By Anthony Esolen, The Catholic Thing - We are supposed to read “the signs of the times,” says Jesus, and the fathers at the Second Vatican Council urged us to do the same. I used to say that they did have the times before their eyes – The New York Times. That was not fair. The documents expressed a good deal of skepticism for claims that the world of the 1960’s was on the verge of a new instauration of liberty, intelligence, social cohesion, artistic beauty, and peace among nations.