Gnostic Catholic

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Not certain if this is the appropriate forum or not.

I had a discussion with a relative who in past was a very devout Catholic - taught in the PSR at her parish and in fact is my confirmation sponsor (many,many years ago). Her children were all confirmed. She told me she still considers herself Catholic but not Roman Catholic. Said feels the Church is now too conservative and has issues with the pope. I had considered this person rather conservative in the past. Now said considers herself a “gnostic Catholic” but didn’t explain well. I checked the internet but couldn’t find much. She quit attending mass a few years ago (as did her family)and said would not return unless could find a liberal parish - don’t think that would be hard to find.

I was rather puzzled by this and wondering if anyone has any information or experiences with gnostic Catholicism.
 
You are either a Catholic or you are not. Being a Catholic means you accept all dogmas of the faith.

Gnosticism has many strands and was condemned by the early Church. The word means ‘knowledge’ as adherents believed they had secret knowledge about the divine, which others had no access to. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons said that Sacred Tradition was the safeguard against such heresies, as the Apostles passed on all that they had learnt from Christ and the Holy Spirit, and these errors did not form part of the deposit of faith.

She may be a Catholic, but that is in name only…more like a heretic or schismatic.
 
“Gnostic Catholic” is like saying “neat garbage” or “whoring for virginity.”
 
It means “I don’t like the Church but I’m scared of going to Hell” 😛

“Gnosticism” is totally incompatible with Catholicism. And if she’s under the impression that Gnostics were “liberal” she’s quite mistaken. New Agers like to slap the label of “Gnosticism” onto their beliefs but always inaccurately. They also like to believe that Gnosticism was the “real christianity”, perverted by those dastardly apostles - which is entirely at odds with history.

Hope I didn’t sound too harsh. It’s just a foolish thing to believe, even if she’s a good person (I don’t know her so I don’t know anything about her besides that she calls herself a gnostic catholic).
 
dachsiemom said:
Not certain if this is the appropriate forum or not.

I had a discussion with a relative who in past was a very devout Catholic - taught in the PSR at her parish and in fact is my confirmation sponsor (many,many years ago). Her children were all confirmed. She told me she still considers herself Catholic but not Roman Catholic. Said feels the Church is now too conservative and has issues with the pope. I had considered this person rather conservative in the past. Now said considers herself a “gnostic Catholic” but didn’t explain well. I checked the internet but couldn’t find much. She quit attending mass a few years ago (as did her family)and said would not return unless could find a liberal parish - don’t think that would be hard to find.

I was rather puzzled by this and wondering if anyone has any information or experiences with gnostic Catholicism.
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There actually is no such thing. Gnostics covered a wide range of beliefs in the early years of Christianity, not all of which were even Christian. In fact, the range is so broad that more than a few scholars hesitate to even use the term much anymore.

In a nutshell Gnostics generally believed that salvation came not through Christ’s death and resurrection but through the obtaining of secret knowledge that would allow you to escape the physical world and return to the divine realm… According to most Gnostic groups there were three types of humans, those that were pure animal and when dead were just dead. Then there were those who live a very good life and who could expect a pretty good afterlife. Then there were those few, the Gnostics, who had the spark of divinity within them, who upon learning the secret knowledge could return to the heavenly abode:thumbsup:

Not all humans had this spark. Only a few. Tough break for most. You had to be special.

For most groups the world was not created by the all powerful true God but rather by a
ignorant lesser divine being who himself came about as a result of a cosmic disaster and who was too stupid to realize that he was not the one true God. For them life was to be escaped. They were basically dualists with the universe divided into good and evil. Physical= evil spiritual =good.

Many people today feel an attraction to various Gnostic teachings because of the way the teachings were presented. These people feel as if they don’t belong, as if they should be somewhere else. They just don’t fit into life on this planet. They seek something else. This isn’t their place at all. They feel trapped.

And that is precisely what gnostics taught.

Gnosticism is not at all compatible with Christianity as a whole and even less with Catholicism and the Orthodox Churches.

As far as liberalism, most Gnostic groups were once thought to be wild and licentous groups with lots of partying and freedom from sexual and societal rules. However the discovery in recent years of various Gnostic writings has in great part dispelled that belief We now know that the overwhelming majority of gnostics were ascetics, who believed in denying the body pleasure and punishing it so that it could be escaped. Also sex was looked down upon and considered evil because engaging in intercourse would result in more of those from the divine realm being trapped on earth.

Your friend is playing the same dangerous game that more than a few are playing these days. Trying to create a branch of Catholicism that meets their expectations and ideals.
 
Well, she is like some New Age mixture, since Gnosticism is in opposition with Christianity, and yeah, like Palmas85 said, the interest in gnosticism has derive in a variety of neo-gnostic teachings that ignore the radical wordviews of the first gnostics

Is said that some progressive movements inside Catholicism have gnostic roots

God Bless You !!!
🙂
 
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