Customer Reviews

What Happened at Vatican II

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What Happened at Vatican II is an excellent and interesting book I can recommend to any general reader. While it details in strong and readable narrative, the people and activities of a specific religious group, the Catholic Church, anyone with an interest in human nature, world events, history, and faith will find this well-written book valuable. O'Malley is a strong writer who never loses the reader in the complexities of the event, the people, and the ideas. He also avoids grinding axes even with the incredible explosiveness of the ideas and personalities involved in Vatican II.

As a person trained in communication research, I was particularly interested and fascinated in reading about the procedures and networks of communication that drove Vatican II. The Catholic Church is the oldest human institution on earth and is layered with hundreds of years of ritual, procedure, canon law, and tradition. Yet within what one might easily misperceive as an ossified organization, the play of human nature and the role of communication were vital to the outcome of Vatican II. O'Malley draws a compelling case study of how people act in a complex decision making event even with such an old, established hierarchy.

For people of any faith or ethical tradition, this book would also be valuable source for reflection upon your own theology, ethics, and values. O'Malley provides excellent descriptions of the ideas and policies the Catholic leadership considered during Vatican II (plus you can visit the Vatican website to read the complete documents if you are that interested - I found it useful to read O'Malley's descriptions with my computer on a good search engine). Even if you are not a strong Catholic, you can still appreciate the questions, arguments, and decisions made at Vatican II and wonder upon them for your own growth.

This is a history book and not a polemic. O'Malley does not preach from this pulpit, but rather provides a clear, compelling, interesting, and useful look of the people in that pulpit.

I just finished reading What happened at Vatican II? I enjoyed it thoroughly. The history of the council reads as if it were a novel!

I particularly enjoyed learning about Maximos IV whom I had not heard of before. He played a significant role reminding the council fathers that Catholicism was much bigger and complex than the Western Church, and he did this with elegance and audacity to boot.

And of course there is the role of Paul VI, what a contrast from John XXIII's approach to the everyday running of the council. Paul's suggestions to the council were interventions that put the breaks on the expansive experience of collegiality that the council fathers were having at the council.

But most of all I think the hermeneutic O'Malley offers in the final chapter to account for the center-periphery, change, and style issues that run through the pre-conciliar church, the council and our own times is very helpful and moves the state of the question beyond continuity vs discontinuity or liberals vs conservatives.

Thank you and congratulations!

If you are looking for the one book you will read on the meaning of the Second Vatican Council, search no further for you have found it in What Happened at Vatican II . Fr,. O'Malley is both a church historian and an historian of culture, recognized as the best in his field. These two areas of his expertise combine marvelously in this ground-breaking study of Vatican II. Whereas other historians of the Council catalogue its proceedings, Fr. O'Malley cogently and convincingly explains what the impact of those proceedings were for the history of the Roman Catholic Church. He deftly demonstrates how Vatican II diverged from previous councils in style as much as substance. By abandoning the language of the Roman Senate that had characterized previous Roman Catholic Church councils, Vatican II spoke to the People of God without condemnation and anathema. In this sense, the wishes of Pope John XXIII for a pastoral rather than a doctrinal council were realized.

Fr. O'Malley's engaging writing style brings all of the major players of the Council to life. He eschews simplistic explanations and gets to the heart of the matter in each of the four periods that the Council met between 1962-1965.

At a time when some in the Roman Catholic Church actually repudiate Vatican II and attempt to claim that nothing of import really happened at the Council, Fr. O'Malley presents a vibrant and vital portrayal of the reform that the Council intended for the Roman Catholic Church. One of his most poignant insights is that those who would downplay the significance of Vatican II for the history of the Roman Catholic Church actually do the Council a great disservice by denying it the greatness that it had hoped for in its reform of the Catholic Church. Fr. O'Malley's assessment of the Council puts the lie to their denial.

You will not be disappointed by this book. Not only is it a pleasure to read, but it is also a repository of full and substantive factual information on what happened at Vatican II.

Both an entertaining and sobering history of one of the greatest religious events of the past several hundred years. Father O'Malley provides a summary of the Catholic Church's struggle to adapt to the modern world since the French Revolution. The story of the Council itself is an engrossing tale of determined reformers and intransigent sabotage by a tiny minority. Paul VI's well-intentioned interventions toward the end of the Council appear to have done more harm than good. The author avoids any discussion of the current trends within the Church. For example, he does not discuss how the reforms of liturgical expression and the role of National Conferences of Bishops were steadily reversed during the papacies of John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)and Benedict XVI (Josef Ratzinger). He avoids making any prediction regarding the impact of the Council within the life of the Roman Church in the future.

_What Happened at Vatican II_ (2008, Harvard) by John W. O'Malley is an interesting account of the developments that took place within the Catholic Church and Christianity as they occurred at the Second Vatican Council. The book considers the events of this council and the debates that followed showing contrasts between traditionalists, conservatives, and modernists, as well as the perspectives of the Eastern churches. The book explains many of the sweeping changes that were made as a result of this council and situates the council within its historical context. The book also explains the larger consequences of this council, including those for the Catholic church, but also those for all of Christianity and the relationship between the church and other religions as well as the modern world. The book relates this council through the pontificates of John XXIII and Paul VI as well as the repercussions of the council into the pontificate of John Paul II and our present-day under Benedict XVI. The Second Vatican Council considered many important issues for the church and many have come to see it as an attempt by the church to meet the modern world. Others have remained more skeptical of the large changes they maintain evolved out of it and came to embrace traditionalism. Still others on the extreme left have maintained that the council did not go far enough. As such, the issue of Vatican II remains an important one for all Catholics today and this book provides a useful understanding of the events of that council.

The book includes the following chapters -

Introduction - lays out the rationale for the council as it was convened by John XXIII on January 25, 1959. Explains the role of the council and some of the issues for the church taken up for the council. Explains some of the documents and encyclicals which resulted from the council such as those concerning the Eastern churches and the problematic issue of "religious liberty". Explains the role of modernity stretching back to the French Revolution and the conflict between the church and modernity.

Big Perspectives on a Big Meeting - starts from the election of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli as pope as explains how he came to convene the council. Situates the council within its historical context and explains the role of councils within the church as they relate to the role of the pope. Explains the issues of Aggiornamento, Ressourcement, and the development of doctrine. Relates the issues of "la nouvelle theologie" to Scholasticism.

The Long Nineteenth Century - explains the development of the church in the Nineteenth Century and the conflict with modernity and liberalism as it arose following the French Revolution. Considers the papacies of Gregory XVI and Pius IX and explains their conflicts with modernity and with such notions as "freedom of conscience". Explains the role of the theories of such individuals as Joseph de Maistre concerning the role of the papacy. Considers further the papacies of Leo XIII, Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII. Explains issues such as the relationship between the church and other religions, as well as the issue of Feeneyism. Notes the conflict over the works of Jacques Maritaine and the conflict that arose between Thomistic/Scholastic theology and Aristotelian philosophy and "novel theologies" that may embrace existentialism and historicism.

The Council Opens - considers the opening of the council, some of the issues initially taken up by the council, and the role of important personalities such as Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Cardinal Augustin Bea, Cardinal Ratzinger, and theologians such as Karl Rahner, Yves Congar, Edward Schillbeeckx, and Hans Kung. Considers the issues raised by evolutionism (Theilhard de Chardin) and the role of Eastern, Uniate, African, and Latin American churches. In particular, notes the important role that such figures as Maximos IV were to play in representing the Eastern churches.

The First Period (1962) : The Lines Are Drawn - considers issues taken up by the church including a discussion of the liturgy and the role of Latin (noting the conflict with the Eastern churches and the role of Maximos IV), the sources of revelation, and other issues.

The Second Period (1963) : A Majority Prevailing - explains the commission headed by Ottaviani and Bea, the death of John XXIII and the election of Paul VI, the continuation of the council, issues raised from ecumenism, the role of the Jews, and other issues.

The Third Period (1964) : Triumphs and Tribulations - the continuing role of the council, the role of such documents as Gaudium et Spes, the role of the church and the bishops, the issues of counciliarism, the role of the Jews and religious liberty (noting conflicts with traditionalists such as Marcel Lefebvre who was later to denounce the council), and the role of progress.

The Fourth Period (1965) : Bringing the Ship Into Port - explains such issues taken up by the council as the role of the church in the modern world; war, peace and the United Nations; missions, education, and non-Christian religious, and the final weeks of the council.

Conclusion - sums up the far-reaching results of the council and its importance as one of the major religious events of the Twentieth Century.

Some of the issues raised by the council include the issues of religious liberty, the role of the Eastern churches (particularly as they were articulated by Maximos IV), the role of modernism, the changing of the mass and the liturgy as well as changes made to other sacraments, the role of conciliarism, the primacy of the papacy, issues raised by other Christian denominations and other religions, and many further issues. Increasingly, individuals within the church came to embrace "the Spirit of Vatican II" and this was used to justify a liberalization of the church. These issues remain important ones for Catholics as we enter the Twenty-first Century.


--In light of the recent massive scandals coming out about the church and a press that is out for blood, it appears that some re-thinking of the schemes of Vatican II is necessary by the church in order to restore holiness and order.

John O'Malley's "What Happened at Vatican II" is an excellent and well-written overview for anyone interested in learning what happened behind the scenes at Vatican II. As someone who has taken a graduate-level course on Vatican II, I did not expect to learn much new information from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of O'Malley's research and how he dealt with all the major issues that the Council Fathers faced.

The biggest potential pitfall in writing about Vatican II only a generation after its completion is a lack of scholarly distance from the subject. Because the Church is still living in the immediate post-Vatican II era, it is very difficult to separate one's personal ideology from a reporting of what took place during Vatican II. So we usually end up with a simple "conservative/liberal" account, with one side being portrayed positively and the other negatively, depending on the author's own orientation. Yet O'Malley mostly refrains from such subjectivity and simply recounts what happened rather than his opinion of what happened.

O'Malley rightfully avoids putting a political spin on the Council and instead focuses on the theological issues which dominated the scene; specifically, the theology of change within the Church. This was the underlying current of Vatican II: could the Church change its practices and doctrines, and if so, how much? Three terms came to represent this issue: aggiornamento (or "updating"), development and ressourcement (or "return to the sources"). Each Council Father had to evaluate for themselves how each of the proposed changes were valid updates, developments of the Catholic Tradition, and/or a return to a previous practice which is more legitimate than later accretions. In the end, there came to be two main parties at the Council (which O'Malley objectively calls the "majority" and the "minority") and it was the leaders of these two parties that drove the debates at the Council. O'Malley's analysis of these debates is far more worthwhile than those that simply look at the debates as a battle between "conservatives" and "liberals" (as an indication of the meaninglessness of those titles, consider that a young Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope Benedict XVI - was one of the leading thinkers of the so-called "progressives" at the Council).

Earlier I stated that "O'Malley mostly refrains from...subjectivity". The reason for my four-star rating instead of five-stars is that I felt that there were a number of instances where O'Malley makes his own views on the subject clear. By his use of language and emphasis, O'Malley sometimes comments not just on what happened at Vatican II, but also what he felt should have happened after Vatican II. Fortunately, these instances were minimal, but they did detract somewhat from an otherwise fine book.

I recommend "What Happened at Vatican II" to anyone from professional theologians to the interested layperson. It will give them a better understanding of one of the most important religious events of the 20th century and one that still has a dramatic impact on the lives of Catholics today.

Though I was in the seminary during Vatican II, and thus followed it as closely as I could, I found this book to be exceptionally valuable both as a history of the event (and its immensely important background) and as an interpretation of what happened there.

Part of the beauty of this book is that O'Malley centers it around three themes: aggiornamento or resourcement, the tension between the center and the periphery, and the pastoral style that characterized the entire event. O'Malley chose to interpret every debate, every vote, and every document through each of these three lenses. Yet, underlining all three of these lenses O'Malley points to an even more foundational perspective, namely, the universal call to holiness. And by "universal," in the context of Vatican II, O'Malley perceives this "call to holiness" as extending not just to Catholics, or to bishops, or to priests (though certainly to all three of these groups) but to everyone be they religious or not.

I want to emphasize, however, that this book reads like the very best mystery novels. Almost every page highlights surprises, conflicts and compromises, and the people that fill these pages are, at least to me, incredibly interesting. So you can read this book for pure enjoyment as much as for enlightenment.

Finally, what for me as a Catholic makes this book so engaging is not simply the book itself, wonderful though it is, but also because of what has happened to the Catholic Church in America in the now almost 50 years since the close of Vatican II. In those 45 years, according to Pew Research, 30 million men and women who were raised as Catholics, no longer call themselves "Catholic." And another enormous number (I estimate to be another 30 million) are now "lapsed" Catholics. In short, one is tempted to say that in America, the impact of Vatican II can only be considered as "catastrophic."

However, it is much too early to make such a judgment. It will take 100 years before some future generation will be able to accurately assess the impact of this unique event. I continue to be hopeful.

The author, John O'Malley, is a top ranking historian, and a witness to the second Vatican council. In the post Vatican II era, there is a trend to erode the spirit of the council, and to return to a form of traditional thinking characerized by a strongly hierarchical and clerical power structure. In the modern world, this traditional framework has become dysfunctional and was in need of aggiornamento as Pope John XXIII frased it. John O'Malley's acount of the council revives the original spirit and keeps is alive. This spirit included such important points as adaptability, need for renewal, the need for taking the expertiese of layety seriously, a new ecumenical spirit, and many more. Keep this spirit alive, and let it grow.

I had to pick this up and put it down a few times. The author did a thorough job, but this book was written for the more erudite (or more theologically trained) than I.

Some of the vocabulary O'Malley used--and my reading vocabulary is extensive--I had to look up. In many cases, a more familiar word would have been fine. I had hoped this book might be appropriate for a discussion group, but I think it would be too difficult for the less avid reader.

I was relieved to see the Catholics (of which I am one) were arguing then about some of the same things they are arguing about now. And I thought ours was a particularly polarized age.

This is an excellent book. John O'Malley provides a readable and enjoyable history of Vatican II. I did not know the history but found his insights to explain it so well. I'm giving this book to my some of my friends for Christmas! This book is like a fine wine.

Captain Patrick Morgan