On
these pages I write often about a much-neglected teaching of the Catholic
Church--the reality of a spiritual war around us. The most
recent manifestation of this comes to us from from England,
where the Anglican Church has decided to eradicate Satan from its baptismal rite. How come? Apparently the
traditional rejection of the devil and all rebellion against God “put off
people who are offended to be addressed as sinners,” and thus clergy find it
much easier to ask parents and godparents to make vows that do not mention
Satan.
Satan
has been able to convince many that he does not exist. In his Screwtape
Letters, British Anglican author C.S. Lewis’ senior demon, Screwtape, instructs
Wormwood, his young protege, on how best to capture a soul for hell—convince him
that Satan does not exist.
As is
reported in these pages frequently, Pope Francis speaks often of Satan as the
“prince of this world,” and the “father of lies” (just search this site). In his On Heaven and Earth he
writes, “Satan’s fruits are destruction, division, hatred and calumny.” In
response, the faithful are beginning to flock to a shepherd that reminds them
that it is the “work of the devil” to ignore the plight of the poor and to
reject the humanity of all persons—including the weakest and least powerful.
The
Church of England’s revised baptismal ritual will be voted upon next month and will
likely pass because it has been driven by a powerful division (a fruit of the Devil) within the
clergy, which is determined to demonstrate that the Church of England is a
progressive church that no longer needs to recognize the need to renounce Satan
in order to live in the freedom of the children of God. Perhaps Wormwood has
successfully bagged his first set of souls?
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