In every age, groups of “enlightened” Catholics feel that their opinions should be followed by The Church.
Some are conservatives who believed, thought, and said: “Vatican II is an outrage. Communion in the hand must be banned. The priest should be facing away from the congregation while The Host is consecrated.”
Many of them left The Church, bewildered and angry that so many ancient traditions were abandoned. Many stayed, despite the deep disappointment they felt at changes that were doing immediate and obvious damage.
Liberals were glad to see them go. It didn’t bother them that Catholic seminaries, monasteries, convents, and schools were emptied. “It’s more important that The Church is moving in our direction.”, they said, usually with what could only be described as smugness. “Soon”, they announced, “there will be both married and women priests.”
Then, a few years ago, some of the modern, enlightened Catholics began to be unhappy. “The Church still doesn’t have married priests. The Church is not ordaining women. The old fogies in the Vatican won’t allow same-sex marriage. We simply cannot stay in a Church that is not concerned with peoples’ feelings.”
Now, many liberals are leaving.
We saw conservatives leave because they disagreed with The Church. Now, we see more liberals walking out for the same reasons. There is a common denominator. In Eden, God had to evict Adam and Eve when they became too self-righteous, uppity, and disobedient. Now, those who let themselves be overwhelmed by the same demons remove themselves.
The humble and obedient know what’s good for them. They aren’t about to think they know more than God, His Saints, and Angels. They know where know-it-alls end up.
Catholic Fundamentalism understands that He has lovingly programmed The Creation Program as a self-weeding garden. It weeds itself. In every age, the self-righteous, uppity, and disobedient uproot themselves and disappear. The Creation Program is a self-weeding garden. He had to personally evict Adam and Eve. Now, the self-righteous, uppity, and disobedient leave on their own.
They are not bashful about telling people why they’re leaving, always in sentences beginning with “I” and followed by the usual litany of trite complaints. They will often encourage others, including us, to leave, as well. It is our duty to point out to them that The Creation Program is a self-weeding garden. That usually doesn’t keep them from leaving, but we have to remind them that God can’t save them as long as they stay out of His Garden.
Unlike the Original Sin in the original garden, those who leave today can return, if they can get their precious vanity under control. Jesus died to provide us with return tickets. All those who leave have to do is use them. Most are too vain, or too distracted by demons, to do so.
Remember that when we point out to them that The Creation Program is a self-weeding garden, we get to hear their reasons for uprooting themselves and leaving. Each reason is based on the fact that The Church won’t do what they want. Pay close attention to what they say! Consider their words and see the great vanity behind them.
When we become aware of such self-righteous thoughts within us, we can ask The Loving Programmer to erase them as soon as we spot them. If we don’t, these evil thoughts, each a living demon, may convince us to do what they have gotten so many to do, and freely choose the only alternative there is to Heaven.