Quote from: Matthew 2025-11-12, 12:02:05 PM
The Catholic Faith is a habit of life. If you cease to practice the Catholic Faith, you will cease to be Catholic. It's simple. How can you stay Catholic without practicing your Faith for decades?

Home-Aloneism proponents such as Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer LOVE to bring up and promote the  "Japanese Hidden Christians". But far from being a good model for Traditional Catholics, these Japanese Christians were in VERY sad shape. They kept a faint memory of a couple basic dogmas (priestly celibacy, etc.) and not much more. I shudder to think how many of them lost their souls. The Hidden Christians are the "patron saint" of Home Aloners and Home Aloneism-promoters.

I have no respect OR devotion to these so-called "hidden Christians". Why would I? They weren't saints, they might have all gone to hell for all we know. We should NOT base our current actions on what these particular Japanese did, nor follow their path.

They used a Buddhist goddess statue, but secretly calling it Mary. But after centuries of using a Buddhist goddess statue, guess what happened? Many of them lost the Faith. THE FAITH IS A HABIT OF LIFE.

"Catholic is as Catholic does."

You are misrepresenting history to score a point. Christianity was outlawed and brutally persecuted under the Tokugawa regime until the Meiji era, when legal toleration was restored in 1873, which forced thousands of faithful underground.  Those “Hidden Christians” preserved baptismal formulas, prayers, and Christian identity for generations without regular clergy and when missionaries returned in the 1860s–1870s many identified themselves and rejoined full communion with the Catholic Church.  Scholars make a crucial distinction between those faithful Kakure Kirishitan who returned to Rome and later Hanare Kirishitan sects that developed syncretic practices. Conflating the two is a category error.  What some sources call “Buddhist statues” were often Marian or Christian images intentionally disguised as local figures for survival. This was camouflage, not confession of Buddhist worship.  The modern demographic collapse on islands like Ikitsuki, where recent reports estimate under 100 elderly practitioners, is a sociological fact, not proof that these families all went to hell.  Your sweeping moral verdict is theologically rash and historically uninformed. Historical fidelity under persecution deserves respect, not ridicule.

PS: Statements like “if you cease to practice the Faith, you cease to be Catholic” border on Pelagianism because they ignore God’s grace, the indelible mark of baptism, and the reality that the Faith can be preserved even under centuries of persecution without priests.

Yes, not all the hidden Christians lost the Faith. And yes, God preserves those under such trying circuмstances.
However, if one is delusional as to think THEY are in such a situation TODAY, counting on God's help to miraculously preserve their Faith despite the existence of plenty of great Traditional chapels to do the job, they can and should expect no help. God isn't going to step in and save one from his own stupidity, just because a man decided (foolishly) to follow bad advice, like the Home Aloneism of a Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer.

If you find yourself in persecution, you can trust in God's help.
If you place YOURSELF in a situation on purpose where you will be persecuted -- you will be "on your own" or required to win on your own strength -- which means you are toast. Without God's grace to sustain you, human beings can't overcome their nature regarding things like torture.

That is my main point.

My second point is that by bringing up "the Hidden Christians" so often, it tends to downplay the importance of PRACTICING the Faith. The Faith is a habit of life. If you never "do" Catholic, you will eventually cease to BE Catholic. Unless you are forced to not "do" Catholic, because you're in a gulag or something. In which case, you can count on God to sustain you.

My third point: you need to understand the wisdom of "fake it till you make it". That is absolutely a "thing" or reality of human nature. You start out honoring a special buddhist-looking statue, understanding it to be the Blessed Mother in disguise (wink, wink). But eventually you, or your kids, lose the "subtext" and start soaking up some serious Buddhism. It's how human beings work. Habits for beliefs, and vice-versa. It's one of the principles of the Faith, and the Traditional Movement. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi. "The law of prayer is the law of belief." Or, the way you pray is the way you believe.

When you stop genuflecting to the Blessed Sacrament for decades, eventually you lose belief in the Real Presence. We have proof now, with the Novus Ordo! That is precisely what happened. And it should come as no surprise to anyone with wisdom.

Its an interesting historical question about these Japanese Catholics. Also interesting to look at the morality of having statues that look like Buddha, and what the collective understanding of the villagers were in relation to them were.

But my question to you Matthew is, how far do you stretch this "go to a traditional chapel"?
Shouldn't the question be, "where is there a chapel that stands against the errors of the present crises while holding to the fullness of the Faith?"

I understand that not having regular access to Mass can make staying in a state of grace more difficult, but that's the crises in the Church.

The problem with Pfeiffer and Hewko is that they really mean "If you're not with us", stay at home. But that's ignoring all our seven bishops, and all of our Mass centers across the United states from CT all down to LA and up to MN. It's bonkers. Resistance Mass centers everywhere that they just treat like they aren't Catholic.

[Catholic Scandle] which has much solid traditional Catholic material is perhaps the top #! "Home Aloner" site.  (It rejects Fathers Pfeiffer and Hewko.)  It promotes/endorses Angelic Doctor Academy  for Traditional Catholic home schooling.

This is not entirely true, they hold the same position as Father Hewko on the crisis, and as Father Pfeiffer did prior to his compromise with becoming a “bishop.”

They do however have material on the website which favours Jansenism if not entirely Jansenist. Outside of this error/heresy they are fairly solid.

They are the definition of a true home-aloner.

We're not going to post material on CathInfo which leads souls to Hell. And that includes the Catholic Scandle.

What a relief to know nothing else on CathInfo leads souls to hell, let alone has people posting who sound as though they would like other members to go there or at least are deserving of going there.

Yes, it is a relief that there are no such posts on CathInfo.

If there were, I'm sure several people would have reported them and I would have dealt with them.

But yes, it is a relief.

Why then do you allow posts from schismatic-home-aloner.com - Most Holy Family Monastery?
Here, for example, the site runs an article in which Abp. Lefebvre is accused by Peter Dimond of being a blatant heretic.   Against The Heresies, By Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Why is the site not banned outright as is the Catholic Candle?

They do however have material on the website which favours Jansenism if not entirely Jansenist. Outside of this error/heresy they are fairly solid.

Can you be more specific?  For example, St. Alphonsus Liguori, a saint who fought against Jansenism and was neither a moral laxist or moral rigorist is highly favored on the site.

No, the Dimond Brothers are a disgrace, and CathInfo is not a disgrace.

CathInfo does not allow the sectarianism (excommunicating everyone) that MHFM does every single day. So no, we're not the same. I want to say "Get outta here" in the casual sense, but that has a very special meaning for the Moderator of a forum...

I don't have to come up with a heresy for you. To me, they are destructive of what's left of the Faithful -- the Traditional Movement. By causing people to stay home needlessly, they are leading souls into sin, error, despair, and eternal hell.

I will not permit "dogmatic home aloners" on the forum. Or any of their propaganda -- sermons, websites, books, etc. That is my decision. That position is destructive, and anathema in my eyes.

For one thing, Home Aloneism is MUCH more attractive and therefore MUCH MORE of a danger to the average Trad than all the Protestant sects and non-Catholic religions combined! If I allowed Buddhist material on CathInfo, everyone would be up in arms. But why? Is anyone REALLY tempted by Buddhism? I doubt it. But the allure of ultra-pure exclusive "more Trad than the average Trad" Home Aloneist cult? Now we're talking!


And once again I will define it. "Dogmatic home aloner" is someone who stays home alone on Sunday, and promotes the same, for some dogmatic (usually picky and/or stupid) reason. They might have a valid, Traditional Catholic Mass option nearby, but they don't go for some "dogmatic" reason.

I am NOT referring those who don't have a decent option for the Tridentine Mass on Sunday. We must not only seek out the "Latin Mass", but priests who are actually Traditional Catholic (in their beliefs, formation, sermons, guidance in the confessional, what they push every week). Valid ordination is also a completely reasonable issue.
We are not required to find a "conservative novus ordo", or even settle for some Indult option. No, when I say "Traditional Catholic" I mean a chapel of the Traditional Catholic movement, with everything that entails.

Staying home because a valid priest saying the Tridentine Mass has this or that opinion on the Crisis, or said this or that thing (once, even long ago) that you don't fully agree with -- that is NOT ENOUGH REASON to give up going to Mass.