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A of America t Francis E. Fenton,
"A riddle in a mystery inside an is how gressive" course. U.S. News and World Report notes that
Winston Churchill once described the Communist regime his "varied attributes make him an enigma to many."
in Russia. It is a representation that could just as easily ap- Then there's the priest-turned-novelist, Andrew Greeley,
ply to " John II. Never has any man who sat who is quoted by Life as saying that the orientation of
upon the papal throne been the subject of so many arti- John Paul is neither "left" nor "right" the pope is
cles and books with conflicting ideas his beliefs. a "personalist" (later, in his own column, Greeley de-
His seemingly self-contradictory stands been a puz- cided that the orientation is both traditionalist and mod-
zlement to the religious as as secular ernist-a sort of theological split-personality).
writers. He has , as the saying goes, a man for
the media to a handle on." The confusion, however, began long before-even back
to that October day in 1978 at St. Peter's in Rome when it
Now entering sixth year in office (one cannot say "the was announced that Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, the Arch-
sixth of his since he was not crowned with the bishop of Kracow, Poland, had become the new pope. Al-
papal tiara, but chose, rather, "collegial" inauguration to most immediately, a barrage of. information-and misin-
the centuries-old coronation ceremonies), John is of- formation-flooded world communication sources about
ten called a "firsts": first non-Italian pope in over the newly elected Bishop of Rome. In John Paul II:
400 years; first first Slav-ever chosen; first to The Life of Karol Wojtyla, the Polish priest Mieczyslaw
be from a Communist country; first professional theolo- Malinski recalls the widely varying accounts that
gian to occupy the papal throne in more than 700 years; appeared in the German press after the conclave se-
first (and, hopefully, the last) to have a disco song written lected his frlend as pope. Those accounts ranged from
about him; first to on the roof of the apostolic palace; the liberal newspaper that called it a "positive choice" to
first to visit a president (Carter) at the White House; another calling him a "compromise Pope" to a third that
first to preach in a Protestant church … etc. saw the as meaning "a shift to the right, a more
conservative, almost pre-Conciliar trend." (pp. 22-23)
John Paul has "the most charismatic leader in
the Western finished second to President Another question that crossed millions of minds around
Poli, as the man Americans the world on that day was what sort of stance would the
most admire), and also been called a "spiritual super- new pontiff towards Communism. Again, confusion
power" whose public appearances remind some observ- was the order of the day. Some pointed to the fact that,
ers of "a pop star greeting his adoring fans. while a bishop ln Poland, John Paul frequently compro-
mised with the totalitarian authorities (ironically, he was
And yet, for all the media exposure, many professional said to have earlier been an active opponent to the Nazis,
journalists say they are still uncertain as of what to think by participation in the Polish underground), and the same
about this pontiff. "The Paradoxical Pope" is the title of a observers praised this "pragmatic" approach. Peter
cover story carried Atlantic magazine. Father Richard Hebblethwaite, a writer for the leftist National Catholic
McBrien, the "progressive" Conciliar columnist, writes in Reporter, in his book, The Year of Popes, says that
Commonweal that John Paul's beliefs are "difficult to uncertainty about John Paul ti's position on the issue of
place on the spectrum," and that it is not yet "unmistak- Communism has led to his being labeled "dangerously
ciear" whether he will steer a "conservative" or pro-communist or, alternately, vigorously anti-commu-
nist." (p. i 83) so wilfully misunderstood by the traditionalists-was
really about. (p. 31)
Veteran Vatican-watchers have noticed similar mixed Those conservatives mentioned, many of whom, no
reactions. Malachi Martin, the laicized Jesuit who was an doubt, are reading this article, might quarrel a little over
insider in Rome during Pope John XXlll's pontificate, the title of this section, saying it is obviously the work of a
writes in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church: traditionalist. That would be a mistake, though, because
There have been strong reactions to John Paul II. For the phrase "the conciliar pope" appears in the conserva-
many conservatives he is "sympathetic" but "way off' tive National Catholic Register's issue of October i 0,
on matters such as marital love, contraception, abor- 1982.
tion, homosexuality. For many traditionalists he is too
much of a "showman" and not quick enough to undo In that issue, which commemorated the twentieth anni-
the ills Paul VI wreaked on the church. For progres- versary of the opening session of Vatican II, an article ap-
sives and liberals in the Western world he is a dema- peared, by reporter Andrew Zwernemann, entitled" John
gogue, a species of Polish outlander who has made his Paul II and the Shape of the Future." Zwernemann writes
way into the Vatican … (p. 23 7) that "John Paul II has been characterized as 'the conciliar
All of which leads us back to what is alluded to in the first Pope.' And as time goes on, this increasingly appears to
paragraph of the present article: Can the riddle of the be true." In this respect, the conservative position is, in a
pope be solved? Can light be shed to answer the ques- sense, correct-John Paul does know what the Council
tion: "Who is John Paul II"? "was really about." Possibly more so than any man alive.
The aim of the rest of this study will be to sort through Father Malinski, in his biography, says that, after his elec-
these clashing views in order to address the questions. I tion, John Paul addressed the assembled cardinals on
have done my utmost to use all relevant data. Thus, infor- what would be "the guiding principles of his pontificate."
mation that would present John Paul in a favorable way This was laid out in great detail. Malinski continues:
has not been deleted to satisfy those who call him a devil To begin with, the Pope declared that he intended to
incarnate. Neither, however, will there be any omission of be faithful to the Second Vatican Council and that his
facts that would be unsettling to those readers with first task would be to carry out its principles and to
bisque statuettes of him (yes, they really exist), those who create a new mentalit)' in the Church according to its
have, as it were, canonized him "ante mortem." teachings. He directed particular attention to the Con-
stitution, Lumen Gentium, which he called the Coun-
It should be pointed out that some of the material to be cil's Magna Carta. He went on to say that he wished to
presented will parallel part of the text of my article, "Ex- give a full meaning to the collegiality of bishops
posing the Conciliar Con Game," which appeared in the and … appealed to all the faithful to remain loyal to the
January 15 issue of The Athanasian. Nevertheless, while Church by adhering to the magisterium of St. Peter,
many readers will notice similarities between the two, and especially in doctrinal matters … (pp. 23-24, emphasis
I certainly don't discourage such comparisons, this article added)
was not conceived to be a sequel to that one.
To stress collegiality, Hebblethwaite reports that, at the
The Conciliar Pope end of the same speech, John Paul "instead of giving the
Mary Martinez (an accredited member of the Vatican traditional papal blessing, … asked them all to bless each
press corps since 1973 and an accomplished researcher other and to bless him." (p. 187) And the words of the
on the background to the crisis in today's Conciliar pope at the meeting included these:
Church) is a thoroughgoing traditionalist. In her book, We consider our primary duty to be that of promoting,
From Rome Urgently, she has described succinctly acer- with prudent but encouraging action, the most exact
tain segment of John Paul's supporters when she writes: fulfillment of the norms and directives of the Council.
Conservatives, those Catholics who, though dismayed Above all we favour the development of conciliar atti-
at the changes, obey because Rome orders them to, tudes. First we must be in harmony with the Council.
welcomed Pope John Paul II as a rescuer. They took One must put in practice what was stated in its docu-
and continue to take each exhortation to prayer and ments; and what was "implicit" must be made explicit
each slight pull on the reins of discipline as proof that in light of the experiments that followed and in light of
here is a man sent by God to put everything aright, to the new, emerging circumstances. (p. 186)
do all the things good Pope Paul had tried unsuccess- Here, it would seem, John Paul is endorsing not only the
fully to do. If he mentions the Second Vatican Council Council and its attendant mentality but also the "experi-
half a dozen times in every discourse it is because he ments" that have endangered millions of souls.
knows what the Council-abused by the radicals and
The Athanasian 2 March 1, 1984
Bothersome, as well, in the above passages are the no- avoids "right definitions." It "is not and does not purport
tions that Catholics need a "new mentality" to adhere to to be," he stresses, "a definitive document." (p. i 3) How,
dogmas of the Church and that Lumen Gentium is an en- then, I ask, does it purport to be a Dogmatic Constitution?
nobling document, a spiritual Magna Carta. The fallacy of
the first notion is obvious on the face of it but the second A final note on Lumen Gentium: John Paul ll's heralding it
needs to be explored a bit more. as the Magna Carta of the Church is not his expression
originally. That distinction must go the the French(?) Jes-
Lumen Gentium (" Light of Nations"), the Dogmatic Con- uit, G. Dejaifve, who wrote an article in the Nouvelle revue
stitution of the Church, deals with the nature and structure theologique (New Theological Review) of January, 1965,
of the Church. Some of the chapters in the 16,200-word entitled "La 'Magna Charta' de Vatican II" ("The 'Magna
document are "The Mystery of the Church", "The Hier- Carta' of Vatican II"). Methodist theologian Albert C.
archical Structure of the Church, with Special Reference Outler, in his analysis contained in The Documents of Vat-
to the Episcopate", "The Laity", "Religious" and "The ican II, calls it a Magna Carta as well as a "masterpiece."
Role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in the (p. 105)
Mystery of Christ and the Church."
There must be more to earning the title, "the conciliar
Despite titles with a traditional Catholic flavor, the work is pope," than simply expressing a commitment to the
anything but traditional in its direction. The original teachings of that council. John Paul's credentials thus go
schema, drafted by the Theological Commission before beyond mere recitation of words. In fact, even before
the start of the first session, was thrown out by the liberal leaving Kracow for warmer climes, he had gone far past
pressure groups that held sway over so much of the pro- the average bishop, not only in implementing conciliar
ceedings (to the point of choking out all opposition). directives but, as Andrew Zwerneman,n points out, he
was "the only bishop from among the Council Fathers to
In his introduction to Lumen Gentium in The Documents construct a systematic book on the principles of Vatican
of Vatican II, the "new wave" theologian Fr. Avery Dulles, II." (The book's English title is Sources of Renewal.)
S.J. ridicules the original draft, saying it "resembled the
standard treatise of the Church as found, for example, in Just how much was contributed to the Council by the
most of the theological manuals published between the (then) Bishop Wojtyla may never be known entirely. My
two world wars. Influenced by centuries of anti-Protestant research would tend to hint at a much larger role at influ-
polemics, the writers of this period placed heavy empha- encing the proceedings than is generally assumed. What
sis on the hierarchical and juridicial aspects of the is clear, though, and well-documented, is the fact that he
Church, including the supremacy of the Pope." (p. 10) In was the only bishop to attend all four sessions of the
other words, Fr. Dulles is griping because it sounded too Council (and from behind the Iron Curtain, yet!); the fact
Catholic. that he had very significant input in at least two other
major Council official papers: Pastoral Constitution on the
There is no griping from him with the finished product, Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) and Dec-
however. On the contrary, Fr. Dulles hails it as "the most laration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae Per-
imposing achievement of Vatican II." A quick look at the sonae); and the fact that he was a vigorous defender of
thinking of this priest will tell reams about the true char- the Council.
acter of Lumen Gentium. Michael Davies states, in his
Pope John's Council: "Fr. Dulles … wishes to relegate the Bishop Wojtyla strongly opposed, during the drafting of
Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady to the status Gaudium et Spes (" Joy and Hope"), any specific attacks
of an optional belief, in order to facilitate union with Pro- on Communism. Why? According to Xavier Rynne, liber-
testants who reject this doctrine." (p. 61) Lumen Gentium al defender of the Council, while many Catholics around
also seems unwilling to take a firm stand (strange for a the world-including groups that represented victims in
Dogmatic Constitution). In the same place Mr. Davies Red concentration camps-urged a strong condemna-
notes that it "contains a great deal of traditional and ortho- tion of Communism, the Polish leader "called for modera-
dox Catholic terminology well calculated to inspire confi- tion, approving in general what the schema now said:
dence. Such confidence is likely to be weakened, how- 'Atheism can be taken up here only with difficulty be-
ever, when it is realized how pleasing the document is cause the question is so complex."' (pp. 476-477) This
both to Catholic ecumaniacs as well as to Protestants. If rationale entirely begs the question regarding the horrible
the document is as sound as it appears, then why do nature of Communism. As those who have been tortured
those who reject Catholic teaching praise it?" For one body and soul in slave labor camps will attest, the ques-
reason, answers Fr. Dulles, because the "tone" is so tion is brutally simple. In the end, the "pragmatists" won
"strongly ecumenical." Also, he argues, because it out and no specific condemnation of Communism ap-
The Athanasian 3 March 1, 1984
peared in the final text. More than a decade later, writes basic human right with which civil authorities have no
Mary Martinez, Karol Wojtyla (by now Cardinal) reaf- power to interfere." (p. 1 The Church, then, is reduced
firmed his commitment by teaching the faithful: "We to being "just another religion," without the elevated
respect all ideologies. (p. 35) position she rightly enjoys as the Spouse of Christ and
without the monopoly of infallibility.
The thrust of Dignitatis Humanae Personae ("The Dignity
of the Human Person") denied the Catholic concept, In the waning hours of the final Council session, and im-
"error has no rights," replacing it with the Liberalism con- mediately following it, Bishop Wojtyla showed himself a
demned by the Church. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in a staunch defender of Vatican II, and the Polish College in
speech he gave in Spain in i 975, stated that this declara- Rome proved to the stage tor some lively debate over
tion was inspired by Masonry, and further said: the need tor a Council. One student there, an "extreme
… There is only one religion here below that can save traditionalist," held firmly the conviction that, since the
us; them not tell us that, according to human Council defined nothing and condemned nothing, it
dignity, all are good. is what Father lacked the authentic character of all previous Councils-
(Yves) said when they explained to him that in short, it had no reason for existing. Bishop Wojtyla
the truth had always proclaimed the Church, countered, saying:
the truth of the Catholic Church, the truth of Our Vatican II had as its starting the awareness of a
Jesus Christ, the only means of souls. He crisis situation. The Church was becoming
replied that now things are no longer considered from tual in conditions, the gulf it and
the point of view of truth but from that of human world was widening; faith was in conflict with
dignity-human dignity, in order to speak of religious science and technological progress, modern forms
liberty, liberty for all religions! behaviour were in conflict Church ethics; athe-
The ultimate of this unlimited freedom that puts the ism, materialism and indiffercntism were on the in-
truth aside, says His Excellency, is the creation of a crease. The choice a remedy was dictated by the
Masonic "universal religion." Church's reflection on itself and on the world.
(Malinski, p.
Now, the Congar mentioned above, who, by his own Further, he added, the Church should see that the time
admission, was a suspect theologian during the pontifi- was at hand for a "reinterpretation of the Gospel."
cate of Pope Pius XII (" I knew nothing from that quarter
but an uninterrupted series of denunciations, warnings, How extraordinarily similar much of this sounds to certain
restrictive or discriminatory measures and mistrustful in- of the 65 Modernist tenets explicitly condemned by Pope
terventions."), enjoyed celebrity status at Vatican II. He Pius X in the syllabus Lamentabili Sane ("Truly lament-
was "forward-looking", "progressive", an "expert" who able"): 2. The Church's interpretation of the Sacred
had his share of influence. Malinski says that John Books is by no means to be rejected; nevertheless,
Paul, speaking of that Council, praised the "tremendous though, it is subject to the more accurate judgement and
part played by such eminent theologians as Henri delu- correction of the exegetes.; 4. Even by dogmatic defini-
bac, Jean Danielou, Yves Congar, Hans Kung, Lom- tions the Church's magisterium cannot determine the
bardi and Karl Rahner. * (p. 184) genuine sense of the Sacred Scripture.; 57. The Church
has shown that she is hostile to the progress of the natural
On October 21, 1963, during debates over religious liber- and theological sciences.; 59. Christ did not teach a de-
ty, Bishop Wojtyla argued: "It is not the role of the Church termined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all
to lecture unbelievers. We are involved in a search along men, but rather inaugurated a religious movement
with our fellow man … Let us avoid moralizing on the adapted or to adapted to different times and places.;
suggestion that we have a monopoly of the truth. of and 63. The Church shows that she is incapable of effec-
the major defects of this draft is that in it the Church tively maintaining evangelical ethics since she obstinately
appears merely as an authoritarian institution." (Hebble- clings to immutable doctrines which cannot be reconciled
thwaite, p. i 67) The National Catholic News Service, in its with modern progress.
book, John Paul II "Pilgrimage Faith," observes: "He
helped fight off critics of some of the most important pas- The bottom line, so to speak, would be what to do about
sages in the Council's 'Declaration on Religious Liberty,' "the widening gulf' between the Church and the world. Is
a landmark document that says freedom of religion is a it the Church that is going astray? Does the world have
the answers? The answer that Vatican II, and its defend-
ers such as Bishop Wojtyla, seem to telling us is that,
* All of John Paul's "eminent theologians," with the exception of Fr. in order for the Church to more successful in dealing
Lombardi, are notorious for their radicalism.
Athanasian 4 March 1, 1984
with the world, it must fashion itself into the image and name was a composite of the two popes who presided
likeness of the world, and not the other way around. The over Vatican II and was meant to represent a continuation
resulting chaos which naturally follows such thinking is of their policies? Or should he be committed to restoring
what Pius X called, nearly eighty years ago, "truly orthodoxy that had been so besieged after the Council?
lamentable."
Various factions of cardinals began jockeying for position,
As John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla's tireless promotion of "the and the result resembled nothing more closely than a po-
principles of Vatican II" reached a new stage when he for- litical convention. The "progressives" and "moderates"
mally issued the Conciliar revision of Canon Law. Father had their favorite sons and this race, like any political
William Jenkins, writing in the traditionalist magazine, The contest, had its dark horse. The first major push, how-
Roman Catholic, for May, 1983, called the new Code "the ever, was by none of these forces, but by supporters of
legal expression of Vatican II." John Paul is in total the conservative archbishop of Genoa, Giuseppe Cardi-
agreement with that assessment. He did, in fact, express nal Siri.
this, even as he announced enactment of the new Law,
saying: " … it is certain that the Conciliar postulates, just Cardinal Siri had gone along with the Vatican II reforms,
as the practical directives marked out for the ministry of but no one who knew him would ever confuse his luke-
the Church, find in the new Code exact and precise coun- warm response with the exuberant zeal of a Karol Wojtyla.
terparts, sometimes even verbatim." Conciliar liberals dubbed Siri "a reactionary" (Greeley),
and "an ultra-conservative of whom it was maliciously
The revised Canon Law of the Conciliar Church has said that he had not yet grasped the fact that a council had
thrown out numerous (most) grounds for excommunica- taken place and that it was doubtful that he would ever do
tion, including membership in Masonic lodges. It is, then, so." (Malinski) The truth is that the Cardinal was quite
possible for those in the Conciliar Church to belong to aware that the Council had occurred, for he had referred
these "synagogues of Satan" without fear of losing their to it as "the greatest disaster in recent ecclesiastical his-
seats in the pew. Later, the New Vatican, in typical man- tory." And of the initiator of Vatican II, John XXIII, Cardinal
ner, covered its tracks by saying that it was still wrong to Siri said: "it will take the Church fifty years to recover from
join the Masons, and that those who joined such groups his pontificate." Moreover, he was openly sympathetic to
would not be allowed to receive Communion-but nei- the stand taken by the Council's best-known critic, Arch-
ther would they be excommunicated. My guess is that bishop Lefebvre.
this later "warning" is but a smokescreen; the tactic
seems to follow Lenin's revolutionary dictim, "Two steps Most of Cardinal Siri's voting bloc were Italians, and Fr.
forward, one step backwards." Will the next step forward Greeley, in The Making of the Popes 1978, asserts that
be to relax entirely any prohibitions concerning the "all of the foreign cardinals giving interviews at the
Masons? (Rome) airport (at the start of the conclave) have absolute-
ly insisted on the need for a man who will appeal to the
As Fr. Jenkins puts it in "New Code, New Church" (the world the way John Paul (I) did." (p. i92) Naturally, this
article cited above), "The post-Vatican II Church is not would rule the Cardinal out, since real Catholicism isn't
one in faith, nor one in worship, with the Roman Catholic considered appealing to the world or the liberals.
religion. It has its own ecumenical faith and its own ecu-
menical liturgy. Now-to crown them both-it has its After several ballots, both sides not budging an inch, the
own ecumenical code of law …. " Yes, John Paul has de- idea of a "compromise" candidate was proposed, some-
monstrated-in his enactment of this new Code and, in- one who would appeal to everyone. There were some
deed, in all of his acts as head of the Conciliar Church- who remained in the Cardinal Siri camp to the bitter end
his unflagging commitment to the Second Vatican Coun- but, eventually, enough defected from it to turn the tide to
cil. It is that commitment that we must always keep in the left. The man responsible for the sudden shift was the
mind, no matter how traditionally sounding some of his ut- "progressive" cardinal from Austria, Franz Koenig,
terances may be at times. archbishop of Vienna. Investigative reporters Gordon
Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, in their recent bestseller,
Why Was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla Elected? Pontiff, state that the Austrian prelate mounted "an
Albino Luciani, who had named himself Pope John Paul I, astonishing campaign inside and outside the conclave to
ruled the Conciliar Church little more than a month when have (Cardinal Wojtyla) elected pope." (p. xi)
he died in late September, i 978. A new conclave was
summoned to select a successor, and great debate be- Quickly, Cardinal Koenig formed an ad hoc committee of
gan on who should lead: Should the new Bishop of Rome sorts to promote the candidacy of the Pole. Only two of
continue with the proposed agenda of John Paul I, whose
The Athanasian 5 March 1, 1984
those could be identified in any sense as conservative In i 982, Fr. Wickens published a booklet entitled Christ
(Cardinals Hoeffner of Germany and Wyszynski of Po- Denied: Origin of the Present Day of the Catho-
land), while the majority were much more modernistic in lic Church (TAN Books, Rockford, Illinois). The theme of
beliefs (Cardinals Baggio of Italy, Hume of England, Christ Denied is familiar enough to readers of this
Ratzinger of Germany and Willebrands of the Nether- newsletter for it says that the origin of today's problems is
lands). According to Pontiff, based on interviews with Modernism. The two Modernist theologians whose works
sources inside the Vatican, Cardinal Wojtyla seemed he examines most extensively are Teilhard de Chardin
hesitant to considered for the post, but Cardinal Koe- and Karl Rahner, two European Jesuits who often veer
nlg approached him at the Vatican dining room and in his toward pantheism in their thinking. At the end of the work,
quarters to reassure him. "You must prepare yourself for he offers the false hope that there is light at the end of the
the outcome," he reportedly said. "You must be called Modernist tunnel for Catholics in the person of John Paul
John Paul Two … You must be called like that because II ("It seems that the official doctrine of the Church-the
that is a mark of the continuity we all want." (p. 319) Church Jesus Christ-is in good hands."). Apparently,
Fr. Wickens is unaware that John has praised Fr.
When the final vote was reached, the Sistine Chapel Rahner's "tremendous part" in Vatican ll and that, as Car-
(where the balloting took place) erupted into a sea of pan- dinal Wojtyla, he wrote in his book, of Contradiction,
demonium: African and South American cardinals, re- a passage saying Genesis contrast to the Crea-
ports Pontiff, "are using their clinched fists to hammer the tion account given in Genesis i :27-"seems to be closer
tabletops"; several Italians shout "Viva! Viva!"; the Ger- to the modern trend towards biblical evolutionism, that of
mans are "ecstatic," and Cardinal Ratziner, usually very Pere Teilhard de Chardin for instance." (p. 2i)
composed, cries out that the Holy Spirit has prevailed. (p.
321) Certainly, one would think, John Paul ought to come to
the aid of this "papist priest," so by his Modern-
Vatican employees had never witnessed such bedlam in ist superior. And, too, hadn't the semi-traditional New
those venerable august chambers. Nor had anyone Jersey Catholic News, while supporting Fr. Wickens and
else before them, say Pontiff's authors, since Philibert of exposing Archbishop Gerety, said that the sex-ed plan
Orange stabled his horses in the Sistine Chapel during his was wrong because, among other reasons, "it disobeys
sack of Rome four hundred years earlier. the instructions of the present Pope and many Popes be-
fore him."
One figure, however, seemed unmoved by the euphoria;
"(Cardinal) Siri manages a wintry smile." His lack of ardor It is a fact beyond dispute that many popes have con-
must in large part be based on the fact that he realized this demned sexual instruction in the schools. Pope Pius XI, in
election embodied the "continuity" of "the greatest disas- the Church's most comprehensive statement on educa-
ter in recent ecclesiastical history," an event that he in no tion (the 1929 encyclical on Christian Education of Youth),
way wished to celebrate. called such indoctrination a "very grave danger," "fool-
hardy" and an "error," and felt the matter of such impor-
tance as to devote an entire section to refuting its false
Controversy claims. John Paul may have made some statements in
Father Paul Wickens is a parish priest who has demon- the past to which New Jersey Catholic News refers (he
strated in more than one case a commitment to Catholic has condemned in his own way certain modern sex prac-
tradition. (He remains, however, a priest of the Conciliar tices) but I was unable to find one for this article.
Church-Ed.) Early last year, his archbishop, Peter
Gerety of Newark, New Jersey, ordered all priests to im- My question is this: has John Paul done anything at all to
plement a sex education program in the Church schools see that Archbishop Gerety cease polluting the minds of
that would comprehensive in its reach (from kinder- the children of Newark and its suburbs? ask in all sin-
garten to senior high school) and pornographic in its con- cerity because I don't know and, lf any of our readers in
ception (the book, The Joy of Sex, which promotes con- the Northeast could provide us with lnformation on this
traception, promiscuity and perversion as acceptable life- case, l would be happy to include such material in a future
styles, is recommended reading). article. I am not particularly optimistic in this regard
though.
When Fr. Wickens absolutely refused to allow the chil-
dren of his parish to be poisoned by such means, Arch- The reason for my pessimism (which I prefer to think of as
bishop Gerety "rewarded" his concern by suspending realism) appeared in the December i 2, 1 issue of
him. To his credit, Wickens held firm and accused the Newsweek under the headline, "The Vatican Course on
archbishop of heresy and Modernism. Sex Education:" The article reported on a then-released
The Athanasian 6 March 1, 1984
document from the Vatican, "Educational Guidance in On November 21, 1978, the archbishop, accompanied by
Human Love," and began by stating: "Parents who op- Cardinals Siri and Silvio Oddo, visited John Paul II at the
pose sex education in Roman Catholic schools can no Vatican. For fifteen minutes, behind closed doors, Arch-
longer look to Rome for support." "The document," com- bishop Lefebvre met with him alone. Then the doors
ments Newsweek, "avoids the sterile moralism of many opened, John Paul embraced the French prelate, and the
past church annoucements." The magazine then went on visit ended almost as quickly as it had begun.
to quote the directive as urging "positive" sex-ed to
secure "the psychological and spiritual maturity" of ado- All reporters of the event have agreed upon that much.
lescents and to safeguard against "the ignorance and The disagreement was over what took place behind the
widepread degradation" of human sexuality. doors. Fr. Greeley wrote that John Paul "simply
charmed" Archibishop Lefebvre. Others said that a cor-
Still another reason for fearing a deception is the kiss of dial meeting had ended with the archbishop being con-
death given to John Paul II by Fr. Greeley who, in his vinced by his host to believe in the "living tradition" of the
book of essays, A Piece of My Mind … on Just about Church and to drop his antiquated thinking. But, "the
Everything, praises the "conciliar pope's" talks on sex as truth," Pontiff's authors argue, "is far different." The
"landmarks in Catholic thought." This is the same scene they unfold is shocking only to those who feel that
Andrew Greeley whose sex-obsessed novels have been the New Vatican will listen to traditional requests or read
called, in review, "scandalous" and the sort of books that their petitions:
used to get authors excommunicated (so delighted was John Paul, with a forcefulness which stunned Lefebvre,
Fr. Greeley with such reviews that he used them to pro- that he could excommunicate the archbish-
mote his works); the same Andrew Greeley whose The op-and might yet do so before Lefebvre left the
Making of the Popes 1978 was serialized in Playboy (this Vatican. In tone and in choice of words, the
is a matter for boasting on the publishing information pope was to the point of brutality. When Lefebvre
page of the book); and the same Andrew Greeley who tried to speak, he was angrily told to remain silent …
offers John Paul II the following bit of ironic praise: John Paul stated that if the archbishop persisted in
\Vhen the Roman inquisitors are finished with the remaining outside the mainstream of Catholic
Swiss Dutch theologians (e.g. Kung), there is thinking, he might be allowed to stay in his Swiss
another popular Catholic teacher against whom they mountain but his well-known penchant for
to take action. This man may well be the most publicity, the way he had over the past thirteen years
of In a recent talk to tens thousands used the media to attack previous popes-this must
people spoke of the human experience of naked- stop now and forever … Further, Lefebvre must ensure
ness what it reveals about our nature. Can you that his followers also from their public
imagine the harm such a talk would do to the promotion of doctrine which is against the Church's
faithful? … I trust that the Congregation the present teaching. Otherwise, they too will face excom-
of the will go him. won't munication. . .. Then, in little more than a whisper,
have to look very far-over to the audience hall where Marcel Lefebvre capitulated. (p. 350)
Pope John Paul II speaks every Wednesday morning.
(pp. 203, Since I was unable to speak with either of the participants
Finally, Fr. Greeley applauds John Paul for talking "about of this little drama, it is left to the readers to decide which
the human body in a way in which most Catholic priests scenario-if any-is the correct one. My feeling is that
would not yet dare." the scene as described by the authors of Pontiff is pro-
bably closest to the truth. When John Paul II said "we re-
The of Traditional Catholics spect all ideologies," he didn't seem to have traditional
For al! his equivocations on other topics, John Paul's po- Roman Catholics in mind.
sition on those who would preserve Catholic tradition is
clear: "You cannot remain faithful and be attached to More recently, however, Archbishop Lefebvre has again
secondary aspects (sic), valid in the past but already out- taken a hard-line approach. On December 9, 1983, joined
dated." According to Pontiff, his meeting with Archbishop by retired Bishop Antonio de Castro-Mayer of Brazil, the
Lefebvre, little more than a month after his election, was archbishop issued an "Episcopal Manifesto" to John Paul
graphic proof of his unswerving loyalty to Vatican ll over fl, in the form of an open letter, which said its purpose was
and above Catholic tradition. It was also a very different "rendered all the more urgent by the errors, not to say the
John Paul than the warm, charming, personal crowd- heresies, of the New Code of Canon Law and by the pub-
pleaser; a John Paul as cruel and barbaric as the Soviet lic ceremonies and addresses honoring the fifth cente-
stooges who control his native land. nary of the birth of Martin Luther."
Whom to Believe he attacks Pope St. Pius X for excommunicating the Mod-
There are, among John Paul's conservative supporters, ernist Jesuit, George Tyrell, while he defends the heretic.
some who, reading this article, will dismiss anything in it
that would present him less than favorably. Their minds I've only been able to include about half of the research
are made up, and virtually nothing anyone could say (in- I've done on John Paul JI. For reasons of space, sections
cluding John Paul himself) will change those minds. Rea- on his views on liberation theology, liturgical change,
son has nothing to do with it! ecumenism, feminism, the U.N. and World government,
disarmament and other subjects are left out. Omitted as
Some critics of this study might point to the many tradi- well is any of the information I found on Max Scheler, the
tionally-oriented statements he has made: upholding the philosopher who influenced the young Polish priest,
family ("The family is irreplaceable and, as such, must be when Karol Wojtyla was searching for an outlook, into "a
defended with might and main."); essential values ("the new way of thinking and observing humanity." (Malinski,
obligation of protecting … the authentic dignity of man; of p. i 37) (Scheler's odd career saw him go from his Protest-
the good of the person; of the family; of nations."); the de- ant-Jewish background to two conversions to Catholi-
nouncing of terrorism (" … the way of hatred, by the cism and on through to pantheism and "religious
murdering of defenseless people, by the methods ofter- atheism," and could easily make up a section by itself.)
rorism."); materialism ("an idolatry which attaches itself These subjects-and more material on those covered
today to money, to power, to sex."); and institutionalized here-could be contained in a future article, if reader re-
atheism ("When Christ is denied all rights of citizenship, sponse warrants one.
those same rights are denied to man; and when the 'death
of God' is proclaimed, the 'death of man' is being planned John Paul II poses serious difficulties for Catholics who
as well."). seek to uphold Church traditions. When he greeted the
assembled throngs from the main balcony at St. Peter's
Few, if any, of our readers would disagree with such sen- after his election, the multi-lingual Pole surprised the
timents. They are not, however, strictly Catholic; any one predominantly Italian crowd by speaking their language.
can flip on the television on Sunday morning to the Old- "If I make mistakes," he joked, "correct me." Innumer-
time Gospel Hour and hear the Rev. Jerry Falwell make able efforts, of course, have been made by traditional
similar remarks-but such remarks don't make him Cath- Roman Catholics over the past several years to "correct"
olic. Also, as we have seen, grand words aren't always John Paul II in matters of the gravest consequence re-
followed by equally grand performances. As Cardinal lating to the one true Church. There is no evidence of any
Wojtyla once asked, in his poem "Thought's Resistance appreciable results of those efforts. But really, is John
to Word," "But when we act, can our deeds surrender the Paul II a Roman Catholic? t
ultimate truths we presume to ponder?"
How our conservative friends will react to the praise
heaped upon John Paul II by radical theologians is yet Simple But Logical
another question with which to deal. Do they not find it
odd that a man with all the "progressive" credentials of an Is there any flaw in the following line of reasoning?
Andrew Greeley says, on more than one occasion, that Simple though it is, it would appear to be perfectly
John Paul ll's election "represents the beginning of a new logical.
era." Finishing his John Paul II-as-theological-split-per-
sonality theme, Fr. Greeley writes, hopefully: "In the long John Paul II is the supreme head of the Conciliar
run the radical John Paul will be the one who shapes Church. But the "Conciliar Church is not Catholic"
Catholic history … Maybe eventually he will convert the (Archbishop Lefebvre- i 976). Therefore, because
traditional John Paul." (A Piece of My Mind … , p. 208.) John Paul II is the supreme head of a Church which
Also taking up the cheer is Fr. Richard McBrien, author, is not Catholic, he cannot be a valid pope.
theologian and chairman of Notre Dame's theology de-
partment, who told the National Catholic News Service -Editor-
that, while John Paul was conservative, he nonetheless
"does seem to appreciate some elements of contempo-
rary theology." Fr. McBrien also likes his "political real-
ism" and the fact that he refuses to act from an "I've got to
defend the truth" position. And Fr. McBrien really hates
when a pope defends the truth: in his work, Catholicism,
The Athanasian 8 March 1
And so it behooves us Catholics to develop and to retain
a truly Christ-like attitude towards death. This life is
merely a period of probation, of trial, a time of preparation
for the life of glory to come. Our few years on this earth
There is hardly an adult who has not seen death in one are but a fleeting instant compared to the eternity that
form or another and no one who has, unless he be quite awaits us beyond the grave. We live to die, 'tis true, but
utterly devoid of feeling and emotion, could fail to be at death, if we are but ever prepared for it, is not the end nor
least somewhat moved by it. Human nature being what it hell our eternal destiny. Death is only the beginning, the
is, however, those people are most affected by death beginning of endless happiness in the glorious Kingdom
who thereby lose the companionship of one with whom of God. In the words of the poet, "the grave is not our
they were closely joined in life through bonds of blood or goal; dust to dust was not spoken of the soul." The grave
friendship or marriage. Time alone and a strong, abiding is rather the gateway to eternity, the gateway to the Beatif-
faith in the good Providence of God can mitigate the ic Vision of the Infinite Godhead.
wound which the loss of a loved one has inflicted and,
while it is well that sorrow and grief be not unduly pro- Let us, then, pray often and earnestly for that singular
longed, it is regrettable indeed if the lesson death teaches grace of final perseverance. And whenever we behold
fails to have any wholesome and lasting effect. the sight of death, let us recall that prayer of the traditional
Church offered by the priest at the grave of the deceased:
And the lesson death teaches all who will but learn and "Grant, 0 Lord, we beseech Thee … that we may
profit by it is the simple one expressed by Saint Paul: "It is bear in mind that we are most certainly to follow …
appointed unto man once to die and after this the judg- Give us the grace to make ready for that last hour by
ment." In God's own good time death will come to each a devout and holy life, and protect us against a sud-
and every one of us for we have not here a lasting home. den and unprovided death. Teach us how to watch
Although the time and place and circumstances of death and pray that, when Thy summons comes, we may
are known to none but God, yet there is nothing more cer- go forth to meet the Bridegroom and enter with Him
tain in al! life than that it will one day come to an end. At into life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord.
that supreme moment, life ends and eternity begins. At Amen."
that supreme moment, all of our earthly ambitions, all of
our joys and sorrows, all of our hopes and plans suddenly
and forever cease to be. At that moment, whether we be
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
young or old, rich or poor, strong or weak (for death is no SUBSCRIPTION
respecter of persons)-at that supreme moment, life and The on the envelope label indicates
everybody and everything that have any connection with the month and year in which recipient's sub-
it become a part the irrevocable past. judgment of scription is due for renewal. the proper time, a
a just and merciful God alone remains, to be followed by subscription envelope will be enclosed with the
the eternal consequences of that judgment. newsletter. One may enter a new subscription at
any time, of course, and will then the eight
And the moral tor any Catholic, and indeed for anyone following newsletter issues.
professing a belief in a future life of reward or punishment,
is, of course, the obvious one of the absolute necessity of ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
always being fully prepared. Whether any one of us will
be alive a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour from Conspiracy
now, no one knows but the God who made us. But, just
as surely as we are now alive, just as surely will there (a supplement to the September 1, 1982 issue
come a day which will be our last upon earth, a day when of The Athanasian.)
we will stand before the judgment seat of the Almighty to
render an account of our stewardship. How tremendously Scale for
important, then, how absolutely essential it is to be ever
ready for that supreme moment! "Vanity of vanities, and 1-10 $1.50 each
all is vanity". A good life is the only sane and sound prep- 11-19 $1 each
aration for death. A living of every day as if that were to be 20-49 $1
our last upon earth is the only guarantee of a truly happy 50-99 $1.20
death. "Watch ye and pray for you know not the day nor 100+ $1.10
the hour."
The Athanasian 9 March 1, 1984
ere's y e
– fr. Francis E. Fenton
e Church
mong the hundreds or thousands of Churches, de- believe whatever he chooses to believe regarding any or
nominations and sects which exist at the present all of that truth. Indeed, "to be deep in history is to cease
time and which are called Christian, only one is the true to be a Protestant" (John Cardinal Newman, Catholic con-
Church and that is the Roman Catholic Church. All others vert from Anglicanism).
are false, regardless of how sincere some of their clergy
and members undoubtedly are. The nature of truth, the But if Christ, the Son of God, taught a definite body of
testimony of history and simple common sense-all give doctrine and code of morality, and if He willed that all men
undeniable proof to this vital fact. Innumerable men and accept His teachings and live according to His Com-
women, young and old, have led lives of extraordinary mandments, and if He established an infallible and inde-
sanctity within its fold and multitudes have suffered mar- structible authority (the Church) to preserve His eternal
tyrdom down through the Christian centuries for the sole truths and to dispense His salutary grace until the end of
reason that they were Roman Catholics. Consider too the time-and He did all of these things-then that Church
in the course of history who, having investigated must exist today. As indeed it does, the same Church to
the claims of the Church and prayerfully studied its teach- which belonged the Apostles and the martyrs and the
ings, became Roman Catholics, some of them at the cost saints (Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ignatius Loyola,
of no small sacrifice in one form or another. Indeed, in the Benedict, Athanasius, Francis of Assisi, Alphonsus
ten years or so that preceeded Vatican Council II, the Liguori and all the rest). But where is the Roman Catholic
number of converts to the Church exceeded one hundred Church here and now? Surely it is not the Conciliar
thousand per year-every year-in this country alone. Church-and it totally escapes me how anyone who is
of the most zealous and apostolic in the ranks of well informed on the subject can honestly contend that it
traditional Catholicism today, incidentally, are individuals is. As I have frequently observed in the pages of this
who were converts to the Faith prior to that disastrous newsletter, the one true Church is to be found today intra-
Council.) ditional Catholicism wherein is preserved and taught and
practiced the entire body of Roman Catholic doctrine and
true conversion to the Church, however knowl- morality as it was taught by the Church and believed and
edgeable of its teaching a non-Catholic may be, ultimate- practiced by her members all down through the Christian
ly involves the gift of faith, no one who knows history can centuries, and whose priests offer the true Mass and dis-
remain a Protestant. For approximately the first thousand pense certainly valid Sacraments. Either the Church
years from the time of Christ, the Christian Church was founded by the Son of God exists at this point in time or it
the Catholic Church. There was no other. And it was not does not. If it does not, then the words of Christ declaring
until the sixteenth century that Protestantism appeared the perpetuity of the Church are false and the Church
upon the scene, some of whose leaders were apostate itself has been a monstrous fraud for some nineteen-and-
priests such as the abhorrent Martin Luther (whom the a-half centuries. If the Roman Catholic Church does exist
Conciliar Church will likely "cannonize" in due time along today, then traditional Catholicism is that Church. There is
with the pro-Communist Martin Luther King). Almost no third alternative.
countless, it would seem, is the number of Protestant
Churches, as well as other non-Catholic denominations, "The (Conciliar) Church … is schismatical and heretical at
to be found today in this country alone, all of which claim the same time. This Conciliar Church is not Catholic. In
to be on God's side and teaching His revealed truth, yet the same measure in which the Pope, the Bishops, the
plainly contradicting one another on scores of doctrinal priests or Faithful adhere to this Church, they separate
and moral matters. But divine truth, the revealed word of themselves from the Catholic Church … " (Archbishop
God, is eternal, unchangeable, the same yesterday, to- Marcel Lefebvre, July 29, 1976). As true as these words
day and always-and Protestantism has made a were in 1976, they are, if possible, even more so in
shambles of it, thanks in large part to Luther's theory of 1984-and no rightly informed truly traditional Roman
the private interpretation of the Bible. Divine truth is, in Catholic would take exception to them. And that is exactly
effect, up for grabs in Protestantism and one is free to
10 March 1, 1984
what we have been saying in the pages of this newsletter centuries. We traditional Roman Catholics belong, by the
for some time now, namely, that anyone who, from John grace of God, to that very same Church which inspired
Paul II on down, is a member of the Conciliar Church is, and motivated so many of our predecessors in the Faith
by that fact, not a Roman Catholic-however well-inten- to reach the heights of sanctity in their lives and to give
tioned he or she may be. An individual is not a Roman their lives in martyrdom. Can we not do what these have
Catholic merely because he thinks he is. While, due to done?
truly invincible ignorance, a person may be saved who is
outside the body of the Church, yet that same invincible Was there ever a time, I wonder, in the history of the
ignorance does not make a member of the Conciliar Church when there was a more urgent demand for apos-
Church a Roman Catholic, regardless of that person's sin- tolic Catholics, that is, men and women of all ages who
cerity or good faith. And so again, the one true Church not merely live commendable personal lives but who are
exists now as always but it exists today In traditional fervent and zealous to bring the one true Faith to others,
Catholicism. There, and there alone, is the Roman Cath- openly to defend that Faith when it is attacked and ma-
olic Church. ligned and, if need be, to sacrifice their lives in testimony
to it? From my observation, the ranks of traditional Cathol-
But how pitifully small in numbers the membership of the icism seem to be woefully lacking in this type of Roman
true Church has become in the years which have inter- Catholic. In a word, there is a crying need today for far
vened since Vatican Council II. From a total of some 30 more traditional Cathoiics who are fighters for the Faith.
million members a scant 20 years ago in this country And where are they? I, for one, know no more worthy
alone, the Roman Catholic Church (traditional Catholi- cause on God's earth for which to fight. t
cism) in the USA today counts its authentic membership, I
would guess, at no more than some twelve thousand or Prayer Conversion America
so-and the same numerical proportion between past
and present likely holds on a worldwide basis as well. A Dear God, bring the Faith to our beloved country. lt
remnant indeed. Truly this is one of the supreme trage- was once a virgin land wherein the only praise was
dies of our time, indeed, of all time. Fortunately, numbers that of the murmur of the Mass on the shore, the hills
have nothing to do with the determination of truth or of the and the prairies. Zealous priests and explorers
justice and rectitude of a cause. claimed it for Thee, giving Thy Holy Name to its
rivers, lakes and cities. From east to west they
One of the sorrowful consequences, however, of the traveled, from mission to mission, from Mass to
scarcity of authentic Roman Catholics Is that traditional Mass until the land was encircled by prayer and
Catholicism is all but powerless to effect any significant gave of its bounty to Thy glory. And now it is dedi-
influence for moral good upon the American scene. Will cated to Thy Immaculate Mother. May she find
anyone, knowledgeable on the subject and old enough to America again, as she once found the lost Child
remember, argue the point that the present decadent con- Jesus In the Temple. May she touch the hearts of
dition of this nation is due in large part to the fact that the our people, disposing them to receive the ancient
Roman Catholic Church is no longer a power to be faith, and thus showing them the things that are to
reckoned with in politics, entertainment, education, etc.? their peace. We ask this of Thee through Jesus
Would abortion, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity and Christ our Lord. Amen.
all the rest be the satanic scourge they are in America
today if the clergy of that Church had remained loyal to -Author Unknown-
tradition and had not succumbed in vast numbers to the
massive subversion inflicted upon the Church (a subver-
sion, we should add, in which numerous bishops and
priests were conscious instruments)? Would not the USA
be In a less wretched spiritual and moral condition at the
present time if the Conciliar Church were simply to cease
to exist?
And so it remains for traditional Catholicism, however
meager its numbers and imposing the obstacles it faces,
to preserve and to propagate the Roman Catholic Faith in
this our day with the spirit and dedication of those count-
less saints and martyrs whose lives have been one of the
signal glories of the Church all down through the Christian
The Athana5ian 11 lv[arch 1,
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THE ATHANASIAN
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