Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Modernism

All of the posts under the "Modernism" category.

Fatima and the Third Secret

Our Lady of Fatima was instrumental in bringing me into the Catholic Church. I honestly don’t know if I’d be Catholic today if it weren’t for her. Of course, I certainly hope I would have eventually come into the Church, but it was after reading about Fatima and having a minor miracle happen that pushed me into diving head first into Catholic thought.

statue-of-our-lady-of-fatima

It’s intriguing to me that after having come into the Church via a rather traditional path I ended up down the road of Modernistic thinking. Over time, I became your typical neo-Catholic who thought that Vatican Two was the greatest thing to happen to the Church and how all the popes since then were de facto saints. After all, I was a convert, what did I know about Catholicism?

Having no Catholic foundation when I read about Fatima, I didn’t understand everything I was reading. What I did know was that the message of Fatima, praying for the conversion of the world to prevent souls from going to Hell was a vastly different message than what most Christians were teachings me. The Jesus of Fatima wasn’t the happy, happy, joy, joy Jesus, but a serious Jesus, who died for our sins and demanded that we follow Him and His teachings.

I never went back to review Fatima until relatively recently as a good friend asked me about what I thought about the Third Secret. I had thought it was a done deal. The consecration was “accepted by Heaven”. Russia stopped their communistic ways. The Third Secret was revealed by the Vatican headed by Cardinal Ratzinger. I figured it was a closed chapter.

However, in the last week, two important stories have broken from One Peter Five in regards to the Third Secret of Fatima.

The first story came Thursday where Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand revealed that she had been told by Cardinal Luigi Ciappi (1909-1996) of the true Third Secret, which revealed: “that a great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”

The second story broke Sunday and tells how Pope Benedict XVI confided in a close priest friend, Fr. Ingo Dollinger, about how “there is more than what we published.” Specifically, the part of the secret which was unpublished discusses “a bad council and a bad Mass” which was to happen shortly.

This secret was given by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 to Sr. Lucia. It speaks volumes as to why Pope John XXIII did not reveal the 3rd Secret in 1960 like he was requested and passed it on to one of his successors stating that the Third Secret “does not concern my pontificate.” If the Third Secret reveals that apostasy would “begin at the top” and would allow for a “bad council and a bad Mass,” then it explains that the Second Vatican Council and the Novus Ordo is not pleasing to God, despite being told the opposite these last 50 years.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Fatima. It is important that we take heed of her warnings. Go to confession, pray the Rosary daily, pray for the conversion of the world. Pray for the Pope that he consecrates Russia like he and his predecessors were asked to do. The world is in spiritual shambles around us, and Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother have given us a special role in rebuilding it.

Jeff May 17, 2016 3 Comments Permalink

Spot the Heresy: Reforming the Church

I’d like to begin a game in which I, your host, provide you with a quote. I will not tell you where the quote originated from, but you will be tasked with finding the heretical undertones of the quote. The purpose of this game is for you to learn to analyze what different individuals within the Catholic Church say, without the peskiness of knowing who said it, and determine if what is said is actually Catholic. Obviously, since the name of the game is “Spot the Heresy”, the statement will not be Catholic, but we can then analyze the reasons why it isn’t.

martin luther

Now that you know the rules, let us begin:

“[reforming the Church] means instead grafting yourself up and rooting yourself in Christ, leaving yourself to be guided by the Spirit – so that all will be possible with genius and creativity.”

So, where is the heresy? By my count, I see three heretical remarks nested within these 31 words. One heresy every ten words, that is quite the feat.

The first heresy is the implication that the Church is in need of reformation. While maybe not a heresy per se, it is most an error as the prelate who spoke these words believes that the Catholic Church as we know it today is in need of reforming everything, from the Liturgy to the priesthood, to the day to day lives of all Catholics. Whenever a prelate of the post-conciliar Church says that reformation is needed, it should never be assumed that they have the best intentions. Ever since the Second Vatican Council, we have heard of a supposed “need” for the Church to be reformed.

After seeing the poor implementation of the Council and the constant misinterpretations of what was actually called for, we can see that all of the reforms that have occurred since then have done nothing but harm to the Catholic Church. There are priest shortages in every diocese, the vast majority of the laity do not go to Mass weekly, over 70% of Catholics do not believe in the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and 85% of Catholics who are confirmed leave the Church within five years.

The reforms of the Church over the last 50 years have been nothing but devastating and the only “reform” that we need is a return to the Truths and the Doctrines and Dogmas of the Catholic Church. Not a moving away from these because the laity and the world find them too hard. Jesus lost all of His followers when He told them that they did not have eternal life if they did not eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. If Our Lord didn’t back down, neither should we.

The second heresy is “rooting yourself in Christ, leaving yourself to be guided by the Spirit”. This implies that if we are to root ourselves in Christ (and ignore the Church because the two go hand in hand) that we are then able to allow the Holy Spirit to take control. The thing is, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are one in the same God. By obeying one you can not disobey the other. Both are God, along with the Father, but neither of them will lead you astray from the other. It is impossible, as it is a contradiction.

Whenever you read or hear anything from anybody, whether they be Catholic or Protestant, clergy or laymen, religious or not, and they imply that any one person of the Trinity is different and can lead you towards a different path than another person of the Trinity, you know that they are dabbling in the heresy of blasphemy. As the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three persons in one God, they will always point to one Truth, not three separate truths.

The third heresy is “so that all will be possible with genius and creativity.” If you are at all familiar with the Gospel of Luke, you will know that “through God, all things are possible”. While genius and creativity are all attributes we can apply to the Lord, it is not these attributes that will help make the Church “better”. It will not be through mere human actions that will make things better, but by the grace of God that all of the problems we are currently facing will go away. This also falls under the heresy of Modernism, as it implies that it is through the experience and the feelings of the individuals to define what the “genius” and “creativity” would be.

Now, did you get all of the heresies? Were there any that I missed? Would you like to take a gander as to who said the above quote?

It was Pope Francis speaking to the Italian Church. If you have agreed with me during the entire post and now find yourself in disagreement, you might need to start rethinking your position as a faithful Catholic. If you have put your Catholic faith in any person other than Christ and the scandal of a Pope saying something so obviously non-Catholic, as we have just walked through, leaves you to now ignore basic Catholic doctrine and thought, then you are not being a faithful Catholic by following the Pope’s every word and defending them, but rather, you are being traitorous to Christ and His Church, as you have abandoned His teachings for that of a mere man.

Jeff November 13, 2015 3 Comments Permalink

Modernists and the Synod: No Respect for Tradition

This post is part four in a series of posts on the Synod of the Family and Modernism. Read part three here.

St. Athanasius

If you’ve been following these posts, you know what the stakes are. Allowing unrepentant adulterers and active homosexuals to receive Our Lord’s Body and Blood in the Most Holy Eucharist. Every single Catholic who receives the Holy Eucharist must be repentant and in a state of grace. Receiving the Holy Eucharist unworthily condemns the sinner to additional judgment. There is no reason any excuse should be made to these individuals who break the 6th Commandment repeatedly. There is no reason that any individual who is living in mortal sin should be allowed to receive the Holy Eucharist without first going to confession.

Let’s continue looking at Pope St. Pius X’s encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (on Modernism):

Q. Does not the “profession of faith” include respect for Tradition?

A. Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: ‘I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and constitutions of the Church’

Many of the Synod fathers do not admit or embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and constitutions of the Church. This is made evident by not only the Kasper position but also their willingness to adopt any doctrine that transmutes the Catholic faith into something other than the Catholic faith. Yesterday at the Synod, both the discussion of opening up the sacrament of confession to include general absolution services, as well as ordaining women to the diaconate, were brought up. Both of these are not only non-catholic but grave errors already discussed by the Church as not allowed and contrary to the faith. Yet, we see these issues being raised as if any amount of discussion can change Church teaching.

catechism of modernism

Q. Since they show such slight respect for Tradition, what is the judgment of the Modernists on the ‘most holy Fathers of the Church?’

A. The Modernists pass the same judgment on the most holy Fathers of the Church as they pass on Tradition, decreeing, with amazing effrontery, that, while personally most worthy of all veneration, they were entirely ignorant of history and criticism, for which they are only excusable on account of the time in which they lived.

Q. In what presumptuous way do the Modernists speak of the Fathers of the Church?

A. Finally, the Modernists try in every way to diminish and weaken the authority.

At last year’s Synod on the Family, several of the Synod fathers brought up Pope St. John Paul II’s teachings on the family, in order to defend the sanctity of marriage. The response they received was to the effect that the sainted Pope’s teachings were too hard and that in today’s society they were considered “too traditional”. Now, Pope St. John Paul II was not a super-traditional Pope, but he did defend the faith and the Church’s teachings on the family and marriage when it mattered. But this demonstrates how many at the Synod do not care one iota for tradition, in fact, they disdain it.

These wolves in sheep’s clothing are trying their hardest to undermine the Church and her authority by weakening doctrine and practice. However, with this year’s Synod, the rule’s have changed in that Pope Francis has the final say in what is determined. Let us continue to pray and fast for Pope Francis and for the Synod, that Church teaching is preserved and novelties are not added. We must remain vigilant during this time of uncertainty as to the direction the Church appears to be moving.

May God console you! … What saddens you … is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises – but you have the Apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in the struggle – the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith? True, the premises are good when the Apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way …
You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis. No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day.
Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray. Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ. -St. Athanasius

Jeff October 7, 2015 2 Comments Permalink

Modernists and the Synod: Attacks Against Tradition

This post is part three in a series of posts on the Synod of the Family and Modernism. Read part two here.

The Synod of the Family inches ever closer. We must remember to spend our time in prayer and fasting for this event. We are in the fourth greatest crisis of the Church, according to Bishop Athanasius Schneider. Bishops, Cardinals, and even the Pope are speaking openly about the need for Church teaching to change. Many in attendance at the Synod are in favor of allowing the divorced, remarried, and openly homosexual to receive the Holy Eucharist, without amending their lives. This is scandalous to hear from those who have been ordained to safeguard Christ’s teachings with their very lives.

catechism of modernism

Pope St. Pius X authored the encyclical Pascendi Domini Grecis, or “On Modernism”. He examines how the enemies of the Church are working to corrupt her teachings. Without further ado, we continue:

Q. In their war against scholastic philosophy, how do the Modernists deal with the second obstacle, as they call Tradition?

A. They exercise all their ingenuity in diminishing the force and falsifying the character of Tradition, so as to rob it of all its weight.

We see in regards to the Synod of the Family how the Modernist and heretical bishops are trying to frame the perspective of traditional marriage, as unloving, unkind, or even bigoted towards those who have divorced, remarried or actively engage in homosexual activity. They frame the narrative in such a way that Tradition becomes a negative ideal. Tradition becomes an ideal worse than any other sin, and those who cling to it are enemies. Words are said such as “God is a God of surprises”, to imply that even God doesn’t cling to Tradition.

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The Church which Jesus Christ instituted and gave the authority to establish Tradition is no longer in charge of determining what is and isn’t Tradition and that the Holy Spirit is moving hearts and minds. Of course, this is nonsensical as Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday as He is today and as He is tomorrow, would not change His mind. The Holy Spirit, Who is One with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, would not change His mind.

Tradition is an element of Catholicism that is of supreme importance because Tradition helps us to see that the Holy Catholic Church is indeed the One Church in which Jesus Christ established. With the Church’s unchanging stance on many issues over the course of 2,000 years, it shows that God is indeed with this Church, as the average Protestant church changes its mind depending on who its pastor is.

Tradition is important to our Catholic faith, as we will see declared in both the Council of Nicea and the Council of Constantinople below.

Q. In speaking of Tradition, what law of the second Council of Nicea should true Catholics have in mind?

A. But for Catholics the second Council of Nicea will always have the force of law, where it condemns those who dare, after the impious fashions of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind … or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church.

Q. Give the law of the fourth Council of Constantinople on Tradition?

A. Catholics will hold for law, also, the profession of the fourth Council of Constantinople: We, therefore, profess to conserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by every one of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.

The bishops and cardinals who are in favor of changing doctrine in order to allow the divorced, remarried, and actively homosexual to receive Holy Communion without repentance, penance, and amending their lives have been condemned by the Church through both of these councils, which are still in full effect today. Tradition is not the enemy, but novelty is, as novelty by its nature deviates from Tradition. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul warns us of those who try to deviate from the tradition which is handed down from us:

Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not Christ our Lord, but their own belly; and by pleasing speeches and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent. For your obedience is published in every place. I rejoice therefore in you. But I would have you to be wise in good, and simple in evil. Romans 16:17-19 DR

Only the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church and Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, are worthy to be followed. Anything that deviates from these teachings is not of God, but of His adversary, the Devil.

Read part four here.

Jeff September 25, 2015 1 Comment Permalink

Modernists and the Synod: Intellectual Causes

This post is part two in a series of posts on the Synod of the Family and Modernism. Read part one here.

The Synod of the Family inches ever closer. We must remember to spend our time in prayer and fasting for this event. We are in the fourth greatest crisis of the Church, according to Bishop Athanasius Schneider. Bishops, Cardinals, and even the Pope are speaking openly about the need for Church teaching to change. Many in attendance at the Synod are in favor of allowing the divorced, remarried, and openly homosexual to receive the Holy Eucharist, without amending their lives. This is scandalous to hear from those who have been ordained to safeguard Christ’s teachings with their very lives.

catechism of modernism

Pope St. Pius X authored the encyclical Pascendi Domini Grecis, or “On Modernism”. He examines how the enemies of the Church are working to corrupt her teachings. Without further ado, we continue:

Q. Surely you do not stigmatize Modernists, those men who pose as Doctors of the Church, as ignorant men?

A. Yes, these very Modernists who pose as Doctors of the Church, who puff out their cheeks when they speak of modern philosophy, and show such contempt for scholasticism, have embraced the one with all its false glamor because their ignorance of the other has left them without the means of being able to recognize confusion of thought, and to refute sophistry.

We see the majority of bishops and Cardinals at the Synod of the Family ready to change Church teaching. They puff out their cheeks with statements like “families have changed in the modern world”, or even:

“As these situations especially affect children, we are aware of a greater urgency to foster a true welcome for these families in our communities. For how can we encourage these parents to raise their children in the Christian life, to give them an example of Christian faith, if we keep them at arm’s length? I am especially grateful to the many pastors, guided by my Predecessors, who have worked diligently to let these families know they are still a part of the Church.” -Pope Francis, 5 August Wednesday Audience

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This attitude about how the world is different and thus we need “new avenues of creativity when it comes to families” is rooted in modern philosophy. It is not logical, nor is it Catholic to change Church teaching in order to be more inclusive for those who refuse to repent and amend their lives. Part of following Christ is indeed to take up your cross and follow Him (c.f. Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23), but also to repent of our sins and to turn to God, for indeed the end is near (c.f. Matthew 4:17). To change Church doctrine to allow the unrepentant to receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of mortal sin is damaging to the soul of the sinner as warned by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29:

Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.

Scholasticism, as defined by the Concise Catholic Dictionary of 1943 is “the thought of Christian philosophers and theologians originating in the ninth century. It developed a characteristic method of investigation and exposition of thought applied to both philosophy and theology, and showed the relationship of philosophy and theology. It reached its height in the thirteenth century, and its greatest propounder was St. Thomas Aquinas. Scholastic theology unfolds and vindicates the conclusions deduced from dogmas by theologians.”

Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Aeterni Patris, urged for the return of scholastic thinking:

15. “And, indeed, the knowledge and use of so salutary a science, which flows from the fertilizing founts of the sacred writings, the sovereign Pontiffs, the holy Fathers and the councils, must always be of the greatest assistance to the Church, whether with the view of really and soundly understanding and interpreting the Scriptures, or more safely and to better purpose reading and explaining the Fathers, or for exposing and refuting the various errors and heresies; and in these late days, when those dangerous times described by the Apostle are already upon us, when the blasphemers, the proud, and the seducers go from bad to worse, erring themselves and causing others to err, there is surely a very great need of confirming the dogmas of Catholic faith and confuting heresies.”

Scholasticism allows for understanding and properly interpreting scripture, understanding the fathers and councils of the Church, and to combat heresy and error. We see that scholasticism’s greatest strength is combating error as the enemies of the Church are always trying to introduce their errors into her thinking, much like we are witnessing today.

The aforementioned attitudes of modern philosophy are in conflict with scholasticism as modern philosophy is rooted in error. However, these bishops enjoy the glamour of modern philosophy, as the world is enchanted by it. The world promises riches and praise when adoption of its policies is adopted. Due to their ignorance of scholasticism, they fail to realize the errors and heresies of modern philosophy. Thus, they are unable to realize their error and instead proclaim these errors as truth. Continue to fast and pray, as we are indeed in dark times. Dare we hope that Pope Francis will uphold Church teaching?

Jeff September 23, 2015 1 Comment Permalink

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