By Bob Sullivan
In the third column in this series, we continue our discussion of trust in the teachings of the Church with Father Matthew Rolling, academic dean and professor of philosophy at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward.
As you might have noticed through the first two segments, the teachings of the Church – the content of revealed truths – remains unchanging, but we as individual Catholics tend to change and grow (or ebb) in our knowledge, adherence, and trust in those truths as we live out our lives. This is the virtue of faith.
As we pray the rosary and pray for the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we pray that our own personal virtue of faith increases. We also pray that the virtue of faith of others increases. As we do this, we keep in mind that professing to hold Church teachings as true does not mean we fully understand everything the Church teaches. It means that even what we don’t understand, we choose to trust as true on the authority of the one revealing it. The one who reveals it is God and He chose to reveal it through His Church.
Q. Father Rolling, there is a difference between ignorance of a teaching of the Church and willful ignorance. How do these matter with regard to a person’s soul?
The Church makes a distinction between those who voluntarily reject some or all of the Church’s teachings and those who do so involuntarily. The Catechism speaks of “hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity” (CCC, 2088).
As I mentioned with the words of St. John Henry Newman, we may all find things which are hard to understand, but the virtue of faith is based not on our ability to understand, but upon the authority of the One revealing and the one teaching. If I thought – contrary to the teaching of Christ and His Church – that Jesus Christ is not fully God and fully man, but did not know I was wrong, that would be simple ignorance. If someone pointed out my error to me, and I changed my mind to accept that Christ is fully God and fully man, this is different from heresy. Changing my mind would be a part of my response of the call to conversion. There may be lots of things which many practicing Catholics hold in error, but it is the response of a faithful son or daughter of Christ’s Church to turn away from sin and error when we become aware of it.
There are other things which we can choose not to know about or not to investigate because we’d rather not know the truth. Let’s say that I really like going out for steaks every Friday night, but I heard something from another Catholic about a serious obligation to abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent and do some form of penance every Friday throughout the year. If I ignore that person’s statement, I have voluntarily chosen to remain in my ignorance. As with all voluntary acts, I am responsible for my choice to remain ignorant about Church teaching on this point.
Q. If a person falls short of the basic teachings of the Church, they become a “lapsed Catholic.” What does this mean with regard to their soul and the receipt of the sacraments?
In addition to the basic truths revealed by Christ through His Church, the Church gives us the minimal expectations to “guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor”; these are known as the precepts of the Church. These include attending Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, receiving Holy Communion at least once during the Easter Season, going to Confession at least once a year, observing the days of fasting and abstinence from meat, and providing for the material needs of the Church according to one’s ability. To not observe these precepts does serious damage to our relationship to Christ for each of these precepts, as the Church explains, is meant to promote our love for God. If I should persist in not observing these basic precepts, I would put myself in a state of grave or mortal sin. As is the case in committing any mortal sin, I forfeit my eternal salvation. If I should die before repenting and confessing any of these sins, the Church is clear that I would earn only eternal suffering and separation from God.
Q. Today, the most controversial teachings of the Church seem to involve sexuality. If a person believes that same-sex marriage, abortion, contraception, or euthanasia are not sinful and/or immoral, can they honestly say they are a faithful or devout Catholic?
Let’s imagine we were speaking of two friends. If one friend refused to accept some truth about the other person or act in a way that he knew was offensive to his friend, no one would permit him to characterize himself as a faithful or devoted friend. As we already said, someone who knowingly and voluntarily rejects some clear teaching of Christ and His Church has – by definition – committed the sin of heresy. In so doing, they have placed themselves outside of a relationship with Christ and His Church. As we noted above, Christ said to the Apostles: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) They have done something serious to offend Christ; we could not continue to permit them to describe themselves as faithful or devout.
On the contrary, the great English Catholic author G.K. Chesterton wrote: “A Catholic is a person who has plucked up courage to face the incredible and inconceivable idea that something else may be wiser than he is.”
