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DO POBRANIA: tapety : zip : pdf : radio : księgarnia	Religious Liberty - Quanta cura	Mirari Vos - Immortale dei - Libertass

Rev. Rama Coomaraswamy

CREED AND CULT IN THE POST-CONCILIAR CHURCH
A STUDY IN AGGIORNAMENTO (part 11)

Consider the new doctrine on Religious Liberty, a doctrine clearly condemned by Encyclicals Quanta Cura (Pius IX), Mirari Vos(Gregory XVI), Immortale Dei (Leo XIII), Libertas (Pius XII) and the Syllabus of Errors. (...) Yet this is precisely what Vatican II's doctrinal 'development' on Religious Liberty does. As Father John Courtney Murray, one of the more important Periti (experts) of the Council tells us, 'the course of the development between the Syllabus of Errors (1864) and Dignitatis Humanae Personae (1965) still remains to be explained by theologians. But the Council formally sanctioned the validity of the development itself; and this was a doctrinal event of high importance.' Another Jesuit Peritus, Father Campion, has no doubts. For him the Document Lumen Gentium 'makes a precious contribution to the work or doctrinal development'. Similarly, Father Avery Dulles, S.J., yet another of those periti who really ran the Council, tells us:

'While stressing that God's self-revelation reached its unsurpassable fullness in Christ, the Council left ample room for development in the Church's assimilation of that fullness in new and unpredictable ways. Without using the term 'continuing revelation', Vatican II allowed for something of the kind. Echoing a favorite term of John XXIII, it spoke repeatedly of the need to discern the 'signs of the times' through which God continues to address his people.'

The proof however lies, not in the statements of these periti, but in the fact that from this doctrine flows the Council's advocacy or ecumenism, communicatio in sacris, the idea Catholic states should not restrict the activities of heretics, the idea that unity only 'subsists' in the Catholic Church and that the actions of 'communities' which do not even believe in God 'can truly engender a life of graces', the idea that it is the 'internal mission' of the Church to foster the unity of all men regardless of their beliefs and to foster the development of a new 'humanism', and the idea that the Church should 'Dialogue' with heretics and atheists 'on an equal footing'. My God, how can those entrusted with teaching Christ's doctrines, those who speak with the words of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Joan Chrysostom, ever Dialogue with liberal Protestants, Humanists, Socialists, Atheists and village idiots 'on an equal footing'...

And so we see that under the smokescreen of 'development,' we have a change. Acorns are growing into pine trees. Doctrine has indeed 'evolved' and 'ongoing revelation' is allowed for. Such was never the case within the traditional Church, which eschewed all innovation and firmly held that truth by its very nature could not evolve. The Oath against Modernism, once required of every cleric at every stage of his advancement in Holy Orders, says 'we must entirely reject the heretical theory of the evolution of dogmas, viz. that they change from one meaning to another, different from the one which the Church previously held'. Pius IX is even more specific. He tells us that in the Church founded by Christ, 'truth must always remain stable and impervious to all change; for the purpose of preserving absolutely intact the deposit which has been confided to her, and for the protection of which the presence and help of the Holy Ghost has been promised to her for all time.' (Jam Vos Omnes)

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There are still other doctrinal 'developments' to consider. I would ask you to remember that Paul VI told us the Council was 'not so much a destination as a point of departure towards new goals...', and that John-Paul II has repeatedly stated his intention to 'develop the inheritance which he receives from John XXIII and above all from his ‘spiritual father', Paul VI. I would also ask you to remember that John Paul II was one of the principal contributors to the Document entitled 'The Church in the Modern World', and that he considers that 'the principle task or his pontificate' is 'a coherent realization of the teachings and directives of Vatican II.... Obedience to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council is obedience to the Holy Spirit' (Sacred College of Cardinals, 1979). Because it is possible that I am guilty of less than perfect objectivity; and because John Paul II has recently informed us that he intends to interpret these documents 'according to tradition'; and because it is claimed that he intends to bring the Church back to her traditional roots, I shall in what follows try to quote the Conciliar documents and then give you his interpretations of them.