As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, it might be helpful to keep in mind developments since Pope Johns announcement of an ecumenical council on January 25, 1958. In my files I have a number of essays that provide some background, and I am making them available here.http://jakomonchak.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/background-to-vatican-ii-1/ The first discusses proposals for a council that were briefly entertained during the reigns of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII. The second discusses where Pope John may have gotten the idea. The third discusses initial reactions to the announcement of a council, both in Rome and elsewhere. The fourth describes some features of the first stage of the whole conciliar event, the antepreparatory period that ran from May 1959 to November 1960 when the preparatory period began. The fifth are the simple notes I distributed to undergraduates and expanded on in a lecture on the movements of renewal in the Catholic Church earlier in the twentieth century, which made the Council possible. Finally, there is a very brief outline of the principal dates and events from the announcement of the Council to its conclusion. As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, it might be helpful to keep in mind developments after Pope Johns announcement of an ecumenical council on January 25, 1958. In my files I have a number of essays that provide some background, and I am making them available on my blog here. There may be more detail than many feel is necessary, but others may find them illuminating. The first discusses proposals for a council that were briefly entertained during the reigns of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII. The second discusses where Pope John may have gotten the idea of a council. The third discusses initial reactions to the announcement of a council, both in Rome and elsewhere. The fourth describes some features of the first stage of the whole conciliar event, the antepreparatory period that ran from May 1959 to November 1960 when the preparatory period began. The fifth are the simple notes I distributed to undergraduates and expanded on in a lecture on the movements of renewal in the Catholic Church earlier in the twentieth century, which made the Council possible. Finally, there is a very brief outline of the principal dates and events from the announcement of the Council to its conclusion.I have now added here two other essays on the more remote background to the Council.

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

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