The Current Church is the Best it’s Been in a While

As many frustrations as I have with the Church, I try to remind myself that this is the best it's been since Vatican II.



This isn't an indictment of the Second Vatican Council.

Most of (if not all of) my issues with Vatican II come down to the implementation of it as opposed to what was actually written in the documents.

I consider myself extremely blessed to have not lived through the clown Mass era and all the confusion immediately after the Council.


We are in the best version of the post-Vatican II Church that we've seen so far. Yes, even with Bishops restricting the Old Rite and saying/doing/allowing some awful things.


That's the irony of it all. Even with how bad things seem to be, it's been worse.


We're seeing:

- A renewed interest in tradition

- A slow resurgence in building beautiful new Churches

- An increased fervor in the average Massgoer


Yes, Mass attendance is low. Yes, people are leaving the Church. Yes, the rate of people unaffiliated with any religion is rising.

All of that is true. I think, though, that's more to do with the decline in cultural Christianity than really anything else.

Was the culture more Christian in the '80s? Probably. At least, inasmuch as more people attended Church weekly. The percentage of Church attendees who took their faith seriously and lived it out, though? I'm not convinced it was any higher than today. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the percentage is lower.


Some of the awful misinterpretations of Vatican II are just going to go away on their own.

- Hordes of old women clamoring to be EMHCs (or, as the term has been mangled, "Eucharistic Ministers")? Declining

- Over-zealous ushers? We're going to run out of those

- Lenten fish fries? On thin ice, thankfully (I said what I said).


When the generations who lived through Vatican II and the aftermath are too old to serve in the standard "ministry" positions they currently hold, they aren't going to be replaced.

I truly don't believe we'll have EMHCs at an Ordinary Time Sunday Mass in 20 years. At least not as a norm.

Will we build 1970s-style churches in the 2060s? Assuming the world is still around, I don't think we will.

Maybe I'm too optimistic. We'll see.


However, this isn't an indictment of the (mostly) Boomers and Gen X'ers who lived through the Vatican II era.

I hold the opinions you can assume a Catholic under 35 does. You can guess where I lean and what my opinions are about Boomer liturgy.

Still, for all my disagreements, I appreciate the older generations who stuck it out. Through all the changes and uncertainty, they were obedient. Even if I don't agree with their practices, I'm grateful to the priests and the laity who stayed and remained obedient.

I don't know if I would have.

This isn't all that relevant to the work of a podcast production agency, but it's something I figured I'd write down to remind myself.

It's better now than it's been in a while.

Deo Gratias.

Thanks for reading,

Joe