The Truth About Modernism

For Catholics, the heresy of Modernism has tentacles that have insinuated themselves in the life and thinking of the Church for over 100 years.

Some things Modernists say:

The truths of the Bible are not immutable because the Bible is dependent on the culture in which it was written
The Bible is inerrant only in its spiritual meanings, like the Parables
The great world religions are like spokes in a wheel. The hub of the wheel at the center is like God so the closer the spokes are to the source does more similar they are and the further away they are from the source the more they seem to be different.
Jesus is A way to Salvation — you could say he’s the privilege route, but not THE Way — since even atheists can be saved without coming to a knowledge of the savior
The only reason women can’t be ordained to the priesthood is because of patriarchy
It’s more important to be guided by the Holy Spirit as opposed to having some institutional Church telling you how to live.
God’s existence can only be known through faith not through natural reason
Like species in creation, Catholic dogmas can and do evolve over time
Adam and Eve were not two literally human beings, but literary Myths, written by primitive authors to tell the story of the beginnings of the Human family

If so, then you have some familiarity with modernism.

Modernism with a capital m was a kind of loose movement that began in the late 19th century and early 20th century mainly in Europe among Catholic theologians some of whom were priests.

Some of the more famous modernist leaders were Fr. Alfred Loisy, Fr. George Tyrrell, SJ, Baron Friedrich von Hügel, and Maurice Blondel, to name a few.

All of the first generation modernists were professors and writers and their ideas began to gain Traction in seminaries and the formation of priests.

There was a kind of a trickle-down effect of modernism to out the world of religion textbooks, spiritual direction advice, and approaches to catechesis and evangelization.

Resources Mentioned

The Encyclical Quanta cura (“Condemning Current Errors”) by Pope Pius IX in 1864
1907 Holy Office document Lamentabili Sane
1907 Encyclical by St. Pope Pius X, Pascendi dominici gregis:

Modernism is an idea virus.

And our minds were made to grasp and live by the truth, not be subject to infection by a virus.

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