The Church’s Unity of Faith – St Francis de Sales

"The true Church of God must be united, fastened and joined together in one same doctrine and belief" Over the last months, we have made the visible unity of the Church's faith a central theme of a number of essays.  In short, the Church is essentially united in her external profession of faith. This is an essential aspect of the property of unity itself. As one of the four notes of the Church recited in the Creed, this unity of faith is a "negative" property in the sense that the true Church of Christ can never lack it. Any society claiming to be the Church of Christ shows itself to be a false claimant if it lacks this unity of faith.

Should mistaken Catholics be called “material heretics”?

"The Church is visible by reason of the visibility of her members and her organisation. But the edges are very blurred." Objection: Some Catholics profess heretical doctrines in good faith, and they are sometimes called "material heretics." Therefore, the description of the Church's "visible unity" is overly idealised, and arguments about heresy and membership based …

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The King of France, Fatima and the Crisis in the Church

"Given they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of my request, they will follow him into misfortune." As we all know, one of the requests of Our Lady of Fatima was that the Pope would, with all the bishops, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Let us read Sr …

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Are we obliged to believe every person who calls himself a Catholic?

"A visible unity in 'claims to be Catholic' is no more remarkable than a unity of 'claims to be Anglican.'" Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash Objection: "As long as someone claims to be a Catholic and professes submission to the Church’s magisterium, he cannot be considered to be more than an occult heretic – …

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What is the difference between an excommunicate and an open heretic?

"Such legalistic and positivist ideas are an implicit denial of the visible unity of the Church." Image: Excommunication of Robert the Pious, Wiki Commons CC In previous parts, building on my review of the Tradivox Catechism series, we saw the following points across three theses: The nature and centrality of the Church’s visible unity of …

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Short essay: Is there a schism between traditionalists?

Schism! Dissent! Donatism! Image: St Augustine in his study. Wiki Commons CC A priest suggested to us that we break our extended essays into shorter, more manageable pieces. We are quite committed to long-form essays, but are willing to try this – with a few extra points added or developed to make it worthwhile! This …

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Questions about Pope Honorius – a reply to Prof. Edward Feser, Part II of II

"The custom of the Church stands for these things: and the Church cannot err." Image: Pope St Leo II, Wiki Commons CC Don't worry! This article appears twice as long on a browser than it actually is, due to the footnotes. This is the concluding part of my reply to Professor Edward Feser, who recently …

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Questions about Pope Honorius – a reply to Prof. Edward Feser, Part I of II

"An error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is suppressed." Image: The Sixth Ecumenical Council, Wiki Commons CC Professor Edward Feser recently responded to my article Pope Honorius and Roberto de Mattei – Part I: The History. To begin, I must recall that my essay was a critique of …

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Worth a gamble? A reply to Kennedy Hall’s “Sedevacantist Wager”

"We would contend that Mr Hall is submissive to Francis in precisely the same way that we are." Image: Wiki Commons CC In a recent Crisis Magazine article, Mr Kennedy Hall has submitted a respectful “sedevacantist wager,” as an explanation as to why he thinks that it is more “fitting” to live and act as …

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Short essay: “Idolatry Passports” and objections on the profession of faith and membership

“Men are not bound to scrutinize hearts." Photo by Sayak Bala on Unsplash Following a revision and expansion of an earlier essay, I thought that it would be worthwhile re-publishing this edited section containing more detail on the profession of faith. The topics expanded include: How formal professions of faith can be a red herring …

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