Catholic Traditionalism: The Most Dangerous Movement In Our Time

My last post was way back in February.  I had gotten tired of all the viciousness and hate in the "catholic" blogosphere, and I didn't want to be a part of it anymore.  I felt it was a waste of time to fight those who are trying so hard to "save" the Catholic Church by trying to destroy it.  They listen only to each other and ferociously attack anyone who disagrees with them.

Jesus Christ told us to walk away from such people, shaking the dust off of our feet as we do so.  And that is just what I did.

During these past several months, I have been tempted to write on various topics, but I would always let it go.  However, I recently saw a post on onepeterfive.com which has all the hallmarks of being inspired by Satan himself, and I can no longer be silent.

Onepeterfive.com is, in case you don't know, one of the most hateful and divisive anti-Magesterium websites on the Internet.  They believe they and those who think like them are the only true Catholics left in the world.  They look at the average Church-going Catholic as a dumb sheep being led to the slaughter. They constantly condemn Church hierarchy, including and most especially Pope Francis.  They consider the vast majority of Catholic bishops and priests to be heretics worthy only of the fires of hell.  At the same time, they recently wrote several posts in praise and support of a priest who was excommunicated for condemning post conciliar popes.  They give complete support to anyone who opposes Pope Francis.

The post which has caused me to come out of my self-imposed retirement is entitled, "Is the American Church a Prison for the Mind?"  It is written by a retired lawyer named Raymond Kowalski.  Lawyers are responsible for much evil in our world, and this seems to be no exception.  However, I feel the true author of this article is Satan the Adversary.  I will explain.

As with every other article on this website, it is all about attacking and tearing down the "institutional" Catholic Church as they call it.  Of course, the "institutional" Church is, in their opinion,  the Magesterium and all those who submit to it.

The first target condemned in this article is Joe Catholic, the average guy who attends weekly Mass.  What is his crime?  According to Kowalski, the average Catholic is headed to hell because he has submitted to Church authority.  And it is his own fault for being so stupid and gullible, because the good folks at onepeterfive have certainly done everything they could to warn him:

The American Catholic is comfortable. This is a person who has remained in the Church despite all of the reasons others have found for leaving; a person who feels good inside after Mass; a person who is glad that the Church has caught up with the times. Staying enrolled in the parish, raising your hands to heaven to acknowledge the “kingdom and the power and the glory” of God, and living in an inclusive, judgment-free world — isn’t this the very model of a faithful American Catholic?

You may think this person is being herded toward Hell by faithless shepherds. But this person has been warned about people like you. Face it: you may have much evidence and many arguments to support your position, but this person has recourse to the pope, the final and supreme authority. How can someone be eternally damned for obeying the successor of St. Peter?

That last sentence really blows my mind.  Kowalski is clearly and unambiguously declaring the Holy Father as the enemy, the one who is leading the Church straight to hell.  The identifying sign of a loyal Catholic down through the ages, beginning with the First Century Church, has been loyalty to the Vicar of Christ, believing that he is the one person on earth who, through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, can never lead you away from Christ.  And here we have someone purporting to be a faithful Catholic telling us that Pope Francis is your enemy, one who should be utterly rejected.

How does Kowalski propose that we should defend ourselves against this evil Pope Francis?  By using our minds.  A lot of traditionalists are talking about the "red pill moment" these days, described by Kowalski as follows:

Any awakening of this American Catholic must come from within. It is appropriate to call the process “red-pilling,” after the film The Matrix.

The red pill is more than some chemical compound, some antidote for bondage. Neo already knows, deep down, that something is not right with the world. The red pill did not awaken him to that. Rather, the red pill represents his irrevocable choice to learn the truth about something that has been gnawing at him and to accept the consequences of his knowledge.

In other words, Kowalski sees this all as an intellectual exercise.  We need to use our minds to understand the true state of the Church, how evil it is, and what we must do to combat it.  Well, of course we should use our minds, you say.  That is why God gave us the ability to think.

Kowalski is using the first and most powerful attack by Satan: Kowalski is telling us we must decide for ourselves what is right and wrong.  In other words, he is tempting us to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

There is no other way to interpret the following:

Each of us possesses the ability to discern the truth [????!!!!!.  There is a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.  Prov. 14:12]  The Baltimore Catechism teaches that everyone has a soul (no. 133); that the soul has understanding and free will (no. 137); and that “understanding” is the “gift of reason” by which we are enabled to think, to acquire knowledge and to regulate our actions (No. 142). This gift of reason enables each person to observe temporal events; to process them in light of that person’s own knowledge and experience; to reach a conclusion; and, if necessary, to take some action.

Reasoning is not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with someone else’s analysis or recommended action. Rather, reasoning is a matter of coming first to one’s own conclusions and then, perhaps, calibrating one’s own conclusions by seeking out the views of other persons on the same question. To decide to use your gift of reason to examine a pronouncement, action or mandate of the institutional Church is to take the Catholic red pill. A church where one is forbidden or prevented or intimidated from doing so is a prison for your mind.

This is a long way of repeating the first lie ever told to human beings:

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Gen. 3:4-5]

Notice in Kowalski's post, he says nothing about going to God in prayer, reading the Bible, going to Church authority or reading the saints.  He tells us first that we need to use our own reasoning and understanding, process the information in light of our own knowledge and experience, and reach our own conclusions,  In addition, we should also be "seeking out the views of other persons on the same question."

What???!!! 

The story of mankind is human beings deciding for themselves what is right and wrong, good and evil.  Of course, we have gotten it wrong every time, bringing death and destruction upon the world.  Our entire planet now stands on the brink of total destruction because we have taken this satanic advice and eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Book of Judges is the most violent, bloodiest book in the Bible.  The explanation for this is given in the last verse of that book:

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. [Judges 17:6]

Kowalski tells us that once we take that "red pill", our eyes will be opened, and we will be like God, knowing good and evil:

The truth about the institutional Catholic Church is no less horrifying. It is clear now to every red-pilled Catholic that the institutional Church is in the hands of a financially, intellectually, and morally corrupt hierarchy. The institutional Church, from the pope on down, has become an imitation of the real thing. A simulation. Or, as venerable Fulton J. Sheen foresaw, it has become “the ape of the Church,” with all the notes and characteristics of the Church but emptied of its divine content — a Church that in all externals resembles the mystical body of Christ, a Church that gives modern man membership in a community but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.

Kowalski is talking about the Church founded by Jesus Christ, against which He promised the gates of hell would never prevail.  This is the same Church which Our Lord promised never to leave.  The Catholic Church is the Church through which Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit will always work and never abandon.  This is the Church through which we receive the Sacraments that lead to eternal life with God, the Blessed Mother, the angels and saints.  We cannot attain salvation without this Church.

But if you take that red pill offered to you by Kowalski, your eyes will be opened and you will see that Jesus Christ lied, just as Satan told us. You cannot trust Jesus Christ or the Church He founded.  You must use your own reasoning and knowledge.  Take the red pill!  Eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and become like God!

I think one of the reasons I had such an adverse reaction to this evil blog post is because I have recently started to re-read one of the great spiritual classics of the Catholic Church, "Abandonment to Divine Providence," written by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J., who lived from 1675-1751.

The theme of "Abandonment" is that we must completely surrender ourselves to Our Lord, trusting that all circumstances - either good or bad - are allowed for our benefit and to work out our salvation.  Father de Caussade warns us that we must NOT trust our own instincts over the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As he wrote:

God makes saints as he pleases, but they are made always according to his plan, and in submission to his will.  This submission is true and most perfect abandonment.   

Fr. Caussade also wrote:

The exercise of mental and other faculties is only useful when instrumental of the divine action.   

The mind with all the consequences of its activity might take the foremost rank among the tools employed by God, but has to be deputed to the lowest as a dangerous slave.  It might be of great service if made use of in a right manner, but is a danger if not kept in subjection.  

. . .

The divine action although of infinite power can only take full possession of the soul insofar as it is void of all confidence in its own action; for this confidence, being founded on a false idea of its own capacity, excludes the divine action.  . . . Without the divine action all things are as nothing, and with it the veriest nothing can be turned to account.   

. . . 

It is the perfection of the heart for which grace is given, and not for that of the mind.   

Also:

The doctrine concerning pure love can only be taught by by the action of God, and not by any effort of the mind.  God teaches the soul by pains and obstacles, not by ideas.

, , ,

[I]t is the perfection of the heart for which grace is given, and not for that of the mind.

Is it just coincidence that every sedevacantist group is traditional?  All of these groups reject Vatian II, the "Novus Ordo" Mass, all post conciliar popes, and any changes made in the Church since Vatican II.  There is nothing to distinguish self proclaimed sedevancantists from those who write blogs such as onepeterfive.com.  They can kid themselves all they want, but they have completely separated themselves from Christ and His Church. 

We either serve Jesus Christ or we serve Satan.  When someone starts telling you that you must discern for yourself whether you should submit to the Church founded by Jesus Christ, you should run as far away as you can because to separate yourself from the Mystical Body of Christ is to separate yourself from Christ and eternal salvation. 

The title of my post says Traditionalism is the most dangerous movement of our time.  Yes, I think it is more dangerous than anything else in this world, more dangerous than satanic groups, more dangerous than any atheist group.

The reason I say this is because the traditionalists look very spiritual.  They say and do all the right things.  They worship reverently at their traditional latin masses (never the "Novus Ordo" if they can avoid it!), pray the Rosary, they go to confession on a regular basis, they pray novenas and spend time in adoration.  They do all the "spiritual" things  They quote the saints, they know the history of the Church.  They can quote some obscure pope that you never even heard of. 

But none of it counts for anything unless they are doing all these things for love for God.  From what I see on the Internet, their motives are self righteousness, arrogance, pride.  They look down on all those who do not agree with them or whom they do not consider "holy".  They have even rejected the Magesterium of the Church, and think they do God a service.  They trust only in themselves.  They live in their own fantasy world of spirituality which has little to nothing to do with true worship of God.

And they relish going to war with the Church.  A recent post on onepeterfive attacked Catholic priests, calling them "counterfeit priests."  It was written as two letters in the style of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  At the end was this statement:

One last word, my dear Wormwood: Can you not feel it hanging in the air — the thick, electric sensation of a coming showdown? Things accelerate toward the end.

I am not saying that the Church hierarchy is perfect and never to be questioned.  Certainly we know that individuals can be very wrong in the Church.  Our Lord did not put angels in charge of his Church here on earth.  He chose sinful human beings who can and do fall, just as we all do.

But the beauty of the Church is that it doesn't matter how sinful our leaders are.  They are still able to administer the Sacraments, forgiving our sins and giving us the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ because they are not really the ones in charge.  Our Lord is the true leader of the Church.

As Jesus Christ told us in Luke 10:16 - "Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

We can and should question individuals in the Church with one HUGE exception:  no one is allowed to judge the Holy Father.  He receives his power and authority from the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit has the right to judge him.  Condemnation of the Holy Father is directly from Satan.

Our Lord does not want us to walk by sight, trusting in our own senses and our own reasoning.  Taking the "red pill" - using your own reasoning and logic - is just the same as taking the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  As Our Lord warned Adam and Eve, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” [Gen 3:3]