Comfort and Conviction Don’t Live on the Same Block!

Using the example Jesus gave us, I believe that the best way to share the faith is through parables, anecdotes, and stories. I realize this will date me, but as the late Jimmy Durante used to say, “I got a million of ‘em!” But you need to be careful about judging the content of my articles by just reading the stories I begin with, because I often make one point with a story only to leap to make another point. That’s what I’m doing here. So here’s this article’s story.

Little Ann and her father were non-Catholics visiting New York City. From the time she was old enough to walk, Ann was fascinated with churches, particularly old churches. So Ann’s father was showing her churches in the city. Their first stop was an old Episcopalian church. They admired the organ, stained glass windows, and the intricate carvings on the old oak pulpit.

Their next stop was a Catholic church. The first thing Ann noticed was the red sanctuary lamp. She asked her father, “Daddy, what’s that little red light for?” Her father explained that it was a sign that Jesus was present in that church. “But where is Jesus?” she asked. “He’s behind that golden door you see there on the altar,” he said.

“No wonder it feels so holy in this church. But does he ever come out from that little golden door?” He father replied, “Yes, the priest takes Him out every morning when the people come to Mass and receive Him in Holy Communion.” “Can I receive Jesus, Daddy?” Ann asked longingly. “Oh, no!” her father quickly responded. “We’re not Catholics. Let’s go to the next church; we’ve seen enough of this one.”

When they went into another non-Catholic church, the first thing Ann asked was, “Daddy, where’s the little red light?” She was disappointed as she begged, “Daddy, let’s go back to the church where Jesus lives.”

These last words of Ann’s kept ringing in her father’s ears until he finally made up his mind to become a Catholic. He wanted to be where Jesus truly is present under the appearances of bread and wine in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The entire family was baptized together.

Growing up as a Baptist, I was taught that any church is a house of God. That’s true in the sense that God is omnipresent, but He only resides in Catholic churches throughout the world. Unfortunately, 70% of Catholics in America don’t believe that anymore. The reason for their lack of supernatural faith is because agents of darkness who infiltrated the Church long ago began doing all they could to steal that faith from the laity by making it seem that the consecrated Host was nothing more than ordinary bread. They did this by deceptively gaining Vatican permission to receive Communion in the hand, establishing extra ordinary lay ministers of the Eucharist, allowing girl altar servers, and making the ordinary practice of receiving Communion while standing instead of kneeling. Yes, the agents of darkness won a great victory for Ol’ Scratch. 

It’s no wonder that 70% of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence. But the theft of supernatural faith wasn’t the agents of darkness’ sole goal. They knew what would happen behind their theft of faith.

The theft of supernatural faith, coupled with a takeover of the priesthood and episcopate by the Lavender Mafia, was a deep stab wound into the jugular of the Body of Christ, the Church. There’s a great hemorrhage of laity from the Church. It was bad enough when that hemorrhage simply led to Protestant churches, but it got worse. Much worse. For the first time in American history, the three largest religious preferences are Catholics (in shrinking numbers), Protestant churches (also in shrinking numbers), and the “nones” (in vastly growing numbers). When people answer research surveys on religious preferences, these are the people who choose “none”, thus making Christianity in America under 50% for the first time.

The agents of darkness are dismantling the Catholic Church in America single-handedly. Their primary goal isn’t the destruction of the Church, though. Their primary goal is to help as many souls as possible go to hell for all eternity. That’s why they’re called agents of darkness.

Depending who you speak to, Vatican II was either the council that freed us from religious slavery, or a council that set into motion the destruction of the Catholic Church. In reality, it was neither. I can count on one hand all of the people I’ve met in the last thirty-plus years—laity or priests—who’ve actually read all of the Vatican II documents. Everyone else just regurgitate what others tell them are in the documents.

Vatican II, particularly the dogmatic documents, is full of beauty and Tradition. Almost as if they could see what is happening today, the council Fathers wrote in Lumen Gentium, 14, “Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: The one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism [Mark 16:16], and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” (Emphasis mine.)

For years I’ve listened to the Spirit of Vatican II crowd blather on about how the Catholic Church no longer believes that there’s no salvation outside the Church. Lumen Gentium, 14, proves that they’re wrong, and that they’ve never actually read to documents. But in light of Lumen Gentium, 14, and the hemorrhage of souls from the Catholic Church today, we all have a new moral obligation.

Every one of those reading this article knows Catholics that have lapsed from the one true faith—whether it be family members, friends, or mere acquaintances. Now we all have a moral obligation (an obligation we’ll be judged on) to do everything we can to bring those lost souls back into the full embrace of the Catholic Church to save their souls. Our failure to do everything we can to bring them back my very well cost us our own souls. Think about it. But don’t think too long. Remember: Comfort and Conviction don’t live on the same block!