Fifty years ago today...

On this day in 1962, Pope John XXIII convened the first session of the Second Vatican Council.

I'm constantly amazed at the level of misunderstanding that still, half a century later, surrounds this event.  Since the Council's closing in 1965, most Catholics and nearly all Protestants view the history of the Catholic faith as falling into two parts:  pre-Vatican Council and post-Vatican Council.

Angelo Roncalli came to the papal conclave in 1958 with a round-trip train ticket... convinced he'd be returning to Venice once a new Pope had been found.  His election was seen as a "stop-gap" measure... truly, a continuation of the interregnum following the death of Pius XII, until a more long-term candidate could be identified and elected.

You'd be hard pressed to find a man who did more to change the face of the Catholic Church than John XXIII did... and I am serious here.  Francis of Assisi comes to mind, as does Benedict.  Loyola and Xavier. These are the names that I think of when I think about who shaped the Church as we know it today... and I simply cannot imagine keeping John's name off that list.  I realize he didn't do it alone... but he wasn't afraid to do what no one had done in the Church for nearly a century, and he took on issues that had troubled the Vatican for more than 500 years.