What was Vatican II really about?

I was just a mere child of 8 when I heard on T.V. that the Pope was calling for a new council for the Church in the 20th Century. What exactly did this mean? At 8 years old, I must admit, that I was ignorant of what was going on at the time. After all, I had just received my First Holy Communion, which was the most blessed day of my life! Little did I know that the priest from whom I received my First Holy Communion, would be involved in a sex-abuse scandal, many years later. As I said, I was ignorant and perhaps, blind to what was happening. Or maybe, because I'd just received Jesus, which was the most important thing to me at the time, nothing else mattered. 

I had also heard that clergy and religious were beginning to leave the Church in droves! That totally surprised me-and I wondered why. I guess you could say that 1962-1965 were tumultuos years, all the way around. I loved the Church, and I remembered someone giving me a nun doll during this time. I used to love practicing celebrating Mass and using white Necco wafers for Holy Communion. Strange child, I was. After all, I was a girl, and females do not celebrate Mass-only males do. 

In any case, Faith was something beautiful, and I wanted to learn as much as I could from attending Mass on Sunday. My Mom always made us sit in the back, which I did not like because I found it very distracting. I preferred to sit in the front, so that I could be as close to Jesus as I possibly could;  I wanted to hear everything the priest was saying. 

Now, I loved to sing the hymns at Mass, and would often sing them at home too! I later became a member of a choir and always sang my heart out. I'm an alto, and loved singing the harmonies. 

Getting back to Vatican II, we'd been told that some major changes were going to be implemented-like hearing the readings in the vernacular, instead of in Latin. The priest was going to face the congregation, instead of facing the Tabernacle. We would no longer kneel when receiving Holy Communion; we would instead walk up in line, and be able to receive Communion in the hand, as opposed to the tongue. As time went on, female lectors, and the use of Eucharistic Ministers were becoming the norm. There were also female altar servers, too!

So what did this all mean to me? I have to admit that it was a little overwhelming for me to digest and to understand. For eight years of my life, we worshiped one way, the Mass was celebrated one way, and now, things would be radically different! Back in '65, when I received the seal of the Holy Soirit in Confirmation, I would have never suspected what was coming down the pike, so to speak. 

Fourteen years (after Confirmation) later, I was called to serve in a Catechetical Ministry to children with special needs, which would contine for 35 years and counting.

Two years later, I was invited to become a Lector. Four years after that, I was invited to become a Eucharistic Minister.  Yes, I was becoming very involved in the Church! When we give of ourselves, it is a beautiful thing. My spiritual life was indeed, being fortified, in more ways than I'll ever know!

So why do I bring up a Council, that perhaps had a very profound affect on me, enabling me to embrace everything the Church is? Because I, along with others, have been learning that some of the changes that were implemented, were not supposed to be implemented! O.K., I can accept this, but why was the Church doing things for 50 years, which it wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place? O God, help us! The answers to these questions are a little complex, but the short version is that some bishops and priests misinterpreted the documents, and perhaps got a little carried away in the process?

After celebrating Liturgy for so long, in the way we've become accustomed to, it's hard to believe that Vatican II never said anything about the approval of altar girls, using Eucharistic Ministers at every Mass-(they are to be utilized in cases of emergency only). Lectors-females supposedly should not serve on the altar; however, the Church continues to allow women to read because the women want to be an active part of the Liturgy. As a woman, I've loved being a part of the Liturgy, but if it's not in the Vatican II documentation, then we shouldn't be doing it, right?  Yes, this is a hard pill to swallow, especially for me; but if we are being asked to be obedient to the magisterium of the Church, shouldn't we obey?

The 50th anniversary of Vatican II invites us to revisit the documents, to understand what it was all about. I am in the midst of doing that now, and I will be discussing it more in the near future. 

May God bless us in his mercy.