I beseech you, brethren, that there be no schisms among you
St Paul is warning the Church at Corinth against the danger of divisions, or literally, of schisms. Of course not all ‘divisions’ in the Church are bad. The various religious orders, for example, like the many colours of Joseph’s robe, serve to increase the beauty of the Church. Likewise it’s only natural that Catholics should have different opinions about matters outside the realm of saving truth, such as who was this country’s greatest Prime Minister, or who (if anyone) to vote for at a general election…
But what cannot be is that Catholics should disagree about the way that leads to Heaven; that they should be divided over faith and morals. There can never be any need for such a schism as this, since Christ has promised to be with His Church always, maintaining her in the truth. For a Catholic to say ‘There are no easy answers’ about what to do or believe in order to reach Heaven is tantamount to saying that Christ is no longer teaching mankind through His Church. But, as Isaiah says, ‘the arm of the Lord is not made short.’ Christ’s promise has not failed.
How sad, then, that there should for so long have been such a schism in the Catholic Church. I mean the division between those who accept and those who do not accept that marriage is made for children and that contraception is simply wrong. It was in 1968 that Pope Paul VI published the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ. He repeated there what the Church has always said on this subject: that it is contrary to the God-given nature of the marriage act to render it sterile. From St Peter onwards, no Pope or saint has ever said anything else. Yet such was the revolutionary temper of the time that some priests and ‘theologians’ thought to challenge the Tradition. In effect they caused a schism, none the less real for being largely invisible. Thirty-seven years on we see the results: empty pews in our churches, and empty pages in our baptismal registers, since babies who are never born can never be baptized.
Silent Schism > http://torch.op.org/preaching/sermon/1007
fr. Thomas Crean is a member of the Priory of St Michael, Archangel in Cambridge.
