To understand trends in the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican Council II (1962-1965), Finbarr Corr's new book Broken Promises is required reading. With his skill as an Irish storyteller that was vividly evident in his prior books, Corr, a former priest, constructs an important new window on what he describes as 'the Church's third major crisis since Jesus Christ established it on Simon Peter, the Rock' Drawing on decades of vital experience as a crusading priest, innovative family therapist, and provocative educator and author, Dr. Corr asks if the Church can survive its failure to follow through on the dictates of Vatican Council II which was initiated by Pope John XXIII to 'open up the windows of the church and let in some fresh air' Dr. Corr provides a fresh look at the fifty years since Vatican II and presents a rich study of the Church's relationship to the modern world. Broken Promises provides new insights into this challenging topic Tom O'Connell, B.A. M.A. S.F.O. Publisher of sanctuary777.com and Author of Power, Politics & Propaganda: Observations of a Curious Contrarian

BROKEN PROMISES

Whatever happened to Vatican Council II?By Finbarr M Corr

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Finbarr M Corr Ed. D.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-1846-7

Contents

Dedication and Acknowledgements..........................................................................viiPreface..................................................................................................ixChapter I Vatican Council II: A Surprise.................................................................1Chapter II Vatican Council II: Effect on a Young Priest..................................................8Chapter III Vatican Council II: Third Session............................................................13Chapter IV Dialogue Bubble in Morristown.................................................................19Chapter V New Definition of the Catholic Church..........................................................25Chapter VI Ireland before Vatican II.....................................................................29Chapter VII Child Abuse in Irish Institutions............................................................35Chapter VIII Father Marcial Maciel Degollado.............................................................40Chapter IX Archbishop John Charles McQuaid and his Successors............................................44Chapter X Pope Benedict Offers Help to Ireland...........................................................52Chapter XI Archbishop Martin: A Breath of Fresh Air......................................................59Chapter XII The Netherlands Embraces Vatican Council II..................................................64Chapter XIII The Pope versus Belgium.....................................................................70Chapter XIV Australian Catholicism before and after Vatican II...........................................77Chapter XV The Universal Church and Germany Lag Behind...................................................84Chapter XVI Vatican Council II and Cardinal Ratzinger....................................................89Chapter XVII Four Popes: Who is the Winner?..............................................................94Chapter XVIII Roncalli: Student, Seminarian and Priest...................................................100Chapter XIX Roncalli: Soldier to Archbishop and Diplomat.................................................106Chapter XX Roncalli: Archbishop to Cardinal..............................................................111Chapter XXI Roncalli: Cardinal to Pope...................................................................117Chapter XXII What's up with Conservatives?...............................................................123Chapter XXIII Blessed John Paul II: Awe and Ambivalence..................................................127Chapter XXIV The Challenge Facing Neo-Catholics..........................................................133Chapter XXV Repairing our Broken Church..................................................................139Chapter XXVI Resolution and Reform versus Revolution.....................................................144Chapter XXVII Vatican Council III: What Will Happen?.....................................................149Epilogue.................................................................................................157Sources and Comments: to help the reader access further information on some subjects.....................161Appendix.................................................................................................177Glossary: to help the reader not familiar with Church organizations, titles etc..........................179

Chapter One

Vatican Council II: A Surprise

I arrived at his rectory door at 11:58 on that July morning in 1962. He was waiting in the living room, dressed in full clericals, with a white straw hat and a black patch covering his left eye. The noon church bell rang as I entered. He grinned and said, "You just made it." Father Michael Corr, my dad's brother, expected people to be on time. On Sunday mornings he dressed in his vestments and sat in meditation, waiting for the clock to strike ten before starting the procession to Mass.

I loved the man. He exemplified my motivation to become a priest. I learned from him when I drove him through the hills of Sussex County, New Jersey. He was a country pastor there in the years after his service with distinction as a U.S. Army chaplain during the First World War. He could no longer drive, having lost the sight in his eye to cancer. Yet his capacity for speaking his mind was undiminished.

In the early sixties my dear uncle loved to say, "Thank God I am an old man, as I will probably die Catholic" (meaning a pre-Vatican II conservative Catholic). I chose not to answer him. I needed his support and also didn't want to think of him ever dying.

I thank God that he is not around today. He would be appalled over the challenges his beloved Church now faces: Catholics deserting the pews on Sunday morning; the critical shortage of priests; a Church hierarchy shielding pedophile priests from justice to protect the good name of the Church, while ignoring the trauma caused to thousands of children sexually abused by priests. Father Michael's Church is on the precipice of disaster.

Father Michael was comfortable serving in a hierarchical organization where all instructions and inspiration come from the top. He welcomed the aging Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli as the new pope in October 1958. But he was not happy when Roncalli, the "stop-gap" Pope John XXIII, announced three months later on January 25, 1959, that a Council would be convened, saying, "It is time to open the windows of the Church and let in some fresh air."

Angelo Roncalli didn't campaign to be elected pope, and he never expected the honor. He enjoyed being just a priest. He and his secretary had round-trip railroad tickets in their pockets as they arrived in Rome for the papal election in 1958. When he was elected, Roncalli surprised all of his fellow cardinals by choosing the name John XXIII, the name of an antipope who reigned from 1410 to 1415 during the Western Schism.

He announced, "I choose John ... a name sweet to us because it is the name of our father, dear to me because it is the name of the humble parish church where I was baptized, the solemn name of cathedrals throughout the world, including our own basilica [St. John Lateran]. Twenty-two Johns of indisputable legitimacy [have been] pope and almost all of them have had a brief pontificate. We have preferred to hide the smallness of our name behind the magnificent succession of Roman Popes." In choosing the name John XXIII, he affirmed the antipapal status of antipope John XXIII.

This particular pope captured the affection of millions of Catholics and non-Catholics all over the world. The combination of his personal warmth, good sense of humor and the ability to see himself as a servant priest has no equal among his predecessors or successors. He pleasantly surprised many Catholics around the world with his news of the Second Vatican Council.

Father Michael, and many of his conservative friends, didn't see the need for a Council. He would ask, "Why is it necessary to drag all the cardinals and bishops of the world to Rome away from their dioceses to do what ... listen to theological experts who don't know how to run a diocese or a parish?"

"Uncle Michael, many forward-thinking Catholics are happy about the possibilities of such a Council. In anticipation of the liturgical...