Skip to main content

On the Ignorant and the Gullible

Image
By
+
JMJ



Sometimes codified as in the 2009 Criminal Code of Canada: "Ignorance of the law by a person who commits an offence is not an excuse for committing that offence." Source

As I write this I have a cold, so I have had time to think about my interactions with Gullible and the blogger of Restore DC Catholicism.

What occurred to me is that ignorance is the root of the issues that motivate both the blogger and Gullible.

The blogger, when confronted with Church Teaching on the required intention for confecting the Sacraments replied:
That's a bit of a stretch that I don't believe.

It is useless to argue facts so I invite the blogger to not take my word for it.  They should look up the facts from reliable sources.

Then they can judge if I am right or wrong.

The same goes for Gullible.

Like most 'resistors' that I've encountered (... NTS: I am making an assumption that Gullible is a 'resistor'), Gullible is hasty in judgement with too few facts.

I would rewrite Canadian Law to this situation: 
Ignorance of Church Teaching by a Catholic is no excuse for denying that Teaching.
If you are ignorant of Church Teaching, then you are in danger of being fooled, in other words you are gullible.

The ignorant are a large at-risk population. However, in this case there is no safety in numbers.

This is a population that I absolutely do not want to be a part of.

That is a population that you absolutely not want to be a part of.

So what do you do?

It is simple in theory, a little harder in practice.

In theory you need to:
  1. Study the faith: Studying the faith, increasing your understanding will broaden your perspective.  This helps to keep from getting blindsided by a false assertion.
  2. Deepen your spiritual life: Do spiritual reading (Lives of Saints, Imitation of Christ etc), meditation (rosary etc), regularly access the sacraments, prayer.
  3. Be grateful for what you have received!  You don't deserve it! (See this article and this one)
In short, you need to practice to your Catholic Faith with diligence otherwise if all you focus on is #1, then you will run out of grace and crash.  By crash I mean make a soul losing mistake, one from which is will be incredibly difficult to recover.

In the last 10 years, I've seen friends and acquaintances make big mistakes. Mistakes that they agreed were logically wrong. Mistakes that were emotionally motivated.

If you don't have a good foundation by understanding the faith and a strong spiritual life, then you are in the at-risk population of gullibles.  You will believe the first person that says something that 'sounds' right, that resonates with your beliefs, even if it doesn't make sense.

Enter Cognitive Dissonance.

Don't dis psychology because of its atheistic founders.  A lot of it works because it is the study of humans as a herd.  If you are gullible, then you are part of the herd.

Let me give you an example:
I heard Pope Benedict XVI make a statement that 'sounded' modernist.  I just took it as that and moved on.

I had a belief that Pope B16 was a modernist and would talk like one.So all was good 😀

Then a month of so later Bishop Fellay said almost the exact same words.😒

Woah Noah, what's going on?😅

I had a belief that the words were modernist and as long as only B16 said them all was happy.  Then when Bishop Fellay said it ... I had a set of choices:  Either the words were modernist or traditional.

I know a number of people who would jump to the conclusion that Bishop Fellay, by his contact with the authorities in Rome had become infected by modernism.

I didn't go down that path, I set aside the emotional response and did the logical thing. I looked it up and found that what Pope B16 had said was a quote from pre-council teaching (Trent if I remember correctly).😇

Wow, this taught me to be more discerning when something simply 'sounds' modernist.  It might or it might not be.  All I had to do was:


Look

It

Up

Passion is not out of place in the Catholic Faith. Passion that is disconnected from the Catholic Faith IS out of place.

If your passion is connected with a continually growing knowledge of the faith and a continually deepening of your spiritual life and a healthy dose of gratitude.

Then you will be a channel of grace.👍

P^3



    Labels:

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    News Roundup: October 19, 2026

    By
     + JMJ Well ... I was looking in my blog drafts and found this list from after my News is an Addiction post. So ... yep ... not totally able to disconnect from the news world at this point.  Frankly, I haven't read all of these articles - they catch my eye as I check for SSPX news regarding the exco's etc. So let's consider these topics as part of a higher level chronicle. They may not be key inflection points but helps to understand the flow of the world as perceived by the authors and myself who captured them as a snapshot in time. P^3 1 Popes Past Present and Future Benedict XVI and the Reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy—Part I - Adoremus RORATE CÆLI: France: Pope Lays Down the Law on Euthanasia RORATE CÆLI: "I went to France to preach the Gospel -- the Defense of Life is something that the Church believes very deeply" RORATE CÆLI: Image of the Day: the Pope at the Rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris RORATE CÆLI: Leo XIV and the Place...
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    The Debt Canadian Traditional Catholics Owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP)

    By
     + JMJ On this All Souls day, I'd like to remind all Traditional Catholics in Canada the debt that they owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP). Fr. Normandin stepped into the breach in the 1970's offering the Tridentine Mass across Canada for close to a decade before returning to his diocese for a number years before returning to the SSPX. I had the grace to visit him in Quebec twice and each time left with a greater appreciation of the fruits of his efforts. All of us 'old-timers' probably remembers Masses in Chapels, Homes, Halls, Funeral Homes, and event convention centres. I make the assertion that this laid the ground for all the Traditional Mass Communities, SSPX, FSSP, Diocesan and others. Probably a pretty safe assertion! In addition to praying for the repose of the Soul of Fr. Normandin, I'd ask you also pray for the repose of the soul of his Mother.  I remember seeing her picture once and everyone has a Mom and she is worthy of our prayers for producing such a so...
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

    By
    + JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    SSPX: Requiescat in Pace - Nov. Devotions

    By
     + JMJ Recently, the St. Gertrude prayer was recommended to me and given my devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, I thought it a good inclusion in the morning prayers and post it here for as a reminder for November - the Month of the Holy Souls. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org “Forget not the dead and hasten to pray for them!” - such is the Church's recommendation, beautifully summarized by St. Augustine. In Purgatory until the End of the World Our Lady Herself referred to Purgatory when, at the first Fatima apparition in May 1917, she was asked by Lucia about the souls of two young village girls who had recently died. The Virgin answered that the first one, Maria das Nevas, who died when about 16 years of age, was in Heaven. But of Amelia, a young lady of 18 years at her death, "will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” The disclosure about Amelia’s prolonged period of expiation never fails to shock and trouble. We are so easily misled to believe that Heaven is our natura...
    Post a Comment
    Read more

    The News is an Addiction ...

    By
     + JMJ People seem to be mesmerised by train wrecks.   They just can't turn away as the disaster creeps forward along train tracks towards the crossing where a car, truck, bus, trailer awaits its destruction. Trads have been watching the train wreck that is this crisis of the Catholic Church for decades. The trade war between the Canada and the US has reminded me that the news is addictive.   The first time I was addicted what from 2009 to  2014 when I was closely following the Rome / SSPX discussions.  I was at work watching a live-stream as Bishop Fellay disappeared into the Vatican. The lead-up to this moment had been intense as the 'resistance' got freaked out and the cultural cracks between doctrine and conspiracy theory widened. In the decade since then other things have emerged, wars, rumours of wars, conspiracies, celebrity Catholics etc. Now we have a new addiction and its name is Trump. Lately, no matter how much I try, I find myself wonderin...
    Post a Comment
    Read more