Not Our Parents' Church

Time magazine announced in its January 4, 1963 issue that Pope John XXIII was its Man of the Year for 1962. John, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, is one of two Pope’s who have been so named since Time began publishing in 1923. The primary reason given for the accolade was his calling the ecumenical council know as Vatican II and the prospect of making some fundamental changes in how the Church is governed, its ministry, and its relationship with other faiths. The article explaining the choice begins:

"The Year of Our Lord 1962 was a year of American resolve, Russian orbiting, European union and Chinese war.

In a tense yet hope-filled time, these were the events that dominated conversation and invited history's scrutiny. But history has a long eye, and it is quite possible that in her vision 1962's most fateful rendezvous took place in the world's most famous church—having lived for years in men's hearts and minds.

"That event was the beginning of a revolution in Christianity, the ancient faith whose 900 million adherents make it the world's largest religion. It began on Oct. 11 [1962]in Rome and was the work of the man of the year. Pope John XXIII, who, by convening the Ecumenical Council called Vatican II, set in motion ideas and forces that will affect not merely Roman Catholics, not only Christians, but the whole world's ever expanding population long after Cuba is once again libre and India is free of attack.

"So rare are councils—there have been only 20 in the nearly 2,000 years of Christian history—that merely by summoning Vatican II to "renew" the Roman Catholic Church Pope John made the biggest individual imprint on the year. But revolutions in Christianity are even rarer (the Reformation was 400 years ago), and John's historic mission is fired by a desire to endow the Christian faith with ‘a new Pentecost,’ a new spirit. It is aimed not only at bringing the mother church of Christendom into closer touch with the modern world, but at ending the division that has dissipated the Christian message for four centuries."

The article goes on to explain the moment and significance of the Council and a great deal is devoted to the man himself.  It concludes with:

"‘The council may have an effect as profound as anything since the days of Martin Luther,’ says Dr. Carroll L. Shuster of Los Angeles, an executive of the Presbyterian Church. Boston University's Professor Edwin Booth, a Methodist and church historian, is so impressed by what Pope John has started that he ranks him as ‘one of the truly great Popes of Roman Catholic history.’"

While the dogma and theology didn’t really change, the outward rituals and attitudes sure did.

A Jesuit theologian I knew at Loyola University New Orleans metaphorically opined in the wake of Vatican II, that the Council of Trent in the mid-16th Century responded to the Reformation by digging a moat around the Church and raising the drawbridge. In the 19^th Century, Vatican I put alligators in the moat. Now, finally, the Church raised the bridge and got rid of the alligators.

Sadly, it was not to be John XXIII who presided over the implementation of the changes wrought. He died six months into the year at age 81, when he again made the cover of Time.

Read more: at this link at this link.  (You might have to have a subscription to read the entire article.)