Cardinal Marx made news of late with his statements to American audiences that traditional Catholicism was dangerous because of its “black and white” view of the Faith, which would lead to sentiments that bread terrorism. So I was thinking about that last night, and I recalled how often in reading about the lives of the Saints, they were castigated, tortured, and killed by Roman authorities for being so black and white, narrow-minded, and extremist in their views. That was the major Roman complaint about Christianity: not that it was another religion. They had no problem with that at all. Their problem with it was that Christianity preached an exclusive Faith, a Faith that would allow no other. The Romans had a great pantheon of “gods,” and were happy to insert Jesus Christ among them, so long as Christians recognized the other pretend gods, and especially the god-hood of the emperor. Hasn’t this always been “the trouble with Christians?” Our exclusivist views, our demands for conversion, our refusal to pretend that other gods are efficacious of anything holy? Did not Saint Paul say “All the gods of the gentiles are devils?” And hasn’t there always been – at least since Constantine recognized the Faith and stopped persecuting it – a strong temptation among many in the Church to go along to get along with the world? How else should we view Cardinal Marx’s comments, then? He pretends not to touch doctrine, but his comments are rife with reference to the world, to those fallen away, to those who, for whatever reason, fail to accord their lives in major ways to the belief of the Church. His rhetoric, his objectives – which are also those of Cardinal Kasper, Baldisseri, Rodriguez, and too many others to list – are exactly the kind of thing so many martyrs died to prevent.
Saint Agnes died rather than allow herself to be corrupted even slightly in morals. Saint Barbara was killed by her own father because she refused to sacrifice the virginity she had consecrated to Christ. St. Margaret Mary Alocoque turned down numerous offers of marriage and worldly honors and riches in order to spend her life serving Christ in a cloister. The world, in its false wisdom, looks on these young lives lost to death or “waste” and thinks they are crazy, deluded. But Catholics know better. Or did. And I could literally go through thousands of other examples.
Excellent posting. Now my question. In what ESSENTIAL way does Cardinal Marx differ from Pope Francis' scocrnings of those who must have certainity, etc.?
