From Brother Andre:
Indifferentism is the condemned heresy that advances the possibility of salvation in any religion. Apostasy (according to Father Hardon) is the “complete abandonment of the Christian religion and not merely a denial of some article of the creed.” There is a certain inexorable logic — or at least a psychologically coherent dynamism — that facilitates the journey from indifferentism to apostasy. It may take some time — a few generations perhaps, which is a brief span in the life of the Church — but indifferentism will feed the beast of apostasy.
Do we live in a time of widespread apostasy?
In his 2003 post-synodal exhortation Ecclesia in Europa (No. 9), Pope John Paul II spoke of the spiritual condition of Catholicism’s heartland: “European culture gives the impression of ‘silent apostasy’ on the part of people who have all that they need and who live as if God does not exist.”
The wording of that last sentence may be somewhat dispassionate, but it is thereby no less utterly cataclysmic in its implications. If the Révolution tranquille in Canada was “quiet,” it was still a revolution against Christ the King. So, too, to speak of a “silent” apostasy of the former Christendom is to make a very loud denunciation of a people who once produced saints but have now forgotten God.
Read the whole article.
It's a bit rich for post Vat II popes to condemn indifferentism when they as bishops or cardinals had a hand in, or at least did not oppose, the documents of that council which led to indifferentism. There is also a strong undercurrent within the hierarchy of 'Ludditism' and opposition to material progress particularly if 'us peasants' can enjoy the benefits of greater material prosperity. If this sounds like a typical 19th century criticism of Catholicism it is not my intention to do so. However, in my opinion Vat II, proclaimed as an opening to the modern world, and as 'progressive', was more of a signal to those vested interests who wish to roll back the modern world and institute a new semi dark age. Pope Pius X in his encyclical Nostre Charge stated this openly. Is it any wonder there is widespread apostacy when the Vatican appear to be arraigned with those hostile to the spiritual and temporal development of the peoples of Europe and North America.
ReplyDeleteG.
PS, I meant to say that Pope Pius X clearly saw the dangers to the Church and Christian civilization of those who disguised themselves as 'progressives'.
ReplyDeleteG
Some Popes are often carriers of the very disease they condemn.
ReplyDelete