Monthly Archives: October 2008

In the same year as the ratification of the American Constitution, 1789, a small book appeared. Originally published in London, it was re-printed in Boston (with anti-Catholic footnotes added by the publisher). Here is the opening paragraph …

The public papers have already announced the conversion of a Protestant minister converted to Rome. I am that man…

The author was John Thayer. This book is available here.

Born in May 1758 to a prosperous family in Boston. He lived within easy walking distance of all of the major events of the opening events of the American Revolution.

He was 7 when the Stamp Act was passed and a mob attacked a neighbor’s house.

He was 10 when John Hancock had a sloop captured by Boston warships in Boston harbor, for illegally importing wine without paying duties.

He grew up for the next few years in the midst of the events of the Revolution. The death of his mother led to a deep reexamination of his life.

Eventually ending up in a then-new Yale, where he began to study classical languages, theology, and so forth.

Yale was closed periodically due to the effects of the war. Two months after he turned 18 the Declaration of Independence was signed and released (July 4, 1776).

In July of 1778 (at the age of 20) he was back in Boston and joined a congregationalist church. During his senior year, a British fleet came to attack New Haven. Eventually New Haven, CT was taken by the British, who then plundered the town and its inhabitants.

In Sept 1779 he was given his bachelor’s degree, in private (due to the war).

He then became a Congregationalist preacher, but there are no real records of his ordination.

Then in January of 1779 he enlisted as a private in a company commanded by John Hancock. He served for 7 months, during which time the British captured Charlestown and its 5400 man garrison.

He became a chaplain, and in that capacity he was likely first exposed to Catholicism (through the French soldiers and priests who visited the military facilities).

After the war, he decided to travel and become more educated. In these travels he went to both France and England … while the war was still in progress!

This with an obvious, American accent.

During this time he was asked to preach before an English Congregationalist church, which did not go well. He later wrote that demonstrated the clear need for a central authority.

Then he travelled to Italy, and in doing so was stunned by the hospitality that he received from both French and Italian Catholics. This warmed his heart to Catholicism, so he began to study.

<insert the key points of his conversion from his own account, pages 5 to 17+)>

Listening to the account it is stunning – clear in its expression, naked in its honesty. Here’s one little snippet from the penultimate act of his conversion.

I wished to be enlightened, yet feared being too much so.

The remainder of his life he became a very active missionary to America. In time Fr. Thayer returned to Europe and spent his time ministering to the poor in London.

In his will he left $10,000 which led to the establishment of the first Ursuline Convent in MA, which was eventually burnt down by an angry mob.

Much of his life as a priest was controversial – some biographers considered him nearly a saint; others a scoundrel.

Marcus is working on a new book about Fr. Thayer, which looks to be in very early manuscript form (mostly still notes).

He finishes by asking us to pray for the intercession of Fr. John Thayer for the Coming Home Network.

Another account of Fr. Thayer’s conversion can be found here.

She always thought of herself as simply a Christian, who would get a ladder that could reach to the moon if she could, to tell everyone about Jesus Christ.

Rosalind, while still evangelical, heard a talk by John Rao on this topic. It really bugged her, but it made her contact him to challenge him. John and his wife ended up being part of Rosalind’s journey into the Church.

The Key Points
Protestantism, when it works upon civilization for a long period of time, degenerates that civilization.

The United States, more than any other nation, was built as a country, to a certain degree, by people who were making a fundamental decision to reject Catholicism.

This is caused by the doctrine of total depravity.

By rejecting creation as totally depraved, it made sacramental life untenable.

Furthermore, it influences society by killing it, by killing the created world in all its fullness.

In other words, it’s the belief that you have to kill the creation of God for the sake of God. Consequently, it removes God from the minds of men.

In its strictest form it destroys music, dance, art, architecture. Strips everything physical, leaving a barren, astringent existence.

A church with nothing more than plain walls, chairs, and a single, plain wooden cross.

This was a shocking encounter for Rosalind, particularly in contrast to the beautiful physicality of Judaism.

A consequence is the dressing down of our society, the dumbing down of language, the adornment of the body, the life of the mind, the beauty of the heart … in it’s final form it kills love itself.

So for example why study philosophy?

Isn’t it ironic that Jean Calvin, who was so thoughtful himself, spent so much time proving that thought was fallen, vain?

In any case, this actually attacks the dignity of the individual, reducing the significance of the whole person.

As Rosalind began to believe, or more to the point, wanted to believe that the Church was true, she began to watch Catholics. In fact, she went at 6 am one Sunday and waited across the street to see what Catholics do.

Total depravity also kills the motor of the body – the pattern of fasting and feasting. They must go together.

Total depravity doesn’t take into account of the psychic unity of the body. If the body is going to believe in immortality, it needs to be connected with those who have made it to heaven before.

Finally, total depravity kills the body as a whole by denying authority, particularly the authority of the Church.

This results in us creating God in our image, rather than as He is … along with every gift that He has ever given us.

The Catholic Church worships the whole Christ; not more than Christ, not other than Christ, but the whole Christ.

- St. Augustine of HIppo

How then shall we live?

Another Way
The degree to which we love and serve God in this life will determine the degree that we love and serve God in the next.

The Catholic Church is like a waiter. The waiter doesn’t cook the meal, he has only one job – get the meal to the table without messing it up.

Rosalind finished by exhorting us all to live radically as Catholics, as we’re all called, as we’re all required to live.

She told a story about her trip to the conference. She sat next to a man who was sad to be away from his family. After talking for awhile she asked him about his faith. His reply was simple, “oh, it’s the same as yours”.

That took her breath away, as it was a strong witness to the power of living our lives unabashedly as Catholics. In her case, she recently became a sister, and consequently just began wearing a habit.

Sr. Rosalind then exhorted us all to begin living our faith for real, and then perhaps everyone will be able to say “our faith is the same as yours”.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Here’s more detail from Dr. John C. Rao himself.

This was really a long title … The Road from Topeka to Rome, or How Pentecostalism has Helped Many on the Journey to Rome.

The basic thesis is that because of some fundamental aspects of Pentecostalism, many are (perhaps quite surprisingly), drawn much closer theologically and so forth to Catholicism.

Fr. Louis Bouyer had a very interesting thesis in his book The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism (he was himself a convert). In particular, while he was very grateful for his Protestant upbringing, the principles underlying Protestantism tend to break out from time to time as revivals. In doing so, they help those involved, because they are generally true, to rediscover lost parts of their Catholic roots.

For example, examine the life of John Wesley (a subject for a later post).

Background
The major reformers came to the conclusion that the season of God’s miracles was over, in contradiction to the Catholic Church.

They tended, especially Calvin, tended away from mystery … a reaction against too much mysticism.

Consequently, they left behind miracle and mystery.

For this reason, the roots of the enlightenment are really in the Protestant Reformation.

This is a very interesting conundrum.

This left us with the Deists and atheists. But there were more pervasive influences.

For example, by the 1950s a bunch of Protestant America were sort of “dispensational, or functional deists”. In other words, this is a period in which God is rather remote, and we can’t expect God to get too involved with our world.

This is in direct contrast to the Catholic, or sacramental way of viewing the world. God invaded our world in the Incarnation and is never, never going to let go. Nothing could ever be the same after this.

Reality itself is changed … it becomes sacramental. Heaven and earth are joined at the hip.

We become vessels of His grace and power, every day when we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He’s right here with us.

This is true in each and every sacrament.

For Paul, his worship was of the mind … from the head up. No sense of mystery, no physicality.

Pentecostals, on the other hand, made big use of the body in worship. Consequently, this was much closer to the Catholic way of doing things.

A Little History
The movement began in Topeka, KS on Jan 1, 1901. Charles Parham. One of his classes when studying Acts 2 began praying, laying on of hands, and speaking in tongues.

One of these students moved back to LA and began preaching on Asuza Street, which became the Asuza Street Revival. This went on for about 3 years, which led to the birth of a worldwide movement.

Then a second wave began in the 1960s when these beliefs and practices found there way into older Protestant churches, and the Catholic Church as well.

Fr. Bennett (an Episcopal priest), among others, became involved.

A common denominator is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Fairly emotional, but often associated with profound conversion.

When this happens, this previous dispensational deism doesn’t make sense any more.

God becomes real, physical … very, very personal. This reveals the utter closeness of God.

This is a more sacramental, physical / spiritual way of viewing the world.

Some Particulars
Catholics are used to the value of the body … what you do of the body reflects what you do with your mind.

Pentecostals do lots of physical stuff – raising hands, dancing around, and so forth.

See the similarity?

What about healing? Catholics have always continued to proclaim the possibility of miracles. So do Pentecostals.

Visions are the same, in this sense. Catholics have acknowledge (with caution) the continuing sense of private revelations (visions, locutions, and so forth); Pentecostals do the same thing … granted there are many problems with this, which is what happens without authority and a firm foundation.

Laying on of hands? Same. Real changes caused by God, working through human hands.

Fasting? Check.

Religious processions? Check.

Prophecy? The Name of Jesus? Spoken voice? Check. Check. Check.

Blessings? Check.

Sacramental objects, such as oil, prayer cloths, holy water? Check. Check. Check.

Hierarchy and divine authority. Here the story is more mixed. Some of the denominations are developing the notion that God’s divine authority is invested in particular people. While this may be mistaken in practice, it is a Catholic view of the world.

Exorcism? Check. In other words, the spiritual reality is right here, right now. If God can get this close, so can the devil and other demons.

These are all areas where the Pentecostals have come back to the Catholic Church.

In this sense even some of the more exuberant forms of worship, such as praise and worship bands, are in a certain sense growing closer to the Catholic sense of the world.

Summary
Once Paul and many others went from their mainstream Protestant origins to Pentecostalism, this made the Catholic view of the world much more plausible.

How did much of this develop? Easy, by reading the Scriptures without his original filters turned on.

This sort of transformation is occurring to millions and millions of people, which is preparing the way for many believers to come home to a more sacramental Church.

It’s also bridging some of the chasm between Catholics and Protestants.

Finally, this is important because it has restored a deeper sacramental perspective to Catholics themselves (definitely the case for myself!).

While there have been many problems, the benefits for Christianity as a whole is very real – millions upon millions of people are now closer to the Catholic Church than they were before.

We should be very grateful to God for this reality.

Patrick is Hispanic on his father’s side. His family had to flee from Mexico at the time of the troubles … the banditos, then the persecution of Catholics by the government. Pancho Villa etc. were bloodthirsty criminals.

These were brutal times, very difficult for Catholics.

The Blessed Virgin Mary
Mexico is directly under the special patronage and protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as told to St. Juan Diego in 1531.

Do not grieve or be disturbed by anything …

We should take this as a very meaningful, serious reality.

Prelude

At the time of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, a lot of troublesome seeds were sown in Spain, and by extension, Mexico.

The Enlightenment thinking came into Spain via this invasion, and in effect was a direct attack on the notion that God had any role to play in human society.

Folks like Hobbes, Kant, Locke, Russeau, fueled this movement.

Freemasonry was a direct cause of the persecution, and was a blight on Mexican culture. Rooted in the enlightenment, it was a direct attack on the Church.

Corruption also caused a lot of problems, as it led to and exacerbated poverty of the masses.

Masonry played a big role in both of these – corruption and poverty.

Hidalgo
A Catholic priest, born in May 1753, died in May of 1811. Very educated, popular author, knew many native Indian languages, In September 16, 1810 he preached a a rousing speech on the need for independence.

The peasants rose up and began to fight, but were quickly crushed.

The rebels were decisively vanquished at the Battle of Calderon. On June 26 of 1811 he was detained and eventually excecuted by firing squad.

This led to a national conscience that led to thinking of the Church as a liberator, as a champion of freedom.

As the Masons came to control most government offices, they consequently came to view the Church as increasingly a threat.

Benito Juarez was a champion of the republican form of government, went after Maximillian, eventually toppled and executed him. His first act as president was to confiscate a basilica in Mexico City and turn it into a Masonic temple.

After Juarez there was a relatively quiet 30 year period, then there was a series of Masonic, very anti-Catholic presidents.

For example, Caranza shot 160 Catholic priests with his knowledge and consent.

Calles
Obregon, was followed by Plutarco Elias Calles.

Calles was a monster – a general in the Mexican army, he was a governor of Sonora, where he banished all Catholic priests from the territory. He was a 33rd degree Mason, and a militant, vocal athiest.

He formed his own “patriotic church”. He supported Protestant missionaries in Mexico, constructed 200 Protestant schools. His goal was to weaken the Catholic Church.

This led to the Cristeros, which Calles went after hard.

In 1924 he declared that the fight was for the minds of children. Catholic school were outlawed, public school was mandatory, and militant atheism was mandated.

In 1926 he outlawed the Catholic Church and began openly persecuting the Church. This was fought by Catholics who would not allow this to happen. Many of them were martyred.

Some examples.

Every Mexican person with any civil job had to take a public oath. Anyone who refused were imprisoned or executed by firing squad. Five years of imprisonment for even questioning the laws.

Phrases such as “adios” or “si Dios se queiere” were outlawed. You could be imprisoned.

No priest could minister without permission. All convents etc were confiscated etc etc etc.

The Church withdrew all priests and sacraments, which led to rebellion.

Viva Cristo Rey
In December 1926 the American FreeMasons declared support for all of Calle’s laws and actions.

The Mexican government often fired on processions of people singing and praying.

This happened time after time, with many, many martyrs.

The Cristeros were very, very Catholic. For example, the soldiers were consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, did a daily rosary, set aside Sundays for worship.

In xx Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical condemning the laws of Calles. Remember, Catholics are duty-bound to oppose unjust laws.

Priest after priest, religious after religious, faithful after faithfully were tortured, brutalized, persecuted, and martyred.

This went on for 12 – 15 years.

In 1929 75% of Mexico had come under control of the victorious Cristero army. The end came strangely, with the Vatican signing a peace treaty without the consent of the Cristeros.

At that time about 6,000 Crfisteros were rounded up and executed by firing squad.

Fr. Miguel Pro
He went back to Mexico in 1926 and worked undercover. He did lots of crazy things to outwit the police. For example, one time he jumped out of a cab being chased by police, found a pretty girl and walked hand in hand with her. The police passed them by.

Another time he came into the center of the police office / jail that was chasing him, dressed as a policeman, and gave the sacraments to the prisoners.

Eventually he was captured and executed, shouting “Viva Cristo Rey” (photo to the right).

A Saint for our TImes

It is quite possible that we, in the US, may find ourselves in precisely the same situations, particularly if we remain faithful.

With this in mind, consider the Fellowship of the Unashamed:

I AM A PART of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith. I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.

My face is set. My gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until He stops me.

And when He returns for His own, He will have no difficulty recognizing me. My banner is clear: I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

There is a good wiki article on the Cristero War here.

Once in the Renaissance we cut back from the Biblical sense of time (cumulative), and flattened it out, we lost our capacity to understand and deal with time. Therefore, we try cannot understand the primitive church, because we only understand the contemporary.

Reform movements always have to be centered and move into the mystery of the present, which is based on the cumulative nature of the past, of God’s relationship to His people.

We are deepening our appreciation of God’s presence in our contemporary world, because it contains everything about God and us, and is therefore beyond ourselves. Anything less will always lead us into delusion.

Bardstown KY
This was the one place where early American Catholics did not view themselves as an immigrant Church, but rather participated in the creation of the nation itself, side by side with all others.

At the time of the Council of Trent there was tremendous disruption … for example, as many as 75% of all priests left. So with the assistance of St. Charles Borromeo and others they set up new seminaries, everywhere except France.

In France they set up apprenticeship and training, which included a ten week seminar at the end (for instruction and testing on doctrines). This gradually became the Salesians, which began formal seminary training in France.

This was enormously disrupted by the French Revolution in 1789. For example, the civil government demanded that each priest swore allegiance to the revolutionary government over Rome.

Some fled the country, and one of the destinations was the US.

John Carroll was a Jesuit for 20 years, in 1773 Pope Clement the XIV suppressed the Jesuits (resulting from pressure from the French monarchy), so he became something else.

Property struggles were a constant theme, eventually leading to trusteeism in the US.

After the Revolutionary War, the question of how to be Catholic in the US came to the fore. Only three states – Maryland and 2 others, were open to Catholics. This made the frontier very appealing.

In 1784 the priests got together, and there weren’t many – less than 25 – and Bishop Caroll realized what a bleak situation we faced.

Btw, there were only 2 Catholics in Virginia.

Within a few years they did need a Bishop (because of the Salesians), which became Bishop Carroll.

In 1785 the first Catholic Church was built in Holy Cross, KY. The settlers had a very rough life, but this area quickly became a center of Catholic life.

Fr. Stephen Baden was the first priest ordained in the US, ordained by Bishop Carrol. In Sept 1793 he was sent to KY, and was the first priest to stay (an earlier Franciscan had left because of the rigors of the life).

His territory included KY, Indiana, Ohio, and parts of Illinois.Fr. Baden was alone for 14 years, traveling constantly. Probably travelled over 100,000 miles in his 14 years! Local people eventually donated land, but it was a long, long struggle.

Fr. Baden loathed dancing, which became one of his life-long battles with the locals. This was part of the French ethos (look at the Cure de Ars, for example).

In 1805 Fr. Baden was joined by another Salesian, Fr. Nerinx.

In 1808, Bishop Carroll appoints a Bishop west of the Alleghenies, now Bishop Flaget. He centered his new diocese in Bardstown, KY. Though first he fled the US and hid in France for two years … eventually his superior ordered him to accept. Pope Pius VII was a prisoner of Napoleon during this time.

Upon accepting he had to walk from Baltimore to Pittsburg, waited in Pittsburgh until the spring rains, then ride a flatboat most of the way, then horseback the rest of the way. Along with the delay, this all took 3 years.

He ran into a whole series of conflicts in trying to setup the episcopacy, often in lawsuits with Fr. Baden. Bishop Flaget tried to consolidate property, for example, and that exemplified the real struggle of consolidation and growth.

Growth and Establishment
The first thing they began to do was open a seminary (Thomas Howard), natural for a Salesian. The first indigenous man to enter the seminary was Guy Shabrot.

The second thing was to begin teaching the children (i.e., a Catholic school), so they founded two communities of Sisters (Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross) to begin supplying teachers for these new Catholic schools. They looked to Mother Ann Seaton for guidance.

Note that they started Webster College.

I.e., they did whatever they had to do to encourage the growth of the Church … this is very similar to the challenges that we face today. A Church interacting with a very hostile dominant culture.

Lessons That We Can Learn From Their Struggle
First, this education of children is not done with pure professionalism, but rather sacrifice. Without sacrifice, without the cross, we will not communicate the faith.

Second, there must be a fount of those young men who will take up the cross (the seminary).

Without the cross there is no revival; without the cross there is no regeneration. In other words, what am I willing to give for the mission of the church?

It was the sacrifice of people giving of their lives that firmly established the presence of the Church in frontier America.

These lessons apply today.

One more thing – in all of the struggles, in all of the crisis, it did not matter how particular battles turned out; rather, it mattered how they fought the fight. When fought sacrificially, the Church became vital and living.

Pray for the Church; pray for a spirit of wisdom and sacrifice; an authentic prayer of renewal; assume the obligation of the cross; as modernity unfolds that cross might become heavier and heavier; so be it.

Reflect on these pioneers of the faith, and what fruit that bore.

Let us together resolve, that with the Cross of Christ, we will face it together to the greater glory of God, and face it in wonder to the great salvation of our world.

There is a bit of additional history in the wiki article on the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Dr. Richard Chacon is an associate professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University, SC.

This talk is about revivals in North America in the 19th century.

First, some definitions:

Christian Fundamentals are only thosse who believe in a literal interpretation of Scripture are saved.

Revivalism is Christian Fundamentalism.

Establishment Protestants are Anglicans, Presbyterians, & Congregationalist, and so forth.

Revivalism
Revivalism in North America started at “The Great Awakening” (1739), which was a bit of a reaction against the “age of enlightenment”. There was also a big element of class conflict, particularly between clergy and the church members.

Established a new form of Protestantism – individualist, private revelations, anti-intellectualist, escapist, unorthodox (rejection of sacraments), anti-denominational, …

Restraints on Biblical interpretation were severed, as they enjoyed unlimited freedom in interpreting scriptures.

Spread through camp meetings, particularly in KY, TN, OH (under-served, isolated). These were IMMENSELY popular, with as many as 50,000 folks showing up at a time (Cane Ridge, KY 1801).

Very dynamic, unusual physical manifestations (i.e., “the jerks”).

The private revelations would even extend to instant marriages, etc. People would act on any thought that entered their mind, believing that it came straight from God.

Sometimes, the more bizzare the idea, the greater the test.

A few case studies.

The Oneida Experiment. A series of utopian experiments spread, and this one was started in 1833 by John Humphrey Noyes. He decided that he was the next coming of Christ, and he was freed from normal moral standards.

He started by replacing marriage with complex marriage, where all sect members were married to each other.

This quickly turned into eugenics, by picking 24 men and 24 women to breed with each other.

He then separated parents from their children.

While this was on the extreme edge, it exemplified the sort of chaos that was going on in Revivalism.

The Millerites. In the 1830s WIlliam Miller predicted that the Second Coming would occur in 1843 after studying the Book of Daniel.

This attracted tens of thousands of followers.

He fine-tuned his prophecy and came up with a year time window. After nothing happened, there was something known as the “Little Disappointment”. Afterwards, one of the followers changed the date to Oct. 22, 1944.

In anticipations of this many stopped farming, gave away possessions, etc.

Millerites constituted a very large percentage of the asylum population in New England.

On October 22 thousands gathered and went wandering into the forest, and of course nothing happened. This was the Great Disappointment.

This led to huge increases in deep depression, and eventually insanity, and also suicides.

Many were financially ruined, and starved to death. A few who survived went to court and tried to regain their property.

Miller publicly stated that he was wrong, but still claimed he was right in general. This led to the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who all steadfastly proclaim Christ’s imminent return.

In other words, failure of prophecy does not diminish belief … in fact, it can intensify their efforts.

Why?

1. Conversion to a sect likely results from interpersonal attachments, NOT theology.

2. Sects provide emotional lifelines to hurting people.

3. Sects make people feel important, provide a purpose in life.

Therefore, fidelity to the prophecy appears to be an emotional coping mechanism, event though they are in denial.

“If more and more people can be persuade that the system of belief is correct, then clearly it must, after all, be correct”. (Festinger et al. 1956:28)

Secret Rapture Doctrine. (I.e., the Left Behind books). This is a novel doctrine that stems from a few mentions in 1600 – 1800, then popularized in the Darby Study Bible in 1859.

Some Revivalism Ethos

Escapist. For example, the War of 1812 proved to many revivalists that the end times were near. Again with Haley’s comet, the 1833 Leonid Meteor Shower. Often very fatalistic view of the world.

Staunchly Anti-Denominational. For example, Charles Finney 1824, “there is a jubilee in hell every year about the same time as the General Assembly”.

Emotionalism Runs Deep. Heart religion is superior to head religion. Book learning suspect. Worship services much more boisterous, very non-liturgical.

Individualism. Finney concentrated on the religious conversion of the individual, Moody picked up on this and said that the most important thing is a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ (me and Jesus).

Anti-intellectualism. Moody – “The voice of reason is of the devil. You must seek God with your heart, not your mind”. “I would rather have zeal without knowledge than knowledge without zeal”.

Consequently, by the 1800s many came to take this to mean that formal education / theological training were impediments to being open to the Holy Spirit.

Establishment Protestantism’s Response: Reform. Rejected much of revivalism by promoting the Social Gospel.

Can We Learn From This?
Yes, we need to reach out to those who are marginalized or today’s revivalists will do so. Hmm.

Dr. Chacon finishes with some apologetics, largely drawn from Dr. Paul Thigpen’s book The Rapture Trap.

How to Engage Modern Day Revivalists?
In essence, the Catholic understanding of rapture is that the godly will remain with Christ at His Second Coming, while the ungodly will be taken away.

1. Establish a personal and confidential relationship with no demands for conversion.

2. Conversion to revivalism often associated with personal attachments for access to emotional lifelines, not theology.

3. Don’t argue, but respectfully share the Catholic interpretations of Scripture.

4. Provide a “safe landing” site, a supportive fellowship.

5. Never, never get ahead of the Holy Spirit.

Truth matters, so we must engage, in charity.

Fr. Ray Ryland is the chaplain of the Coming Home Network.

This will be looked at from what the Church teaches about those traditions. Of course, the Church acknowledges that in part the Church was partially to blame in the original divisions.

We accept all Christians as brothers, and in some degree or another in union with the Catholic Church.

All of this is imperfect, and not to be accepted as the desirable final state.

The view of the Separated Eastern Christians is different, primarily because of the valid apostolic succession.

For more detail, read the Apostolic Letter by JP2 entitled The Light of the East … well worth reading. With that in mind, the separation from the Bishop of Rome leaves them “wounded”.

So this is the context for the remainder of this talk.

Reconstructionism.
All non-Catholic bodies originate in subtraction and subjective selection … Karl Adams.

All of the separated groups follow this principle, to one degree or another.

All reasons for the breaks always boil down to one issue … authority.

Four features of reconstructionism can generally be seen. These are …

Discontinuity vs. Catholic Continuity. The Church is in union with He who is the Incarnation, and is the means for communicating that continuity to human beings.All recontructionists harken back to a “golden age”, and therefore break with Rome. The moment this happens, the separated group turns into something else. It might do the same things, but it cannot be the same things – G.K. Chesterton.

Reconstructionism Always Brings New Definitions of the Church. Wow, this makes sense and can be seen absolutely in every case.

For example, Protestantism has lost sight of the visible, universal Church (in many different ways). For that matter, the Eastern Orthodox has done pretty much the same.

Picking and Choosing from the Church. Every group that leaves the Catholic Church gradually morphs it’s doctrines … even the Orthodox have caved on marriage, abortion, and more. Had to step out for a moment, so this’ll have to be filled in later!

Appeal to an Utterly Unworkable Authority. For example, Anglicanism has appealed to Scripture, Tradition, and RIght Reason. The current tragic meltdown of the Anglican Communion testifies to the inadequacy of this approach.

Same with the classic Protestant appeal to Sola Scriptura. This has almost single-handedly resulted in the current situation of more than 30,000 separate denominations, all appealing to “Scripture Alone” yet differing on many, many doctrines.

Same with the Eastern Church’s appeal to the seven early councils (Conciliarism), which is at variance with the historical reality. None took effect until the Pope gave their approval, and enforcement was always initiated by the Bishop of Rome.

They recently added Receptionism, which is both impractical and not historically based.

Note that since the 13th Century not a single authoritative pronouncement has ever been made by the separated Eastern churches.

Moving On
The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostoic Church is Mother to all particular churches … never a “sister” to them. Thanks to Cardinal Ratzinger for that clarification.

This is why we must all pray, along with every Pope in recent years for the re-unification with the separated Eastern churches, and beyond that with all Christians.

Amen.

Marcus Grodi is giving the opening talk, by waiting of setting the table for the weekend.

The question for the weekend is “How has the Catholic Church faired since it was granted the right to exist in the United States in 1789?”

This can be a lot touchier, particularly since the times and topics are much fresher, and many of the issues still exist in the present day.

Of course the talks are not comprehensive – time simply won’t allow that level of treatment.

Catholics in the Post Revolutionary America
By 1850 Catholics had grown to become the single largest religious group in America.

Prior to his conversion, Grodi’s historical focus was oblivious to Roman Catholicism. He tended to focus on religous history of the American northeast.

Sixteen years after his conversion he was shocked at how most of the history he’d learned had been pretty different than what actually happened.

There were essentially no Catholics in New England from the Mayflower (1620) until the Constitution (1789).

At the time of the Revolution there were less than 30,000 Catholics out of 3,000,000 residents. There were maybe 25 priests without a bishop, all ex-Jesuits (the Jesuits had recently been suppressed).

The majority of Catholics lived in Maryland.

All of this after the first faith brought to the New World was Catholicism.

The sixth article of the Constitution made it legal to be a Catholic (along with a few other parts). Various states did not honor this in various ways. In many cases particular states excluded Catholics by name.

Eight Influences That Most Shaped Catholicism Since 1789

The Victory of the Enlightenment and Deism. Such men as Hobbes, Thomas Bacon, Rosseau, etc.

1. Human Reason is the most trustworthy source of knowledge, not faith. Thus sciences were held over revealed religion.

2. Man is not fallen, there is no such thing as original sin, thus man has no need for a savior. Therefore, men and their rights became more important than duty.

3. The concept of freedom was no longer the freedom for sin, falsehood, and error; rather it was the freedom to live as one wanted.

4. Politics and social life would no longer be governed by the laws of God and the Church.I.e., there’s no absolute truth – we can figure out truth on our own.

These ideas spawned the false religion of Deism, which believed in a detached, watchmaker God, who stepped back and let the world run on its own.

Most of the Founding Fathers were actually Deists, not Christians – they denied the deity of Christ. However, they did believe that religion was necessary to democracy.

The Age of Reason by Thomas Payne was the most influential book of the day … “my own mind is my own church”.

Therefore, we can define our own truth, which doesn’t leave any room for miracles, Church authority, and so forth.

This led to a series of revolutions, including the disastrous French Revolution.

Before 1789 it was not possible to take the required oaths and remain a faithful Catholic. After 1789 the pressure of the Deistic notions over-ran much of moder American Catholicism.

That is happening again today … compare the change in the public voice from the 1950s until today.

The Religious Tolerance Initiated by the Constitution was only Skin-deep. For example, the fear that came from the passage of the Quebec Act spread to the United States was one of the main things that started the American Revolution.

This was rather analogous to the slow walk away from racism in this country.

It helped that Catholic France had helped win the Revolutionary War. However, as the Catholic population began to grow (like “rabbits”!), then the underlying anti-Catholic sentiments rose (sometimes violently) to the surface.

For example, in 1835 the first Ursuline convent was burned to the ground by a crazed mob that had marched from Boston.

Catholic Americans Were Poorly Catechized. (ouch!) Because of the pressure and the illegality of Catholicism, 3 or 4 generations were educated in secret, and never really participated in the sacraments.

By the time of the Constitution, most Catholic Americans couldn’t distinguish their own beliefs from those of their Protestant neighbors.

Then, when the new priests began arriving who’d been educated in Europe then there was a big resistance, particularly in areas of morality.

Catholic Americans Lacked Sacramental Graces. We need the sacramental graces to live faithful and holy lives.

Think of 2 Timothy 3 … people would hold the form of a religion but deny the reality … a sign of the end days.

Many American born Catholics were baptized and married outside the Church. In fact, no American born Catholic from 1620 until after the Revolution had EVER received confirmation in America.

Why? We had no bishop!

The Increased Catholic Immigration Brought Division. The national hatreds of the old countries came over and infested American Catholicism. Witness the many ethnic Catholic communities across America.

One of the first Catholic schisms in America came about when a newly formed German Catholic bishop voted to separate themselves from the new Bishop Carroll … our first Bishop.

Regional American English Accents Exacerbated These Divisions. Look at the names of towns … they reflect the regions of origin in England, which were in the midst of what became an English Civil War … these divisions were replicated in the new American colonies.

Therefore, the accents tended to correspond to the biases of those regions, which was exacerbated by the immigration of other ethnic groups.

This made it difficult for priests from one region to minister to Catholics in other regions.

This still goes on today, if we want to be honest.

Trusteeism. The right to administer church property belongs to the Church, but not the spiritual rights. Due to the lack of priests, lay trustees began to claim the authority to administer to spiritual rights.

The heart of the dispute came over who got to choose and release pastors – the group who’d bought and build the church, or the bishop?

In the early days of our first bishop, Bishop John Caroll, often the leader of the opposition was a “priest”.

(The is almost exactly like St. Stanislaus today.)

Americanism. Americanism is defined as a movement propagated in the US in the late 19th century that claimed that the Catholic Church should adapt it’s doctrines to the mores of the society, which emphasized active practices like social justice over “passive” practices.

First condemned by Pope St. Leo XIII, this has been a problem in American from the beginning. This stems from the early English Catholics who came over and found the same biases, so they decided to lay low and just fit in … hence no converts for a huge amount of time.

I.e., “my faith is a private matter”. Because of the lingering suspicion that American Catholics were going to try to convert everyone, they tried even harder to become “more American” than anyone else.

Masons were heavily influential in the founding fathers, including many early Catholics (including the Carroll family.

Conclusion
All this sent the Catholic Church in America on a trajectory that we still are on … you can see these influences everywhere. Yet, there have been many, many faithful Catholics who fought all of these trends to spread the true faith.

We should ponder this last point very prayerfully, and consider how this can be changed. We must ask God to open our eyes as to how WE’VE bought into all these idea, and therefore hindered our faith.

This weekend I’m privileged to attend the Deep in History 2008 conference. Starting tonight, we’ll spend most of the next three days taking a closer look at the history of Christianity in the Americas from 1700 to about 1900.

This is the fourth year I’ve been able to attend, out of six total.

For more information on the conferences go here.

I’ll be posting from time to time this weekend, as time permits.