Today, 04:59 AM
PART SECOND.
VIII. Religious Differences among Catholics.
— Occasionally Catholics are divided on a religious question. It is discussed and much is written pro or con. Impious people, who cannot understand these contests, draw conclusions unfavorable to religion itself. But are these divisions actually of so much importance as it is pretended? Have they any resemblance to those of Protestants?
Not the least. All Catholics have the same faith, because they are all animated by the one principle of faith, which is obedience to the teachings of the Church. They are all of one accord on what is dogma properly so called; while it is against this very dogma that Protestant sects always split. Their pretended meeting on a common ground, which they call fundamental points, is only an illusion vanishing before facts. Except on God's existence they agree in nothing else. Only a short time ago M. de Gasparin publicly averred that, of the seven hundred ministers, who preached Protestantism and assail the Church in France, five hundred did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the holy Trinity, baptismal regeneration, etc. Many, after the lead of Prof. Schoerer of Geneva, do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible. It is then precisely on fundamental points, and the only ones which are fundamental, that Protestants have become separated, as the great Bossuet demonstrated two centuries ago.
The Catholics, on the other hand, are allowed to debate only on such points of doctrine, which the Church does not propose to them as matter of faith, and are therefore qualified as opinions. Opinions are open to discussion, and thus they differ from belief. Hence it is that being allowed to defend their opinions, Catholic doctors, and even bishops, express and maintain their sentiments against one another. Interesting dissertations and essays are generally the result of these doctrinal struggles, and in the aggregate they enhance the value of theological science, which is not merely the catechism of faith, but even the work of the human mind built upon the unchangeable and grand foundation of faith.
Should the Church think proper, in her wisdom, to define any of these controverted doctrines, Catholics then are no more at liberty to discuss them, and they believe. Opinion in that case becomes a dogma, and what was heretofore debatable as doubtful will henceforward be certain.
Moreover these differences among Catholics bear mostly on the different appreciation of expedients. For instance; some deem it preferable for the good of religion that its enemies were attacked in front, no compromise allowed, and their errors met with determined energy. Others will qualify this conduct as one of violence and of imprudence; they only put a different interpretation on the principles of charity, and maintain that it is necessary to tame the wolf.
It is evident that such differences impair not our religious unity; and yet they afford a source of scandal to those good Protestant pastors who are so very fond of unity, truth, and charity! Verily they are unfortunate people who see the mote in our eye, but perceive not the beam which obstructs their own sight!
VIII. Religious Differences among Catholics.
— Occasionally Catholics are divided on a religious question. It is discussed and much is written pro or con. Impious people, who cannot understand these contests, draw conclusions unfavorable to religion itself. But are these divisions actually of so much importance as it is pretended? Have they any resemblance to those of Protestants?
Not the least. All Catholics have the same faith, because they are all animated by the one principle of faith, which is obedience to the teachings of the Church. They are all of one accord on what is dogma properly so called; while it is against this very dogma that Protestant sects always split. Their pretended meeting on a common ground, which they call fundamental points, is only an illusion vanishing before facts. Except on God's existence they agree in nothing else. Only a short time ago M. de Gasparin publicly averred that, of the seven hundred ministers, who preached Protestantism and assail the Church in France, five hundred did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the holy Trinity, baptismal regeneration, etc. Many, after the lead of Prof. Schoerer of Geneva, do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible. It is then precisely on fundamental points, and the only ones which are fundamental, that Protestants have become separated, as the great Bossuet demonstrated two centuries ago.
The Catholics, on the other hand, are allowed to debate only on such points of doctrine, which the Church does not propose to them as matter of faith, and are therefore qualified as opinions. Opinions are open to discussion, and thus they differ from belief. Hence it is that being allowed to defend their opinions, Catholic doctors, and even bishops, express and maintain their sentiments against one another. Interesting dissertations and essays are generally the result of these doctrinal struggles, and in the aggregate they enhance the value of theological science, which is not merely the catechism of faith, but even the work of the human mind built upon the unchangeable and grand foundation of faith.
Should the Church think proper, in her wisdom, to define any of these controverted doctrines, Catholics then are no more at liberty to discuss them, and they believe. Opinion in that case becomes a dogma, and what was heretofore debatable as doubtful will henceforward be certain.
Moreover these differences among Catholics bear mostly on the different appreciation of expedients. For instance; some deem it preferable for the good of religion that its enemies were attacked in front, no compromise allowed, and their errors met with determined energy. Others will qualify this conduct as one of violence and of imprudence; they only put a different interpretation on the principles of charity, and maintain that it is necessary to tame the wolf.
It is evident that such differences impair not our religious unity; and yet they afford a source of scandal to those good Protestant pastors who are so very fond of unity, truth, and charity! Verily they are unfortunate people who see the mote in our eye, but perceive not the beam which obstructs their own sight!
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre