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Does anyone have a concise answer to this? I have read that the Vatican II council was convened to, and I am paraphrasing, "open the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air". My question is: Why did the Pope feel this was necessary and what did the Council ultimately hope to accomplish?
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I remember that quote was attributed to Pope John XXIII.
Jim
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ByzanTEEN
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I believe it was because at that point some stuff had stiffened up, there was too much legalism, stuff apparently wasn't working.
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Yes, Pope John XXIII used the Italian word "aggiornamento" which means to "open up." The idea was that the Church was operating the same way She did in the 16th century. With the advent of better communications (including television), the reapparisal of our realtionship with the East (Pope John XXIII had celebrated the Divine Liturgy with Melkite clergy and had developed a real love for Eastern Catholicism and, by extension, Orthodoxy).
The goal was to define a better modus operandi for the Church in the world today.
Fr. Deacon Edward
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here's an excerpt of John XXIII's opening address at Vatican II: Illuminated by the light of this Council, the Church -- we confidently trust-- will become greater in spiritual riches and gaining the strength of new energies therefrom, she will look to the future without fear. In fact, by bringing herself up to date where required, and by the wise organization of mutual co-operation, the Church will make men, families, and peoples really turn their minds to heavenly things.
And thus the holding of the Council becomes a motive for wholehearted thanksgiving to the Giver of every good gift, in order to celebrate with joyous canticles the glory of Christ our lord, the glorious and immortal King of ages and of peoples.
The opportuneness of holding the Council is, moreover, venerable brothers, another subject which it is useful to propose for your consideration. Namely, in order to render our Joy more complete, we wish to narrate before
this great assembly our assessment of the happy circumstances under which the Ecumenical Council commences.
In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse, and they behave as
though they had learned nothing from history, which is, none the less, the teacher of life. They behave as though at the time of former Councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian idea and life and for proper
religious liberty.
We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.
In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by men's own efforts and even beyond their very expectations, are directed toward the fulfilment of God's superior and
inscrutable designs. And everything, even human differences, leads to the greater good of the Church. The full text of the address may be viewed at Opening Address of Pope John XXIII for Vatican II [ rc.net]
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I think a good measure of what Vatican II aimed/aims at achieving is to re-read the 16 decrees issued pursuant to the Council and various related papal documents.
Amado
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Yes - Pope John XXIII actually said, "Let's open the windows of the church and let the fresh air come in."
Can't imagine what he would think if he saw the goings-on in the Latin Rite the past few years. He's probably slam those windows shut.
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An elderly priest of blessed memory once said from the pulpit, that John XXIII had to spend extra time in Purgatory shutting some of those windows he opened. 
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Dear Charles,
The extra windows that came open after Vatican II were not opened by Pope John XXIII.
They would have been opened anyway and are still being opened by others who act as if they were popes.
One excellent thing Vatican II did do was change forever the attitude of the Latin Church toward the EC and Orthodox Churches.
EC's suffered greatly under the monolythic Roman Church that considered its Rite to be "first" because, among other things, it was the Rite of the Pope and other such triumphalistic nonsense.
Vatican II put pay to that human ecclesial pride - a pride that I believe led to the schism of 1054 AD as well.
There are traditional Roman Catholics today, either in formal schism from their own Church or not, who want to hang on to the "good old days."
Let them stay frozen in them, if they wish.
Alex
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Thanks to you all!
My followup question is: where does the Novus Ordo fit into all this? Was it Pope John XXIII's plan to change the liturgy and the focus of the Mass so profoundly?
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This question is better asked in a forum dedicated to the Latin Rite Church. This is a Byzantine forum and, consequently, this issue is of much lower import for us.
Now, having said that, the focus on the liturgy was the result of the bishops assembled at Vatican II who, recognizing a problem, provided general guidelines for what they thought would resolve the problems. Pope Paul VI was the driving force behind the active role of liturgical reform (although liturgical reform had actually started about 100 years prior to Vatican II).
Fr. Deacon Edward
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by FrDeaconEd:
[QB] This question is better asked in a forum dedicated to the Latin Rite Church. This is a Byzantine forum and, consequently, this issue is of much lower import for us.
I can certainly respect that. I've been sorting through some issues and was looking for insight. I guess what I'm really wondering is will the RCC, or the local parishes for that matter, ever become more like the BCC or EOC in the way the Liturgy is celebrated or will it continue to "evolve"?
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Paul,
Well, Vatican II did intend to change the liturgy, but not into what we see as the Novus Ordo today.
It seems that what Vatican II wanted was along the lines of the Liturgy of 1965.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe Paul VI appointed peoplen (including and spearheaded by Bugnini) to create a Mass with even starker contrast to the Traditional Mass. This was done in 1967, long after Vatican II wrapped up.
To conjecture as to the continued development of the Mass would be pure speculation, but many believe that it will take on a more traditional form under the present pope (as well as future ones, perhaps); this seems to be going on right now, and has been for a few years.
Some believe that the Traditional Mass will be granted (or, to some, acknowleged) a universal indult, and that it will eventually replace the Novus Ordo as the missa normativa of the Latin Rite due to the fact that traditional families are much larger than Novus Ordo ones, that traditional seminaries are in crisis mode (from not enough room for all seminarian applicants), and that more and more young people are turning to the TLM.
At the same time, there are those who would wish to continue to push the envelope and further modernize the Novus Ordo. Look at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Logos Teen
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Just as a general comment, the Church is always reforming. The Mass of the Latin Rite continued to develop and change up through the Council of Trent which effectively froze the development of the Liturgy at that point.
I suspect we will continue to see changes in the Mass, probably directed toward a stricter interpretation of the rubrics and in terms of refining what has already happened.
Fr. Deacon Edward
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Fr. Dcn.,
What you say is true. The liturgy is never stagnant.
But what about the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom? What kind of reforms has it undergone in the past 500 years or so (not including latinizations)?
Should it continue to develop as well?
And, to be fair, many people do not see the Pauline Mass as any kind of continuation, but ratehr a striking departure. The liturgy was actually written by a group of theologians! This isn't organic development!
Logos Teen
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