Heresy is defined as "the obstinate denial or doubt, after baptism, of a truth which must be believed by divine and Catholic faith." St. Thomas Aquinas writes, "The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval."
The Church has always suffered the ravages of heresy, and Christ warned us that the "cockle" of error will be sown in the field of the Church by the enemy, the devil. We must remember that during the Arian heresy, approximately eighty-five per cent of the bishops were Arians and adhered to the Arian fallacy that Jesus Christ was not divine. So it is an established historical fact that themajorityof bishops have, at one time in the past, fallen into grave doctrinal error. Today there are also many bishops in open rebellion to the Holy Father and to the infallible teachings of the Church.
Cardinal Ratzinger lamented that since Vatican II the Church has gone from "self-criticism to self-destruction." Is this an exaggeration? Not at all. Pope Paul VI years before warned that "From some fissure the smoke of satan entered into the temple of God." (June 29, 1972, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of his coronation). The famous Jesuit Fr. John Hardon recalled these words of Pope Paul VI:
In 1972 Pope Paul VI said, "Satan's smoke has made its way into the temple of God..." Now, as we enter the third millennium, it is no longer "smoke" but a raging fire. Catholicism is in the throes of the worst crisis in its entire history. (Introduction toThe Marian Catechist)
Furthermore, Dietrich von Hildebrand, whom Pius XII called a "20thCentury Doctor of the Church," warned:
But ours is, I believe the period of the greatest crisis the Church has ever faced, a period in which the anathema has become unpopular and is unfortunately considered as incompatible with charity, in which authority is discredited and many prelates do not use their authority to discipline priests who are teaching heresies. In such a period, every faithful Catholic who is fully devoted to Christ, to the teaching of the Church, to the deposit of the Catholic faith, to the dogmas, is called to raise his voice in defense of orthodoxy. In the first line of defense, naturally, are the orthodox bishops and priests; but the orthodox layman is also called (Dietrich von Hildebrand,The Charitable Anathema,pp. 33-34).
The above statements are not without foundation: today only 20% of Catholics go to Sunday Mass in comparison to the 70% that practiced their Faith before Vatican II. Furthermore, a Gallup Poll of Catholics in the United States indicated that only 30% believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Apostasy,in a word.
Heresy: spiritual poison
Just as poison kills the body, heresy kills the soul. Dietrich von Hildebrand clarifies a concept that many Catholics are terribly, terribly confused about: that is, the confusion between charity and communion, unity within the Church. Von Hildebrand states that for many people the rebuke, the anathema, is considered hard and uncharitable. But this is not so. He writes:
The anathema excludes the one who professes heresies from the communion of the Church, if he does not retract his errors. But for precisely this reason it is an act of the greatest charity toward all the faithful, comparable to preventing a dangerous disease from infecting innumerable people. By isolating the bearer of infection, we protect the bodily health of others; by the anathema, we protect their spiritual health (The Charitable Anathema, p. 5).
To admonish the sinner is a spiritual work of mercy, so it cannot be said that to correct our brothers and sisters in the Faith is uncharitable. In the words of Cardinal Newman, "the fear of error is simply necessary to the genuine love of truth." Von Hildebrand also writes, "One cannot make a peace at the cost of truth, and especially not at the cost of divine truth. This would imply an offense of God." And the great theologian and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, "The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth." The identification of error is for the common good, as well as the good of the one who has fallen into error.
The Catholic hierarchy is especially charged by Christ to protect His flock, to put the faithful "on notice" when danger approaches. They are to defend the flock from the wolves, to be good shepherds and not flee as the cowardly hired-hand in the Gospel. But many have become purveyors of spiritual poison, of heresy. Even if, after rebuke, these heretics do not reform, the faithful are nevertheless helped by such an exposure of these heretics:
It is likely, of course, that a theologian or teacher or journalist who is spreading heretical thought will resent the anathematizing of his opinions; it is indeed quite possible that, instead of obediently yielding to the Church's authority (in the divine institution of which he is supposed to believe), he may rebelliously cling to his heresies. But the millions of innocent and faithful Catholics will know with absolute certainty the identity of heretical opinions and will thus be protected from infection (pp. 151-16).
The propaganda of "positive attitude/negative attitude"
When the faithful priests, bishops and laity speak out against error, the knee-jerk reaction by those who do not know their Faith or have lost their Faith is often the whine of "judging." This juvenile response to the exposure of error is typical of our apostate age. Von Hildebrand writes: "let us consider how the terms positive and negative are now most often used to discredit the refutation of pernicious errors, and to give credit to the most shallow speculations." He goes on to say, "To give the impression that affirmations arepositiveand denialsnegativeis to misrepresent completely the nation of judgments and propositions." It is characteristic of the heretics and dissenters to label Church condemnations of their errors as "negative," attempting to deflect blame and attention from their errors. But the defense of truth is really "positive," and to refrain from fraternal correction when called to do so is directly contrary to Scripture: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him" (Leviticus 19:17), and "If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him." (Luke 17:3).
The sure mark of a heretic is one who bases his beliefs on his own opinions, rather than the revelation of Christ as taught by the magisterium of the Church. This is owing to the heretic's pride: "A man's pride tempts him to construct a world according to his own liking" (p. 111). Many of these heretics will, in their own blindness, assert that the Church is" behind the times.
Heresy and the attitude towards Church authority
Von Hildebrand states, "Those who consider protests against authority as a sign of man'scoming of ageare either in ignorance or arrogance exalting rebellious pride, moral sloth and adolescent insecurity." (p. 13). These people lack faith in the Church, they lack faith in Christ's promise to be with the Church even until the end of the world, and they lack the generous surrender to Christ that marks a true disciple of the divine Master. As St. Augustine says, "The good man, even though he is a servant, is free: the wicked man, even though he is a king, is a servant. He has as many masters as he has vices" (City of God, IV, 3).
A Catholic who does not offer himself to lawful Church authority is as a thief: he withholds what he has freely offered to Christ by virtue of his baptism, that is, his will. We know that charity consists in the union of one's will with the beloved. A person who will not obey Christ cannot be said to love Him, who has said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them: he it is that loveth me." (John 14:21). Christ also tells us,"Ifyou would enter into life, keep the Commandments." (Mt. 19:16-17).
Responsibility of the hierarchy
It is the sacred duty of the hierarchy to ensure the purity, the integrity of the Church's teachings, that the faithful may have pure waters in which to drink and grow in their relationship with Christ. Von Hildebrand writes, "a love without a firm authority is irresponsible and, finally, destructive." (p. 14). It is the will of Christ that the bishops in union with the Holy Father lead and protect their flocks, with firmness when necessary. Pope Pius XII wrote to the bishops throughout the world in his encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, "Venerable Brethren, whenever you assert your authority even on occasion with wholesome severity you are not merely acquitting yourselves of your duty; you are defending the very will of the Founder of the Church."
Let us make a comparison: suppose there was an outbreak in the United States of a very infectious disease, such as bubonic plague. Let us also suppose that the government made no efforts to warn the public about this danger. The public would be justly outraged at such a neglect of duty by government officials. No doubt there would be lawsuits and removal from office for those officials responsible for this great crime. A similar scenario can be said to exist concerning our Church leaders: the infectious spiritual diseases of many heresies are causing the spiritual death of innumerable faithful. Where are the warnings from our Church leaders? Where are the efforts to contain these doctrinal errors (heresies) from further infecting the flock? When is the last time you heard a warning from the pulpit (either by priest or bishop) warning of dangerous teachings that can spiritually kill the soul, if believed by the faithful? Bishops should shudder at the words of von Hildebrand: "If the bishop or superior does not intervene to prevent the spread of corruption, he is fully responsible for any resulting injury to souls." (The Charitable Anathema, p. 17).
The crisis in the Church ultimately rests on the leadership of the Church, for how can there be a crisis in the Church unbeknownst to the leaders in the Church? This crisis has occurred on their watch and it is their vocation, their duty to protect the integrity of the Church's teaching. It is impossible for the shepherds not to be responsible for the damage that occurs to their flock.
Highest realms
A priest in the United States years ago said that he has witnessed every article of the Catholic Faith denied at one time or another in American seminaries. A bishop from South American blasted U.S. seminaries saying that they were "abortuaries of vocations." An increasing number of scandals among the clergy and bishops are being reported in the media, so much so these reports have become common. And the problems do not stop at the rank of cardinal: Cardinal Sodano, currently holding the second most powerful position in the Catholic Church (Secretariat of State), has publicly denounced Pope John Paul II as"despotic."In a 1998 speech at the Lateran, Cardinal Sodano praised the heretic Hans Kung as having written "beautiful passages on the Christian mysteries," even though Kung has denied: the divinity of Christ, the miracles of the Gospel, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the historical founding of the hierarchical Catholic Church, and that the Mass is a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Calvary. Cardinal Sodano called Kung "the German theologian," even though Cardinal Ratzinger (by order of Pope John Paul II) had stripped Kung of his theological credentials in 1998. Kung is considered to be the most notorious heretic of the post-conciliar era.
There is also the pro-abortion bishop from Frankfurt, Germany, Bishop Franz Kamphaus, who still persists in the practice of issuing counseling certificates which women in his diocese use to obtain abortions under German law. That is, Bishop Kamphaus is complicit in the murder of children in the womb, and yet he remains in power.
The heretics in the Church are legion and for the most part they go unpunished, to further poison the immortal souls of Christ's flock. With this state of apostasy (in fact, by all indications the great apostasy predicted in Scripture), with such universal devastation and loss of faith in the Church, with such loss of souls, would not Heaven have warned us of this coming crisis in the Church? Certainly it did, and this is exactly what the Third Secret of Fatima is all about. As Our Lady of the Roses told us on May 13, 1978: "How I warned and warned that satan would enter into the highest realms of the hierarchy in Rome. The Third Secret, My child, is that satan would enter into My Son's Church.
Pope Paul VI stated on April 25, 1968:
Because, you know, the Church is now going through a spiritual moment of its history which is not serene, especially in some countries... It is thus, we said, not only by reason of the practicalapostasythat is so widespread, but also and especially by reason of the uneasiness that troubles certain sectors of the Catholic world and affects the sensibility of those who have responsibilities in the Church. Each one knows it.
Pope John Paul II, when he went to Fatima in 1982, said: "Can the Mother with all the force of the love that She fosters in the Holy Spirit and with the desire for everyone's salvation, can the Mother remain silent when She sees the very basis of Her children's salvation undermined?" And the Pope answers his own rhetorical question: "No, She cannot remain silent."
St. Paul's warning to the bishops of his day is especially relevant today: "Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God ... ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And of your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30).
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