The Unread Vision
Pecklers, Keith F.
MASS APPEAL Rembert G. Weakland In hindsight many writers assert that it would have been better if the Second Vatican Council had not begun with such a sensitive subject as liturgy. They often add...
...This schema received the most thorough debate of any document of the council, since the procedures had not yet evolved and everyone had several chances to express his opinions on every sentence and paragraph...
...Some also claim that the faithful were totally unprepared for these changes, that these represented the views of but a few scholars working at their desks in German universities or in monastic cells...
...Pope Paul VI then proceeded to promulgate the document...
...All the liturgical ferment here before the council, both the events and the people that created them, are thoroughly discussed...
...All of these facts might seem surprising in the light of subsequent developments and current controversies...
...At least in Europe, the bishops had had sufficient acquaintance with the liturgical movement to see liturgy as ripe for some major decisions...
...On December 4,1963, the definitive vote on the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy took place with an overwhelming vote of 2,147 affirmative and 4 negative...
...For those of us who lived through many of those events, reading the book is a nostalgic trip into a moment that was full of excitement and promise...
...Next, how those ideas reached the church here, especially through the work of Father Virgil...
...How well prepared were the bishops and how well prepared were the faithful for these liturgical changes...
...Keith Pecklers's excellent study seeks to answer this question for the United States...
...They often add that liturgy should have been treated after the completion of the document on the church, since any change in liturgy should have reflected the newer emphases in eccle-siology...
...Yet, the bishops felt at ease in beginning with the schema on liturgy...
...First, the European roots of the liturgical movement are examined, with ideas coming from Belgium and France, Germany and Austria...
...The unanimity of the bishops was encouraging and gave hope for the whole council...
Vol. 126 • September 1999 • No. 15
