Upcoming Schism?

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HabemusFrancis

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I do wonder at times, will there be a physical schism in American Catholocism in the next ten years or so?

There appears to be mass confusion and dissent among Catholics as to what the Church teaches.

Is it possible that a leftist faction could break off and start its own Church? It would whither and fade, just like the episcopols, but it could happen all the same…
 
Thankfully there’s only one Pope, so we never have to worry about schism. We just follow the Pope.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
I do wonder at times, will there be a physical **schism in American Catholocism **in the next ten years or so?

There appears to be mass confusion and dissent among Catholics as to what the Church teaches.

Is it possible that a leftist faction could break off and start its own Church? It would whither and fade, just like the episcopols, but it could happen all the same…
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I’m not so sure schism in the United States is a bigger concern than it is in parts of Europe.
 
On a large scale? No.

I can see individual churches breaking off and still calling themselves “Catholic” but that already happens.

I absolutely can’t see a large scale schism since we already have groups within the church that see things radically different from each other, without really going against the Church’s teachings.
 
HabemusFrancis said:
I do wonder at times, will there be a physical schism in American Catholocism in the next ten years or so?
…
Click to expand...
Maybe a few priests here, or a few lay people there, may leave, but I don’t see anything on a large scale. Mere “confusion” on the part of people isn’t enough, in fact confusion makes it less likely that schisms will occur.

For someone to make an effort to organize a major effort, they really have to be a true believer and not confused at all- absolutely certain they are right. It goes double for priests and religious, whose entire lives and careers, healthcare and retirement will be left behind when they split.
 
Why “Upcoming”? It’s been ongoing.

Since the early 1800s there have been new schisms in the Catholic Church in every generation. Most groups claimed to be continuing the “original Catholic Church”, as opposed to the Vatican which supposedly went off on a detour they didn’t like. Some groups are more liberal than the Vatican, some more conservative. Some are neither, like the PNCC, but identified ethnic discrimination or other kinds of church management issues. Other groups split off because they didn’t like Vatican I, or Vatican II, or this or that. Invariably the schismatic groups contradict all the other schismatic groups.

Each of the groups claims not to be separate from the actual Catholic Church, itself. They claim to be still Catholics, still inheriting the fullness of Catholic Church life. Keep in mind this is what the early Lutherans said, for decades. Eventually they were recognized by others, and recognized themselves, as a different denomination. The same is happening with the current schisms, or split-offs-that-deny-they-are-a-schism.

Some groups officially enroll only priests and religious, though they have laity coming to their chapels, exclusively. Other groups enroll laity, and establish dioceses. Perhaps dozens of bishops around the world are validly consecrated, per Rome, and active in these multitude of old and new Catholic Church offshoots. Some even claim “Franciscan”, “Dominican” or “Benedictine” heritage and continuity.

It is not news that there are upcoming schisms, there always are; it would be news if we went through a whole decade without new schisms. Just keep looking to the pope, and the bishops in union with him.
 
When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?
 
Nothing new here. We trust the sovereign Pontiff; however, we also refer to the Catechism & the Magisterium long after any one Pope has passed. Nor do we blindly follow the Pope, remember, the Church proposes, it does not impose and we have Faith that She is protected by the promise of Christ, and guided by the Holy Spirit.
 
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