The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-03-21
TlMELINESS OF
P0PE'S ENCYCLICAL
ON MODERNISM

Carl Zittel:
'Of the innumerable blessings be.
slowed by God upon man. the one al
most vital Importance, in a spiritlfa
/ sense, is the deposit of faith. delivered
! by His Divine Son to the apostles tc
/ guard which with utmost viligance is
| a chief duty of the exalted office di.
Nlnely committed to the Holy Father
/ making it incumbent on him to reject
! those novelties Which ariseS from time
TO time. and which are falsely called
/ reforms. Throughout the nineteen
! centuries of the church's existence
/ ner popeS have carefully and perseyer-
/ ingly fulfilled this duty: every century
/ yea, almost every decade, has its an.
! thoritative declaration from the
| Apostolic See, which, owing to the di-
vine institution of the Office itself, is
/ ever accepted by the children of the
church with due reverence. and by
: those outside her pale with attention
ana respect. In our own time there
| mas come TO light a seemingly lnor-
Sanlzed movement toward so-calIed
reform, which, it appears. is viewed
with greater concern by our HOLY
rather than any preceding heresy
ana which, to use his own words. is the
Synthesis or amalgamation of all
| nereSles 1t is generally known I'M
der the name of modernism appel-
iaton whose etymolOgy should nron-
Use only good and favorable things
though under the clothing of unassum-
ing and earnest endeavor to reform.
Turk the devils of pride. obstinacv
even of agnosticism and atheism. The
cause of the Pope's fear of the result
OF TINS particular movement lies in
the attempt to destroy the energy and
life of the church in the hearts of the
faithful, by a method new, modern
and extremely subtle; and in the fact
that the votaries of the movement are
found not only among the openly de-
CARED enemies of the church. but are
also largely recruited from her own
children, the Catholic laity. even from
the ranks of the priesthood. the yerv
heart of the church. In order to pre.-
vent the spreading and growth of
these noXious principles. the Pope. true
to the sacred duties of his office. en-
treated, eXhorted, even had recourse
TO severity, and public reproof. hu4
since his action has borne no fruit or
but such of short duration. he deemed
1t incumbent upon his holy office to
openly expose the falsity of the dis
gulse under which these men opera 10
IL Is out of the question, of course
That an elaborate exposition of the
ropes encyclical on modernism should
be attempted at this time: lack of
time. as well as want of ability on nv
part. would render such impossible. 7
shall only endeavor to give a resume
or rather an epitome, of the now IA
nous letter:
From the foregoing it will perhaps
De ciear mat there can be nothing sur
prising in the Pope's denunciation of
modernism 10
gamatlon of all heresies:' since its
propositions have all appeared and
oeen condemned at diverse times in
the history of the church. only clothed
IN variety of expression. or deduced
by different methods A definition of
modernism will undoubtedly make the
justification of the Pope's denunciatfon
more patent. 1t is too late in the dsv
IN the light of conscientious and i'm
partial historical research. to accuse
the Pope and the church of antagon-
ISM to progress in science. art. educa-
ton this is not the sense of the en-
cycIcal, and judging by the hearty
welcome accorded the letter by Cath
olics as well as nom Catholics. If was
not received in this spirit. Modern
ism. as defined and condemned by our
Holy Father. is the present tendency
on the part Of learned men, university
professors, philosophers and others.
TO reduce all knowledge to a matter
OF physical demonstration to put ex-
pertinent and the resulting phenomena
at the head as the foundation of all
knowledge. which, of course. .relegates
faith in revelation into the realms of
the. doubtful, unknowable. The phi
losophers Of the church. principally the
of old, whose opponents
Magnus st. Anselm of Canterbury.
show US that. although the knowledge
acquired by scientific experiment and
research is not to be disregarded, but
on the contrary, to be carefully cult
waited in schools-there is yet a higher
knowledge. the source of which is di-
vine, and to which all other knowledge
attained by human reason along the
line of experiment, must be subordIn-
ated. both with regard to certainty
and Importance. This divine source of
knowledge is revelation. which is en-
tirely disregarded by the ,modernists.
Proudly and obstinately they main
tain that whatever surpasses the
depths of human reason, rests neces-
sarily on sentiment and is absolutely
Faith is but the fruit of
an inherent consciousness of the divine
in man, the need of the di-
vine, which proposition differs but lit
tie from the fundamental teaching of
Mrs. Eddy and the Christian Scien-
lists. The more eloquently and plaus-
bly one might promulgate the fruits
Of his meditations, the greater is his
chance of becoming prophet or re-
former among men. and in order to |
fortify and perpetuate the principles |
thus communicated it was but neces-
Sary TO claim immediate divine 4Rve- |
alton Of the same. Since the public |
lad not yet arrived at the present ex-
-raordinary stage of enlightenment, all |
such preposterous claims of direct |
communication with God were accept |
ID, and took firm root Now, ST. An |
selm adopted as his initiatory rule of |
Credo, ut Intelligent be-
ieve in order that l may understand |
Sod has revealed his sacred truths to |
nan; mans first duty is to believe, |
md as a secondary privilege he may |
enter speculatively into the dogma. in
ending, as far as lies in human power. /
@ compare, to reason, to understand:
never losing sight, however of the |
primary fact that the doctrines are
essentially and intrinsically true, and
hat if his scientific experiments. at
my stage, appear to bring him
o result contradictory to the
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