that the Holy Father said that after Vatican II “many embraced uncritically the dominant mentality.”

    All too often, the Church before Vatican II is accused of ignoring modernity and not grappling with it in a serious way; however, if you look at the anti-Modernist writings of the Popes (e.g. The Syllabus of Errors, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, etal.) it is quite clear that they weren’t just hiding from the problem. They understood it quite well and the negative implications it could have for the faith. One may agree or disagree with the methods by which the Church addressed modernity before Vatican II, but it would be a joke to say the Church was not critically engaging with the complexity of modernity in those days.

    As Pope Benedict so astutely points out here, it was after Vatican II, that many in the Church stopped engaging modernity critically and rather accepted it almost entirely to the great detriment of our faith. May God bless Pope Benedict for speaking out so clearly about this; we need to go back to the documents of Vatican II, rather than relying on this vague, nebulous, and often incorrect understanding of the documents that is so frequently called the “spirit of the Council.” The true spirit of the Council is bound inextricably to the words of the documents themselves.

  5. Catholicity says:

    I would wager that during the Year of Faith, the Holy Father will implement several significant liturgical reversals. I’ll put up $10,000 in “Dr. Who” version Monopoly (TM) money that this includes release of the document clarifying what music is appropriate to the Roman Rite, that the principal responses of the Mass return to Latin, and perhaps (Deo volent) the return of the FSSPX.

    I’ll be watching/waiting.

  6. Pingback: SATURDAY AFTERNOON EDITION | Big Pulpit

  7. Rick DeLano says:

    The crisis in the Church is a crisis of bishops.

    When heretics fear to proclaim heresy, because they know the bishop will act against them, then it will be morning.

    It is not yet morning.

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