(Part one)
The roots of Modernism go back to the French Revolution’s ‘Declaration of The Rights of Man’ which promoted the concepts of religious pluralism, equality of religions, separation of Church and State etc. It was influenced by the Protestant Rebellion of Martin Luther who adopted the philosophy of nominalism which embraced the physical world as reality while dumbing down supernatural integration.
From an essay by John Vennari in Catholic Family News, he informs us of a little known document, “The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita’, a secret document written in the early 19th century that mapped a blue print for the subversion of the Catholic Church. The authors were members of a society known as Carbonari which had links with Freemasonry.
The following is an excerpt from Vennari’s essay which indicates how the ranks of Modernism were swelled through the influence of Freemasonry.
“The Instruction called for the dissemination of liberal ideas and axioms throughout society and within the institutions of the Catholic Church so that laity, clerics and prelates would, over the years, gradually be imbued with progressive principles.
In time, this mind-set would be so pervasive that priests would be ordained, bishops would be consecrated, and cardinals would be nominated whose thinking was in step with the modern thought rooted in the French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Eventually, a Pope would be elected from these ranks who would lead the Church on the path of enlightenment and renewal. It must be stressed that it was not their aim to place a Freemason on the Chair of Peter. Their goal was to effect an environment that would eventually produce a Pope and a hierarchy won over to the ideas of liberal Catholicism, all the while believing themselves to be faithful Catholics.”
In the 1800s Pope Pius IX tried to address the problem when it was called Liberalism. By the 1900s its adherents referred to themselves as Modernists and they had become such a force that Pope St. Pius X commissioned an Inquisition into their teachings. From this inquisition was compiled a list of sixty five heretical teachings (Known as the Syllabus of Errors) being taught by theologians and which Pope Pius condemned and proscribed by a formal decree. Coupled with his requirement for all theologians and priests to sign a solemn oath rejecting Modernism, Pope St. Pius X was able to slam on the brakes, at least until the time of Vatican II. Describing themselves as the real experts in Scripture exegesis and the doctrinal and moral teachings of the Church, they decided that there was a crisis in the Church, which only they recognized, and proceeded to teach seminarians and the laity their new plan to fix the Church.
It will be revealing for us to cite a few of these heretical teachings to gain an understanding of just how invasive they were and how it continues to influence what is happening in our Church today.
(1) ERROR: “The ecclesiastical law which prescribes that books concerning the Divine Scriptures are subject to previous examination does not apply to critical scholars and students of scientific exegesis of the Old and New Testament.”
From the perspective of the Modernist, they are of such superior intelligence that they should not be subject to obedience to mere bishops or even popes. As Dr. Paul Lakeland says in one of his books that he has not met a bishop who he would consider as intelligent as most of his fellow theologians.
(2) ERROR: “The Church’s interpretation of the Sacred Books is by no means to be rejected, nevertheless, it is subject to the more accurate judgement and correction of the exegetes.”
From this we can see that the Modernist theologians wish to ignore the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit to guide the popes and bishops of the Church and attempt to supplant their authority.
(9) ERROR: “They display excessive simplicity or ignorance who believe that God is really the author of the Sacred Scriptures.”
In the Catechism of The Catholic Church (CCC), article 81, teaches, “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.”(See also Vatican II, Dei Verbum, Article 9)
This anti-Catholic declaration demonstrates that Modernists have no Supernatural Faith. This same ploy is used by atheists who would declare from their self-description as being of superior intelligence that anyone who believes in God is excessively simple or ignorant. It is interesting that Pope St. Pius X has said that agnosticism is the philosophical foundation of Modernism which leads to materialism and then to atheism. It could be gathered from this that many self-proclaimed Modernists are in fact atheists.
(12) ERROR: “If he wishes to apply himself usefully to Biblical studies, the exegete must first put aside all preconceived opinions about the supernatural origins of Sacred Scripture and interpret it the same way as any other merely human document.”
Again, a believing Catholic could not consider “…the speech of God” as a human document. This idea is promoted by Dr. Lakeland in his books. It is also interesting that many university psychology books instruct their students to put aside the idea of belief in God in order to successfully approach the subject.
(23) ERROR: “Opposition may and actually does, exist between the facts narrated in the Sacred Scripture and the Church’s dogmas which rest on them. Thus the critic may reject as false, facts the Church holds as most certain.”
A Catholic bishop, priest or theologian who adopts this belief and then goes on to swear a solemn oath to God, to teach what the Church teaches, makes of himself a fraud and a hypocrite. How will he escape being sentenced to hell?
(33) ERROR: “Everyone who is not led by preconceived opinions can readily see that either Jesus professed an error concerning the immediate Messianic coming or the greater part of His doctrine as contained in the Gospels is destitute of authenticity.”
This either/or assertion accusing Jesus of making an error or the Holy Spirit who guides the Church of making an error can only come from a non-believer. The bases that Modernists use for this assertion comes from a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures. The story is found in the Gospel of Matt. ch.16: 27 and 28, in Mk. ch.8:38-39 and in Lk. ch.9: 26-30. Using Matthew's gospel, ch. 16:27 in the dialogue between Jesus and his apostles, He is speaking about the final judgement at the end of time. “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.” In Matt. ch. 16:28, Jesus changes the subject and is foretelling the event of His Transfiguration which will occur six days later. Verse 28 says, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Peter, James and John are among those “standing here”. To maintain the context we must continue reading the next verses into Ch.17:1 -8, which is the description of Jesus’ Transfiguration on the mountain, “… And he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his garments became white as the light…behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.” (Matt. 17: 2 …5, 6 and 7). The cloud represents the presence of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God the Father comes from within the cloud. So, the apostles Peter, James and John witness the transformed “…Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.” This is a pre-figurement of Jesus’ resurrection and not the last judgement. Modernists ignore this interpretation and misrepresent the story to create the illusion that Jesus was wrong in his prediction.
(47) ERROR: “The words of the Lord, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained’ (Jn. 20:23-23), in no way refer to the Sacrament of Penance, in spite of what it pleased the Fathers of Trent to say.”
In his Encyclical, Pope St. Pius X, describes such Modernists as, ““Blind that they are, and leaders of the blind,…thinking not at all of finding some solid foundation of truth, but despising the holy and apostolic traditions, they embrace other vain, futile, uncertain doctrines, condemned by the Church…”
(52) ERROR: It was far from the mind of Christ to found a Church as a society which would continue on earth for a long course.”
It is the height of hypocrisy for anyone to adopt this belief and still call himself a Catholic?
(58) ERROR: “Truth is no more immutable than man himself, since it evolved with him, in him and through him.”
Not believing in the God of revelation, they declare that man is god. Like Pontius Pilot they ask ‘What is Truth?’ Jesus tells us,“Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matt.15:14) and “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.” (Matt.6:22-23)
(63) ERROR: “The Church shows that she is incapable of effectively maintaining evangelical ethics since she obstinately clings to immutable doctrines which cannot be reconciled with modern progress.
For them, Divinely Revealed Truth is to be rejected in favour of what they deem to be the ever evolving truth revealed by modern progress. When doctrines appose what they want to teach they demand that the Church change Her teaching about Absolute Truth.
(65) ERROR: “Modern Catholicism can be reconciled with true science only if it is transformed into a non-dogmatic Christianity, that is to say, into a broad and liberal Protestantism.”
To maintain this position and not leave the Church is to define yourself as a fraud and a heretic, without integrity or conscience. In the Scriptures, the ancient equivalents of the Modernists were the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees. To them Jesus said, “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matt. 23:33)