“New wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” The image of new wineskins was a popular one in the days after Vatican II. The image suggested that there was a new way of doing things so don’t cling to the old. Pope Benedict countered that image by reminding the Church that the Council was about continuity, not innovation. The theme most often heard in those early days was aggiornamento, opening up the windows to the new. Neglected, but equally important to the Council Fathers, and later Pope Benedict, was ressourcement, going back to the sources. Instead of thinking everything was set in stone at the Council of Trent, go back to the earlier epochs of the Church and see how their prayer and practice speaks to us today. All of which has led to an unsettled feeling in the Church — not quite sure which theme gets priority. No wonder they say it takes about a century for a Council to truly take effect in the Church.
