I read Jay Nauss’ letter in the last issue with some sadness. I am well aware that one can find all sorts of lies on the internet if one wishes to search them out.
The sad truth is that anyone can use it to express an opinion, either right or wrong, and there are plenty of bigots who will do so, and lies about the Catholic Church are popular with such people.
I would suggest that Mr Nauss spend some time reading The Father’s of the Church. Men such as Ignatius of Antioch, who was a disciple of the apostle John, or Clement of Rome, who was the fourth Bishop of Rome. There are plenty of others he could read if he truly seeks the Truth.
I myself was brought up in the Church of England, and attended a Presbyterian and Methodist boarding school for seven years; I spent a number of years studying the actual teachings of the Catholic Church before I converted at the age of 25. During those years I found that about 85 per cent of what I had been previously told about Catholicism was totally untrue, and the other 15 per cent misunderstood. I might also mention that at boarding school we were told a good deal about the Spanish Inquisition, and the St Bartholomew Day Massacre etc, but nothing about the killing in England at the same time, of Catholic priests by hanging, drawing and quartering, the use of the rack, and other barbaric methods; or of the shocking barbarity of John Knox and his murderous friends in Scotland. Christ and no Quarter! Which meant killing the women and children too. Catholics, of course.
As for the people being kept in ignorance of the Bible in the so-called Dark Ages, I might point out that the majority of people were unable to read, and those who could were educated by the Church, which also set up the first universities and centres of education, and it was Religious Orders in this wicked Church who set up the first hospitals.
As for Bishop Morris, whom Mr Nauss is defending: When he was anointed Bishop, William Morris took an oath to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church. When he and some members of the National Council of Priests set about defying the teachings he had sworn to uphold he was reprimanded, and then spent many years thumbing his nose at the Pope and the Supreme Magisterium. Had he and his mates resigned and set up their own church, one might have had more respect for them. Had I in the days when I played rugby league, gone onto the field and started to play under my own rules, the referee would have soon sent me packing. The Vatican was patient for years.
When I converted over 50 years ago, I was amazed to find how little Catholics actually knew about the teachings of the Church. In those days this was not a terrible problem as the overwhelming majority of priests were faithful to the Pope and the Supreme Magisterium, and this rubbed off on the congregation. If the priest strayed off the straight and narrow, the local Bishop would soon bring him to book.
Today, the laity are even more ignorant than they were 50 years ago, but it is still what “Father says” that is believed for the most part, especially if he has a bit of charisma. And over the past 30 years as more priests have been making much of the “Spirit of Vatican II”, which same Spirit bears very little relevance to the actual teachings of that Council, and relies almost completely on the prognostications a number of rebel theologians who have tried to re-write the factual teachings, these “Wolves in sheep’s clothing” as St Paul named them, have led a lot of innocent people astray, which is why the Bishop is getting a lot of support. Ignorance is bliss!
Some members of the National Council of Priests have a lot to answer for, but the Catholic Church has weathered worst storms than this and it will continue to do so, no matter what Mr Nauss wishes to believe, God Bless him.
Charles M Shann
Warwick
