Chapter XV - Can a Liberal be in Good Faith?
- some individuals, even many, who, in spite of themselves, are dragged into the torrent of error for no other reason than their supreme ignorance.
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Most heresies which have rent the bosom of the Church have attempted to
disguise their errors under an exterior of affected piety.
Jansenism, perhaps the most subtle of all heresies, won over a great number of adherents by its cunning simulation of sanctity.
Its morals were rigid to the extreme; its dogmas formidable; the exterior conduct of its promoters ascetic and apparently enlightened. It wore the visage of a Saint, while at heart it reeked with the corruption of pride. The majority of ancient
heresies turned upon
very subtle points of doctrine, which only the skilled theologian could discern,
and upon which the ignorant multitude could give no judgment, save such as they received in confidence from their leaders. By a very natural consequence, when the hierarch of a diocese fell into error, most of his subordinates—
clerics and laity full of confidence in their pastor—fell with him.
- The diffusion of
many ancient heresies, which were mostly purely theological, was nearly always due to this cause. Hence we find St. Jerome crying out in the fourth century: Ingemuit universus orbis se esse Arianum: "The whole world groaned to find itself Arian."
- The halo in which [Liberalism] was first depicted has shown itself to be, not the soft light of Heaven, but the lurid glare of Hell.
(By their fruits you shall know them)
- The
new doctrines which it preached—and which it wished to
substitute for ancient truth—had nothing abstract nor metaphysical; it rejected everything but brutal facts, which betrayed it as the offspring of Satan and the enemy of mankind. The
terrors of the French Revolution were the evidence of its origin, as sprung from the corruptions of a society that had abandoned God and battened on the bestial results of Voltarian skepticism
- Liberalism a living lion going about seeking whom he may devour. Its dreadful doctrine is permeating society to the core; it has become the modern political creed and
threatens us with a second revolution, to turn the world over once again to paganism.
Are there any good Catholics who do not believe this? Let them but read the signs of the times, not with the eyes of the world, but by the light of the Faith, which Jesus Christ gave to them.
- Insubordination, illegitimate interests and the
desire to take and make things easy are abundantly at hand to prejudice and to blind.
Chapter XVI - The Symptoms of Liberalism
- We are surrounded by Liberalism in all its shapes and varieties, and it behooves us to be on our guard against its subtle dangers.
- To facilitate the matter, we will divide Liberals, whether persons or writings, into three classes:
1) Extreme Liberals; 2) Moderate Liberals; 3) Quasi Liberals, or those only tainted with Liberalism.
- The
Extreme Liberal is easily recognized; he does not attempt to deny or conceal his perversity. He is the declared enemy of the Pope, of priests, of everything ecclesiastical...He is a revolutionist, socialist, anarchist...He belongs to secret societies, dies in their embrace and is buried by their ritual.
- The
moderate Liberal is just as bad as his extreme confrere, but he takes good care not to appear so. Social conventionalities and good manners are everything to him.
- At the mere mention of the name of a nihilistic or socialistic club, he is thrown into a cold sweat, for there, he declares, the masses are seduced into principles which lead to the destruction of the foundations of society; yet, according to him, there is no danger, no inconvenience in a free lyceum where the same principles are elegantly debated and sympathetically applauded; for who could dare to condemn the scientific discussion of social problems? The moderate Liberal does not detest the Pope; he may even express admiration for his sagacity; he only blames certain pretensions of the Roman Curia and certain exaggerations of
Ultramontanism, which do not fall in with the trend of modern thought.
- He may even go to Church and, stranger still, sometimes approach the Sacraments; but his maxim is, in the Church to live as a Christian, outside of the Church to live as the world lives, according to the times in which one is born and not obstinately to swim against the stream.
- The Catholic simply
tainted with Liberalism is generally a good man and sincerely pious; he exhales nevertheless an odor of Liberalism in everything he says, writes, or takes up...His strong point is
charity; he is
charity itself. What horror fills his soul at the exaggerations of the
Ultramontane press! To treat as a liar the man who propagates false ideas is, in the eyes of this singular theologian, to sin against the Holy Spirit.
To him the falsifier is simply misguided; it is not the poor fellow's fault; he has, simple soul, been misled. We ought neither to resist nor combat him; we must strive to attract him by soft words and pretty compliments. How the devil must chuckle over the mushy
charity held out as a bait to abet his own cause!
- From the Gospel he is careful to cite only those texts flavored with milk and honey.
The terrible invectives of Our Lord against Pharisaism astonish and confound him; they seem to be an excess of language on the part of our Divine Saviour!
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He saves the treasures of his tolerance and his charity for the sworn enemies of the Faith! What is more natural? Does not the poor man want to attract them? On the other hand,
for the most heroic defenders of the Faith, he has only sarcasm and invective.
- The extreme Liberal roars his Liberalism; the moderate Liberal mouths it; the tainted Catholic whispers and sighs it.
All are bad enough and serve the devil well.
Chapter XVII - Christian Prudence and Liberalism
- It will be well first to distinguish, in a general way, three possible relations between a Catholic and Liberalism, or rather between a Catholic and Liberals: 1) Necessary relations; 2) Useful relations; 3) Relations of pure affection or pleasure.
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Necessary relations are imposed upon everyone by his station in life and his particular position; they cannot be avoided. Such are the family relations, the relations of inferior and superior, etc.
- It is evident that a son who has the misfortune to have a Liberal father
cannot on this account abandon him, nor the wife the husband, the brother the sister, nor the parent the child,
except in the case where their Liberalism exacts from any of their respective inferiors acts essentially opposed to religion, so as to conduce to a formal apostacy.
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Prayer should be his chief recourse,
prayer for himself and the victims of error. He should avoid, as far as possible, all conversations on this topic, but when he finds that a controversy is thrust upon him, let him accept it
in the full confidence of the truth, and armed with effective weapons of defense and offense. A prudent spiritual director should be consulted in the selection of his arsenal.
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Obedience to a superior in all that is not directly or indirectly against faith and morals is his bounden duty, but
it is equally his duty to refuse obedience to anything directly or indirectly in opposition to the integrity of his faith. Courage he can draw only from supernatural sources;
God, who sees the struggle, will not refuse all the assistance needed
- There are other relations which we have with Liberals, which are not absolutely, but which are morally indispensable, and without which social life, which consists in a mutual exchange of services, is impossible. Such are the relations of commerce, trade, labor, the professions, etc...The fundamental rule in these cases is not to enter into unnecessary intercourse; what the gearing of the social machine demands, and no more, is sufficient...Guided by these rules, one could live without injury to his faith amidst a population of Jews...when the Faith is in question, despicable in all men's eyes does he become who would sell his birthright for a mess of pottage.
- Relations of pure friendship, pleasure or affectation, which we enter into as mere matters of taste or inclination, should be eschewed and, if once contracted, ought to be voluntarily broken off. Such relations are a certain danger to our faith. Our Lord says that he who loves danger shall perish in it. Is it difficult to sever such connections? What if it is; we must burst the bonds that place us in peril. Reflect for a moment. If your Liberal companion with whom you are constantly associating were subject to some contagious disease, would you then court him?
- T
here is but one condition upon which intimacy with a Liberal is justifiable at all, and that is for the purpose of converting him. For this, two dispositions are necessary: your Liberal friend's willingness and your capacity to lead him to the light. Even here danger is not lacking. One must be very sure of his ground before he attempts the task.
Chapter XVIII - Liberalism and Literature
- Our modern literature is saturated with its sentiments, and for this reason should we take every precaution to guard against its infections, of which so many are the miserable victims...Spare your praises of Liberal books, whatever be their scientific or literary merit, or at least praise with great reserve, never forgetting the reprobation rightly due to a book of Liberal spirit or tendency.
- They are not apt to seek us out, and if they are thrust upon us, our consent to their perusal is practically all our own doing. We have none but ourselves to blame if they prove to be our own undoing.
(Internet, TV, radio today)
- Many Catholics, by far too naive (even some engaged in Catholic journalism), are perpetually seeking to pose as
impartial and are perpetually daubing themselves with a veneer of
flattery. They are
fearful of being considered narrow-minded and partial if they do not give the devil his due...
they imagine this to be a powerful means of attracting the enemy. Alas, the folly of the weaklings; they play a losing game; it is they who are insensibly attracted, not the enemy! They simply fly at the bait held out by the cunning fisher who satanically guides the destinies of Liberalism.
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How charming, how beautiful, how tender, how pathetic, how humane; what lofty morality, what exquisite sentiment! Now what was the real purport of the book and what was its essence?
To lift up Guatama, the founder of Buddhism, at the expense of Jesus Christ, the Founder of Christianity! Gautama, whom he intended to stand out as at least the divine equal of the Founder of Christianity, became in his hands in reality a mere echo of Christ, the image of Christ, made to rival the Word made flesh!
Buddhism, in the borrowed garments of Christianity, was thus made to appeal to the ideals of Christian peoples, and gaining a footing in their admiration and affections, to usurp the throne in the Christian sanctuary.
(So-called Ecumenism/Interfaith Dialogue)
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What difference does it make whether a book be excellent in a literary sense or not, if its effect be the loss of souls and not their salvation?
- Heresy under a charming disguise is a thousand times more dangerous than heresy exposed in the harsh and arid garb of the scholastic syllogism— through which the death's skull grins in unadorned hideousness...Arianism had its poets to propagate its errors in popular verse. Lutheranism had its humanists, amongst whom the elegant Erasmus shone as a brilliant writer...
- Shall we crown these condemners of our faith with the laurels of our praises and laud them for the very qualities which alone make them dangerous! And for what purpose? That we may appear impartial? No.
Impartiality is not permissible when it is distorted to the offense of truth...
Chapter XIX - Charity and Liberalism
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Narrow! Intolerant! Uncompromising! These are the epithets of odium hurled by Liberal votaries of all degrees at us Ultramontanes. Are not Liberals our neighbors like other men? Do we not owe to them the same
charity we apply to others?
Are not your vigorous denunciations, it is urged against us, harsh and uncharitable and in the very teeth of the teaching of Christianity, which is essentially a religion of love? Such is the accusation continually flung in our face. Let us see what its value is.
Let us see all that the word "Charity" signifies.
- The Catechism [of the Council of Trent], that popular and most authoritative epitome of Catholic theology, gives us the most complete and succinct definition of
charity; it is full of wisdom and philosophy.
Charity is a supernatural virtue which induces us to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves for the love of God...
Amare est velle bonum, replies the philosopher. "To love is to wish good to him whom we love."...What is that good which true love wishes? First of all supernatural good.
- It follows, therefore, that we can love our neighbor when displeasing him, when opposing him, when causing him some material injury...
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When we correct the wicked by restraining or by punishing them, we do nonetheless love them. This is charity—and perfect charity.
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Therefore, to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a true act of charity. Not to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a sin.
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Modern Liberalism reverses this order; it imposes a false notion of charity: our neighbor first, and, if at all, God afterwards.
(I said the same thing in my blog post here.)
- Sovereign Catholic inflexibility is sovereign Catholic
charity...The Saints are the types of this unswerving and sovereign fidelity to God, the heroes of
charity and religion...Liberal
charity is condescending, affectionate, even tender in appearance, but at bottom it is an essential contempt for the true good of men, of the supreme interests of truth and [ultimately] of God.
Chapter XX - Polemical Charity and Liberalism
- Liberalism...accuses Catholics of lack of
charity in their polemics...
Si palam res est, repetitio injuria non est: "To say what everybody knows is no injury."
- As
the Church has always considered heresy a very grave evil, so has she always called its adherents bad and pervert...There is then no sin against
charity in calling evil; its authors abettors and its disciples bad; all its acts, words, and writings iniquitous, wicked, malicious. In short,
the wolf has always been called the wolf; and in so calling it, no one ever has believed that wrong was done to the flock and the shepherd.
- St. John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a "
race of vipers"; Jesus Christ, Our Divine Saviour, hurls at them the epithets "
hypocrites, whitened sepulchres, a perverse and adulterous generation," without thinking for this reason that He sullies the sanctity of His benevolent speech. St. Paul criticizes the schismatic Cretians as "always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies." The same Apostle calls Elymas the magician a "Seducer, full of guile and deceit, a child of the devil, an enemy of all justice."
- The pacific St. Thomas of Acquin [Aquinas] forgets the calm of his cold syllogisms when he hurls his violent apostrophe against William of St. Amour and his disciples: "Enemies of God" he cries out, "ministers of the devil, members of antichrist, ignorami, perverts, reprobates!"...The seraphic St. Bonaventure, so full of sweetness, overwhelms his adversary Gerard with such epithets as "impudent, calumniator, spirit of malice, impious, shameless, ignorant, impostor, malefactor, perfidious, ingrate!"
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Did St. Francis de Sales, so delicately exquisite and tender, ever purr softly over the heretics of his age and country?...In his Introduction to the Devout Life, that precious and popular work, he expresses himself again: "
If the declared enemies of God and of the Church ought to be blamed and censured with all possible vigor, charity obliges us to cry wolf when the wolf slips into the midst of the flock and in every way and place we may meet him."
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