[NYer]

My family viewed his election as the second coming and a thumb-in-the-eye to our veddy veddy Episcopal neighbors.

Yes, the groundswell of catholic support was intoxicating. "The first catholic president!! Couldn't have picked a worse example.

As for Vatican II, the worldwide movement towards socialism and the feminist agenda, combined with rapid scientific advances seems to have been part of the driving force behind convening the council. The growth and ease of travel by jet opened up new frontiers for evangelization. Adapting the mass to all cultures was needed. Its total overhaul was wrong and it will take many years to sift through those consequences and eradicate the abuses that have infiltrated it.

[american colleen]

1. Dick Blow sounds rather like most of my Catholic relatives.

2. My mother always used to tell me not to believe what I read in the newspapers regarding JFK's peccadillos. She said he was a saint.

3. I grew up in a house with a picture of Paul IV on one wall and JFK's picture on the other.

I think one of the biggest mistakes back "in those days" is that Catholics were not really taught to think.

[madprof98]

Proof positive of the old adage "Be careful what you wish for!"