This is the question posited by Leonard's contemporaries as the Liturgical collection grew in size and popularity in the academic and theological worlds. Leonard claims that Vatican II "blew the roof off" and Catholicism after 1965 was definitively changed. Leonard also admitted that,
"not being a historian or sociologist, [he] doesn't know," but believed in the historical value of the collection and anticipated his successors to put the artifacts to use in a fruitful way. (1)
The author of one article on the collection from the mid 1980s makes the bold claim that it was not the liturgists or Vatican II which changed American Catholicism, but rather the fact that "People just stayed at home. Radio and television were becoming too attractive." (2).
Understanding what occurred at The Second Vatican Council is critical for understanding the urgency behind Leonard and many other Jesuits' conservation efforts in the late twentieth century. Pope John XXIII hosted the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II from 1962 to 1965. The revisions of the council intended to modernize the church, removing many intricate traditions in favor of more simple, universally understandable ones. A good example of this is the decision for Catholic mass to henceforth be said in the vernacular language of the congregation attending, rather than Latin, which had been traditional for centuries. While Vatican II did not expressly prohibit any private devotional practices the simplification of the liturgy rendered many rituals and practices irrelevant.
To a great extent, Vatican II sent a message that Catholics should "not to be so preoccupied with physical objects, with things like statues and representations and so forth" (3). The shift from using physical objects to strengthen religious practice to a spiritual, solitary practice focused in reflection and prayer rendered many religious artifacts, like rosaries, statues, crucifixes, prayer books, and images of sacred figures also irrelevant to modern Catholic practice.
In explaining his intention for this endeavor, Fr. Leonard wrote the following in a public statement with his call for artifacts:
"The changes that resulted from the Council were among the most abrupt in the history of Catholic culture and the Church. Those who have lived through this period, because they are so close to it, are not able to evaluate fully its significance and long-term meaning. That will be the task of future historians. If the social and cultural historians of today and tomorrow are to understand the past and are to put these major developments in perspective, they must have the raw materials of sound historical research" (4).
It is clear that Leonard recognized the future value of these artifacts as well as the Burns Library as a whole. However, there is one small hitch in this plan. Some materials were collected, deemed "ordinary memorabilia, whose significance is often not apparent at the time of use, but that may be seen as important in later times" (5). While this is certainly successful sometimes, it conversely also led to the acquisition of very common and widely circulated ephemera.
Vatican II left Leonard torn in many ways. For one, he considered himself a progressive Jesuit priest, and was in favor of Vatican II's decision to say mass in the vernacular language of the congregation (rather than the traditional Latin). On the other hand, though, Leonard did not support the simplified sacraments and mass structures settled on by the council, and wondered what would happen to the "plaster saints? The crucifixes? The hand-embroidered badges and silver medallions?" (6). As the church became more "of the modern age," and everything -- from the words spoken at mass to the vestments worn by the clergy -- got simpler, Fr. Leonard sought to preserve the intricacies of the Catholicism his generation grew up with.