In this new episode I take on a claim that just won’t die: that Vatican II is to blame for the collapse in Mass attendance.
A recent economics study made the rounds, arguing that the Council caused pews to empty out. But when you scratch the surface, the evidence is flimsy, and the real story points somewhere else entirely. Was Vatican II really to blame for the decline in Catholic Mass attendance—or is the deeper issue Catholic culture itself?
I dig into the cultural shifts of the 1960s, sloppy implementations of Vatican II at the parish level, and the dangers of weak catechesis and watered-down homilies. But there are many signs of renewal today, which I get into as well.