It began first with the Liturgy. Even with the revamping of the Mass and a new theological ethos given to various aspects of it, the Mass of Pope Paul VI if done by the book and with sobriety in music and style would not have led to the diminution of the Church as has occurred.
What harmed the Church was the creativity that was allowed for the Mass, the abolishment of the traditional forms of piety during the Mass and the shunting Eucharistic adoration and piety to a small chapel or side closet where the tabernacle was kept for the elite few who would visit there.
Then the liberalization of religious life and the priesthood led to the decline of numbers of people entering or staying.
Those who remained and were at the forefront of the liberal movement got control of Christian education techniques and textbooks and completely changed the face of how the Church handed on her teachings. Heterodoxy and superficiality flourished.
Social work came to be seen as a new sacrament and as though it was something unique to Catholicism and Christianity, which it isn't. But certainly good works are a hallmark of traditional Catholicism but never separated from orthodox Catholic Faith. Faith and good works go hand-in-hand otherwise the Church and her members in helping the poor simply become another non-governmental organization or worse yet are linked to corrupt government programs that promote birth control and abortion.
Yet, one wonders if liberals wanted and want a gutted Catholicism so that secularism can flourish unhindered. I think this is true. There is a great political motivation here. To be liberal means everything has to be allowed and individualism must flourish to the detriment of the common good.
Please name one liberal religious order and one liberal, formerly Catholic nation and tell me how Catholicism has fared. Look northward to Quebec. Europe is legendary.
Then name the more conservative religious orders and countries (dioceses) that are doing well.
9 comments:
Sad but true. It is this and the disgusting rants of other Radicals who Misrepresent Catholicism, that depresses me about living in the Church these days. It makes me agree with Fr Z that the "biological solution" might be the only wholesale remedy to begin rectifying these things
The Modernists (if I may extend the Catholic term, which I prefer to the political term "liberal") have controlled mainline Protestant communities since the early 20th century, and remain remarkably oblivious to the dwindling numbers and influence of these communities.
Paul VI took a strong stand for the traditional understand of the Holy Mass, marriage, the priesthood (including celibacy) and religious life, but he chose to do so with dialogue as his only method of defense. Most clergy, religious and laymen simply ignored him, leaving him essentially talking to himself.
So much for dialogue within the Church. The Modernists killed it. Can it be resurrected?
All intermediary institutions must be destroyed to make way for an ever expanding growth of the State which itself is totally controlled by the Party apparatus that makes all things political.
It's Marxism 101 even if most of the partisans involved have never read Das Kapital or Trotsky or Gramschi.
Look to Detroit or Chicago for our future: an all powerful single party ruling unopposed an all encompassing government that controls the economy via regulatory oversight and politicized permits and taxes. Pay to play. Two tiers of justice: one for the insiders and another for everyone else. Hereditary rule handed down to scions of the new aristocracy.
Churches are deputized to care for the poor and perform essential morale building and get out the vote campaigns while avoiding all evangelization and moral formation that might be at odds with the Party elite's lifestyle which must be made as comfortable as possible.
To seek independence in education, entertainment, housing, transport, security, retirement, child and elderly care...to seek independence in energy and health care and morale building is now a revolutionary act.
It is thus the Tea Partiers/conservatives who are the revolutionaries while the progressive/socialists are the "man", the establishment, the defenders of a terminally ill status quo increasingly propped up by force or threats of force.
What irony that "when the revolution comes" it won't be progressives manning the barricades!
Yes, and "Miss Pelosi" is certainly one of the prime examples of Catholicism going astray. She lobbies for same-sex marriage and has never met an abortion restriction she ever liked. Just as embarrassing are the Catholic colleges and universities which give honorary degrees and a public forum (speech) to some of the most liberal persons...I saw in the Atlanta paper a few weeks ago that John Lewis, the long-time congressman from our city, will be speaking at Georgetown University, Lewis likes to recall his civil rights days in the 1960s, but ironically does not believe in civil rights for the unborn---100% pro-abortion voting record in Congress. And even though he is Baptist (even claims to be a member of historic Ebenezer Baptist up here), he actively supports same-sex marriage. Of course he can get away with those views in Georgia's most heavily Democratic congressional district (83% for Obama in 2012), but why should be and others with similar views be given a platform at Catholic institutions?
Agree or disagree:
America is a Christian nation and our laws should be based on and in conformity with the Bible.
Currently our laws and judicial system is based on Roman Law as inherited from the Roman Catholic Church. It comes from our Catholic system of canon laws and tribunals especially in that period of time when the Roman Empire and the Roman Church were synonymous.
What is your point? Should we develop a more Eastern approach like in Muslim countries where mosque and state are one?
Is ShiteBlob trying to take over you're blog, Fr. McDonald?
Apart from Louisiana, US justice is based on the US Constitution and English common law, rather than Roman law.
I think I would mark Fr's comment down as "Declined to answer".
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