“Cafeteria Catholic” is an Oxymoron
Richard Salbato
3-23-07
I have had some experiences lately that have
inspired this Newsletter. The first was
a kind and holy woman who wrote me wondering why I bother to write against
false apparitions and new religious movements, since I ought to just pray and
take care of those close to me and forget about everything else. She even implied that good comes out of these
false apparitions since people become holy and pray more.
The next inspiration came when I attended the funeral
of my good aunt. She was a good Catholic
but one of her sons is a Protestant and no one has a problem with this. Of
course, I was let to talk with him about his faith, and to my surprise my
Catholic relatives agreed with his beliefs on things like “Rapture” and “Millennialism”
without knowing that these things are contrary to our faith.
Not only that, but one of my very sweet Catholic
relatives teaches Catholic Catechism to young children and had just attended
the Cardinal Mahoney Educational Conference and found nothing wrong with
it. This conference featured speakers
that promote woman priests, homosexual priests, and pluralistic faith - all
Catholic heresies.
Now, I have very carefully studied the 96 volumes
of the Early Church Fathers and the first 11 Ecumenical Councils. What I
learned most of all is that they were very firm in that faith (what we believe)
must be Catholic. This comes from the real
Lord’s prayer (His last prayer to the Father before
His death) where He prays:
“The words that you gave me,
I have given to them, and they have accepted them. … keep
them in your name which you have given me, that
they may be one as we are one. … I have given them your word and the world has hated them
because they are not of this world as I am not of this world. … Sanctify them in truth. Your word
is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I send them into the world. And for them do I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. And that not for them only do I pray but
for them also who through their word
shall believe in me, that they may be one.” (John
17)
The word, Catholic, means
that we are universally one in truth and truth in matters
of faith is very important. Pluralists
believe that everyone has a God given right to whatsoever faith he wants. That is not what Christ said. He said that the world would hate the truth
and that truth is very important.
Protestants believe in “fundamentalism” that there are some fundamental principles
in the bible and that the rest of the bible does not matter. That is not what Christ said. He said that the
word, Christ
is the word of God, is truth and must be
believed, not
part of it ---- all of it.
For 1000 years there was only one Christian
religion, universal or Catholic. Yes! There
were heresies even then but the Ecumenical Councils were called to correct
those errors and the world accepted the truths of these councils. If truth was not important, why did they even bother
to have these universal councils?
Peter
Kreeft said, "If you want to
invent your own religion, do not be a Catholic. If you want to teach the Church rather than let the Church teach you,
there are plenty of other churches for you, churches that welcome
theologies without miracles, moralities without absolutes, and liturgies
without adoration. Please do not be a Catholic unless you believe the Church's
claim to speak in these areas in the name of Jesus Christ."
"There is no such thing as a 'cafeteria Catholic'. Catholics do not pick and choose among the Church's doctrines and laws;
we receive them gratefully from God, we 'eat all the food Mother puts on our
plate'".
"A 'cafeteria Catholic' or a half Catholic or a 95 percent Catholic is a
contradiction in terms. If the Catholic Church does not have the divine
authority and infallibility she claims, then she is not half right or 95
percent right, but the most arrogant and blasphemous of all churches...It must
be either/or, as with Christ Himself...The only honest reason to be a Christian
is because you believe Christ's claim to be God incarnate. The only honest
reason to be a Catholic is because you believe the Church's claim to be the
divinely authorized Body of this Christ."
Catholic Christianity (pp. 104-105)
The Three Monkeys
What I want to talk about is the Catholics who do not know what the Church teaches and do not want to know. They do not even know what they do not know. Some will say that they were taught this or that by some priest but never checked it out to see if what he taught was the truth of the Catholic faith and as I have showed truth is very important. As Pope Benedict XVI has said, “There can be no unity between truth and error.”
If we do not investigate, if we do not study, if we do not question, how do we know the truth?
Those who do not want to investigate truth remind me of the Chinese Three Monkeys - I do not want to see the truth, I do not want to hear the truth, I do not want to talk about the truth, because I am happy in my ignorance.
Let me give one example of Protestant vs. Catholic ignorance and you tell me if it is unimportant. Protestants believe that someday they (who are not Catholic) will be raptured up to Heaven before a coming chastisement of the world so that they will not be harmed and then return to this world with Christ to live happily with Christ for a 1000 years. Now where do they get this idea and what does the Catholic Church teach?
This comes from 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 the twinkling of an
eye and from Apocalypse 20:4 and they lived with Christ a thousand years. When Christ says that in those days half the
world will disappear in the twinkling of an eye (Matt. 24:39-51) it is not as
the Protestants say but 180% the opposite of that they say. Those disappearing just
before Christ’s second coming will be cast into Hell because as Christ says in
Mark 13:24-27 He will then take those who are left up with Him to the
Heavens. Again in 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Why then do so many Catholics accept the Protestant thinking? Because they do not investigate the truth! Why do some Catholics think they can take birth control pills and remain Catholic? Because they do not want to know the truth! Why do some Catholics think they can vote for pro-abortion candidates and think they can still go to communion? Because they want to write their own laws instead of God’s laws!
Some Catholics will say that a priest told me or the bishop accepts this or that and so it is not my sin. That is not true. It is very easy to know what the Church teaches because it is WRITTEN LAW and through the internet you have access to this law at the flick of a single finger.
Investigations Protect and
Condemn
My own investigations into the truth have exposed historical condemnations of orders and people who were innocent and in fact very holy people. One example of this is The Knights Templar. The King of France accused them of satanic worship, money usury and being anti-Catholic. The Masons also attacked the reputation of the good Knights by adopting their name and style and then claiming that they were always Masons. Not true and history has condemned them without proof. My own investigation shows them to be the greatest of all Catholic orders and the saintliest of all priests. They founded banks and hospitals but never charged money for either.
Again the Jesuits were condemned by history but in large part were innocent, although some fell into heresy in political matters. This, however, does not mean that the order was bad, and in fact, it was and is one of the best in the world. Except for the doctrine of the faith, which everyone should know and believe, everything else should be questioned and investigated before we accept it: this includes so-called science, what teachers teach, what priests say, and what bishops order. In doing this we protect the innocent, expose the false, and promote the truth.
One good example of accepting error is what Cardinal Mahoney
just said on National TV about Immigration. Catholic Churches are harboring and
protecting Illegal Immigrants. Although
the
When people violate legitimate laws they are sinning and in
this case the Cardinal is sinning and advocating sin and should be jailed. By the same reasoning, however, those who
live under Cardinal Mahoney’s authority must obey him in all Catholic matters, except
for sin and for those things where he violates the higher authority,
If you are one or more of the three monkeys, you will not know if the Cardinal has authority or not.
The Society of Apostolic Life and the
House of the Oratory
Now let me give a good example of the failure to investigate
claims by even priests and bishops. In
Robert A. Sirico started out in
In 1972, he established a satellite of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Church (UFMCC) founded by homosexual activist Rev. Troy Perry, which teaches that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a sickness and that “homosexual relationships should be celebrated and affirmed.”
In 1975 Rev. Robert Sirico, a minister of the homosexual Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and a former Catholic, performed the first same-sex “marriage” in the United States.
In 1976, while still a UFMCC minister, the Los Angeles Gay Community Center headed by Sirico sponsored a nude homosexual sadomasochistic slave auction at a bathhouse where forty people were arrested. Capt. Jack Wilson of the Los Angeles Vice Squad said “The tasks were sexually oriented. You could rent paddles there to keep your slave in line. You can put them in leather harnesses fashioned in a bizarre manner for restraint. It is a humiliating experience.”
Sirico was also quoted in the Pasadena Star-News as stating “I’ve bought people at slave auctions…” Yet despite these two scandalous events, in 1989 Sirico was ordained a priest of the Paulist Order. A year after his ordination, Sirico became the President of the newly created Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids. Sirico has the backing of Bishop James Murray of the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
For more Sirico information see:
http://www.riteofsodomy.com/reviews/St%20Philip%20Neri%20House.htm
Now if you just met the charming Father Sirico and listened to his speeches on economics or moral theology without investigating him, what would you think? Considering the above, do you think that investigating and questioning is good or bad?
Co-Founder of the
Now let us suppose that you met the Theologian and
co-founder of the
But he is not the only Theologian working in the universities today that is in heresy. Professor Daniel Maguire publishes and teaches heresy in Catholic Universities. His views on abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception are not those of the Catholic Church. But the three monkeys would never know this and would just accept him as speaking for the Church.
A Traditionalist is an Oxymoron
People today who call
themselves Traditionalists with a capital “C” are in fact material heretics
with a capital “H”. Now, I support
Catholic traditionalists who long for a return of the Tridentine Mass and a
stop to the abuse of the liturgy, but as a real traditionalist I hold to the
greatest of all Catholic traditions and that is the authority of the Holy Father
and that where he is the Catholic Church is and where he is not the Catholic
Church is not.
In the past I have
supported most of the traditionalists like Michael Davies and Gerry Matatics, (see Gerry Matatics Is Not a Sedivicantist ), because they never went so far as to deny the authority of
Vatican Two or the true presence of Christ in the Novus Ordo. Although I do not think I was wrong in
supporting Gerry Matatics at the time, things have
changed. Today there is no question that
Gerry Matatics has left the Church and has become an
ipso facto Heretic, denying the existence and authority of the Holy
Father. People like Father Gruner and the St. Pius X Society have denied the same
thing the Orthodox did in 1054, the authority of the Pope of Rome. They, in fact, ask us to listen to them
instead of the Holy Father, making themselves out to be the teachers of the
Church instead of students of the Church.
Are You A Catholic?
Being Catholic is a faith and
sacramental thing. We accept what the
Church teaches and we partake in its sacramental life. We do not teach the Church, the Church
teaches us. We do not give out
sacraments, the Church gives us sacraments. Are you a Catholic if you do not even want to
know what the Church teaches? Are you
Catholic if you do not accept its teachings?
Investigations, like I do, are
easy. I just compare what I see or read
to what I know is truth because truth cannot contradict truth. That is true of science, which I do a lot of,
and it is true of Christ’s teachings. Starting
with the bible, I established that there is only on Church founded by Christ
and this Church is without theological or moral error and that it is headed by the Vicar of
Christ on Earth and all other religions are in error. When I investigate a bishop, a priest, a nun
or a seer, I compare them to the truth of Christ and His Church.
I do not sit back and say that
truth does not matter because Christ is the truth and truth matters. The fact that 90% of Catholics practice illegal
birth control against Church teachings will be the downfall of many western
countries and maybe the end of the Church in western societies, but the Church will
not end because it cannot end. No democratic majority can make error into
truth. In fact, truth has always been in the minority.
If you are a Catholic and your son
wants to become a priest, what seminary do you trust? What convent can you trust? What
Rick Salbato 3-23-07
|
Randy Engel, author, The Rite of Sodomy – Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church [www.riteofsodomy.com; Randy.Engel@riteofsodomy.com, 1-724 327-7379. |