Another Side of Catholicism

Mary Ann Collins, A Former Catholic Nun

Chapter 17

The Catholic Church claims that it has the right to control how Catholics think. Some of its doctrines and practices actually result in a form of mind control.

In discussing this issue, I will pull together some information from other chapters and give it a somewhat different perspective. I also have some additional information.

According to “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” a person’s religious beliefs should not be determined by his or her “free private judgment.” Rather, they should be determined by the Catholic Church.[1] (“The Catholic Encyclopedia” is online.)

The same attitude is shown in the teachings of Saint Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits in 1540. He wrote “Spiritual Exercises,” which are rules for the Jesuits. They include rules about how to think. The first rule about thinking says that Jesuits should set their private judgment aside. The thirteenth rule says that it is a virtue to see things the way that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church sees them, even if they are not true. It gives the example of seeing something that is obviously white, but believing that it is really black if the Catholic hierarchy says that it is black. (You can read these rules online.)[2]

According to Canon Law (the official laws governing the Roman Catholic Church), Catholics are required to submit their minds and wills to any declaration concerning faith or morals that is made by the Pope, or by a Catholic Church council. They are also required to avoid anything that disagrees with such declarations. Furthermore, they can be coerced if they don’t comply. (You can read these laws online. If you want to buy the book, the Notes give information.)[3]

The Catholic Church teaches that only the Magisterium of the Church (the Pope and the bishops in communion with him) has the right to interpret Scripture. People like us are not allowed to interpret Scripture for ourselves. We are supposed to check it out with Church authorities. (This is online.)[4]

Catholicism teaches that Catholics are supposed to “receive with docility” any directives given to them by Catholic Church authorities. (This is online.)[5]

This sounds like young children, who accept without question whatever their parents tell them. In contrast, the Bible commends the people of Berea, because they “searched the Scriptures daily” in order to “see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:10-11) God wants His people to check things out for themselves, using Scripture as their yardstick.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Pope said that if people “dare” to even think anything contrary to this dogma, then that disagreement will shipwreck their faith, cut them off from the Catholic Church, and make them become “condemned.” He said that people who outwardly express disagreement could be punished for it.[6] (Encyclicals are online.)

The Pope’s reference to legal penalties is significant, because a man had been executed for heresy 28 years before this encyclical was issued.[7]

The Catholic Church has never renounced its past practice of killing people who disagree with Catholic doctrine. On the contrary, the Office of the Inquisition still exists. It is part of the Vatican Curia. In 1965, its name was changed to The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is headed by Cardinal Ratzinger.[8]

Some people have paid a high price for disagreeing with the Catholic Church, or acting contrary to the wishes of the Pope. (See the chapter, “Hunting ‘Heretics.’”)

Mind Control and Politics

Mind control is not limited to Catholic doctrine. Popes and other high-ranking Catholic clergymen have also applied it to politics. Following are two examples. One is from the Middle Ages. The other is quite recent.

Pope Innocent III reigned from 1198 to 1216. In 1215, the “Magna Carta” was signed. This was the beginning of democracy in England. It established the principle that the King is not above the law. The “Magna Carta” is one of the documents that influenced the men who wrote the Constitution of the United States. Innocent said that the “Magna Carta” was immoral. He declared it to be null and void. In addition, he excommunicated everyone who supported it. (You can read about this online.)[9]

In 1962, the island of Malta had an election. The Catholic Church strongly opposed a candidate named Mintoff. It was declared to be a mortal sin to vote for Mintoff. Maltese Catholics who voted for him were placed under interdict. Because they were placed under interdict, they could not go to confession and have their “mortal sin” of voting for Mintoff be absolved by a Catholic priest. They were also denied a Christian burial. (This is online.)[10]

The combination of mind control and spiritual coercion can cause kings to do immoral things, and to require their subjects to do them. For example, Pope Clement V (1305-1314) wanted the King of England (Edward II) to have some men be tortured. The King protested. He said that torture was illegal in England. The Pope said that Church law took priority over the laws of England. In other words, he said that the English law forbidding torture was wrong, because it conflicted with the laws of the Catholic Church. The Pope ordered the King to have the men be tortured, and he threatened to excommunicate him if he refused. The King complied. He made his subjects torture people, in spite of the fact that he believed that torture was wrong. The laws of England were changed in order to allow the torture. (Information is online.)[11]

Required Reverence

According to Canon Law, priests are required to have “reverence” for the Pope. “Webster’s Dictionary” defines “reverence” as “profound respect mingled with love and awe.”[12]

Moral Confusion

Mind control can result in moral confusion. Catholics are taught to accept, without question, everything that Catholic authority figures teach them about faith and morals. The result is that you put your conscience in the hands of other people. This can cause moral confusion.

The Catholic Church has done various things to make the Bible less accessible to people, and to make it more difficult for people to trust Scripture. (See the chapter, “Undermining the Bible.”) Once people lose confidence in the Bible, then they become far more susceptible to mind control and moral confusion. Once Scripture is no longer perceived as being a reliable guide for moral living, then Catholics are dependent on Catholic authority figures to tell them what is right and wrong.

An example of this is Pope Innocent III, who ruled from 1198 to 1216. He said that Catholic clergymen have to obey the Pope, no matter what he tells them to do. He denied their right (and responsibility) to make moral judgments and follow their conscience. He said that, even if the Pope commands them to do something evil, they have to obey him, because nobody can judge the Pope. (This is online.)[13]

The Bible warns us that we need to guard ourselves against deception. It says:

“Take heed that no man deceive you.” (Matthew 24:4)

“Beware lest any man spoil [ruin] you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

We all need to protect ourselves from deception. If we don’t stand on the Bible, then we can fall for anything. I will give some examples from the lives of Catholics I know personally.

A Mother

A friend of mine was a devout Catholic. She had a confessor, a priest she went to regularly to confess her sins and to receive moral and spiritual guidance. She had been through a painful divorce, and relied heavily on the priest for guidance.

One day, she found out that her daughter had been sexually molested by a monk. She asked her confessor what to do about it. He advised her to tell the monk’s superior, and to let the monastery handle the matter.

My friend never reported the crime to the police, and I doubt if she got any counseling for her daughter. She kept the matter quiet, in order to protect the reputation of the monastery.

There is an appropriate place for expressing anger. That girl needed to see her mother get angry at the man who had molested her. Instead, her mother was quiet about it. When she told me about the incident, she quietly spoke in psychological terms about the emotional problems of the man who had violated her daughter. Not once did she express outrage at what had happened.

A Priest

For several years, I was involved in helping some needy people. One of the people I worked with was a Catholic priest. He had been raised to be a conservative Catholic. At first, he was circumspect in his approach towards women. But one day, his confessor gave him a book. Unfortunately, he had more confidence in his confessor than he did in the Bible, so he never questioned the validity of the book.

The title of the book was, “The Sexual Celibate.” It was written by a Catholic priest. (Information about this book is online.)[14]

According to the book, celibates need to express themselves sexually, in order to be emotionally healthy. The book said that sexual expression is morally right, and not contrary to their vow of celibacy, as long as they don’t actually have intercourse.

One of our projects was helping some Vietnamese refugees. They were Buddhists. One of them was a lovely young lady. She converted to Catholicism. After he baptized her, the priest continued to give her religious instruction. Among other things, he taught her the theology of “The Sexual Celibate.”

The young lady trusted the priest. He was her source of moral authority, her guide for understanding right and wrong. She believed what he told her about celibacy. They became romantically involved.

The priest did not have intercourse with her, but he was passionate with her. She was deeply in love with him. Her family found out about it, and scolded her. The young lady confided in me. She was confused, ashamed, and heartbroken.

Some Religious Communities

I know a religious community whose leader became heavily influenced by Jungian psychology. Monks and nuns depend on their religious superiors for spiritual direction, instead of using the Bible as their primary source of guidance. As a result, every member of that religious community was led into deception. When I visited the community, I heard more about Carl Jung than I did about Jesus Christ. The reference point for their thinking was Jung’s writings, rather than the Bible, or even Catholic writings.

I have heard of other religious communities whose superiors were influenced by New Age practices and philosophies. Again, all of the members of the religious community followed their leader into deception.

People can be “sincerely deceived.” They can sincerely believe a deception that they have been taught by trusted authority figures. They may teach that deception to other people, and think that they are doing a good thing when they do it. That was the case with these religious communities.

A Foundational Problem

We should never put our conscience in someone else’s hands. This is a foundational problem with Catholicism. For obedient Catholics, their primary source of moral guidance is the Catholic hierarchy, rather than the Bible.

No person is good enough, or holy enough, or wise enough, to give our conscience to. We have to discern things for ourselves. We have to get to know the Bible, so that we can have God’s perspective about things.

The Bible says that we cannot afford to be like children, whose beliefs are at the mercy of other people. (Ephesians 4:14) We need to grow up and take responsibility for our own beliefs, and for having our consciences be based on Biblical principles. We need to be like the Bereans, and test everything against the Bible.

An old hymn says: “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

The traditions of the Catholic Church are sinking sand. We need to take our stand on Jesus Christ and the Bible.