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| Monsignor Michael Scooyans |
A principal
adviser to Pope St. John Paul II who was also close to Pope Benedict XVI,
Monsignor Michel Schooyans, has issued an ominous warning about the current
course in the Catholic Church. In a
paper, retired Professor Schooyans, a member of
several Pontifical Academies and Councils, says that “the Synod on the Family
has revealed a profound malaise in the Church,” writing of the 'crisis' in the
Church: “it is futile to close our eyes: the Church is challenged in its very
foundations.”
Monsignor warns
of what he says is an organized group in the Church that operates with “backing
from some of the highest authorities in the Church.”
The Synod on
the Family showed, he says, the determination of “a group of pastors and
theologians” that “do not hesitate to undermine the Church's doctrinal cohesion.” This group, he added, “functions in the manner of a powerful,
international, well-heeled, organized and disciplined party.”
The active members of this cabal
have easy access to the media, operating with backing from some of the highest Church
authorities. Their main target is Catholic moral teaching condemned for having a
strictness unsuited to the "values" of our time. Through this
network these sophists will be able to hold sway over the helm of the Church,
influence the selection of candidates for high office, and make alliances which put at risk the Church’s very
existence (emphasis mine—here I think
Monsignor’s contention is a bit
histrionic, though his findings warrant attention).
Professor
Schooyans counsels specifically against suggestions for “decentralization” of
the Church: “The actions of casuists today affect not only the Church's moral
teaching but also the entirety of dogmatic theology, in particular the question
of the Magisterium,” adding: “The unity of the Church is in peril where there
are suggestions of biased, at times demagogic, proposals for decentralization,
largely inspired by Lutheran reform.”
The renowned
philosopher points to confusions (for Paul VI, a sign of the demonic) in the
Church around “’remarried’ divorced persons, “models” for the family, the role
of women, birth control, surrogate motherhood, homosexuality," and
euthanasia. The Church “has not been given by the Lord a mission to modify” the
truths taught by Christ about all these matters, Schooyans says. “The Church is
the guardian of this treasure.”
“The causuist,”
he says, (i.e., a sophist) “cultivates
the art of confusing the faithful. Concern for the truth, revealed and
accessible to reason, is now of no interest. … Progressively, the rules of
behavior proceeding from the will of the Lord and handed down by the
Magisterium of the Church are languishing in decline.” As I recount in my
book, in 1972 Paul VI forewarned of the Devil’s role in such sophistry. Scbooyans summarizes this sophistry in the paper--the moral assessment of an act no
longer depends on whether it conforms to the will of God, as made known to us by
the Revelation, but the intention of the moral agent. This intention can be modified
and shaped by the spiritual adviser who, in order to please, will have to
soften the objectivity of the doctrine handed down by tradition. The pastor
will have to adapt his words to the nature of man, whose passions are naturally
led into sin. Schooyans continues:
How great is
the number of pastors of all ranks who wish to make allegiance to the powerful
of this world, albeit easily and without the need to swear publicly fidelity to
the new “values" of the world today?” In pushing to facilitate
‘remarriage,’ the neo-casuists are giving their backing to all those political
players who are undermining respect for life and the family.
I have reason to think that Pope Francis will prevail in the end, for speaking to a large gathering of charismatic Catholics in the Rome Olympic Stadium, Pope Francis spoke of how the devil “attacks the family so much. The demon does not love it and seeks to destroy it.”
