I began The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of
God by taking note that many
Catholics after Vatican II were told by pastors, curates, religious, or
theologians that the sacred council had changed certain aspects of Catholic
theology or practice, and consequently had never read the documents of Vatican
II for themselves. As we approach the Year of Faith, it's not too late to get
started!!! To get motivated, perhaps this will help: many Catholics misunderstood or ignored the council's teachings under
the influence of secular culture and, as the Holy Father recently stated, "embraced uncritically the dominant
mentality, placing in doubt the very foundations of the deposit of faith, which
they sadly no longer felt able to accept as truths. Recent
decades have seen the advance of a spiritual 'desertification.'" He also remarked that fifty years ago, history
offered glimpses of a "life or a world without God. Now we see it every day around us. This void has spread." Yet, the pope said, a
"thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life" is still evident...."
“ F ive years ago, I would have been afraid of saying anything like what the pope said in his [recent] interview,” the Rev. Tom Reese told Sally Quin . “I’m ecstatic. I haven’t been this hopeful about the church in decades....” “It’s fun to be a religion reporter again. For a while it felt like being on the crime beat. It’s fun to be Catholic again.” George Weigel has raised the question of whether or not Fr. Tom has been paying attention throughout the last quarter of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. Among his findings on the legacies of Pope Francis' predecessors: Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J. millions of adults have been baptized as or entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. new forms of campus ministry in the mold of JPII's "New Evangelization" have developed across the United States. Catholic-studies programs have bloomed on genuinely Catholic campuses across the U.S. the Church has produced the most c...
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