I have lost a fifth of my readers since I started the Knowledge of Divine Things series. I am not surprised.
Again, many people believe that politics and Church politics are the way to change the world.
No. Without Catholics learning to think like Catholics, we have lost the political battles.
Knowing one's self, God, one's faith, and acting out of reason must be the real "new evangelism". We need aggressively reason-based courses for adult Catholics to stop the hemorrhaging of people from the Church into Protestantism and charismatic cults.
Jansenism, Neo-Pelagianism, Pelagianism, Modernism and most of the other heresies have crept into sermons, catechetical groups and bible studies. I have witnessed this since the 1970s. The proliferaton of people at the top choosing teachers and catechetical leaders, who think in prostestant ways and choose those who do as well, is one reason I do not work in the Church. I am, simply, too Catholic. I think like a Catholic.
Without a philosophical approach, theology crumbles into personal opinion without an understanding of who Christ is, who Mary is, what the Church is, who we are....and so on.
Last week, a young man moving towards ordination told me that the Church needs "aggressive, sophisticated adult education". That is what I am trying to do on this blog.
Obviously, I am failing in my attempt to make the connection between the chaos in the Church and heresies--which are faulty thinking on the nature of Christ, usually, and the nature of man, as well as the nature of society.
I shall plunge ahead, speaking to the remnant, who understand that without a framework of thinking, conversion inside and outside of the Church will not happen, and the Church will end up a small, persecuted group of people who have prayed, reflected, obeyed. Very small....a very small remnant...
Of course, the huge problem is that in seminaries and Catholic universities alike, St. John Paul II's apostolic constitution, EX CORDE ECCLESIAE in the second level of infallibility has systematically been ignored by rectors, bishops, cardinals especially in the United States...a sign of gross disobedience.
I thank those faithful readers who continue to follow this blog for their readiness to learn.
I hope those who have jumped ship in the past week will join us again. Time is short for having the freedom to speak out on religious teaching. from this little heart in the Church.