Sedevacantism - Seducing From The One True Church

My blogging colleague The Eponymous Flower put forth a piece earlier touching upon the serious problems caused by Pope Francis' imprudent actions and remarks.  She makes two excellent points that we must all bear in mind as we try to deal with the seemingly nonstop barrage of nonsense emanating from the Vatican these days.

1. Faced with the incongruous proceeds from the Pope lately, many Catholics have become deluded by sedevacantism.  I said the following in a previous post but will repeat it again.  If such Catholics see flaws in the Holy Catholic Church and are distressed because they know it to be the One True Church, by what convolution of logic do they abandon that same One True Church?  Under no circumstance whatsoever can this sin of apostasy be justified.  These Catholics place their immortal souls in grave danger.  Still, another question must be answered.  For all the snarky comments I've received alleging that I don't appreciate that the Pope is a Pope of the world and not just the United States, I must wonder if the Pope realizes that he is the Pope of these traditionally-oriented Catholics who feel deep hurt at being dismissed as "rosary counters" and the such.  Do those commenters care about that question?  I will not hold my breath waiting for a reply.
2. Further down the article we see that the Pope is definitely infallible when four criteria of the Extraordinary Magisterium are met.  Otherwise, his teachings are solemnly binding only insofar as they conform to Tradition already set forth by the Magisterium.  The four criteria are below:
1. He solemnly teaches as Pope.
2. He teaches on faith or morals.
3. He teaches definitively.
4. He teaches so as to bind all Catholics.

I'll now touch upon a piece put out by Mundabor a few days ago called "The Bloggers, The Orks and The Uruk-Hai".  Not being much of a movie-watcher, I don't understand the references to "orks" and "uruk-hai" (whatever the heck they are).  I absolutely agree that we must shine the light and cry out when things contrary to the Faith issue forth from the Vatican (or even the Pope's pen or mouth).  We may no longer demure from that task.  However, I do think Mundabor crosses an unacceptable line when he speaks of "mocking him, ridiculing him, making him a laughing stock".  Ladies and gentlemen, it's one thing to shine the light on erroneous doings and sayings from the Pope; it's quite another thing to belittle him as a person.  He is the Holy Father; he is the Vicar of Christ.  His person must remain inviolate.  As we speak the truth about troublesome words and actions, we must take great care not to attack his person.  

But we must speak out.

We, The Church Militant, May Not Quit The Spiritual Battle

My blogging colleague at Dymphna's Road put up a piece today entitled "Screaming in Pain".  Truth be

told, I've seen a lot of defeatist attitudes among bloggers and other fellow Catholics.  Some are confused over the foibles that issue forth from the Vatican.  They are sincere Catholics wanting to be loyal to the Church, but owing to the lackluster post-Vatican II formation they have received, they do not understand that not every utterance of the Holy Father constitutes dogma.  The Holy Father can be incorrect in matters of prudential judgment and it is only healthy to acknowledge it.  Truth be told, the "three monkeys" approach to the Holy Father's gaffes (exemplified by ChurchMilitant.tv) has exacerbated this confusion since viewers might interpret such silence as tacit approval of Papal blunders.

Still, when I read that article, I cannot help but sense that these distressed individuals are knowingly preparing to cut off their noses to spite their faces.  They sense some leaks in the Barque of Peter.  So if they fear possible drowning, will they really jump ship and undergo definite drowning - and even risk eternal damnation?  (Yes, ladies and gentlemen!  If you go "sedevacantist", you greatly increase your chances of going to hell!  If you wish to avoid hell, you will stay with the Roman Catholic Church, no "ifs ands or buts"!)    Even if we take lousy Catholic education into account, this attitude is bereft of all logic and common sense.  With all due respect, Dymphna is restrained in her advice to such tempted souls - restrained to a fault, I daresay.  You don't tell such individuals to "wait", for that holds out the notion that after a "waiting period" it's acceptable to commit a mortal sin of apostasy.   We tell them the unabridged and plain truth about what is emanating from the Vatican.  We also tell them - in no uncertain and overly "gentle" terms - that if they continue to nurse notions of leaving the Roman Catholic Church that they jeopardize their eternal salvation.  Then we tell them, in no uncertain terms, that they must reject any discouragement and thoughts of leaving the Church as the filthy tempting lies of Satan that they are.

Now let me say a word to some of my fellow bloggers who are flagging or who have in fact quit (I know who some of you are!).  I'm speaking as a blogger myself who has experienced many of the tribulations that come with that job.  Either we've been called by God to proclaim His truth over this media - or we haven't been called by God.  It's one or the other.  If we've been called by God to speak some truth - what makes us think we're at liberty to quit at will?  Let me preface by making clear that some have had to lay aside blogging to attend to duties regarding our states in life; perhaps we have to attend to sick family members or children who need us.  We have our priorities and no one will gainsay that.  I'm addressing those who quit because they're "tired of fighting".  Dymphna speaks of those who've decided to "tune out".   This is mind-boggling for several reasons.

First, let us remind ourselves of what St Catherine of Siena had to say regarding the need to speak out against evil: "We've had enough of exhortations to be silent!  Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues!  I see that the world is rotten because of silence!"  Those once-stalwart bloggers who have decided to quit and "tune out" are now adding to the silence that is contributing to the rot of the world, if not damnation of poor souls who will no longer benefit from their truthful voices.  Either we're part of the solution - or we're part of the problem; there is no middle or neutral ground.  Moreover, on this side of the grave we remain the Church Militant, not the Church Moribund.  We get to retire when we die and join the ranks of either Church Triumphant or Church Suffering - and not split second beforehand.

Now what is leading to all this jaded cop-out?  Frustration?  Anger?  Lack of faith?  What's going on?  I cannot pretend to read minds/hearts, but I do know there's something terribly amiss when those who were engaged in spiritual warfare throw up their hands and walk away.  Let's deal with it, shall we?  To put in another way, you'll deal with it either now or in Purgatory, but you WILL deal with it.  That's the same with any sin to which we have attachment.

I could go on, but I think we get the point.  Keep on persevering.

Vortex Follow-Up On "Catholic Politics"

Real Catholic TV posted this video today in response to some of the comments that they've received from avowed atheists.  (Click here if you can't see embedded video).



As far as the vitriol that he reports, I can attest to that.  Upon doing some googling, I found an article and some discussion on the pharyngula blog (run by the professor who drove a rusty nail through the Eucharist).  I saw some of the comments. 

When I wrote about Judge Vaughn Walker taking pot-shots at the Church in his ruling, I received a number of comments.  In utilization of some tools, I noticed that they were linking from a comment on the pharyngula blog.  WIth one regretable exception, the comments on my posting were relatively tame, but not so on the pharyngula blog.  I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of the venomous coments to the Vortex post came from that blog.

All that being said, I still differ from Real Catholic TV on this matter.  I do not hold the opinion that differences between democracy and republic are "hair-splitting" in the least; such a dismissive attitude towards that distinction is really quite ignorant.  Now Voris does state plainly that he favors a "Catholic monarchy".  He opines that "civilization would be better off if it were a Catholic monarchy.  How this comes about?  I don't know."  What???!!??!   That's almost as bad as Pelosi saying that "we have to pass health care to find out what's in it."  The devil is in the details - and I think sometimes quite literally!

History tried Catholic monarchies; their successes or failures were clearly dependent on the one occupying the throne.  History has proven that such dependence on one individual is not acceptable.  Do I say that what we have now is perfect?  No, it isn't.  However, much of the current morass is due to too many people looking for a de facto king to take the reigns.  I might suggest a close study of 1 Samuel 8 in the Old Testament.  The people clamored for a king.  It seems to me that the Lord granted their request, albeit reluctantly. 

What Voris is suggesting is somewhat similar to an idea that floats about in some sedevacantist circles, called "divine right of kings".  They somehow think of the days of Charlemagne as being the "glory days of Catholic civilization".  One such proponent is a lady named Solange Hertz.  I read a book of hers some years ago called "Star-Spangled Heresy".  If my quotes from this book are not 100% accurate, it's because I pitched it in the trash.  She sees only a Catholic monarchy, preferably a French monarchy, as being the only legitimate form of government.  She also opines that the Bill of Rights is all wet.  In her book, she completely opposes freedom of speech for the average citizen.  Now think about it.  She trashes the First Amendment and the American system - in a book that she was free to write precisely because of the First Amendment.  Am I the only one who sees the irony here?  An important aside to my sedevacantist friends - Satan wants all to leave the Church, and he doesn't particularly care if you exit "stage left" or "stage right"; it's all the same to him.  Come back to Rome, lest you imperil your own immortal souls!

I agree that self-governance is hard work, one for grown-ups.  The answer is not to regress to a monarchy.  As I asked earlier, what would be the checks and balances?  What redress would the people have in the case of a corrupt monarch?  Real Catholic TV, please do take more care to think these proposals through before you broadcast them.