The Integrity of the Catholic Faith

By

Anthony Gonzales

Since  the  Modernist revolution, which  began in the 1960's, we hear more and more about "Catholics" who believe things contrary to the Catholic Faith.  For example there have been numerous polls taken of "Catholics" in the United States which indicate that a majority of "Catholics" believe  that the official Church should change its position on a variety of subjects from artificial  birth  control  to women priests.  Unfortunately, what  these  men  and women (who have little knowledge of the Faith)  do not   understand is that  the Church is not  a democracy and cannot be  pressured to change  anything that has been revealed  by Christ in matters of Faith and Morals.  The Law of God is not dependent upon a popular vote, nor is it  influenced because  a majority  of  people don't like it. Yet that is exactly what these polls indicate the majority of this country's "Catholics" want.

 

You see, dear reader, the truth of the Catholic Faith comes directly from  Christ and the Apostles and therefore, to be a Roman Catholic you must  adhere entirely to the complete teaching of the Church.  We are not a cafeteria religion, like the Anglicans who pick and choose whatever they want to believe. The  integrity of the Faith consists  of  the  fact that  every  dogma and  moral  precept is intimately connected to every other dogma and moral precept.  The Modernists  like to point  out  that  some dogmas (which they don't believe anyway) are more important than other ones.  For example, they  emphasize that it  is  absolutely necessary according to the nature of  Christianity to believe that  God is Three Persons in one Divine Nature  but, according to them, it  isn't  as necessary to believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary was Immaculately Conceived. This  comparison or battle between dogmas has been created  by the Modernists because they really believe that there is no objective truth and all "truth" is  simply relative  to  time, culture, circumstance and  individual  evolution.  The  reality  is  that  all the dogmas  of  the Catholic Faith are dependent upon one another  and are like the multicolored facets of a globed crystal. The "Deposit  of  the Faith" which God has revealed to man for man's ultimate union with Him is an integrated whole.  If   you  attempted to remove   just  one facet  from the crystal you would destroy it.  This  is  as true  for the Church as it is for the crystal.

 

As Roman Catholics  we  are  obligated  to  give  assent  with all of  our  hearts and minds to the Truth revealed by God through His Church.  There is no  pick and choose, there is only One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism and One Church established  directly  by  Christ  to teach, govern and sanctify all men, in every place and at all times. Isn't that beautiful?  It means that God has  given  us  the most precious  gift He could give, next to our free will, i.e.,  that  we can always know  the  fullness  of truth without having to constantly search through  billions of bits of information that  can  either be true, false  or in-between. As Roman Catholics, we are unlike any other religion on earth; in that, we do not depend on searching through the  darkness  of our  own minds in order to understand and grasp the truth.  The fullness  of truth has been revealed  by Jesus Christ and preserved without dilution, compromise, or error by the Magisterium of His Church and  protected  from falsehood  by  the Holy Spirit  as   guaranteed  by  Christ our God.  He did not come  to  leave  us in darkness and death but to give us the burning  light  of His own revelation  about  Himself  and the grace to love Him with every fiber of our being. As  Catholics we do not depend on private interpretation  and personal judgment to discover the truth.   Therefore,  if  a person chooses to reject just one  article of the Faith he does, by that very act,  separate himself  from the Church and, therefore, from Christ.  As  hard  as that is to believe, especially after 30 years of indoctrination by the Modernists, it  is nonetheless, true that by  its  very nature the Catholic Faith cannot be torn  apart into little pieces.  Jesus  puts  it  this  way: "He  who  hears you hears me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me, rejects the One who sent me." (Lk 10:16) or "Anyone who  is not  with me  is  against   me   and  he  who  does  not  gather with me scatters." (Lk 11:23) or "I Am the Vine and you are the branches. Who ever remains  in  Me  and  I  in  him  will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without Me.  Whoever  does  not  remain  in  Me  is  like  a  dried  up,  rejected  branch  which  falls  to  the  ground. These dead  branches  will  be  gathered up and thrown into the fire to be burnt." (John 15:5-6). Finally,   St. Paul always  refers  to  the  Church  as the Body of Christ.  In other words, a body is an integrated composite  of  many  different  parts  which,  combined, complete the body and make  it  whole.  Without  one  part  the whole body would suffer.  The most seemingly insignificant parts of the body play an essential role and cannot be discarded without destroying its integrity.

 

This is what God wants from us: our total obedience and assent to His revealed truth.  Without His Church to guide our path we would be lost, trapped in the tangled web of error and deception by the evil one.  Without His Church we have no  assurance that we are following His will or even know who He really  is.  Everything  said  outside  His Church  is merely hearsay and a person can never be certain that what he has heard is true or false.  He can only hope that what he has read or heard is the truth. We, as  Catholics, never hope that what we believe is true, we know it  is  true because of  the authority  of  the  One who gave and preserved it  for us. Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ.  He has given us the Truth  and the Truth has set us free.