Encylicals Related To Modernism

[Credo in Deum]

How about you write a letter to His Holiness Pope Francis regarding your concerns and suggestions. Put your contact information since he has been known to call back.

Mailing address:

His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City

Edited June 4, 2014 by Credo in Deum

[Perigrina]

It's interesting that you feel modernism has essentially died out. To me it seems many of the modernist positions have been vindicated and the things past popes warned against now official policy.

I do find it remarkable that the only times infallibility has been evoked in living memory was again contraception and for an all male priesthood.

 

The sort of modernism condemned by previous popes no longer exists.  What we are dealing with now is post-modernism and even post-post-modernism.  Yes, there are still lots of seriously wrong ideas around.  They need to be dealt with on their own terms, not in reference to modernism.

 

Historically, exercises of papal infallibility have been rare.  I would not expect to see many of them.

[Nihil Obstat]

I think it would be worthwhile and appropriate for a reiteration of the first part of the Oath Against Modernism in more detailed encyclical form. That is:

 

Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely. Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord.

 

[Perigrina]

Compare the above passage with this passage regarding the problem of dissent found in Donum Veritatis:

 

The phenomenon of dissent can have diverse forms. Its remote and proximate causes are multiple.

The ideology of philosophical liberalism, which permeates the thinking of our age, must be counted among the factors which may exercise their remote or indirect influence. Here arises the tendency to regard a judgment as having all the more validity to the extent that it proceeds from the individual relying upon his own powers. In such a way freedom of thought comes to oppose the authority of tradition which is considered a cause of servitude. A teaching handed on and generally received is apriori suspect and its truth contested. Ultimately, freedom of judgment understood in this way is more important than the truth itself. 

 

I do not have any trouble seeing a continuity between them.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Perigrina

[CrossCuT]

Can someone define what they think Modernism means? Im assuming PM people think differently than Wiki. I just want to be on the same page when reading about modernism ish on the forums. 

[Nihil Obstat]

Compare the above passage with this passage regarding the problem of dissent found in Donum Veritatis:

 

The phenomenon of dissent can have diverse forms. Its remote and proximate causes are multiple.

The ideology of philosophical liberalism, which permeates the thinking of our age, must be counted among the factors which may exercise their remote or indirect influence. Here arises the tendency to regard a judgment as having all the more validity to the extent that it proceeds from the individual relying upon his own powers. In such a way freedom of thought comes to oppose the authority of tradition which is considered a cause of servitude. A teaching handed on and generally received is apriori suspect and its truth contested. Ultimately, freedom of judgment understood in this way is more important than the truth itself. 

 

I do not have any trouble seeing a continuity between them.

Yeah, I definitely see a continuity. I just think it would be really worthwhile to have a strong re-iteration of those passages I quoted above. Nothing earth shattering- just a strong reminder of principles for Catholics who may have 'forgotten'.

[KnightofChrist]

Can someone define what they think Modernism means? Im assuming PM people think differently than Wiki. I just want to be on the same page when reading about modernism ish on the forums.

That is not an easy question to answer. Pope Pius X taught that modernism was a combination of all heresies.

[Perigrina]

Actually the Wikipedia article seems like a decent summary to me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism_(Roman_Catholicism)

 

Modernism may be described under the following broad headings:

• A rationalistic approach to the Bible. The rationalism that was characteristic of the Enlightenment took a protomaterialistic view ofmiracles and of the historicity of biblical narratives. This approach sought to interpret the Bible by focusing on the text itself as a prelude to considering what the Church Fathers had traditionally taught about it. This method was readily accepted by Protestants and Anglicans. It was the natural consequence of Martin Luther’s sola scriptura doctrine,^{[citation needed]} which asserts that Scripture is the highest authority, and that it can be relied on alone in all things pertaining to salvation and the Christian life.

• Secularism and other Enlightenment ideals. The ideal of secularism can be briefly stated as follows: the best course of action in politics and other civic fields is that which flows from a common understanding of the Good by various groups and religions. By implication, Church and State should be separated and the laws of the latter, for example that forbidding murder, should cover only the common ground of thought systems held by various religious groups. From the secularists’ point of view it was possible to distinguish between political ideas and structures that were religious and those that were not, but Catholic theologians in the mainstream argued, following St. Thomas Aquinas, that such a distinction was not possible. All aspects of society were to be organized with the final goal of Heaven in mind. The humanist model which had been in the forefront of intellectual thought since the Renaissance and the scientific revolution was however directly opposed to this view.^[which?]

• Modern philosophical systems. Philosophers such as Kant and Bergson inspired the mainstream of Modernist thought. One of the latter’s main currents attempted to synthesize the vocabularies, epistemologies, metaphysics and other features of certain modern systems of philosophy with Catholicism in much the same way as the Scholastic order had earlier attempted to synthesize Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy with the Church's teaching.

• Theological rebellion in contradistinction or opposition to the Church's official policies, notably among Jesuits and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

 

There is also an explanation of why it is considered a synthesis of all heresies:

 

The final overall teaching of Modernism is that dogmata (the teachings of the Church, which its members are required to believe) can evolve over time – not only in their expression but also in their substance – rather than remaining the same in substance for all time. This postulate was what made Modernism unique in the history of heresies in the Church. Previously, a heretic (someone who believed and taught something different from what the rest of the church believed) would either claim that he was right and the rest of the Church was wrong because he had received a new revelation from God, or that he had understood the true teaching of God which had previously been understood but was later lost. Both of these scenarios almost inevitably led to an organisational separation from the Church (schism) or the offender’s being ejected from it (excommunication). Using the new idea that doctrines evolve, it was possible for the modernist to believe that both the old teachings of the Church and his new, seemingly contradictory teachings were correct — each group had its time and place. This system allows almost any type of new belief which the modernist in question might wish to introduce, and for this reason Modernism was labelled by Pope Pius X as "the synthesis of all heresies".

[Perigrina]

An important idea that was missing from the Wikipedia passage above is the basic epistemological assumption that underlies the manifestations of Modernism.  Fr. Hardon's dictionary is a good source for this: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34926

 

A theory about the origin and nature of Christianity, first developed into a system by George Tyrrell (1861-1909), Lucien Laberthonnière (1860-1932), and Alfred Loisy (1857-1940). According to Modernism, religion is essentially a matter of experience, personal and collective. There is no objective revelation from God to the human race, on which Christianity is finally based, nor any reasonable grounds for credibility in the Christian faith, based on miracles or the testimony of history. Faith, therefore, is uniquely from within. In fact it is part of human nature, "a kind of motion of the heart," hidden and unconscious. It is, in Modernist terms, a natural instinct belonging to the emotions, a "feeling for the divine" that cannot be expressed in words or doctrinal propositions, an attitude of spirit that all people have naturally but that some are more aware of having. Modernism was condemned by Pope St. Pius X in two formal documents, Lamentabili and Pascendi, both published in 1907. (Etym. Latin modernus, belonging to the present fashion.)

[CrossCuT]

That is not an easy question to answer. Pope Pius X taught that modernism was a combination of all heresies.

 

Oh really? Id imagine that few people are "modernists" then. My thoughts were always pretty close to what is in Wiki currently although I know some people may have some additional thoughts to share. Im still curious what other people think! Cant fight something if we dont know what it is!

[mortify ii]

For over a century various Popes warned of "nefarious forces" and "dark conspiracies" seeking to undermine the Church from within and without. Initially it was attacking certain propositions but then it was given the label of Modernism. So how did this war that numerous Pontiffs engage in fair? Was modernism truly defeated? Strangely when I read contemporary documents and even the NAB commentary, it really makes me wonder whether it was defeated or if rather it progressively advanced deeper and higher into the Church. We see numerous examples of theologians censured by one pope later have a tremendous amount of influence under another. Even the early history of John XXIII and his association with communists is perplexing. Of course, the monster that is modernism has since evolved since the likes of Pope Pigs X, as the enemy also grows and develops.

[MIKolbe]

Note nothing beyond the pontificate of Pope Pius XII... 

 

Then clearly the only logical assumption is that all the popes before Gregory XIV and since Pius XII have lavishly embraced and promoted modernism.

[mortify ii]

Then clearly the only logical assumption is that all the popes before Gregory XIV and since Pius XII have lavishly embraced and promoted modernism.

You're so smart, I stand defeated and retract my comment :)

[Credo in Deum]

 Of course, the monster that is modernism has since evolved since the likes of Pope Pigs X, as the enemy also grows and develops.

Pope Pigs X, approves your message!

[mortify ii]

Pope Pigs X, approves your message!

Lol... Stupid auto correct on phone