After a heated online discussion about Catholicism and literature in one of the many Yahoo groups to which I subscribe, a woman contacted me off-list.  She agreed with my arguments about why I didn’t like certain “classics.”  She also told me about her life as a sedevacantist.  According to Wikipedia, Sedevacanists believe that the popes from Pope Paul VI in 1963 (or since Vatican II) until today are false popes, and are in fact heretics, because they espouse Modernism.

     We exchanged a couple of emails.  I didn’t really agree with her, since I have seen a shift back to genuine Roman Catholic teaching and living under Pope John Paul the Great and now under Pope Benedict XVI.  She also was living without the Sacraments, worshipping at home, because she could not find a sedevacantist priest.  Despite my disagreement, I had a lot of respect for her because she was trying to live out what she felt was a true Catholic faith.

     A few weeks later, I attended the regular Tuesday evening Mass at our parish on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.  The homily was about having the courage to do what you think is right even when it is difficult.  The example he used was the recent women’s “ordination” in Boston.  He said that regardless of how you feel about it, you had to admire their courage to stand up to the Catholic Church.  He said he was thrilled to see it.  I walked out, too upset to even receive Holy Communion.

     I called and discussed the homily with him the next day.  After a long conversation where he brought up things like Liberation Theology in a positive light, he told me he was going to have an adult catechesis class based on a book and videos by Thomas Groome.  A little Internet research revealed Thomas Groome to be liberal Boston College professor advocating inclusive language and the ordination of women.  Read this article from CatholicCulture.org to learn more.  He has also created a lot of religious educational material, including the Coming to Faith series our parish uses for CCD.  Here’s an article from CatholicParents.org about the flaws in this series.  At home we use the highly recommended Faith and Life series from Ignatius Press; I suggest you check your parish’s program at CatholicParents.org; many others programs, like the popular Faith First, are also very problematic.  The author of Faith First, Louis J. Cameli, co-authored a book with Groome and others.

     After our discussion about the homily, I realized I was making the same mistake about the sedevacanist that he was making about Groome.  I saw how misplaced my admiration and respect were for her when I saw those same sentiments in our priest towards the women’s “ordination.”  One important difference, though; I was not planning to propagating the ideas of the sedevacantist while he is planning a parish program based on the works of Groome.  That’s beyond admiring their courage—that’s embracing their ideals.  In fact, the very next Sunday he posted the flyer for the program.  I resigned from the parish that day.

     Groome’s central question in this program is, “What makes us Catholic?”  According to him, everything about Catholic Church must be questioned (funny, though, how we should not view him with skepticism.)  The Catholic Church is the same one that Christ founded on St. Peter and that has led to our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI through an unbroken apostolic succession.  As Christ intended, and through the Holy Spirit, the Pope and Magistarium continue to discern and teach our biblically-based Catholic Sacred Traditions, doctrines, and dogmas.  People think they are just as wise and filled with the same kind of grace when it comes to the teachings of Catholicism as the Holy Father and the Magistarium.  Worse than that, they vilify the Church in order to propagate their own ideas, and yet they still continue to call themselves Catholic.

     We Catholics are called to be filled with Reason and not to follow blindly.  We must keep our eyes open and speak up when called to do so, even regarding Church teachings.  However, we are also called to be obedient to that same Church. 

“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’

Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock…”

St. Matthew 7:21-24

     The sedevacantist may do many mighty works in His name, like keeping her family untainted by Modernism, and the liberal theologian may do mighty works in His name, like writing widely-used religious educational material and “ordaining” woman, but they do not do the will of our Father who art in Heaven.  We should not build our house upon them, but upon the teachings of the apostolic Holy Roman Catholic Church.  That means a catechesis for our children based on rock-solid programs from St. Ignatius Press (Faith and Life or Image of God.)  It means voicing our outrage at the use of these substandard materials.  It means joining a parish that holds our authentic Catholic faith dear.