The traditional sacraments are signs of our interior dispositions and intentions. Worship may be structured but, at its heart, religion is ethical and the social agenda central. By contrast, conservative religion is keenly aware of God's agency. God is real, independent, powerful, active. God's presence is felt in prayer and in the reading of his holy word.
Religious language is most often literal, and the Bible is often read like a newspaper.
Sacraments are signs of the interior faith given us before we receive them. Neither model really fits Catholicism where the Church mediates Christ's life for our conversion and participation in the mission of Christ. But to understand what 'simply Catholicism' means, the cardinal examines some modern church history. Liberalism started out as a 'necessary . . . The challenge for the church lay in distinguishing the erroneous aspects of modernity from those that were compatible with . . .