In our “compromising age” we are loath to name something too strongly. If we do, we are accused of harshness, judgmentalism, perhaps arrogance, certainly intolerance and possibly pharisaism. While it is always necessary to speak the truth with love, the Church also believes and teaches that it is also necessary to speak the truth with strength. It is necessary to defend truth and not be too quick to rationalize, justify or excuse misleading teachings or teachers. There is a point at which passive “tolerance” allows misleading teachings to be spread and propagated, thus confusing or even misleading the faithful about the truths of the Church. There is a very strong word, which still exists in our Church, which most of us are too “gentle” to use. The word is “heresy.” We perhaps think that heresy is a thing of the past. We think perhaps of the Arian heresy or the Pelagian heresy or the Manichaen heresy. We might even maintain that there are no longer any heretics because that conjures up images of inquisitions and burnings at the stake. I do not, in any way, seek to validate or justify any kind of “vigilante” theology, but we do need strong words to combat erroneous and fallacious teaching. (Emphasis added)Tolerance for heresy and heretics is a major problem in the Church today. I was told over the weekend of another prevalent example among the many going on here, about a woman in RCIA who was told by a lay RCIA instructor that Jesus did not know that he was God until He was baptized by St. John the Baptist - and that this was His reason for going into the desert...This deadly contagion spreads like a communicable disease, infecting many who come in contact with it.
Bishop Vasa's column is here.
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