Fr. Paul Wickens - Christ Denied: Orgin of the Present Day Problems in the Catholic Church

Christ Denied

Rev. Paul A. Wickens

A special thanks to Veronica Hart for her invaluable research.

Copyright 1982 by Rev. Paul A. Wickens.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 82-50585

ISBN: 0-89555-183-7

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

1982

In memory of Joan Pierson
and
Gerard W. Kelly, Jr.,
whose love for Jesus Christ
and courage in defending the Church
have been an inspiration .

About The Author ...

Ordained in 1955, Rev. Paul A. Wickens' mailing address is St. Anthony of Padua Chapel, 1360 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, New Jersey 07052.

Vatican Regulations (summarized) Regarding The Imprimatur

Issued at Rome, January 1975

1. The types of books for which a bishop's Imprimatur is obligatory are three:

a) Editions of Sacred Scripture b) Liturgical texts and books of private devotions c) Catechisms and other works of catechetical instructions, as well as texts used in schools and colleges dealing with religious and moral teaching, Scripture, theology, canon law, and Church history.

2. It is strongly recommended that Roman Catholics, especially priests, whose works do not fall strictly under any of the above categories, should nevertheless submit their writings to the examination of their bishop for approval.

CONTENTS

Introduction

"Unity" and "Community" are current catchwords in the Liberal's lexicon. Since God has fashioned us as rational beings who value the meaning of words, the question must necessarily be raised: "What kind of community?" After all, thieves and secular humanists often seem to share close, warm fellowship, which is easily translatable into "Community."

Community with Christ, you say? Unity with His Church? But if there is no commitment to certain dogmas (such as The Holy Trinity and Transubstantiation) and a proclivity to regard, as excess baggage, the Primacy of the Pope, then there is no Community with Christ or His Church. The early Christians understood this well when they long ago formulated the dictum: Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia .

The only really salvific Community consists in that union of souls under God the Father with the Church of Jesus Christ (i.e., the Roman Catholic Church) under the authority of His Vicar on earth .

Anything that would lead us away from this union, or anyone (the false teachers about whom The Sacred Scriptures warn us) who attempts to create a bogus Community should be brought out into the open and classified for what they are.

One can hardly doubt that, in the plan to create false Community and thus divide and destroy the Catholic Church, the chief conspirator is Satan himself. A fallen angel with a high degree of intellect, the devil masterminds a well-organized and never ending plot to defeat the Church of Jesus Christ (and discredit the Blessed Mother in the process). The human instruments of Satan are many, sometimes conscious partners, other times unwitting collaborators (the degree of personal culpability must be left to God's ultimate judgment).

Prominent in the Twentieth Century campaign to deny eternal truths, distort Revelation, and confuse the faithful have been two men. The average laymanindeed the average priest or nun--has very little knowledge of Teilhard de Chardin and Karl Rahner . Their names occasionally do pop up here and there, usually cited by Progressives (so-called) as refreshingly original Catholic intellectuals, but how many of us have actually studied their works and analyzed their thinking? In this booklet one of our goals is to orientate the average reader with Pere Teilhard and Father Rahner (and others) as well as their impact on Catholicism today.

Imploring God's grace, in our treatment of the subject matter we have tried to imitate our Divine Lord's example. From the Gospels we know that Jesus, while generally pictured as gentle and soft-mannered, sometimes used strong critical words and strong actions to refute the opposition. "You hypocrites" and "You brood of vipers" are actual expressions out of the mouth of Our Divine Savior.

St. Jerome, like many Old Testament prophets, never hesitated to use colorful and forceful language on those who would lead souls astray. Once, when referring to a relapsed heretic, Jerome preached from his pulpit, "Now that the scorpion has died..."

Motivated by charity for souls and hopefully with the proper blend of the gentleness and strength of Jesus Christ we will try to give the reader an honest picture of what has happened to our beloved Faith, and who have been the architects of the devastating heresy that has swept through our seminaries and parishes.

Rev. Paul A. Wickens

Dedicated to the Blessed Mother of God, while imploring her intercession .

Feast of the Assumption August 15, 1981

Christ Denied

Chapter 1

Origin Of The Present Day Problems In The Catholic Church

L ike the women of Jerusalem who wept at the sight of Jesus on the road to Calvary, the Catholic people mourn and lament the sight of the wounded Church today.

On Easter Sunday morn, Mary Magdelene, having seen the empty tomb, anxiously cried out: "They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have placed him." This, too, applies to the Church in the 1980's.

How and from where did all the destructive changes in the Church during the last 15 years come about? It all happened so quickly: the uncomfortable at first, then harmful, innovations that have led to undreamed-of diminution in the life of the Mystical Body. Why! It almost seemed like yesterday our churches were reverent and crowded, our convents and seminaries were full. Discipline, morality and sanctification through Christ and The Holy Eucharist were eagerly sought after!

One wonders how the erroneous trends in modern theology gained so much momentum, and how these trends spread so rapidly into all levels of Church life.

These trends eventually led to a moral permissiveness and a disregard for objective ethical norms, all of which contradict the Divine Law, and have resulted in an obvious decline in true Catholicism. Truths , taught by our Savior, Jesus Christ, have fallen like dominoes.

The Citadel is under attack, yet the hierarchy, in America and Europe, seems unwilling to rectify the situation.

We will, with God's help, demonstrate in this treatise that the loss of faith and the weakening of morality can be traced back, intellectually and spiritually, to the unacceptance of the reality of Adam and Eve as first parents, and ultimately to disbelief in a Personal, Triune God. These unbeliefs are embodied in the works of a man called Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Meet George Tyrrell and Teilhard de Chardin

In the summer of 1901, the students at the French Seminary were obliged, by civil edict, to leave France and continue their theological studies elsewhere. The French government was anti-clerical; laws were passed against religious orders. (In the final analysis, there was more danger to the integrity of The Church from the religious orders themselves than from the persecuting government.)

At any rate, since the Jesuits were a prime target, they were ordered out of the country. Where did they seek exile but across the Channel in England. Among the French seminarians involved in the transfer was none other than a young candidate for the priesthood, Teilhard de Chardin (of whom we shall devote considerable space later on).

De Chardin and his classmates moved into a Jesuit community at Jersey. There in England, the Jesuits were very much influenced, in fact, dominated , by an Irish Jesuit called George Tyrrell. This influence was so powerful that one might say, without being terribly unfair, that there was then only one Jesuit in Englandand that Jesuit was George Tyrrell.

In recent years, we have become interested in Tyrrell, and confess that we are inclined to blame everything on him instead of all the other people we have blamed at different times for originating the present difficulties in the Catholic Church.

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