INTRODUCTION

The earth quaked with shoutful deeds during the past year. Some caused Christ's words "wars and rumors of wars" to creep into the corner of the mind and gnaw there. These events will be sifted with the sands of time. Some will fall into a limbo of forgotten facts unworthy of note except by specializing historians. Others will take their rightful place in man's story as turning points in time. But though the earth quaked with these events, there was one that sent its tremors to the very floor of heaven: the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

The first tremors reach back to January 25, 1959, when His Holiness, Pope John XXIII, first announced his intention of convoking an Ecumenical Council. Since then wave after wave has passed through the Church and throughout the world.

Perhaps a Council always seemed before to be the concern of theologians in dusty-tomed libraries. True, the Councils have always been great manifestations of the workings of the Holy Spirit and each has sent its own shock - waves through history, but they have always seemed phenomena of an indefinite, almost unreal bygone age. Now a Council has been brought to a new, more vibrant meaning. Now, for the twentieth century, a Council means over 2500 white-robed successors of the Apostles, over 2500 present-day Pauls, Andrews, Judes, and Matthews filing into St. Peter's Basilica followed by the very successor of St. Peter himself. Now a Council means over 2500 mitered heads that have felt the terrible touch of twenty centuries of consecrating hands, over 2500 heavy-burdened heads pondering the most basic elements of man's pilgrimage on earth. Now a Council means the Bishop of Fairbanks or Raleigh discussing with a Bishop from Africa or India or Germany or Brazil the problems and glories ever old and ever new of Christ's Mystical Body.

Though elections are common and wars display a disconcerting tendency to recur, Ecumenical Councils are not common. The pageantry, rarity, and importance of the Council attracted the news retailers of the world. The sights of the Council flashed across the world on television, the sounds of the Council penetrated hidden corners of civilization on radio, the thoughts of the Council reached millions of minds through newspapers and magazines. ROMAN ECHOES wishes to add a few words.

The intent of this year's publication is not to present another series of "inside stories.'' That would be impossible. Instead, the list of conciliar commissions has provided a basic outline for the table of contents. Within this general framework, the articles deal with specific points of historical or background interest. Because of their content the articles may be read before, during, or after a session of the Council, and, it is hoped, they will provide a deepening of insight into the Council, its work, its problems, its decisions.