I have seen many people misinterpret Vatican II. I’ve heard people give diametrically opposed understandings of it. I’ve heard people embrace or reject a false image of the council. I’ve seen for years Vatican II was the most talked about thing in Catholic circles for how little it was read.

I wanted to respond.

Polemics seemed inappropriate as then it just goes into competing interpretations. Instead, I was inspired by other “in a year” podcasts to try to read it all with a brief explanation over the course of a year. Reading Vatican II might seem overwhelming, but breaking it up makes it about 425 words a day. Having a long experience explaining Catholic teachings to average Catholics in the pew online, I might be an ideal candidate to read and explain it all.

I made such a realization in the fall of 2023. I realized then that 2025 would be an ideal year to do it as it is the 60th anniversary of the end of the council.

I presented it to several different Catholic places as a project and was about to go in on my own when StarQuest took it on. StarQuest does not pay me any money and my community relies on donations so I would appreciate it if you could become a monthly patron or give a one-time donation to support my community.

I could call this a “Vatican-approved” podcast but only in the most general sense, and I don’t think that would be too honest. Months ago when in contact with several Catholic podcast places, I was asked about permissions. The Vatican & USCCB have gone after others in the past for using copyrighted materials without permission. Some Daughters of St. Paul helped me get in touch with the right person in the Vatican and I paid for the right to post the documents of Vatican II (as on the Vatican website) in podcast form over the calendar year 2025.

I post this right as I make the podcast live. Find out more on the podcast mini-site I made as part of my site. I have subscription options and a reading plan on my page for the podcast; I will add playlists as episodes get posted.