The Wolves in Sheep's Clothing...
Sheep's Clothing (Development of Doctrine):
This article received June
28, 1997.
It was God Himself, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who warns us at the 'Sermon on
the Mount' - "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of
sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves." (Matt. 7:15) These words echo across
the centuries to us Catholics at the present day, who are just as much, and even
more, in need of such a warning. What should motivate us to heed this warning
most carefully in our daily lives? Because the purity and integrity of the Faith
is a serious matter. A person's Faith can easily be corrupted.
The Baltimore Catechism states that:
"A person who denies even one
article of our faith could not be a Catholic; for truth is one and we must
accept it whole and entire or not at all." This merely repeats the teaching of
Our Lord as written by St. James: "whosoever shall keep the whole law, but
offend in one point, is become guilty of all." (St. James 2:10)
St. Thomas Aquinas concurs: "To reject but one article of faith taught by the
Church is enough to destroy faith as one mortal sin is enough to destroy
charity..."
Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical "Satis Cognitum", teaches this in so many
words: "Nothing is more dangerous than the heretics who, while conserving almost
all the remainder of the Church's teaching intact, corrupt with a single word,
like a drop of poison, the purity and the simplicity of the faith which we have
received through tradition from God and through the Apostles." Not only should
we heed Our Lord's warning because of how EASILY a person's Faith can be
corrupted, but we should find motivation in the fact that the danger is more
prevalent today than it was at the turn of the century, 87 years ago, when St.
Pope Pius X felt it necessary to write:
"The partisans of error are to be
sought not only among the Church's open enemies; but....in her very bosom, and
are the more mischievous the less they keep in the open." "The Church has no
greater enemies. For they put into operation their designs for her undoing, not
from without but from within. Hence, the danger is present almost in the very
veins and heart of the Church, whose injury is the more certain from the very
fact that their knowledge of her is more intimate." "They seize upon
professorships in the seminaries and universities, and gradually make of them
chairs of pestilence." Certainly we don't expect to find men dressed in
sheepskin. No. What we are told to "beware" of is that which on the surface
sounds pleasing to the ear; that which seems "positive" or "beneficial" at first
glance. But behind it all is a subtle error that destroys Faith. What is one of
the best ways that an error against the Faith can be taught to a Catholic and
have him easily accept it as true even if at first they question the novelty of
it? The way it was done at the turn of the century was to say that "doctrine
evolves", or that "truth evolves with man". Today however, being that evolution
is not generally looked upon favorably by Catholics, they will instead say that
you must realize that there is "doctrinal development" - this is the "sheep's
clothing" of which Our Lord speaks.
What better way to have false doctrines accepted by the faithful than to claim
that the doctrine only "seems different" because they are the truths of old
which have "developed" and progressed, or advanced! This is one of the most
insidious and treacherous methods of corrupting the faith of a Catholic. The
word "development" sounds beneficial or very "theological" to the ear, and may
very well catch people off-guard. It is a very general term that has more than
one meaning: beware of ambiguous wording. The term must be properly understood.
When an oak tree grows, it matures and develops as anything in nature. The
oak tree has in perfection what the acorn had in germ. The acorn does not later
become an apple tree. When it comes to the supernatural truths of Divine
Revelation we see that this is true. The Church cannot at one time condemn
something as a sin or error and latter teach that it is true or a virtue.
Let us look at a young boy who lived generations ago, say, Michael
Ghislieri. At age 10 the boy learns his catechism, receives the sacraments
and professes his Faith. He is a Catholic pure and simple, and knows the truths
of his faith. As he matures, so does his faith and understanding of the truths,
which he always knows are true. Later in life he studies philosophy and theology
and becomes a theologian. He is still just as much of a Catholic as he was when
he was 10 but now instead of simply KNOWING things to be true, he now knows the
WHYS and HOWS of these truths. He has attained a BETTER understanding as he
grew. This is nothing less than a "development of doctrine" in its TRUE SENSE.
At age 10 he was Catholic with a GOOD understanding of the Truths of the Faith.
As an elderly theologian he believes and professes the very SAME doctrines with
the SAME MEANINGS but with a BETTER understanding.
(We now know Michael
Ghislieri as St. Pope Pius V.)
The Church was given the Truths of the Faith from Our Lord. The Church
teaches that Revelation ended at the death of the last Apostle. This "Deposit of
Faith" has been preserved and taught infallibly from the beginning. When the
Church was young, Christians had a GOOD understanding of the Faith. As the
Church grew we developed a BETTER understanding of what was contained in that
sacred deposit. A Catholic in the year A.D.94 is just as much a Catholic as an
orthodox theologian of the 20th century, believing the same doctrines - nothing
to the contrary. Truth is immutable. What was once condemned by the Church in
the past cannot be later approved in principle, nor can what was once declared
as true and good by the Church, later become false and sinful. A true
development of doctrine "increases" the understanding of the fine points and its
relation to other truths. Never can a BETTER understanding mean that what was
previously understood was defective. It was understood in less detail, but was
NOT an error, or anything to the contrary. A theologian believes the same truths
as the school-boy, only he knows them in better detail. This fuller detail
cannot be contrary to what the school-boy knows.
So, we see Our Lord warns us of men who would seek to corrupt our Faith. Such
men today quite often wear this sheep's clothing of "doctrinal development" to
fool unwary Catholics into believing different doctrines than were previously
taught by the Church. The sheep's clothing which is just as treacherous and
insidious is that of "ecclesiastical position". The Church has had to deal with
such heretics in the past, and has dealt with them severely. Heretics who hold
high office in the Church can easily fool the average Catholic simply by
standing on his office of dignity (as we see in the quote above by St. Pope Pius
X). History shows that this has wreaked havoc on the Church. Bishop Arius is a
good example. The Arian heresy caused about 80% of the clergy in the east to
fall away from the Faith. And many went along, not because they understood that
one heresy, but because they simply followed their clergy into it.
St. Paul seemed to warn us of different doctrine when it comes from a source
with a special office or dignity: "...there are some that trouble you, and would
pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a
gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.
As we said: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have
received, let him be anathema." (Gal. 1:7-9) St. Paul gives us a principle to
remember: "brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned,
whether by word, or by our epistle." (2 Thess. 2:14) Immutable truth is found in
tradition. Many people today recognize the heresies that are infesting the
Church and are trying to heed St. Paul's words.
An ordinary Catholic not long ago mentioned the disturbing fact that his
parish priest in Pennsylvania was telling his flock that baptism wasn't
necessary! Had this happened hundreds of years ago, even with the then slow
communication and transportation, he would today be as infamous a heretic as a
Zwingli, Donatus or Calvin! Today, however, this priest casually goes his way of
destroying souls.
Many Catholics today have to be extra vigilant because these heretics are not
being condemned, and can be found in many parishes. Some of these vigilant
Catholics call themselves "traditional Catholics" to distinguish themselves from
those who are not standing fast to the traditions. The term, however, is a
redundant one: Catholicism, as we have seen, is essentially traditional. Calling
a Catholic "traditional" is like calling a circle "round", or saying "a
three-sided triangle". But the term today seems to take on a certain necessity
of use in order to counteract those who have broken with tradition but still
call themselves "Catholic". Unfortunately, there are several different flavors
of these "traditionalists", but regardless of our feelings toward them, we must
be aware NOT to let our feelings lessen the love we should all have for
tradition, which is the touchstone of Catholicism. No one is above tradition.
We read the strong words of St. Paul - "though we, or an angel from heaven".
These are words which include the warning that the office even of a Pope, could
be used to spread heresy. Of course, in such a case, there would be an
"anti-pope" and not a real one. So effective is the Sheep's Clothing of
"ecclesiastical office" in promoting error that St. Bernard, Cardinal Newman,
and others, logically believed that the only way the Anti-Christ could possibly
be so effective in creating a "great apostasy" among Catholics is by becoming an
"anti-pope" whom the Catholic world at large would think is a valid Pope. (see
article ANTICHRIST in "Catholic Encyclopedia")
So we see:
1) How easily one can fall into error and cease to be
Catholic.
2) How prevalent error is today.
3) How serious adherence to
tradition is.
4) The True meaning of Doctrinal Development.
5) The
Sheep's clothing of both "ecclesiastical office" and "evolution of truth". The
principle at the heart of this all: Catholic Truth is immutable. It has
not, cannot, and will not change. It would be well to read quotes from the
Church declaring this crucially important truth.
The Solemn oath taken before God and imposed on all priests from 1910 to 1968
is very clear on the meaning of immutable truth: "I accept sincerely the
doctrine of faith transmitted from the apostles through the orthodox fathers,
always in the same sense and interpretation, even to us; and so I reject the
heretical invention of the evolution of dogmas, passing from one meaning to
another, different from that which the Church first had;....the absolute and
immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be
believed otherwise, may never be understood otherwise.....So I promise, so I
swear, so may God, etc."
"If anyone says: it may happen that to doctrines put forward by the Church,
sometimes, as knowledge advances, a meaning should be given different from what
the Church has understood and understands, let him be anathema." - Vatican
Council (1870)
St. Pius X, who called "modernism" the "summation of all heresy", condemned
the following: CONDEMNED "58. Truth is no more immutable than man himself, since
it evolved with him, in him, and through him." "...the error of the modernists,
who hold that dogmatic truth is not absolute but relative, that is, that it
changes according to the varying necessities of time and place and the varying
tendencies of the mind; that it is not contained in an immutable tradition, but
can be altered to suit the needs of human life."
Baltimore Catechism:
Q. 546. Can the Church change its laws?
A. The
Church can, when necessary, change the laws it has itself made, but it cannot
change the laws that Christ has made. Neither can the Church change any
doctrine of faith or morals.
Q. 568. Does the Church, by defining
certain truths, thereby make new doctrines?
A. The Church, by defining, that
is, by proclaiming certain truths, articles of faith, does not make new
doctrines, but simply teaches more clearly and with greater effort truths that
have always been believed and held by the Church.
(c) 1997 The Catholic Dispatch
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