Any person with intellectual and moral honesty must acknowledge the evidence that there is a very wide and profound doctrinal confusion within the Church, especially among the bishops and priests, in most of the seminaries and religious convents, and among the faithful as well. The basic error consists in doctrinal relativism, which creates a state of mind of ambiguity and uncertainty regarding any religious truth.
The word heresy has been used in many ways throughout Church history; however, it has always been used to describe some form of choice or separation from a larger whole, coming from the Greek term hairesis (meaning “selection” or “choice”). As may be read in the writings of all the Church Fathers, heresy was regarded as one of the greatest of all evils. Eventually, the term heresy came to be understood more narrowly, as the rejection of truths of faith and morals only—things that must be believed in order to be considered a Catholic.
It is among the greatest mysteries of divine providence that God should allow the evil of doctrinal error to ever afflict His Church. Although as an institution she is forever preserved free from error in her official teaching and binding commands, there are times when even her shepherds and teachers—the bishops, successors of the apostles—are permitted by God to fall into error, issuing faulty teachings or harmful commands in their ordinary ministry. There were even very rare cases, where popes spread doctrinal errors in their daily and partly official teaching office; of course, this was done outside the acts of their definitive doctrinal pronouncements, called ex cathedra.
The History and Consequences of Heresy
Like every other form of evil in our fallen world—heresy is permitted by God for a good purpose: “That the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Pt 1:7). Indeed, the most terrible heresies and crisis periods in the Church’s history have always led to greater precision and clarity in her official teaching, and to greater discipline and sanctity in her members. In God’s good time, doctrinal errors will always spur the members of the Church onward to a greater knowledge of Him and His works—and so to greater love and holiness as well.
Juan Donoso Cortes, a Spanish Catholic writer and apologist from the nineteenth century, explained perspicaciously the unique mission by God given to the Church, i.e. to teach unambiguously the Divine revealed truths and to protect men from doctrinal and moral errors:
The doctrinal intolerance of the Church has saved the world from chaos. Her doctrinal intolerance has placed beyond question political, domestic, social, and religious truths—primitive and holy truths, which are not subject to discussion, because they are the foundation of all discussions; truths which cannot be called into doubt for a moment without the understanding on that moment oscillating, lost between truth and error, and the clear mirror of human reason becoming soiled and obscured.
(Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism, Considered in their Fundamental Principles)
Defending Yourself and Others Against Heresy
We should best read and study the traditional catechisms (e.g. the Baltimore Catechism, the Catechism of Pope Pius X) because there we find the crystal-clear, constant, and unchanging teachings of the Church. We should say to anyone, who tries to confuse us in our Catholic faith, even if it should be a priest, a bishop or a cardinal: “I know my Catholic Faith, which was that of the Saints, of my forefathers, handed over by the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the constant Magisterium of all ages. And for this holy faith, I like to be ready, with God’s grace, to give my life.”
From the time of an enormous doctrinal confusion within the Church, as it was the Arian crises in the 4th century, we can read these remarkable words: “There can be nothing more dangerous than those who admit nearly the whole cycle of the Catholic doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition” (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos). And saint Augustine said: “You, who believe what you like, believe yourselves rather than the Gospel” (Contra Faustum Manichaeum, 17, 3). In order to remain always faithful to the entire Catholic Faith and to propagate and defend it, a Catholic will always be a target of attacks.
In times of the persecution of the Church and even of the persecution within the Church of those Catholics who remain faithful to the Faith and the Liturgy of all ages, of all Saints, the following words of saint John Henry Newman will give us strength and hope. He said:
One thing alone I know—that according to our need, so will be our strength. One thing I am sure of, that the more the enemy rages against us, so much the more will the Saints in Heaven plead for us; the more fearful are our trials from the world, the more present to us will be our Mother Mary, and our good Patrons and Angel Guardians; the more malicious are the devices of men against us, the louder cry of supplication will ascend from the bosom of the whole Church to God for us. We shall not be left orphans; we shall have within us the strength of the Paraclete, promised to the Church and to every member of it.
(Sermon, preached on July 13, 1852, in St. Mary’s College, Oscott, in the First Provincial Synod of Westminster)
The advice of the great martyr and Father of the Church, St. Ignatius of Antioch remains ever valid and timely: “Flee from these ungodly heresies; for they are the inventions of the devil” (Ad Trallianos, 10).
Editor’s Note: This author’s new book, Flee From Heresy, is available from Sophia Institute Press.
Photo by Lucas Sandor on Unsplash
