3 hours ago
VIII. Protestantism is separated from the Church by an Abyss.
— The agent of Protestant propagandism generally opens his way to an unsophisticated and ignorant mind with the remark, that "Protestant or Catholic, it is almost all the same!" And Catholics are to be found who echo this blasphemy, without the least thought that thereby they offer a grave insult to the Church, their mother.
You say Protestantism, with its myriads of subdivisions, is about the same as the Catholic Church! Do you understand yourself? You might as well say that counterfeit money is about as valuable as good coin.
Where the Church affirms, the Protestant denies; where the Church teaches, the Protestant revolts. In the Catholic Church, the unity of faith, worship, and religion, is fundamental and perfect. Among the Protestants, every man believes as he chooses, and acts as he believes: theirs is religious anarchy, an opposition to unity. They agree on only one point, — hatred of Catholicity.
The distinct, infallible teachings of the Church are the rule of faith for a Catholic. The Protestant rejects the Church, despises her authority, and takes for his guidance only the Bible, which he interprets as he best may, or as he chooses.
The Catholic reveres the Pope as the vicar of Jesus Christ, the head of the faithful, the chief pastor, the infallible doctor of the law. But the Protestant looks upon him only as the anti-Christ, Satan's vicar, and the arch-enemy of the gospel.
The Catholic adores Jesus Christ really present in the Eucharist; the Protestant sees in it only an empty symbol, a piece of bread.
The Catholic reveres, invokes, loves the Holy Virgin Mary, mother of God. The Protestant feels for her an estrangement so insuperable, that it often exhibits itself in contempt, and even in hatred.
The Catholic draws his Christian vitality from the seven sacraments of the Church, and supports it chiefly by approaching the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist. The Protestant does not recognize these sacraments; aye, few are the sects that preserve a true conception of Baptism.
And so on with all the dogmas. Yes, I say all, even the most essential to the nature of religion, such dogmas without which there cannot be a Christian. The farther one advances, the more Protestantism will protest against the faith he has abandoned. In Geneva, Strasburg, Paris, — in almost all the theological faculties of French, German, American Protestants, — their ministers deny the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, deny the mystery of the holy Trinity, and original sin, and sap the very foundations of Christianity.
The Protestant sects about the same as the holy Catholic Church, indeed! They are all separated from it, more or less, according as they are more or less logical, and apply more strictly the Protestant principle of private interpretation. And those sects which still seem to bear some resemblance to the Church, are none the less separated from her by a wide abyss.
— The agent of Protestant propagandism generally opens his way to an unsophisticated and ignorant mind with the remark, that "Protestant or Catholic, it is almost all the same!" And Catholics are to be found who echo this blasphemy, without the least thought that thereby they offer a grave insult to the Church, their mother.
You say Protestantism, with its myriads of subdivisions, is about the same as the Catholic Church! Do you understand yourself? You might as well say that counterfeit money is about as valuable as good coin.
Where the Church affirms, the Protestant denies; where the Church teaches, the Protestant revolts. In the Catholic Church, the unity of faith, worship, and religion, is fundamental and perfect. Among the Protestants, every man believes as he chooses, and acts as he believes: theirs is religious anarchy, an opposition to unity. They agree on only one point, — hatred of Catholicity.
The distinct, infallible teachings of the Church are the rule of faith for a Catholic. The Protestant rejects the Church, despises her authority, and takes for his guidance only the Bible, which he interprets as he best may, or as he chooses.
The Catholic reveres the Pope as the vicar of Jesus Christ, the head of the faithful, the chief pastor, the infallible doctor of the law. But the Protestant looks upon him only as the anti-Christ, Satan's vicar, and the arch-enemy of the gospel.
The Catholic adores Jesus Christ really present in the Eucharist; the Protestant sees in it only an empty symbol, a piece of bread.
The Catholic reveres, invokes, loves the Holy Virgin Mary, mother of God. The Protestant feels for her an estrangement so insuperable, that it often exhibits itself in contempt, and even in hatred.
The Catholic draws his Christian vitality from the seven sacraments of the Church, and supports it chiefly by approaching the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist. The Protestant does not recognize these sacraments; aye, few are the sects that preserve a true conception of Baptism.
And so on with all the dogmas. Yes, I say all, even the most essential to the nature of religion, such dogmas without which there cannot be a Christian. The farther one advances, the more Protestantism will protest against the faith he has abandoned. In Geneva, Strasburg, Paris, — in almost all the theological faculties of French, German, American Protestants, — their ministers deny the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, deny the mystery of the holy Trinity, and original sin, and sap the very foundations of Christianity.
The Protestant sects about the same as the holy Catholic Church, indeed! They are all separated from it, more or less, according as they are more or less logical, and apply more strictly the Protestant principle of private interpretation. And those sects which still seem to bear some resemblance to the Church, are none the less separated from her by a wide abyss.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre