The Heresy of Americanism and the Serious Sin of Abandoning the Great Commission

The Exhortation to the Apostles -- James Tissot (1836-1902)

This was the lead article from the Spring issue of the Les Femmes newsletter. Vol 21 #1  2016. I'm republishing it here because so many people have been sucked in by the heresy of Americanism and the rather arrogant belief in American Exceptionalism. Both of these beliefs have as their foundation the false beliefs of the French Revolution. And many Catholic prelates including Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore Catechism fame, who promoted Elizabeth Seton's educational efforts, got caught up in the enthusiasm and desire to be politically accepted. The desire for human respect is a trap that catches many. July 4th seems a good day to reprint it.

Heresy, the American Experiment, and the Great Commission of Christ

Who Can You Trust in a Roman Collar? A Series on the Good, the Bad, and the Disappointing! Fr. Charlie Curran

Fr. Charlie Curran, April 1967, Catholic University, protesting Humanae Vitae...

It's hard for a Catholic to know whom he can trust among our bishops and priests these days (including Pope Francis), although the line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy is getting clearer by the minute. I started to do a post on one of my heroes, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, but along the way got caught up in memories of my state of confusion in the late 1960s when I was a college student.
Those memories reminded me that this kind of confusion in the Church is nothing new.

Heresy, the American Experiment, and the Great Commission of Christ

"Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the
 name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

This is the lead article from the Spring issue of the Les Femmes newsletter. Vol 21 #1

It is undeniable that the Church in America is in trouble. Most Catholics no longer attend Mass on Sunday and many who do practice cafeteria style choosing to accept or ignore doctrine according to taste. A 2015 PEW Survey found fewer than half of those identifying as Catholic regularly attend Mass. Most dissent from key teachings on marriage and family. Eighty-five percent of those interviewed believe cohabitation, a mortal sin, is okay with 55% saying it’s just as good as marriage.

The Triumph of Modernism: An Explanation of the Current Crisis in the Church

Pope St. Pius X

I think what we are seeing in the Church today is the triumph of modernism. Modernism, a declared heresy (in fact the "synthesis of all heresies"), is the "smoke of Satan" that entered the Church after Vatican II. In 1907, Pope St. Pius X who battled modernism throughout his pontificate, required all clergy, religious superiors, professors in Catholic institutions, etc. to take an oath against modernism.
The oath professed belief in revelation, divine acts, miracles and prophecies as the "surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion." It professed adherence to the papal encyclical Pascendi which condemned modernism and its tenets very specifically. The oath rejected the "error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion."