1.Why are many Catholics joining Protestant sects?
A big Protestant sect in the U.S. is made up of ex-Catholics. Former South American Catholics are turning born again. The vast number of members of new Protestant sects in the Philippines started by mere laymen are ex-Catholics.
If these ex-Catholics simply had a problem of weak Faith and lost their Faith, they would not leave the Catholic Church and join Protestant sects. These ex-Catholics have a more serious problem; they never had the Catholic Faith at all.
If they even had a small Faith, they may loss that Faith but they would never leave the Catholic Church and join another Protestant sect. The weak or dead Faith can sustain them and keep them Catholics. Catholics with weak Faith who lose their Faith never leave the Church and join Protestant sect. Those who do so have never had an iota of true Catholic Faith.
So we have to look for another reason why this phenomenon is rampant all around the world. As the first readings of these past week day masses state; because of incompetent shepherds. The shepherds never fed them the Faith because they themselves did not have Faith.
2. As we have seen in the past posts, the devil will always aim at the head just as we, also, must aim at the head of the snake when destroying him. Satan starts with corrupting the seminaries in the hope that most of the graduating priests will be corrupt. This is in accord with Satan’s aim of having many corrupt bishops chosen from the corrupt priests. With many corrupt bishops, the probability is great that one of them would be a cardinal. And from there, Satan knows that he is just one step in having a group of corrupt bishops electing a corrupt Pope. While Satan is concentrating on the priests, bishops, cardinals and pope, the laymen are completely neglected.
And so the sayings goes; the parish or diocese is just a little below the spirituality of their own priests or bishop. With spiritual leaders without Faith, this will be reflected among the Faithful in that they will be a little less than pagans.
3. The phenomenon called Schism had existed from the beginning of history.
Schism is the breaking away from both the teachings of Christ as revealed in Scriptures and interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. It is, also, the breaking away from unity from obedience to a valid Pope .
So schism have two elements; the breaking away from Divine Revelation and submission to the legitimate Pope.
Schism, therefore, is rending away from the social unity of the Mystical Body of Christ and is often accompanied by embracing heresy. It is rare for a schism to be a mere refusal to subordinate to lawful ecclesiastical authority. The insubordination is always motivated by a heresy. In effect, a mixed schism, is a heretical act. It not unusual for this heresy to become a full blown apostasy where there is a complete rejection of all Catholic truths.
Schism, heresy and apostasy are committed by those who from the very beginning had never made a mature act of Faith as defined in the Catholic Church. They were often already in the state of schism, heresy and apostasy before they become openly so. In short, schism, heresy and apostasy was already there all the time before it comes out in the open.
4. Schisms existed from the beginning of the Catholic Church.
There were schisms in every century. The Corinthians were one of the first. The fourth century was overloaded with schisms. And its ugly nose was present up to Vatican I. It’s worse form as Apostasy became full blown during Vatican II. That time, unlike earlier times, the Catholic Church never recovered.
The leaders of schisms, heresy and apostasies were mostly bishops. And it will be repeated during Vatican I and Vatican II up to the Bishop’s Synod of 2014. And it is expected to worsen during the upcoming Bishop’s Synod of 2015.
5. Pope John XXIII and the preparatory commissions were thoroughly Catholic.
When Pope John XXIII, the bishop heads of the preparatory commission and their seven schemata were prepared to begin Vatican II…..they were a vision of the true Church of Christ with the evident four visible Marks of the Catholic Church. That was without doubt. The prepared schemata was thoroughly Catholic because it was based on Divine Revelation as interpreted by the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. It was the sight of a boat calmly sailing on untroubled waters. Everyone was confident the Holy Spirit was in charged so much so Pope John XXIII expected the Counsel to finish its job in three months time, by December of that same year.
But Christ, always, tries His Church as the Gospel last Sunday narrated. Christ was going to feed five thousand. Before He does it, He tries the Faith of St. Philip. ‘Do you think I can feed this five thousand hungry men?’ And Phillip fails the test. ‘Even several month’s salary cannot feed this crowd.
Vatican II was not another Pentecost. It was a test of Faith. After the theologically well made schemata was presented, the fathers of the Counsel totally rejected the schemas. Rejected all the schema?
Note how visible the Marks of the Catholic Church were on October 1962. By December all the visible Marks of the Catholic Church as described in the Nicene Creed were gone. It was not just a schism. If we based it on all the documents of the proceedings we do not see a mere refusal to subordinate to the Pope; it was a rejection of all dogmas of the Catholic Church, starting with the Catholic concept of the family, all of which were found in the original schema. And the Counsel began to proceed in its deliberation by describing an entirely new natural religion based on private belief.
The original members of the preparatory committees fought a running battle to preserve the Faith but it was a losing battle. The final document of Vatican II was described as a devastated vineyard.
6. The apostasy was irreversible during Pope Paul VI.
Pope Paul VI saw that ‘Gaudium et Spes’, was going to the dogs. The Catholic doctrine on the family had been rejected. To save the Catholic concept of marriage intact he issued ‘Humani Vitae’ prohibiting family planning. Even if he tried very hard to soften the doctrinal basis of the family planning, the bishops and priests rejected the Catholic Doctrine and declared their disobedience to the teaching of Magisterium, to the Pope and their separation from the Catholic Church. This rebellious phenomenon was world wide.
Schism, heresies and apostasy are usually led by bishops in the past. During Vatican I and II they were led by German bishops. Today it is still led by German bishops. And as with King Herod, King Henry the VIII and Cardinal Kasper it begins with adultery, a heresy on the family. And it ends with complete separation from the Church, as the German Bishop’s conference had already publicly declared, with the establishment of the hermeneutics of discontinuity and the beginning of a new German church.
7. Rampant schisms.
Schism and heresies are rampant today thus leading to apostasies. We saw it clearly during Vatican II. The records of the proceedings of Vatican II are testimonies to this. It is happening in Bishop’s Synod. A recent secret meeting in the Vatican shows they intend to spread this apostasy around the world through local Bishop’s conferences during the up coming 2015 Bishop’s Synod. This vast apostasy is being masterminded by bishops and cardinals. The rest are just ignorant docile followers going with the current of apostasy.
8. The quota.
God is good, merciful and compassionate. But these virtues must be viewed with the back draft of His justice. Divine goodness, mercy and compassion cannot be understood without Divine Justice. In fact, it is God’s justice that prompts Him to be good, merciful and compassionate. And it is His justice that makes Him give us ‘a quota.’ The Fathers of the Church, especially St. Augustine discussed this ‘quota.’ It says that each one is given by God a quota for doing good and doing evil. When someone reaches his quota of doing good, then God declares him meritorious of salvation. And if he goes over his quota of good, then he receives an extra reward over and above the salvation of his soul. But it often happens that when a person reaches his quota of doing good God takes him to receive his reward.
God, also, gives all men their quota of doing evil. They cannot do more evil than their quota. When they reach their quota, they die and receive their just punishment in hell.
The problem is no one knows how much is their quota. They could reach their quota today, tomorrow or the next day. But which quota are they reaching? Is it for doing good or evil. While it is admirable that we soon reach our quota of good, it is fearful if we first reach our quota of evil.
What is happening today is that, with schisms, heresies and apostasies, everybody is fast reaching their quotas of evil. While they are not prepared to face their judgement. The last Bishop’s Synod was not only going into schism and committing heresies. They were going to full apostasy as exhibited by the hermeneutics of discontinuity and in their establishment of an entirely new religion adapted to the desires of modern man. Not according to the desires of God.
Our present great interest in the visible Marks of the Catholic Church is because the more we reach our quota of doing good, the brighter the visible Marks of the Catholic Church shines in us. While the more we reach our quota of evil, the more the visible Marks of the Catholic Church cannot be found in us. Now, do you know why we cannot find the four visible signs of the Catholic Church in our Catholic parishes and dioceses? Or better still, now do you know why we do not even understand what those four visible signs are?