St. Edmund Campion in his writings referred to the "proud ignorance" of the new Protestants, who refused to learn the teachings of the Catholic Church or renounced these. One could use the term "arrogance" as well. All those who hold in their hearts some rebellion against the teachings of the Catholic Church must look at the reality of a stubborn refusal to look at the truth.
Proud ignorance could be another label for the anti-intellectualism I have been writing about in the past several days and in the months before now on this blog
A person who refuses to learn does so at the risk of losing his own soul.
Why?
Because we are all made in the image and likeness of God, with free will and the intellect, God calls us to use both daily. In this way we either become more like God, having, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux states, kept the image but lost the likeness in Original Sin, meaning humans lost grace, or we become less like God.
We grow in holiness or we slid back into sin and death. Pursuing God, we grow to be what He created us to be.
This growth, and the recapturing of the state of innocence lost by our first parents, leads to humility, which allows each one of us to learn, and finally, arrive at perfection.
Humility drives out proud ignorance. Obedience to the teachings of the Catholic Church drives out proud ignorance. Timely words from a great saint and martyr challenge us today.
