Martyrs, Mystics, and Missionaries: Casualties of the Second Vatican Council

 Among the reforms inspired by the Second Vatican Council were sweeping changes to the sacred liturgy, a new orientation towards the unbelieving world, and a new and novel effort to promote a unity with those who confessed Christ but rejected His Church and its divinely appointed government.

As a consequence of the new liturgy approved by Pope Paul VI in 1969, the Roman Breviary was also reformed. The new Liturgy of the Hours excised the office of Prime, and with it, the recitation of the Roman Martyrology. For centuries the Martyrology placed the heroic witness of the martyrs of the Church before the eyes of those bound by holy orders; daily their combats and tumults were rehearsed in the hearing of the clergy, and their glorious victories over their tormentors informed many sermons and counsels. Yet but for the few who have happily discovered this suppressed treasury of inspiration, the Martyrology is not only ignored, it is simply unknown. The impact of this glaring and tragic omission is incalculable (think of the type of sermons we have grown accustomed to since the Novus Ordo was promulgated).

But the Council - whether by intent or reckless naivete - not only removed the Martyrology from the sacred liturgy of the Church; it disparaged the traditional contemplative spirituality of the Church as well. 

Monasteries and cloisters emptied in the wake of Vatican II which zealously advocated a new partnership with 'modern man' who sought not the purification of prayer, but the social change only attainable by activism. The New Theology which emphasized subjective experience and the dynamics of societal change goaded churchmen to embrace the spirit of democracy, technological progress, and social justice. In this hubris for activism the appreciation for mysticism and contemplation waned; what good was praying and meditating? How could it move the mountains required by revolution in South America and equality for racial minorities and women in the United States? Who had time for spiritual reading or the Rosary when our cities were on fire and the Vietnam war raged on? No, the old Saints such as John of the Cross or Theresa of Lisieux had to give way to the new activist saints who rather than wasting time with angels, apparitions, and visions were toppling oppressive social structures in the name of a revolutionary Christ who came to bring a new ethical order to this present world. 

The Council also introduced a new form of ecumenism which reached its peak during the grotesque display of theological discord which occurred at Assisi in 1986 under the leadership of the Pope himself. Preaching to convert the unbeliever was out; a new sense of brotherhood that could find common ground between men of all religions - or none at all - in the quest for a temporal peace was in. Pope John Paul II was absolutely persuaded that this "utterly new way" of seeing the Church was in fact, the fulfillment of all Vatican II promised:

Two months after the event, in a Christmas speech to his Cardinals published in the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano, John Paul said, “The day of Assisi, showing the Catholic Church holding hands with our brothers of other religions, was a visible expression of [the] statements of the Second Vatican Council.” The interfaith event at Assisi was thus described by John Paul II not as a tragic misrepresentation of Vatican II, but as the glorious realization of its teaching.

Pope John Paul II went on to celebrate the inter-religious prayer meeting at Assisi as a new direction for the future, “The event of Assisi” he said, “can thus be considered as a visible illustration, an exegesis of events, a catechesis intelligible to all, of what is presupposed and signified by the commitments to ecumenism and to the inter-religious dialogue which was recommended and promoted by the Second Vatican Council.”

Toward the end of the speech, the Pope urged his Cardinals to continue on the same new path, “Keep always alive the spirit of Assisi as a motive of hope for the future.” 

- Pope’s Christmas Address to Roman Curia,” L’Osservatore Romano, January 5, 1987, pp. 6-7.

Why the need then for missionaries? The greatest missionary of the 20th century who was elected Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers - the Church's largest missionary congregation - resigned in 1968 under siege from radical reformers within his own order who clamored for the new reforms, ecumenical activity, and interreligious dialogue advocated by Vatican II. This missionary Bishop was Marcel Lefebvre. Missionary activity in the Catholic Church still lives on in pockets and small communities, but the devastating blow dealt by conciliar ecumenism all but quenched the missionary impulse inspired by Him Who commanded the apostles

Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. (St. Mark 16, 15-16)

We will conclude with the words provided by the man many modern Catholics esteem to be a great Saint of the Church, at the beginning of his pontificate:

 However, as the Council is not limited to the documents alone, neither is it completed by the ways applying it which were devised in these post-conciliar years. Therefore we rightly consider that we are bound by the primary duty of most diligently furthering the implementation of the decrees and directive norms of that same Universal Synod. This indeed we shall do in a way that is at once prudent and stimulating. We shall strive, in particular, that first of all an appropriate mentality may flourish. Namely, it is necessary that, above all, outlooks must be at one with the Council so that in practice those things may be done that were ordered by it, and that those things which lie hidden in it or—as is usually said—are "implicit" may become explicit in the light of the experiments made since then and the demands of changing circumstances. Briefly, it is necessary that the fertile seeds which the Fathers of the Ecumenical Synod, nourished by the word of God, sowed in good ground (cf. Mt 13: 8, 23)—that is, the important teachings and pastoral deliberations should be brought to maturity in that way which is characteristic of movement and life.

Fifty years later, it is plain what devastation the Council has wreaked upon the Church and even the world it aspired to serve. Martyrdom gave way to temporal happiness and rapprochement with the world; mysticism to activism, and missionary labor to the soft appeasement of ecumenism. Only in the full and absolute commitment to the Church's treasury of Tradition can we recover.