The following is a “catechism” class of Cardinal Marx on the four marks of the Church:
http://theradicalcatholic.blogspot.com/2014/11/cardinal-marx-on-church.html
I will use the Baltimore Catechism to refute the errors of Cardinal Marx on the four marks of the Church. What this man is saying is not Catholic.
Because these Princes of the Church and Representatives of Our Lord are not teaching the True Faith, the Church is collapsing and souls are being lost.
The first mark of the Church is that it is “One.” This is Cardinal Marx’s definition:
“The first is: ‘I believe in the One Church.’ The hope that the Church will become one should motivate us. Unity in diversity – not only in a parish, but also in lifestyles and in cultures. We cannot be a Church which is uniform. Rather, we must be a Church which loves diversity. And that is a great pastoral challenge, as well as one of ecumenism.”
You are wrong, Your Eminence. The Church is not in a process or evolving to become one. She is One. She is the One True Church of Christ without which there is no salvation.
I’m guessing, his comment on the Church being “uniform” is an insult to the Catholic Faith of 2,000 years, with it’s “uniformality” and it’s reverence for God. You know, wanting to do things right to please God? Like… I don’t know… receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace, instead of in mortal sin, so as not to commit sacrilege?
The Baltimore Catechism #3 states:
Q. 549. How is the Church One?
A. The Church is One because all its members agree in one faith, are all in one communion, and are all under one head.
The second mark of the Church is “Holy.” This is Cardinal Marx’s definition:
“The second is: “I believe in the one Holy Church.” Now you’re thinking: “For the love of God, I look at everything happening in it, and the Church is supposed to be holy?” “Holy” is not a moral category; that’s not what’s being referring to. The question is whether I can find something which men cannot destroy. Can I find a place where I really encounter Jesus and where no one manipulates him with his interpretation, or argues him and his claim to power away? Where is the place where Jesus encounters me and where not men, but God himself acts? This we call the sacraments. […] The “holy” Church means that something takes place in her which does not come from her, but from God.”
Not a “moral category,” Your Eminence? I thought the Church was Holy because Our Lord Jesus Christ is holy? That’s what my Church teaches.
God does indeed use second causes. Very rarely does he act on His own. What does the good Cardinal expect God to do? Come down off of His throne, and do everything for us. What he is describing cannot be found in the True Catholic Church. He is preaching a Protestant theology. It’s a Protestantization of Catholicism. If the Catholic Church is a place where we can encounter God independently of second causes, then what need do we have for Cardinal Marx? Indeed, what need have we for the Priesthood? It seems that the good Cardinal has just preached himself out of a job. Hopefully, the Protestant church down the road has an open position available. Or maybe the Cardinal can go ahead and just start his own church, like Luther did?
God acts thought His priests. The Sacraments use tangible substances to effect spiritual realities. The Sacraments use things like water, bread, wine, oil, etc., which are the physical substances used in order to effect the supernatural reality. The Sacraments are not God acting alone. Catholicism is the exact opposite of what this man is saying. The Sacraments are not what this man says they are.
The Cardinal wants a place “where no one manipulates” God? Well, is the Consecration a manipulation, Your Eminence? Why does God need Cardinal Marx to consecrate if God does everything Himself?
Once again, we read from the Baltimore Catechism:
Q. 563. How is the Church Holy?
A. The Church is Holy because its founder, Jesus Christ, is holy; because it teaches a holy doctrine; invites all to a holy life; and because of the eminent holiness of so many thousands of its children.
The third mark of the Church is “Catholic.” This is Cardinal Marx’s definition:
The third adjective is the Catholic Church. “Catholic” means “broad”, “not petty”. When the Pope says that the Church should go to the peripheries, that one should go to the limit, then this is a commission to go to the ends of the earth, to the limit of man, to spread the Gospel, so that the Gospel will reach all people. That’s what “catholic” means. It is not meant in a confessional sense. Not only Catholics are catholic. This is an error which arises again and again. Some think, “I’m Catholic,” and that this is what is meant in the Creed. No; everyone is. The Eastern Orthodox are also catholic. The Protestants are validly baptised, and they belong to a catholic Church. But we have not yet visibly joined. That is something else.
What nonsense is this? “Catholic” means Universal!
If everyone is supposedly Catholic, then why is the Society of St. Pius X not Catholic? Please explain that to everyone, Your Eminence. Why are Catholics who want to practice the Faith as we have for 2,000 years given the iron rod of vengeance and falsely “excommunicated?” Could it be that we not of your New Church of Man? I would say, yes.
Q. 564. How is the Church Catholic or universal?
A. The Church is Catholic or universal because it subsists in all ages, teaches all nations, and maintains all truth.
The fourth mark of the Church is “Apostolic.” This is Cardinal Marx’s definition:
“And lastly: the Apostolic Church. “Apostolic” means that we believe those who first undertook the journey, those who traveled the path from the Easter experience: the Apostles.”
Okay, he could have just given the simple definition from the Baltimore Catechism, couldn’t he? Same for the other marks. He didn’t because he does not believe that Faith.
Q. 567. How is the Church Apostolic?
A. The Church is Apostolic because it was founded by Christ on His Apostles, and is governed by their lawful successors, and because it has never ceased, and never will cease, to teach their doctrine.
Indeed, the present crisis in the Church is the most unprecedented and catastrophic in Her history. Whole nations have lost the Faith because of a lack of proper catechesis. Not even a majority of the Princes of the Church hold the Faith anymore, if this is what we see coming out of the mouth of a Prince of the Church. They don’t love the same Church. They love their own selves. They make the Church out to be nothing more than a Protestant sect and they attempt to change Her for their wicked purposes.
You are unfaithful to your Bride, Cardinal Marx. You and your henchmen follow in the footsteps of your master, Martin Luther. Return to the True Faith before you have to face the Judgment Seat of God where you will all have to give an account for the incalculable number of souls lost in your country because of your failure to be their shepherds.
Damsel of the Faith 