By Abraham V. Llera
From the word “GO,” the Church was already buffeted by all kinds of assaults, almost all of them from inside.
There was, of course, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ even while Christ was still alive.
Coming on Judas’ heels came the various heresies. The Judaizers, whom St. Paul fought vigorously, was the first one. These are Jewish Christians who insisted Gentile Christians must be circumcised for them to be valid Christians.
As the Church took root in the first century, so did a host of heresies, one after the other. One of the early ones and one of the most enduring is Gnosticism which denies the Incarnation, and who claimed that matter is evil, only the spirit is good. This group also believed in many divine beings who mediated between man and the ultimate, aloof God. Jesus Christ, this group claimed, is just one of these divine beings.
The late second century found Montanism taking root, followed by Sabellianism in the early 3rd century, Arianism in the 4th century, and Pellagianism in the 5th century. Sabellianism taught that God the Father and God the Son are two offices of the same Person, while Arianism taught that God the Son was created by God the Father. Pellagians believed that man, on his own and without God’s help can attain justification.
Many more heresies followed: Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Iconoclasm, Catharism, Protestantism, and Jansenism.
To the extent that Catholics for Choice members are baptized Catholics, and to the extent that they deny a truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, the members of Catholics for Choice are heretics. Of course, this is simply my opinion, and I might be wrong.
In other words, heretics exist today as much as they did in the initial centuries of the Church’s founding. I have described one such heresy—Modernism—in the previous article “Non-Catholics in the Church.”
Again, here’s how they can be spotted:
“A spirit of complete emancipation, tending to weaken ecclesiastical authority; the emancipation of science, which must traverse every field of investigation without fear of conflict with the Church; the emancipation of the State, which should never be hampered by religious authority; the emancipation of the private conscience whose inspirations must not be overridden by papal definitions or anathemas; the emancipation of the universal conscience, with which the Church should be ever in agreement;
“A spirit of movement and change, with an inclination to a sweeping form of evolution such as abhors anything fixed and stationary;
“A spirit of reconciliation among all men through the feelings of the heart. Many and varied also are the modernist dreams of an understanding between the different Christian religions, nay, even between religion and a species of atheism, and all on a basis of agreement that must be superior to mere doctrinal differences. “
From the above, by insisting on rejecting what the Church teaches on contraception, and by following only what they think should be the Church’s position, Catholics for Choice do not qualify as Catholics. It would be wrong to look at them, and conclude that the Church stands divided.
No,far from that. The Church remains the same Church that Christ founded 2,000 years ago. That some of her members prove to be odd balls and loose cannons on deck simply shows that oddballs and loose cannons on deck can still exist because God desires each man to follow him because he loves God, not because God forced him.
From the word “GO,” the Church was already buffeted by all kinds of assaults, almost all of them from inside.
There was, of course, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ even while Christ was still alive.
Coming on Judas’ heels came the various heresies. The Judaizers, whom St. Paul fought vigorously, was the first one. These are Jewish Christians who insisted Gentile Christians must be circumcised for them to be valid Christians.
As the Church took root in the first century, so did a host of heresies, one after the other. One of the early ones and one of the most enduring is Gnosticism which denies the Incarnation, and who claimed that matter is evil, only the spirit is good. This group also believed in many divine beings who mediated between man and the ultimate, aloof God. Jesus Christ, this group claimed, is just one of these divine beings.
The late second century found Montanism taking root, followed by Sabellianism in the early 3rd century, Arianism in the 4th century, and Pellagianism in the 5th century. Sabellianism taught that God the Father and God the Son are two offices of the same Person, while Arianism taught that God the Son was created by God the Father. Pellagians believed that man, on his own and without God’s help can attain justification.
Many more heresies followed: Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Iconoclasm, Catharism, Protestantism, and Jansenism.
To the extent that Catholics for Choice members are baptized Catholics, and to the extent that they deny a truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, the members of Catholics for Choice are heretics. Of course, this is simply my opinion, and I might be wrong.
In other words, heretics exist today as much as they did in the initial centuries of the Church’s founding. I have described one such heresy—Modernism—in the previous article “Non-Catholics in the Church.”
Again, here’s how they can be spotted:
“A spirit of complete emancipation, tending to weaken ecclesiastical authority; the emancipation of science, which must traverse every field of investigation without fear of conflict with the Church; the emancipation of the State, which should never be hampered by religious authority; the emancipation of the private conscience whose inspirations must not be overridden by papal definitions or anathemas; the emancipation of the universal conscience, with which the Church should be ever in agreement;
“A spirit of movement and change, with an inclination to a sweeping form of evolution such as abhors anything fixed and stationary;
“A spirit of reconciliation among all men through the feelings of the heart. Many and varied also are the modernist dreams of an understanding between the different Christian religions, nay, even between religion and a species of atheism, and all on a basis of agreement that must be superior to mere doctrinal differences. “
From the above, by insisting on rejecting what the Church teaches on contraception, and by following only what they think should be the Church’s position, Catholics for Choice do not qualify as Catholics. It would be wrong to look at them, and conclude that the Church stands divided.
No,far from that. The Church remains the same Church that Christ founded 2,000 years ago. That some of her members prove to be odd balls and loose cannons on deck simply shows that oddballs and loose cannons on deck can still exist because God desires each man to follow him because he loves God, not because God forced him.
