To the editor:
Over the last 50 years, we have seen many incredible changes in our Roman Catholic religion, even the use of the word “Roman” seems to have been eliminated. I wonder that anyone realizes what it used to be like before the “open window/fresh air” policy of liberalism was welcomed in.
Recent discussions about the use of Gregorian chant at Mass and whether or not birth control and abortion are sins, in my estimation, are just a couple of examples of the confusion within the Roman Catholic Church, oops … Catholic Church, today!
If Vatican II did not tell us to get rid of all the Latin Gregorian music, why did it all disappear? Where did the notion come from that abortion/birth control was not a sin? Was that not also the liberal notion of this Vatican II movement?
There are many other examples I feel that have taken place during the Vatican II era that one has to wonder what has happened.
For instance, the shortage of priests? All of the Catholic schools that have closed in these last 50 years? What about those religious communities of Sisters who have changed all their habits of religious life completely?
Then there is the disposition of the Blessed Sacrament in our churches, followed by an ever-greater scandal, questioning our belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord. This was followed by the “Protestantism” of our Catholic churches.
Then there was the elimination of Marian devotions to the Mother of God. The sexual abuse cover-ups. Least of all the notion that there is no such thing as SIN.
I am glad our Holy Father wants us to rediscover our faith. I am a little unsure of what there is to celebrate about these last 50 years of Vatican II. Just now there seems to be this big push to read the Bible. Was that the only document that Vatican II generated? Is not the Bible/Scripture all around us at Mass?
I pray for our bishop and pope every day. When will they, our bishops, tell us that many of the “changes” that have taken place these past 50 years were not the correct teachings of Vatican II? When will we again have leaders we can trust, respect, and be grateful for?
D. Scheifel, McFarland