**Reassembling the Pietà**

**Reassembling the Pietà**

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky

Many lay Catholics today are like battle-weary troops and suffer more than many priests who labor in the relative comfort of their church communities. While priests commonly walk to work every day and are surrounded by practicing Catholics, most of the faithful fight the traffic and then suffer the slings and arrows of coworkers for holding fast to the Catholic faith. Remaining faithful in the face of such cultural opposition can be discouraging, even paralyzing.

Perhaps the most effective smear hurled at Catholics (and other traditional Christians) is that they are “judgmental.” Failing to go along with such things as abortion on demand to gay rights is culturally unacceptable. Polite company simply cannot tolerate such intolerance.

Some years ago within the Church, there was a now largely-forgotten slur on believing Catholics. It was common for many priests and laity alike to label Catholics who hold on to the traditional Catholic faith, as “pre-Vatican II.” Apparently, it wasn’t hip and groovy to appreciate pre-Vatican II Church formulations and practices. Of course, this overlooks the fact that Jesus is not only always ancient, always new – Jesus is even pre-Vatican II (to coin a rhyme).

Before then-Cardinal Ratzinger was elevated to the papacy, he spent a good deal of his time promoting the “hermeneutic of continuity” in the Church to heal the perceived Vatican II rupture. After his elevation to the papacy, he continued this mission including paving the way for the widespread celebration of the “old Mass” (the “Extraordinary Form”).

But why was there so much hostility to the old Church following the Council in the first place? After all, Vatican II violated no traditional Catholic doctrines. Even Vatican II’s proposed changes in the Sacred Liturgy were not as extensive as the actual and extensive reforms approved by Pope Paul VI. Why the disdain?

Every Council before Vatican II confronted specific threats to the Church. Nicaea confronted the denial of the divinity of Christ and promulgated the Nicene Creed. Trent countered the errors of Luther and the Protestant revolt. Vatican I condemned prevalent philosophical errors such as rationalism and fideism.

In contrast, Pope John XXIII had no intention of entering into combat with the world. He wanted to update and re-introduce the Church to the modern world (aggiornamento). But the psychology of a combative conciliar Church remained. In the minds of many, the pre-Vatican II Church herself became the object of scorn.

But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to renewal. The Church attempted to accompany the culture at the very time the culture was collapsing. As the culture discarded the good, the true, and the beautiful, many in the Church followed suit. As a result, over the last fifty years, the Church suffered serious collateral damage in the form of widespread doctrinal dissent and the promotion of immorality, with the clerical sexual abuse scandal as the grand finale (at best) or just the latest tragedy. Vatican II’s optimistic “The Church in the Modern World” became, in effect, “The Modern World in the Church.”

Consider Michelangelo’s magnificent Pietà with the Sorrowful Mother tenderly holding the body of her Crucified Son. For the uninitiated, Michelangelo and his masterpiece are pre-Vatican II (circa 1499). And the vandalism of the Pietà is most certainly post-Vatican II. In 1972, madman Lazlo Toth, wielding a geologist's hammer and shouting, "I am Jesus Christ — risen from the dead", attacked the Pietà statue in St. Peter's Basilica. With fifteen blows he removed Mary's arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids.

Hence, the shattered Pietà is a metaphor for the collapse of Western culture that unhappily coincided with the post-Vatican II era. We have all been caught up in the moral collapse, often resulting in shattered families and communities. We need not count the ways.

Sometimes we have ourselves to blame. Other times we suffer through little fault of our own. Regardless, as with the Pietà and the aftermath of a madman’s attack, we are faced with a choice. We either wring our hands in discouragement and despair, or we get to work and start rebuilding, with God’s grace.

In the Gospel, those who “feared the wrath to come” asked John the Baptist for direction. So the multitudes inquired, “What then shall we do?” And John answered, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." To the tax collectors he said, "Collect no more than is appointed you." To the soldiers, he instructed, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages." (Cf. Luke 3: 7-14) John is simply reminding them of the basics of the moral law and challenging them to get back to work in the restoration of justice.

After the vandalism of the Pietà, the Basilica curators did not give in to discouragement. They began the arduous effort to restore Michelangelo’s masterpiece. Today it is as beautiful as ever. We also must avoid all discouragement with the grace of Jesus and begin to rebuild our souls, our lives, our families, and our communities in the way of Christ. Back to basics. And keep punching. The alternative is hopelessness and despair -- and God’s wrath.

A soul is much more valuable than the Pietà, and a soul in the state of grace is far more beautiful. If that be “pre-Vatican II,” make the most of it. But the Fathers of Vatican II would be pleased.