On the 60th anniversary of Vatican II

I was not born when Vatican II was convened nor by the time of its closing. I have only known a post-Vatican II world, and I have only been (and continue to be) a Novus Ordo Catholic. Around 1999, I chronicled my experiences of being raised Catholic in the ‘70s and ‘80s (later updated for my first blog) in a piece that I entitled: “I was robbed!” I should have kept that title, and maybe I should have added: “…and I think it was by design!”

I remember the heart-bursting excitement of my reversion. It was the mid-90s, I was in my late 20s, and my Jewish husband and I had just had our third—and what we thought was our last—child (thankfully, my reversion and his conversion changed that!). I could not have been more filled with gratitude and zeal as I discovered the truths of Catholicism after almost leaving for Protestantism, and I remember very clearly believing and rejoicing over what writers like George Weigel and Christopher West were predicting about the explosion of conversions that were coming. I could hardly wait for that inevitable “springtime in the Church” about which JPII spoke so eloquently.

It was either Weigel or West who said that Theology of the Body was a “theological time bomb, waiting to go off in the 21st Century” and that “in ten years, the whole world will be Catholic!" Well, a quarter of a century later, not only have those predictions been proven wrong, but we are running, full-speed, in the opposite direction.

Exhibit A (but with a heavy emphasis on L,G,B,T, and Q): The current Vatican Synod

I submit to you that the current “Synod on Synodality” taking place in the Church today is fully anti-Catholic, and is an attempt to undermine the Catholic Faith by design.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, a faithful son of the Church and former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), said overtly and explicitly in a recent interview that those running the Synod are attempting a “hostile takeover” of the Church for the “destruction of the Church.” Read that again. Better yet, watch the interview in its entirety:

If you have been following the Synod at all, it's impossible to come to any other conclusion. These guys, with Cardinal Grech at the helm, are not even hiding it. I did these short videos commenting on just a few of the Synod’s outrageous and even blasphemous affronts to Catholicism and to Our Lord:

Follow the official Synod.va pages on Facebook and on Instgram (if you can stand the kindergarten crayon font). Note not only its elevation of secular humanism, which reflects the perverse and relativistic values of the world, but note also how the purveyors of the synodal “listening church” completely ignore the thousands of comments from the distressed faithful (including the youth) requesting to be heard.

Poke around for a while, and then ask yourself: Is there any need of more evidence that this Synod is quite literally opposed to the Catholic Faith? Any saint, or even any serious Catholic before the 1970s, would be horrified at the moral wickedness and the anti-Christ message being pushed by this Synod. Fulton Sheen predicted the “ape of the Church” and Catechism #675-677 describes a “religious deception” that puts man at the center, not God. Are we not seeing this very thing in the Synod?

Back to Vatican II. I am not so ignorant to think that the catastrophe in the Church started there. But can we at least admit it didn’t help? Is that still a question in any reasonable person’s mind? Vatican II, despite its stated aims, certainly did not advance the evangelical mission of the Church, nor did it increase salvation of souls. By any metric, the Faith is and has been in cataclysmic decline since Vatican II. By any practical measure, we see no good fruit coming out of Vatican II. Quite the opposite: The anti-Catholic Synod, for example, sees itself as an important fruit of Vatican II. Oyyyyy. I rest my case?

A friend sent me these two articles from Crisis Magazine this morning, and I found them an excellent summary of where we are:

Vatican II at 60: Stop the Cheerleading

Vatican II at 60: Time for Retirement

When I think back on my reversion story, I can’t believe how young and naïve I was. I still stand by everything I said, but I marvel at how hopeful I was that things were going to turn around quickly, and that the “springtime” in the Church was really coming. Now, older and wiser, I know better.

However, my zeal for the Faith is still as strong. I still pinch myself every day that I get to be Catholic and that I was blessed to have found the Truth. I am prostrate in thanksgiving for God’s grace on this sinner. The fact that others with power and platform at the highest levels are working hard to undermine and destroy Holy Mother Church does not make me lose my peace. It makes perfect sense in light of all the Scripture, prophesy, and understanding by the Church herself that this would be the case (CCC #677, emphasis mine):

The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.

These are exciting times, my friends! I am thrilled beyond measure to be living in a Christian era as difficult and beautiful as this one! Vatican II looked good in the pictures, and perhaps there was real hope in the hearts there assembled…

But in its troubled aftermath, the crosses are many, and they drive us to prayer and sacrifice and reparation. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are with us, fixed and unchanging, the saints and angels cheer us, and our Blessed Mother holds us close to her maternal heart. Let us fight like the Soldiers of Christ we are.

We aren’t called the Church Militant for nothing!