Brethren, the following is my reply to an article published in the Huffington Point, titled, The Subversion of Vatican II, by Brother Louis DeThomasis, FSC.
Well, Brother Louis, "yes and no". First let me state that I was born after Vatican II concluded and that throughout my life I've attended Mass, mostly in the "ordinary form", and ocassionally, the "extraordinary form" or even in an Eastern Rite. I'm a mature Catholic of the John Paul II generation, with a B.A. in Theology from a Catholic University. I'm also a Catholic blogger. I fully receive Vatican II.
I've never felt that I lack the "space" to doubt or question, or grow in my faith. On the contrary, what I've found is that my space for being "devout" and even "docile" has been shrinking quite rapidly, constrained by other loud voices that have been eroding the Gospel as received and transmitted by the Catholic Church, and entrusted to her pastors. You are correct in pointing out that there has been a "corruption of Vatican II" but this corruption comes from those who erect their own personal or group "magisterium" over and above the real one, replacing with their opinions those which we have to receive with divine, Catholic faith.
The "spirit of Vatican II" has been used by a choir of thousand of voices to sing their dissent. What's worse, they think their cacophony is somehow "beautiful" and "liberating" when it really isn't.
Brother Louis you are correct, too,in observing that our public discourse is suffering. I don't justify, but I do observe that a sizeable number of Catholics are tired of a theological discourse that seeks to minimize core truths of Christianity as lived in Catholicism, and replace these with "social justice", "feminism" and and the mere cultivation of ethical behavior lived only with a nominal connection to the truths that should enliven these actions. These Catholics are very angry and disappointed also at being dismissed as somehoe defective for being "devoted" and "compliant." They will often say uncharitable things - I myself have fallen in that - but even when they don't, they're condenmed.
Perhaps you should give us more credit and attempt to understand us better by the time you write your next essay.
- Read The Subversion of Vatican II, by Brother Louis DeThomasis, FSC.