[marshmallow]

I have similar feelings about the Crucifixion. Jesus' ministry was starting to blossom. He was cheered and saluted as he entered Jerusalem and hailed as the Messiah. Then it all collapsed. Suddenly and unexpectedly. From a hero he was transformed in no time into a villain. What went wrong? Well, we can look to the single most dramatic event of his ministry, which occurred just prior to the Crucifixion. That's right, I'm talking of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Immediately after The Last Supper, they arrested Him. All was going well until this point. Then it all went to pieces. There's little doubt that these two events are connected. For sure, wasn't it this gathering that Judas walked out of? Yes, it was the last Supper that caused the Crucifixion. No sooner had he gone out into the Garden of Gethsemane than they came looking for him.You'd have to be blind to not see the connection.

Or then again, could it be that the Last Supper and its aftermath simply provided the ideal opportunity for Jesus' enemies to hatch what they had been planning for some time? Could it be that their evil had been incubating for years and they took their opportunity when the traitor saw an opportune moment? I wonder.

Clue: the sort of errors which have become rampant in the Church in the last 40 years were being condemned by Pius X at the turn of the 20th century, in his encyclical on modernism. This great Pope thought them to be of sufficient danger 60 years before VII to warrant a formal encyclical.

[Maximilian]

Yes, it was the last Supper that caused the Crucifixion.

For your metaphor to be appropriate, there should have been a Pentecost 40 days after Vatican II. And in fact for 40 years now, the liberals have been CLAIMING a new Pentecost. But where are the fruits of the Holy Spirit? We've been waiting 40 years now for them to show up.

By the time 40 years had passed after the Ressurection, Christianity had already been spread around the known world. The apostles had already testified to the presence of the Holy Spirit through their faith, through their miracles, through their testimony, through their martyrdoms. The Catholic Faith had been established on the firm foundation of the Apostles' Creed and the inspired teaching of St. Paul.

On the other hand, you might want to call Vatican II the anti-Pentecost. All of these fruits of the Spirit have disappeared. And trying to blame enemies outside the Church just won't wash when we see that the entire program was enacted by the Catholic bishops themselves. Nor should you be solaced by the decisive actions of Pope St. Pius X. He proved that proper use of hierarchical authority will destroy a heretical movement. If the post-Vatican II innovations are still with us, and still worse than ever (refer to today's thread on the CTA liturgy), then that is objective evidence of a failure of appropriate governance.