You guys must all have incredibly fragile faiths, to need to constantly do this. Yeah, people who leave a religion usually like to assert that they are still faithful to it. Protestants call themselves Christian, but not Catholic; now Yaquis call themselves Catholic but not Christian. At least I’ll acknowledge that Protestants kept the more crucial part of the notion of Catholic Christianity, but the notion you can separate them is simply fictitious.
The fact that syncretism exists among people who call themselves Catholic, but defy the Catholic Church shouldn’t be surprising. In the U.S., there are plenty of syncretic, Protestant sects, like Mormons, Branch Davidians, Unitarians, etc. Being a well-educated and wealthy country, they are few in number. Head down to Brazil, and you can encounter all sort of bizarre syncretic cults which regard themselves as Evangelical, Baptist, Protestant, “World Christian,” Reformed, Charismatic, Fundamentalist, you name it. Baptists will, of course, be the first to declare that such “Baptists” aren’t really Baptist, but who’s to say who’s right? The Brazilian Baptists will swear up and down that the American Baptists are the ones misinterpreting scripture. However, because of the concept of catholicity, we can objectively state which Catholics are upholding the basic tenets of Catholicism and which are not.
So the Yaquis are somewhat more Christian than the Aztecs, and less Christian than Pope Benedict. Are they saved? This article sure doesn’t make it sound like this guy is, but I really have little idea. But even he might get to Heaven long before Martin Luther or Cardinal Mahony.
Catholics go straight off the cliff worshiping everybody under the sun except God. Then they go to other cultures and teach them to do the same. Thus you get a “Catholic” believing it’s ok to pray to the winds, the four corners of the earth, the spirits, whatever. They cant tell the difference because no one has taught them properly. The Catholic church is just into numbers for whatever nefarious reasons it has in the Vatican. Like I said earlier, read 1 Kings and see how confused and wrong the people of God can become in 40 years.
/roll eyes.......
We do not bolster our faith by *attacking* others.
What do you expect us to do? Not tell the truth about this kind of paganism and where it leads?
With members like this, the Catholic church is in bigger trouble than it realizes.
But since he still claims to be Catholic, I'll bet he's *properly* catechized. After all, he still identifies as Catholic.
I do not know about Cardinal Mahony's eternity..but the only way for this "catholic medicine man" to get to heaven is the same as it is for all of us... that is to know he is a sinner that will never be saved by rituals or rites,( Indian or Catholic), but only by the cross of Christ and then to come in faith to that cross...