The effect of Second Vatican Council on Catholicism in 20th Century America
Pope John XXIII, when elected was expected to lead an uncontroversial and uneventful reign. In 1962, he surprised nearly everyone with the calling of The Second Vatican Council. Bishops from around the world were called to Rome to participate in a historical gathering to adapt the Church to the needs of the changing world. Vatican II was aiming to provide a different opportunity to the Church to discuss and determine issues that were of great importance such as faith and morals. However, it is beyond doubt that Vatican II was going to have an enormous impact on American Catholicism. It is very obvious that the American Catholic Church had not known novelties such as the draft proposed by the Council. The “aggiornamento” was to bring new ideas that will bring drastic changes to religious practices. After the Second Vatican
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Catholicism in America prior to Vatican II was a church well-organized although it had developed in an intellectual environment marked by anti-Catholic prejudice in the Protestant area, and absolute indifference in non-denominational academic fields. It should not be forgotten that, since the late nineteenth century to the next century, the priority of the Catholic Church in the United States had been to integrate the many Catholic immigrants who had arrived from Europe during those decades. Catholic communities in America had set mostly around parishes located at the center of the city and which were characterized by national origin of its inhabitants, among them where the Polish, Germans, Italians and Irish. Catholics then remained very committed to their faith; always keeping