“Destroy Modernism to save the Church.” That should be on the minds of every Catholic in the world today.
One of the biggest problems with the Traditionalist movement today is that it lacks focus. No one seems to know how to respond to some of the strongest attacks on the faith because they come from within the Church Herself. Fear of being called schismatic or disobedient paralyze faithful Catholics from boldly and effectively responding. I will argue that stating the problem succinctly is a big first in doing so.
Faithful Catholics of all stripes, not just traditional Catholics, are bombarded almost every day with one assault after another on the Church and the faith in general. We find ourselves in the sad place of having to fight to keep alive the most basic “small t” traditions and devotions—not to mention the Traditional Latin Mass itself. And these attacks are coming from WITHIN the Church. These assaults are so numerous and severe it is easy to become disoriented, discouraged and hopeless.
How are faithful Catholics supposed to respond to this onslaught of confusion, falsehoods and evil coming from WITHIN the Church? That seems to be the question that perplexes those who want to remain obedient and loyal to Tradition and the magisterium.
Naming the Problem: Modernism
I propose, before anything can be done about it, is to admit and understand the problem we are forced to deal with. By doing so, it creates that framework we need to comprehend what we are witnessing and formulate a response. That is, we must name the problem—and then work on stamping it out.
Yes, various enemies infiltrated the Church’s power structures over the last century as Taylor Marshall outlines in his book Infiltration. But, it remains necessary to expose how those infiltrators go about eroding, destroying and rebuilding a new church that resembles nothing more than a monstrous shadow of the Church founded by Christ. Once this mechanism of destruction and reconstruction is identified, we can properly respond to it.
The good news is that mechanism already has been identified and explained over a century ago, and it is called Modernism: the synthesis of all heresies. Modernism is THE HERESY corrupting the Church today and it is destroying eternal souls, while contributing to the destruction of Western Christendom.
The word “Modernism” is thrown around a lot. But it’s rare to see anyone actually take the time to dissect and apply to problems in the Church what Pope St. Pius X taught us about Modernism. I hope to do that over the course of several posts.
At this point, it is safe to say that we can be comforted in the fact that what we see happening to the Church is not really all that novel and not something that others in Church history (including saints) have not thought about. Pope St. Pius X wrote an entire encyclical (Pascendi Dominici Gregis) on the issue and it speaks directly to us over a century later. If we take the time to learn from Pius and other great saints, we will have a better idea of how to respond to Modernism.
Remember this: MODERNISM IS A HERESY—the synthesis of all heresies actually. Why a synthesis? Because, Pius tells us:
“Were one to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors that have been broached against the faith and to concentrate the sap and substance of them all into one, he could not better succeed than the Modernists have done. Nay, they have done more than this, for, as we have already intimated, their system means the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone but of all religion.” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Para. 39.)
Get that? The Modernist heresy seeks to destroy the Catholic religion, the religion founded by Christ. DESTROY IT—and destroy it from within! The Modernists have infiltrated the Church and her highest of ranks. Pius teaches us that even in 1907 the Modernist problem was significant and urgent:
“especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church’s open enemies; they lie hid, a thing to be deeply deplored and feared, in her very bosom and heart, and are the more mischievous, the less conspicuously they appear… [They are] thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ…” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Para. 2.)
Generally speaking, Modernism can be defined as an idea that holds:
“religion is essentially a matter of experience, personal and collective. There is no objective revelation from God to the human race, on which Christianity is finally based, nor any reasonable grounds for credibility in the Christian faith, based on miracles or the testimony of history. Faith, therefore, is uniquely from within.” (Fr. John Hardon, S.J. Modern Catholic Dictionary).
The difficulty we have today in grasping the extent and sheer rottenness of Modernism is that it spreads its ideas like a cancer in various disciplines and institutions, often disguised under a cloak of orthodoxy. Pius tells us:
“Modernists (as they are rightly called) employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines without order and systematic arrangement into one whole, scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while they are in reality firm and steadfast…”(Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Para. 4).
Manifestations of Modernism
Like the diabolical Great Reset, which seeks to destroy and then rebuild a New World Order, Modernism also seeks to destroy the Roman Catholic Church and rebuild it into something new. We should not, then, be afraid to call Modernism out for what it is and condemn it. St. Peter did just that:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction…For, speaking proud words of vanity, they allure by the desires of fleshly riotousness, those who for a little while escape, such as converse in error: Promising them liberty, whereas they themselves are the slaves of corruption. For by whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave.” (2 Peter 2:1, 18-19)
A perfect illustration of Modernism in action is the teaching contained in Amoris Laetitia, which effectively rejects the constant teaching of the Church that adultery is sinful, marriage is indissoluble, divorce is prohibited and “remarriage” after a civil divorce is nothing more than adultery. Amoris teaches that despite these indefectible principles as always held by the Church, individuals living in an unrepentant state of objective mortal sin (being divorced and remarried), may nevertheless receive Holy Communion while in that state depending on their individual circumstances. (See Amoris Laetitia, para. 305, and footnote 351).
Now, it is of course true that mortal sin requires knowledge and consent to be considered mortal. However, defenders of Amoris, being the legalists that they are, using tortured made-up scenarios, attempt to convince millions of unrepentant, civilly divorced and remarried Catholics that their relationship is acceptable in the eyes of God AND to receive Holy Communion despite the objectively adulterous nature of the relationship. They will tell you (with a straight face) that it is possible for someone to not have full knowledge and consent when choosing to cohabitate and have sex with their second “spouse”. By leading often uncatechized Catholics into accepting this lie, the Modernist not only condones sinful actions but scandalizes the faithful by putting a stamp of approval (receipt of Holy Communion) on the objectively grave sin of adultery.
While lack of knowledge and consent may exist in situations when someone commits an objectively sinful act, by its nature, such a lack of knowledge and consent does not exist with adultery, especially in the case of the civilly divorced and “remarried”. One doesn’t just accidentally move in with another person and begin having sexual relations. By its very nature, adultery is consensual otherwise it would be rape, and the act would not be objectively sinful in the first place. Yet, the Modernist feels the need to assuage the feelings of thousands, if not millions, of Catholics over the years who civilly divorced their spouse and moved in with a new partner, regardless of whether it leads that person to hell or diminishes the sacredness and value of the Sacrament of Marriage.
Why do they do this? I think Modernists have many different motives. In my opinion, however, most Modernists lack the will power and courage to admit and speak difficult truths primarily because they want others to like them. It’s all about the Modernist—not the object of their deception. In other words, Pius tells us, it is the PRIDE of the Modernist
“which puffs them up with that vainglory which allows them to regard themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge, and makes them say, inflated with presumption, We are not as the rest of men, and which, to make them really not as other men, leads them to embrace all kinds of the most absurd novelties[.]” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Para. 40).
Responding to Modernism
Heresy is a serious and grave matter. St. Thomas Aquinas knew the damage heretics caused was not limited to the earthly or temporal plane but could impact the destiny of souls for eternity. St. Thomas suggested heresy, as a matter of justice, warrants excommunication from the Church and even the death penalty if the heretic remains persistent. But, as the saint also noted, out of mercy, we must make the effort to instruct and convince the heretics of their errors.
The problem we face in the 21st Century Church is that so many of those teaching and promoting Modernism are the Bishops themselves, including Bergoglio, and other members of the hierarchy. Pius knew Modernism had already infiltrated the lower ranks of clergy by 1907, but he did not discuss what to do when Modernism infects the entire Church—all the way to the top. But, one thing is clear to anyone who reads his encyclical, he would not have approved of cooperating with wolves, even when they are dressed as shepherds.
It seems then, that the proper response to Modernism is to openly name it, call it out for what it is (a heresy), seek to root it out of all institutions, including the episcopacy and clergy, and refuse to let the Modernists control the debate. Remember, you are not a schismatic or disobedient for wanting to cleanse the Church of heresy.
I intend to use the teachings of Pope St. Pius X in future posts to show where and how Modernism has infiltrated various aspects of the Church and combat the heresy as appropriate. From the local Catholic school promoting Darwinian evolution to Vatican sponsored pagan idol worship services, the list goes on where Modernism can be found and must be exposed for what it is, dissected and rooted out.
As always, our actions as warriors for Christ and His Church must be done with prayer, in Truth and Charity, because it is those without Truth and Charity we are combating but also seek to convert. Pray for the conversion of Modernists as we do for the whole world. Beyond that, it is going to take a lot of work, time and probably a good dose of supernatural intervention to destroy the heresy of Modernism. With that in mind, I will conclude with the closing words of Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical:
“[F]ully confident in your zeal and work, we beseech for you with our whole heart and soul the abundance of heavenly light, so that in the midst of this great perturbation of men’s minds from the insidious invasions of error from every side, you may see clearly what you ought to do and may perform the task with all your strength and courage. May Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, be with you by His power; and may the Immaculate Virgin, the destroyer of all heresies, be with you by her prayers and aid. (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Para. 58.)