Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

A Complete Doctrinal System

It was necessary for us to make a combined exposition of all these erroneous principles so that it could be clearly perceived that we are in the presence, not of scattered errors, but of a whole doctrinal system rooted in fundamental errors and very logical in professing all the consequences resulting therefrom. 

Difficult for Observers to Perceive

In view of the last chapter, our readers will have varying attitudes depending on the experiences each one has had and, above all, on the perspicacity each one has shown in analyzing the facts. Some will undoubtedly reject as unlikely the picture of a painful situation whose first signs they were fortunate enough to have been spared even the sight of. Others, on the contrary, will feel truly relieved to note that the clamor of vigilant consciences is sounding loud and clear against a state of affairs that threatens to become increasingly serious. To one and the other we recommend that they attentively analyze the deepest scope of all gestures, attitudes, and innovations they perceive in certain ambiences. If they do so they will always see that such peculiarities are explained by some more or less obscure doctrinal substratum, perfectly linked to a set of basic and fundamental principles that are the most profound sources of all this activity.

Because of the Methods Used to Spread It

This situation, though painful, is not new. Modernism, condemned by Pope Pius X in the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis of September 8, 1907, contains doctrines and methods almost identical to those we are now describing; and we could well make a total description of the present movement with the encyclical in our hands. The Holy Father says,

since the Modernists…employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines without order and systematic arrangement into one whole, scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while they are in reality firm and steadfast, it will be of advantage, Venerable Brethren, to bring their teachings together here into one group, and to point out the connexion between them. (1)

This is the task we have set out to accomplish in regard to neo-modernism, dedicating to this purpose the second part of this work.

Man Should Be Delivered from the Sourness of the Interior Struggle

This disposition necessarily generates a revolt and, consequently, the heedless rashness with which they attack everything that the Magisterium of the Church deems holy and venerable. This error, a typical fruit of our times, in some way resurrects the doctrine of Miguel de Molinos and places at its service the fighting methods and propaganda of Modernism.

Pius XI clearly saw this defect of contemporary man when, regarding the spirit of our days, he affirmed:

The unbridled desire for pleasures, weakening the forces of the soul and corrupting good customs, destroys little by little the conscience of one's duty. In fact, only too numerous nowadays are those who, attracted by the pleasures of the world, abhor nothing more vividly and avoid nothing more carefully than the sufferings or voluntary afflictions of soul or body that present themselves, and who habitually behave, according to the words of the Apostle, like the enemies of the Cross of Christ. Now, no one can obtain eternal bliss if he does not renounce himself, if he does not carry his cross and does not follow Jesus Christ. (2)

Giving an Erroneous Liturgical Formation

The attempt to see in the Sacred Liturgy a source of automatic sanctification that exempts man from all mortification, from the effort of interior life, and from the fight against the devil and the passions, is vain and contradicts the teachings of the Church. In fact, as efficacious as the official prayer of Holy Mother Church may be and as superabundant as the infinite merits of the Holy Mass are,

it is necessary that men complete, each one in his own flesh, the Passion of Jesus Christ, for although the Lord Jesus suffered for us, this does not exempt us from weeping and expiating for our sins, nor are we authorized to expiate them with negligence. (3)

It would also be interesting to read, in this regard, the quote from the work of Father de la Taille that we cite later on. (4)

Obviously, by spreading such ideas (through their most effective propaganda methods) in a daring attempt to "reform" the concept of Christian piety and one of its most salient characteristics, namely the love of suffering, such members of Catholic Action, even though they may not know it, do the Church greater harm than declared enemies; and precisely for this very reason one can apply to them what Pius X said of the modernists:

We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity…who, feigning a love for the Church, lacking the firm protection of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church. (5)

In fact, what could be more typical of a reformer than to destroy proven methods, institutions filled with blessings of the Church, and pious practices approved by the most august acts of authority, on the pretense of freeing the Church from germs of liberalism that have supposedly slipped into Her, and over so many ruins establish the foundations of a new spiritual life based on an entirely different, "reformed" concept of the relations between grace and human free will? Deep down, as we have said, the whole objective of these efforts consists in a relaxing of the interior life.

Now, Leo XIII said,

this only proves the necessity to a Christian of long-suffering not only in will but also in intellect. We would remind those persons of this truth who desire a kind of Christianity such as they themselves have devised, whose precepts should be very mild, much more indulgent towards human nature, and requiring little if any hardships to be borne. They do not properly understand the meaning of faith and Christian precepts. They do not see that the Cross meets us everywhere, the model of our life, the eternal standard of all who wish to follow Christ in reality and not merely in name. (6)

Completing this thought, the same Pontiff says further: "Now the perfection of Christian virtue lies in that disposition of soul which dares all that is arduous or difficult." (7)

For his part, Pius XI wrote:

In this regard we are not unmindful that some educators of youth, frightened at the present depravation of customs, thought that it would be indispensable to invent new systems of instruction and education. But we would like to make these men understand that it would not be possible to reap any advantages for society with this if they leave aside the methods and discipline flowing from the fountains of Christian wisdom, consecrated by the long experience of centuries and the efficacy of which Aloysius Gonzaga experienced in himself that is, the lively Faith, the flight from seductions, moderation, and the fight against the appetites, an active piety toward God and the Blessed Virgin, finally, a life frequently entertained and strengthened by heavenly nourishment. (8)

An active and diligent interior fight against one’s passions is always a "condition of sanctification and even salvation." The Holy Ghost says: "Go not after thy lusts, but turn away from thy own will. If thou give thy soul her desires, she will make thee a joy to thy enemies." (9)

We cannot allow, therefore, this condescendence to take hold of Catholic Action. We well know that our statements will cause astonishment. Indeed, many of these persons, just like the modernists, make an impression because of a way of life in which even their private virtues contribute towards the diffusion of their errors. "They lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for the strictest morality." (10) The ideas they propagate and the advice they give, however, are not good.

We did not want to end this chapter without making an observation we deem important. Another curious manifestation of the frivolous and sensual spirit of our times and the way it intermingles, in many mentalities, with religious principles and convictions and tends to produce a piety totally contaminated with laxity and love of comfort can be found in the concern to continuously raise up new or old devotions to this or that saint, to this or that perfection of God, to this or that episode in our Redeemer's life, always attributing to this devotion the magical and, as it were, mechanical effect of solving all of the present religious problems. In the last century, Bishop Isoard, a French prelate, published words of ardent and profound analysis on this matter, showing that above all, God is pleased by "a contrite and humble heart," and that a sinner's penance is indispensable for gaining God's graces.

For his part, Pius XI complained in a strong allocution of the tyrannical impositions of many people who write to the Pope suggesting and asking him almost threateningly to acquiesce to save the Church by means of this or that new devotion. It was this profound feeling of horror of mortification that ended up generating the doctrine of the mechanical and magical action of the liturgy.

Notes:

1) St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Sept. 8, 1907, no. 4, at www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis_en.html

2) Pius XI, Letter Magna Equidem, Aug. 2, 1924.

3) Ibid.

4) Cf. Part III, ch. 3, p. 132.

5) St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, no. 2.

6) Leo XIII, Encyclical Tametsi Futura Prospicientibus, Nov. 1, 1900, no. 10, at www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_01111900_tametsi-futura-prospicientibus_en.html

7) Leo XIII, Encyclical Auspicato Concessum, Sept. 17, 1882, no. 8, at www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_17091882_auspicato-concessum_en.html

8) Pius XI, Apostolic letter Singulare Illud, June 13, 1926. (Our emphasis.)

9) Ecclus. 18:30-31.

10) St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, no. 3.

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