Posted on 01/25/2026 6:10:15 PM PST by ebb tide
Dutch Bishop Robert Mutsaerts has criticized liberal theology as a great “danger that comes from within” to the Catholic Church.
In an article on his blog published in early January, the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of ‘s-Hertogenbosch cited Catholic author Hilaire Belloc, who wrote that he did not fear “’the barbarians at the gates,’ but rather the danger that comes from within.”
“I would now like to address liberal theologians and believers. Not to accuse them, but to invite them to reconsider,” Mutsaerts wrote, adding, “If Belloc was right, and if he were to speak to us today, he might say: Christianity in Europe is not threatened by secularization alone, but by a theology that no longer trusts its own core.”
He noted that in Germany, the problem is not external threats but the German bishops themselves, who “have published a document (‘Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft’) that offers pastoral guidelines for priests and pastoral workers for blessings of couples living in relationships that the Church calls ‘disordered.’”
“The German synodal processes have previously adopted documents advocating a reconsideration of the teaching on homosexuality, space for gender diversity and inclusion of trans and intersex persons, and discussions on celibacy. All under the guise of pastoral care.”
Mutsaerts stressed that “in Catholic theology, pastoral action can never be separated from truth.”
“The Church distinguishes between objective moral order (what is good or sinful) and subjective guilt (how personally responsible someone is),” and therefore “it cannot declare that something is morally good that it has always considered intrinsically disordered.”
The bishop said it’s important to remember the Church’s distinction between sin and the sinner.
“Think of the famous words of Augustine: hate the sin, love the sinner,” he stated. “If you justify sin, you are guiding the sinner further toward the abyss.”
“That is as unpastoral as it can be. If sinful situations are structurally blessed without clear language about conversion, the cross, asceticism, or moral growth, then sin is trivialized to ‘imperfection.’ That may sound pastoral, but where there is no longer sin, there is also no longer any reason for conversion, and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is declared superfluous. And every blessing becomes meaningless."
“Love without truth is loveless,” he said.
The Dutch bishop issued a warning that if Christians conform themselves to the spirit of the age, they will become secularists:
But what happens when bishops, priests, and theologians are so busy defending Christianity in such a way that the secular environment no longer takes offense at its contrarian views? Have they not in fact ceased to defend Christianity? When the resurrection of Jesus is reduced to “the story continues” instead of the actual resurrection of Jesus from the tomb; when Jesus is no longer the Savior, but primarily a moral example; when sin is replaced by “brokenness” without guilt, and grace by affirmation without conversion? What remains is a vague, polite, respectable quasi-Christianity in which nothing is at stake and which differs in no way from secular views.
He concluded that “when Christianity adapts too much to the spirit of the times – it loses precisely what makes it relevant.”
“Liberal theology rightly emphasizes human dignity, but often struggles with radical sin – not as moral failure, but as existential distortion,” the bishop noted. “What remains is a Christianity that no longer saves people, but merely accompanies them. To the abyss.”
He continued:
Perhaps the real challenge for liberal theology today is this: 1. Do we dare to believe again that Christianity is true, not just valuable? 2. Do we dare to accept that the Gospel judges us before it liberates us? 3. Do we dare to speak again about conversion, sacrifice, redemption – without apologizing? Not because the barbarians are at the gate, but because the Church is in danger of becoming empty.
“Belloc did not fear the barbarians at the gate, but civilization that has forgotten its own soul,” Mutsaerts declared.
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Ping
Bellos was brilliant, in the 1930s, he predicted that Islam would stage a comeback at a time when it seemed powerless.
Just maybe, these bittewarmer believers think they won’t get hurt by those hard noses johnny jihadsmoving into their neighborhoods?
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