POPE'S ASTONISHING POWER HAS CHANGED THE WORLD

Yes, absolutely right. Mainline Protestantism suffered from the same malaise--liberal theology. There has been a lot of Protestant-to-Catholic cross-pollination and the influence of de-mythologizers like Bultmann, for instance, has been very great. Raymond Brown, for instance, comes to mind as someone who skirts the fine line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Higher criticism played a huge part in weakening the faith among all Christians. The result has been more and more empty pews.

***The result has been more and more empty pews.***

And more filled pews in our church!

You write, "There have been many instances in the past when morals have degenerated and clergy led dissolute lives...during those times the 'Mass of all ages,' as ultima and friends label it, was the normative liturgy."

Since you mention my name twice on that post, though you don't wish an exchange, I'll answer you. Respond or not as you wish.

Your focus on the immorality which I described in passing misses my point. It is merely a symptom of something far worse: a loss of the Catholic faith. Except for the Arian crisis there has never been a time like this when the faith itself is being attacked from within the Church itself. Here is what the preeminent liturgist of the twentieth century, Msgr. Klaus Gamber, had to say in "Reform of the Roman Liturgy":

"Great is the confusion! Who can see clearly in such darkness? Where in the Church are the leaders who can show the right path? Where are the bishops courageous enough to cut out the cancerous growth of modernist theology that has implanted itself and is festering within the celebration of even the most sacred mysteries, before the cancer spreads and causes even further damage? What we need today is a new Athanasius, a new Basil, bishops like those who in the fourth century fought courageously against Arianism when almost the whole of Christendom had succumbed to heresy."

Like now, the whole of Christendom had diverged from traditional belief. Even so great a saint as Athanasius was excommunicated by a weak pope who succumbed to Arian pressures. It has all happened before. Here is how Cardinal Newman described those times in his treatise "On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.":

"The body of bishops failed in their confession of the Faith...They spoke variously, one against another; there was nothing, after Nicea, of firm, unvarying, consistent testimony, for nearly sixty years. There were untrustworthy Councils, unfaithful bishops; there was weakness, fear of consequences, misguidance, delusion, hallucination, endless, hopeless, extending into nearly every corner of the Catholic Church. The comparatively few who remained faithful were discredited and driven into exile; the rest were either deceivers or deceived."

Many on this site have said I am not any longer a Catholic. But what if I am the one holding on to the Faith while all of you have just gone along with the flow, deceived by those in high places whom you trust? It isn't as if traditional Catholicism were buried under the detritus of a thousand years. Only a relatively few years ago these huge changes and novelties were introduced which rocked the Catholic world. If they were good, wouldn't you expect more positive results than tides of scandal and general collapse? On the other hand, go into any traditional church and you will hear the Gospel preached as it has been preached in Catholic Churches since time immemorial. If the Pope and his hierarchy move away from traditional Catholic teachings, does that make them right? Not at all.

If these were normal times, anyone would be a fool not to follow the pope rather than his own reasoning. But these are not normal times. The faith is collapsing in the West. In such a time, all we have to hold onto are the traditional truths that have been taught by the Catholic Church for 2000 years.

"If anyone, myself, or even an angel come down from heaven, should preach to you a gospel other than what I have preached, let him be anathama."
--St. Paul to the Galatians.

***Many on this site have said I am not any longer a Catholic.***

As a newer reader of the RC threads this statement is surprising to me as I read your recent posts. Interesting reading and the parallel to the Arian controversy is thought provoking.