Incompetent To Teach Squat About The Catholic Faith, part three

July 12, 2013

Incompetent To Teach Squat About The Catholic Faith

Part Three

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Those concerned about sifting through "the two-headed pope monster's" Lumen Fidei, July 5, 2013, to find "elements" of true Catholicism hidden within its text have to call upon all of their past skills of finding the hidden pictures in Highlights magazine for children to say something along the lines of, "Well, look, this particular passage and that particular phrase seems pretty Catholic. Doesn't that prove anything?" As a matter of fact, of course, "elements of true Catholicism" do not prove anything, especially when those who purport to write in the name of the Catholic Church on the Holy Faith defect from numerous articles contained therein and are guilty of the most egregious, publicly scandalous blasphemies, sacrileges and outrages against the honor and glory of the Most Blessed Trinity.

A document, no less an encyclical letter, issued by a true pope is of its very nature free of any kind of doctrinal error. Pope Pius XII made this clear in paragraph twenty of Humani Generis, August 12, 1950:

20. Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent, since in writing such Letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say: "He who heareth you, heareth me";[3] and generally what is expounded and inculcated in Encyclical Letters already for other reasons appertains to Catholic doctrine. But if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that that matter, according to the mind and will of the same Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians. (Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis, August 12, 1950.)

In other words, something is either Catholic or it is not. There is no such thing as "partial Catholicism" or a fictional "irreducible minima" standard that can be employed to redeem documents couched in language that has never been used by the Catholic Church (e.g. "foundational memory," "living tradition" ) issued under the authority of men who have made a career of placing into question and/or denying outright various articles of the Catholic Faith.

Pope Pius VI condemned the belief of those who taught that bishops can "sift" the words of a true pope for their orthodoxy:

6. The doctrine of the synod by which it professes that "it is convinced that a bishop has received from Christ all necessary rights for the good government of his diocese," just as if for the good government of each diocese higher ordinances dealing either with faith and morals, or with general discipline, are not necessary, the right of which belongs to the supreme Pontiffs and the General Councils for the universal Church,—schismatic, at least erroneous.

7. Likewise, in this, that it encourages a bishop "to pursue zealously a more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline," and this "against all contrary customs, exemptions, reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, for the greater glory of God and for the greater edification of the faithful"; in that it supposes that a bishop has the right by his own judgment and will to decree and decide contrary to customs, exemptions, reservations, whether they prevail in the universal Church or even in each province, without the consent or the intervention of a higher hierarchic power, by which these customs, etc., have been introduced or approved and have the force of law,—leading to schism and subversion of hierarchic rule, erroneous.

8. Likewise, in that it says it is convinced that "the rights of a bishop received from Jesus Christ for the government of the Church cannot be altered nor hindered, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any reason whatsoever, a bishop can always and should return to his original rights, as often as the greater good of his church demands it"; in the fact that it intimates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered and coerced by no higher power, whenever a bishop shall judge that it does not further the greater good of his church,—leading to schism, and to subversion of hierarchic government, erroneous. (Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794.)

Bishop Emile Bougaud, who served as the ordinary of Laval, France, from November 16, 1887, to his death on November 7, 1888, mocked those possessed of the Gallican mentality that teaches the falsehood that bishops and others can "sift" the words of a true pope:

The violent attacks of Protestantism against the Papacy, its calumnies and so manifest, the odious caricatures it scattered abroad, had undoubtedly inspired France with horror; nevertheless the sad impressions remained. In such accusations all, perhaps, was not false. Mistrust was excited., and instead of drawing closer to the insulted and outraged Papacy, France stood on her guard against it. In vain did Fenelon, who felt the danger, write in his treatise on the "Power of the Pope," and, to remind France of her sublime mission and true role in the world, compose his "History of Charlemagne." In vain did Bossuet majestically rise in the midst of that agitated assembly of 1682, convened to dictate laws to the Holy See, and there, in most touching accents, give vent to professions of fidelity and devotedness toward the Chair of St. Peter. We already notice in his discourse mention no longer made of the "Sovereign Pontiff." The "Holy See," the "Chair of St. Peter," the "Roman Church," were alone alluded to. First and alas! too manifest signs of coldness in the eyes of him who knew the nature and character of France! Others might obey through duty, might allow themselves to be governed by principle--France, never! She must be ruled by an individual, she must love him that governs her, else she can never obey.

These weaknesses should at least have been hidden in the shadow of the sanctuary, to await the time in which some sincere and honest solution of the misunderstanding could be given. But no! parliaments took hold of it, national vanity was identified with it. A strange spectacle was now seen. A people the most Catholic in the world; kings who called themselves the Eldest Sons of the Church and who were really such at heart; grave and profoundly Christian magistrates, bishops, and priests, though in the depths of their heart attached to Catholic unity,--all barricading themselves against the head of the Church; all digging trenches and building ramparts, that his words might not reach the Faithful before being handled and examined, and the laics convinced that they contained nothing false, hostile or dangerous. (Right Reverend Emile Bougaud, The Life of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Published in 1890 by Benziger Brothers. Re-printed by TAN Books and Publishers, 1990, pp. 24-29.)

Quite ironically, Pope Pius VI used Auctorem Fidei to condemn the errors of the illegal Synod of Pistoia that are identical to those of conciliarism, proving yet again that the Catholic Church has always condemned errors and that she, the spotless, virginal Mystical Bride of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, can never be the author of errors, which is why it is way past time for those stuck in the time warp of the "resist while recognize" movement to accept the simple fact that The Chair is Still Empty.

Among the errors contained in Lumen Fidei is a sense of subjectivism about the relationship between God and his rational creatures, human beings, that leads to a "dialogue with the followers of different religions" rather than seeking with urgency the unconditional conversion of all non-Catholics:

35. The light of faith in Jesus also illumines the path of all those who seek God, and makes a specifically Christian contribution to dialogue with the followers of the different religions. The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the witness of those just ones who, before the covenant with Abraham, already sought God in faith. Of Enoch "it was attested that he had pleased God" (Heb 11:5), something impossible apart from faith, for "whoever would approach God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb 11:6). We can see from this that the path of religious man passes through the acknowledgment of a God who cares for us and is not impossible to find. What other reward can God give to those who seek him, if not to let himself be found? Even earlier, we encounter Abel, whose faith was praised and whose gifts, his offering of the firstlings of his flock (cf. Heb 11:4), were therefore pleasing to God. Religious man strives to see signs of God in the daily experiences of life, in the cycle of the seasons, in the fruitfulness of the earth and in the movement of the cosmos. God is light and he can be found also by those who seek him with a sincere heart. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Lumen Fidei, July 5, 2013.)

It is the false belief that "followers of the different religions" are seeking after God with a "sincere heart" that have led the likes of the conciliar "popes" and their "bishops" to trip all over themselves in expressions of wondrous admiration of one false religion after another, thus committing what are Mortal Sins in the objective order of things against the First and Second Commandments.

Although a recent article dealt with Timothy Michael Dolan's fawning praise of Mohammedanism (see Ever Faithful To Their False Religion), the "happy" conciliar "archbishop" of New York who has gained some notoriety of late for his having dissembled about giving "golden parachutes" to predator clergymen (see Just Another Jolly Thug) is simply following the example of Giovanni Montini/Paul The Sick, Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II (see Two For The Price Of One, part two), Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and his appointees (see Happy Vesakh, No, I Mean, Happy Diwali, Wait, Wait, Wait, Is It Ramadan Time Now?--Oops, Let's Try Again, Ah, Yes, Happy High Holy Days, Right?) and, of course, Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, who said the following just four days ago now as he preached from lectern with a ship captain's steering wheel and staged the abominable Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo liturgical service on a Cranmer table encrusted by a ship-shaped object in Lampedusa, Italy:

I also think with affection of those Muslim immigrants who this evening begin the fast of Ramadan, which I trust will bear abundant spiritual fruit. The Church is at your side as you seek a more dignified life for yourselves and your families. To all of you: o’scià! (8 July 2013: Visit to Lampedusa - Hideous, Abominable Liturgical Service in the "Arena" sports camp.)

Yes, Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis believes that those who seek God "with a sincere heart" and he see signs of Him "in the cycle of the seasons, in the fruitfulness of the earth and in the movement of the cosmos" actually have a true relationship with God that can benefit them spiritually. The phrase that describes this false belief is "universal salvation."

No Catholic sends "greetings" to adherents of false religions on their holy days as each false religion is a servant of the devil himself.

Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri explained how Saint Blase referred to the gods of the false religion of the Roman pagans shortly before his own martyrdom on February 3, 313:

When St. Blase arrived at the city [of Ragusa] and was presented to the governor, he was commanded to sacrifice to immortal gods. The saint answered: "What a title for your demons, who can only bring evil on their worshippers! There is only ONE Immortal God, and him do I adore." Agricolaus, infuriated at the answer, caused the saint to undergo a scourging so prolonged and cruel that it was thought the saint could not possibly survive it; but having endured this torture with placid courage, he was sent to prison, where he continued to work miracles so extraordinary that the governor ordered him to be lacerated with iron hooks.

The blood of the saint ran profusely, and certain pious women were induced to collect portions of it, which act of devotion was amply rewarded, for they were seized, with two of their children, and brought before the governor. He commanded them to sacrifice to the gods under pain of death. The holy women asked for their idols, as some thought, to sacrifice to them, but they no sooner had hands upon them than they cast them into an adjoining lake, for which they were instantly beheaded, along with their children.

Agricolaus resolved to wreak his vengeance on St. Blase; and to content with the torture which he had already ceased him to endure, commanded him to be stretched upon the rack, and his flesh to be torn with iron combs, in which state a red-hot coal of mail was placed upon him. Finally, the tyrant, despairing of overcoming his constancy, ordered him to be cast into the lake; the saint, arming himself with the sign of the cross, walked upon the waters, and arriving at the middle, sat down, and invite the idolaters to do the same if they believed that their gods could enable them. Some were so rash as to make the attempt, but were immediately drowned.

St. Blase was admonished then by a voice from heaven to go forth from the lake and encounter his martyrdom. When he reached the land the impious tyrant ordered him to be beheaded. This sentence was executed in the year 313. The republic of Ragusa honor him as their principal patron, and he is the titular saint of many cities. (Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri, The Glories of The Martyrs, as published by the Redemptorist Fathers, Esopus, New York, 1954, pp. 253-254.)

Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis is just the latest in the line of the counterfeit church of conciliarism's "Petrine Ministers" whose very words and actions are the opposite of that of the martyrs and, of course, in direct contradiction to the binding precepts of the Sacred Deposit of Faith and to the pronouncements made under the infallible guidance of God the Holy Ghost at Holy Mother Church's twenty true general councils.

The belief that those who seek God with a "sincere heart" are on a path to Him is nothing unique to Lumen Fidei. It is expressed in the second part of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service's so-called "Eucharistic Prayer IV," both in English and the Latin editio typica:

Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we make this sacrifice: especially your servant, N. our Pope, N. our Bishop, and the whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who take part in this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.

Nunc ergo, Domine, omnium recordare, pro quibus tibi hanc oblationem offerimus: in primis famuli tui, Papae nostri N., Episcopi nostri N., et Episcoporum ordinis universi, sed et totius cleri, et offerentium, et circumstantium, et cuncti populi tui, et omnium, qui te quaerunt corde sincero. (Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo "Eucharistic Prayer IV".)

Yes, a de facto acceptance of the heresy of "universal salvation" permeates even the hideous liturgy of the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

The truth is, of course, that the conciliar revolutionaries themselves are not seeking the true God of Divine Revelation, the Most Blessed Trinity, with a sincere heart as they distort, corrupt and misrepresent His Sacred Deposit of Faith while at the same time reaffirming adherents of false religions in the essential "goodness" of their own false beliefs and diabolical liturgical practices.

Lumen Fidei also suffers from what can be called "salvation by communitarianism," rejecting what Bergoglio/Francis has called "individualism" a "community-oriented" "relationship" with God:

Faith, in fact, needs a setting in which it can be witnessed to and communicated, a means which is suitable and proportionate to what is communicated. For transmitting a purely doctrinal content, an idea might suffice, or perhaps a book, or the repetition of a spoken message. But what is communicated in the Church, what is handed down in her living Tradition, is the new light born of an encounter with the true God, a light which touches us at the core of our being and engages our minds, wills and emotions, opening us to relationships lived in communion. There is a special means for passing down this fullness, a means capable of engaging the entire person, body and spirit, interior life and relationships with others. It is the sacraments, celebrated in the Church’s liturgy. The sacraments communicate an incarnate memory, linked to the times and places of our lives, linked to all our senses; in them the whole person is engaged as a member of a living subject and part of a network of communitarian relationships. While the sacraments are indeed sacraments of faith, it can also be said that faith itself possesses a sacramental structure. The awakening of faith is linked to the dawning of a new sacramental sense in our lives as human beings and as Christians, in which visible and material realities are seen to point beyond themselves to the mystery of the eternal. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Lumen Fidei, July 5, 2013.)

In other words, the doctrinal content of the Faith is insufficient to transmit what God has revealed, which is why It must understood in light of an fluid "living tradition" that is "linked to the times and places of our lives" and "senses" as we grow, and row and mow and show together as "part of a network of communitarian relationships."

Alas, this is all a distortion and misrepresentation of the teaching of the Catholic Church.

You see, we are linked to other Catholics principally by means of the Communion of Saints, which is nowhere mentioned in the text of Lumen Fidei.

There is a reason for this.

Most of the conciliar revolutionaries do not believe in Purgatory, something that Ratzinger/Benedict, whose draft served as the foundation of Lumen Fidei, has made clear on a number of occasions, including thirty months ago now (see From Sharp Focus to Fuzziness). It is rather difficult for those who placed doubt upon the existence of Purgatory as a real place of punishment for the forgiven Mortal Sins, unforgiven Venial Sins and general attachment to sin and disordered self-love that the souls of those who have died in a State of Sanctifying Grace did not pay back here on earth by means of their joyful and loving acceptance of suffering as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The conciliar revolutionaries must stress communitarianism as many of them are really social workers who have tried mightily to recast the Catholic Faith as one of several means of "doing good," which they contend is "good enough" to please God. It is not.

Lumen Fidei's discussion of the Sacrament of Baptism is devoid of any mention of Original Sin or of the Sanctifying Grace that is flooded into a soul during Its administration:

In baptism we receive both a teaching to be professed and a specific way of life which demands the engagement of the whole person and sets us on the path to goodness. Those who are baptized are set in a new context, entrusted to a new environment, a new and shared way of acting, in the Church. Baptism makes us see, then, that faith is not the achievement of isolated individuals; it is not an act which someone can perform on his own, but rather something which must be received by entering into the ecclesial communion which transmits God’s gift. No one baptizes himself, just as no one comes into the world by himself. Baptism is something we receive.

42. What are the elements of baptism which introduce us into this new "standard of teaching"? First, the name of the Trinity — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — is invoked upon the catechumen. Thus, from the outset, a synthesis of the journey of faith is provided. The God who called Abraham and wished to be called his God, the God who revealed his name to Moses, the God who, in giving us his Son, revealed fully the mystery of his Name, now bestows upon the baptized a new filial identity. This is clearly seen in the act of baptism itself: immersion in water. Water is at once a symbol of death, inviting us to pass through self-conversion to a new and greater identity, and a symbol of life, of a womb in which we are reborn by following Christ in his new life. In this way, through immersion in water, baptism speaks to us of the incarnational structure of faith. Christ’s work penetrates the depths of our being and transforms us radically, making us adopted children of God and sharers in the divine nature. It thus modifies all our relationships, our place in this world and in the universe, and opens them to God’s own life of communion. This change which takes place in baptism helps us to appreciate the singular importance of the catechumenate — whereby growing numbers of adults, even in societies with ancient Christian roots, now approach the sacrament of baptism — for the new evangelization. It is the road of preparation for baptism, for the transformation of our whole life in Christ. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Lumen Fidei, July 5, 2013.)

Path to goodness?

What about to know, to love and serve God in this life in order to be with Him for all eternity in Heaven in the next?

The "new evangelization"?

The new evangelization is a tool of conciliarism to propagate the "new ecclesiology," false ecumenism, "the hermeneutic of "continuity" (aka "living tradition), religious liberty, separation of Church and State and universal salvation.

The "two-headed pope monster" has thus succeeded in transforming the Sacrament of Baptism into an instrument for the propagation of their own false religion, conciliarism, which rejects the belief that good works performed after Justification are necessary for salvation:

19. On the basis of this sharing in Jesus’ way of seeing things, Saint Paul has left us a description of the life of faith. In accepting the gift of faith, believers become a new creation; they receive a new being; as God’s children, they are now "sons in the Son". The phrase "Abba, Father", so characteristic of Jesus’ own experience, now becomes the core of the Christian experience (cf. Rom 8:15). The life of faith, as a filial existence, is the acknowledgment of a primordial and radical gift which upholds our lives. We see this clearly in Saint Paul’s question to the Corinthians: "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). This was at the very heart of Paul’s debate with the Pharisees: the issue of whether salvation is attained by faith or by the works of the law. Paul rejects the attitude of those who would consider themselves justified before God on the basis of their own works. Such people, even when they obey the commandments and do good works, are centred on themselves; they fail to realize that goodness comes from God. Those who live this way, who want to be the source of their own righteousness, find that the latter is soon depleted and that they are unable even to keep the law. They become closed in on themselves and isolated from the Lord and from others; their lives become futile and their works barren, like a tree far from water. Saint Augustine tells us in his usual concise and striking way: "Ab eo qui fecit te, noli deficere nec ad te", "Do not turn away from the one who made you, even to turn towards yourself". Once I think that by turning away from God I will find myself, my life begins to fall apart (cf. Lk 15:11-24). The beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains it in being. Only by being open to and acknowledging this gift can we be transformed, experience salvation and bear good fruit. Salvation by faith means recognizing the primacy of God’s gift. As Saint Paul puts it: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). (Jorge Mario Bergoglio/Francis, Lumen Fidei, July 5, 2013.)

As he is done in his Casa Santa Marta daily Ding Dong School Of Apostasy sessions, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is once again positing the old conciliar canard that those concerned about the salvation of their own souls are "individualists" who do not want to be part of the "community," people who are "closed in on themselves and isolated from the Lord and others," going so far as to say that "lives become futile and their works barren, like a tree far from water."

The truth is, of course, that good works performed after Justification, that is after Baptism and while a soul is in a state of Sanctifying Grace, are necessary for salvation and that they do indeed result an an increase of merit before God, something that is rejected, at least implicitly, by the conciliar revolutionaries in documents such as Lumen Fidei, whose passage quoted just above essentially braces the Lutheran "salvation by faith alone" heresy.

The Council of Trent taught the following about those who denigrate good works after Justification are necessary for salvation and meritorious before God:

CANON XXIV.-If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.

CANON XXVI.-If any one saith, that the just ought not, for their good works done in God, to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God, through His mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ, if so be that they persevere to the end in well-doing and in keeping the divine commandments; let him be anathema.

CANON XXXII.-If any one saith, that the good works of one that is justified are in such manner the gifts of God, as that they are not also the good merits of him that is justified; or, that the said justified, by the good works which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal life,-if so be, however, that he depart in grace,-and also an increase of glory; let him be anathema. (The Council of Trent: The Sixth Session. For a detailed examination of the heretical conciliar view of Justification, please see Bishop Donald J. Sanborn's analysis of the Conciliar-Lutheran Joint Declaration on Justification.)

At the root and throughout the essence of Lumen Fidei, therefore, is an ethos evocative of the Modernist view of Faith that was condemned by Pope Saint Pius X in Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907:

14. Thus far, Venerable Brethren, We have considered the Modernist as a philosopher. Now if We proceed to consider him as a believer, and seek to know how the believer, according to Modernism, is marked off from the philosopher, it must be observed that, although the philosopher recognizes the reality of the divine as the object of faith, still this reality is not to be found by him but in the heart of the believer, as an object of feeling and affirmation, and therefore confined within the sphere of phenomena; but the question as to whether in itself it exists outside that feeling and affirmation is one which the philosopher passes over and neglects. For the Modernist believer, on the contrary, it is an established and certain fact that the reality of the divine does really exist in itself and quite independently of the person who believes in it. If you ask on what foundation this assertion of the believer rests, he answers: In the personal experience of the individual. On this head the Modernists differ from the Rationalists only to fall into the views of the Protestants and pseudo-mystics. The following is their manner of stating the question: In the religious sense one must recognize a kind of intuition of the heart which puts man in immediate contact with the reality of God, and infuses such a persuasion of God's existence and His action both within and without man as far to exceed any scientific conviction. They assert, therefore, the existence of a real experience, and one of a kind that surpasses all rational experience. If this experience is denied by some, like the Rationalists, they say that this arises from the fact that such persons are unwilling to put themselves in the moral state necessary to produce it. It is this experience which makes the person who acquires it to be properly and truly a believer.

How far this position is removed from that of Catholic teaching! We have already seen how its fallacies have been condemned by the Vatican Council. Later on, we shall see how these errors, combined with those which we have already mentioned, open wide the way to Atheism. Here it is well to note at once that, given this doctrine of experience united with that of symbolism, every religion, even that of paganism, must be held to be true. What is to prevent such experiences from being found in any religion? In fact, that they are so is maintained by not a few. On what grounds can Modernists deny the truth of an experience affirmed by a follower of Islam? Will they claim a monopoly of true experiences for Catholics alone? Indeed, Modernists do not deny, but actually maintain, some confusedly, others frankly, that all religions are true. That they cannot feel otherwise is obvious. For on what ground, according to their theories, could falsity be predicated of any religion whatsoever? Certainly it would be either on account of the falsity of the religious .sense or on account of the falsity of the formula pronounced by the mind. Now the religious sense, although it maybe more perfect or less perfect, is always one and the same; and the intellectual formula, in order to be true, has but to respond to the religious sense and to the believer, whatever be the intellectual capacity of the latter. In the conflict between different religions, the most that Modernists can maintain is that the Catholic has more truth because it is more vivid, and that it deserves with more reason the name of Christian because it corresponds more fully with the origins of Christianity. No one will find it unreasonable that these consequences flow from the premises. But what is most amazing is that there are Catholics and priests, who, We would fain believe, abhor such enormities, and yet act as if they fully approved of them. For they lavish such praise and bestow such public honor on the teachers of these errors as to convey the belief that their admiration is not meant merely for the persons, who are perhaps not devoid of a certain merit, but rather for the sake of the errors which these persons openly profess and which they do all in their power to propagate.

15. There is yet another element in this part of their teaching which is absolutely contrary to Catholic truth. For what is laid down as to experience is also applied with destructive effect to tradition, which has always been maintained by the Catholic Church. Tradition, as understood by the Modernists, is a communication with others of an original experience, through preaching by means of the intellectual formula. To this formula, in addition to its representative value they attribute a species of suggestive efficacy which acts firstly in the believer by stimulating the religious sense, should it happen to have grown sluggish, and by renewing the experience once acquired, and secondly, in those who do not yet believe by awakening in them for the first time the religious sense and producing the experience. In this way is religious experience spread abroad among the nations; and not merely among contemporaries by preaching, but among future generations both by books and by oral transmission from one to another. Sometimes this communication of religious experience takes root and thrives, at other times it withers at once and dies. For the Modernists, to live is a proof of truth, since for them life and truth are one and the same thing. Thus we are once more led to infer that all existing religions are equally true, for otherwise they would not survive. (Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8, 1907.)

It is our duty to reject the lies of conciliarism for the truth of Catholicism.

After all, those who can conceive of, participate in and preside over yet another "World Youth Day" with its hideous liturgies and blasphemous "stagings" of the Way of the Cross are simply not Catholic and have nothing to teach us about personal faith in Divine Revelation in general and the doctrine of the Catholic Faith in particular.

As noted in part one of this three-part series four days ago now, the Catholic Church gives us certainty of doctrine of clarity of language whereas the conciliarists make everything about God and His Divine Revelation complex, unclear, opaque and cumbersome.

Want a good examination of Faith from Catholics? Read the decrees of the [First] Vatican Council on the subject appended below

Let us continue to pray as many well-prayed Rosaries as possible, especially as prepare for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in four days.

The triumph belongs to the Immaculate Heart of Mary when Our Lady's Fatima Message is fulfilled.

We need to make much reparation for our own sins and those of the whole word in the meantime as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying fervently for the conversion of all those who are outside the maternal bosom of Holy Mother Church, including the conciliarists themselves.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon!

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, pray for us.

Pope John Gualbert, pray for us. .

See also: A Litany of Saints

Appendix

Decrees of the [First] Vatican Council on Faith

Session III, April 24, 1870

Since human beings are totally dependent on God as their creator and lord, and created reason is completely subject to uncreated truth, we are obliged to yield to God the revealer full submission of intellect and will by faith.

This faith, which is the beginning of human salvation, the catholic church professes to be

a supernatural virtue,

by means of which,

with the grace of God inspiring and assisting us,

we believe to be true what He has revealed,

not because we perceive its intrinsic truth by the natural light of reason,

but because of the authority of God himself, who makes the revelation and can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Faith, declares the Apostle, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen [17].

Nevertheless, in order that the submission of our faith should be in accordance with reason, it was God's will that there should be linked to the internal assistance of the holy Spirit external indications of his revelation, that is to say divine acts, and

first and foremost miracles and prophecies,

which clearly demonstrating as they do the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are

the most certain signs of revelation and are

suited to the understanding of all.

Hence

Moses

and the prophets,

and especially Christ our lord himself,

worked many absolutely clear miracles and delivered prophecies;

while of the apostles we read:

And they went forth and preached every, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it [18] . Again it is written:

We have the prophetic word made more sure; you will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place [19] .

Now,

although the assent of faith is by no means a blind movement of the mind,

yet no one can accept the gospel preaching

in the way that is necessary for achieving salvation

without the inspiration and illumination of the holy Spirit,

who gives to all facility in accepting and believing the truth [20] .

And so faith in itself,

even though it may not work through charity,

is a gift of God,

and its operation is a work belonging to the order of salvation,

in that a person yields true obedience to God himself when he accepts and collaborates with his grace which he could have rejected.

Wherefore, by divine and catholic faith all those things are to be believed

which are contained in the word of God as found in scripture and tradition,

and which are proposed by the church as matters to be believed as divinely revealed,

whether by her solemn judgment

or in her ordinary and universal magisterium.

Since, then, without faith it is impossible to please God [21] and reach the fellowship of his sons and daughters, it follows that

no one can ever achieve justification without it,

neither can anyone attain eternal life unless he or she perseveres in it to the end.

So that we could fulfil our duty of embracing the true faith and of persevering unwaveringly in it, God, through his only begotten Son,

founded the church,

and he endowed his institution with clear notes to the end that she might be recognised by all as the guardian and teacher of the revealed word.

To the catholic church alone belong all those things, so many and so marvellous, which have been divinely ordained to make for the manifest credibility of the christian faith.

What is more,

the church herself

by reason of

her astonishing propagation,

her outstanding holiness and

her inexhaustible fertility in every kind of goodness, by

her catholic unity and

her unconquerable stability,

is a kind of great and perpetual motive of credibility and an incontrovertible evidence of her own divine mission.

So it comes about that,

like a standard lifted up for the nations [22] ,

she both invites to herself those who have not yet believed,

and likewise assures her sons and daughters that the faith they profess rests on the firmest of foundations.

To this witness is added the effective help of power from on high. For,

the kind Lord stirs up those who go astray and helps them by his grace

so that they may come to the knowledge of the truth [23] ;

and also confirms by his grace those whom he has translated into his admirable light [24],

so that they may persevere in this light,

not abandoning them unless he is first abandoned.

Consequently,

the situation of those, who

by the heavenly gift of faith

have embraced the catholic truth,

is by no means the same as that of those who,

led by human opinions,

follow a false religion;

for those who have accepted the faith under the guidance of the church can never have any just cause for changing this faith or for calling it into question.

This being so, giving thanks to God the Father who has made us worthy to share with the saints in light [25] let us not neglect so great a salvation [26] , but looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith [27] , let us hold the unshakeable confession of our hope [28].
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Chapter 4. On faith and reason

The perpetual agreement of the catholic church has maintained and maintains this too: that

there is a twofold order of knowledge, distinct

not only as regards its source,

but also as regards its object.

With regard to the source,

we know at the one level by natural reason,

at the other level by divine faith.

With regard to the object,

besides those things to which natural reason can attain,

there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God

which, unless they are divinely revealed, are incapable of being known.

Wherefore, when the Apostle, who witnesses that God was known to the gentiles from created things [29] , comes to treat of the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ [30] , he declares: We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this. God has revealed it to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God [31] . And the Only-begotten himself, in his confession to the Father, acknowledges that the Father has hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to the little ones [32] .

Now reason,

does indeed

when it seeks persistently, piously and soberly,

achieve

by God's gift

some understanding,

and that most profitable,

of the mysteries,

whether by analogy from what it knows naturally,

or from the connexion of these mysteries

with one another and

with the final end of humanity;

but reason

is never rendered capable of penetrating these mysteries

in the way in which it penetrates those truths which form its proper object.

For

the divine mysteries,

by their very nature,

so far surpass the created understanding

that, even when a revelation has been given and accepted by faith,

they remain covered by the veil of that same faith and wrapped, as it were, in a certain obscurity,

as long as in this mortal life we are away from the Lord,

for we walk by faith, and not by sight [33] .

Even though faith is above reason, there can never be any real disagreement between faith and reason, since

it is the same God

who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith, and

who has endowed the human mind with the light of reason.

God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever be in opposition to truth.

The appearance of this kind of specious contradiction is chiefly due to the fact that either

the dogmas of faith are not understood and explained in accordance with the mind of the church, or

unsound views are mistaken for the conclusions of reason.

Therefore we define that every assertion contrary to the truth of enlightened faith is totally false [34] .

Furthermore the church which,

together with its apostolic office of teaching,

has received the charge of preserving the deposit of faith,

has

by divine appointment

the right

and duty

of condemning

what wrongly passes for knowledge,

lest anyone be led astray by philosophy and empty deceit [35] .

Hence all faithful Christians

are forbidden to defend as the legitimate conclusions of science those opinions which are known to be contrary to the doctrine of faith,

particularly if they have been condemned by the church; and furthermore they

are absolutely bound to hold them to be errors which wear the deceptive appearance of truth.

Not only can faith and reason never be at odds with one another but they mutually support each other, for

on the one hand right reason

established the foundations of the faith

and, illuminated by its light, develops the science of divine things;

on the other hand, faith

delivers reason from errors and

protects it and furnishes it with knowledge of many kinds.

Hence, so far is the church from hindering the development of human arts and studies, that in fact she assists and promotes them in many ways. For

she is neither ignorant nor contemptuous of the advantages which derive from this source for human life, rather

she acknowledges that those things flow from God, the lord of sciences, and, if they are properly used, lead to God by the help of his grace.

Nor does the church forbid these studies to employ, each within its own area, its own proper principles and method:

but while she admits this just freedom,

she takes particular care that they do not

become infected with errors by conflicting with divine teaching, or,

by going beyond their proper limits, intrude upon what belongs to faith and

engender confusion.

For the doctrine of the faith which God has revealed is put forward

not as some philosophical discovery capable of being perfected by human intelligence,

but as a divine deposit committed to the spouse of Christ to be faithfully protected and infallibly promulgated.

Hence, too,that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by holy mother church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.

May understanding, knowledge and wisdom increase as ages and centuries roll along, and greatly and vigorously flourish, in each and all, in the individual and the whole church: but this only in its own proper kind, that is to say, in the same doctrine, the same sense, and the same understanding [36] . (Chapter 3 On faith.)


© Copyright 2013, Thomas A. Droleskey. All rights reserved.