Vatican II - 50 years ago

[musicus]

Here's a rich and fascinating site: http://conciliaria.com

[John Ainslie]

Fascinating indeed. It reveals what Cardinal Cushing - a go-ahead prelate - said in his 1962 Lenten pastoral letter:

The Church is in fact only adapting liturgical legislation to the present needs—both pedagogical and ascetic—of her members and to a changed and metropolitan society in which they must live. In similar manner, we might well expect to see some adaptations in the language and liturgical ceremonies as celebrated in the church of Africa and Asia, whose cultures are different from what we call Western civilization.

A real awareness of inculturation, then – though that word was not invented for another ten years – but just some tinkering with ‘liturgical legislation’ for ‘Western civilization’. What a surprise he was in for! It’s interesting to re-read articles 36 to 40 of Sacrosanctum concilium in the light of his limited expectations.