OCR Text |
Show : TIMELINESS OF N 'j POPE'S ENCYCLICAL ON MODERNISM The following paper was written and read to Colorado Springs Council 5S2, Knights of Columbus, on last Tuesday evening, March 10,, by Mr Carl Zittel: "Of the innumerable blessings bestowed be-stowed by God upon man. the one of most vital importanace, in a spiritual sense, is the deposit of faith, delivered by His Divine Son to the apostles, to guard which with utmost viliganee is a chief duty of the exalted office divinely di-vinely committed to the Holy Father, making it incumbent on him to reject those novelties which arise from time to time, and which are falsely called reforms. Throughout the nineteen centuries of the church's existence, her popes have carefully and persever-ingly persever-ingly fulfilled this duty; every centurv, yea. almost every decade, has its authoritative au-thoritative declaration from the Apostolic See, which, owing to the divine di-vine institution of the office itself, is eer accepted by the children of the church with due revertr.ee. and by those outside her pale with attention and respect. In our own time there has come to light a seemingly unorganized unor-ganized movement toward so-called reform, which, it appears, is viewed with greater concern by our Holy Father than any preceding heresy; and which, to use his own words, is the "synthesis or amalgamation of all heresies." It is generally known under un-der the name of modernism-an appellation appel-lation whose etymology should promise prom-ise only good and favorable things though under the clothing of unassuming unassum-ing and earnest endeavor to reform, lurk the devils of pride, obstinacy! even of agnosticism and atheism The cause of the Pope's fear of the result of this particular movement lies in the attempt to destroy the energy and hfe of the church in the hearts of the faithful, by a method new, modern and extremely subtle; and in the fact that the votaries of the movement are found not only among the openlv declared de-clared enemies of the church, but are also largely recruited from her own children, the Catholic laity, even from the ranks of the priesthood, the very heart of the church. In order to prevent pre-vent the spreading and growth of these noxious principles, the Pope, true to the sacred duties of his office, entreated, en-treated, exhorted, even had recourse to severity, and public reproof; but since his action has borne no fruit or but such of short duration, he deemed it incumbent ipon his 'holy office to openly expose the falsity of the disguise dis-guise under which these men operate. It is out of the question, of course, that an elaborate exposition of the Pope s encyclical on modernism should be attempted at this time; lack of time, as well as want of ability on my part, would render such impossible. I shall only endeavor to give a resume, or rather an epitome, of the now famous fa-mous letter: "From the foregoing it will perhaps oe clear that there can be nothing surprising sur-prising in the Pope's denunciation of modernistn ;is the 'synthesis or amalgamation amal-gamation of all heresies; sisice its propositions have all appeared 'arid been condemned at diverse times in the history of the church, only clothed in a variety of expression, or deduced by different methods. A definition of mooernism will undoubtedly make the justification of the Pope's denunciation rnore patent. It is too late in the day, in the light of conscientious and impartial im-partial historical research, to accuse the Pope and the church of antagonism antagon-ism to progress in science art. education: educa-tion: this is not the sense of the encyclical, en-cyclical, and judging by the hearty ojiucu uiu jener Dy catholics cath-olics as well as non-Catholics, it .was not received in this spirit. Modernism, Modern-ism, as defined and condemned by our Holy Father, is the present tendency on the part of learned men. university professors, philosophers and others, 'to reduce all knowledge to a matter of physical demonstration." to put experiment ex-periment and the resulting phenomena at the head as the foundation of all knowledge, which, of course, relegates faith in revelation into the realms of the doubtful, unknowable. The philosophers phi-losophers of the church, principally the scholastics of old, whose exponents were St. Thomas Aquinas. Albertus Magnus, Pt. Anselm of Canterbury, show us that, although the knowledge acquired by scientific experiment and research is not to be disregarded, but on the contrary, to be carefully cultivated culti-vated in schools there is yet a higher knowledge, the source of which is divine, di-vine, and to which all other knowledge attained by human reason along the line of experiment, must be subordinated, subordin-ated, both with regard to certainty and importance. This divine source of knowledge is revelation, which is entirely en-tirely disregarded by the 'modernists. Proudly and obstinately they maintain main-tain that whatever surpasses the depths of human reason, rests necessarily neces-sarily onsentiment, and is absolutely unknownable. Faith is but the fruit of an inherent consciousness of the divine principle in man, the need of the divine, di-vine, which proposition differs but little lit-tle from the fundamental teaching of Mrs. Eddy and the Christian Scientists. Scien-tists. The more eloquently and plausibly plaus-ibly one might promulgate the fruits of his meditations, the greater is his chance of becoming a prophet or reformer re-former among men. and in order to fortify and perpetuate the principles thus communicated, it was but necessary neces-sary to claim immediate divine ive-lation ive-lation of the .same. Since the public had not yet arrived at the present extraordinary ex-traordinary 'stage of enlightenment, all such preposterous claims of direct communication with God were accepted, accept-ed, and took firm root. Now, St. Anselm An-selm adopted as his initiatory rule of philosophy: Credo, ut intelllgan I believe be-lieve in order that I may understand. God hgj revealed his acred truths to man; man's first dut is to believe, and as a secondary privilege he may enter speculatively into the dogma, intending, in-tending, as far as lies in human power, to compare, to reason, to understand;' never losing sight, however of the primary fact.' that the doctrines are i essentially and intrinsically true, and j that if his scientific experiments, at ! any stage, appear to bring him to a result contradictory to 'the dogma, why. so much the worse fqr his science: he is simpls Inrtoo wrong. The ultimate r'-sun of his speculations must atjH will, if rightly directed and pursued, lea1 him back to the dogma, there again humbly and reverently to bow his head and repeat: Credo, et adoro. This. Worthy Brother?, is, as I understand it, the elementary, underlying, principle of live, active faith. To proud man. who places his entire hope for knowledge upon science, and upon results derived from human reasoning, this may appear ap-pear humiliating; but, God being infinite, in-finite, possessing ail perfect attributes " 'v. ! P;ff MteSk uU--H vi- -&u& Pni -ISA rr Charming little children of St. Mary's parish will sing for the orphans' concert. in the same infinite decree, man on thq other hand being but finite, his powers of reason and understanding circumscribedhow circum-scribedhow can man hope to fathom the infinite depths of God's truth! Certainly, Cer-tainly, if we prove by scientific experiment, experi-ment, to bur own satisfaction, that it is philosophically and psyehologicallyim-nossible psyehologicallyim-nossible that God has at any time directly di-rectly revealed himself to man, and that our belief rests only on sentiment, duoved by a certain indescribable and inherent or imminent need of the divine, di-vine, there can be no absolutely firm and immutable foundation to our religion; re-ligion; since God does not enter into it, but the whole fabric is of human make. If, as these latter-day reformers also attempt to show us, Jesus Christ could not have been the Son of God because it Is scientifically impossible that the infinite should clothe himself in the flesh of a finite being, in the manner proposed to our belief in the dogma of the Incarnation, that the beautiful teachings of the Blessed Redeemer were but the opinions of a good and holy man, what right or authority does the church possess to define and promulgate pro-mulgate anj- dogma as absolute truth? Whereas we know that what was truth 1,000 years ago. Is the same truth today, to-day, and will be proposed by the church to her children for their belief 10,000 years hence in its identity; these learned scientists and philosophers will hae a general squaring up, a balancing of accounts, between science and the dogma from epoch to epoch, at all times, however, conforming the dogma to the conclusions of physical science. They openly criticize the church for conservatively holding to her dogmas, and refusing to .subject of subordinate them to science.. As stated at the beginning be-ginning of this paper, after but casual consideration of the subject, it cannot be at all surprising that the pope announces an-nounces in such unmistakable terms where he stands, and where the church stands in this controversy. He has simply proven his courage to call a I spade by its true name. It all resolves itself into a question for each individual, individ-ual, whether he stands by the church, or by these ultra-human scientists; if he accepts the church as his guide, he may not complain if she holds to her Revelation. In the same manner in which these modernists dispose of the doctrine -of direct communication between God and man, that is Revelation, they also work havoc with the belief in the divine inspiration in-spiration of the Scriptures. Rejecting all supernatural influence on the minds of the prophets, or apostles, which enabled en-abled them to speak with authority, as Catholics believe, they explain this in spiration a.3 nothing more than the stimulating influence which actuates all poets and other writers, and which, inciting a quick 'Intellect, a nervous temperament, and a mind directed toward to-ward contemplation of spiritual things, may readily be confounded with a directly di-rectly divine influence. These wise men tell us that this supposedly supernatural super-natural influence came, in reality, from within, was entirely human. Precisely in the same category with their explanation of the divine Inspiration Inspira-tion of the Scriptures, is the modernists' modern-ists' doctrine concerning the authority of the church and her popes. Since Christ was not the Son of God. but simply sim-ply a good anl holy man, and tothe church the first believer, he felt within himself the innate disposition, the need, to communicate the fruits of; his earnest earn-est cogitations to others: the numbers of those who were affected, increased; next the need of the mass to. congregate congre-gate exerted itself, and we have the early church. The authority of the church in this ingenious manner being shown to rest but on human institution, institu-tion, she is necessarily fallible, subject to the collective conscience, and whenever when-ever she rises to disown this dependence, depen-dence, her authority degenerates into, tyranny. The church being founded on faith., which must ever subordinate itself it-self to scientific knowledge, it is readily read-ily understood that the state, taking science, art and all temporal institutions institu-tions under jits fostering care, is- superior su-perior to the church, so much so, that every citizen must at all times work for the common good, without heeding the wishes, orders, or even reprimandsH of the church. It goes without saying that our modernists mod-ernists are firmly wedded to the principle prin-ciple of evolution. Everything is subject sub-ject to the laws of evolution, including the church, dogma, Bible, faith; the two opposite forces which pervade all nature, the one inherently tending toward to-ward change and progress, the other exerting all its power to maintain conservatism, con-servatism, effect all changes by way of compromise, and in the sanie manner man-ner are all advances and progress in the church to be effected. , It were idle for. me to attempt;, with any reasonble. hope of success, to exhibit ex-hibit to you the various methods by which these modernistic' principles attack at-tack and undermine the conservative, sacred truths of the church. The same basic principle of denial of supernatural supernat-ural Revelation pervades the entire crv.ctr.ni and everv branch of science is subjected to this principle. The methods meth-ods of presenting history is on a par with all the others. What wrongs are being constantly perpetrated under the guise of history! History, principally history of the church, is generally a conspiracy against truth, that sacred institution ever being an object of suspicion, sus-picion, and her popes constant objects ofWnom and. hate.. The motto of historians, his-torians, whenever they encounter his-torical his-torical facts pertaining to the church, seems to be. (1) to falsify, or at least to minimize her grand deeds, her glorious glori-ous victories over tyranny, paganism and idolatry, her brilliant and inspiring successes in civilizing the nations, organizing, or-ganizing, assisting and maintaining just and stable governments, educating; young and old, and leading all mankind to a better, a happier and more peaceable peace-able life; (2) to exaggerate, or unduly and unjustly dwell upon the personal shortcomings of some of the prominent children of the church, most unjustly attributing the wicked deeds of the children to the mother. However, it is not this extreme class of historians which occupies our attention at the present time: there is another class, referred re-ferred to in the letter of our glorious pope such as, being Catholics and endeavoring en-deavoring to square Catholic truth with their own perverted ideas, account for the wonderful miracles of Christ and His apostles and saints, th(astounling growth of the early church, the simple, sim-ple, steadfast moral courage and pure life of the early Christians, the rise of the papacy, the other matters pertaining per-taining to church history, in a way which would appear ludicrous, if the earnest warning words of Pius X did not uncover the hidden sinister intention, inten-tion, and probable effect. In a number of pages of his Encyclical, Encycli-cal, our- Holy Father dwells upon the causesi of Modernism among some of the children of the Church; and, having carefully entered into it, and watched its progress with solicitous care for the welfare of the sacred institution whose glorious head he has the honor to be', he names curiosity, imprudently regulated and pride as the primary causes of the double. Without doubt. Divine Revelation Revela-tion contains many truths which go beyond be-yond man's comprehension; and unguarded un-guarded curiosity is the root of most errors, er-rors, seeking to know beyond what it is meant to know, and relying too much on itself to find the truth outside the deposit de-posit of faith, and the Church, where alone truth is found without the possibility possi-bility of doubt. The Vatican Council explicitly decreed that "If any one say? that man cannot he raised by God to a knowledge and perfection which surpasses sur-passes nature, but that man can and should by his own efforts and by' constant con-stant development, attain finally to the' possession of all truth and good, let him be anathema." Besides curiosity and an inordinate! desire to attain all knowledge independently independ-ently of supernatural guidance and assistance, as-sistance, pride is a primary factor in leading many into the fallaciese of Modernism. Mod-ernism. The proud spirit of many a writer will not submit to the decision of the Congregation which places his work, the fruit of much earnest thought, on the Index, and withdraw? it from general gen-eral perusal. An abnormal curiosity, actuated by an inordinate desire to know, having caused aberrations of human hu-man reason, pride and obstinacy refusing refus-ing to subject knowledge thus acquired to the authority of the Church and to God's Revelation, which is knowledge infinitely more' certain we readily conceive con-ceive how difficult it is to convince such a person of the danger of his position. As remedies to prevent the spread and growth of Modernistic principles, the ultimate ul-timate result, of which, must be an alarming increase of atheism and infidelity, infi-delity, the Holy Father ordains the return re-turn to thT old Scholastic philosophy, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas, the exclusion of persons imbued with Modernistic principles from the faculty of any college or university, certain regulations with reference to episcopal vigilance and censorship over publications: publica-tions: and after some earnest admonitions admoni-tions to priests- about editing papers and periodicals, or attending congresses outside out-side their own diocese, the Venerable Pontiff brings the memorable Encyclical to a close. Worthy Brothers, in 'viewing the whole matter of Modernism, which is agitating- the educated world in the present age, we cannot b-.it notice that in its elementary principles it is but a continuation of the age-long skirmish between dogma and science, between authority and independence, stability and change, rest and unrest. Catholicism Cathol-icism rests on authority, on divinely revealed dogma, which, when once defined, de-fined, are God's truth for all ages, and cannot be changed.- may 7not even be tested; the opposition to this is everlasting ever-lasting change, doubt, unrest. It is this offer of stability, of absolute certainty and rest which "like a magnet has attracted at-tracted wearied souls to the church through all ages." It was this hope for a sure footing amid the diversity of convicting con-victing opinions which drew Newman to Rome, and made Thomas a Kempis cry out: 'Tu vera pax cordis, tu sola requies, "extra te omnia sunt dura el inquieta. Thou are the true peace ot heart, thou are its only rest; out of thee all things are, filled with trouble and unrest." Out of the Church the motto prevails: Dubito. ergo sum: I doubt, therefore I am. The scientist who rests j only on human reason, knows no certainty, cer-tainty, no dogma, nothing but "temporary "tem-porary working hypotheses," he demands de-mands each day a newer, larger revelation. reve-lation. We know it is idle to waste any concern con-cern on the outcome of this skirmish. "The Church has seen, the choicest pearls of Protestantism dissolved by the acids of higher criticism." If Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox and the other so-called so-called reformers, were to return today, they would not recognize their own handiwork, han-diwork, and would themselves be re garded as reactionaries. In all ages the overthrow of the Church was predicted; she stands forth today stronger in the hearts and minds of her people than ever, and as Newman has said: "A religion reli-gion which has flourished through so many ages, among so many nations, amid such varieties eof social life, in such contrary classes and conditions of men. and after so many revolutions political po-litical and civil can still subdue the reason and overcome the heart." |