Why Vatican II Was Necessary
George Weigel The Catholic Difference
Writing my new book, To Sanctify the World, afforded me the welcome opportunity to dig into the Council’s sixteen texts and the many fine commentaries on them. It also made me ponder why the Council was necessary. That question is often raised today by young Catholics who, unsettled by the excessive ecclesiastical air turbulence over the past decade and generally ill-informed about the pre-conciliar Church, imagine that everything in Catholicism was copacetic until John XXIII made the fatal mistake of summoning an ecumenical council. That, however, was not the view of some quite orthodox Catholic leaders in the decade before Vatican II.
In the years immediately after the Council, Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), who was one of the three most influential theologians at Vatican II, knew that the Council’s reception was imperfect and its implementation even more imperfect. Nonetheless, he identified further reasons why Vatican II was necessary and why its teaching was essential for the Church’s life going forward.
See also: George Weigel's newest work, To Sanctify the World: The Vital Legacy of Vatican II, is out and available for purchase. Featured by The Economistand National Review, George's account of the intended meaning and unfulfilled purpose of the most important Catholic event of the past five-hundred years comes at a critical time for Catholics and the faithful everywhere.
A radical economic agenda, disregard for public opinion, and lacking character scuttled Liz Truss' stay at 10 Downing Street. Henry Olsen's Washington Post column urges Republican candidates in the US to take note.
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty on EDIFY
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty joins the EDIFY Podcast with Mary FioRito to discuss missteps in the COVID-19 response made by public health officials and our Church leaders. He also examines the effects of our loss of interpersonal connection during the pandemic, the sense of political homelessness many are feeling today, and how his Catholic faith inspired him through one of the hardest times in his life.
See also: Aaron's newest book, The New Abnormal: The Rise of the Biomedical Security State, covers the trend toward authoritarian misrule during the COVID pandemic, its ideological and policy sources, as well as ways to restore trust in public health in the post-pandemic world.
Stephen P. White on the National Study of Catholic Priests
At the close of a national survey of over 3500 priests and 160 bishops conducted by Catholic University of America sociologists through The Catholic Project, Catholic Studies Fellow Stephen P. White joins the Church Life Today Podcast to interpret the results and assess the state of the priesthood in America.
On Monday, October 24, Mary Rice Hasson will host the first segment of "The Transgender Movement: What Catholics Need to Know" on EWTN. This powerful five-part miniseries reveals the hidden cultural forces behind the “gender affirming” campaign sweeping the nation. Host Mary Hasson chronicles the issues confronting the family and how the Church can respond. Tune in to EWTN at 5:30pm on Monday to see Mary host Ryan T. Anderson as the two give a cultural overview of the transgender movement.
In this episode of theFaith Anglepodcast (Podbean | Spotify | Apple Podcasts) Bonnie Kristian, notable Christian journalist and writer, discusses her brand new book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. Her haunting phrase, “the knowledge crisis,” was perhaps popularized last year byanother compelling book fromJonathan Rauch, the senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Jon's The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth describes the essential conditions and institutions necessaryfor maintaining the basic building blocks of shared human understanding in a free society. The rich conversation between the two help the listener to steer clear of losing perspective in the swirling vortex of news and information familiar to all.
