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EVIDENCES OF LACK OF CATHOLIC OBEDIENCE
From Catholic Replies 2 by Jim Drummey
We have some interesting evidence of the forsaking of Catholic truth by those
who believe that they are loyal Roman Catholics.
Page 13 refers to a Catholic school teacher who refers to God as He/She.
Pages 14,15 quote eminent Aquinas and Augustine that Christians can become
Christ Himself.
Page 16 speaks of a parish seminar where it was taught that Jesus was "like us in
all things, including ignorance."
Page 17 tells of a priest who said Jesus was an insurrectionist, a lawbreaker and a
hippie."
Page 20 tells of a priest who said the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and
fishes was only to get people to share with one another the food they brought.
Page 23 quotes Priest John Meier from the Catholic University of America, who
said that while the resurrection of Christ is real, not everything that is real either
exists in time or space or is empirically verifiable by historic means." This was
understood as a denial of the physical bodily resurrection of Christ.
Page 31 has a questioner ask about the dictation theory of inspiration, which,
although not held by fundamental Christians as Mr. Drummey suggests, was
employed by many Church Fathers, the Council of Trent, and an encyclical by Pope
Leo XIII.
Page 35 has a question about what was called, in a Roman Catholic high school,
the "five myths of the Bible."
On pages 39,40 a writer wonders why Genesis 3:15 has a change of gender from
"she" to "he." Mr. Drummey advocated the newer translation (he shall bruise the
serpent's head), but the ascribing of the victory to Mary (she shall bruise the
serpent's head) was in the only Bible that Roman Catholics had for centuries.
(Douay/Rheims)
Two writers (page 40) are disturbed by the pope's apparent acceptance of the
theory of evolution. The pope said it was "no longer just a hypothesis". Mr.
Drummey claimed that was a mistranslation; what the pope actually said was that
"new knowledge leads to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a
hypothesis." Mr. Drummey defined hypothesis as "an intelligent guess." The
dictionary defines it, "a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its
logical and empirical consequences." The pope definitely said more in favor of
evolution than Mr. Drummey contends, although it must be made clear that the pope
believes that, regardless of how the human body evolved, the life giving spirit was
breathed into this body by God.
In answer to a question on page 64, Mr. Drummey quotes two paragraphs from
the 1994 Catechism which contradict each other. Paragraph 442 says Peter's
confession was the rock on which Jesus built His Church; Paragraph 552 says Peter
was the rock. Mr. Drummey, of course, prefers "the latter way of stating Peter's
place in the founding of the Catholic Church."
On page 81, Mr. Drummey remarks about a priest named Bernard Marthaler. His
credentials are that he is from the Catholic University of America. Mr. Drummey
concludes that the sad state of Roman Catholicism in America is demonstrated by
this priest (Marthaler) who has "publicly ridiculed the Catechism as a collection of
shopworn formulas, tired customs and trite devotions", being asked to teach at a
seminar which is supposed to help people live by that Catechism.
On page 82, Drummey, who is probably right has to correct a news item
concerning the catechism by a Roman Catholic priest, Lawrence DiNardo.
On page 85, Mr. Drummey has to correct another priest, a pastor in Arkansas,
who said that he is within his rights to strongly disagree with parts of the Vatican 2
document, "The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality."
A writer quotes a previous Drummey column, "the body of the faithful as a whole
[from the bishops down to the last member of the laity], anointed as they are by the
Holy one cannot err in matters of faith and morals."
Mr. Drummey defends this by mentioning the "sense of the faithful," or sensus
fidei, which is "when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a
universal consent in matters of faith and morals."
Where, we would ask, in looking at the dozen departures from Mr. Drummey's
true faith by a variety of priests and bishops, is sensus fidei gone? Mr. Drummey
would counter that these clergy are wrong, and that he presents true Catholicism,
but many of the bishops would say Mr. Drummey is wrong, and what they believe is
truly Roman Catholicism. The pope hasn't spoken "infallibly" for over 50 years and
isn't likely to come to Mr. Drummey's rescue.
Whatever will happen if a progressive pope is elected; if a traditional pope is
elected and the "Amchurch" secedes from the union; or if Mr. Drummey gets saved
or dies and is no longer able to correct the mistakes of Catholic priests and bishops?
Who will straighten out the vagaries of the catechism mentioned above (page 64 of
Mr. Drummey's book)?
Only the future has the answer.
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