HE SECOND VATICAN Council solemnly declared: “There must be no innovation unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires it; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.” When it comes to this statement, the council fathers voted 2,147 to 4 (!) in favor of it on 4 December 1963. Which four bishops who voted against it? According to FULTON J. SHEEN (who participated in the council): “There were four bishops who voted against every chapter because they believed that the Vatican Council should not have been held.”
Nobody Disputes This • I won’t insult readers’ intelligence by pointing out that “the good of the Church” did not “genuinely and certainly require” many changes made after Vatican II. One of the chief liturgical reformers—who was very close to Pope Saint Paul VI—revealed in his memoirs that this contradiction was largely the result of deceitfulness. On the other hand, I don’t believe God wants us to “dwell upon” or “rehash” this sad situation endlessly.
The Second Part • A holier course of action would be to focus on the 2nd part: New forms adopted should in some way grow organically. That’s a reminder that the Catholic Church did not begin to exist in the year 1962. Therefore, it’s good to incorporate resources from the past. One such resource—viz. a choral collection by Maria von Trapp (d. 1987)—was mentioned in 2017 by my colleague, Dr. Lucas Tappan. A piece for Lent (“Open, O Hard and Sinful Heart”) was recently sung by two friends of mine at a Mass celebrated in the Ordinary Form:
* PDF Download • “Open, O Hard and Sinful Heart”
—Two-Voiced Polyphony For Lent and Passiontide.
PEN, OH HARD and sinful heart,
God will return to heed you.
Think of His pain and bitter part,
Let not more guilt impede you.
He who to penance is inspired,
Shall then in truth be living.
The sinner’s death God ne’er desired,
His mercy is forgiving.
2. Open your eyes, believe, be wise,
With God there’s no pretending.
Your sorry soul in danger lies
Of death and pains unending.
Come back, come back, O wayward one,
Shake off the sins that bind you.
Surely God’s own almighty Throne
Plentiful grace will find you.
3. Open your heart, your God behold,
With outstretched hands so tender,
On the dread cross in grief untold
His life for you surrender.
A trembling rends the hardest stone,
Sun, moon and stars are darkened.
Are you unsoftened, you alone,
Have you to Him not harkened?
Melody: 1638AD.
Appropriate hymn for Lent and Holy Week.
“Around the Year with the Trapp Family”
By Maria von Trapp
(Pantheon Books; New York, 1955).
