From the desk of the pastor for May 17, 2026

The Lord be with you. In the autumn of 1962, Catholic bishops from around the world gathered in Rome with a sense of profound anticipation. Pope John XXIII had called the Second Vatican Council - the first ecumenical council in nearly a century - and the bishops arrived carrying hopes that their Church would address the mounting challenges of the modern world. The Council's opening represented a turning point: a moment when the institutional Church acknowledged that the rapid transformation of society demanded a courageous reform.

The bishops came to Vatican II acutely aware of their Church's increasingly precarious position in the postwar world. Europe was secularizing rapidly. In communist Eastern Europe, the Church faced existential threats. In rapidly modernizing Western nations, young Catholics were drifting away. Many bishops desired for the liturgy to be updated to be more engaging. Great success had been achieved in the liturgical reforms of Holy Week, and many bishops thought that the Mass would be improved simply by including “mother tongues” - the native languages of Catholics - along with Latin.

John XXIII's famous call for aggiornamento - "updating" or bringing the Church up to date - resonated deeply with many bishops. They came to Rome hoping to modernize the Church's relationship with the world. Many longed for a more pastoral Church, one that would speak to contemporary concerns rather than retreating into pre-Reformation forms. There was genuine desire among bishops to bridge the chasm between ecclesiastical authority and modern intellectuals.

The bishops also harbored hopes for greater openness to other Christian denominations. Instead of condemning errors bishops wanted dialogue among Christian denominations. Ecumenism - the hope of reuniting all Christians under one Church - had made great progress among Protestants. The Church seemed ready to participate wherever it could in that dialogue.

Perhaps most significantly, bishops carried expectations that the Council would democratize the Church's decision-making processes. The pre-Council Church was deeply hierarchical, with bishops functioning as subordinate administrators of papal will. Many bishops hoped Vatican II would restore the ancient principle of collegiality - the shared responsibility of bishops in governing the Church. They envisioned a Church less centered on papal absolutism and more attentive to the voices of bishops and faithful alike.

As the bishops filed into St. Peter's Basilica on October 11, 1962, they carried these hopes: renewal without rupture, modernization without abandonment of tradition, openness to the world without surrender of faith. As Pope Benedict often remarked, the bishops desired renewal within the tradition. They sensed they stood at a pivotal moment in Church history. Few could have anticipated how profoundly Vatican II would reshape Catholicism, but on that autumn morning, the bishops' expectations of transformative change proved prophetic. The Council they were beginning would indeed remake the Church for generations to come.

In our next article we will look at the Lumen Gentium and how Vatican II would characterize the Church. We will especially try to understand the principle of subsidiarity in our own time. May God help us each to build up His Kingdom.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John