Spiritual Darkness in the Catholic Church

My friend 7lb. Dave is a Traditionalist Catholic, which means he attends the Tridentine Latin Mass on Sunday, and wouldn`t be caught dead in what they refer to as the ``Novus Ordo``; the vernacular Mass. (I stress the Tridentine because the Vernacular Mass has some different rituals placed by the Church in the spirit of Ecumenism after Vatican II, and there is a Latin Mass which merely translates the Novus Ordo into Latin. Something many Catholics do not know is that Vatican II invited a number of Protestant Ministers from different denominations to consult on changes to the Mass to make it more palatable to Protestants in the hopes that they could be wooed back.) Dave became a Traditionalist because he grew disgusted with the antics that he witnessed week after week at his local parish church. The priests never spoke about anything of importance during their sermons in fear of offending parishioners; this includes a fear of upholding the most basic of Catholic tenants, such as opposition to abortion, to adultery, to covetousness, homosexuality, etc. The parishes have been replacing substantive Catholicism with tawdry ``fun`` things like doing the wave (just like a crowd at a football game), wearing Santa suits at Christmas, or bunny ears at Easter, talking about environmentalism or ``peace activism``, etc. He became fed up.

I can`t say I blame him, although I still attend the Novus Ordo (mostly through lethargy); people come to Church dressed for a beach party, with girls half naked chewing gum or dozing in the stained-glass sun. Children bring their entire toyboxes, because they remain unsupervised while the parents sleep through the sermons. I can`t blame them for that; the sermons are cotton-candy sweetness, or dry as white toast with NO substance or relevance. Often the priests tell stories about their personal lives which elicit a hearty ``who cares``! at least from me. On Christmas Day, the Monsignior`s sermon was about advertising floodlights, and how Christ represents light. He then had children come to the altar to open wrapped boxes, looking for the light. (Hew!) Talking about children, and using children, is a big one; I have no doubt the priests were told that people respond to children (how often did we hear that from Bill Clinton?) so they inject them in at every point possible.

In short, too many of the Novus Ordo churches are vacuous and empty, both spiritually and intellectually, and they have increasingly empty pews to match. Christ didn`t do things this way; he preached confidently, boldly about this world and the hereafter. He didn`t yammer on about shoulda`s and oughta`s in a mealymouthed fashion; he came right out with it in an authoritative manner! People were attracted to Jesus for this; he didn`t weigh conflicting authorities and scriptural passages as the Pharisees and Scribes were famous for doing. He spoke with authority. The modern Catholic Church no longer does that for fear of losing people-and they are losing them by droves as a result.

Then, too, liberalism and modernism have infected Catholicism badly, and the pedophile scandals illustrate this. These pedophiles were there because of encouragement at the seminary level, and because a culture which winked at this developed as a result.

At any rate, Dave is always sending me articles which illustrate fresh atrocities by the Novus Ordo Catholics. This piece illustrates the spiritual darkness which has enveloped the Church perfectly. Note, for example:

This week, the Paulist Center launched a three-year, $800,000 advertising and outreach campaign to attract Catholics who feel disenchanted with church teachings on gay marriage and other social issues, stressing that "everyone is truly welcome" at the center and that "questioning is encouraged."

The center's priests say the pain of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the closing of parishes in the region has also alienated many Catholics, and they say they want to seize on Christmastime as a moment to bring them back.


Now, does anybody see the incongruity of trying to woo back people who believe homosexuality should be normalized, then saying that sexual abuse scandals have driven them away? ``Questioning`` is not why people become Catholic; they do so for answers, not questions. It`s no wonder this is a small group-it`s guaranteed to stay that way!

Jesus issued orders to his disciples to shake the dust off their feet of any town that did not receive them; he never commanded that they try to lure all people. His philosophy was to invite all, but not to accept those who did not want to accept what He was teaching. The modern attitude calls for accepting all, no matter whether they abide by Church teaching or not.

In addition to running a food pantry, weekly sit-down supper for the homeless, and religious education classes for children, the center runs special ministries for gays and lesbians and for divorced and separated Catholics.

In crafting the message for their campaign, which began Sunday, the Paulists relied on market research techniques more commonly associated with a political campaign or a retail outlet. This summer, the director of the center, the Rev. John B. Ardis, hired a veteran political strategist, Douglas J. Hattaway, to figure out why members like the center and how to market it to a wider audience.

Hattaway, who was Al Gore's spokesman in 2000 and an adviser to Governor-elect Deval Patrick this year, compiled the results into PowerPoint slides with bullet points.

The key findings show that members like the center because they see it as a home that "offers acceptance, answers questions, feeds, nurtures, and unites an otherwise scattered family." Members like singing hymns at the center, where lyrics are projected onto a wall behind the altar. And they like the focus on helping the poor.


I`m sorry, but people have better things to do with their time than sing hymns to a bouncing ball. If sacredness is removed from Christianity, you merely have a social club like the Optimists or Lion`s Club. Why bother with a liberal church? You can certainly have a better time drinking beer with your buddies at the Masonic Lodge than serving time with a bunch of nincompoops, pedophiles, and usundry perverts invited by Al Gore`s former spokesman.

What religions are growing in the modern era? Islam is growing by leaps and bounds. The strict evangelical sects are the Christian churches which are gaining members. Why? What do they have in common? They both offer a bedrock to support the believer, that`s what. There is no relativism in either Islam or the Christian Fundamentalist, and people are attracted to this. Someone is actually telling them that, yes, there are absolutes, there is a line in the sand that thou shalt not cross. We have been told for decades that we cannot judge sin, that there is no objective right and wrong and so we have to stumble about in the darkness. People don`t want to stumble around in the darkness, unless they are in a state of sin in which case they want to hide their sins by clouding everyone`s vision. The person who will go to church is going there for clarity, but the church, fearful of offending the sinners, refuses to offer any clarity, but allows the skies to remain cloudy and dark. Jesus didn`t do that-and people flocked to Him. Why this lesson is lost on the Catholic Church is beyond me.

If there is not a major turnaround by the Catholic Heirarchy, Catholicism will continue it`s long and painful slide. Priests and Bishops will have to answer to God for that!