CATHOLIC
MEDIA COALITION
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The
Catechism Is The Constitution Of Our by The Orlando Truth
The essence
of the United States is enshrined in the American Constitution and Bill of
Rights. The essence of Great Britain and its Commonwealth Nations is
enshrined in its Magna Carta and Common Law Tradition. Similarly,
the essence of our Roman Catholic Church is enshrined in the CATECHISM OF
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (Latest Edition 1997), which comprehensively presents the true Deposit of Faith proclaimed by God’s
Revelation. Therefore, as Pope John Paul II has personally stated,
“The Catechism is a sure norm for teaching the Faith”. As the
tenth anniversary of the original publication of this Catechism was
recently celebrated on June 25, 2002, it is particularly fitting that its
unique importance in defining authentic Roman Catholic beliefs be clearly
recognized by all who presume to declare themselves Roman Catholics. The
Catechism’s Prologue (III, 11) itself emphasizes that it “aims at
presenting an organized synthesis of the essential and fundamental
contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the
light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church’s
Tradition. Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of
the Church, the liturgy, and the Church’s Magisterium”. The Catechism
does this beautifully by presenting the doctrines of the Church centered
around the four major pillars of truth:
The new
Catechism, edited under the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, is now one of the most
heavily translated books in world history. It is available today, in
approved translations, in 60 languages, including Chinese, Russian,
Arabic, Bulgarian and Japanese. In total, 10 million copies of the
Catechism have been printed worldwide. The 800 page volume is the first
such authoritative and systematic presentation of Catholic beliefs
undertaken by the Church since the Council of Trent in the 16th
century. DISSENT
IN THE AMERICAN CHURCH AGAINST THE CATECHISM Doctrine
is important because it is the hallmark of a mature religion which has
developed beyond mere spirituality. Because God loves us, He wants us to
understand as much about Him as is possible with our finite minds. This
fullness of knowledge of God and His moral law is obtained from doctrinal
truths. Thus it would seem that the answer to the moral permissiveness of
many in the American Church would be to provide every person wearing the
label “Catholic” with a free copy of the Bible and the Catechism so
that they can see the truth and the justifying reasons for themselves.
Although this practice might seem counterproductive for the proponents of
change, such dissenters gladly distribute the Bible but not the Catechism. They
distribute the Bible with impunity, because it is not a reference work
indexed by subject like an encyclopedia and they know people will get
confused reading it. Now, the Catechism is an entirely different matter.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a reference work with a Table
of Contents, and it is indexed by topic, and also cross-referenced with
Holy Scripture. Such a book, accompanied by a copy of the Bible, would be
a disaster for the dissenters within our Church because their errors and
heresies would be researchable and immediately exposed. The dissenters’
fear and trembling is palpable. Thus the dissenters’ approach is to
flatly refuse to provide anyone with a copy of the Catechism, claiming
that the Catechism is for pastoral staff only. This assertion is
absolutely false, as anyone who has personally read the Catechism would
surely know. Further, not to have read and studied the Catechism should
disqualify a person from teaching the traditional Roman Catholic Faith.
But, of course, they are not
teaching the true Faith but a counterfeit opposing view. Our Lord
condemned those who withheld such vital salvific information, such as
contained in the Catechism, saying: “Woe
to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of
heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow
entrance to those trying to enter.” (Matthew 23,13) THEOLOGIANS
HAVE LOST THEIR WAY Many
so-called Catholic theologians, who populate liberal Catholic
universities, do not like the Catechism because it asserts definite truths
whereas they tend to prefer flexibility, which allows for more personal
freedom of action — ·
because
it
is legalistic, whereas they would prefer something more in touch with
their feelings and emotions — ·
because
it
sets forth difficult to observe standards of conduct, whereas they would
prefer to adopt easier contemporary mores
— ·
because
it
is authoritative, whereas they invariably prefer consultation and
democracy regardless of the inherent truth
involved — ·
because
it
is concerned with redemption from sin by Christ and looks to our
sanctification in this life and salvation in the world to come, whereas
they prefer social activism and self-fulfillment through popular
psychology. The
foundational principle of the Roman Catholic Church is that the source of
all its truth is solely from God’s Proclamation (kerygma). This divine
Revelation is found only in Scripture as consistently interpreted by the
Tradition of the Church. Thus, whatever else he may be, any theologian who
calls himself Catholic, but does not accept that foundational principle of the Roman Catholic
Faith,
is automatically disqualified by that inherent contradiction. He cannot
function as a theologian of the Roman Catholic Church.
He cannot invent novel and creative interpretations which
contradict existing doctrine. Such new ideas and opinions, ipso
facto, can never be Catholic
but will always remain non-Catholic. The doctrine has already been
defined by the Church’s Magisterium pursuant to the power granted by
Christ to St. Peter in giving him the Keys of the Kingdom to teach in His
name. The issue is forever closed. Doctrine, once established, can only be
developed in greater fullness but never reversed. Thus the primary
function of a Catholic theologian is to work toward explicating settled
doctrine in more detail, to establish fresh insights completely consistent
with existing doctrine, and to discover new truths whose source must be in
the original Deposit of Faith. Unfortunately,
the sinful pride and intellectual arrogance of many of today’s
theologians in openly opposing the Pope have caused great chaos within the
Church. It would be well for them to remember that Christ chose unlearned men, not theologians, as
His apostles. These
theologians have flagrantly disregarded the foundational principle of the
Roman Catholic Church in order to promote their personal agendas. They
argue that Revelation did not cease at the time of Christ, but that it is
on-going in and around us all the time. They propose that the truths of
the Faith are determined, not from the Proclamation (kerygma) of Christ,
but from personal experiences. According to them, we need to look into the
real-life stories of people today, interpreted by the modern sciences of
sociology and psychology, to arrive at a proper belief system. Needless to
say, whatever results they obtain are definitely not
Roman Catholic. Let
us look for a moment at the false doctrines thus developed and it will be
immediately evident why they despise the new Catechism so much and have
worked so hard to discredit it. These Catholic university theologians all
belong to the Catholic Theological
Society of America (CTSA), which regularly votes 293 to 7 against any
papal pronouncement. Even the 7 votes are never in favor of the Pope. They
are merely abstentions. This group, at a 1989 Georgetown University
Symposium in Washington, D.C., and again at a 1993 Conference at the
Catholic University of America there, has lobbied incessantly against the
publication of the Catechism and, after publication, has done its utmost
to frustrate its acceptance in any programs of religious instruction. Fr. Berard
Marthaler of Catholic University, a
constant dissenter from papal teaching but often cited with great praise
in the Florida Catholic newspaper, and Fr. Tom Reese, S.J., Editor of
the liberal national Jesuit flagship magazine America, combined to orchestrate a savage assault on the Catechism
by a number of prominent members of the U.S. catechetical and theological
establishment. It is easy to see why! The Catechism directly
contradicts a whole litany of their revisionist thinking. Consider
what this group has already formally proposed as matters of Roman Catholic
Faith. In 1977, they
published Human Sexuality, a text actually used in seminaries,
to offer pastoral guidelines to the Catholic faithful on the moral
life, which included:
Furthermore,
this group has argued against the institution of the Sacraments by Christ,
redefined apostolic succession to downgrade the primacy of the Pope, and
permitted the dissolution of marriage. Theirs is a faith based primarily
on a supposed consensus of the acquired knowledge of modern scholars and
scientists, which is to say, it is
not a faith at all in the sense of credenda
that the Church authoritatively proposes to us. Rather it is a mere collection of opinions that, tomorrow, could well be different
from what they are today. The idea that anyone could be saved by such
opinions is derisory on its face, but then today’s Modernists hardly
believe in salvation any longer anyway. Their primary goal seems to be to
redefine sin and vice as virtue. Refusing fidelity to the
Pope and the Magisterium, these disgruntled theologians also argued that
the Catechism had failed to respect the principle of the “hierarchy of
truths”, namely, that some truths, in their eyes, are less true than
supposed essentials of the Faith and should therefore, be downplayed or
set aside, because only principal doctrinal teaching requires our assent.
That idea has always been a common misconception of the dissenters.
Actually, the “hierarchy of truths” simply means that the different
truths of the Faith are organized around the central core of truths
concerning the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, the Creed, the
Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and Prayer. Thus, the concept of the
“hierarchy of truths” merely involves the organic structure of the
multiple and complex truths – all of which are completely true! Contrast
such loose and disorganized thought with
the incredible efficiency in
developing the Catechism.
FAILURE
OF BISHOP NORBERT DORSEY
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