Fr. McBrien works to bring fruits of Vatican II

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My thanks to Father Richard McBrien for his good column of Aug. 11.

He has been trying for 45 years to bring the fruits of the Second Vatican Council to us. Twenty years ago he was given a certificate of appreciation by The Catholic Press Association for his efforts.

He wrote: “A layperson today would have to be over 60 years old to have any meaningful memory of the pre-Vatican II Church. Without that memory, one would find it very difficult … to appreciate what the council did for the Church.”

I am 82 years old, and some of us were excited in the ‘60s and ‘70s about the reforms spelled out by Vatican II. The Church would become a place where adult Catholics would be treated as adults.

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Unfortunately, the reforms were not implemented everywhere. The last I knew, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz  of Lincoln, Neb., still does not allow girl altar servers. A friend of mine moved to New York state a few years ago and she says the churches in her area are not very progressive compared with those in Iowa.

For anyone interested in reading more about being adult in the Church,  read the book “Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding” by Diarmuid O’Murchu. It was published by Orbis Books in 2010 and was promoted in Maryknoll magazine. O’Murchu is an Irish Catholic priest and social scientist who facilitates programs in adult faith development.

Teresa Mottet

Fairfield


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