Introduction
As I wrote at the start of 2024:
In times of confusion, we must remind ourselves that we always have the sacraments and the timeless 0 of our Faith. We should also recall how recent Holy Fathers (i.e., Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI) left us with magnificent tools for the study of our Faith: the Catechism of the Catholic Church [link], and the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church [link] (Catholic Stand, 1/2/2024)
A full year later, the Catholic world does not seem any less beset by confusion, which can have tragic consequences:
Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion3A with the members of the Church subject to him” (The Catechism 2089).
We are not to just throw our hands in the air, as we have a responsibility in the face of confusion:
the faithful must guard and activate the three theological virtues and must avoid sins which are opposed to them. Faith believes in God and rejects everything that is opposed to it, such as, deliberate doubt, unbelief, heresy, apostasy, and schism. Hope trustingly awaits the blessed vision of God and his help, while avoiding despair and presumption. Charity loves God above all things and therefore repudiates indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, sloth or spiritual indolence, and that hatred of God which is born of pride (Compendium of the Catechism. #442).
Nothing New Under the Sun?
Just like Whack a Mole, certain patterns of confusion keep popping up in the Church, even when they are thought to be eliminated!
Great Heresies (Catholic Answers, 8/10/04) is a tract with a Nihil Obstat and an Imprimatur that helps us understand the confusions addressed in the wording of the Nicene Creed:
The Circumcisers (1st Century)
….God made it clear to Peter in Acts 10 that Gentiles are acceptable to God and may be baptized and become Christians without circumcision….Gnosticism (1st and 2nd Centuries)
“Matter is evil!” was the cry of the Gnostics….many Gnostics denied the Incarnation, claiming that Christ only appeared to be a man….Montanism (Late 2nd Century)
Montanus began his career innocently enough….However, he also claimed that his teachings were above those of the Church….Sabellianism (Early 3rd Century)
….According to them, the three persons of the Trinity exist only in God’s relation to man, not in objective reality.Arianism (4th Century)
Arius taught that Christ was a creature made by God….
Arianism was solemnly condemned in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, which defined the divinity of Christ, and in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople, which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit….Pelagianism (5th Century)
….Pelagius stated that man is born morally neutral and can achieve heaven under his own powers. According to him, God’s grace is not truly necessary….Semi-Pelagianism (5th Century)
After Augustine refuted the teachings of Pelagius, some tried a modified version of his system….Nestorianism (5th Century)
….denied Mary the title of Theotokos (Greek: “God-bearer” or, less literally, “Mother of God”)….Monophysitism (5th Century)
….Monophysites…claim that Christ had only one nature….it denied Christ’s full humanity and full divinity….Iconoclasm (7th and 8th Centuries)
….iconoclasts (literally, “icon smashers”) …claimed that it was sinful to make pictures and statues of Christ and the saints….Catharism (11th Century)
….The Cathars….[taught] that the world was created by an evil deity (so matter was evil) and we must worship the good deity instead.
The Albigensians formed one of the largest Cathar sects. They taught that the spirit was created by God, and was good, while the body was created by an evil god, and the spirit must be freed from the body. Having children was one of the greatest evils, since it entailed imprisoning another “spirit” in flesh. Logically, marriage was forbidden, though fornication was permitted. Tremendous fasts and severe mortifications of all kinds were practiced.Protestantism (16th Century)
….The great diversity of Protestant doctrines stems from the doctrine of private judgment, which denies the infallible authority of the Church and claims that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself….A significant feature of this heresy is the attempt to pit the Church “against” the Bible, denying that the magisterium has any infallible authority to interpret Scripture….Jansenism (17th Century)
….Among other doctrines, his followers denied that Christ died for all men, but only for those who will be finally saved (the elect). This and other Jansenist errors were officially condemned by Pope Innocent X in 1653…. (Catholic Answers, 8/10/04)
With that old Whack a Mole-ism at play, we must stay aware that these confusions can re-emerge in altered forms and under different names.
In our time, so much confusion about marriage/family/human sexuality and bioethics has a starting place:
Misuse of Human Sexuality
The lifelong, always open to life, marriage of one man and one woman is the ONLY place for conjugal relations. Each human has the right to originate in this loving embrace. Yet no matter how she came to be, she is owed absolute protection and respect.
Conclusion
In addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” on marriage/family/human sexuality is a tremendous resource for dealing with that gigantic confusion of our time.
9 thoughts on “Promoting Orthodoxy in the Face of Heresies”
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Dear Joe-Thanks for fine summary of heresies. Consider adding Universalism – recent statement of it: ” “No one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!” (Jorge Bergoglio; Amoris laetitia, n. 297). This heresy is also referred to as “Bergoglianism.” Guy Texas
Until the hierarchy steps up to the plate, I find comfort in George Weigel’s words: “no pope can change the settled teaching of the Church” (First Things, 3/30/16). Thank God for Texas!
“schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion”
I think you missed the most applicable part of this piece. It was in the second paragraph.
FRENCH CANON LAWYERS NEEDED: NON APOSTOLIC BISHOPS
The 1949 Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston made an objective mistake.The mistake was repeated at Vatican Council II and then in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Without this mistake the Council is in harmony with the strict interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS).It is in line with the exclusivism of the Athanasius Creed and the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX (ecumenism of return with no known exceptions). There is no rupture with the catechisms of Pope Pius X, Trent and Baltimore. The Council supports the past exclusivist ecclesiology of the Catholic Church.
So Vatican Council II has a continuity with Tradition but the bishops of Frejus –Toulon, France, , interpret the Council as a rupture with Tradition. It is the same with the President of the Bishops Conference Italy (CEI), the Cardinal-Prefect of the Rome Vicariate and the Cardinal-Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican. For them, the Council has alleged visible exceptions for the dogma EENS, the Athanasius Creed and the Syllabus of Errors. There are objective exceptions for them, when the Catechisms affirm traditional, exclusivist EENS, with no known exceptions of the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance.
So it is obvious that the French bishops, the cardinals at large, and the pope are irrational, dishonest, nontraditional, heretical and in schism with the Magisterium and missionaries of, for example, the 16th century. Their error is objective. Any one can check it. They are not Apostolic or Magisterial and this must be corrected canonically. They are in a rupture with the Church Fathers and the saints of the Patristic period.
I affirm Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church in harmony with Tradition. For me there is no rupture with the exclusivist ecclesiology of the Greek Mass and the Roman Missal of the Latin Mass. I am rational and honest.
Any Canonist or Canon Lawyers Association is free to use this model (above) to ask juridical persons (Rectors, Superiors, bishops etc) to come back to the Catholic Faith of ancient Rome.
I live with the Missionaries of Charity Contemplative Brothers, near Termini, Rome. This is the community co-founded by Mother Teresa and Fr. Sebastian Vazhakhala mc. who both innocently interpreted Vatican Council II irrationally like the rest of the Church. I live at their Home for the Aged, Casa Serena. I am 70 ‘and going strong’. I am also available to answer questions at 2 p.m daily at the church San Camillio de Lellis, Salustiana, off via 20 Settembre, Rome. I cannot be contacted via the phone or Internet- Lionel Andrades
https://www.blogger.com/comment/fullpage/post/4404498638452030181/4346687373348937908
Connections to my brief piece are not at all clear. Thank you.
Thanks Independent Forever for your comments.
I like the list you have in this article because it clearly can show others who are confused or questioning the Catholic faith in a concise way that our time is NOT worse than previous eras—just feels that way because we are in it. I’m sure the people in those times felt exactly the same way as human nature hasn’t changed.
I think if we can SHOW others how at peace we are even with all of the ‘storms’ around us then perhaps we can light that spark which allows the Holy Spirit to go to work on their hearts and minds. Eventually, EVERYONE gets to a point where they must make THE CHOICE regardless of their state in life or vocation. The world simply doesn’t deliver on all the promises and all of this temporary stuff eventually fizzles out and we’re left with that need for fulfillment which only comes from GOD through Jesus Christ.
GOD knows all about what is going on and has it under control whether we see it or not.