Archbishop Lefebvre wrote his most famous and controversial volume entitled, An open letter to confused Catholics back in the early 1970’s and I remember my reaction upon being handed the book: “but I’m not confused, what rubbish!” Despite the strange goings-on in my local parish in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, I was in no mood to perform a volte face and suddenly make a heroic stand in defence of the pre-Vatican II regime. The saintly Archbishop’s widely reported condemnations cut no ice with me at the time, nor with anyone else I knew. To be frank we all thought he was a bit, well, you know, off the wall. I remember at about that time the Catholic Universe publishing a commentary on a list of books which it had for sale, one of which was An Open Letter to Confused Catholics, describing it as ‘an interesting theory about the modernists taking over the Catholic Church.’
So, what has changed? From my indifference in the 1970’s, through a period of giving up religion completely in my university days, I have now arrived at the position of someone who has embraced whole-heartedly the Son of God and the Church which He founded, the Roman Catholic Church. I hasten to pre-empt the cynic who assumes that I am some kind of ‘born again’ fanatic along the lines of Billy Graham. Not at all: true love of God cannot be emotional but has to be supernatural. Not a ‘funny inside feeling’ but a state of complete trust in our creator, an utter reliance on His providence and, above all, a desire to please Him in everything I think, say, and do.
Human beings need to know from whence they came, where they are and where they are going. Many resist these burning questions by distracting themselves with daily concerns but, deep down, they ponder these issues.
True love which is completely unselfish, and which exists to a much lesser extent between married couples, guarantees the success of the union. To be able to give, and not count the cost, is paramount in one’s relationship with God and it is this gift of love which makes the world go round. Above all, love of God should not be conditional on the receipt of warm inside feelings and other emotional consolations, much beloved of the charismatics.
Coldness and indifference are the chief enemies of the Catholic Faith nowadays. When I talk about religion to my friends and relations I see in their eyes a blank and bemused stare. Yes, they go to Church but not if a Sunday barbecue is in the offing. Unless Catholics pray and ask God for the gift of supernatural love their religion is utterly vain and a complete waste of time. It is impossible to save one’s soul without this gift because it generates a proper prayer life, not simply treating God like a heavenly Father Christmas, but prostrating oneself in humility before the heavenly throne. If you do not pray you are damned! There, I’ve said it! (Actually, it was St Alphonsus.)
Catholics have to be in love with Our Lord, everything depends on it. Although this love of God is an act of the will, we cannot hope to acquire it on our own and we need divine grace to form and nurture this love. There is plenty to love in Our Lord, such as his perfection and his wisdom. There is also plenty to love in the Catholic Church, such as incense, Palestrina, vestments and architecture, but these are only aids to supernatural love. It is obvious to me that visiting the New Rite of Mass in one’s local parish, listening to out of tune guitars or a corny sermon delivered over a faulty loudspeaker system, and then receiving communion in the hand, does not lead one to develop a love of Our Saviour. In a similar way, addiction to Renaissance art or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion will not supply the supernatural love which is essential in order to be a serious Catholic. These features, which really amount to ‘props’ may well engender an emotional love, but we all know how fickle emotions are. The only way to kick-start a spiritual life is to ask God for the necessary humility - God is everything and we are nothing.
So, what right have I to lecture other Catholics? My answer is a simple one; I myself have been pulled through the hawthorn hedge backwards and have suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries in the Catholic Church. I know what defeat and misery feels like.
‘The Faith is absolutely satisfactory to the mind, enlisting all knowledge and reason in its cause, that it is completely compelling to any who give it an indifferent and quiet audience.’ So wrote St. Edmund Campion in his ‘brag’ which was disseminated round the churches in Oxford in 1580. Human beings need to know from whence they came, where they are and where they are going. Many resist these burning questions by distracting themselves with daily concerns but, deep down, they ponder these issues. When things are going well, they get even more distracted. In bad times they often fall into despair because they conclude that there is nothing out there beyond the here-and-now. What Campion is saying is that the Catholic Church has all the answers.
Now it is obvious to me that the post-Vatican II Church has given up on its divinely mandated mission to teach all nations. Its clergy, from the Holy Father downwards, do not see things in the same way as the 16th century Jesuits, such as Campion. Things have reached such a pretty pass nowadays that, far from being the answer to the problems of the world, the Church has become very much part of the problem.
As we observe the melting down of society, and I do not believe that there is a single area of human activity that is not now in severe crisis, we need to abandon human solutions. Every problem in our lives and in the world has a supernatural cause and can only be solved through supernatural means.
I have used the term ‘bewildered’ in the title to this essay after much contemplation. When Archbishop Lefebvre wrote his letter to ‘confused’ Catholics that is exactly what they were even if they didn’t know it at the time. I think we have graduated from a state of confusion to one of bewilderment. This ‘bewilderment’ seems to me to be one step away from giving up religion completely. The problem today is that most Catholics do not know their faith as a result of decades of neglect in the education system. Ignorance of the faith inevitably leads to lapsation. The whole process of falling away from religion is hurried on by worldly clergy and extremely off-putting liturgies – all perfectly designed to turn most people away from the supernatural.
Can the Catholic Church now comprise many religions, some of them contradictory? The notion is preposterous. My advice to anyone trying to revive his faith is to ignore the utterings of Pope Francis and his clergy and stick to what the Catholic Church has always and everywhere taught throughout its history.
The tragedy through which we are living, is that most people, who have been worn down by years of beatings and betrayals at the hands of the modern Catholic Church, are by no means in the mood to embrace Catholic Tradition. Most of those who quit the Church never wish to return, and this is because the supernatural graces have been stamped out and they have become enmired in humanism or materialism. I cannot, therefore, expect this short piece to attract the attention of lapsed Catholics, not as if they would bother to read it in any case. I am addressing the vast majority of Catholics who, although still practising their faith, are almost certainly on the slide: down but not quite out.
So, what right have I to lecture other Catholics? My answer is a simple one; I myself have been pulled through the hawthorn hedge backwards and have suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries in the Catholic Church. I know what defeat and misery feels like. I know what it feels like to thirst for something which one cannot quite put one’s finger on. I know what religious coldness and indifference feels like and the lapsation which inevitably follows. I know what serious mortal sin feels like and the reluctance to make amends and make my peace with Almighty God. I know what it is like to bear the guilt of sin, which is unaffected by confession, where the priest says, “you’re just expressing your inner humanity!” I shudder as I remember the feeling of hopelessness as a lapsed Catholic, thinking that I’m now so bad that I can never get back. I am just a simple Catholic, perhaps more simple than Catholic, who has worked out for himself the answers to the deep problems in our world, only to find, like Chesterton, that it has all been thought of and said before, and many times over.
If you wish to recover your Catholic faith, not only is the world against you, as it has always been, but so is today’s official Catholic Church. Our Holy Father has just announced not only that God wills all religions, but that all religions lead to God. Why bother to be a Catholic if he is telling the truth?
Can the Catholic Church now comprise many religions, some of them contradictory? The notion is preposterous. My advice to anyone trying to revive his faith is to ignore the utterings of Pope Francis and his clergy and stick to what the Catholic Church has always and everywhere taught throughout its history. After all, that is what Catholics did up until our present age of mass media. If you pray for your conversion God always listens, regardless of the state of your soul. He will answer. Be careful what you wish for, though, because God can turn your whole life upside down!
Joseph Bevan has just published his memoirs, ‘Two Families.’ Os Justi Press. Available at most bookstores and also on Amazon books)
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