“The Vatican Rag” -- Tom Lehrer
Long-lived religions are similar to calendars: Neither ages well unless occasionally brought into line with the modern world. But whereas calendars can be altered with the stroke of a pen, religious doctrine tends to be inflexible and uncompromising. After all, if you give your allegiance to a system of belief you believe to be divinely ordained, can you claim sufficient wisdom to improve it? Can you justify modifying doctrine established by God(s) himself/herself/itself/themselves?
But religions do evolve as does any lasting institution, often without the awareness of worshippers. I am amazed by the number of evangelical Christians who believe they possess the very same religious tenets as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson when in fact they do not even practice the same teachings of their grandparents. Most religions can evolve organically because they lack any hierarchical organization doctrinal purity. Highly regimented religions, however, are less susceptible to this sort of change.
I should pause here to point out that few major religions are so highly regimented as is the Roman Catholic Church. And even a highly regimented can stanch the tide of history for only so long before the dam breaks. Under a full moon on 25 January 1959, Pope John XXIII speaking to the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square let it be known that the tide was high. The Church would make peace with the modern world.
I should pause here to point out that few major religions are so highly regimented as is the Roman Catholic Church. And even a highly regimented can stanch the tide of history for only so long before the dam breaks. Under a full moon on 25 January 1959, Pope John XXIII speaking to the faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Square let it be known that the tide was high. The Church would make peace with the modern world.
The Church had long been smarting from waging war against reality. Regardless of Papal Bulls condemning liberalism, Protestantism, freedom of religion, capitalism, socialism, rationalism, separation of church and state, progress, and even “modern civilization,” reality continued its relentless offensive.
Perhaps the Church’s most severe defeat occurred in 1870 when the military forces of the Kingdom of Italy captured the City of Rome, thereby depriving the Papacy of its final remaining temporal holding. For the next 59 years, successive Popes deemed themselves Captivus Vaticani -- “The Captive in the Vatican.” Refusing to leave the grounds of the Papal Palace, one Holy Pontiff after another was reduced to hurling ineffective invectives at a largely indifferent world for nearly six decades. In 1929, Pope Pius XI capitulated to the Kingdom of Italy and received recognition of the Vatican City as compensation. It might be said that Pius XI chose a most inopportune moment to open negotiations, for the man with whom he agreed to terms was Benito Mussolini. By the time the pope realized the nature of the beast, the Papacy and and Mussolini’s Fascist government were far too intertwined for Pius XI to untangle. He died an unhappy and disappointed man in 1939.
Fortunately, the harsh lessons reality viciously taught Pius XI were remembered by his successors Pius XII and the aforementioned John XXIII. John XXIII merited mention even before his elevation to the papal throne. As Archbishop Angelo Roncalli during World War II, his alert and active interventions enabled unknown thousands of refugees, mostly Jewish, to escaped from or hide within Nazi-dominated Europe, mostly Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Italy, and Hungary. Archbishop Roncalli used his office to "baptism of convenience" certificates to the Jewish underground and pressure civil authorities to delay or even halt deportations to death camps. He also intervened to help desperate Jews seeking to enter Palestine.
Perhaps the Church’s most severe defeat occurred in 1870 when the military forces of the Kingdom of Italy captured the City of Rome, thereby depriving the Papacy of its final remaining temporal holding. For the next 59 years, successive Popes deemed themselves Captivus Vaticani -- “The Captive in the Vatican.” Refusing to leave the grounds of the Papal Palace, one Holy Pontiff after another was reduced to hurling ineffective invectives at a largely indifferent world for nearly six decades. In 1929, Pope Pius XI capitulated to the Kingdom of Italy and received recognition of the Vatican City as compensation. It might be said that Pius XI chose a most inopportune moment to open negotiations, for the man with whom he agreed to terms was Benito Mussolini. By the time the pope realized the nature of the beast, the Papacy and and Mussolini’s Fascist government were far too intertwined for Pius XI to untangle. He died an unhappy and disappointed man in 1939.
Fortunately, the harsh lessons reality viciously taught Pius XI were remembered by his successors Pius XII and the aforementioned John XXIII. John XXIII merited mention even before his elevation to the papal throne. As Archbishop Angelo Roncalli during World War II, his alert and active interventions enabled unknown thousands of refugees, mostly Jewish, to escaped from or hide within Nazi-dominated Europe, mostly Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Italy, and Hungary. Archbishop Roncalli used his office to "baptism of convenience" certificates to the Jewish underground and pressure civil authorities to delay or even halt deportations to death camps. He also intervened to help desperate Jews seeking to enter Palestine.
Among his first official acts upon inheriting the Papacy spoke to the humanity he had displayed during the war. While celebrating his very first Good Friday Liturgy, he interrupted the traditional prayer referring to Jews as perfidius (deceitful, unfaithful), abolishing it from all future ceremonies. Perhaps his past could have alerted the Church and world that John XXIII was a man willing to chance reform. Perhaps, but even so, worshippers and even the College of Cardinals were caught unawares when he announced his intention to summon an ecumenical council, a gathering of ranking clergy and theologians to discuss and reform church doctrine and ritual.
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, commonly called Vatican II, convened on 11 October 1962. Pope John XXIII did not survive to see its closing on 8 December 1965, but the council’s actions were as far reaching as he might have hoped. A very undemocratic organization became significantly less undemocratic. Now worshippers were encouraged to active participants in Mass, for example. Previously, the sacrament of the Eucharist was conducted in Latin by a priest whose back was turned to the congregation.
Change affected not just worshippers -- the Church began to embrace the “modern civilization” it had once dismissed as an error. The change was not immediate, but it was real. And to better engage with the modern world, priests began to hold forth on political issues of social justice, civil rights, poverty, and peace. Nuns tossed their unwieldy habits when moving in the secular world for more suitable garb as to be more accessible by the world.
No longer is the Catholic Church the sole path to salvation. A new approach began to emerge albeit slowly and still evolving even today. Instead, all people of good will and righteous conduct, be they Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, or whatever were, well, “Catholic” without actually being aware of it and thus eligible for salvation. Even today, this outreach to those once shunned and damned by the Church continues to broaden.
Change affected not just worshippers -- the Church began to embrace the “modern civilization” it had once dismissed as an error. The change was not immediate, but it was real. And to better engage with the modern world, priests began to hold forth on political issues of social justice, civil rights, poverty, and peace. Nuns tossed their unwieldy habits when moving in the secular world for more suitable garb as to be more accessible by the world.
No longer is the Catholic Church the sole path to salvation. A new approach began to emerge albeit slowly and still evolving even today. Instead, all people of good will and righteous conduct, be they Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, or whatever were, well, “Catholic” without actually being aware of it and thus eligible for salvation. Even today, this outreach to those once shunned and damned by the Church continues to broaden.
When I walk to the University of Chicago Campus, I will pass a sign pointing to church still employing the traditional Latin liturgy. I cannot help but be amused. Neither Jesus nor Peter nor (almost certainly) even Paul spoke Greek. Surely these faithful who cling to largely discarded traditions know. But such thoughts missed the entire raison d'être behind this resistance to change.
We find solace and safety in an orderly universe. Change is the enemy of that placid comfort. Many people find, not unreasonably, the idea that the world is not so chaotic as it seems, that an immutable higher power orders the universe to be very reassuring. When that security is threatened, they resist. And many of the faithful resisted the changes wrought by Vatican II. And the number of resisters is huge. Many of the faithful want to return to a more familiar time -- the Mass in Latin, nuns back in habit, and less tolerance for those they deem “heretics.”
Always, reform is a process of two steps forward, one step back. Will reform continue its march into the future or do three steps back await? No one can know, but in the meanwhile, Tom Lehrer has some advice for the Church.
Another big news story of year concerned the ecumenical council in Rome, known as Vatican II. Among the things they did in an attempt to make the church more commercial was to introduce the vernacular language into portions of the mass, to replace Latin, and to widen somewhat the range of music permissible in the liturgy, but I feel that if they really want to sell the product, in this secular age, they ought to do is to redo some of the liturgical music in popular song forms. I have a modest example here. it's called the Vatican Rag.
First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
Do whatever steps you want, if
You have cleared them with the pontiff.
Everybody say his own
Kyrie Eleison,
Doin' the Vatican Rag.
Get in line in that processional,
Step into that small confessional,
There, the guy who's got religion'll
Tell you if your sin's original.
If it is, try playin' it safer,
Drink the wine and chew the wafer,
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to transubstantiate!
So get down upon your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
Make a cross on your abdomen,
When in Rome do like a Roman,
Ave Maria,
Gee it's good to see ya,
Gettin' ecstatic an'
Sorta dramatic an'
Doin' the Vatican Rag!
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