“If in 1,800 years we clergy have failed to destroy the Church, do you really think that you will be able to do it?” Cardinal Ercole Consalvi in response to Napoleon Bonaparte’s boasts that he would destroy the Church. Napoleon has had a lot of company over more than 2000 years now from inside and out; starting with Jews such as Saul and Roman Emperors into the raft of reformation era theologians and enlightenment thinkers, which have not ceased spawning to this very day! If one were to approach the question from the Hegelian model of history, as I had until my conversion, the Catholic Church is a total aberration. One would expect that the Church would have been synthesized into oblivion after the reformation aided rise of the nation-state. The initial persecutions alone probably should have been enough to crush the young faith; eleven of the twelve initial leaders and chief teachers were murdered or rather martyred for their faith. Christians were murdered at such a rate one would have surely had to have been suicidal to be baptized and share in that faith. It turns out that just the opposite is true somehow and that is the secret to answering the question, “Why still Catholicism?”
Cardinal Ercole Consalvi’s statement to Napoleon acknowledges what every critic of the Church has also understood and that is that the Church has been administered on Earth by very human beings. Martin Luther’s real ignition point is that the dukes and princes supported him in an attempt, which would prove successful, to pry power away from Rome. Respected theologians of the time found Luther’s arguments lacking, ironically Henry the Eighth wrote a book “Septum Sacramentorum” disemboweling Luther’s arguments thus earning him the title “defender of the faith”. God seems to love irony however as Henry then soon found his own very human reasons to start a church, every early Church father one reads holds the schismatic in the same regard as the murderer but Henry would soon go there too.
Denis Diderot said, “Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” Diderot was an Enlightenment thinker and a materialist whose thought set the stage for the French Revolution, which began five years after his death. Diderot died of natural causes; the religious of France during the enlightenment’s French Revolution died by the guillotine, the sword, and the musket barrel. Whole monasteries of Sisters and Brothers, Priests, Bishops, and Cardinals all violently slaughtered for the enlightenment of the world. This is how one can see and begin to understand the mystical nature of God and especially the life and death of His Son Jesus; we do not kill to live and spread the Gospel we die to live and spread the Gospel. Our priests were priests called by Pope Gregory to be celibate to increase their discipline and dedication to that Gospel. God does not do things as man would. It would seem counterintuitive to cut the best and brightest from the gene pool but there is something greater they must do than simply populate the world. It is there vocation to bridge that material world with the source and summit of life, God.
Their fatherhood brings the faithful into life through the sacramental life of Christ’s Church and sustains us in this material and spiritual life by the material and spiritual nature of the sacraments; as Jesus Himself was both God and man so is life matter and spirit and God provides nourishment for both as He is The Father.
Our Father has also provided the faithful in these seemingly impossible moments in Church history with amazing Saints and Miracles to directly answer the challenges set against it. Saint Francis of Assisi actually reformed the Church by calling it to Holiness through his own example. He refused to disparage the Church because he knew that though the world was having its way with many of the clergy of the time at the heart of the Church was the same one unchangeable truth, Jesus Christ. He served Christ and led the Church through that example. His order was endorsed by Pope Innocent III after He dreamt that Francis was holding up the Church. God has a way of influencing people.
Saint Catherine of Sienna brought the Papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome. She did this in an unusual way as he dictated letters from her spiritually. She also asked him to reform the clergy and the Papal States. He was not the only one to have this experience as she worked for peace among the Papal States and worked against the Western Schism. She worked tirelessly to convince all of Pope Urban VI’s legitimacy and is considered a Doctor of the Church. Having the Pope dictate your personal correspondence kind of makes the nailing of the ninety-five theses look rather pedestrian doesn’t it?
St. Anthony of Padua was nicknamed “Hammer of Heretics” as he won amazing numbers of converts by his preaching and numerous miracles. St. Dominic also had amazing success winning converts through his beatific virtue, impeccable knowledge, and charismatic preaching. St. John Vianney fought the aftermath of the French Revolution which resulted in a thorough secularization of the parish to which he was assigned, Ares. He won thousands back to the faith through pious devotion, patience, prayer, and hours in the confessional. As an illustration of how many conversions he caused and how he invigorated the faith of France after the Revolution I offer these facts, Ares had a population of 230 when he became its priest in 1818 and by 1855 the number of pilgrims who traveled to see him was 20,000 a year.
Miracles and apparitions have also renewed, revitalized, and refocused the Church throughout her history. On December 12, 1531 Juan Diego presented Bishop Zumarraga with a sign from a woman, who identified herself to him as “the perfect ever-virgin Mary mother of the most true God,” he had met her on his way to catechism class, having been one of the very few native Aztec people to convert, that a church should be built upon a little hill known as Tepeyac. Juan Diego brought fully opened roses, provided by the lady; he had taken from that barren hill in the cold of December. He presented this sign to the Bishop who fell stunned in amazement at the image which was now present on Juan Diego’s tilma amid the cascading roses.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe” caused the near total conversion of the Aztec people not only because she is a pictogram overflowing with meaning to the native Aztec people; who’s written language was actually pictograms, but due to the incredible miracles attributed to the image; one of the most striking examples being that of a dead man who regained life in the presence of the image on December 25, 1531.
More than 7 million pilgrims a year visit the very image which seems to be preserved from time as it has not faded or decayed in the 480 years it has been venerated. Our Lady of Guadalupe has not only been preserved from natural wear but also from bomb blast.
On November 14, 1921 Luciano Perez, a communist agent, placed an enormous vase of flowers and dynamite on the alter beneath the image; moments later after Luciano was safely away the Church was rocked by an explosion. The marble alter was reduced to a pile of marble stones, the windows of the church itself and of the building across the street were blown out, and a large iron crucifix was twisted and curled by the impact of the bomb blast and yet the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was totally unperturbed. The glass case which held it bore not a single crack. This proved to be the high water mark for the Socialist Revolution in Mexico which also was reduced to rubble.
February 11, 1858 apparitions begin at Lourdes France. A young lady dressed in white, who would eventually reveal her name to Bernadette Soubirous as she spoke, “Que soy era Immaculada Counceptiou.”
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, in his Papal Bull “Ineffabilis Deus” (“Ineffable God”). On March 25, 1858, the feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette approached Father Dominique Peyramale repeating, “Que soy era Immaculada Counceptiou.” Father Peyramale seemed scandalized by the words, “No lady can bear that name!” He asked her if she knew what it meant and she shook her head. She did not understand; she only repeated it over and over again until she came to him and then she spoke it to him.
Pope Pius IX was something of a polarizing figure in a polarized time. He had also presided over the institution of Papal Infallibility as a dogma of the Church. A lot of people were looking at that time, as they do in every time it seems, for a liberalization of the Church and Pope Pius IX was seen as a liberal when he was elected, but the Holy Spirit guided him in a different direction than the liberals would have taken him and there was dissent.
By Mary coming to Lourdes under the title “Immaculate Conception” in amongst the swell of healing miracles from the miraculous spring which Bernadette dug with her own tiny hands God himself seemed to reaffirm His decision. He chose Pope Pius IX the successor of Peter; listen to him.
The Apparitions of Our Lady to three children near Fatima Portugal began on May 13th, 1917. Lucia dos Santos, age 10, and her cousins Francisco, age 8, and Jacinta, age 7, Marto were tending their families sheep when they received the first visit from Our Lady.
Portugal had instituted anti-clerical laws since the liberal Civil War of 1834 and beginning in that year the property and land of the Portuguese Catholic Church and that of every religious order was confiscated by the state and sold. This was apparently supposed to redistribute the property of the Church equitably, every bit of it attained through the donations of private citizens, the poor, however, had no capital and so the property ended up in the hands of speculators.
From 1834 to 1910 Portugal was a grab bag of turmoil and rival political ideologies. Monarchists rose and fell beside more so named “democratic” parties. The resulting Coup de’ taut and Portuguese First Republic left the government in the hands of the Portuguese Republican Party and one party rule. A new set of anti-clerical laws and Alfonso Costa’s self described “hostile” separation of Church and State. Costa stated in “Declaration to the Congress of Free Thought”, March 26, 1911, pg 256, “Thanks to this law of separation, in two generations Catholicism will be completely eliminated in Portugal.”
1917 was terrible for the entire world. World War I escalated; the United States was brought into the war in 1917.
The Russian Revolution began in St. Petersburg/Petrograd in February; the name was changed from St. Petersburg to Petrograd in 1914. Though Lenin was still in Switzerland and so Germany enabled his travels to Russia via train, as they wanted Russia to withdraw from the war. The Bolsheviks begin the Communist Revolution in October and on August 4th Pravda calls for the killing of all capitalists, priests, and officers.
The Canadians also knew for a fact the world was going to hell as an American team, the Seattle Metropolitans, beat the Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1; thus bringing the Stanley Cup to the United States for the first time.
This is the world of Fatima 1917. Our Lady came to a world of militant atheism and militant nationalists and militant militants. She enlisted a crack team of commandos that had been sent to prison for a crime they didn’t commit; wait no she came to a 10, 8 , and 7 year old in a country that had been trying to destroy the Church for 73 years. Does that make any sense to you? Thank God I’m not god because I kind of liked the whole commando thing.
To prove even further that God does not do things as we would God sends Mary to win converts with this message, “Do penance!” This is serious they are not handing out coffee mugs with the Church logo to induce people; God just tells you the truth. He is not placating the spoiled children of the world. We need to do penance we need to make reparations for the state of our world. God isn’t looking for us to join His club; He is the way, the truth, and the life. He doesn’t have anything to sell because everything is already His. Our worship adds no Glory to God, but it is vital for us. So He teaches through Mary at Fatima with authority.
The final apparition attracts the faithful and the atheist alike for each hope to have their world view born out. The miracle of the Sun transformed those who experienced it. The devoutly pro-government and anti-clerical papers too had to relay the miraculous nature of what occurred. The sun spun, danced, changed color, and seemed to come crashing to Earth only to be set right at the last instant.
There was also a physical symbol as the Earth and onlookers were thoroughly soaked by a downpour with had persisted until the time of the apparition. After the “dance of the sun” everything and everyone was completely dry.
Our Lady warned that “the war to end all wars” was not going to live up to that billing and that a light in the sky would precede the next war. The aurora borealis could be seen all the way down in Europe and in Northern Africa January 25, 1938 before the outbreak of the Second World War it was the widest occurrence of the aurora borealis since 1709. The war began September 1st 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, yet as early as March 13, 1938 Germany took over Austria, in an action termed the Anschluss.
Our Lady spoke of consecrating communist Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The revolution started in February, though not a Communist or Bolshevik revolution at that time. It consisted of hungry people, which was most of the people, not ideology charged people. When Lenin finally came eyewitnesses described him as lacking in charisma having as much ability to fire up the crowd as a college lecturer; but he promised food, jobs, and end to Russia’s involvement in the war. This is what people wanted and so by October comes the Bolshevik revolution.
The apparitions started in May and lasted six months. For the children of Fatima to comment on Russia without having seen and heard the live stream on their iPads is astounding. Remember that Lenin was in Switzerland as the peasants revolted in Petrograd. Lenin was chomping at the bit to get back to Russia, but it was up to the better judgment of the Germans to decide if he could. The last apparition was on October 13th. The October Revolution began on the 25th. Mary knew before Lenin the fate of Russia and warned all to fight against it, pray the rosary everyday she instructed and do penance.
Penance is such a key between the sacrifice of the Mass and the life of the Church outside the physical walls of the Church. The Protestant asks, “If you have Christ himself in your Church why would you ever leave?” The simple answer is we are asked to as the mass concludes, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” The Catholic must understand that we are called to serve, just as every Saint did who has entered the Kingdom of Heaven before us.
As Jesus emptied Himself of His Divine nature and was born of Mary so this was also the pattern of His life becoming a slave as St. Paul notes. Jesus emptied Himself of pride to be filled by the Holy Spirit and in so doing remaining within the mystery of the Holy Trinity. As we see in His testing by Satan in the desert Jesus denies Himself the expedient solution of Satan and trusts in the truth of the Love of His Father. Today one would say, “He was in need who would judge if He had eaten of the bread transformed from stones?” God would because we stole from Him the opportunity to have His angel’s minister to us after the trial is concluded. We are not God; we are to trust in the goodness of God with our whole mind, all of our soul, and all of our heart.
We see denominations charmed by the world; you may ordain who the world prefers but to do so one must vilify who the lord prefers. They become not about the goodness of God but the expediency which Christ himself turned away from.
Penance is our chance to join in Christ’s love and to trust in it. We are not saved by our faith alone. We are saved by our embrace of Jesus and our continued struggle to open our hearts ever wider to God until we are as Jesus was perfectly human. We are separated from our very humanity as we deviate from the truth. Penance offers us a chance to open our hearts because we do penance not just for ourselves but others and not just others but sinners. We do penance for our enemies so that we all may be joined again to God.
When we focus on our faith alone the question is asked, “Why do good?” Works are not a part of our salvation. It is true that we are not saved by our works but by the sacrifice of Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection.
I have heard it said that the reason to be good is because we are to be an example to those who do not believe. This is true but it rings like tin on the ear. There is so much more. We have the opportunity and the invitation to join in the very life of the Holy Trinity.
As Jesus’ suffering was and is redemptive so too can our suffering be redemptive; His by His divine nature and ours through His grace. Paul describes us as the body of Christ and we are bound to each other through our baptism and the sacraments especially the Eucharist. The body of Christ on Earth is bound to suffer until He comes again and it is the Church’s opportunity to allow that suffering to make sense.
If we can learn to suffer for one another and especially sinners; we will not simply be bound together by our suffering but we will uphold one another in love. Our Lord’s Kingdom will come on Earth as it is in Heaven.
There is one God. There is one Son who took on the sins of the world, was crucified, died, was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven for the redemption of the world. There is one Spirit given to us at baptism and so one Spirit which unites us, and so there must be one Church.
Guided by Church Tradition, informed by Church history, and sustained by the Sacraments the Church remains alive and vital. It is not simply the institution and autocracy its detractors charge The Catholic Church is the depository of the fullness of faith. This is a concept most do not understand for men such as Napoleon actually believed they could destroy what God Himself has created on Earth.
“You are Cephas/Kepha/Petra/Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus says upon this rock “I” will build “My” Church; not Peter’s or Constantine’s but His, Jesus Christ. In the final analysis that is the only explanation which makes logical sense as to how this Church continues on and will continue until Christ comes again.
