Garbage Book Used in Many RCIA Classes

Many RCIA Classes (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) and Catechism classes are using the book "Christ Among Us" by Anthony Wilhelm

Let me state, that is book is garbage and just blatant heresy!

If they claim to be quoting Vatican II to promote their particular heresies, they are exposed for the liars that they are, being agents for the “father-of-lies”.

Reference Chapter 2: GOD'S PLAN FOR US BEGINS WITH CREATION.

"Today theology is examining in more depth the place of angels and devils - particularly the latter - in our world. They are part of the biblical milieu and its story of God's revelation. As elsewhere in the story, MYTHOLOGY plays a part here, especially regarding angelic forms, numbers, varieties, etc."

Sed Contra - See Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) I. Angels The existence of angels - a truth of faith, para. 328. See CCC II. The Fall of the Angels, para. 391.

Reference Chapter 7 CHRIST REVEALS TO US THE FATHER, THE SPIRIT, AND HIMSELF.

"For the first thirty years of his life he led the uneventful life of a small town carpenter. He gradually became more aware of his mission in life..."

Sed Contra - If the above is true, than how is it that He knew His mission as early as 12 when He told Mary and Joseph in the temple, "do you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"

Reference Chapter 8: CHRIST SAVES US BY HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

"Christ's death on the Cross shows strikingly the 'powerlessness of God' in this world."

Sed Contra - This entire section is heresy. The whole gist of this section is that God is calling us to perfection in THIS world as opposed to salvation in the next. To say that God is weak and powerless in this world is to ignore the lessons of Sacred Scripture. To say that is the only way in which God can be with us and help us is to ignore the blood of the martyrs and the apparitions of Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe et. al.

Reference Chapter 10 THOSE WHO SERVE AS OUR GUIDES

"Jesus' insights into the whole meaning of life itself, despite his clear provision for unity and peace among his followers, have resulted in all sorts of interpretations of what he meant, how best to apply his teachings today, etc. This is our fallible human way, even with the greatest of ideas."

Sed Contra - The implication here is that a democratic consensus ala "common ground" is necessary in the Church on all matters of faith and morals when nothing could be further from the truth. The Church is not a democracy. We don't have to worry about the "fallible" human way as we have the teaching deposit of the Faith, the infallible teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to be our guide to salvation. Authentic Common Ground exists. It's called the CCC and the Magisterium.

"There may be extraordinary situations in which a Catholic, after sincere attempts and discussion with theological teachers, cannot make his own some authoritative, non-infallible teaching, (e.g., birth control), [please note that many theologians are realizing that this teaching in Humanae Vitae meets all of the qualifications of an infallible teaching of the Church]...he should then responsibly work toward a revision of the Church's position. There CAN be a responsible "INFORMED DISSENT".

Sed Contra - There is no such thing as the loyal opposition in the shape of "INFORMED DISSENT". The Magisterium in making pronouncements on matters of faith and morals speaks with the authority of God to His Church infallibly. Nowhere in the Bible or in the tradition of the Church was a promise made to the faithful that being a Christian seeking salvation would be easy. The converse is true as we're told in the Bible that "the road is narrow."

Reference Chapter 15 THE EUCHARIST IS CHRIST'S CHURCH TODAY.

"There is no obligation for children to confess unless they are in serious sin."

Sed Contra - This is a serious distortion of the Sacrament of Penance and totally ignores the pain of Purgatory which is similar to Hell but with the eventual promise of seeing God as opposed to never seeing Him. This ignores the occasions of venial sin which can invariable lead to more serious sin of a mortal nature depriving the soul of its whole purpose of creation, an eternity with its Creator. To advocate such a position for first communicants sets a precedence not taught by the Magisterium interpreting Tradition and Sacred Scripture.

Reference Chapter 17 OUR CHRISTIAN PRESENCE IN THE WORLD.

"Regarding the bringing about of human life outside of the womb, i.e., the producing of 'test-tube babies' by 'in vitro' fertilization, Catholic moral thinkers - along with many other moralists - seem divided."

Sed Contra - See CCC. para. 2373-2379 on the Gift of a Child. These techniques are expressly forbidden by the Catholic Church.

"A growing movement in the Church for social justice is based on liberation theology."

Sed Contra - Pope John Paul II and the Church condemn this movement as being centered on salvation in this life as opposed to the next. The Catholic involvement in Marxists movements as advocated by the Jesuits not in Communion with the Pope and his Bishops has been a proven disaster in all areas of the world where tried. This is a documented fact. (See The Jesuits, The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church - Martin, Simon & Schuster, 1987.)

Reference Chapter 18 SIN AND WHAT IT CAN DO TO US.

"Christ speaks of Hell in the PRIMITIVE IMAGERY of his time."

Sed Contra - We're not talking about imagery here, but rather we're talking about a place where Jesus repeatedly describes in the most concrete of terms as to the eternal sufferings of the damned. Many visionaries have been given similar revelations of Hell, e.g., the children of Fatima (Lucia is still living).

"Many scholars feel that NO ONE is damned."

Sed Contra - Read Sacred Scripture, in particular the Gospel of Matthew to find the requirements for damnation which are being easily met nowadays by many, especially those who are misleading our "little ones" via false teachings such as in Christ Among Us.

Reference Chapter 21 CHRIST JOINS A MAN AND WOMAN IN MARRIAGE.

"One thing is certain: A truly authentic act of sexual intercourse will be expressive of a love that is totally self-giving, a final, permanent, and exclusive commitment."

Sed Contra - The implication throughout this section is that the above authenticity is perfectly acceptable outside of the confines of marriage which is counter to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"The sin in a homosexual relationship, as with all sexuality, comes when it is a stunting process, a lustful or mutually narcissistic escape from the responsibility of human growth."

Sed Contra - This equates homosexuality with heterosexuality giving the impression that nonstunting homosexual lifestyles are acceptable which is a LIE!!! The homosexual lifestyle is a perversion of the Natural Law recognized by the CCC (see para. 2357-2359) and is never, I repeat, never excused for any reasons whatsoever by the Roman Catholic Church. Same answer applies to masturbation in the CCC (see para. 2352) which answers a similar distortion in Wilhelm.

The whole premise in Wilhelm that couples can ignore the teaching of the Church and form a "thoughtful dissent" is in error, never more so than in the section on Birth Control. In short, Humanae Vitae was right. The proof is in the results of the contraceptive mentality of our times which has led to the highest rates of pre-marital sex, teen births, VD, AIDS, Divorce, Abortion, acceptance of pornography with all of its deviant derivatives such as the National Man/Boy Love Association where pedophilia is looked upon as a liberating virtue for our young, acceptance of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle by getting people to buy into the lie of perversity masking as diversity (a common prayer at Mass nowadays after the creed is for the understanding of diversity, a code word for something not understandable given its common association with sexual deviancy), and the highest suicide rate for the young per capita in the western world. Christ Among Us does not speak for Roman Catholicism on these matters but rather the cafeteria Catholicism of the liberals who are rapidly approaching schism with Rome in that they are "C"atholic in name only and part of an American Church where the absence of tabernacles, kneelers, altars, and the protestantizing of the liturgy where the “sense of the sacred” that was inherent with the Tridentine Mass is replaced with a “sense of the profane” as a function of multiple options of an “evolving liturgy” for an “adlibbing presider entertainer”, are a direct reflection of forfeiting of the title "Catholic" in the sense of the Church founded by Christ Jesus.

Reference Chapter 22 THE FAMILY THAT IS THE CHURCH

"The Basic reason for celibacy is that the priest might better be a living sign or witness to the reality of Christ among us. The Christian who renounces marriage and children for the kingdom's sake seeks no abstract or concrete reason for his decision. His choice is pure risk in faith."

Sed Contra - The basic reason as given in the epistles of Paul is that man as priest cannot have two masters. The Catholic Church in the former U.S.S.R. survived expressly because its priests were celibate and not subject to the threat to families from the oppressive communist regimes. Such was not the case for some orthodox sects who saw their religion die because of family threats. As one who is attempting to learn more about his faith through the study of theology I can testify to the fact that I cannot devote full time to this worthwhile task because I have to fulfill the responsibilities of my marriage vocation. To undertake postgraduate work in theology totally divorced from my family and work is impossible. Priests, to do the will of God above all, cannot, indeed, must not have such restrictions.

"growing movement for the ordination of women is being encouraged by polls showing favor for same."

Sed Contra - The Catholic Church does not teach as a function of knee jerk reaction to polls. The Church is not a democracy. The Magisterium speaks for God, not Gallup or Harris. The Church could not change her teaching because she does not have the authority to do so as stated in John Paul II's encyclical Ordinatio Sacerdatolis, Cardinal Ratzinger's subsequent Responsum Ad Dubiam, and the Conciliar documents from Vatican II, Inter Insigniores.

Reference Chapter 24 CHRIST'S CHURCH IN THE WORLD TODAY

"Many of the institutional elements of the church particularly scandalize people, and must be unrelentingly reformed."

Sed Contra - The tone of this section of Christ Among Us is to reign in Rome from silencing the dissenters who are primarily responsible for the emptying of our churches via a bastardization of the liturgy and the encouragement of dissent in any and all matters of faith and morals - kind of like the tail wagging the dog. The Church is NOT in need of continual reformation and renewal as the liberal "periti" would have us believe but rather a return to the letter of Vatican II which has been taken to excesses never dreamed of by the Conciliar Fathers. Clarification of Vatican II is needed to remove the planned ambiguity of the dissidents who are using it to turn Catholicism into Protestantism in the name of a false ecumenism. For example, nowhere in Vatican II is the Tridentine Mass banned, or Latin prohibited from use in the Divine Liturgy.

A reference is made in CHRIST AMONG US to the great Teilhard de Chardin who also "suffered much from the same narrowness and short-sightedness of his critics."

Sed Contra - Teilhard de Chardin lost his Catholic faith. (See The Jesuits, The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church - Martin, and de Chardin, Rahner, Tyrrell in the EWTN library.) Teilhard declared "we have the absolute right to try everything to the end - even in the matter of human biology (sexuality, euthanasia, conception in vitro, homosexuality)." He developed his own lexicon for a theory of ultra-humanism which imposed the abandonment or complete transformation of all the basic doctrines of Roman Catholicism - Creation, Original Sin, the divinity of Jesus, redemption by Jesus' death on the cross of Calvary, the Church, the forgiveness of sins, the Sacrifice of the Mass, priesthood, papal infallibility, Hell, Heaven, supernatural grace - even the existence and the freedom and truth which is God.

Five years after his death, even the Conciliar Pope John XXIII saw the evil lies of his teachings by issuing a document warning both Jesuits and Catholics in general that Teilhard's ideas were extremely dangerous for the Catholic Faith. [For a complete expose, see Chapter 14 of Martin's book and the EWTN library.]

"In many, many places the reforms of Vatican II are slowly and quietly going forward; aging obstructionists are gradually disappearing from the scene."

Sed Contra - The "reforms" talked about here are NOT, I repeat, NOT the reforms of Vatican II but rather the reforms of the heretical theologians led by Richard McBrien, Richard McCormick, Charles Curran, Hans Kung, Schillebeeckx, et. al. who have their own agenda which is the democratization of the Church which is as nonCatholic as they come. Get a copy of the conciliar documents for proof. As for "aging obstructionists", the renewal in the Church is youth orientated thanks to orthodox Roman Catholic presses such as Ignatius, TAN, orthodox Roman Catholic Universities such as Thomas Aquinas, Christendom, Franciscan U. of Steubenville, International Catholic University, orthodox Roman Catholic organizations such as Catholics United for the Faith, Human Life International, various Marian apostolates, orthodox Roman Catholic publications such as Catholic World Report, The Wanderer, The Homilitic and Pastoral Review, The Rock, Crisis, Catholic Dossier, The Latin Mass, Catholic Family News, The Remnant. The unswerving witness to the Gospel of Pope John Paul II's Roman Catholic Church through her consistency in her 2000 year old tradition appeals to the young above all others since they can see through the sham of the liberal excesses of a secularists society worshiping hedonism as their only god and, as a result, demand a greater truth which can be found only in God.

Reference Chapter 25 LIVING DAILY THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

"As one progresses in the Christian life, there is less and less need to consult the 'rules'".

Sed Contra - This statement is so obviously RIDICULOUS it doesn't deserve comment. The Decalogue remains invariant. Christ came to fulfill the old law not to abolish it. In fact, His new law not only encompassed all aspects of the old in terms of moral teachings but carried them to more severe extremes in terms of sinning through thought not just by action. (Reference the NT on adultery.) We ignore the rules to our eternal regret. Does Christian maturity exclude us from the occasions of sin as this chapter would invite us to consider?

Reference Chapter 26 FULFILLMENT FOREVER.

"The writings of the scientist-mystic, Teilhard de Chardin, probably still best convey the insight adopted by Vatican Council II, that to do the work of the world is to contribute to the fulfillment and completion of Christ's redemption of the universe. The world of matter with which people work is 'the divine milieu' charged with creative power'".

Sed Contra - See previous comments about de Chardin whose efforts when taken in total in regards to Roman Catholicism merited excommunication as opposed to praise. Followers of Teilhard today could easily believe that putting crystals on your forehead in the shape of a pyramid will give you the "meaning of life."

In conclusion, one could write a book about the defective doctrinal errors in Wilhelm's Christ Among Us. Suffice to say that the previous citations represent only a cursory examination of this text. Roman Catholicism, it's not! But I'll give the author this much. It's something among us, about as far removed from Christ as you can get.