Awake!, April 22, 1968
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CATHOLIC CHURCH in the MODERN WORLD
APRIL 22,1968
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CONTENTS
Pope Paul VI Sees Church in Crisis 3
Catholic Clergymen Speak Out 4
How the Crisis Is Affecting the Church 8
Catholics Disturbed by Clergy Practices 12
What Catholicism Includes 16
Why the Anticlericalism World Wide? 19
The Effects of Anticlericalism 24
What Does It All Mean? 25
Finding the Truth That Builds Faith and Hope 28
POPE PAUL VI SEES CHURCH IN CRISIS
TOWARD the end of 1966, Pope Paul VI said to a group of priests: "It is known to everyone how a flood of doubt, uneasiness and unrest has poured into the hearts of many priests, often giving rise to a most varied, complex and disorderly set of problems."—La Nazione, Italy, September 10, 1966.
How serious did the pope regard these problems? He stated: "We must arrive at a speedy answer both in the dogmatic as in the disciplinary domain, if we are to avoid . . . the dissolution of the organic structure of the Church."—Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, Switzerland, October 6, 1966.
More than a year later, in January 1968, the 200 bishops of the United States issued a 25,000-word pastoral letter. In it they noted the pope's concern for those who have abandoned the priesthood, stating: "He saw in their leaving not only individual disasters . . . but a catastrophe for the Church at large."
Of this pastoral letter, the New York Times of January 11, 1968, commented: "The Roman Catholic Bishops of the United States voiced deep concern yesterday over what they called destructive and hostile attitudes within the church. . . . the bishops said that in the last five years the church had undergone some of the most rapid and profound changes in its history."
The five years mentioned refer to the period that began with the convening of the Second Vatican Council. That ecumenical council was held from 1962 to 1965. Its purpose was expressed by former Pope John XXIII, who summoned the meeting, when he said: "We intend to let in a little fresh air." (Maclean's, Canada, August 20, 1966) This indicated his intent to bring the church more into harmony with the requirements of the modern world.
However, some church officials contend that much of the difficulty Pope Paul VI spoke of has come upon the church as a result of that Council. As Cardinal Suenens of Belgium said: "John XXIII wanted the Council to be a Springtime of the church. Well, the Council has brought us this Springtime . . . but a Springtime of March, where we are still exposed to night frost, swirlings and gales." (Vers I'Avenir, Belgium, October 5, 1967) Yet, others note that these explosive forces had been building up for many years.
Concerning all this ferment, a theologian of Vatican Council II declared: "I have long resisted use of the word 'crisis' to describe this age of our church. I resist no longer. I know no other name for our present state."—Newsweek, March 6, 1967.
To many people, the somber words of Pope Paul VI and other leading Catholic theologians come as a shock. As a result, a growing number of persons now want to know: Just what is going on in the Catholic church today? What would cause the pope to feel that the church faces disintegration? Why did he refer to priests' leaving the church as a "catastrophe"? Just how extensive is this crisis the church faces today? Why has it come about? And what does the future hold for the church?
effect on other religions. Indeed, it will affect the entire modern world.
Sincere Catholics want to know the answers to such questions because they are very directly affected. But non-Catholics also need to know. Why? Because what happens to the largest religious organization in Christendom will have a profound
The purpose of this issue of Awake! is to analyze the situation in the Catholic church today. Such an analysis is not made in a spirit of ridicule or malice, but out of concern for those who want to know what it all means. As the Catholic writer Daniel Callahan said in his book The New Church: "The only way in which one can ensure that his own faith in the church is not just the acceptance of an ideological identity masquerading as a genuine relationship with God . . . is . . . by asking himself hard questions about that faith." (Daily Star, Canada, April 1, 1967) In so doing, a person faces the facts squarely so he can determine the truth. And it is the truth that counts with God.
Since so many of the problems have originated within the church itself, it would be good to know what Catholic clergymen themselves are saying and doing about them. This will help us focus attention on some of the key issues involved.
Catholic Clergymen Speak Out SINCE the Second Vatican Council there have been two distinct trends that have come face to face in the church. In nearly
SINCE the Second Vatican Council there have been two distinct trends that have come face to face in the church. In nearly every country where there is a sizable Catholic population, a basic division of conservative and progressive clergy exists.
The "progressives" are made up mainly of younger Catholic clergymen. They are often outspoken in their desire for reforms that would bring the church more into line with the modern world. It is not that this type of clergyman is new in the church. But rarely before have there been so many who were
AWAKE!
so determined and outspoken. True, Vatican Council II did authorize some reforms. But this "progressive" element generally feels they were not enough and that even the reforms approved are not always carried out fully.
The "conservatives" are made up mostly of older clergymen. In their hands the authority and power of the church largely rests. These feel that the church does not need drastic reform. They say it should largely stay the way it has always been.
Speaking Out on Church Structure
One major area of disagreement has to do with the structure of the church; that is, the rule of bishops, cardinals and popes.
The sentiment for change in church rule was strongly expressed by one American priest. The Citizen (Canada) on April 15, 1967, reported: "A Roman Catholic priest-author has called for a dramatic break in church tradition by permitting laymen to elect popes and bishops. Rev. Joseph O'Donoghue of Washington has proposed that popes be elected to a single 18-year term and bishops to single eight-year terms."
While different views on church structure are more often expressed by individual priests, they are also expressed on a national level. An example of this is in the Netherlands. Of the situation there, the New York Times of August 20, 1967, said:
"AMSTERDAM—Strained relations between Dutch Roman Catholics and the Vatican show few signs of easing in the near future, according to most Catholic observers here...
"At the root, they say, are fundamental conflicts over how new doctrine should develop and how the church should be governed. . .
"There is also a general belief among Dutch Catholies that doctrine need not develop along the same lines everywhere."
This tendency toward separateness by the Dutch church was shown when it produced and printed a new Catechism. The Chicago Daily News of December 4, 1967, related: "Holland's Benard Cardinal Alfrink gave his imprimatur to the new catechism, and 400,000 copies were printed. Then Rome said it found 58 heresies in it." While the Vatican's views toward this catechism have since modified somewhat, the hierarchy in Rome is clearly not pleased with it. For example, the new catechism says that no clear teaching is possible in "hell-fire," and that "each of us must draw his own conclusions here." This conflicts directly with official church teaching on the subject.
In Argentina, the news magazine Analysis of May 22, 1965, said: "The most spectacular manifestation of this crisis occurred in Córdoba in 1964 and in Mendoza in 1965, where several priests rose up against the authority of their archbishops with the backing of lay groups." In the Mendoza case twenty-seven priests, about half the clergy of the archdiocese, resigned in rebellion against their bishop. They were protesting an appointment that had been made for the bishop's assistant. The Argentine paper La Razon of March 1, 1966, declared:
"The Mendoza group represented at that time the most select clergy of the province. . .
"What is happening to the bishops? Their thinking, their age, their formation and way of life separate them from the world and more immediately from their priests and faithful. . . .
"A priestly confrontation (as in the Mendoza case) can't be taken as a simple phenomenon. . . It is necessary to give warning of it as a sign of the crisis that is lived by the whole Church."
The spirit of wanting a voice in appointments of church authorities was also noticed after the death of Cardinal Spellman of New York. More than 500 priests petitioned Pope Paul to give them a role in selecting Spellman's successor.
Speaking Out on
Birth Control
Another key issue that has caused grave difficulties is birth control. The Catholic church prohibits the use of contraceptives as a means of birth control. Any Catholic who uses an artificial birth-control device is regarded as living in mortal sin and cannot take the sacraments.
The protest against this ban is very strong. From practically every corner of the earth Catholic clergymen are speaking out
Catholic priests, nuns, students strike against Catholic University of America over firing of liberté theologian Curran (inset)
against it. From Canada, for example, come the following reports:
"Toronto's foremost Roman Catholic theologian says that a liberalizing in his church's attitudes is inevitable not only in regard to birth control but to divorce and mixed marriages as well.
"Rev. Gregory Baum, director of the Centre for Ecumenical Studies, St. Michael's College . . . said that Pope Pius XI probably was pushed into writing . . . his 1930 encyclical against birth control by 'Belgian theologians.'
"It is my personal conviction,' said Baum, 'that Pope Pius XI made a mistake.'" —Daily Star, Toronto, May 6, 1967.
The Canadian priest, Paul Doucet, said:
"At one time priests and laymen felt obliged to defend the institution, but no more. I am a priest, but I am also a man, and I refuse to alter my conclusions to suit an institution. I don't agree with the official stand on birth control and I say so."—Sunday Sun, Weekend magazine section, Vancouver, June 24, 1967.
In 1967, C. E. Curran, a priest and theology professor at Catholic University in the United States, was dismissed for his liberal views on various subjects, particularly on birth control. He had said:
"I am a moral theologian. . . Questions and doubts race through my mind about the church's teaching on birth control." (The National Observer, May 1, 1967) But after he was dismissed, both the students and faculty, 7,200 in all, walked out in protest. The school's board of trustees included all the United States cardinals, twenty-two archbishops and six other bishops. Yet the strikers were Catholic students, priests and nuns! After the university had been closed for three days, Curran was reinstated. Church authorities bowed to the demands of the students, priests and nuns.
In Germany, as elsewhere, clergymen are speaking out over the birth-control issue. The magazine Der Spiegel of July 18, 1966, said:
"For the first time on Catholic Day—it was the 81st—was there a public dispute between two bishops. The archbishop of Bamberg, Schneider, took exception to the position of suffragen Bishop Reuss of Mainz who defended the use of the Anti-Baby-Pill. In vain did archbishop Schneider appeal to the statement of Pope Paul VI on the subject. Pill-advocate Reuss stood by his opinion. . .
"On the whole the opnoms or every other problem were divided. The divliveness—till now a Protestant characteristic—spread also among Catholic Day Catholics. Commented the Ruhr and Military Bishop Franz Hengsbach: 'A severe time has come over the Church.'"
In the United States, James Kavanaugh, before he left the priesthood, wrote the book A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church. In it he said of his church's policy on birth control:
"I am a poor man's Moses, who has seen the foreign law [on birth control] that oppresses my people and can only scream: 'Let my people go!' . . .
"The poor are made to play a vicious game when we bar them from the sacraments if they practice birth control. . . Their children stumble over their parents in the pews to approach the altar and share the food of Christ. The parents stay behind and . . . sit there in shame, separated by a Pharisaic line. . .
"One day, history will record the madness of my Church and amend the rules made by monks and celibates."
Speaking Out on Celibacy
Another church teaching strongly criticized by many Catholic clergymen is priestly celibacy. According to church rule, even if a priest has church approval to marry, he can no longer be a priest. If he marries without church approval he can be excommunicated.
In many polls taken of priests, almost always a majority favored the church's setting aside the mandatory celibacy requirement. But in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued an encyclical reaffirming the church's position on celibacy. He called it a "brilliant jewel." Yet, soon afterward, the prominent Catholic theologian Hans Kueng of Germany declared: "There will undoubtedly be no rest on this point in the Catholic Church until celibacy is restored again to the free decision of the individual as originally." What did he mean
by that? A church paper in Switzerland notes:
"Kueng reminds us that Peter and the apostles were married and yet remained in the complete discipleship of Jesus which remained as an example for the congregation overseers through many centuries." —Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, 1967, No. 31.
Leading Catholic theologians in the United States also have openly criticized the hierarchy on this matter. Time, September 15, 1967, reported:
"Where the inalienable right to marriage and procreation is lacking, human dignity has ceased to exist."
"So declared Pope Paul VI last March in Populorum Progressio, his encyclical on economic and social justice. Does this inallenable right exist for Roman Catholic priests? Last week the Rev. John A. O'Brien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, used the encyclical's noble words to challenge the Pope's recent decision upholding mandatory celibacy for priests. Addressing almost 200 fellow clerics gathered at Notre Dame, O'Brien said: 'For years, countless thousands of priests have felt' that they were being deprived of an inallenable, God-given right."
However, typical of the reaction of high church officials on this matter was that reported by the New York Times of November 17, 1967:
"In a sharply worded statement on clerical celibacy, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops held out no hope for a lifting of the restriction in the Western church."
Speaking Out on Other Matters
As discussed above, three major areas where Catholic clergymen are speaking out are in regard to church rule, birth control, and cellibacy. But in many other areas of doctrine and practice they are also speaking out.
For example, there is the matter of punishment for not attending Mass. The Catholic Manual of Christian Doctrine asks in regard to hellfire: "Who go to hell?" It answers: "All those who die in the state of mortal sin, even if they be guilty of one such sin."
This textbook states that one such mortal sin is "failure to . . . hear Mass on Sundays and holy-days of obligation." Thus, the Catholic that does not attend Mass is consigned to hellfire. But the Catholic magazine Commonweal of December 29, 1967, notes: "The childhood of the human race has passed. The Church is a mother, but would even a stepmother impose such punishments?"
Then there is opposition to the system of confession now in use. For instance, a parish priest in Chile complained about
the routine questions asked in the confession box. He said it drove people away from the church, declaring: "In three years I will have confessed only 50 men [out of a Catholic town of 15,000!]." Then he added: "How much useless baggage we find in the Holy Mass, in the Baptism and in almost all the sacraments."—Mensaje, Chile, June 1967.
In fact, almost every major practice and teaching of the church is coming under fire. And from Catholic clergymen within the church! All of this is having its effect on great segments of the Catholic clergy.
HOW THE CRISIS IS AFFECTING THE CHURCH
THE turmoil in the church is having a profound effect on a growing number of priests, nurses and seminary students.
Commenting on this fact, Canada's Daily Star of September 16, 1967, said: "The average priest finds himself giving answers which do not square with those given by many of the new theologians." Mensaje magazine of Chile, June 1967, similarly stated: "There exists a spirit of insecurity. . . . the priests are often asked (or ask each other): 'Is it still necessary to believe in this or that?' . . . But behind the joking tone many times is hidden that insecurity touching the fundamental context of our faith."
This insecurity is causing deep changes
in the outlook of many who had undertaken a religious life.
Priesthood in Crisis
In Belgium, a Catholic source, the International Catholic Information of May 1, 1967, contained a summary of how the priesthood is being affected throughout the world. It said the following:
"For the first time, all the European countries are hit by a crisis in the [priestly] vocation. . . .
"[When the pope said in a speech;] 'It is not just simply an urgent problem, but a very serious problem inside the Church' . . . everyone was on the alert; . . . Never had he spoken about a crisis in the calling of priests and, in any case, never with so much insistence. . . .
"We will record, for the whole world, a decrease in the number of priests and other religious orders . . .
"The astonishment was great. One was already aware of the crisis which has existed for quite a while in France, Italy and Belgium. One was amazed to learn that Holland, where the number of priests is really legendary, is experiencing recently and for the first time an appreciable decrease in the number of novices and of those consecrated as priests.
'Until now, Ireland and Spain were in a position of protecting themselves against this crisis, because of their traditional Catholic characters. Since last year 50% of those registered in the important Irish seminaries deserted before the consecration.
"In Spain, during this same period, a decrease was registered in the number of enrollments [in seminaries] and an increase in the number deserting during the study period. Regardless of what the situation is like on the other continents—and it does not seem to be particularly brilliant—these facts have to be considered seriously if only for the simple reason that Western Europe/supplies about 65% of the priests for the whole world. . . .
"The term 'crisis' should therefore be taken in the most literal sense of the word."
From sources all over the world, the above information is verified. For instance, Catholic theologian Kueng of Germany said:
The church is losing in recent years an alarmingly increasing number of very often highly qualified candidates for the priesthood, which are needed more than ever today.
"2. The number of those subsequently leaving the priesthood, or ecclesiastical ministers who have fallen into inescapable difficulties, runs into the tens of thousands."—Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, Switzerland, 1967, No. 31.
Confirming this, Time of February 18, 1966, reported:
"Around the world about 60,000 priests have left the ministry, and many of them have married. Rome's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office, has on file at least 10,000 applications for priests asking to be released from their vows."
From Canada, La Presse of February 3, 1967, says: "Some fifty priests have left the priesthood in Montreal in the past one or two years, according to the Jesuit Gérard Hébert."
In Latin America the magazine Confirmado (Argentina) of June 25,1965, declared:
"The number of losses due to death or abandoning exceeds the entrance of new priests in the whole world. Even the cardinals less fond of Paul VI repeat as if it was an article of faith the words pronounced by the Pontiff a short time after his coronation: 'There hasn't been an age . . . so strange and contrary to the priesthood and its religious mission as the present.' . . .
"In Latin America . . . the Roman prelates estimate that the clergy suffer a deficit of thirty thousand priests. . .
"In Argentina, according to some bishops the problem has acquired a nature that they define as frightening."
In Colombia, El Tiempo of June 26, 1967, recorded an interview with Cardinal Concha Córdoba. He was asked: "Are there sufficient priests in the country?" He answered; "No. There ought to be one for every thousand persons and in my case, that is to say in Bogotá, we have only 180 to 200 priests for a population of two million inhabitants. The deficit is 1,800 priests in Bogotá." Further, El Espectador of Colombia said in an editorial on October 9, 1967: "It is calculated that an enormous 20 percent of Catholic priests will in the near future abandon their life as priests."
In Peru, La Prema of November 30, 1966, said: "Close to five thousand priests are needed in Peru right now. There are only 1,630 between diocesans and regulars, of which 796 are Peruvians and 834 are foreigners." In Chile the archbishop of Antofagasta admitted: "We have a grave crisis of Chilean clergy, and for the lack of callings we want our own Catholic laymen to be the ones to become deacons and to almost act as priests."
(Vea magazine, August 31, 1967)
And in Brazil, O Globo of September 1, 1967, reported: "Due to the shortage of priests, Sisters of Charity belonging to seven different religious orders in the Fortaleza dio-
ports are available, the story emerges much the same. The number leaving the priesthood is increasing.
Seminary Students Decreasing
At the same time, the number entering and graduating from seminaries is decreasing! As Newsweek of April 25.1966.ob-
cese have been given 'special powers' to administer holy communion."
In a radio talk entitled "Are There Elements of Crisis in the Netherlands Catholic Church?" Catholic professor of theology Dr. E. Schillebeeckx said:
"That the crisis' concentrates itself among
olic Social-Church
served: "Even more disquieting to many Catholics is the serious slump in seminary applications and the rising rate of attrition among seminarians."
Typical of what is happening is the experience of the church in the Netherlands. In a report by the Cath- Institute in June 1967
the clergy becomes clear, when one keeps in mind that the percentage of defecting priests . . . has been rising in the past few years. . . . They have become weary proclaiming truths over which doubts have arisen in their entire psychology."—Het Newsblad van het Zuiden, the Netherlands, March 19, 1966.
And in the same country, Bishop J. Bluysen wrote the following to the priests of his diocese:
the following information was released:
"The decline of the available number of priests is beginning to make itself felt. We all shall have to really adopt ourselves to
Study Year
Seminary Students
1961-62
1,674
1962-65
1,483
1965-66
1,241
1966-67
This decrease of 711 seminary students in just five years is a drop of 42 percent! It reflects two factors: fewer entering the seminaries, and more dropping out before the course is completed. This is verified by the following figures published by De Goldberg.
all shall have to readily adapt our serves to the less agreeable consequences of the evermore declining number of priests."—De*Stew, July 1, 1967.
He wrote that a parish with less than 3,000 Catholics could no longer count on the help of a priest. And a parish with less than 5,000 would have not more than one priest.
Thus, from most countries where re-
Gelaertlander, September 8, 1957:
In just seven years, about 40 percent fewer priests were installed into office! This reflects the fewer entering and graduating from seminaries. And yet, in this same
country, the Netherlands, the number who left the priesthood doubled from 1965 to 1968!
The trend is world wide. La Prensa of Peru (November 30, 1966) reported: "It was revealed that during the last few years the number of students preparing to follow the steps of the divine apostolate has notably gone down." In Argentina, Confirmado of June 25, 1965, reported a 46-percent drop in seminary students from 1955 to 1965.
And what of Spain? The German paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung of October 18, 1967, carried the headline: "SPAIN'S SEMINARIES FOR PRIESTS LOSE MORE THAN 1,100 STUDENTS DURING THE YEAR 1967." The article showed that an amazing number who were already in Spain's seminaries left before finishing. In 1963 there was a grand total of 7,623 students in all of Spain's seminaries. But in 1966 there were only 3,770 attending! And for the most recent year available, the article said, as noted in the headline: "The number of those leaving before completion of their studies during the 1967 school year ran up to 1,100." It also gave the following figures for Spain:
<tr><th>Year
Students Entering Seminaries
4,796
In France, La Monde et la Vie, a Catholic periodical, noted, in November 1965, the following concerning new ordinations:
"Out of 10,000 young. Frenchmen, from 25 to 29 years of age:
in 1900, there were 52 ordinations
in 1945, there were 50 ordinations
in 1960, there were 21 ordinations."
Shortage of Nuns
The same situation exists in the various orders for nuns. Thousands are leaving. In the United States alone, it was reported that 3,600 left in one year recently.
Note, too, the information given by Bishop W. E. McManus, superintendent of Chicago Catholic schools. This was reported in the Chicago Daily News of November 29, 1967;
"There has been a very critical drop in the number of young ladies going into the orders," says Bishop McManus. . . . Nearly every Catholic school authority agrees that fewer girls apply to religious orders. . . . One major teaching order reports that acceptances have dropped 40 per cent in 5 years. . . . Two years ago 272 girls graduating from Chicago high schools planned to become nuns. Last June it was 175."
In Canada the same situation exists. The Globe Magazine there stated: "Between 1955 and 1960, 3,000 girls entered one or another of Canada's 197 orders; between 1960 and 1965, the number dropped by half." This source also said:
"The crisis—and it is a crisis—is not a dispute over dresses, briefer veils and fewer rules. Far deeper and more decisive are the conflicts over whether a nun's life as currently defined is really a valid role for a Christian.
"Not only do some feel it is anachronistic, but large numbers privately talk of it as often harmful and dehumanizing to any healthy person who chooses it."
Thus, throughout the Catholic world three general trends are in evidence: (1) More priests and nuns are leaving; (2) more seminary students are dropping out before finishing their course, and (3) fewer students are entering the seminaries and other orders. In short, more and more persons are unwilling to take up a religious life within the Catholic church.
But why? Is it all due to the changes since the ecumenical council? No. The reasons go deeper. Especially is this true when the young people are considered. The reasons have much to do with the very foundation of the church, its doctrines and practices.
Catholics Disturbed
BY CLERGY PRACTICES
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MANY sincere Catholics have been deeply disturbed by practices that have the approval of the clergy.
Some of these are changes approved by the ecumenical council. But others are practices that date before the council.
Eating Meat on Friday
One practice that has been altered has to do with meatless Fridays. For as long as most Catholics can remember, it was a sin to eat meat on Friday.
However, Vatican Council II allowed changes in this practice. Hence, the American hierarchy, with Vatican approval, did away with the rule of abstaining from eating meat on Friday.
Because of this change, one Catholic exclaimed: "All these years I thought it was a sin to eat meat. Now I suddenly find out it isn't a sin. That's hard to understand." And a national magazine in the United States displayed a cartoon of Satan in hellfire being asked by one of his demons: "What do we do with all the guys who ate meat on Friday?"—Newsweek, March 20, 1967.
Other Catholics, turning to their Bibles, find no commandment to abstain from eating meat on any day. In fact, they read at Colossians 2:16: "Let no man judge you in eating and drinking." They are disturbed when they find that the apostle Paul said: "In later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, . . . commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with
thanksgiving oy those who have faith and accurately know the truth."—1 Tim. 4: 1-3.
Changes in the Mass
The ecumenical council also authorized changes in the Mass. One change was that it could be said in the common language of the country. Yet this has often proved a disappointment. A Catholic writer in Belgium asked; "Can you make anything out of it?" He answered by quoting what another exasperated Catholic told him: "The more you try to simplify it, the more it seems to become complicated!" (L'Appel des Cloches, October 13, 1967) Another report from a Catholic newspaper there said:
"In times past we heard read to us an epistle in Latin. We thought it quite normal to understand nothing. It was like that, we were used to it, we didn't find it strange at all.
"Now they read to us from St. Paul and many other passages of the Bible in French. Now we expected to understand. Alas, very often we don't understand any more than when it was in Latin. That is what is so disappointing! . . .
"Everything is done as if the Church wishes to maintain an impression of 'mystery.'"—Echo de St. Albert, October 15, 1967.
Another authorized change has to do with the way the Mass is conducted. A modernization of it has been approved. One such "modern" Mass was held in Rome, Italy. It drew this comment from La Presse of Quebec on March 7, 1966:
"Dozens and dozens of frenzied fans, police cordons, three new wave orchestras, seminary students and priests in the hall [were all] the first concert of holy music interpreted last week in Rome in the purest ye-ye style .
"Screams, contortions, electric guitars with jerky rhythm, charged the atmosphere with collective hysteria, the spectators stamping while listening to the Creed, the Gloria or the Introit interpreted by musicians with Beatle haircuts."
Of this Mass in Rome a Belgian newspaper said:
"Keep in mind that the enterprise was conducted by the Dominican fathers and other clergy and that they had obtained permission for what they call 'the screaming mass,' so called because of the way in which it was sung."—Le Soir, May 16, 1966.
In other Catholic countries, the same type of Mass is being conducted. In Brazil, O Globo of December 14, 1964, reported: "A popularized ritual song was sung during the celebration of Mass . . . Songs in bossa-nova, samba, waltz and march time accompanied the religious service."
Also in Brazil, Fatos e Fotos, a magazine, said on July 23, 1966, concerning a Mass held in Ipanema:
"When the Brazilian Beatles, passed through the vestry and began to play, there was no rope strong enough to hold back the 3,000 juveniles that filled Our Lady of Peace Church . . .
"The Beatles were to sing yb·yeθ, interspersed with texts from Popes John XXIII, Paul VI and John Kennedy. . .
"The young people danced on the altars. Two nuns who were in the choir, left weeping."
How have many sincere Catholics reacted to all this? One woman in Peru, a lifelong Catholic, expressed the feelings of many when she said, as quoted in La Prensa of October 5, 1967:
"This is the finish. By God, what times we are living in. . . .
"And as a limit of badness [there is] the church. . . . No longer can one go to Mass and pray tranquilly. One of these modern, young priests appears and he spends all the time from the pulpit saying: 'Stand up, sit down, kneel down, stand up . . .' Can anyone tell me where we are going to stop?"
Catholics who have had respect for the Bible are deeply disturbed by the attitude of many priests toward it, especially in modern times. Newsweek of August 22, 1966, reported:
The Bible Itself
"When Pope Paul VI summoned a dozen Roman Catholic theologians and scientists to the Vatican last month and asked them to summarize contemporary concepts of original sin, the conclusions he received must have came as a distinct shock. For the Pope was obviously unaware of how readily church scholars accept evolution—and reject the Genesis tale of Eden with its drama of Adam and Eve's rebellion against God. . . .
"After three days of discussion the panel of scholars wrote a report in which they unanimously agreed that: 'Adam and Eve' is a literary device used by the Hebrew editor of the Book of Genesis to symbolize the first human being or beings. Man became man when he emerged from a previous form of [animal] and developed reason and conscience. . . .
"Yet, as Canadian Jesuit Biblicist Father David Stanley points out, . . . 'If you accept evolution, Adam . . . was only a primate. The myth of a fall doesn't fit at all.'"
Do other official Catholic sources agree with this? Yes. The New Catholic Encyclopedia, sponsored by the bishops of the United States, argues that the Genesis account of creation is not to be accepted as fact.
The new Dutch catechism also agrees. As the Toronto Daily Star noted on October 14, 1967: "The first 11 chapters of Genesis are seen by the Dutch catechism . . . as largely poetry and legend rather than strict history." The catechism says on pages 12 and 13:
"The further that man peers into the past the more primitive the human form becomes. . . . Life that surges through me comes from the animal. . . . Better and better we see the glorious spectacle: the spinal cord slowly erecting itself, the cranium which fills itself with greater volume. The animal which erects itself to a human."
However, many Catholics have been greatly disturbed to find that the Bible definitely does not teach evolution.
In the Catholic Douay Version of the Bible, Psalm 99:3 (100:3 in others) reads: "Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves."
Catholics who believe that Jesus spoke the truth cannot help but be disturbed at the church's approval of evolution. Why? Because Jesus himself clearly expressed his belief in the Genesis account of creation. He did not regard it as a myth or a symbol.—Matt, 19:4-6.
Catholic clergymen have downgraded the Bible in many other ways too. For example, notice what Het Noorden, a Dutch publication, said on October 1, 1966, when quoting army Chaplain Groenendijk on Catholic Television in that country:
"While at one school, for example, the story of the three young men in the fiery oven is told as a part of authentic history, at another school it is said: this did not actually happen."
In regard to many other Bible accounts this same source says: "One relates them as having actually happened and another will leave it hanging in midair and not fail to lay the accent on the symbolic meaning of it all."
Because the clergy downgrade the Bible more and more, some Catholic theologians now deny the virginity of Mary. Others believe Joseph was the natural father of Jesus. And leading Catholic theologian Schillebeeckx of the Netherlands questions the existence of angels.
Notice, too, how the New Catholic Encyclopedia downgrades the Bible. Following are just a few samples:
"The Bible, as a literary work, has a tradition that includes myth." [10-184]
Some of the miracles recorded in Holy Scriptures may be "fictional" and contain "literary exaggeration."[9-887]
"The episode of Noe [Noah] and the Ark
is not a piece of historical reporting but an imaginative literary creation." [2509]
"Any attempt to demonstrate the fact of Christ's Resurrection from the Gospel accounts of the good news must begin with the realization that these accounts are not biographies of Jesus and still less scientific history." [12:403]
This same tone is noted throughout this new Catholic encyclopedia. While such downgrading destroys the Bible in the minds of many Catholics, it deeply disturbs other Catholics who accept it as the Word of God. Indeed, it would have made Jesus, as well as Peter, Paul and the other apostles, indignant. Why? Because they all regarded the Bible as God's inspired Word. (John 17:17; 2 Pet. 1:20; 21; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17) As the apostle Paul wrote: "When you received God's word, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but, just as it truthfully is, as the word of God, which is also at work in you believers."—1 Thess. 2:13.
Was Jesus lying? Was Peter lying? Was Paul lying? Indeed, does God's Word lie and deceive? "It is impossible for God to lie."—Heb. 6:18; see also Titus 1:2.
God is no liar. His Word does not contain lies and myths. Jesus was no liar. Peter and the other Bible writers were not liars. Under the inspiration of God's powerful spirit, they all spoke the truth and were guided to write it down in the Holy Scriptures.
But with so much watering down of the Bible by the clergy, is there any wonder that there is much confusion regarding Catholic doctrine and practice today, even among leading Catholic clergymen? How could it be otherwise when priests reject the clear, sound guidance of God and turn to the thoughts of men instead?
That many Catholics are disturbed by the attitude of their clergy toward the Bible is noted in this comment from a Catholic newspaper in Luxembourg:
"The Bible should become a book for every house, the Book for every single Christian. In this regard we have sinned greatly. We have allowed our inheritance to lie around unused. Is it not a sad situation that a very great number of our Catholic families do not possess a complete Bible, and that the overwhelming majority of our Catholics, yes, our priests never have completed the reading of the Bible, not even the New Testament?"—Luxembourg Wort, January 16, 1965.
Christian Morality
There is something else that is very disturbing, yes, downright shocking to many Catholics. This has to do with the changes taking place regarding morality. More and more priests are saying that premarital sexual relations, and even homosexuality, are proper. In regard to homosexuality, a priest in the Netherlands, J. Gottschalk, wrote in Elsevier's Weekblad of August 20, 1966:
"Newer views teach us that the former supposed biblical condemnation of homosexuality does not apply to our society. . . This means that homosexuals are Christians who are up to par; they also are entitled to receive the sacraments of the Church."
With such views pervading the clergy, it is not surprising to read the following press report:
"The Hague [Netherlands]—Two male homosexuals were secretly 'married' by a Roman Catholic priest in Rotterdam last week, . . .
"There is also a strong movement within the Roman Catholic priesthood to consider homosexual relationships in the same light as those between members of the opposite sex."—The New York Post, July 5, 1967.
Contrasting these views, Catholies find that God's Word plainly says: "What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men
... will inherit God's kingdom."—1 Cor.
6:9, 10; see also Romans 1:27-32.
The publication Mass en. Roerbode of the Netherlands commented on September 16, 1966, regarding how some Catholics view with concern the church's teaching that morals can be loosened. It quoted a schoolteacher as saying:
"When I think of the ease with which the new developments in morals, for example, concerning the rights of engaged couples, are being told to young people, and the conclusions with which these young folks come home, then I ask myself if the clergyman in question has given thought to the full import of the words and ideas communicated and the difficult position into which he has put the parents by his proclamations, the undermining of authority which they really have set upon."
But overlooking or condoning immorality within the church is not really new. In Catholic Latin America, country after country records a fantastic illegitimate birthrate. In El Salvador, as an example, an official Catholic weekly, Orientación, on September 24, 1967, called attention to these figures:
Urban Population Rural Population
Legitimate births 28.6% 33.5%
Illegitimate births 71.4% 61.5%
And what of the morality of many clergymen themselves? Carefully read the following report from Switzerland:
"These are the hard facts: of 400,000 Catholic priests, 40,000 live wholly or partly with a woman. That is not an assertion, it is the figure that came up for discussion in the [Ecumenical] Council itself. . . .
"A bishop thundered realistically in the Council: 'Why should we conceal the fact that our priests find themselves in difficulties?' . . .
"And a South American bishop declared frankly: In my bishopric there is only one single priest living in accordance with this church law [cellibacy]!"—Schweizerische Allgemeine Volks-Zeitung, November 1963.
An Awake! correspondent in El Salvador interviewed a priest who confirmed this situation.
This clergyman stated that if a priest is married in a civil ceremony, the church does not consider him married. He could leave his wife and family at any time and return to his church duties. The clergyman interviewed stated that when a priest has children by a woman outside a recognized church marriage, the bishop often advises him to care for his family in secret rather than leave the priesthood.
However, many Catholic clergymen recognize the very bad effects all such practices have on Catholics. Writing in the Belgian magazine Special, March 3, 1966, a priest said:
"In Belgium the situation is not less deplorable as compared to France. On the contrary. It is reported that Paul VI wept
when a Belgian priest described to him the mentality of the Belgian clergy. . .
"In a country parish a priest preached that the miracles of Christ were not miracles. In a study circle for priests, another denied the resurrection of Christ. Although present, the Dean made no comment. . . .
"In their eyes, praying is a waste of time. . . .
"Confronted with this abundance of heresies and incoherences, Christians do not know which way to turn."
This priest accurately describes the situation in many lands. Contradictory teaching floods the church. The priests themselves are often confused and bewildered. Practices that demoralize are approved by the clergy.
There are also other practices in some Catholic countries that shock Catholics in other lands.
CATHOLICS in some countries have been shocked to find out what the clergy are approving in other lands. This is also true in regard to the mixing of pagan rites with Catholic ceremonies.
Argentina
For example, in Argentina the worship of the "Deceased Correa" has transformed a dry rock in San Juan province into the mecca of millions of persons.
What Catholicism INCLUDES
The Deceased Correa is said to be Maria Antonia Correa, a woman of the last century. She is said to have had a baby by her lover. The lover abandoned her, but she followed him into the arid regions of La Rioja, carrying the baby. After a week she became lost and died. The story says that two herders found her corpse, but
with the baby miraculously nursing from the rigid body. One of the herders asked for a miracle from the deceased and it was supposedly fulfilled. This gave rise to decades of belief in her miraculous powers.
Yet, note what the Argentine magazine Panorama said.In its issue of August 1966:
"There is no proof whatsoever that the anecdote is truthful, only the dramatic force of the legend is left . . .
"During that time the simple mention of the deceased was prohibited in the religious schools; she was considered as a savage and pagan myth. . . . However, since the beginning of this century, the pilgrims started to flow in mass. . . . Many couples initiated their love life in the environs of the altar, consummating in that way a resurrection of very ancient and pagan -fertility worship."
Near the place where this was supposed to have happened, a new church was built. It dominated the view of the area considered sacred. Panorama added:
"April 24 of 1966, 400,000 persons filed by on the highway, pilgriming from Cauce to the large rock. A night procession transferred to the brand-new church an image of the Virgin of Souls . . .
"While the bishop officiated mass . . . the multitude rendered worship to the deceased in the rock. . .
"The parish priest of Caucea says . . . "The Church is studying the case with caution. But we can't remain with our backs turned on the people. For that reason we put up the basilica, so that the devotees of the "little saint" could say mass for her and be in peace with their Catholic conscience. The worship has the tendency to become amalgamated with our orthodoxy."
Another rock that is similarly worshiped is called "The Lord of the Rock," and is located in the province of La Rioja. It resembles a human head. This influenced the primitive pagans to make the rock an object of their idolatries and sacrifices. Of this rock and its worship today the Argentine Auto Club magazine of August-September 1967 observed:
"The nameless popular worship was converted little by little to that of the Lord of the Rock, and since then went taking on characteristics of the Catholic religion . . . The rooted worship of the Lord of the Rock
is an amalgamation of Indian idolatry and of elemental Catholicism."
Also in Argentina there is the worship of the sun on June 23 of each year. Of this, Confirmado of July 9, 1965, reports:
"Each June 23rd the world opens the door to old rites . . . that make yearly of the summer solstice an exuberant orgy of paganism. On that date, the sun reaches its maximum height: more than twenty centuries ago, the Romans venerated the Son of the Triumphant Sun . . . On the other hand, in the Christian collection of saints the 23rd of June belongs to Saint John, Rome's patron; inevitably, the pagan festivity survived, lent its ways to the Catholic celebration, became confused with it. . . .
"Conjirmado questioned Monsignor Whsauer about the watchful patronage that some Catholic priests dispense in the pagan cult: 'It is simple. Saint John's day and the Nativity of Our Lord coincide with the two solstices. Formerly, these dates were motive of pagan celebrations. When they were Christianized it was difficult to uproot the old worship, and the Church preferred to absorb the pagan feasts into its own and not abolish them. That is the origin of the worship of the Sun.'"
Bolivia
In Catholic Bolivia, there are the famous Devil dances in the city of Oruro in
Devil dancers in Bolivia worship Satan the Andes mountains.
The tin miners there believe Satan is the god of the underground and controls their destiny. In these Devil dances the people try to placate this god of the underground. Satan is thus venerated.
The origin of these Devil dances goes back to the Inca Indians. However, its modern setting dates back to the late 1700's, when it was incorporated into the newly introduced religion of Catholicism.
Of the participants, El Diario of February 11, 1965, said:
"It is interesting to note that these Satan worshipers are at the same time fervent Catholics who have mixed their faith and belief with this fear and superstition of the Devil."
Chile
In Chile, the publication Estrella of July 15, 1967, proclaimed in a headline: "Erotic and Vegetative Dances Are Held at La Tirana." It explained this festival's origin:
"Its origin we must look for in the fertility and fecundity ceremonies of pagan cultures related to the circular dances around a pole, tree or staff. . . . Its origin is pre-Colombian, being found by the Spanish on their arrival."
This festival is held in honor of the Virgin Mary. A carnival atmosphere reigns. A writer for the Santiago daily, Las Ultimas Noticias, of July 22, 1967, described it in this way: "It sounds a bit like popular Christianity with deep Indian roots and much like paganism of the old ages." A reporter there stated:
"Before our eyes hundreds of men pass dancing unrestrained, oblivious to all fatigue and pain, possessed of a mystic fever this rational age could never understand. Among them, children masked as devils do incredible gymnastics. Everyone plays and dances at once. Each one is worshiping the Virgin of La Tirana in his own way. . . That's why it can be said that here even madness could appear as sanity."
On the first day of the rituals last year thirty-six persons were arrested for drunkenness. One reporter who himself had danced at the festivals for years wrote: "Great quantities of liquor are consumed. Promiscuity is notable among the groups at their accommodations. The darkness of the unlit town is fully taken advantage of for sexual immorality. Many male and female prostitutes attend the festivities to make easy money. Among the dancers often there is fainting, hysterical attacks and ear-shattering screams." Yet, this all has the approval of the church. The participants continue to be accepted as Catholics in good standing.
One ex-devote of a similar festival in another town commented: "When I would look at all this I used to think how bad the priest must be to permit it." And when other Catholics look into their Bibles for justification for such ceremonies, they are startled to find they are not approved by God. Instead, they note that God's Word plainly condemns mixing paganism with Christianity.—2 Cor. 6:14-18.
in Other Lands
In Costa Rica, a priest admitted, as quoted in La Nación of May 27, 1967: "Frankly, not a great difference is seen between the jungle of saints and the amount of devotions and rites in order to obtain their favors, and the magic grimaces of the Indians worshiping idols."
A priest and seminary teacher in El Salvador said in an interview that what the church had offered the Indians was idolatry. He said the church 'had robbed their mentality and it cannot now undo what it has done.' He also said that after having served in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua and studied in Rome, he observed that there is no unity of rites or policy for the church. It is not surprising, then, to read the following in El Salvador's Prensa Gráfica of October 24, 1967:
"There is in our people without a doubt a great deal of religious ignorance. . . We suffer grave errors in the practice of our worship. The Church honors saints and venerates its images and authentic relics, . . . our people many times render an idolatrous worship to images of wood, instead of considering them merely as effigies. . .
"Piety is to look for Christ, in all things, to focus our life by the light of the Gospel, to direct our acts toward God. The rest is not plenty nor true religion but fraudulent idolatry, hypocritical devotion, white magic and superstition."
In Ghana, during Easter celebrations an image of Jesus is laid on a bed in the church. A Mass is held. Then the church members are asked to show sympathy to the image. They kiss it and donate money to help it on its journey. This practice is copied directly from pagan worshipers in the country. When an individual among them dies, his body lies in state for some time. Friends and relatives donate money to the dead body to be used on its journey to its destination in the "hereafter."
And what of Italy, the seat of the Catholic church? In the book The Italians by Luigi Barzini, published in 1964, we read:
"Many of the saints, venerated as powerful protectors of this or that village, are, in fact, but the local gods disguised. Sometimes their names give them away. On the flanks of Mount Aetna, in Sicily, for instance, people worship a 'Santa Venerina,' who, among other gifts, has the power to make barren women fertile, like the Venus of old, Venere in Italian. And is there not a relation between the name of the patron saint of Naples, the venerated bishop Januarius, whose dried-up blood becomes liquid twice a year . . . and the Roman protector of all portals and doors, Jamus? The Church, they say, knows or suspects all this, but, in its great wisdom, allows it to go on, since it does not interfere with fundamental doctrines."
But it does interfere with true worship as revealed in God's inspired Word. That is why many Catholics who observe such shocking pagan rites have left the church. They could not accept the condoning of such by the church in the name of Christianity.
In fact, this including of paganism within the church is one of the reasons for some of the anticlerical feeling noticed throughout much of the world today. But there are other, even more compelling reasons, for anticlericalism, especially in lands where the church had been strongest.
WHY
The Anticlericalism WORLD WIDE?
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WHEN Catholics look around them today at their priests some are shocked, a few are angry, and many are puzzled," stated the Chicago Tribune Magazine of May 21, 1967.
APRIL 23, 1968
The truth is that there is much open hostility toward the clergy, both inside and outside the church. Indeed, there is a definite wave of anticlericalism throughout the world. What is "anticlericalism"?
It is defined as opposition to the influence and activities of the clergy. And never before in history has this been so powerful.
In Chile, an editorial entitled "Resentment Within the Church" appeared in Mensaje of July 1966. It said: "If the resentment keeps increasing we will arrive at a very serious situation, although the present state is sufficiently fatal."
In a discussion on French television with the now Cardinal Louis Veuillot concerning the church's position in the modern world, he was so badly treated by his interviewers that a leading French publication commented:
"He has never been spoken to like that. He suddenly becomes aware that men of this epoch are indifferent to the majesty of the princes of the Church, that there is in them a kind of insolence towards all those who dare pretend they are servants of God."—L'Empress, October 24, 30, 1965.
In Ireland, a young college student on a television panel show severely admonished the archbishop of Dublin and also the bishop of Galway. The Irish Times said on March 31, 1966: "He was—at times anyway—putting forward views that are shared by quite a few people in this country." And of the same incident, a writer to the Evening Press of March 30, 1966, commented:
"I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt congratulations to the brave young writer who had the moral courage to speak out against the way the clergy have interfered in the affairs of our country for so long."
One of the Causes
the Church away and which is nowbecoming deadly." And the Los Angeles Herald- Examiner stated on November 25, 1967:
One cause for this growing anticlericalism, especially among Catholics, is the present crisis within the church. The disputes and confusion within the ranks of the clergy alienate many. In France, a writer in Le Monde et la Vie of May 1963 spoke of this as a "cancer that is eating
"Christian theology . . . today is in a state of chaos, many of its experts admit. . . .
"The tumult in religious thought has broken out both in Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, with many people in the pews deeply disturbed by the academic arguing over interpretations they considered immutably fixed. . . .
"The Rev. Avery Dulles of the Jesuits' Woodstock College in Maryland says . . . Catholics are shaken when they are abruptly told that some reputable theologian' now questions some previous doctrinal formulations."
How deeply many feel about this can be seen in reports in the French Catholic magazine Le Monde et la Vie. In its June 1967 issue, prominent Catholic writer Michel de Saint-Pierre noted: "The modern world is the world where we have seen all the errors that have ever existed in opposition to the faith be assembled, become organized, hinged with one another and installed in the heart of the Church." In its November 1965 issue the magazine had declared:
"We are actually experiencing the greatest spiritual disaster of the Church of France. . . Such a pastoral direction has the normal consequence of inducing the people to forsake the Church. And this is what they are doing."
Along this same line, Mensaje of Chile, in July 1966, said regarding the situation there:
…