A Travelogue of Apostasy. part 2
- A well know axiom, “Lex Credendi : Lex Orandi” should also be called to mind:
“What people already believe is automatically and necessarily mirrored in the very words of the prayers they recite. This truism is one part of the principle:
Lex Credendi : Lex Orandi the law of belief is the law of prayer. This principle works reversely also: that is to say, people can be
led towards certain beliefs by means of the very prayers they are accustomed to saying (and hearing). And that is why parents teach their small children The Hail Mary, for example, and The Apostles’ Creed, even though these little ones do not yet fully understand everything they are praying. Now, whether or not these parents are familiar with the phrase,
lex credendi : lex orandi, they are nevertheless putting this principle into practice, for they are teaching their children to pray those things that they will ultimately come to
believe.” *(From pp. 97-98 QTV).
Having defined apostasy and having given some theoretical examples, such as ecumenism and
communicatio in sacris, I shall now provide a few specific examples. From several dozen that readily come to mind I have selected the following as being good hypothetical illustrations.
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EXAMPLE 1. If any Catholic (for example, one known as `Pope’) were to enter a Lutheran place of worship in Rome (let us say, just for example, on Dec. 11, 1983) in order to participate in the Lutherans’ celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s birth;
and if this hypothetical Catholic were to join in the Lutherans’ worship, and, moreover, were even to preach a sermon eulogizing Martin Luther; then this hypothetical Catholic (or, rather, ex-Catholic) would thereby in effect be publicly proclaiming that Martin Luther was not the very incarnate personification of consummate hatred and enmity towards Catholicism which, of course, he was. In a hypothetical situation such as the one we are describing, this ex-Catholic (for example, a pope) would have clearly and publicly demonstrated his betrayal of Jesus Christ and His Church, thus becoming an apostate, for such behaviour would be “tantamount to abandoning the religion revealed by God,” as the Catholic Church so forcibly teaches through the words of the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI, cited above.
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EXAMPLE 2. If any Catholic (for example, one known as `Pope’) were to go into a “sacred forest” of tribal animists at Lake Togo in Africa (I realize this must sound like a wholly preposterous hypothetical example, but please bear with me) on, say, August 11, 1985 (which will serve as a reasonable hypothetical date);
and if this hypothetical Catholic were to pray at a place in this sacred forest consecrated to the worship of false gods and then actually perform pagan rites, such as the sprinkling on the ground of a mixture of flour and water, which is a ritual of ancestor worship;
and if the entirely hypothetical French periodical
La Croix on, say, Aug. 13, 1985, were to quote our hypothetical Catholic (for example, a pope) as saying, “The prayer meeting in the sanctuary at Lake Togo was particularly striking. There I prayed for the first time with animists.”;
and if the Vatican newspaper
L’Osservatore Romano in its Italian edition of, say, August 11th, (page 5, for example), were to report: “On John-Paul II’s arrival at the place, a sorcerer began to invoke the spirits: `Power of water, I invoke you; Ancestors, I invoke you.’”; then in such a hypothetical case as the one we’re studying the hypothetical ex-Catholic, namely the entirely fictitious “John-Paul II”, would be the most hideous apostate. For such odious, atavistic behaviour would be the ultimate violation of CANON 1258;
unnatural worshipping with heathens is certainly “formal cooperation in an evil act, and forbidden by the natural law,” as stated by the canon lawyers Bouscaren and Ellis.
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I was born in 1966, post Vatican II. I was born and raised in a Roman Catholic environment and never ever heard such things said about the Pope. The Pope is the most Holy Person in the world. Even when I was a cafeteria Catholic, I never doubted who the leader of our church was. The church has overcome many things in 2004 years and I believe we will survive. Keep the faith!
