Heretics

[Guest]

What makes a Catholic a heretic?

[totustuus20]

When they say/believe something which is not in line with the teachings of the church.

[Guest]

So if a Catholic uses birth control do they become heretics? Or only if they are vocal and rebellious about it and mislead others? Or could they do both out of ignorance and not be considered heretics?

[Ark]

If they are using contraceptives and they know they're wrong, they're probably just weak willed. If they feel it's ok then they're heretics. 

Edited April 27, 2015 by Ark

[Nihil Obstat]

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

 

St. Thomas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith ofChrist, corrupt its dogmas". "The right Christian faithconsists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrineselected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way ofheretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval. The heretical tenets may be ignorance of the true creed, erroneousjudgment, imperfect apprehension and comprehension of dogmas: in none of these does the will play an appreciable part, wherefore one of the necessary conditions of sinfulness--free choice--is wanting and such heresy is merely objective, or material. On the other hand the will may freely incline the intellect to adhere to tenets declared false by the Divine teaching authority of the Church. The impelling motives are many: intellectual pride or exaggerated reliance on one's own insight; the illusions of religious zeal; the allurements of political or ecclesiastical power; the ties of material interests and personal status; and perhaps others more dishonourable. Heresy thus willed is imputable to the subject and carries with it a varying degree of guilt; it is called formal, because to the material error it adds the informative element of "freely willed".

Pertinacity, that is, obstinate adhesion to a particular tenet is required to make heresy formal. For as long as one remains willing to submit to the Church's decision he remains a Catholic Christian at heart and his wrongbeliefs are only transient errors and fleeting opinions. Considering that the human intellect can assent only totruth, real or apparent, studied pertinacity — as distinct from wanton opposition — supposes a firm subjective conviction which may be sufficient to inform theconscience and create "good faith". Such firm convictions result either from circumstances over which the heretic has no control or from intellectualdelinquencies in themselves more or less voluntary and imputable. A man born and nurtured in heretical surroundings may live and die without ever having adoubt as to the truth of his creed. On the other hand a born Catholic may allow himself to drift into whirls of anti-Catholic thought from which no doctrinal authoritycan rescue him, and where his mind becomes incrusted with convictions, or considerations sufficiently powerful to overlay his Catholic conscience. It is not forman, but for Him who searcheth the mind and heart, to sit in judgment on the guilt which attaches to anheretical conscience.

[truthfinder]

TLDR: Formal heretics know they're heretics by openly holding theological beliefs at odds with the Church.  Material heretics are those who believe errant theologies but do so privately or even in ignorance.  

[NadaTeTurbe]

I thought this tread was about G.K.CHesterton book :D Great book on the subject.