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Question Title Posted By Question Date
New Theology John Thursday, March 12, 2009

Question:

Hi, Brother Ignatius!

I'm writing to say that we've recently acquired a new parish priest. About a month ago, I attended the first Legion of Mary meeting in our parish (chaired by our new parish priest who came along to see how things were moving along. Please note, our previous parish priest recommended the Legion of Mary start in our parish - not our new one).

Our new priest asked me to open the meeting by beginning to pray the Rosary, and this I did. When I came to the "Fatima Prayer" he suddenly told me to stop! We were all stunned - he told me never to pray that prayer, as hell does not exist, nor does the devil!

I boldly replied that "hell" and "the devil" are doctrines of our Catholic Faith and are destinctly mentioned as such in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Our new priest said he didn't care, he still held to his views that the devil and hell are mediaeval superstitions and are not part of our contemporary faith! I am now discovering that our new priest adheres to "New Theology" - what is this?

And is it in any way compatable with Vatican II? I would think definitely not!

Anyway, would you please express your views, and maybe give me some good counsel as to how I should approach our new priest on the matter. It sounds as though he could be a liberal theologian. What advice can you give me? Thanks for your wise counsel on the matter.



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear John:

Depending on the details of your pastor's belief he is heterodox on some aspects and may actually be a heretic on other aspects.

It is a Sent. certa. teaching of the Church that the angels were subjected to a moral testing and that some failed the test and fell under the ban of eternal damnation (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) [Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Book Two, §28.2]. Rejection of this definitive teaching places one outside the communion of the Church.

It is a De fide teaching of the Church that the devil possesses a certain dominion over mankind by reason of Adam's sin [Ott. §31.1]. Rejection of this dogma is heresy

It is a De fide teaching of the Church that "the souls who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell" (Ott, Book Five, §4.1). In addition, it is also De fide that "the punishment of Hell lasts for all eternity [ibid., §4.3a].  Rejection of these dogmas is heresy.

It is a very serious thing for a priest to not believe in the devil or hell. He is not in communion with the Church. I would ask him privately about his views. If he persists in this error, then it needs to be reported to the bishop immediately.

God bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

 

 

 


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