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Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
June 2006
THANKS FROM THE VATICAN
Thank you for News Notes from San Diego.
Blessed Easter!
Cardinal Roger Etchegaray
Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, Vatican City
COME BACK TO TRADITION
It is always good to read about new members of the Mystical Body of Christ [see "Long Journey to Rome," by Anny Krestyn, May 2006 News Notes] -- the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church -- outside of which, neither holiness nor salvation can be found (a Dogma infallibly defined by Holy Church not once, but three times, ex-cathedra).
But in these days of the search for "unity", and I might add, in an atmosphere of indifferentism, it can be a tricky task to understand just why someone "converts" to the Church that Our Lord Himself founded upon the rock of St. Peter. What makes this even more "tricky," is when the interviewer asks softball questions and does not enquire further when references are made to renewal or "charismatic" and the like. How come? Are these novelties now the "norm" in the Church? It sounds as though they are, but they aren't!
Mr. Cumbie fully embraces such novelties in his new Church, or should I say the novelties engendered by "the spirit of Vatican II" (that he, himself makes reference to) and the Modernists, through the use of ambiguity and double-speak; a key tactic of the "periti" who advised the more liberal (gullible) bishops of that council.
Let me be very clear here, to think that the Church needs "renewal," of whatever sort, is to say that for the last 2,000 years, the Holy Ghost -- the Paraclete -- was lacking something; didn't reveal all Truth; that the Protestant Revolutionaries of the 16th Century were right -- the Church has failed, and man must "renew" It.
Mr. Cumbie sights the Second Vatican Council as "renewal" itself when he says: "I think the Vatican Council was about this renewal." He also says: "...I believe ... that the Second Vatican Council is the voice of God to the Church. It is the magisterium. There's no arguing with that."
At this point (at least!) the interviewer, Anna Krestyn, should have flown off her chair in utter disbelief! Does she know what constitutes the Magisterium? Does Mr. Cumbie know what constitutes the Magisterium? Apparently not, for he admits that he is the "new kid on the block," and that he is no theologian. Neither am I, but we at least have to know what qualifies as the Magisterium. If we do not, then we fall prey to those novelties that even the hierarchy have fostered upon an unsuspecting and uneducated faithful in the form of "renewal," "the charismatic movement" and so many others.
In short, not everything that emanates from a Church council or from the mouth of the Pope himself becomes part of the Ordinary Magisterium. But what is the Magisterium are the doctrines that have "always and everywhere" been believed and taught, as well as the teachings that are binding on the consciences of all Catholics, such as Pope Paul VI's (hated!) encyclical: Humanae Vitae. If a "teaching" or promulgation of a pope or council flies in the face of tradition or contradicts the Faith, or a previous dogmatic council, then it does not qualify as "the Magisterium."
The Second Vatican Council was not a Dogmatic council! Therefore, all that emanated from that Council must be looked at in light of what has been infallibly defined by previous Dogmatic councils (and "always and everywhere" taught and believed).
Why the hermeneutics? Because of the necessity to counter the ambiguities that has lead Mr. Cumbie, and many others, to consider that the Second Vatican Council called for "renewal" of the Church (in order to make it more meaningful to today's problems --to take a phrase from St. Anthony the Abbot of the fourth century).
Also, Mr. Cumbie has not quite left his Protestantism behind him in embracing the charismaticism that allows him to think that the Holy Ghost is speaking directly to him (and others), in tongues, no less! Very Protestant! Besides, how do these people know that it is the Holy Ghost "speaking" to them and not the Evil One causing confusion and doubt?
Is it this "renewal" that finally drew Mr. Cumbie into the Catholic Church? Or is it the fact that outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation? Which is it, Mr. Cumbie?
Also, Mr. Cumbie says that 33 percent of Catholics still attend Mass regularly; not so, it is at 15 percent or less. But statistics are a barometer of the symptoms, not the cause -- a cause that Mr. Cumbie does not have a handle on, or, if he does, he dares not mention.
We must welcome our separated brethren back to the one fold that affords us the opportunity to achieve justification, and, through perseverance, salvation. But, the "excess baggage" of a former "religion" must be left behind; we must embrace the Catholic Faith -- unadulterated and untainted by the novelties of the time and modernist men. Truth, Mr. Cumbie, cannot be divided into "part Catholic" and "part" something else. The new order of things is that "something else." God Bless you, but come ALL the way back -- back to tradition.
Eugene R. De Lalla,
Troy, New Hampshire