Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: Cryptinox on February 27, 2021, 01:20:58 PM
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I was reading the Raccolta from the Reign of Pius IX and I found this prayer for the coversion of Greek Schismatics
O Immaculate Virgin Mary, we thy servants, and sons of the holy Catholic and Roman Church, full of confidence in thy powerful protection, humbly beseech thee that thou wouldst deign to implore of the Holy Ghost by the honour and glory of his eternal Procession from the Father and the Son, the abundance of his gifts for our separated brethren, the Greek schismatics, that, enlightened by his vivifying grace, they may reenter into the bosom of the Catholic Church, under the infallible guidance of her supreme pastor and teacher, the Sovereign Roman Pontiff; and that thus, sincerely re-united to us by the indissoluble bonds of the same faith and the same charity, they may, with us, glorify, by the practice of good works, the most august Trinity, and at the same time honour thee, O Virgin Mother of God, full of grace, now and through all ages. Amen.
I am curious about how common the term was before Vatican II and if it can be used in a non heretical way.
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Yes, I've also seen the term used pre-Vatican II. Rev. Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., a Catholic Missionary Priest, who by God's Grace reconciled 10s of thousands of Protestants to the Catholic Church, also uses the term "separated brethren" while evangelizing:
"Has God given us such means? "Yes," say my Protestant friends, "He has." And so says the Catholic: God has given us such a means. What is the means God has given us whereby we shall learn the Truth that God has revealed? "The Bible," says my Protestant friends, "the Bible, the whole of the Bible, and nothing but the Bible." But we Catholics say, "No; not the Bible and its private interpretation, but the Church God."
I will prove the facts, and I defy all my separated brethren, and all the preachers into the bargain, to disprove what I will say tonight. I say, then, it is not the private interpretation of the Bible that has been appointed by God to be the teacher of man, but the Church of the living God." https://www.olrl.org/apologetics/churchbible.shtml
The 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia uses it in the article on Protestantism: "The Catholic (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm) Church (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm) of the twentieth century is vastly in advance of that of the sixteenth. She has made up her loss in political power and worldly wealth (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15571a.htm) by increased spiritual influences and efficiency; her adherents are more widespread, more numerous, more fervent (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15753a.htm) than at any time in her history (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07365a.htm), and they are bound to the central Government at Rome (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13164a.htm) by a more filial affection and a clearer sense of duty (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05215a.htm). Religious (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11164a.htm) education (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05295b.htm) is abundantly provided for clergy (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04049b.htm) and laity (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08748a.htm); religious practice, morality (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10559a.htm), and works of charity (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03592a.htm) are flourishing; the Catholic (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm) mission-field is world-wide and rich in harvest. The hierarchy (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07322c.htm) was never so united, never so devoted to the pope (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12260a.htm). The Roman (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13164a.htm) unity is successfully resisting the inroads of sects (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13674a.htm), of philosophies (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12025c.htm), of politics. Can our separated brethren tell a similar tale of their many Churches, even in lands where they are ruled and backed by the secular power (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02137c.htm)? We do not rejoice at their disintegration, at their falling into religious indifference (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07759a.htm), or returning into political parties. No, for any shred of Christianity (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm) is better than blank worldliness. But we do draw this conclusion: that after four centuries the Catholic (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm) principle of authority is still working out the salvation (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13407a.htm) of the Church (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm), whereas among Protestants the principle of Subjectivism is destroying what remains of their former faith (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm) and driving multitudes into religious indifference (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07759a.htm) and estrangement from the supernatural (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14336b.htm)." https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm
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But we do draw this conclusion: that after four centuries the Catholic (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm) principle of authority is still working out the salvation (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13407a.htm) of the Church (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm), whereas among Protestants the principle of Subjectivism is destroying what remains of their former faith (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm) and driving multitudes into religious indifference (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07759a.htm) and estrangement from the supernatural (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14336b.htm)." https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm
Vatican II and the Conciliar Church does put a rather halting drag on the force of that observation.
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If it's in the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia, I can live with it.