Editor’s Note: This is an edited transcript of Mr. Vennari’s talk given on August 22, 2007 at the Fatima: Only Way to World Peace Conference in Botucatu, Brazil. Judging by the general and deeply felt response of the many priests at this conference, this talk was perhaps the most appreciated of the whole conference. It merits our own attentive reading and assistance in giving it the widest possible circulation. [This article was originally published in The Fatima Crusader, Issue #87 (2007), pp. 58-73 and has only been slightly edited for this website format.]
The Problem
When Pope Benedict XVI came to Brazil this past May (2007), there were headlines around the world that one of the most critical problems he hoped to address in South America was the mass exodus of Catholics into various forms of Protestantism.
At the time, the newspapers reported:
1) Protestant ministers outnumber Catholic priests 2 to 1;
2) The Church had expected 300,000 to 400,000 people to turn out for Pope Benedict’s outdoor Mass at the Shrine of Aparecida, but only about 150,000 people showed up;
3) Around the same time, Protestants held their annual “March for Jesus”, at which 1.5 million people attended.
I believe it was Cardinal Hume from the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy who said that in South America, there was a hemorrhage of Catholics into Protestantism.
What I want to do this morning is to address what I believe to be some of the reasons this mass exodus is happening. Also, with due respect, I want to give some recommendations as to what can be done about it.
As for the reasons, I will list three, but not necessarily in chronological order.
The First Reason
We have to recognize that South America had been targeted by Protestantism since the late 1950s. Father John Harden, an American Jesuit theologian, said that he attended a gathering of the World Council of Churches (WCC) around 1957 in some sort of official capacity for the Vatican. At this meeting, the leadership within the World Council of Churches urged that Protestant missionaries target South America aggressively with a campaign of proselytism in order to gain converts. The WCC was well aware that South America was overwhelmingly Catholic, and the goal of the WCC was to break the strength of the Catholic Church in Latin America.
The Second Reason
Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, the multi-billionaire globalist and “humanist”, issued a report on Latin America around 1969/1970. Rockefeller’s report makes the claim that in Latin America, the Catholic Church is NOT an ally of the United States – and that “we” should therefore be promoting various non-Catholic Evangelical Sects in Latin America.
And believe me, Rockefeller was capable of supplying a massive amount of funds to spread Protestantism in Latin America.
So, these two bits of information indicate that Latin America was targeted for an aggressive, organized and well-funded campaign of Protestant proselytism to weaken the Catholic Church; and to pull souls away from the one true Faith.
The Third Reason
We have to recognize that this campaign could never have been successful if the Catholic Church in South America was able to resist it mightily; if churchmen – clergy and laity – had simply unfurled the banner of the Church Militant and waged a stalwart counter-reformation campaign of its own.
But something happened that caused too many of our influential churchmen to abandon the concept of the Church Militant, that made too many of our influential churchmen ashamed to engage in counter-reformation activity. And the momentous event that effectively killed true Catholic militancy, and killed counter-reformation activity, and left the Church wide open for the ravages of Protestantism, was Vatican II and the new spirit of ecumenism.
This new spirit of ecumenical collaboration with Protestantism effectively bashed down the ramparts of Catholic protection against the errors of Protestantism, and the errors of naturalism.
This new spirit also did away with the pronouncements of anathemas. We don’t want any condemnations, but, rather, we simply want to promote the positive aspects of the Faith.
Yet this is actually contrary to the spirit of Christ Himself. We know from reading the Gospel that Our Lord did not do only one or the other. He did both. He pronounced the truth and goodness of the Catholic Faith. He told His apostles: “Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. But He also threatened anathema: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned.”
The late Dr. Romano Amerio, an expert theologian at Vatican II, who was admired by Pope Benedict XVI, said the following about the new spirit of not condemning error:
“The setting up of the principle of mercy as opposed to severity ignores the fact that in the mind of the Church, the condemnation of error is itself a work of mercy, since by pinning down error those laboring under it are corrected and others are preserved from falling into it.”
Ecumenism Weakens the Faith
Now, the new ecumenical spirit had a deleterious effect on the Catholic catechesis. Since the time of the Council, it was considered offensive to Protestants to teach that the Catholic Church is the one true Church. As a result, one of the first things that disappeared from the training of our Catholic young was the solid Catholic Apologetics that the Catholic Church alone is the one true Church established by Our Lord.
And as a result, we now have two full generations of Catholics who – in the mainstream – have not been taught this truth. And I dare say: we now have two full generations of seminarians who have not been taught this truth.
And, with your permission, I speak from experience. I was born in 1958. I attended 13 years of Catholic school – that is: kindergarten, grammar school and high school. I was in school throughout Vatican II and the subsequent reforms. And I never heard of Catholic Apologetics until I was 22 years old.
I never received any teaching in school that the Catholic Church is the one and only true Church of Jesus Christ.
And I regret to say, that if I had to rely on what I was taught in 13 years of Catholic school, I would have lost my faith a long time ago. We were given more of a social gospel; a soft, effeminate gospel that had no teeth and no backbone.
I learned my faith primarily from old books my parents had around the house, and then from subsequent intense research and study.
So with the new ecumenical spirit that was launched by the Council, too many churchmen no longer opposed Protestantism, no longer taught that the Catholic Church is the one and only true Church established by Our Lord. And let’s face it, without this firm education and training, the laity were left without the defenses they need to resist the aggressive advancements of Protestantism.
Clear, Infallible, and Unchanging Dogma
Now, as for recommendations of what can be done, I believe something we desperately need is a strong campaign of Catholic teaching to the laity that reiterates the truth, in an uncompromising manner, that the Catholic Church is the one and only true Church established by Christ, and that a Catholic who leaves the Catholic Faith and joins up with a Protestant sect will not save his soul. The Catholic who abandons Catholicism for Protestantism cannot help – in the objective order – to fall under the solemn anathemas of the Council of Trent.
To adhere to Protestantism is to abandon the Sacrament of Confession.
The Council of Trent teaches infallibly: “If any one saith, that in the Catholic Church Penance is not truly and properly a Sacrament, instituted by Christ Our Lord for reconciling the faithful unto God, as often as they fall into sin after baptism, let him be anathema.”
To adhere to Protestantism is to abandon belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
The Council of Trent teaches infallibly: “If any one denieth that in the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema.”
To adhere to Protestantism is to abandon belief in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Council of Trent teaches infallibly: “If any one saith, that the Sacrifice of the Mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be anathema.
A Vibrant Counter-Reformation Campaign
As I said, the Catholic who abandons Catholicism for Protestantism cannot help – in the objective order – to fall under the solemn anathemas of the Council of Trent. He will not save his soul.
This is the reality of our Catholic Faith that must be taught, not in a harsh or belligerent manner, but taught firmly and lovingly – always showing to our people the great love of God in His suffering and dying on the Cross for us; and His love in establishing a Church and His love giving us the seven sacraments. The operation of grace does not change, and the tried and true Catholic Apologetics can still work miracles for the salvation of souls.
So, I want to review a few basic points of standard Catholic Apologetics. The considerations I give here you may find helpful for your people.
I want to make it clear that in these Apologetics, we are talking about positions, not persons. We are looking at the Catholic position versus the Protestant position. I’m sure we all know Protestants who are models of natural virtue, and I’m sure we all know Catholics who do not live up to the standards of goodness and justice that the Faith demands. But persons don’t count in Apologetics, only positions.
And we’ll start by taking a look at the foundational Protestant principle of “The Bible Alone”.