Second Vatican Council Archives

Are the new traditional churches artificial?
- Commentary
- April 7, 2017
Time and again, older Catholics will tell how their beloved old churches were torn from them and harsh, modernist buildings were imposed on their parish by pastors, bishops, and members of diocesan liturgical committees. But in recent years, new Catholic churches, especially in the American South, are being built in traditional styles of Catholic architecture.
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The unraveling of Catholicism’s rich sacramental tapestry
- Commentary, Global Church
- March 9, 2017
Father Robert Imbelli wonders whether the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, after fifty years of checkered reception, has resulted in a new Pentecost or a new Babel. He ponders whether the idea and practice of sacramental Catholicism has been discarded by some to the detriment of many.
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For Cardinal Mueller, a humble faith is good for theology
- Catholic News Agency, Vatican
- January 4, 2017
At the Pontifical Gregorian University presentation of the Italian edition of the seventh book in a series of Joseph Ratzinger’s complete works, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller discussed the key differences between theology and ideology.
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Ex-seminarian says acting, priesthood both ‘giving professions’

January 3, 2017

Currently performing in Broadway’s hit new musical “Waitress,” actor Dakin Matthews was a seminarian in Rome during the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, and says the transition from preparing for the priesthood to acting felt natural because both are professions in which you give.

Accepting reality key to beating the maze of pessimism

Commentary

October 15, 2016

Pessimism, a dark force in the spiritual life, often stems from refusing to accept a basic truth: Reality always beats out personal desires, and life is not always what we want. Seen that way, life becomes a mystery to be unraveled rather than a problem to be solved.

Famed exorcist proved you don’t have to play the clerical game

From the outside the Catholic Church can sometimes look like a rigid system of command-and-control, one in which there are severe penalties for coloring outside the lines. Father Gabriele Amorth, Rome’s most celebrated exorcist who died Friday at 91, proved that’s only true if you allow it to be.