Sometimes I hear people ask the question of whether they can or should attend the Novus Ordo if the Tridentine Mass is not accessible locally. The closest Mass may be more than an hour's drive away. Or someone may be on vacation and there is no Tridentine Mass in the local area - or even in the country. What should someone do? Should they attend the Novus Ordo instead, even though they often attend the Tridentine Mass? Alternatively, I have heard some people ask whether it would be better to attend Eucharistic Adoration instead of the Novus Ordo Mass during the week.
After having attended the Tridentine Mass exclusively now for 10 years, and after having left the Novus Ordo seminary after two years in it, I do not hesitate to say that no one is bound to attend (or should attend) the Novus Ordo.
Why such a dramatic view that the Novus Ordo should never be attended? The Novus Ordo is unfortunately impregnated with the very spirit of Protestantism. It is harmful to the Faith, even when exterior acts of reverence are inserted into it.
I'd like to briefly outline why I would encourage every Catholic to leave the Novus Ordo behind and cease attending it, promoting it, or donating to it.
1. The Novus Ordo Prayers are Protestant at the Core
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre famously remarked, "The Novus Ordo Missae, even when said with piety and respect for the liturgical rules, ...is impregnated with the spirit of Protestantism. It bears within it a poison harmful to the faith." Simply put, every Novus Ordo is harmful to one's faith. Even though it is possible for God to work good out of evil and lead to the Truth even those in false religions or heretical denominations, this does not make the Novus Ordo as praiseworthy, as honoring, or as fitting for God. Rather, the defects in the Novus Ordo are not merely external but intrinsic in the very prayers created for the New Rite of Mass.
The Holy Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. The purpose of Mass is to be present at the Sacrifice of Christ that is made present again through the priesthood of Jesus Christ. We worship God at Mass in the manner which He has established for His worship. We are present at Calvary. Rather than merely remembering the life and death of Christ, we are present at it and partake of its eternal fruits which flow to us from the altar and during the Canon when the priest stands in the place of Christ and offers the Eternal Victim on the Altar to God. We can further receive grace by partaking of the Holy Eucharist if we are Catholics in the state of grace. This view of the Mass as a propitiatory Sacrifice has been lost in the Novus Ordo and replaced by notions of community, where the priest is a presider, and many Catholics falsely view receiving Holy Communion as the purpose of going to Mass, rather than being present at the august sacrifice of the Eternal Victim.
As Archbishop Lefebvre noted in Chapter 4 of the Open Letter to Confused Catholics, the changes to the Mass in the offertory, the sermon, the canon, and elsewhere mimic the changes sought by Martin Luther! They are in their very core protestant, especially for instance in the newly created prayers of the Offertory which bear no similarity to the Offertory in the Tridentine Mass.
Of course, while any validly ordained priest may consecrate bread and wine using the words of consecration, even while omitting the rest of the Mass (which is done at times in cases of necessity for instance by priests who are imprisoned and can only smuggle in a small piece of bread and a small amount of wine), this is not the same as promoting and saying protestantized prayers. I do not hold the Novus Ordo lacking merely because it does not have as many beautiful prayers. I hold it as protestantized because the prayers which are a part of it were written with the intention of appealing to protestants.
Jean Guitton, an intimate friend of Paul VI wrote: “The intention of Pope Paul VI with regard to what is commonly called the [New] Mass, was to reform the Catholic liturgy in such a way that it should almost coincide with the Protestant liturgy. There was with Pope Paul VI an ecumenical intention to remove, or, at least to correct, or, at least to relax, what was too Catholic in the traditional sense in the Mass and, I repeat, to get the Catholic Mass closer to the Calvinist Mass.” And we know that the Calvinists - and any protestants for that matter - do not have a valid rite of Mass and do not confect the Holy Eucharist.
2. The Novus Ordo was Formed Under the Error of Archeologism
Those who encourage or at least tolerate the Novus Ordo often do so by saying that Paul VI sought for the Church to merely return to a more ancient manner of saying the Mass. This view is actually the error of Archeologism as Fr. Peter Scott explains:
"Pius XII inveighs against the error of those who would want to use the pretence of antiquity to bring
about changes in the Church’s prayers and ceremonies: “It is neither wise nor laudable to reduce
everything to antiquity by every possible device” (§ 62), for “ancient usage must not be esteemed
more suitable and proper, either in its own right or in its significance for later times and new
situations, on the simple ground that it carries the savor and aroma of antiquity” (§61). This is the
error of Archeologism, namely that because something is older it is necessarily better, and it denies
that the development of liturgical rites over the centuries owes its “inspiration to the Holy Spirit,
Who assists the Church in every age”. (Ib.)
"This error of those who try to justify liturgical revolution by ancient practices is clearly condemned
by the Pope: “The temerity and daring of those who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call for
the revival of obsolete rites out of harmony with prevailing laws and rubrics, deserve severe
reproof” (§ 59). Here are some of the examples of archeologism listed by the Pope:
Replacement of Latin by the vernacular in the august Eucharistic Sacrifice
Transferral of feast days to Sundays
Deletion from the liturgy of some texts of the Old Testament
Replacement of the altar by a table – “one would be straying from the straight path were he
to wish the altar restored to its primitive table-form” (§ 62)
Excluding black as a liturgical color
Eliminating the use of sacred statues and images
Crucifixes not showing Christ’s suffering (Risen Christ)
"It is interesting to note that twenty years later every single one of these examples of abuses
condemned by Pope Pius XII had been incorporated into the New Mass, always under the pretence
that it is returning to old things. Other examples Pius XII did not mention are the procession for the
presentation of the gifts and the Kiss of peace for the laity, the abolition of the prayers at the foot of
the altar, the elimination of “mystery of faith” from the words of consecration, the elimination of
the Roman Canon (although it is the truly oldest part of the Mass), many feast of saints, the Last
Gospel and the prayers after Mass."
Even if we claim that Paul VI imposed the Novus Ordo under good intentions, they are still nevertheless imbued with archeologism. And this is not just "bad." It is heretical as Fr. Scott further explains:
"Pius XII further explains that this“exaggerated and senseless antiquarianism”(§64) is not new,but derives from the illegal Council of Pistoia, condemned by Pope Pius VI in 1794. Due protestant influence this false council wanted to promote a return to the simplicity of the earlyChurch, despising later developments. Its principle is found in the first proposition, which Pius VIcondemned as heretical: “In these latter times there has been spread a general obscuring of the more important truths pertaining to religion, which are the basis of faith and of the moral teachings of Jesus Christ”(Db 1501). This is precisely the reasoning of the modernists, when they want to do away with devotions to the Sacred Heart, to the Blessed Virgin, to the Blessed Sacrament, to the saints. Yet it is condemned as heretical."
3. The Novus Ordo's Fruits are Manifestly Rotten
We do know from first-hand experience, the fruits that have followed Vatican II, the New Mass, Communion in the Hand, and the near elimination of fasting and abstinence. Christ, Himself said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them" (Matthew 7:15-16). What are these fruits? These are the fruits as shown by the Old Evangelization Website:
Turning again to the words of Archbishop Lefebvre, who saw firsthand the effect of the Novus Ordo on the African continent and how it eroded the successful work that Catholic missionaries had done there, he writes:
"Furthermore it can be said without any exaggeration whatsoever, that the majority of Masses celebrated without altar stones, with common vessels, leavened bread, with the introduction of profane words into the very body of the Canon, etc., are sacrilegious, and they prevent faith by diminishing it. The desacralization is such that these Masses can come to lose their supernatural character, “the mystery of faith,” and become no more than acts of natural religion.
"Your perplexity takes perhaps the following form: may I assist at a sacrilegious Mass which is nevertheless valid, in the absence of any other, in order to satisfy my Sunday obligation? The answer is simple: these Masses cannot be the object of an obligation; we must moreover apply to them the rules of moral theology and canon law as regards the participation or the attendance at an action which endan- gers the faith or may be sacrilegious."
Conclusion
For those who are unable to attend a Tridentine Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, it is better to pray the Rosary, sanctify the day by abstaining from servile works, read the prayers of the Missal, listen to good sermons, perform works of charity, and even to watch a live stream of the Mass.
I do not hold any animosity toward those who do go to the Novus Ordo through mere ignorance. The truth is that the vast majority of Catholics do not know of the Tridentine Mass or at least do not view it as important. They do not see the errors in the New Church and have likely been told to avoid the Latin Mass or at least the SSPX or groups more traditional than them. These people may even view the FSSP for instance as traditional enough and posit them as an ideal, claiming falsely that the SSPX is schismatic (which it is not).
The changes to the Catholic Church in the past fifty years have been disastrous and that is in a significant part due to the imposition of the Novus Ordo. As I mentioned in my article 20 Immediate Actions to End the Protestantization of the Catholic Church, the Restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass - the Mass of All Times - in all Latin Rite parishes and the abolition of the 1969 Rite of Mass known as the Novus Ordo is necessary.
Having read several articles in liberal publications on the need to abolish the priesthood, I have realized that most people in our world fail to understand what the priesthood is. The Catholic priesthood is not a social club. It is not a civic organization. It is not a noble charitable work. It is not a committee or a group overseeing the Church that could be switched out. On the contrary, the Catholic priesthood is an institution which God Himself founded as necessary for our salvation, and as such, no one other than God may abolish it.
Why is the Catholic Priesthood Necessary?
The Catechism of St. Pius X explains: “The Catholic Priesthood is necessary in the Church, because without it the faithful would be deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of the greater part of the sacraments; they would have no one to instruct them in the faith; and they would be as sheep without a shepherd, a prey to wolves; in short, the Church, such as Christ instituted it, would no longer exist.”
Without the priesthood, we would have no ability to have our sins absolved after Baptism. If the priesthood were to die out, there would be no Holy Eucharist or Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The perfect oblation that is offered on the altar every single day throughout the world in satisfaction for sins (cf. Malachi 1:11) would die out. Confirmation would no longer occur. There would be no teaching authority to guide the Church. Last Rites would never be imparted again to the dying.
And if no bishops remained on earth, holy orders would end. The priesthood would end. We truly would be a flock without a shepherd and the wolves would devour us. Only the Sacrament of Baptism and Holy Matrimony would be able to continue. All the other Sacraments which require a validly ordained priest would cease.
The Lord Jesus Christ Instituted the Catholic Priesthood
When did our Lord institute Holy Orders? The Catechism of St. Pius X again explains: “Jesus Christ instituted the Sacerdotal Order at the Last Supper when He conferred on the Apostles and their successors the power of consecrating the Blessed Eucharist. Then on the day of His resurrection He conferred on them the power of remitting and retaining sin, thus constituting them the first Priests of the New Law in all the fullness of their power.”
At the Last Supper, Our Savior's words, “Take and eat, this is My body... take and drink this is My blood” (Matthew 26:26-28) truly transformed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. In yet another act of humility, Christ gave Himself to us through this Sacrament — the Holy Eucharist. The apostles alone were given this power which they have passed down through apostolic succession.
Our priests today have this same power to stand at the altar on account of their ordination. Our same priests have the power to forgive sins (cf. John 20:21-23) and baptize (cf. Matthew 28:19) as well as to bless and preach by virtue of this unbroken chain back to the Last Supper. A priest is necessary for our salvation and even a priest needs a priest for his own salvation since priests also must go to Confession. Without the priesthood, our religion would essentially end.
The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail Against the Priesthood
Yet we must not despair of such a future day. Continuing on, the Catechism of St. Pius X assures us that despite all the threats that will assail the priesthood, the sad day when the priesthood is abolished will never occur: “In spite of the war that hell wages against it, the Catholic Priesthood will last until the end of time, because Jesus Christ has promised that the powers of hell shall never prevail against His Church.”
In fact, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s April 2017 Newsletter stated that praying for vocations is not optional. It is required of us:
The Lord Jesus commands that we foster vocations, "Ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest" (Mt 9:38). Praying for priestly vocations is not optional. This might be a revelation for many a good Catholic. Praying for priestly vocations is not a matter of spiritual taste or preference. Rather, praying for priestly vocations manifests our shared responsibility in obtaining from God the many "other Christs" - the priests needed chiefly for offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and for reconciling penitents, but also for evangelizing, for instructing converts, and for performing the countless works of education, culture, and charity granted by God to the world through His holy priesthood.
Why Does Satan Attack the Priesthood Then?
A study of Catholic Doctrine illustrates both by reasoning and through miracles that the Catholic Church alone is God’s established religion. God, in His goodness and generosity, showers us with proofs of the accuracy of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. And this too is why satan is not attacking Lutherans, or Baptists, or Muslims. He is attacking the Catholic priesthood. He is infiltrating our seminaries and leading men ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ to betray their office and sexual assault children – an absolute diabolical and unspeakable blasphemy. And satan does this because in the Catholic Church is the truth. Why would he waste his time on attacking those souls who are already under his rule?
The sexual abuse crisis, which has caused so many to distrust the Church, illustrates just how much we must pray for our priests and bishops. Satan continues to work for the overthrow of the Church and writers like Marie Carre in "AA-1025" describe the infiltration of seminaries and the priesthood by communists and atheists who sought to bring it down from within. But they will not succeed. Despite their efforts to scandalize the faithful and to lead souls astray, God will continue to help steer Holy Mother Church and give us good priests who will labor for the good of souls. Those priests – often the traditional Catholic priests who sacrifice so much to offer the Latin Mass – are the true priests. Let us pray for them and for more vocations. And let us pray for all those who have left the Church due to satan’s attacks. May they be reconciled soon and come back to the Sacrament of Confession, made possible because of the priesthood.
If there is a public health crisis, Mass can and should still be said. But the priest may simply not distribute Holy Communion to the Faithful. After all, we do not have to receive Holy Communion in order to fulfill our Sunday obligation. We are only required to receive Holy Communion once a year during the Easter Season, which is what is known as our "Easter Duty."
Back in the time of St. Louis IX, he received Holy Communion only six times a year and that was considered frequent. With the advent of more frequent Communion, even daily, under St. Pius X, people have begun to forget that we should only be approaching the Holy Altar if we are in the state of grace and we must never do it out of habit. By attending Mass we participate in the Sacrifice of the Altar. Receiving of that Sacrifice is only required by the priest, not the faithful.
Note: Holy Communion of course may be denied to public, unrepentant sinners. That is not the scope of this post. Assuming a soul is in the state of grace and appears at the altar to receive our Lord (i.e. their is a distribution of Communion at the Mass in question), that soul may always receive on the tongue. The priest may not force the person to receive our Lord in Holy Communion on the hand or else not receive the Sacrament at all.
Summary:
Holy Communion in the Hand is never required
Holy Communion should not be received in the hand for any reason
If you can not receive Holy Communion on the Tongue, make an Act of Spiritual Communion
We do not have to receive Holy Communion to fulfill our Sunday obligation
Guest Post By David Martin
2000 years ago, Christ instituted the Roman Catholic Church with the commission that it enlighten all peoples on the path of salvation and provide a sure means of attaining it. As Christ sees it, the Roman Catholic Church is the one central world authority to which all peoples should be subjugated.
In 1945, the archenemies of Christianity founded the United Nations with the objective of destroying Christianity and submerging the world’s peoples under the tyranny of communistic one-world government. The U.N. today is that central world force that is generating the present day revolt against the Faith, with special emphasis on children’s rights, feminist rights, abortion rights, LGBT rights, and all the Masonic rights that were created to separate man from God. The U.N. asserts that these “rights” are to be respected everywhere by all peoples.
“When we acknowledge international organizations and we recognize their capacity to give judgment, on a global scale—for example the international tribunal in The Hague, or the United Nations—If we consider ourselves humanity, when they make statements, our duty is to obey … We must obey international institutions. That is why the United Nations were created.”
So according to Francis, when the U.N. says that homosexuals must be free to express their sexual orientation and that women must be guaranteed their right to abortion, the world must obey. Hard to believe? Let us not forget that the pope on several occasions has invited U.N. abortion advocates like Jeffery Sachs and Ban Ki moon to speak at the Vatican concerning their Sustainable Development Goals of making “mother earth” a safer place through population control.
On April 29, 2015, the Vatican officially endorsed their United Nations Goals (SDGs), which include contraception, abortion, and euthanasia. Moreover, the pope in May 2019 was calling for a supranational, legally constituted body to enforce these U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
Since his election, Francis has advocated that we look to this global elite for our instruction, as expressed in his encyclical Laudato Si: “There is urgent need of a true world political authority.” Wasn’t the authority of the King of kings good enough? The U.N. is the infamous brood of vipers that is perverting the nations and bringing them to a collision course, so why is Francis commending the flock of Christ to them?
Francis Executing Internationalist Plan
It is no secret that the U.N. was founded in 1945 by the CFR members of the Illuminati, a satanic secret society that works conjointly with the Freemasons. What these internationalists advocate is a universal break from the past and a merger of all peoples into an ecumenical one-world government/religion, which the Second Vatican Council was instrumental in advancing. Pope Francis advocates this departure from the past and merger with other religions, which has elicited praise from globalists and Freemasons the world over.
For instance, In July 2013, commemorating his friend and late Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, the Masonic Grand Master Gustavo Raffi (Grand Orient of Italy) launched this tribute to Pope Francis:
“Humanity today is poorer and poorer, as is also the Catholic Church. But the one of Pope Francis is a church that promises to be respectful of the otherness and to share the idea that the secular state promotes peace and coexistence of different religions.”
On September 21, 2013, during the celebrations by the Freemasons of the Grand Orient of Italy, Grand Master Gustavo Raffi also stated, inter alia:
“Pope Francis launches messages of humanity that are in tune with what we have been saying for years….This is a living Masonry, talking to people [in dialogue].” [One Peter Five]
On and on the praises go, the reason being that this pope from the beginning has done the bidding of Freemasons to down-talk Church tradition, even dubbing “schismatic” those who hold tenaciously to the old teachings, while continually emphasizing that we move forward with this Masonic plan to unite the Catholic Church with the world.
Pope Calling for “Global Pact” for a “New Humanism”
And now the pope acting as a U.N. pawn has announced he is hosting an initiative for a “global pact” to create a “new humanism.”
“A global educational pact is needed to educate us in universal solidarity and a new humanism,” Francis said in a recent video message to launch the initiative. Pope Francis invites religious, political leaders to sign ‘Global Pact’ for ‘new humanism’ As if Christ didn’t already give us the solution for world peace and unity! The implication is that Christ’s instruction through tradition is ineffective so that this new humanism is now needed.
What is needed is a universal return to God and His Divine Laws, which means a universal rejection of the secular humanism that Francis is peddling for his global masters. He cannot bow to Jesus Christ and to globalists at the same time. He cannot advocate a new church of man and be truly Catholic at the same time. For our unity is with Christ, not with the world.
What Christ requires of the hierarchy is that they reject humanism and restore His Church to its former position of honor as it stood before Vatican II. For the Freemasons infiltrated Vatican II and engendered the new order of change that is fast coming to a head under Francis, so our duty as Catholics is to resist this new order of temptation and to remain ever faithful under siege, remembering the exhortation of St. Paul for withstanding these days of Antichrist:
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
The critics of Pope Francis’ Administration have been vindicated big time! The latest profanation spewing forth from the bowels of Rome clearly demonstrates that the abuse of our Catholic youth is being orchestrated right from Vatican headquarters. This video clip of the pope and bishops rocking out to pelvic-thrusting teenage dancers on stage is quite telling. https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4128-rockin-the-scandal-the-synod-on-young-people
This pagan dancing promoted by the Synodal architects can best be described as “spiritual child abuse.” When Church leaders use their rank to advance designs that are sensual and devilish, it scandalizes the young by warping their conception of the Faith.
How can young people ever conceive the Majesty of Christ in his sanctuary when they're being taught by their elders that the Church is a place for sex-oriented fun? This in turn opens the door for abuses of a more ‘tangible’ nature if in fact it doesn't reflect these abuses already occurring among the hierarchy.
What is especially absurd is that several of the gay-sympathizers implicated in Archbishop Vigano’s expose of the sexual abuse and cover-ups—clerics like Archbishop Maradiaga, Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Parolin and Archbishop Paglia—are participants in this Youth Synod. What are they doing there? Recommending our Catholic youth to them for guidance makes as much sense as trying to put out a fire with gasoline. What next, shall Nazi’s be featured at a Vatican-sponsored pro-life conference?
What is worse is that Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for Youth Synod 2018 explicitly supports homosexual agenda as seen in paragraph 197:
“Some LGBT youth, through various contributions that came to the Secretariat of the Synod, wish to “benefit from a greater closeness” and experience greater care on the part of the Church, while some ECs [Episcopal Conferences] ask what to propose “to young people who instead of forming a heterosexual couple decide to form a homosexual couple and, above all, wish to be close to the Church.”
Consistent with this is the fact that of all the youth chosen to represent Canada in the Youth Synod, Pope Francis chose four members from Salt and Light Media, a pro-gay organization headed by pro-homosexual priest Fr. Thomas Rosica, who is also on the Synod’s Information Commission.
The bottom line is that the abuse of our Catholic youth is being fostered by the corrupt teachings and agenda of many in the Catholic hierarchy. Yea, it is being fostered by heretics and homosexuals. That Francis should place this stumbling block before the youth defies logic.
“Woe to the world because of scandals.” (Matt. 18:7)
The transparency and general house-cleaning called for by Archbishop Viganò is long overdue. Kudos to him for his action. May the hierarchy follow his lead and get to work at cleaning house.
Reverend Fathers, esteemed guests, and friends, I’m grateful for the opportunity to address you today and present this talk on Apologetics: Learning the True Faith in an Age of Apostasy. As I first accepted the opportunity to speak here, I was reflecting on the title for my talk and came across the wise words of Fr. Gommar Depauw who wrote, “Today’s condition of the Catholic Church is beyond the point of doctrinal heresy, factual schism and even apostacy. It is in a state of chaos and utter collapse resulting from the systematic destruction of first our liturgical and other traditions, and now our very beliefs and morals.” Our beliefs as Catholics are under a full assault.
Truly, if someone asks me what worries me, what keeps me up at night, it’s precisely what we are talking about here today at this conference. The Faith today is assaulted by more false ideologies from both within and without the Church than arguably ever before in Her history. These are truly times that the world has never seen.
You and I are all being individually called upon to live radically Catholic lives. And unlike ages past, the Faith today is fading so quickly it will be left to a small remnant to keep it alive. And you, my friends, are part of that remnant. We are the last vestiges of the Catholic Faith left in the world and it is our duty to know it, live it, and defend it. The words of St. Paul as recorded in Romans 10:14 are a driving force in my life. For those who haven’t memorized that passage, in it St. Paul wrote, “How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard?”
This is no small task that the Lord has charged us with. These are times unlike She has seen in Her history but therein lies the ability to do these actions well to make reparation for our sins and those of others, and by living as true Catholic missionaries in our daily lives, we will render homage to God and help keep the remnant of the Catholic Faith from extinction. What we need is for you, especially our young Catholics, to be Catholic apologists who are grounded in the teachings of the Faith and who can boldly and bravely spread and defend Her teachings.
My talk here today will focus on three primary issues.
First, I’d like to discuss what is apologetics and why it is so badly and desperately needed today.
Secondly, I’d like to turn to what is the Catholic Faith, what tools do we have to defend the Faith, and what are some of the modern assaults in this age of apostacy against Her eternally true and unchanging teachings. In particular, I’d like to address some of the modern errors in this age of apostacy that are so prominent yet are countered by so few of the clergy.
And finally, and most importantly, what are we going to do about it. I’m going to present a list of real, concrete actions that I’m going to encourage all of you to take. More than ever before, the crisis in doctrine and in the Faith has led to worldwide apostacy even in the very Church founded by our Divine Redeemer. And as result, more than ever before, the average layman is being called on to be a missionary and to publicly defend, serve, and spread the True Faith of Jesus Christ.
Part 1: What is Apologetics and Why Do We Need Young Catholic Apologists Today
First, I’d like to share that it is my great joy to be able to be with so many young people today who understand the importance of the True Faith. First, if I may, a little information about me for context. I have been involved in Catholic action and catechesis now for about 15 years. My youthful years in high school, college, and my 20’s were really defined by my Catholic identity. In fact, tomorrow is my 30th birthday so I can say for one more day I’m a member of your group of young Catholics.
I raised in a non-religious household but, by the grace of God found the Catholic Faith and was baptized into the faith at the age of 16 back in 2004. In 2005 I started the online blog “A Catholic Life” which I still run to this day. My work with A Catholic Life is to help foster an appreciation for the Faith, to share valuable resources and traditional devotions and prayers, and to be an advocate for change to help the Church in our world that is opposed to Her sovereign, Her majesty, and Her beauty. I credit the website FishEaters.com, which you may know, for introducing me very early on after my Baptism to the Traditional Catholic Faith and information on the Latin Mass.
Over the years since 2004 I’ve had my share of successes and shortcomings as I have endeavored to defend the Faith and convert souls to our holy religion. For most of my high school years, I spent the evenings after school on the computer where I defended Catholic doctrines on Yahoo Answers, the Catholic Community Faith Forums, and a few other online forums.
Fast forward to 2010 now. I was entering my senior year in college and at that time, I was elected the President of CatechismClass.com, an online-based religious education course provider. Since taking over CatechismClass.com, which was founded by Fr. James Zatalava, a priest in Pennsylvania, our apostolate began to offer a number of programs ranging from traditional online RCIA classes for catechumens, children’s faith formation courses for parishes and individual homeschoolers, a best-selling godparent/parent baptism preparation class, and elective courses for adults who simply want to better learn the Faith in order to love and pass on true doctrine to others. We have taken a defiantly traditional stance since I took over the reigns and have grown our reach by double digits every single year now for all 8 years in a row. I also have happily been invited to a number of parishes over the years to speak on a variety of topics for the Catholic world.
As a result, I can speak from personal experience about the satisfaction of engaging in apologetics as a young Catholic.
So, what is apologetics? If you have ever been a member of a jury in a criminal case, or if you have ever watched a real or fictional trial in movies or on TV you have witnessed apologetics in action. Attorneys make use of apologetics to convince the jury that the person accused of a crime (the defendant) is either guilty or not guilty. If the jury believes the proofs and the arguments proposed by the prosecutor, the defendant is found guilty, and the Judge will impose a sentence commensurate to the crime for which the person is found guilty. If, on the other hand, the jury believes the evidence and the arguments given by the defense attorney, the defendant is found not guilty, and is free to walk out of the courtroom a free man. The closing remarks by the prosecutor and by the defense counsel in fact are called “closing arguments.”
These arguments and evidences prominent in the courtroom are actually present in all disciplines.
•The politician sets forth arguments and reasons to convince voters to vote for him or her.
•The scientist makes a scientific statement he posits as true only after he has evidence – proofs – to back the statement.
•A construction contractor, making a bid to build a bridge, includes in that bid the reasons why his bid is better than others. He might cite better building materials or a better, safer design. Those seeking the bid will certainly consider the cost of using one particular contractor over all others, but the lowest bid is certainly not the only consideration those seeking the bids will consider – or at least it shouldn’t be if we are talking about bridge construction!
These proofs and evidences – forms of argument – are, to use a fancy word, apologies. Not the “I’m sorry” type of apology; but rather a defense for a statement or position in a matter. In Christianity, the term apologetics refers to the discipline of putting forth arguments as to why our religion is the only true faith. These arguments set forth by the apologist ideally lead the listener to become Catholic.
Some people feel ashamed of admitting to that last part today. They think that religious discussion should only be to bring each side to an understanding of the other. But our work here and in life is not to engage in never-ending world religious studies. Our mission is to go out and convert souls and spread the teachings of the Lord as our Lord Himself asked in His final words before His Ascension when the Master Himself said: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Apologetics is not arguing. It is not vain. It is not presumptuous. Rather, apologetics is concerned with charity. Firstly, it is concerned that God is to be worshipped, adored, and loved to the highest possible degree. This is in accordance with the 1st Commandment. And secondly, it is concerned with the salvation of our neighbor. Truly one of the most charitable actions we can do is to help others along their path to salvation.
As traditional Catholics – we know that it is necessary for salvation to be Catholic. Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus is a defined dogma of the faith. As Pope Innocent III declared at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." There was a wonder book published by Mediatrix Press a few years ago that contains the Small Catechism of St. Peter Canisius, who was instrumental in fighting Protestantism when it first came about. Indeed, it was the first Catechism ever produced. And the first question in this catechism is “Who is to be called a Christian.”
The answer in the words of St. Peter Canisius is “Whoever has been initiated by the Sacrament of Baptism of Jesus Christ, true God and man, and confesses the salutary doctrine in His Church, and not those who adhere to any sects or beliefs foreign to the Catholic Church.” So, when we say that apologetics is about defending Christianity, we have to understand that Catholicism and Christianity are one and the same. The notion that protestants are Christians is a false teaching condemned by the Church and clearly condemned in the words of St. Peter Canisius. Catholics are Christians, Orthodox are schismatics, and Protestants are heretics. This is simply the truth. We mean no malice by these words but wish to merely point out these other groups are not members of the Christian Church and must repent and submit to the Lord’s Church.
As a result, apologetics is a spiritual work of mercy if it has as its aim instructing the ignorant and admonishing the sinner rather than merely trying to win arguments or engage in so called religious dialogue. Heaven is not the prize of the philosopher or the intellectualist – it is the prize of a soul who is grounded in charity.
Part 2: What is the True Faith
In my work at CatechismClass.com, we produce several programs of study that help our readers learn the Catholic Faith. The Catholic Faith that I teach and defend daily is founded on two tenets – the two sources of Divine Revelation: Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition. That’s it. As the book “My Catholic Faith” succinctly summarizes: “Divine Revelation comes down to us by two means: through Holy Scripture, written down under divine inspiration, and through Tradition, handed down orally from Apostolic times.”
Those are the two means of divine revelation we have to know the Faith, but we have tools to help us further understand the Faith that has been revealed by God. One of those tools is our ability as human beings to reason. Some things can be known by reason alone. For example, it can be known by reason alone that God exists. This is affirmed explicitly at the Council of Trent. As we examine the created world, as we consider the perfection of creation, as we understand that there had to be a First Cause who started all things, we can use our reason to understand that there must be a divine being. Reason doesn’t inform us who that being is. It just helps us understand that something doesn’t come from nothing. That is our reason working. Reasoning should also be informed by strong, scholastic philosophy.
Another tool at our disposal to bring us to know these truths is the immense generosity and magnanimity of God in His miracles. The Miracles of God further prove the divine origin of the Catholic Faith. So, by two such tools, namely the use of reason and of external proofs of miracles, we can come to believe what the Church teaches. And again, Her teachings come from God Himself in Divine Revelation which have as their origin either Sacred Scripture in the Bible or Sacred Tradition that has been passed down to us from apostolic times.
Another way to describe our tools is in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas who appealed to his contemporaries using both philosophy (which directly relates to our ability to reason) and Theology (which concerns divinely revealed truths). Philosophy is as useful as Theology for an apologist. And it’s interesting to note that some of the most basic human questions like "Does God Exist" are philosophical questions - not theological questions. Being well grounded in Scholasticism and in Catholic doctrine are both foundational to being an apologist.
Let’s look at another example: The Oneness of the Church. The Bible clearly records how Jesus established one visible Church on earth, not a collection of separate “churches” with competing doctrines. Matthew 16:18-19, John 10:16, and Ephesians 4:3-6 all support the oneness of the Church. Ephesians 4:5 states, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
And reason would teach us this fact too. Since each protestant denomination and other non-Catholic religion teaches a set of doctrine that contradicts the Catholic Church and all other denominations and religions, there can be only one religion on this earth that is right, at most. It is either none or one. It is not two or three since two conflicting bodies of doctrine can not be both true at the same time. That is contrary to what being true means. If the Church was not one, She would have different bodies of doctrine that would have to contradict at least one point of the other Church. But, Our Lord promised in Sacred Scripture that He would preserve the Church from error and be with Her for all times. Therefore, it follows that the Church must be one.
And moreover, miracles further confirm this. The Catholic Church is the great bastion of miracles. Do we have reported Eucharistic miracles in Lutheran churches or Anglican ones? No. Yet in the Catholic Church we do, and we have over 500 people have had the visible (or invisible) wounds of Christ known as the Stigmata on their body including St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of God, St. Francis, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Marie of the Incarnation, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina. We also have over 150 incorruptible saints whose incorruptibly defies all of science. We have the frequent liquefaction of the blood of St. Januaris which still occurs to this day. And we have dozens of confirmed and verified apparitions in history not only of our Blessed Mother but also of St. Michael the Archangel and other saints.
And all of this has been examined by modern science which continues to find these miracles as unexplainable. God, in His goodness and generosity, showers us with proofs of the accuracy of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. And this too is why satan is not attacking Lutherans, or Baptists, or Muslims. He is attacking the Catholic priesthood, he is infiltrating our seminaries and leading men ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ to betray their office and sexual assault children – an absolutely diabolical and unspeakable blasphemy. And satan does this because in the Catholic Church is the truth. Why would he waste his time on attacking those souls who are already under his rule?
To summarize, the dogma of the Church’s oneness, which is divinely revealed through Scripture and Tradition, is well established and understood by virtue of both reason and miracles. And this is merely one element of the True Faith. Yet the use of reason and miracles to support them holds true for many, many others. Further reading of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae or his Summa Contra Gentiles all explain with great examples the basis and the arguments in support of the Church as being one. If you are not familiar with these books, look them up and read them.
Let’s consider an additional example and apply this formula of Sacred Tradition and Scripture coupled with the tools of reason and miracles.
For instance, it is a doctrine of our Faith that the Lord chose the apostles and the power He gave them is transmitted down through apostolic succession to our bishops today. You must believe this. And yet we all surely know souls that deny this infallible truth.
Jesus gave the Church one important mission: to proclaim His good news to the whole world as affirmed in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-16. Our Blessed Lord chose special men (the apostles) and not just anyone who believed in Him, to accomplish this mission. The verses supporting this are numerous and include John 15:16, Luke 22:29-30, John 10:16, Luke 22:32, and more.
The Holy Scriptures even describe how Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins in John 20:23, offer sacrifice in the form of the Holy Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, speak with His voice in Luke 10:16, legislate in Matthew 18:18, and discipline in Matthew 18:17.
And without going into too much detail on Catholic Tradition, there are lengthy documents supporting apostolic succession from Pope St. Clement I from 80 AD, St. Irenaeus in 189 AD, Tertullian in 200 AD, St. Jerome in 396 AD, and St. Augustine in 397 AD. In fact, the principles of apostolic succession are the most upheld teaching in all the Church Fathers and many protestant seminaries forbid the Church Fathers and I’ve heard some protestant lectors even doubt the existence of them in order to keep their students’ minds away from these sources of truth.
Let’s now turn to our ability to reason. We could show our friends and acquaintances that Apostolic Succession is one of the four marks of the Church and it is well established in both Sacred Scripture and in the Traditions of the Church, though, of course, something need not be explicitly mentioned in Scripture since not every last doctrine was written down, but nevertheless apostolic succession is addressed in both Scripture and Tradition. And we could then tell our friends that reason proves this must be true.
If the Lord promised His Church would be without error and if the Lord established the Sacrament of Holy Orders and if the Lord promised His Church would be one and united in the truth, it follows that there must be a group with a connection directly back to these apostles. And if apostolic succession wasn’t important, why would the apostles have gone to such lengths to elect St. Matthias to replace Judas, and why would the Scriptures contain so many sentences on this event if it wasn’t important for the Early Church?
Dave Armstrong wrote an article on this topic for the National Catholic Register and in it he writes, “Most Christians [He is including protestants here] agree that St. Peter was the leader of the early Church and the disciples: whether they believe he was a “pope” or not. It stands to reason, then, that there would continue to be a leader, just as there was a first President when the laws of the United States were established at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
“Why have one President and then cease to have one thereafter and let the executive branch of government exist without a leader? Everyone understands that there is then a succession of Presidents and that it doesn't end with the first one and the prototype.
“So why do people think so differently when it comes to Christianity, which is in need of a governing body and person at the top of the chain of authority, just as any effective organization whatever has? Catholics are, therefore, applying common sense: if this is how Jesus set up the government of His Church in the beginning, then it ought to continue in like fashion, in perpetuity.
“The Church supposedly had a supervisor for ten, twenty years, but then never did again? That makes no sense. What would be the point? We don’t apply such reasoning to virtually any other collective.”
And such an analysis is the use of reason supporting apostolic succession.
And this is also affirmed by our other tool – miracles. On August 6, 1945, the first nuclear bomb ever used was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, killing 140,000 people. Everything within a mile of the blast was annihilated with nothing left standing, no survivors. That is, almost everyone…
Yet, just eight blocks from ground zero (to be exact 1 kilometer or 6/10 of a mile) there was a two story house left standing intact with no damage to it, not even the windows were broken. When inquiry was made as to what was different about the building it was discovered that there was a community of eight Jesuit priests living there who said the Rosary each day.
Fr. Hubert Schiffer who headed the community was virtually untouched by the nuclear blast with no radiation found in his body, and he publicly testified to this miracle at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. In an interview with Fr. Paul Ruge he describes the horrific nightmare of August 6, 1945:
"Suddenly, a terrific explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me 'round and round' like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind."
Fr. Ruge relates that the next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself laying on the ground. He looked around and there was NOTHING in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were leveled to the ground. The only physical harm to himself was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with himself.
Shortly thereafter Fr. Hubert was told by medical authorities that he would eventually die of cancer because of all the radiation exposure, yet he lived another 30 years in full health with no cancer or effects from the radiation. The same is said of the other seven survivors of the priestly community. Aside from some slight surface abrasions or scratches they all lived out their days in full health with no cancer or side effects from radiation.
According to Dr. Stephen Rinehart, a nuclear physicist with the U.S. Department of Defense who had studied this phenomenon intently, they should have been dead in a flash.
It was a group of Catholic priests saved. Priests with a connection back to apostolic times. It was not a protestant church. It was not a Buddhist temple. It was a group of Catholic priests. How many of you here have heard of the Rosary Miracle of Hiroshima before?
Yet, so many miracles underscore the divine foundations of the Faith. And this is just one of the many external proofs I cite to people when defending the Faith in our present apostacy. Spend time learning about miracles. Be informed to defend the Faith.
I encourage all of you to be apologists and make use of both reason and miracles to support any element of the Catholic Faith, which will have its basis in either Sacred Tradition or Scripture or both.
Now that we’ve examined two particular dogmas of the Faith, I’d like to step back and examine the Faith on a broader level.
Let’s ask, “what is the Faith”? I’m sure you naturally all want to better learn the Faith – or at least I hope you do – but what is the faith exactly? The Faith is the summation of all that the Holy Church teachings infallibly. That includes the 10 Commandments and what follows from them, Christian morality, the Creed, the doctrine of the Sacraments, the truths of the Holy Mass, etc.
As part of my adult faith formation course that I administer on CatechismClass.com, I conclude the program with a lesson that summarizes the 255 Infallible Dogmas of the Faith. Make a note to go online and search for the 255 infallible dogmas of the Faith to get a good, concise summary of what we as Catholics must believe. There is a great summary of this online that lists all of these 255 dogmas and then 102 certain truths that have not yet been formally defined but which nevertheless are a part of the body of Faith. And I encourage you to pick a few off of this list, study them, and practice how you would use reason, miracles, and an explanation of Scripture and Church Tradition to explain them to someone who didn’t understand them or who even denied them.
I’m sure that if you are here then you love the Church and you love our Lord. But I ask each of you to ask yourselves if you are doing enough to show your love of Him to others and to spread His teachings (which He commanded to be taught and preserved and passed down). Alas, it is impossible to defend and serve the Faith if you are ignorant of it.
In fact, one of our foremost duties as young Catholics is to study the Catholic Faith. And this studying doesn’t end at your Confirmation. I personally spend at least 30 minutes a day still studying the Faith. And that consists of reading the Church Fathers, or a good book on the Faith by Angelus Press, or some of the lives of the Saints, or a passage from the Imitation of Christ, and so on. It doesn’t have to be the same thing everyday. You can have a few books and rotate through them over the course of the week to keep it dynamic. But studying has to be taken seriously if you want to save souls. I ask that you spend a little time each Sunday reflecting on your week and what you have done well and where you can improve upon when it comes to sharing and living out the Faith.
When it comes to studying, the issues we should be examining include the many errors that are widely taught today and which our clergy and our fellow Catholics are not countering strongly enough. These modern errors are particular issues we have to study so we can combat them in this age of apostasy. Some of these errors include religious indifferentism, the separation of Church and state; Communism, Socialism, and Freemasonry; subjectivism; attacks on the rights of God and a misunderstanding of human rights; and the pervasive error that dogmas may evolve over time. I’d like to address just a few today.
A fundamental error with modernism and those who adhere to it, is that they refuse to embrace extra ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside of the Church there is no salvation"). Pope Innocent III declared at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." His Holiness Innocent III unequivocally declared that all men must belong to the Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Period.
Subsequently, Pope Boniface VIII made the matter even more clear when in 1302 he declared, "We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff" (Unam Sanctam, 1302). Listen to those words carefully: absolutely necessary.
And these remarks are not the only ones pronounced by the Holy Catholic Church. The Church continues to teach that outside of the Church there is no salvation. Period. The Church is unchanging in matters of Faith and Doctrine. If it is true that in the past salvation was possible only for Catholics and if this is not true now, then the Faith has changed. But the Faith cannot change because God doesn’t change. As the Scripture affirm: "Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Back when Catholic Bishops better proclaimed the Catholic Faith, Archbishop John Hughes of New York who was Archbishop from 1842 until 1864 said, “The goal of the Catholic Church is to convert all pagan nations and protestant nations. There is no secrecy in this; it is the commission of God to his one true Church. Everyone should know that we have for our mission to convert the world, including the inhabitants of the United States; the people of the cities, the peoples of the country, the officers of the Navy and the Marines, the commanders of the Army, the Legislature, the Senate, the Cabinet, the President and all.”
And we do this because our Lord commanded us to convert all peoples and nations. Why? Because He is the only means to be saved. Acts 4:12 – “For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.”
To support religious indifferentism violates the First Commandment since, by such support, we deny that there is One God, through whom salvation alone comes.
True enculturation is the answer. We do not force our Lord and the Faith to conform to our cultures. Rather, we all conform to our Lord Jesus Christ. We live our own unique traditions in a way that conforms to the saving truths of the Faith. And in such a way, we preserve the beauty of diverse human experiences and cultures but do so only if they conform to the religion established by God Himself. There is a reason we have different Rites of Mass in the Church or why we have different feastdays in certain countries. Even the exact vestments for Mass can differ region to region. But we are nevertheless united in the same body of doctrine: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.
And another one of the modern errors that we see attacking the faith today is the pernicious idea that dogmas may evolve. This is a core element of the heresy of modernism as condemned by St. Pius X.
The idea that Catholic dogma can change and that what was once true is no longer true is entirely and unequivocally false. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we believed in the unity of the Trinity, the sinlessness of Mary, the necessity of Baptism, the evil of divorce, etc. in times past, those truths remain today. While certain external practices can change like the exact date of feast days or the color of vestments, the essential truths on religion and morality cannot change by the very definition of what a dogma is.
Pope St. Pius X promulgated his papal encyclical letter Pascendi dominici gregis directed against the heresy of Modernism on September 8, 1907. He wrote strongly against this heresy as well in a Syllabus on the Errors of the Modernist and one of those elements stated, “It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places.”
Pope St. Pius X then on September 1, 1910, required that every bishop, priest, religious superior, seminarian and professors of Theology and Philosophy swear the oath against modernism. One element of that Oath stated, “I entirely reject the heretical misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously.”
One definition of Catholic Modernism is the attempt to re-interpret the teachings of the Catholic Church by taking into account new philosophical and scientific thought and concepts. But the truths of the Faith as affirmed by the Church and as contained in the Creed and in all of Her teachings cannot and will not change. And reason would teach us such too since something that is as universally true as the authority of Scripture, the nature of Christ, or the necessity of Baptism is a truth that will never change.
So to conclude this second part, the Catholic Faith is the True Faith. It is the only Faith based in an actual adherence to the truths contained in Sacred Scripture and in accordance with the actual history of the Church. Catholics are the only Christians. And, the modern attempts to attack Christian morality, to propose non-Catholics may receive Holy Communion without converting, to attack the long-held practice of priestly celibacy, and the like need to be eradicated. The Church needs soldiers. The Church – Eternal Rome – needs you.
Part 3: Our Response to Learning the Faith
In our world today, as the Faith is under unprecedented assault, it is our responsibility to defend it. It is our duty as Catholics – confirmed soldiers of Christ the King – to do battle on behalf of the True Faith.
To those who think we should not do actions, I wish to share with you the words of St. Anthony of Padua who said, “Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since He Himself cursed the fig tree when He found no fruit but only leaves. It is useless for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching by his actions.” And it was St. Pius X, the great Pope against the errors of the Modernists, who asserted, “The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather the cowardice of the faithful.”
I appeal to you – I beg you – to engage in profound and daily Catholic action in catechesis. The great St. Pius X also wrote in his encyclical Acerbo Nimis in 1905: “This we solemnly affirm: the majority of those who are condemned to eternal punishment fall into this everlasting misfortune through ignorance of the mysteries of the Faith which must necessarily be known and believed by all who belong to the Elect.” Souls depend on us. Again the words of St. Paul, “How can they believe in One whom they have not heard?”
Therefore, we are bound to act.
First and foremost, study. Study for 30 minutes a day and study good Catholic books. I have often been asked for good book recommendations for Bibles, Catechisms, Catholic History books, Mariology resources, and the like over the years. I’ve put together a list of my recommendations and you can view that. If you go to CatechismClass.com and in the information links at the bottom of the page above the footer will be a Recommended Books Links.
Some of the items on that list that I strongly recommend adding to your library include "My Catholic Faith" by Angelus Press, "This is the Faith" by Canon Francis Ripley, and "The Catechism of the Crisis in the Church" by Fr. Matthias Gaudron. And there are many others in various categories but those are solid books that will help you lay a strong foundation to learn the Faith in this age of apostacy.
Secondly, and even more importantly, pray. We should have frequent recourse to the Holy Ghost and pray that we learn what we should learn for the glory of God so that we might better know Him, love Him, and serve. As the very first question and answer in the Baltimore Catechism affirms, our purpose in life is to “know, love, and serve God in this life and to be with Him for all eternity.” And if we are not studying, we are not knowing Him. And if we do not frequently have recourse to prayer, to the Sacraments, and to a life that adheres to the Ten Commandments, we can not love Him. Prayer is absolutely essentially for everyone in this room.
Thirdly, I ask that you carry prayer cards, booklets, and Sacramentals in your bags on a daily basis. Post them on bulletin boards around town, in coffee shops, or leave them in movie theaters or laundromats. Be creative to spread the teachings of Christ. Carry as well in your bags extra blessed Rosaries and Miraculous Medals so you can give them out to souls that you may engage in apologetic discussions while going about your day. I keep a handful of pamphlets in my glove compartment on “Reasons to Return to Catholic Faith” and a handful more on “Why Be Catholic.” I ordered them from online from the website by St. Paul’s Street Evangelization so that I can pass them out.
Fourthly, keep a handful of blessed green scapulars as well so you can leave them in places. The green scapular is often hidden under pillows or mattresses of those we are praying to convert. I’ve placed green scapulars under chair cushions in interfaith prayer rooms at universities and in the homes of friends that are not Catholic. And just pray each day the Green Scapular Prayer which is simply: "Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at our hour of death."
Fifth, be bold. One such thing I do is destroy bad books. Picture yourself in your local Goodwill store, thrift shop, or garage sale. Venture over to the book section and scan through the religious books in the stacks. You’ll undoubtedly find little in Catholic thought. Instead you’ll find protestant books on the Rapture, protestant books containing all sorts of heresies and false teachings, Protestant Bibles, Jewish prayer books, New Age or Occult manuscripts, and much more. My heart goes out to the people who search in such places for God. These souls – like everyone – are searching for God. And they will likely not find Him in the midst of protestant heresy and paganism.
I was at a Goodwill store back in 2013 and browsing their book section when I decided to take action. I repositioned the Catholic books, which included a book by St. Alphonsus and a few prayer books in a way that they were eye level for those browsing the section.
I then placed into my basket a handful of the heretical books which included works by protestants on the Rapture as well as protestant Scripture commentaries. I purchased them for $0.86 each and took them home and included them as kindling for a bonfire I had that night. These books were unfit to be produced. They would have led souls into heresy.
How many Catholic souls have been lost because of bad books? How many searching souls have been led into false churches and false religions because of these errors? I encourage you to likewise remove profane and irreligious posters from public places and purchase and destroy evil books. Once again, let’s recall to mind the words of St. Pius X who said, “The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the cowardice of the faithful.” Let us not be cowards but courageous soldiers of Christ the King. The cost of our cowardice is the damnation of souls.
Sixth, learn the true meaning of Holy Scripture. We have surely heard protestants twisting Scripture verses to fit their views and know that protestants largely support the error of sola scriptura, by Scripture alone. Of course, Scripture itself condemns this since it blatantly states at the end of the Gospel of John that not all things are written in Scripture. Yet, nevertheless, we can do great work for souls by learning the true meaning of Scripture verses. Get a copy of the Douay Rheims Bible, the most accurate translation of St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, and pair that with Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary. You can pick up a copy or view the text online as the book is viewable online in its entirety. Again, it’s called the Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary.
And finally, in all of this, live a holy life. We must be uncompromising in doctrine but unblemished in our conduct and in our acts of charity to God and to neighbor. Let us never grow despondent and may we never despair or become jaded by what happens in the world and in our Church. God does not require us to be successful but only faithful. We must strive to save our own souls first as the Scriptures state in referring to removing the plank from our own eyes before we can do so with others. And we can do so by being firmly grounded in Catholic doctrine, availing ourselves of the Sacraments, staying close to Tradition, and having a deeply engrained prayer life. Yet, through this all, we must never be a cause for scandal. Souls will only after great labor be converted by our work with apologetics. But souls will in only a few moments be lost if they see us living out a life that is not unblemished and in perfect conformity to the Faith we profess. Keep this in mind in all of your actions – no matter how small in public – souls can be lost by scandal. And let us never have this sin on our souls.
May the words of St. Padre Pio help guide us and remind us that we must strive for holiness if we are to be successful in our work with others. The Saint said, “Holiness means loving our neighbor as our self for love of God. In this connection holiness means loving those who curse us, who hate and persecute us and even doing good to them. Holiness means living humbly, being disinterested, prudent, just, patient, kind, chaste, meek, diligent, carrying out one’s duties for no other reason than that of pleasing God and receiving from Him alone the reward one deserves.”
Therefore, I implore you to never fall into bursts of anger, exhibit envy, be caught in immodesty, or any other action that would cause scandal to our Holy Religion. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the five proofs of God’s existence by St. Thomas Aquinas. The five ways do not prove the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but they do demonstrate that what is commonly called “God” is necessary if we are to account for motion, causality, possibility, being, and design. And those proofs are quite philosophically sound so why then do atheists reject them? Are atheists just all poor at reasoning? No. Rather, the atheist denies the existence of God for moral reasons, not for philosophical ones. Usually, heretics and atheists are what they are because of scandal. That is why we must live our lives with great personal sanctity. All of our actions at Mass, in prayer, or in a church we must be unblemished. St. Maximilian Kolbe’s words on this may serve as our guide when he said, “When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognize that you know before whom you kneel.”
As a Third Order Dominican Tertiary, I wear the Dominican Scapular under my clothing. When I received that scapular a few years ago from the hands of Fr. Albert, I heard the prayer that goes as follows: “May the Lord also sprinkle you with hyssop, who are about to be clothed with our garments, and may you be so cleansed that, clean and whiter than snow in mind, you may so avail in the outward bearing of our garb as to be, by the example of your good works, the dour of life unto life to all with whom you will hold converse, lest perhaps, by your evil works, our ministry be blamed.” I think of those words often as I reflect on my own external actions.
And those words can apply to all of us. May we be so clean in mind and soul so those with whom we converse will see in us the glory of the Catholic Faith lest by our evil words, bad works, or bad doctrine, our Divine Lord and His Redeemer be blamed.
I conclude with the words of Fulton J Sheen, the great Catholic apologist of the last century who famously remarked, ““Who is going to save our Church? Not our Bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to the laity. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious.” So you see, there is not a better time to learn, teach, and live the Faith than in our present age of apostasy.
LifeSiteNews launched a new website today dedicated to providing U.S. Catholics with evidence of whether their bishop is faithful or unfaithful to perennial Church teaching. Faithful Shepherds helps hold American bishops accountable by providing years, sometimes decades, of past tweets, public speeches, sermons, actions, pastoral letters, and diocesan guidelines.
Faithful Shepherds currently gives evidence of where U.S. bishops stand on ten issues: Archbishop Vigano's testimony, Amoris Laetitia, pro-life leadership, homosexuality, abortion politics, contraception, “LGBT” ideology, liturgy, marriage and family life, and education. More will be added as new evidence is gathered.
For each of the nine issues, bishops are given one of four rankings:
1. Faithful to Church teaching 2. Not faithful to Church teaching 3. Unclear whether they are faithful to Church teaching 4. Not enough evidence has been collected for this bishop on this issue
LifeSiteNews co-founder John-Henry Westen commented that Faithful Shepherds is “extremely important for the life of the Church in the 21st century.”
We often hear today of very concerning actions taking place in the Church - even in Rome itself. And while it is important that we study these materials in detail since heresy is often a drop of poison in a good cup of wine - rather than all rotten truths - we need to raise our mind to more of a 30,000-foot overview at times. In failing to do so, we get so involved in the details that we forget what we really need to do to help save the Catholic Faith from the rapid protestantization occurring among the faithful today.
St. Michael Church in Munich, Germany (c) A Catholic Life Blog, 2017.
Let's focus on the Top 20 Actions Holy Mother Church needs to make. Let us pray and work for these to occur.
5. An immediate reduction in annulments which have become a "get out of marriage free" card.
6. Require all Fridays to be meatless rather than offer the option to substitute a penance for Fridays outside of Lent since no one even knows or observes this
Please join me in praying today in reparation for the heretical actions that are being committed in Assisi.
Pope Francis will be present at the 5th interreligious meeting of Assisi.
30 years after the first interreligious meeting set up by John Paul II, in Assisi, on October 27, 1986, Pope Francis will be present for the “World Day of Prayer for Peace” that is to close the Interreligious Summit for Peace organized by the community of Sant’Egidio.
Francis will arrive in Assisi by helicopter on Tuesday, September 20, around 11am. He will be met at the Poor Clare convent by the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Aphrem II. Also present will be a representative for the Muslims, for the Jews, as well as the supreme head of the Japanese Tendai Buddhist school. These religious leaders will gather in the Sixtus IV cloister to meet the other representatives of worldwide religions and the Catholic bishops of Umbria…
In all 400 representatives are expected to participate in this 30th anniversary of the meeting, whose slogan, this year, is “Thirsting for peace. Religions and cultures in dialogue.”
Because it denies the unity of the Church and Her mission of saving souls.
Because it can only lead the faithful into confusion and indifferentism.
Because it deceives the unfortunate unfaithful and members of other religions.
Referring to the 1986 meeting in Assisi, Archbishop Lefebvre remarked:
It is demonic. It is an insult to our Lord
Jesus Christ. Who will they pray to? What god will they pray to for
peace? What peace can they ask for if they are not praying to the only
true God? They will not be praying to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews do
not want him, the Muslims and Buddhists do not want Him neither. Lots
of Protestants do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. What god
will they pray to? God was made flesh and came and lived amongst us to
save us. We have no right to pray to anyone else. If we put Jesus
Christ aside, we are not praying to the true God. It is an indescribably
impious act against our Lord Jesus Christ. (Spiritual Conferences, 117B, Jan. 28)
His
Excellency Archbishop Lefebvre later said, "He who now sits upon the
Throne of Peter mocks publicly the first article of the Creed and the
first Commandment of the Decalogue. The scandal given to Catholic souls
cannot be measured. The Church is shaken to its very foundations."
I hope that the priests of the SSPX will again offer votive Masses for the Propagation of the Faith:
Missa 'Deus Misereatur,' as they did in 2011 during Assisi III.
As I have posted about many times, there is no salvation outside of the Church.
There is only one name under Heaven by which men can be saved and that
is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 4:12). So, please join
me in saying rosaries in reparation for this most diabolical action
initiated by the modernists. Pray that our Holy Father will not pray
with the pagans and infidels but preach and seek their salvation.
This is a Guest Article by the President of CatechismClass.com
What is the Greatest Issue Facing Your Parish?
To all involved in religious education (priests, DREs, teachers): We know you are busy. You are fighting against a wealth of issues including:
• Lack of volunteers
• Limited Time
• Lack of Parental Involvement
• Budget Cuts and Finances
• Lack of Commitment by Students
• Creating Lesson Plans
• Grading
• Students with learning disabilities
• Etc
Why Religious Education is in a Crisis
• Since 1970, the number of children in primary school in religious education has dropped 60%
• Since 1970, the number of secondary school students in religious education has dropped 55%
• Since 1960, the number of annual adult baptisms has fallen 68%
• Since 1975, the number of annual infant baptisms has fallen 18%
• Nearly 80 percent of cradle Catholics are no longer Catholic by the age of 23
• Only 30 percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing
• 10 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics
Why This Is Very Serious
• What if I told you, “Only 20% of the students that graduate from University XYZ acquire employment.” You would think that this is a worthless university. In fact, it’s accreditation should probably be re-investigated.
• Well that is exactly what’s happening in the Catholic Church in the United States. Only 20% of Catholics that go through our system later apply that faith to their lives when they reach the age of 23. The other 80% drop out!
• Religious Education has not been effectively stopping the decline in the Church. Catholics have the most ex-members out of any religious group in the United States. Why are we losing so many adherents? Why are so many ignorant to basic Catholic principles like the Real Presence? What can you do about this?
Your Mission
• Despite all of the issues pressing us (lack of volunteers or time or finances), we have a responsibility to God to help pass down the Faith
• It is God’s very desire that none be lost and that the Faith grow: “Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day” (John 6:39)
Religious Education Must Improve
• Children want to learn and be challenged. The discipline in a secular classroom should carry over to religious education
• Children want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to feel connected and a part of something
• Now, more than ever before, we need to provide the highest quality religious education programs to our children
• And more than ever before, we must do it with the technology they are using to make it relevant and meaningful to them
• Catholics – like everyone – are relying upon modern technology conveniences, like cell phones, tablets, and computers to help them live their lives
The Solution is Here
What if there was a way to improve your parish’s religious education, reach students using their interests, and better educate both the students and the parents?
CatechismClass.com uses New Media Technology in order to meet students where they are at. Founded in 2004 by Fr. James D. Zatalava of Altoona, PA, our organization has provided Sacramental Preparation and enrichment programs to adults and children for over a decade. Over 5,000 students have taken our godparent preparation program alone. CatechismClass.com operates with the singular goal of being the best online Catholic catechesis program in the world.
CatechismClass.com Offers the Best in Online Education with best-selling programs including:
• An Online GodParent Preparation Program
• A Best-Selling Adult RCIA Program
• An Equivalent Young Adult RCIA Program
• Adult Faith Formation Enrichment Programs
• Children’s Sacramental and Faith Formation Programs
Through our extensive surveys and market research, our students leave our programs knowing more on the Faith and remaining committed to the Catholic Church in the ensuing years.
We handle the planning, the material gathering, and much of the teaching. You have no more need for expensive book purchases and the evaluating and grading. All you have to do is login and you're ready to go! We don't require expensive books. Everything is done online.
Our Mission
As a result of our programs, it is our goal for parents, pastors and bishops to possess the capacity to educate the students in their care with the highest quality, most authentic catechetical product possible, with the ability to utilize it in the most convenient, state of the art, and fully accountable manner available.
Don’t Wait! Visit us today at CatechismClass.com and browse our course offerings today.
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Matthew is a Third Order Dominican from Chicago and an expert on Catholicism, with an emphasis on Traditional Fasting. He has written for "A Catholic Life" since 2005. Matthew is a Certified Catechist and is a speaker available to address your next parish or Catholic conference gathering. Matthew spends his leisure time traveling, teaching, writing, and enjoying Catholic culture. He is also a writer for "Catholic Family News" and "The Fatima Center." Please contact Matthew directly regarding advertising requests for A Catholic Life or in regard to speaking engagements.
