What Went Wrong With Vatican II: The Catholic Crisis Explained

by Ralph McInerny

Vatican II was supposed to herald a Golden Age in the Catholic Church--yet in the thirty years since it ended, chaos & dissension have rocked the pulpits and emptied the pews. Today, theologians rise against the Pope, laymen turn away in dismay and confusion. McInerney cuts through conventional wisdom to reveal the council's true message--a message which, if widely known, would send shock waves through both the conservative and liberal wings on the Church...and would bring many Catholics back to the practice of the Faith. After Vatican II, instead of enjoying the expected renaissance, the Church seemed to fall priests and bishops rejected Church teachings, convents and seminaries emptied, and laypeople were thrown into confusion. I vividly remember my own dismay when I discovered that although I had entered the Catholic Church because I had come to see (with Cardinal Newman's help) the necessity for a teaching authority, large numbers of Catholics were chafing under that authority and yearning for an illusory freedom. This strange rebellion in the post-Vatican II Church is examined and blisteringly rebuked in Ralph McInerny's What Went Wrong with Vatican II . McInerny contends that the problem wasn't Vatican II itself, which, as an ecumenical council, enjoyed the protection of the Holy Spirit. The problem, he argues, came with Humanae Vitae , Pope Paul VI's restatement of the Church's constant teaching that artificial contraception is immoral. Instead of greeting it with respect and obedience, a large group of clergy dissented publicly from Humanae Vitae and touched off a civil war in the Church as they competed with the Vatican for the obedience of the faithful. In this crucial book, McInerny traces the problem and shows what we must do now to restore the Church.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, History, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian

168 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Ralph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Misunderstandings and misinterpretations that resulted from Vatican II were explained in brief in this book. Having grown up in the post-Vatican II Church, I can say that while it is a good book, its very brevity necessitates its inadequate coverage of such a monumental period. Nevertheless, it cuts to the heart of the matter and what it does, it does well.

[Leila Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I thought was going to be a rad trad rant about Vatican II turned out to actually be an interesting historical account of dissenting theologians in the latter half of the 20th century, with a lot of focus on the reception of Humanae Vitae. It was pretty good. I don't think the title, nor the cover art, does it justice. It could benefit from a more mature and sophisticated title.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A FAMED CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHER LOOKS SURPRISINGLY "POSITIVELY" AT THE COUNCIL

Ralph Matthew McInerny (1929-2010) was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, as well as the creator of the popular Father Dowling Mysteries books. He wrote many fictional and nonfiction books, such as 'Duns Scotus and Medieval Christianity,' 'First Glance At Thomas Aquinas (A Handbook for Peeping Thomists),' 'Praeambula Fidei: Thomism And the God of the Philosophers,' 'Saint Thomas Aquinas,' 'I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life and Pastimes,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, "anyone who takes the trouble to discover what kind of man John XXIII really was will find it difficult to recognize the media persona with which he was invested. It is forgotten not that early in his papacy he issued a directive requiring Latin to be fully restored as the language of instruction in seminaries and pontifical institutions. His sense of the dignity and authority of the papal office is clear from the encyclical he wrote on Pole Leo I. The real John XXIII does not look like the patron of our modern decentralized Church, whose Liturgy is celebrated in more languages than were known at Babel... aggiornamento ["updating"] had its attractions, but did so many cherished traditions have to go?" (Pg. 7)

He adds, "It is estimated that in the wake of the council, ten million Catholics stopped attending Mass regularly, a decline of thirty percent... The decline has been particularly severe among the young, even those educated within the Catholic system. There has been a precipitous decline in enrollment in the Catholic schools. Fewer babies are baptized.

"Comparing the preconciliar Church and the aspirations of Vatican II with the events of the past thirty years forces us to ask: What went wrong? Can anyone pretend that things have improved? There are some bright spots, but it is undeniable that the faith of Catholics has been shaken and that our way of living no longer distinguishes us from other Americans...

"As we near the third millennium... it seems an apt time to reflect on Vatican II... Properly understood, it was a great blessing for the Church---properly understood. That is our task here, and a formidable one it is indeed." (Pg. 14)

He observes, "As we approach the end of the second millennium, many imagine that time itself is coming to an end. In serious Catholic circles, this fear is often fueled by the large number of recent apocalyptic writings reported in real or alleged appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many believe that in 1917 her apparition at Fatima, Portugal, foretold the end of the world; but a stronger case can be made that Fatima predicted the very real, although unintended, effects of Vatican II." (Pg. 17)

He states, "The task of the theologian is one that relates to the whole Church: his is an ecclesial role. And as such it is necessarily related to the Magisterium... theologians do not constitute another and competing Magisterium. Nothing said by a theologian, as such, is binding on any other Catholic. Nothing said by a group---even a large group---of theologians is, as such, binding on other Catholics." (Pg. 96-97) He adds, "It is clear that 1968 [the year the birth control encyclical was published] marked the beginning of dissent in the Church. It would be impossible to find at any earlier time a claim that theologians had the professional task of appraising and assessing magisterial teachings, of accepting or rejecting them. Now it was as if, when the Pope spoke, the theologians first scrutinized what he had said to see whether it was acceptable to them or not. This was utterly new, and it did not begin with Vatican II, but with Humanae Vitae." (Pg. 102-103)

After the [[ASIN:0892435666 Catechism of the Catholic Church]] and similar "conservative" developments, "The Church clearly intended to get the council back, letter and spirit, and go on from there. Would those who had been the cause of much of the confusion now welcome this effort to get things back on the right track? ... Would steps be taken to counter the worldwide assault by dissenting theologians on the Magisterium, and to undo the consequent disruption and distortion of Catholic moral teaching? The answer to all these questions, by and large, was no. It still is. Today it is the rare bishop who is in charge of the bureaucracy that has metastasized around him... Too many bishops are surrounded by bureaucracies that bear the stamp of dissident theology." (Pg. 126)

He concludes, "Since 1968, Catholics have been repeatedly asked to choose between dissenting theologians and the Tradition of the Catholic Church, reaffirmed time and again by the Magisterium, both in Vatican II and since Vatican II in numerous authoritative pronouncements. That is the choice. The choice is not between arguments. The choice is between authorities." (Pg. 146)

He adds, "Catholics who took the word of the theologians that they could practice contraception, later had to take their word that they could defy the Magisterium and remain loyal Catholics. Soon they were at ease with their malformed consciences. Their ears grew ever more deaf to the Church's voice as expressed in Vatican II and in so many subsequent pronouncements.
(Pg. 155)

This is a reasoned, thought-provoking, conservative perspective that is surprisingly "positive" in its analysis of the Second Vatican Council. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in contemporary Catholicism.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was informative, although I found it to be a bit repetitive. The author answers his own question of what went wrong with Vatican II by stating there were false interpretations of it in the post-conciliar period. Attempting to rectify this, between 1968-1985, many encyclicals from Rome were written to clarify Vatican II. However, these were drowned out by the dissenters. “...all too often there is the mark of the dissenters rather than of the Magisterium.” The contraception debate is being used as an excuse to challenge the authority of the Church. The author shows that the problem with Vatican II is a choice between authorities and not arguments. The authorities being the Pope versus theologians, with dissenters having become the norm among theologians.

This clash of authorities led the author to ask two important questions in this book: 1) Why would dissenting theologians remain in the Church, if they do not agree with Its teachings? 2) Why were these dissenting theologians shown “long patience, promotions and posts, if they do not support the Magisterium? “As the dissenters might have said, ‘We are legion.’” Maybe.

[Gil Michelini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lack of faithfulness is the issue

This book give excellent insight on the ultimate cause if what went wrong with V2, and it will surprise you. My only criticism is that he rush through the chapter on how to correct the problem.

[Jared Dembrun · Rating 4 out of 5]

McInerny's analysis of the problems after Vatican 2 is very good. Rather than dissenting from the Second Vatican Council or from any other teachings of the Church, he shows how a spirit of dissent took root in Western Church institutions and cause much of the crisis in the Church today.

[Arthur Lammers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and concise look at the proposed subject; quick and astute read

[Thomas Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit on the dry side but an excellent read and not too long. Misleading title because he is not denouncing Vatican II.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but dated. He seemed to say one basic idea verbosely!

[Michael Cawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful exploration of the crisis in the Catholic Church following Vatican II

[Suzanne Chinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening

Dr. McInerny presents theological dissent in such an organized and sometimes humorous fashion I couldn’t put the book down. Bravo!

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read. He didn't talk about everything that resulted from Vatican II, but focused on the crisis of authority brought about by dissenting theologians in the wake of Humanae Vitae after Vatican II and how that has affected the interpretation of Vatican II documents and our church history since then.

I'm not sure if the clarity I have was completely contained in this book or also from my class.

[Tim Timberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book at a used book sale. It was easy to read and pretty predictable.