On the Ignorant and the Gullible

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:

Study the faith: Studying the faith, increasing your understanding will broaden your perspective. This helps to keep from getting blindsided by a false assertion.
Deepen your spiritual life: Do spiritual reading (Lives of Saints, Imitation of Christ etc), meditation (rosary etc), regularly access the sacraments, prayer.
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

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

Facts and Opinions - An Explanation

+ JMJ When a person's assumptions are events outside of their control they form an opinion and, in my experience, assert this opinion to be fact. So ... it is important to define some terms:

The Curious Case of Steve Skojec and the Dangers of Deep Diving into the Crisis Sub-Titled: The Failings of Others

+ JMJ It's been a while now since Steve Skojec sold 1P5 and abandoned the Catholic Faith. I've been a 'Trad' since 1982 and in those 40+ years I seen this death-spiral before with a similar end point. It seems that anyone who jumps into the fray unprepared for the enormous task of righting wrongs will, eventually, become discouraged by not the task but the people who surround them. I remember when Skojec complained of the treatment his family received from a traditional priest. This seems to have been the start of the end for him. So what can we learn from the likes of Steve Skojec, Michael Voris (maybe?), Louie Verrecchio, Gerry Matatix and other celebrity Catholics? Probably quite a lot about what not to do. First, don't burn out on the crisis? When you burn out, on work or anything else, little things assume a more greater importance than they are due. This is one of my 'canary in the coal mine' signals that I've been stretching myself too thin

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ 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

What the heck is a congregation of "Pontifical Right"

+ JMJ In a discussion with a friend the question occurred to me that I didn't actually know was is involved in being a religious order of 'pontifical right'. I had a vague notion that this meant they reported to Rome as opposed to the local diocese. I'm also aware that, according to the accounts I have heard, the Archbishop received 'praise' and the written direction to incardinate priests directly into the SSPX. This is interesting because it implies that the SSPX priests were no longer required to incardinate in the local diocese but in the SSPX. This is something that belongs to an order of 'pontifical right'. Anyway here's some definitions: Di diritto pontificio is the Italian term for “of pontifical right” . It is given to the ecclesiastical institutions (the religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life) either created by the Holy See or approved by it with the formal decree, known by its Latin name, Decretu

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R

Tradicat

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