Weekend reading: The Solemn Enthronement of Evolution in the Church May 16, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, catachesis, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Papa, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society.comments closed
Boniface at Unam Sanctam Catholicam hits one out of the park with this lengthy examination on how Church leadership over the past century and a half have radically changed the Church’s public position regarding the theory of the evolution of species. He goes through the history of the, uh…….evolution of the Church’s position regarding Darwinian evolution, and shows how initial hostility and denunciations have morphed into not just acceptance, but seeming endorsements that there is nothing in the theory of evolution that is counter to Scripture or Tradition.
This is a very troubling position to take, as so much error spins out from acceptance of evolution that it is one of the more common ways people fall away from the Faith. But Boniface shows, in a very well researched and supported piece, that Church leadership, especially since Vatican II, has all but enthroned the theory of evolution as some kind of scientific doctrine of the Faith. The piece is lengthy, but very much worth your time. It should make excellent reading.
Some brief excerpts from the beginning and end of the piece (I add comments, emphasis):
While it is an established point of our faith that the Church cannot change teachings that have been definitively proposed to the faithful for belief, the about-face the Catholic Church has done on the question of evolution since the mid-19th century is nothing short of revolutionary – revolutionary in the most literal sense of the word, “to turn around”, for the Church has done just that, turned around on its approach to evolution and questions surrounding the origin of human life. In this article, we will trace the origins of the Church’s interaction with evolutionary theology and witness how, while the papacy of the 19th century condemned evolution as incompatible with Christian theology, the late 20th century Magisterium has essentially enthroned the theory as a permanent fixture of Catholic thought. The two most influential theologians behind this enthronement were none other than Teilhard de Chardin and Joseph Ratzinger. [I was certainly aware of the former’s role in creating a heretical vision of Catholicism that was subordinate to the theory of evolution in every regard. In fact, much of the modernist heresy grew out of attempts to reconcile Catholicism with Darwinian evolution, with the evolution always predominate. But I was quite unaware of Joseph Ratzinger’s involvement in this whole process, and that part of the study was most eye-opening. Reading this was akin to me to seeing photos of Pope Saint John Paul II kissing the koran.]
Now, from the conclusion:
Meanwhile the modern Magisterium has continued to promote evolution as a viable cosmology and speaks out against attempts to return to the traditional understanding of creation.[And that latter bit is even more significant than the former. It is yet another indication of the new religion unleashed in the past few decades] John Paul II’s words to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in which he remarked that evolution “is more than a hypothesis”, are well known [33]. In 2005, the chief Vatican astronomer Fr. George Coyne said that “If [Catholics] respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of modern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God or a designer God” and stated that attempts to discern design in the created order are “not science” [34]. So much for St. Paul’s teaching in Romans 1 that the Creator can be discerned from the creation! Cardinal Schönborn also enthusiastically endorses evolution – and not only evolution, but Darwinian evolution: “Without a doubt, Darwin pulled off quite a feat with his main work and it remains one of the very great works of intellectual history. I see no problem combining belief in the Creator with the theory of evolution” [35]. This should come as no surprise, considering the Cardinal’s gushing appraisal of the work of Teilhard.
Essentially, what we have witnessed is nothing other than the solemn enthronement of evolution as a viable explanation for the origins of humanity. Although the last official pronouncement on the matter remains Pius XII’s Humani Generis, few Catholic theologians today are willing to admit the existence of a literal Adam and Eve, and most have not worked out how this can work with the Church’s doctrine of original sin.[Indeed, if Genesis 1-3 are simply mythology, then the entire economy of salvation falls apart, or becomes, at best, a sort of symbolic, ethereal spiritualism without concrete reality. Acceptance of evolution leads, almost invariably, to denial of the Incarnation of God] Those who have tried to formulate a resolution have, like Ratzinger, tried to inject more evolutionary theory into the Faith to solve the problems posed by evolutionary theory, such as advocating polygenism or novel understandings of original sin. We have also witnessed the theological precision demonstrated by the careful inquiries of the late 1800’s lost as the limits of what is acceptable continue to be pushed by evolutionist theologians. Contrast the 1895 opinion of Fr. Buonpensiere that any attempt to harmonize evolution and creation was damaging to the faith to Cardinal Schönborn’s opinion that there is “no problem” reconciling Darwinism and the Faith, of Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi’s 2009 comment that “The Catholic Church cannot change its teaching when that teaching has been definitively proposed for the faithful. However, in the question of evolution and its theological import, we have seen something very close to a revolution in the past generation – a revolution in support of a theory which Pope St. Pius X predicted would be the “wreck of all religion” [Indeed. One can track the collapse of various protestant sects with the widespread acceptance within those sects of Darwinian evolution, and find that there is a very close correlation between the two. But we’re so much more sophisticated now! That’s why our churches and seminaries and religious houses are full to overflowing! And it’s such a gorgeous spring!]
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My thanks to Boniface for taking the time to write this most illuminating manuscript. Please check out the entire Unam Sanctam Catholicam site, it is a treasure of catechesis and traditional formation.
My Lord, do we have so very much to pray for.
Singing nun Sister Christina jumps the shark May 16, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, disconcerting, error, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, secularism, sexual depravity, Society.comments closed
Yeah, it’s like that:
I remained sort of ambivalent when I first saw Sister Christina on the Italian version of “The Voice” TV show. I thought, while I didn’t really think what she was singing was the most appropriate material, maybe she could give some witness to some lost souls, but that temptations would be great to give into the dominant sexular pagan sensibilities.
Well, see the below, and see if you feel like I do, that Sister Christina, whatever her intentions, has jumped the Catholic shark:
So……mocking religious life? Is it too harsh to say that this nightmare sort of sends the message that inside every religious is a scantily clad pagan dancer just waiting to burst out?
I find this offensive. I really do. I haven’t bothered to dig into Sister Christina’s order, much, the habit is on the orthodox-but-not-traditional side.
But the above is just a trainwreck.
I have no idea if the producers choose the songs they have to sing, but I’m not sure the message in the song below, an old Cindy Lauper hit, is the best one to communicate to youth, Catholic or otherwise:
It really just goes to prove my point, that unless you are an incredible Saint, when it comes down to trying to engage the culture on its terms, the culture will eat you every. single. time.
And the culture is eating the Church, too, since the Church decided to try to play footsie with it.
That is why, for centuries, the Church kept itself around but not in the culture. It remained very carefully, deliberately aloof, at least as a sort of high-level philosophical orientation. The Church did this because she was full of wise men and women who knew that the temptations of the world are overwhelming for all but the most advanced in the spiritual life. And it knew those temptations the world (and the flesh, and the devil) loves to lay at our feet were overpowering for most souls.
I pray for Sister Christina, as I said in my original post, it’s going to be a miracle if she doesn’t lose her vocation over this.
And if Pat Archbold reads this, how much does this confirm your own post?
I will admit, this nun has an incredible voice. It’s just a shame it’s being put to such poor uses.
St. Robert Bellarmine on hell May 16, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, catachesis, disaster, Four Last Things, General Catholic, horror, Saints, Spiritual Warfare, the enemy, Tradition.comments closed
The following quotes I am pulling straight from Fr. Carota’s site. I don’t know about y0u, but I find it salutary to hear reminders of what hell is like to help me focus on my need to convert and perform better examinations of conscience.
So many today want to pretend that hell does not exist, or, at the least, that it is essentially unpopulated, but this incredibly widespread and pernicious error is completely counter to both Scripture and Tradition, and it is but a testimony to man’s sinful nature and constant willingness to prefer happy lies to the truth.
Indeed, the punishment of sinners in Hell will be many and complete, that is, unmixed with any consolations, and, what infinitely increases their misery, they will be everlasting. 
They will be many, I say, because each of the faculties of the soul and each of the five senses of the body will have its torments.
Weigh the words of this sentence of the Supreme Judge that is found in the Gospel, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire” (Mt 25:41).
“Depart from Me,” he says, that is, move away from the fellowship of the blessed, remain deprived forever of the vision of God, which is the highest and essential happiness and ultimate end for which you were created.
“Accursed ones,” that is, cherish no further hope for any kind of blessing; you are deprived of any life of grace, any hope of salvation; the water of wisdom will no more rain upon you, nor the dew of good inspirations. No longer will the ray of celestial light enlighten you, nor will the grace of repentance sprout in you, nor the flower of charity nor the fruit of good works. He who comes from on High (Lk 1:78) will never again visit you from that moment on; you will lack, not only spiritual goods but also material ones, not only eternal benefits but also temporal ones. For you there will be no riches, no pleasures, no consolation, but you will be like the fig tree that 
I cursed, which immediately dried up, roots and all (Mt 21:19).
He says, “Into the fire,” that is, into the furnace of blazing and inextinguishable fire which will take hold not of one member, but of all your members at the same time and burn them with the sharpest pain.
“Everlasting,” that is, into the fire which does not need to be fed with wood to keep burning forever, but is whipped up by the breath of Almighty God so that as your guilt will never be destroyed, so there will never be an end to your punishment.
Rightly then does the prophet Isaiah exclaim, “Which of you can dwell inside a devouring fire? Which of you can dwell amidst the eternal flames?” (Is 33:14) By this he says that absolutely no one can support that fire patiently, but the damned will be forced against their will to bear it in impatience, anger and despair.
These words are repeated more than once by Our Lord in St. Mark’s Gospel (Mk 9:43, 45, 47). Their remorse of the conscience will increase with the memory of the times when the sinners, had they wanted, could have escaped those punishments with a little effort and enjoyed the everlasting joys of Paradise.
No one should think that the damned ones can find a little relief by walking about and changing their places. Hear what the Lord Himself says: “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him forth into the darkness outside where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Mt 22:13).
Therefore, those wretches, bound hand and foot by eternal chains, will lie forever in the same place, deprived of the light of the sun, moon and stars, scorched by burning fire, weeping and lamenting and gnashing their teeth in their fury and despair. [Indeed, in total darkness, utterly alone, with no comfort of any kind, experiencing unimaginable tortures, forever. And it is a prison of their own making, of our own making if we are not saved]
Those who will be thrust down into that place full of horror will suffer not only the most terrible pain in the 
eternal fire, but also the absolute privation of all things, as well as shame and disgrace full of acute embarrassment and confusion. Indeed, in a flash they will lose their palaces, fields, vineyards, flocks, oxen, clothing, as well as their gold, silver and precious gems, and will be reduced to such destitution that the rich banqueter will desire and beg for a drop of cold water, but will not be heard (Lk 16:24-26). …
If what we have said about the loss of all goods, both heavenly and earthly, and about the bitter pains, ignominy and shame, were to have an end or at least were mixed with some sort of consolation or relief, as it happens with all the miseries of this life, then they might be considered tolerable in some way. However, it is absolutely certain and beyond any doubt that, just as the happiness of the blessed will be perpetual and without any afflictions, so the unhappiness of the damned will last forever without any relief.
Those who do not make every effort to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal happiness, regardless of any trials and dangers and shame and death, which the Apostle calls light and passing (2 Cor 4”17), must indeed be blind men and fools.
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We hear people say, possibly jokingly in a profoundly stupid way, that they would prefer hell, because that’s where their friends will be. No one has any friends in hell. For the most part souls are totally alone there, but in places I have read that there are parts of hell where souls are jammed tight together, constantly fighting and 
hating each other in their misery. But there is absolutely nothing pleasant about any of this, it is a place of unmitigated suffering.
Another factor not mentioned above is the stench. One whiff of the horrible stench of hell is enough to kill a mortal man, according to many Saints. It is the smell of burning sulfur, rotting flesh, choking fumes…….the smell alone is enough to drive a man mad. Then there is the constant, horrific noise, the shrieks of the sufferings and the maniacal laughter and howls of the demons.
Hell is very real. Many Saints have attested to this. Many have seen visions of hell. So beg God’s mercy that you may be converted and live, and not suffer the eternal torments of the damned.
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