The Church over the Abyss – The American Mind

Today, papalotry is not an option for faithful Catholics. To fundamentally change the Church, as Francis surely intends, is to undermine her authority and her very raison d être. The Catholic faith is not the religion of humanity, and the Holy Spirit is not an agent of the Historical Process, no matter what some Catholic progressives think. As with the Arian crisis of the fourth century, when most bishops succumbed to heresy, the task of Catholics is to defend the truth unalloyed. We owe the papal office filial respect. But no pope is an oriental potentate. His private judgment cannot take precedence over the moral law, the apostolic inheritance, and the unchanging teachings of the Church. Today, alas, unthinking papalotry reinforces theological and moral subversion. Self-deception of this kind only lead to the abyss. At this critical moment, Catholics have an obligation to see things clearly.

via americanmind.org

Prof. Mahoney was at Larry Alexander’s conference on conservatism this last weekend. Prof. Mahoney is one of those people who is amazingly, even depressingly, articulate. He is able to speak extemporaneously more or less exactly as this piece of his reads. Much of it this effort of his is above my pay grade and much of it comes as disturbing news to me. I confess to making a deliberate effort not to follow what our beloved Papa is up to. But unthinking papalotry is not much of a temptation for me.