A Blast From The Past
It's been a slow news day

From Dec 16, 2005
Anna Haycraft (A.K.A. Alice Thomas Ellis)
The Post Vatican II Chesterton

The more I read of this lady, the more I like her. An English convert, raised a Secular Humanist. There must be something in that British water...

But anyhow, her criticism of the Second Vatican Council and it's subsequent "fruits" are just as thought provoking (and hilarious) as anything that good ol' Gilbert ever wrote. Just a few examples:

She declared that the Second Vatican Council had unleashed a "tide of sewage", and lashed out at guitars and ecumenical priests - all the "Protestantised happy-clappy stuff" which would end in the "triumph of Chaos and old night".

"Nowhere have I found any evidence of Vatican II having had a beneficial influence."

"In place of the old rigours we have sentimentality, confusion, untruth, meaningless talk of renewal and improvement, and sharing and caring where once these were taken for granted and practised in a specifically and recognisably Catholic fashion."

"Now the Church has lost its head, priests feel free to say what they think themselves, and they don't have any thoughts at all except for some rubbish about the brotherhood of man. They seem to regard Our Lord as a sort of beaten egg to bind us all together."

How she viewed The Church since Vatican II (and my personal favorite) - "It is as though one's revered, dignified and darling old mother had slapped on a mini-skirt and fishnet tights and started ogling strangers. A kind of menopausal madness, a sudden yearning to be attractive to all. It is tragic and hilarious and awfully embarrassing. And of course, those who knew her before feel a great sense of betrayal and can't bring themselves to go and see her any more."

On Ecumenism - "I have never been in favour of ecumenism, either wide or narrow, for it reminds me of those promiscuous bouquets concocted by florists wherein bullied blossoms, chronologically and geographically incompatible, wilt miserably.... It may seem like a sweet idea, but it doesn't work."

Her personal feelings on the post-conciliar Church, she found herself "in uncharted territory in an almost dreamlike state of disorientation, in an atmosphere so unfamiliar that it seemed unreal. New or re-ordered churches of Lutheran barrenness, all Catholic culture, all tradition lost."

On her on-going battle with ultra-liberal Liverpool Archbishop Derek Worlock (and this applies to every other cleric in Western Europe and North America) - "But look what he did for the ecumenical movement," his friends cry. "And look what he did to the Church," we respond....Ecumenism seems to mean taking something pure and strong, mixing it up with something weak and polluted, slashing it about, watching the churches empty and then congratulating yourself on your progress.

Was this gal great, or what? May His Perpetual Light shine upon you, Anna.