PETITION: Call on Vatican to keep out all "pagan" symbols from St. Peter's and Vatican Property!Sign the petition here.
November 5, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) A friend and former student of mine sent an email to me recently that will surely resonate with many who have been dismayed, scandalized, and horrified by the paganism, syncretism, and contempt for the Catholic religion on full display during last months Synod in Rome. With his permission, I share below the email and my reply.
Dear Dr. Kwasniewski:
Im relieved. For some reason, Im happy that the evil everyone has suspected all along and warned against is finally rearing its head though it is far nastier than I thought it would be. To me, the disaster of the Amazon Synod has completely and forcefully established the failure of Vatican II, exposed the modernist influence preceding Vatican II, put a floodlight on the abuses of the current and more recent popes, and stripped bare the lukewarm, pathetic, bright-lipstick-wearing-and-hand-sanitizing-before-distributing-communion-in-the-hand kind of Catholicism that has been around since before I was born. Any compromises I was willing to make either with other people or even in myself are totally banished. Here is the polarizing point Ive been longing for. Do you think its appropriate to feel relief along with great sadness?
A different kind of question: Why do you suppose a vague pantheism has gained so much appeal in our times, becoming the most common opponent of Christianity more popular than atheism, agnosticism, or even downright satanism?
The big question: What do we do? Pray, obviously, and shuck any vestiges of non-traditional Catholicism in our lives. But I kind of want to fight. For some reason, I see this Pachamama demon as an antithesis of the Virgin Mary. Mother Earth vs. Mother Mary, or a generic cult of fertility vs. the veneration of the Theotokos. That makes me so angry. It makes me so angry that our pope, our bishops, and our cardinals are disrespecting our Mother so blatantly and viciously. It makes me so angry that I want to take the wooden idols and smash them to pieces before hurling them into the Tiber, this time for good. How can I turn that anger to constructive purposes?
Here was my reply.
You have expressed to perfection the way we are all feeling. It is a worldwide phenomenon, and we can indeed be thankful for the clarity with which the evil of modernism (with all of the other -isms that precede or follow it) is being exposed on the stage of the Vatican. My own polarizing point already occurred long ago, when I studied how the Novus Ordo came into existence and how much the tradition of the Church was despised during and after Vatican II. Everything that is happening now is an extrapolation of this fundamental sin against tradition. Once you reject your identity, you can become anything or nothing.
The reason for pantheisms appeal is not hard to see: it mingles enough truth in with the falsehood to appeal to the human mind, which has an instinctive apprehension of divinity. Atheism, in that sense, is always artificial and forced; it runs against the grain of our conscience and our experience. But Christian theism is much more radical and demanding than pantheism, because one has to profess ones faith in a God utterly transcendent and at the same time fearfully intimate (since His immediate presence to all things is caused by His very transcendence). Pantheism lets a person be cool with religious stuff while keeping the true God at arms length. It adds a religious veneer to an essentially secular lifestyle.
Anger always has to be channeled into thoughtful and focused efforts; otherwise, it disperses itself wastefully and harmfully. I have spoken a little bit here about what laity can do, but it boils down to a few things.
1) Dont give a red cent to any bishop or priest who does not publicly and expressly preach the orthodox Catholic faith and condemn the errors going on in the Church and at the Vatican. Their most basic job, after offering sacrifice, is to preach the truth, in season, out of season, reproving, rebuking, exhorting (cf. 2 Tim. 4:2). If a bishop or priest is not doing this, its like a parent who neglects or abuses his children and who therefore deserves to lose their affection, their support, and their collaboration even if not their prayers for his conversion. If we have any extra money, we should give it to reliable traditional religious orders and apostolates, which are the hope of the future.
2) Pray and fast more seriously. We are doing battle with evil spirits: For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places (Eph. 6:12), and about such demons, Our Lord says: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting (Mk. 9:28). All of us myself included! tend to talk a lot and wring our hands, but when push comes to shove, how often do we sign up for holy hours, or skip meals, or abstain from meat or alcoholic beverages or TV or other creature comforts, or pray 15 decades of the rosary, or get up for an early morning Latin Mass? Like Jesus, of whom Scripture says, He began to do and to teach (cf. Acts 1:1), we have to begin with doing.
3) Keep studying the Faith, and know it very well. Only in this way can we marvel at it, give thanks for it, live it, discuss it with others and debate its opponents, and pass it on to the next generation. This is no small thing: there is so much ignorance, error, and wishful thinking out there that an accurate knowledge of the Faith, and especially of the liturgy, is rarely to be met with. Books like Fr. Jacksons Nothing Superfluous and Mosebachs Heresy of Formlessness and my Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness; books like the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, the Catechism of Trent, and Ludwig Otts Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma and I would add Bishop Schneiders new book, Christus Vincit these ought to be in front of our eyes for some period of time each day. Extrapolating from this, one could think about starting a book group, or inviting people periodically to ones home or apartment for readings and discussions. It is the age of the laity: we are the ones doing the heavy lifting at this point in terms of evangelization, catechesis, theology, and liturgical renewal.
4) We should pray about joining ourselves more closely to a traditional community, be it as an oblate of a Benedictine monastery, the Confraternity of St. Peter (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter), the Society of the Sacred Heart (Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest), or some other, in order to share in the spiritual riches of that community and have a more orderly rule of life to follow.
5) This may seem an odd bit of advice, but it is the advice of many saints: practice giving thanks. Thank God each day for making you a Christian and a Catholic. Thank Him for leading you away from ignorance, error, and sin. Thank Him for giving you a hunger for the truth, a desire for the good, eyes and ears for the beautiful. Thank Him for leading you to Catholic tradition, to a good education, and to good friends. Thank Him for exposing evils and stirring up resistance. Thank Him even for your feelings of anger, sadness, dismay, and perplexity, which keep us from being lukewarm and comfortable. The more we acknowledge and rejoice in His gifts to us, the more we are drawn through the hardships of this time to spiritual and eternal goods that will never fade.
I agree with Roberto de Mattei that we must have, or recover, a militant conception of Christian life: we are soldiers fighting for Christ the King, even if all we are doing at the moment is faithfully discharging a desk job. We will not be passive, indifferent, lazy, taking whatever nonsense the hierarchs of the Church decide to dump on us; we will resist, respectfully but firmly, and insist on the true Faith.
See the original post:
How to properly use righteous anger about the Amazon Synod - Lifesite
- Shiv Khera and the Ultimate Value Test | MorungExpress ... - Morung Express - December 3rd, 2023 [December 3rd, 2023]
- 'She was startled by what the angel said and tried to figure out what ... - America: The Jesuit Review - September 21st, 2023 [September 21st, 2023]
- Religion in India - Wikipedia - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Ethics (Spinoza book) - Wikipedia - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- Scientific Pantheism: Frequently Asked Questions - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- Pantheism - Conservapedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Themes in Avatar - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Theism - Wikipedia - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Animism - Wikipedia - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- What Was So Incredible About the Incredible String Band? - PopMatters - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein - Wikipedia - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- God's Omnipresence: A Reassuring Reality to Rejoice In - TGC Africa - The Gospel Coalition Africa - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Avatar Is Back, and It Still Looks Like Damanhur - Bitter Winter - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- PART 3 GOD'S ABUNDANT LIFE - Block Island Times - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- New York Botanical Garden In Three Hours: Here's What To See - TheTravel - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Reconciliation Pope And Paganism - Nation World News - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Only God could join us to God Catholic Outlook - Catholic Outlook - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Only God Could Join Us to God - Commonweal - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Back to school: dogs, AP classes and alarm clocks. What Colorado students are looking forward to this school year and what they want changed -... - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- The Organization | [Deck Recipes] July 31st, 2022 - YGOrganization - August 6th, 2022 [August 6th, 2022]
- Thinking of the Old Catholics and the Union of Utrecht - Patheos - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Speaking the Roots - The Shillong Times - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Basic beliefs of Scientific Pantheism World Pantheism - July 9th, 2022 [July 9th, 2022]
- Plural Like the Universe - City Journal - July 7th, 2022 [July 7th, 2022]
- Seeing Peter Obi through prisms of his younger brother The Sun Nigeria - Daily Sun - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- From Gnosticism to Marxism: The Spirit of Antichrist in Movement - OnePeterFive - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- World Pantheism Revering the Universe, Caring for Nature, Celebrating ... - June 5th, 2022 [June 5th, 2022]
- The R&S Pantheism Thread - City-Data - June 5th, 2022 [June 5th, 2022]
- Mary Beth Edelson Celebrated the Goddess Within - Hyperallergic - June 5th, 2022 [June 5th, 2022]
- The Organization | [Deck Recipes] May 26th, 2022 - YGOrganization - May 27th, 2022 [May 27th, 2022]
- Who Is Defending and Who Is Criticizing the Nine Years of Francis's Pontificate? (2) - FSSPX.News - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Girls performance in maths starting to add up to boys, says UNESCO - Modern Diplomacy - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Declaring the glory of God - The Robesonian - April 6th, 2022 [April 6th, 2022]
- Hen Kai Pan is a comic that finds a bleak but beautiful poetry in humanitys end - The A.V. Club - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Ideology of Pakistan and beyond - Chitral News - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Universal Directives of Quran: Introducing 'The Quran Speaks to You' - Kashmir Observer - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- The Organization | [Deck Recipes] March 25th, 2022 - YGOrganization - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Homage in rock to Bodhisattva - Sunday Observer - March 17th, 2022 [March 17th, 2022]
- How can God be everywhere? - Journal Review - March 17th, 2022 [March 17th, 2022]
- Baruch Spinoza - Wikipedia - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- New free book from Cambridge Press: Pantheism - Religion ... - February 28th, 2022 [February 28th, 2022]
- When This Jewish Musician Visited a Church During Benediction, He Never Expected This to Happen - National Catholic Register - February 19th, 2022 [February 19th, 2022]
- Hymn Notes: All Creatures of Our God and King - Longview News-Journal - January 27th, 2022 [January 27th, 2022]
- His Blood Cries Out From the Ground!: Climate Change And Moral Corruption - Patheos - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- Respect for the Body: A Response to Archbishop Jackels - National Catholic Register - November 19th, 2021 [November 19th, 2021]
- AFRICA - "It is on the old mat that we sit and weave the new one": Cop 26, for a return to the sacred - Agenzia Fides - November 9th, 2021 [November 9th, 2021]
- BANGLADESH Rising number of baptised among tribal people in Rajshahi - AsiaNews - October 19th, 2021 [October 19th, 2021]
- Did Einstein Believe in God? - bethinking.org - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- Three Decades Later, This Classic Book About the New Age Is More Relevant Than Ever - National Catholic Register - October 1st, 2021 [October 1st, 2021]
- Book of a Lifetime: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - The Independent - September 26th, 2021 [September 26th, 2021]
- Meditation Isnt Mere Therapy Its a Living Relationship With Almighty God - National Catholic Register - September 4th, 2021 [September 4th, 2021]
- Is Everything That Exists Part of God? (Pantheism) - August 28th, 2021 [August 28th, 2021]
- Home - Universal Pantheist Society - August 28th, 2021 [August 28th, 2021]
- 8 Major Worldviews (Part 1) | CrossExamined.org by Brian ... - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- You shall have no other gods, including 'trivial' ones - The B.C. Catholic - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]
- Religion Is Far Too Complex to Have a Single Evolution Story - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - August 6th, 2021 [August 6th, 2021]
- Is the Enlightenment Still a Foundation for Working-Class Liberation? - LA Progressive - August 6th, 2021 [August 6th, 2021]
- The Revival of Stoicism - VICE - July 5th, 2021 [July 5th, 2021]
- Jane Goodall Meets the God Hypothesis - Discovery Institute - May 27th, 2021 [May 27th, 2021]
- Parramatta Laity Make Their Voices Heard in Dispute With Their Bishop - National Catholic Register - May 14th, 2021 [May 14th, 2021]
- Matthew Wong Ink Works, Never Before Exhibited, Will Alight in New York - ARTnews - April 19th, 2021 [April 19th, 2021]
- Double Blind by Edward St Aubyn review in pursuit of knowledge - The Guardian - March 31st, 2021 [March 31st, 2021]
- How to Sound Like a Catholic When You Talk About Ashes and Death - National Catholic Register - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]
- The consolation of philosophy during Covid darkness - Offaly Express - February 25th, 2021 [February 25th, 2021]
- What Is This 'QAnon' Thing They're Talking About? - Calbuzz - February 21st, 2021 [February 21st, 2021]
- Manifestations of Higher Meaning: On Dana Gioia's The Catholic Writer Today and Studying with Miss Bishop - Los Angeles Review of Books -... - February 10th, 2021 [February 10th, 2021]
- Arts Pantheon - The Daily Star - January 17th, 2021 [January 17th, 2021]
- Christmas and the birth of truth on earth - TheCable - January 1st, 2021 [January 1st, 2021]
- Pantheism | Definition of Pantheism by Merriam-Webster - November 29th, 2020 [November 29th, 2020]
- No writer was better suited to chronicle the Depression than John Steinbeck - Spectator.co.uk - November 29th, 2020 [November 29th, 2020]
- A world of mysticism and spirituality - Times of Malta - November 29th, 2020 [November 29th, 2020]
- WHAT IS 'SPIRITUALITY OF PLACE'? | Bret Thoman - Patheos - November 29th, 2020 [November 29th, 2020]
- Do Not Offend the Gods: 8 SFF Books Featuring Deities - tor.com - October 7th, 2020 [October 7th, 2020]
- Religion, Non-Reductive and Saturated, Gains Respect in Post-Modern Academic World - Patheos - May 29th, 2020 [May 29th, 2020]
- What's the difference between pandemic and epidemic? - ChicagoNow - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- Porfiry Ivanov: what Stalin said the main freak of the USSR - International Law Lawyer News - March 24th, 2020 [March 24th, 2020]
- World Pantheism Revering the Universe, Caring for Nature ... - March 5th, 2020 [March 5th, 2020]
- Freeman Dyson: The Passing of an Iconoclastic Physicist - Discovery Institute - March 5th, 2020 [March 5th, 2020]
- Pantheism | Britannica - February 27th, 2020 [February 27th, 2020]
- Dan McCaslin: Nature and Shallowing the Mind - Noozhawk - January 28th, 2020 [January 28th, 2020]