As a young Catholic in the 1970s I was repeatedly told that the Second Vatican Council was at best a tragic mistake fuelled by a naïve enthusiasm rooted in the euphoria of the 1960s, or, more likely, a series of interwoven plots orchestrated by sinister forces within the Vatican.
As things developed, a mantra often repeated was that no new discussion about anything much in the Church needed to take place: “What’s wrong with the old Penny Catechism?” I remember repeating this in good faith until discovering that there were some gaps in the Catechism which certainly merited attention: it was an inadequate document, for example, when affirming the wrongfulness of contraception in discussions with waverers – more and stronger material was needed.
