Comments for Traditional Christianity versus Christian Heresies at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 15 out of 15 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:49:52 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11227 We can blame the Church's embracing modernity and feminism in the biblical scholarship of Raymond E. Brown and not tenuring Fr. Manuel Miguens, OFM for starters. The Land of Lakes deal of the Catholic Universities sealed it. Why doesn't the Church tell the univ. either be Catholic or you're out and condemn Brown's work--it is destroying the certitude of true Catholics. - mary Sat, 05 May 2012 14:37:05 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11201 The wholesale reforms of Vatican II contribute to the decline of the Catholic Church. Excellent review. - Allen Roth Thu, 03 May 2012 10:03:17 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11199 Frank, thank you providing TCT readers with information that all Americans should have. By now we should all know about the damage done by our nation by the many believers who influenced the direction of US policy and stole information. My concern here, however, is with damage inflicted on the Chruch by people who infiltrated seminaries in Europe and the US. Their goal was the creation of a parallel, counterfeit church focused on creation of a socialist paradise instead of eternal salvation. They have succeeded far beyond their wildest imaginiation. The Reds even had enough muscle to spare so that they could divert their attention to usng their fifth column to clamoring for a Communist victory in Vietnam, hence the "just think of me as an acid head with Roman collar" breed sitting in hot tubs at the Esolen Insitutute for the Study of Human Potential fellow hottubers that Aermica is an imperilaist country. Beginning in 1967 Catholic collegs became incubators of the counterculture on a par with their admittedly secular counterparts. Having achieved victory in Souteast Asia, the Reds could turn their attention to undermining belief in the very defining dogma of Christianity. By the way, while the Venona Transcripts were not declassified until 1996, the writings of Bella Dadd and Luis Budenz were NEVER classified, so teachers of history at Catholic colleges and high schools have no excuses for hiding them from young Catholics. We cannot defeat an enemy that we are afradi to name. - Thomas C. Coleman, Jr. Thu, 03 May 2012 08:50:31 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11191 I'd like to take what Mr. Coleman stated about the fear of being called a McCarthyist one step further for his point is a valid one but not something that we should necessarily fear if we know from where we get our sources. I'm sure everyone here has experienced a debate, an argument or situation where you knew you were right but could not prove it. It's not a good situation to be in. The same holds for Joseph McCarthy. He was correct that many of the names on the piece of paper he "held in his hand," were either agents, sympathizers, and/or members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and as such were providing intelligence to the Soviet Union. The problem of course is that he did not know that he was correct. Successful in initially stirring up a firestorm of support, McCarthy then demigogued the issue. Mix that with his alcoholism and voila...a communist could be found behind every tree and on every street corner of America. In 2001, Romerstein and Breindel published "The Venona Secrets." Venona was the name of one of the most classified operations in US Intelligence. Few knew of it and not even the President of the United States was aware of its existence. That US Intelligence was able to decypher Soviet message encryption is a mix of luck and skill and for the Soviets, an act of foolish complacency. Nonetheless, the code was broken. Many of the names on McCarthy's piece of paper were confirmed by Venona. Venona also confirmed the absolute guilt of the Rosenbergs. Venona was producing outstanding actionable intelligence but any action that would give the Soviets a whiff of indication their code had been compromised, was a risk that could not be borne. It's a good read and consistent with the principle that all is not always what it seems and that before any of us engages an argument, let us make sure we know the valid sources of the information we use to defend our positions. - Frank Thu, 03 May 2012 03:20:48 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11188 Mr. Coleman: It is a truly remarkable thing, that God has rendered the shepherds of the Church blind, and deprived Her of the leadership that could restore Her, but it is part of His inscrutable justice that we should live to see this awful thing. May the days be shortened. - Rick DeLano Wed, 02 May 2012 22:03:15 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11184 I am stunned by the attmepts to find sociological, historical, and ulitmately naturalistic explanations for the drastic degradation of Cathloic life in past four decades. Do we not all know that in 1947 one of the people whom Abp Sheen brought back to the Chruch predicted that becuase of what she had other Communists had done to infiltrate and infect the Church 25 years from that time no one would recognzie the Church. The idea that people imagine war in Vietnam or the Civil Rights movement could effect Mass attendence or belief in the Magisterium would be simplly laughable if it weren't for the fact that such notions distract us from facing the fact that the Church was infiltrated by evil people whose deeds and false teachings must be exposed and denounced. Not one of the social or political phenomena cited could have made nuns advocate abortion and priests deny the priesthood or advocate sodomy. There is one connection that some are afraid to face: Some of the very same people who were sowing heresy were also successful at convincing many nuns and priests that dictactors like Castro and Ho Chi Min were the good guys and the the attempt by the US to defeat them amounted to imperialism. If you thought that the war against Ho Chi Min's Communists was a war the US couldn't win therefore should not be fought then you might be in good company. But if you thought or still think that Ho Chi Min was a great democratic leadeer then you are a Communist dupe. Many of the Catholics who were tricked into loving the anit-Catholic Ho were/are the same ones who are preaching heresy to our young. Same well, same poison. And they keep getting away with it because so many Catholcis are afraid of being called McCarthyists--a term that I must again point out was coined in the Kremlin. You must all have heard the old ssaying that when you see a turtle ona fence post you know somebody put it there. Why will no one--almost no one--even listen to the confeesions of those like Bella Dodd and Luis Budenz? Intellectual dishonesty and cowardice to a sinful degree! The craven desire for approval from the very knaves who have been teaching people to doubt the very validity of the Sacraments? - Thomas C. Coleman, Jr. Wed, 02 May 2012 13:12:50 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11182 I've read that after every war noviates to monasteries multiply. The late Fr. Thomas Merton was part of that demographic. It is true that Christianity continues to thrive in the Global South. But as a son of the American South, I'm not surprised the new Anglican Rite Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is essentially a southern phenomenon. Its principle church and the seminary for training Episcopal priests seeking ordination into the Catholic Church are both in Texas. I worked for many years at a large corporation and was still there when their doors closed for the last time in the Fall of 2011. It is difficult to overstate corporate America's quiet and not so quiet hostility to Christianity and to the Church in particular. I recently went through an interview and training process at another large corporation. The one hour "diversity" video includes "religion" in its tolerance message. But I would learn just how vague and mutable that term is. The training replaces the Golden Rule with the "Platinum Rule." What's is that? Treat everyone as they want to be treated according to "their race, gender, orientation etc." That in the end requires invasive surgery into individual civic values and religious beliefs. It also confirms my long-time conclusion that no one profiles like the hyper-secular left. As for "religious tolerance..." I keep a small white card in my wallet on which is printed "40 Days For Life -- Pray to End Abortion." It is a daily reminder to me and apparently at least one person in human resources noticed it when I gave them my drivers license and SS card. The temperature in the office was considerably cooler the next day. Big Business promotes secular absolutism -- their protests to the contrary should be considered in the spirit in which they are given. In this staggering economy, Catholics will be under greater pressure to be "not-so-Catholic." For a variety of reasons American business used to prefer church-going employees. No more. Mr. Douthat is a thoughtful writer. Perhaps he might take a deeper look into this particular force against the Faith. - Graham Combs Wed, 02 May 2012 12:39:15 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11174 Great article, and I'll get hold of the book. I am not so sure that the religion embraced at the end of the Second World War was wholly "Public School": returning vets were looking for answers, and for forgiveness; the suburbanization of the country led to massive cultural dislocations and changes in forms of life, for which Christianity had (and has) answers. I tend to think that the whole world is Job and that in the 60s Satan threw down the dare: all hell broke loose, at least in the West. There is merit to Mr. Paterson-Seymour's observations, I think, despite what I have written above, for if the faith really had taken such deep hold, it would have withstood the challenges thrust upon it. Nonetheless this was a multi-faceted attack. The change in the Catholic liturgy, and in Catholic norms of worship, definitely impacted even the Protestant world, as I remember the Sunday in my Protestant childhood when hats disappeared, because if Catholic women didn't need them, neither did Protestant women. The elites' ties to Christianity was tenuous, and had been, since the Founders, who prized it for its moral power and for little else, failing to accept that dogmas and doctrines informed moral behavior and that the whole Christian enterprise is fueled by supernatural power: can't have any competition to our own, you know. Still, do not give up on the West, and do not give up on America. When the crisis comes, people will return to the Faith. God, and not just the Democrats, doesn't let a good one go to waste, and he never ceases to call all people to himself. All is not yet lost. The booming growth in Africa and Asia is evidence of that. - Dave Wed, 02 May 2012 06:04:42 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11173 Christianity is alive and growing in the southern hemisphere. After the dust settles from the civilisational collapse in the northern hemisphere, Africa and South America will send missionaries to spread the Good News to the shivering remnants of humanity in Europe and North America. - Randall Wed, 02 May 2012 05:59:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11172 @ Nick Palmer: Yes! If you follow the very first link above (now amended) you will reach the Kindle version via our Amazon Store. -ABM - Brad Miner Wed, 02 May 2012 05:51:27 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11171 Many earlier works sounded the same themes about the decline of Western culture and Christianity. The much referred to but all but forgotten and little read "The Decline of the West" by Oswald Spengler comes to mind. Much more readable and illuminating in particular: "The Crisis of Our Age" by Pitirim Sorokin (1941), and "The Sensate Culture" by Harold O.J. Brown (1996), which built on Sorokin's ideas about the "ideational," "idealist" and "sensate" stages of Man. Western culture is now late in the senate phase, both argue, characterized by an abandonment of traditional and spiritual values and a reliance strictly on the material and the senses. Nearly 100 years ago in 1913, George Santayana put it this way: "The shell of Christendom is broken. The unconquerable mind of the East, the pagan past, the industrial socialistic future confront it with their equal authority. Our whole life and mind is saturated with the slow upward filtration of a new spirit -- that of an emancipated atheistic, international democracy." - Grump Wed, 02 May 2012 04:38:05 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11169 This article is gloomy about the future of the Catholic Church. However you need only look beyond Europe and North America to rediscover the powerful Catholic Church in its missionary works in Africa and Asia. In spite of apparent losses, all Christian confessions seem to be gaining new followers. The problem is unity. Only in the Catholic Church do we find unity whose sign is the Pope. - George Farahat Wed, 02 May 2012 04:27:00 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11168 Thanks for this review. This book goes to the top of my reading list! - will manley Wed, 02 May 2012 04:06:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11167 Sounds like an insightful and important read. So, is there a way to purchase the Amazon Kindle version and have TCT get "credit" for it? - Nick Palmer Wed, 02 May 2012 03:57:04 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/traditional-christianity-versus-christian-heresies.html#comment-11164 As a 67 year-old, I fancy that a lot of the post-war religion was of the kind beautifully satirised by Mgr Ronald Knox as “Public School” (i.e. English boarding school) religion: “I think, then, it should be said at the outset that public schools are trying to teach the sons of gentlemen a religion in which their mothers believe, and their fathers would like to: a religion without " enthusiasm " in the old sense, reserved in its self-expression, calculated to reinforce morality, chivalry, and the sense of truth, providing comfort in times of distress and a glow of contentment in declining years; supernatural in its nominal doctrines, yet on the whole rationalistic in its mode of approaching God: tolerant of other people's tenets, yet sincere about its own, regular in church-going, generous to charities, ready to put up with the defects of the local clergyman. This religion the schoolmaster is under contract to teach; it is left to him, if he be a sincere Christian, to attempt the grafting onto this stock of supernatural graces which it does not naturally develop: self-sacrifice, lively devotion, worthy reception of the Communion, and so on . That is the proposition.” - Michael Paterson-Seymour Tue, 01 May 2012 23:49:13 +0100