CATECHISM ON MODERNISM – PART I – THE RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY OF THE MODERNISTS – II. WORSHIP

PART I
THE ERRORS OF THE MODERNISTS

CHAPTER IV

THE RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY OF THE MODERNISTS
(Continued) BRANCHES OF THE FAITH
I. DOGMA
II. WORSHIP

Q. What is the theological doctrine of the Modernists concerning worship and the Sacraments?

A. ‘Concerning worship there would not be much to be said, were it not that under this head are comprised the Sacraments, concerning which the Modernist
errors are of the most serious character.’

Q. Whence, according to them, does worship spring?

A. ‘For them worship is* the resultant of a double impulse or need; for, as we have seen, everything in their system is explained by inner impulses or necessities.’

Q. What is this double need of which the Modernist theologians speak?

A. ‘The first need is that of giving some sensible manifestation to religion; the second is that of propagating** it, which could not be done without some sensible form and consecrating acts, and these are called Sacraments.’

Q. What do the Modernists mean by Sacraments?

A. ‘For the Modernists, Sacraments are bare symbols or signs, though not devoid of a certain efficacy.’

Q. To what do the. Modernist theologians compare the efficacy of the Sacraments?

A. ‘It is an efficacy, they tell us, like that of certain phrases vulgarly described as having caught the popular ear, inasmuch as they have the power of putting certain leading ideas into circulation, and of making a marked impression upon the mind. What the phrases are to the ideas, that the Sacraments are to the religious sense.’

Q. Are they only that?

A. ‘That, and nothing more. The Modernists would express their mind more clearly were they to affirm that the Sacraments are instituted solely to foster the faith; but this is condemned by the Council of Trent: ” If anyone say that these Sacraments are instituted solely to foster the faith, let him be anathema.” ***

* The Official Translation has, For them the Sacraments are, etc. a particular case, whereas the Latin has Cultum in general. J. F.

** This word is used in the United States ; and the French and Italian versions also speak here of propagating, and not of expressing religion which were to repeat the idea of the preceding phrase. J. F.

*** Sess. VII., de Sacramentis in genere, can. 5.

III. SACRED SCRIPTURE INSPIRATION

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