John H Garvey And A Corroding And Ambiguous Pluralism

Responding to my posts on John H. Garvey, Nancy Danielson reminded me that we live in a pluralistic society. Indeed. However, as Ralph Martin said in his wonderful book entitled "A Crisis of Truth: The Attack on Faith, Morality, and Mission in the Catholic Church, ...pluralism in the Church can be a very good thing. The life of the Church is enriched by a certain kind of diversity in cultural expression, pastoral approach, and even theological and philosophical expression of the faith. Yet pluralism is legitimate only if it involves diverse expressions of the one faith as definitively interpreted by the teaching authority of the Church over the centuries..

Today, calls for 'pluralism' are often pleas to abandon the one faith. Many of those who work for the 'pluralistic' Church of the future, in contrast to the 'monolithic' Church of the past, are actually working for the destruction of the Church and any meaningful measure of unity of faith. Pope Paul VI called this kind of indiscriminate pluralism, the kind that lacks any clear criteria, as 'CORRODING AND AMBIGUOUS.' It is indeed at work in the Church today.." (p. 176).

It was Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand who said, "FALSE IRENICISM IS MOTIVATED BY A MISCONCEIVED CHARITY AT THE SERVICE OF A MEANINGLESS UNITY. IT PLACES UNITY ABOVE TRUTH. HAVING SEVERED THE ESSENTIAL LINK BETWEEN CHARITY AND DEFENSE OF THE TRUTH, IRENICISM IS MORE CONCERNED WITH REACHING A UNITY WITH ALL MEN THAN WITH LEADING THEM TO CHRIST AND HIS ETERNAL TRUTH. It ignores the fact that real unity can be reached only in truth. Our Lord's prayer 'that they may be one' implies being one in Him and must not be separated from His words in John: 'And other sheep I have that are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.'"

The Church must always be a scandal to the world. The cross is folly to those who are perishing. Progressives who have lost their faith have decided not to leave the Mystical Body of Christ but instead to "reform" it. Such people are so enamored with the spirit of the world that they have succumbed to false norms. Related reading here and here.