The Explorers' Club, № MCXXVII

Operation AXIOM: The 60th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Part III
8 December 1965: Pope Paul VI closed the Council with Mass in Saint Peter's Square, with 300,000 in attendance; the day before, he & Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople read out the Joint Declaration & Pope Paul lifted the excommunication of the Orthodox that dated back to the Great Schism in 1054; simultaneously in Istanbul, the Orthodox excommunication of Catholics was lifted.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Vatican II
Alpheus, "Unify" from Unify (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: The Catholic-Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965 didn't fully heal the schism between East & West, but it was a significant step toward obeying the Lord's command of unity.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Second Vatican Council
"The Explorer's Club," № CMVII: The Second Vatican Council Opened (Part I)
"The Explorer's Club," № CMLIV: Pope John XXIII Died & Pope Paul VI Was Elected (Part II)

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLIV

Operation AXIOM: The 60th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Part II
3 June 1963: Pope John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncali, born 25 November 1881) died; he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in September 1962, but had kept it hidden from the public; the Council was suspended, pending the election of the next pope; Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini, born 26 September 1897) was elected on 21 June, declaring Vatican II to be his "chief work."

Commentary: In the intervening decades, both "Good Pope John" & his successor, Paul VI (died 1978), have been canonized, officially recognized as saints in the Catholic Church. Saint John XXIII & Saint Paul VI, pray for us!

Semper exploro.

The Queue: Post-Christmastide Edition

My reading plan has changed in light of the death of Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, 16 April 1927-31 December 2022). I've had The Pope Benedict XVI Reader from Word on Fire & two of his papal encyclicals on my shelf for years, & it is long past time that I dive into his thought myself, having received much of it secondhand through self-professed "Ratzinger fanboys" in Catholic media.

Requiescat in pace.

After finishing Luman gentium ("Light of the nations"), I made the impulsive decision to read Dei verbum ("Word of God"), by far the shortest of Vatican II's four constitutions. I don't know if I'll finish the whole Pope Benedict XVI Reader & both encyclicals, Deus Caritas Est & Sacramentum Caritatis, before starting Gaudium et spes ("Joy and Hope"), by far the longest of Vatican II's four constitutions.

Reading A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery has been tentatively postponed 'til Lent 2024, should the world perdure, but I still intend to read Ska: An Oral History during this SKApril.

I met the authoress, Sara Shanning, at the green gorcer on Sunday, quite unintentionally, & bought Rise of the Antichrist as an impulse purchase. There are seven books in the "Chosen Angel Series," inspired by the seven seals in the Apocalypse of John (the Book of Revelation). From the title page:

This book is fiction. Biblical reference was used to fuel the imagination. ISV may be quoted or referenced. Any resemblance to person, place or event was used fictitiously. I do believe angels are real, but living among us as The Seven do is highly unlikely. The truth shall be revealed in heaven.

When we were chatting, she referenced the Left Behind series; so, reading this book, let alone buying it, might well turn out to be a terrible mistake. We shall see.

Recently
Father Blake Britton, Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Says, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church
Fathers of Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium (from The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection)
Earl Swift, Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings
Fathers of Vatican II, Luman gentium (from The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection)
Fathers of Vatican II, Dei verbum (from The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection)

Currently
Sara Shanning, Seal One: Rise of the Antichrist
Pope Benedict XVI, The Pope Benedict XVI Reader

Presently
Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love)
Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Charity)
Fathers of Vatican II, Gaudium et spes (from The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection)
Heather Augustyn, Ska: An Oral History (SKApril 2023)
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
Christopher Carstens, A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery

The Queue: Advent Edition

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Commentary: I finished Across the Airless Wilds back in December, during the fiftieth anniversaryof Apollo 17 (7-19 December).

Across the Airless Wilds is right up my alley, a book I should have loved, a popular-level dive into the origin & engineering of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, A.K.A. the "Moon buggy," used on half the Apollo Moon landings: Apollo 15, Apollo 16, & Apollo 17. A book I should have loved but didn't, because of the bizarre, unnecessary asides by the author, Earl Swift, that are scattered throughout the book. These asides are apropos of nothing in the narrative & add nothing to the narrative; I found them quite distracting, as I would be continually taken out of the story of the Lunar Roving Vehicle—the very reason I was ever reading the book—& transported without context to a dank & dark corner of Swift's mind, such as it is. I blame both Swift & his editor, who ought have reined in Swift's terrible instincts.

The story of the Lunar Roving Vehicle is fascinating & that magnificent machine helped to make the final Moon landings the triumphs they were, but I do not recommend Across the Airless Wilds. I hope to find a popular-level book on the Lunar Roving Vehicle that I can recommend to you, dear readers.

The plan is now to finish Lumen gentium ("Light of the nations"), the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church & then start A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery before circling back to Dei verbum ("Word of God"), the Dogmatic Constitution on Revelation.

Recently
Robert Barron, Eucharist
Father Blake Britton, Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Says, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church
Earl Swift, Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings

Currently
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection

Presently
Christopher Carstens, A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery (Lent 2023)
Heather Augustyn, Ska: An Oral History (SKApril 2023)
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II

The Queue

I was making progress through The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection even more slowly than anticipated; so, I decided to stop alternating that book with Reclaiming Vatican II & focused on finishing Reclaiming Vatican II, which I did at the end of last week. I highly recommend Reclaiming Vatican II to one & all.

I've begun Across the Airless Wilds in anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 17, the sixth & final Moon landing (7-19 December). The book is off to a very bad start, the author writing on page seventeen:

No other explorer has been in circumstances so remote, or so extreme in their hazards. No expedition had before, or has since, pushed adventure farther or further. Cernan and Schmitt were out at the edge of man's travels as a species. By comparison, Roald Amundsen's trek to the South Pole was a run to the corner grocery.

Long time readers of The Secret Base are no strangers to my enthusiasm for human spaceflight & my own penchant for hyperbole. I'm on board with the first three sentences, but I reject utterly the attempt to build up the heroes of Apollo by denigrating the giants on whose shoulders they stood, such as Amundsen. (The "corner grocery"? If the author had taken such an unnecessary cheap shot at Ernest Shackleton, I would have stopped reading the book immediately & put it in the paper recycling bin.) I'm still reading Across the Airless Wilds, which means I still hold out hope it will prove worthwhile.

Recently
Tim Gray & Jeff Cavins, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible
Robert Barron, Eucharist
Father Blake Britton, Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Says, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church

Currently
Earl Swift, Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings

Presently
Second Vatican Council, The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection
Christopher Carstens, A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery (Lent 2023)
Heather Augustyn, Ska: An Oral History (SKApril 2023)
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II

The Explorers' Club, № CMVII

Operation AXIOM: The 60th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, Part I
11 October 1962: The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican opened—Announced by Pope John XXIII on 25 January 1959 to finish the incomplete work of the First Vatican Council (1869-1870); the council's watchwords were ressourcement (French), returning to the sources—the Bible & the Church Fathers—& aggiornamento (Italian), bringing up to date the Church's proclamation of the Gospel.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Vatican II
Tom Lehrer, "Vatican Rag" from That Was the Year That Was (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.