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Catholic Church joins the Protestant Reformation…Italian American Louie Verrecchio Explicator of 1965 Vatican II Council

Catholic Church joins the Protestant Reformation…Italian American Louie Verrecchio Explicator of 1965 Vatican II Council

Tom Verso (April 26, 2015)

For one-thousand and nine-hundred sixty five years, the Theology, Moral Teachings and Ritual of the Catholic Church were universally accepted by all members of the Church (Clergy and Laity). Similarly, Church Architecture (e.g. Romanesque and Gothic) and Ritual Music (e.g. Gregorian) varied little during that period. /// /// And Then! In 1965 under the aegis of the Vatican II Council, literally every aspect of the Church changed instantly and simultaneously. Today the Church is rent! There is no agreement among clergy and/or laity about theological principles, moral teachings, rituals, architecture and music. /// /// Historians would be hard pressed to find in all of World History a cultural institution that has existed for so long and encompassed so many people literally world wide; to find such a comparable institution that changed so comprehensively and quickly. There was literally no evolutionary change … change was instant. For example, the historic Latin Mass was instantly discarded on March 7, 1965 when Pope Paul VI said the “new mass”: in Italian, facing the congregation, at a table in front of the Communion Rail, with his back to the Alter and ‘cover-up’ Tabernacle. /// /// The magnitude and time frame of post-Vatican II changes in the Church is truly a unique phenomenon in World cultural history. While the social science and history of that change is, I should think, of interest to scholars independent of personal religious ideology; it, I should think, would be of special interest to southern-Italian American literati and culturati given the profound role the Church has played in the history and culture of the people South of Rome and their American progeny. /// /// Accordingly, I think it is no accident that one of the most intense and articulate students of The Council’s papers, the various interpretations of those papers and the affects of those interpretations on Catholicism should be a Catholic primary and high school educated Italian American (Philadelphia no less)… Louie Verrecchio

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 Preface … Italian American Literati / Culturati and Catholicism
“IASA 2015 Conference Call for Panels and Presentations ... Italian American Values”.
Of special interest is the section:
“Possible presentation and panel topics include but are not limited to the following:
* Defining Italian American systems of value: approaches, problematics, positions, and prospects
* Varieties of Italian American value and belief systems: personal, social, political, cultural
* Imagining Italian American values: representation, embodiment, and expression in literature, art and material culture
* Is that Italian? Italian American values as responses to larger forces, and as seen and perceived by others
* Finding/voicing/facing our own values: Italian American self-reflection in popular culture and the arts
* Traces of value: looking for an Italian American legacy of value in politics, culture, and social life
* Italian American values in contact with race, class, and other ethnicities: learning from history
Noteworthy, from the southern-Italian American cultural history point of view, is the absences of the word ‘Catholic’ in the list; especially its absence in the subsection on “belief systems.”
The absences of the word Catholic in the above referenced document, logically implies that the elected leadership of the IASA and by extension the membership at-large, do not considered Catholic theological and moral values to be a significant component of southern-Italian American value / belief system.
However, before conclusions of logically deductive arguments can be accepted as accurate and truthful, they must be verified with augmenting data. Thus, one will have to await the final conference agenda for conclusive evidence of how the members of the IASA view the role of Catholic values in the Italian American population and culture.
 
Catholic Values and Southern Italians
Catholic values have played a truly profound historic role in the culture of southern Italy and the southern-Italian American diaspora. Consider, for example, the virtual encyclopedia of contemporary southern-Italian Catholic festivals catalogued on the website “Magna Grece” (http://magnagrece.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-festa-directory.html).
Accordingly, if the IASA conference goes forth without major discussion of Catholic values and the role they play(ed) in southern-Italian culture, then the conference will be removed from a significant aspect of the reality which it presumes and purports to have expert knowledge; consisting of protracted subjective, descriptive, anecdotal discussions of literature, film, politics, food, music, etc., and ignoring historiorgrphic and sociological references to the core of the southern-Italian value system – Catholicism.
However, absence of Catholic values in such an academic conference would be understandable. 
Discussion of contemporary Catholic values in contemporary southern-Italian Americana is sociologically challenging given the vicissitudes of values in both the Church and contemporary culture.
Since the mind-boggling changes in the historic Church beginning with the 1965 Vatican II Council and the corresponding changes in American values, two generations of southern-Italians have been born and come of age (assume 20 yr. generation cycle). The Church of the three urban “Little Italy” generations (i.e. immigrants, children and grandchildren) no longer exists; the suburban southern-Italians have replaced the urban; and the respective values of “Little Italy” have been replaced by post-1950s suburban values (Note: DiLillo’s “Underworld” is a brilliant fictional representation of that change).
The scholarly sociological challenge is further complicated by the fact that the changes in the Church and southern-Italian population are dynamic and in a continuing state of change. Thus, scholars are charged with attempting to describe and explain a metamorphic phenomenon; value systems of an institution and population in a continuous state of flux.
One Italian American who rises to the historiographic and sociological challenge of explicating the Vatican II documents and post-Vatican II changes in the Church is Louie Verricchio. While he does not comment on the southern-Italian American population per se, his studies of the Church and Catholics generally lend themselves to research and analysis of the southern-Italian American value system.
 
Vatican II … The Church Yields and Joins the Protestant Reformation


The website“MYCatholicSource.com” list 220 significant changes in the post-Vatican II Church.
This magnitude of change in such a short period of time is unprecedented in world history. Cultural historians will be hard pressed to find such a magnitude of change as this in any other 2,000-year-old world-wide institution.
More important than the revolutionary magnitude and time frame of change; the change was Not motivated from outside pressures, or from a mass membership revolt within the Church.
There is virtually nothing in the pre-1965 documentary history and sociology of the Church that indicated that any change let alone revolutionary change was desired or eminently on the horizon. Indeed, by any quantitative measure of robustness and health, the Church was in a placid state of healthy homeostasis.
To the contrary, since Vatican II all of those numbers have precipitously declined and continue to decline to a point where the very viability of the Church in America is seriously in question (i.e. numbers of priest, nuns, schools, parishes, masses per parish, attendance per mass, seminarians, etc. … see for example:
- http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2014/01/27/more-statistics-that-traditional-catholics-are-concerned-about/
- http://skeeoh.com/forum/topics/michael-voris-s-gives-stats-on-the-catholic-church-in-us
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4P5dUgPE2Y)
What exactly was the cause of the change is an historiographic and social scientific problem that has yet to be considered, so far as I can determine, by any systematic research.
Nevertheless, even in the absence of systematic research, the magnitude and character of change is so obvious, that it may reasonably be characterized as the last phase of the Protestant Reformation that began five hundred years ago, when Martin Luther nailed his “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of ‘All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517.
This is to say: The Catholic Church has joined the Protestant Reformation!
This is no exaggeration or metaphoric characterization!
Consider the Vatican document announcing the coming quincentenary celebration of Luther’s revolt:
 
“FROM CONFLICT TO COMMUNION
Lutheran-Catholic Common
Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017”
“Catholics and Lutherans realize that they and the communities in which they live out their faith belong to the one body of Christ. The awareness is dawning on Lutherans and Catholics that the struggle of the sixteenth century is over. The reasons for mutually condemning each other’s faith have fallen by the wayside.”
The only problem with this ‘coming togetherness’ is that there is absolutely no evidence of Lutherans changing. All the changes, that form the basis of ‘coming together’, are profound Catholic changes. 

Esseentially The Catholic Church is admitting guilt to the sins and diviations from Christ's and the Apostle's teachings that Luther predicated of the Church.  
Importantly! ... The Catholic Chuch is asking for forgiveness, Not of God!
But asking for forgiveness of the Lutheran Church, and by extension the whole of the Protestant establishment.
Truly an historic moment in the theological and cultural history of Western Civilization!
 
“Traditional” (pre-Vatican II believers) in Revolt
The post-Vatican II juggernaut race to meld the Catholic Church with Protestantism seems unstoppable; indeed with the present Pope, it's not unreasonable to say the Church’s revolt against itself (its Protestant-izing itself) is complete.
However, with the advent of the Internet, those that have come to be called, “Traditional Catholics” (i.e. those who still adhere to the tenants of the pre-1965 Church) are fighting what may be characterized as a theological guerrilla war. Indeed, one the foremost voices in this struggle is a site called “Church Militant”; symbolically representing itself with heaven’s warrior Archangel “Michael”, who led God's armies against Satan’s forces (Book of Revelations); and, sells "Combat Rosaries". 
One reason that cultural historians and social scientist largely do not discuss these profound changes and conflicts in the premier institution of Western Civilization (indeed the institution that gave birth to the Civilization and whose presence has been manifest throughout the history of the Civilization) is the formidable intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church. The history and sociology of Vatican II cannot be grasped without mastering the profound intellectual history of the Church.
For example, currently there is great debate about traditional Catholic moral teachings of sexual behavior (contraception, masturbation, same-gender-sex, etc.). The vast majority of the verbalizing about the subject takes the form of ‘times have changed’ and the ‘Church’s teachings have to adjust to the changing times’.
In short, morality is a relative concept and what was wrong at one time and place is OK at another time and place.
However, what is ignored (unknown?) is that traditional Catholic teachings on sexuality are not subjective value judgments of certain people, applicable only to certain times and places. On the contrary, Catholic sexual (indeed all moral) precepts are logical conclusions based on Catholic Theology, which in turn is based on Universal Natural Law precepts in Scripture; thus universally true and relevant at all times and places.
An over simplified schematic example of the logical flow of Traditional Catholic moral code as it pertains to sexuality:
- Scripture: God created the World (i.e. every aspect of Nature)
- Moral behavior is behavior that is consistent with God’s design/intention
- To act in a manner that is inconsistent with God’s Natural design/intention is immoral (sinful)
- God’s Natural design/intention of the human sexual apparatus (anatomy, physiology and psychology) was for the purpose of procreation.
 - To engage in sexual behavior for purposes other than procreation is ‘unNatural’, i.e. violation of God’s design/intention, and therefore (logical conclusion) immoral (sinful).
In short, unlike other Christian religions, which teach morality by searching scripture for an appropriate phrase and interpretation of that phase in contemporary terms, Catholic morality is a protracted series of logical deductions from scripture assumptions about God’s design/intention of Nature (ergo: Natural Law).
Accordingly, the historiography of the Church challenges the historian to engage that intellectual tradition. No mean feat as indicated in the following.
 
Catholic Intellectual Tradition
The Catholic Church is arguable the most intellectualized religion in world history.
Beginning with John’s Gospel we see the melding of theology with philosophy
For example, John wrote his Gospel in ancient Greek and uses the word ‘logos’ (λόγος) forty times in the Gospel. Logos is translated into the English language as "Word" e.g.:
     - “In the beginning was the Word (logos),
     - the Word (logos) was with God,
     - the Word (logos) was God”… John 1:1.).
However, the Greek word ‘logos’ can also have other meanings such as: ‘reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning; explanation, reason, cause. (see: http://www.gospel-john.com/greek/chapter-1.html)
For example, the names of some of today’s sciences contain the logos root meaning explanation: e.g. Bio-log-y (i.e. life – explanation), geo–log–y (i.e. earth – explanation). theo -log-y (i.e.god - explanaation).
One can find the word logos in the works of Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) many centuries before John. Thus, at the very fountainhead of Catholic teaching we see the Apostle John bringing philosophical thinking to bear on theological issues.
Later, the Catholic intellectual tradition manifest itself in the founding of the European university system; Thomas R. Woods’s author of The Catholic Church and the Creation of the University writes:
“The university, which developed and matured at the height of Catholic Europe, was a new phenomenon in European history. Nothing like it had existed in ancient Greece or Rome [and rest of the world?]
“The Church should have done so much to foster the nascent university system since, according to historian Lowrie Daly, it was "the only institution in Europe that showed consistent interest in the preservation and cultivation of knowledge."
“The papacy played a central if not exclusive role in the establishment and encouragement of the universities. Naturally, the granting of a charter to a university was one indication of this papal role.
(see:http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/the-catholic-church-and-the-creation-of-the-university.html
Of course that Catholic university system came down to mid-twentieth century America in the form of the renowned [pre-Vatican II] schools such as Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, etc. [note: post 1965 Vatican II, these schools are nominally Catholic but essentially secular]
Consistent with its role in developing the European university system, one cannot study the intellectual history of Europe without being overwhelmed with the phenomenally long list of Church thinkers and scholars: beginning in the ancient world with Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory; into the Middle Ages and early modern with Aquinas, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus; and down to the twentieth century with St. Edith Stein, G. K. Chesterton, and the incredibly prolific writer and founder of the University of Toronto’s “Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies” Étienne Gilson and his student, the Aristotelian scholar Fr. Joseph Owens.
Given this intellectual tradition it is understandable that the official documents of the Catholic Church are profoundly and intellectually challenging reads. Even for those highly educated in the humanities, reading and explicating Papal documents (e.g. Motu Proprio; Apostolic Letters, Exhortations and Constitutions; Encyclicals and Bulls; etc.) require the utmost intellectual discipline and perseverance.
 
Enter Louie Verrecchio … Defender of Traditional Catholicism par excellence
Louie rises to the intellectual challenge of reading, grasping and explicating Church dogma articulated in historic Papal documents. He is truly a great teacher. Not nominally a teacher (i.e. credentials and job titles), rather a teacher in the true meaning of the word (i.e. one who brings students from a state of unknowing to a state of knowledge).
To that pedagogic end, he has written a number of books, has a very robust blog; is a public speaker and video producer (not to mention guitar player, singer and song writer in the 60s protest vain).
For details on his curriculum vitae, articles and videos, see:
- His blog “Harvesting the Fruit of the Vatican II” (https://harvestingthefruit.com/contact/about/)
-Wikipedia article “Louie Verrecchio” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Verrecchio)
- The very best introduction to the man, scholar and teacher see his collect of  “The Tradwriter” videos (https://vimeo.com/user12213053/videos)
 
What is fascinating about his scholarship and pedagogy, like most Americans of Italian descent (70% over age 25), he is Not a college graduate. Which speaks volumes about his passion to learn, teach and creative energy. He is self-motivated to come to grips with truly profound philosophical and theological thinking expressed in the most abstract and esoteric language; and pass that understanding on to others.
It is important to keep in mind, that Verrecchio is not just another ‘ivory tower’ scholar. He is a passionate believer in the Truths of the pre-Vartican II (Traditional) Church, and truly believes that the current state of the Church is wayward; i.e. it has deviated from True Church teachings.
However, he is not a ‘hellfire and brimstone’ “repent or be damned sinners” evangelizing crusading reformer. He is very much in the historic Catholic intellectual tradition of men like Gregory, Augustine, Aquinas, etc. noted above. He studies the Church’s documents in great detail, and explicates logically the theological and moral principles contained in those documents; all in the Church’s philosophical tradition back to John. He appeals to the mind and the light of reason.
Because he basis his belief and teaching on the historic documents of the Church, even believers in other religions and atheist will find value in his works. As noted above, one cannot know the history of Western Civilization without knowing the institution of the Church and the pervasiveness of Church culture. The only way to know the institution and its cultural affects is through the study of Church documents. Also, the recent profound and unprecedented change in the Church and the cultural implications can only be known through the study of Church documents.
More particularly, for students of southern-Italian American culture: for centuries in the ‘old country’ down the mid-twentieth century ‘Little Italy’ days, the Church was the basis of southern Italian culture. The historian cannot understand the southern-Italian culture without understanding the role of the Church in the culture. And, the social scientist cannot understand the contemporary southern-Italian American culture without understanding the changes in the Church and the affects of those changes on the culture.
Both historians and social scientists study culture though documents created by those apart of the culture and commentators outside the culture. Verrecchio provides a wealth of historic and contemporary Church documents and helpful interpretations; his work is invaluable for a social scientific historical study of southern-Italian Americana.
In Sum
It is interesting to me, that Italian American literati never miss an opportunity to rave about and ogle over almost any work written by someone with an Italian last name. Works that might get a B+ in an undergraduate creative writing or history course, are talk about in honorific terms.
While I understand and agree with the motivation to support ‘our people’, as it were; nevertheless it is also important that we bring to bare critical think that help writers improve on their work.
Also, there is a propensity to focus on fiction, poetry and Little Italy nostalgia. This is understandable because, the curriculum vitae of members of the Italian American Studies Association and American Association of Italian Studies are heavily weighted in the language and literature curriculums, with relatively few historians and social scientist. Accordingly, there are many Italian American scholars ready to review literary works (fiction and non-fictional mémoires) and few to grapple with the likes of Verrecchio’s.
Verrecchio never, so far as I have found, discusses southern-Italian Americana. Ironically, he provides more insight to southern-Italian Americana then many who build careers writing about Italians. This is because of the extreme relevance of his object of inquire (i.e. Catholicism) to southern-Italian American history and culture.
There will be a serious deficiency in the up coming IASA conference on “Italian American Values”, if it passes without reference to Verrecchio’s work and/or the issues that inspire his work. For what says more about southern-Italian American historic values than the word Catholic. And, what says more about the changes in southern-Italian contemporary Catholic values than the words Vatican II.

.........
PS
Although, as noted, Louie does not speak directly to southern-Italian American culture, he can't help himself; periodically his Italianita oozes out. For example, one of his recent blog articles was titled: "Please, just stata zitt' already".
In the article he explained: "( Stata zitt' - Dialectic Italian; it's kind of like an emphatic "shut up"...)

As they say: "You can take the boy away from the old neighborhood ... But you can never take the old neighborhood away from the boy."

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