26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Warnings about the impending Crisis, which has now arrived., March 21, 2007
This review is from: Trojan Horse in the City of God: The Catholic Crisis Explained (Hardcover)
Dietrich von Hildebrand is perhaps the greatest Catholic philosopher of the twentieth century. This book written shortly after the conclusion of the Vatican II Council was a prophetic warning on the undermining of the Church from within. It is amazing now, over thirty years later; almost everything the author warned us about has come to pass. Even the official Vatican newspaper in 1970 urged all Catholics to read this book. But as we now know thanks to hindsight, all of its warnings went unheeded.
With extremely clear and concise writing we are lead to see the root causes of this crisis in the Church. The tendency of our bishops to misinterpret the vague writings of the Vatican II Council and lead us away from the previous legalism that was becoming pervasive to a radical swing to the progressive Catholicism we have today which is leading most away from true Catholic faith. The secularism that runs rampant in the new progressive Catholic Church is accomplishing what many schisms and opponents of the Church were never ever to successfully do. The author is able to expound upon the causes of the destructive trends that are afflicting the Church without being derisive of any individual.
It is still not too late to save what really matters to Catholics, our Faith. Read this book, hand a copy to every pastor you know and with the love of faith we can all help to restore the holiness of the Church. The author tries to remind us on what was and should be important to Catholics. This book is required reading for all Catholics.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful diagnosis of the problems in the Church and how it must be combated by committment to transformation in Christ, December 4, 2009
This review is from: Trojan Horse in the City of God: The Catholic Crisis Explained (Hardcover)
This book by Von Hilderbrand ("Von H") is a step by step by diagnosis of the issues which were facing the Church in the late 60s. Cardinal O' Connor notes in the foreword that Von H's analysis remained true in 1993 and it is without doubt still relevant for in 2009. What is wonderful about Von H is absolute commitment to man's transformation in Christ. He knows that, apart from this transformation, all else is utter rubbish. I am reminded by a comment that a Bishop recently made to the effect that young people don't understand the need for salvation (presumably because they represent a new breed of hominid, namely "modern man") and are more concerned about environmental sins rather than personal sins and that we, as a church, need to meet their needs. I have no doubt that Von H would have treated such comments with the disdain they deserved - man is always the same wounded being and unless he is completely out of touch with his interiority, he will always recognise this need for the Other, which is God. What the Church must offer time and time again is the balm of Christ.
Spirit of the age: the risk of infection for Christians
Again and again we find in this book that Von H reminds us not to be conformed to the Spirit of the Age but to be conformed to Christ. He reminds us that what is "in the air" in our culture may in fact be toxic for our spiritual lives and that if repentance and contrition for our sins are not at the centre of our Christian life, we risk being conformed to the world. Further, he argues that it has precisely been the agenda of so called progressive elements within the Church to adapt the Church to the age rather than the other way around. I am reminded by a talk a nun gave once where she compared the pre-Vatican II to the post Vatican Church and spoke critically of the metaphor of the Church as akin to Noah's ark where the Christian may safely take refuge. Now it is true that if this metaphor is taken to extremes it can lead to an unhealthy disengagement but at the same time the metaphor is a healthy one because it reminds us of "the radical antagonism that exists between the Church and the saeculum "to use Von H's language.
Theses and antithesis
Von H notes that the narrowness pre-Vatican II and the articulation of incomplete truths was counteracted post Vatican II by the articulation of errors. Thus, pre- Vatican II, the thinking was that the only goal of marriage was pro-creation. This was complemented by post Vatican II teaching (including he teaching of Von H himself and John Paul II) that mutual communion in love was also a goal of marriage. Thus, the truth was completed so to speak. But, post Vatican II, the opposite extreme was promoted, namely that only mutual love was a goal of marriage, removing the necessity for openness to life. Such an error leads to other errors, namely that marriage is not strictly essential and that marriage need not be constituted by a man and a woman. Another aspect which Von H notes is the tendency for Post Vatican II catholics to belittle the piety of pre-Vatican II catholics. Von H rightly describes such a tendency as adolescent and a manifestation of a spiritual puberty crisis.
Anthropocentricity
Von H notes the tendency for persons to take the view that all I need to do is love my neighbour and in doing so I love God. But, Von H points out rightly that love for neighbour flows from our love for God. Sometimes, naturally speaking, we will struggle to love the person who behaves in an odious manner - unless we first love God, we simply will not be able to see the transcendent dimension to that person. In other words, we must love God with all our hearts and then we love our neighbour. Our hearts must first be "melted by Christ".
Rejection of authority
Von H notes that at times pre-Vatican II the Church may have been legalistic and overly authoritarian but the remedy is not in rejecting authority (as many have canvassed) but to insist that authority is carried our in a manner which is not one of Lording over but of service. But, holy obedience is still required - not least because, absent it, pride enters into and destroys community.
Ecumenism
Von H laments some false manifestations of ecumenism where the hearts of persons' no longer burn for the conversion of the other.
Science (science fetishism) and truth: no contradiction
Von H's words here are very timely in the era of men like Dawkins, noting: "Scientists are frequently not aware that by their philosophical interpretations they are transcending the limits of the science proper. This happens more often in biology than in physics and chemistry". Thus, the theory of evolution becomes transformed into an ideology or "there is no God" philosophy.
The ghetto of secularism
Von H notes that many want to free Catholics from the ghetto of narrowness (which undoubtedly existed in the past) to enslave us in a ghetto of secularisation and vulgarity, tastelessness and naturalism.
Truth and philosophy
Von H notes that some philosophical traditions such as Platonic thought had a certain degree of affinity with the Christian religion such as a great reverence for the Universe and for transcendence, this made such a system highly suitable as a vehicle for conveying a Christian understanding, once purified of unsuitable elements. But Von H notes that some systems are completely incompatible and must be resisted. For Von H "Truth is the echo of being", conforming one's being to reality, par excellence.
Not following what is "in the air"
Von H notes that in certain periods of history, certain ideas are "in the air", so to speak. He warns however: "Whenever a man allows historical themacity to gain the ascendancy over truth, he ceases to be in a healthy relation to truth". We can see this in the current milieu where the idea of person autonomy has been treated as a king of "god". Thus, in our culture, the woman's right to autonomy over her own personhood and body is regarded more highly than the right of an unborn baby to life. Any person who conforms his mind to reality knows that in the hierarchy of values the right to life trumps rights of personal autonomy and yet very few of the intelligentsia (including many church leaders) in the west recognise this fundamental truth. It is because the god of personal autonomy is so much "in the air" that rational discourse becomes almost impossible. At worst, following what is "in the air", may cause the Christian to no longer heed the daily call to conversion.
The myth of progress
Von H points out how nonsensical it is to regard history as inexorably leading towards the goal or telos of goodness. He notes that history is made up of periods of high culture followed by barbarity - there may be scientific progress but man, as man, doe s not progress. It is notable that Teilhard de Chardin comes in for fairly strong attack (his evolutionary view of man and his seeming disinterest of man as a person but as an organism en route to the Omega) and Von H devotes a whole appendix to demonstrating the errors in de Chardin. As I have not seen any rebuttal of this attack I am not in a position to judge whether Von H is being fair or unfair.
Optimism v hope
He contrasts the naive of optimism of many with Christian hope, which recognises reality and may be ready for much suffering but is nonetheless transfixed by Christ, who has overcome the world.
Overemphasis on rights
Von H is spot on when he notes that in a rights based culture, gratitude may begin to fall away. One is conscious of this particularly in a welfare state where everyone begins to feel that everything they get from the state is received as a matter of right. This can lead to a kind of desertification of the heart.
Slogansim
How right Von H laments the increasing reliance on slogans in our culture - no doubt, he would be horrified with the zenith sloganism has reached in out culture. Thus in the recent US presidential election: the rallying cry was; "Its time for change" but, as Von H notes "change" is a neutral term, we can have regressive change or progressive change: crying out for change per se is meaningless.
De-sacralisation of the Liturgy
Von H is very sensitive to the de-sacralisation of the Liturgy and the secularisation of the Church. One can only hope that after nearly 5 years of Benedict XVI we have some hope that the trend may be reversing.
My truth: your truth
This has become the infection of the age: this is the satanic gospel of the current milieu - the complete sapping of "truth" of any meaning and the refusal to conform the mind to reality. .
The current crisis of clerical abuse of children
Von H does not speak of this as the issue was not to the fore when he wrote his book. But, what might he say. This is pure speculation but I suspect that, in terms of the mis-handling of the crisis by certain members of the hierarchy, he might say that, post the Jansenist tendencies prevailing the Church pre-Vatican II, there was a strong counter swing where we all began to sing a hymn in praise of the inate goodness of the human person. In other words, we all began not to take evil seriously, our own propensity towards evil and the propensity of others towards evil. This was compounded by an extreme loss of vigilance over ourselves and vis a vis others and by a refusal to take becoming holy seriously at all levels of the Church
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