One dangerous snare that each Catholic must scrupulously avoid is the temptation to make a senseless and unfortunate distinction between an ideal church and the church of reality. No such thing as a dual church exists. There is only one church and that is the church as she is in reality. Hence it is futile and even impossible to approve an ideal church that is removed from reality and to condemn the church that actually exists. Its futile. Experience proves that the dangers present in such conceptions and distinctions lies principally in this: that they soon lead in practice to a hostile attitude toward the existing church, and in the end to complete apostasy. This lamentable consequence should prompt every Catholic to suppress from the start any tendency to make such distinctions, and to avoid as a matter of principle, all such purposeless subtleties. The Divine-Human institution as it exists in reality, the Catholic Church as it exists in reality, is the only one that must be recognized as the true Church of Christ. To it belongs our reverence, our obedience, our love, and our loyalty. Most Reverend Wilhelm Stockums, Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne, Germany (1877-1956)
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 06:17:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015