‘Hermeneutics of Continuity’: My Master’s Final Paper

I graduated from Marquette University in 2021 with a Masters Degree in Theology. I wrote a Master’s paper in my final semester focusing on the Roman Catholic reforms at the Council of Trent and how they essentially set the stage for the Second Vatican Council in the 20th century — 400-some years later.

I’ve never done anything with the paper, so I thought I might post it here. Some people might be interested in it — particularly my Catholic and Orthodox friends. I was sincere in my concern for the Catholic liturgy and the issues surrounding both Trent and Vatican II. At the very least, it is a snapshot of my mind in the spring of 2021.

In summary, I join the chorus of the many traditional Catholics (and Orthodox as well) that consider the liturgical reforms of Vatican II an absolute and unmitigated disaster. Yet as I lay out in my paper, the liturgical course was set for Vatican II going all the way back to the Council of Trent itself. Vatican II was the symptom, not the disease itself.

At any rate, here it is: ‘Hermeneutics of Continuity’: Liturgical Reform in the Wake of the Council of Trent

Enjoy.

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