Martin Luther Left the Church. Today, Dissenters Stay
Catholic Cultures' Philip Lawler, (the editor of Catholic World News) has written a most insightful commentary about dissenters from the Church. He sums up the motives of so called "Progessive Catholics" who insist on spreading their errors within the Church. At least Martin Luther, Lawler notes, had the decency to leave:
"Whatever else you might think or say about Martin Luther, give him credit for this much: having broken with Catholic teaching, he broke away from the Catholic Church. Today’s dissenting Catholics rarely show the same consistency. Even after rejecting the fundamentals of Catholic doctrine, they continue to masquerade as Catholics. Do you ever wonder why?
Take the case of Donna Quinn, the object of a sympathetic profile last week in the Chicago Sun-Times. She describes the Catholic priesthood as a 'hoax.' She sees no difference between the Eucharist and a grandparent’s embrace of a grandchild. She is, however, absolutely firm in her belief in 'choice' when it comes to abortion—so much so that she once volunteered at an abortion clinic. Yet she still describes herself as a Catholic, and even more: a member of a women’s religious order. So the Sun-Times can justifiably (if not accurately) identify her as 'Donna Quinn, Catholic nun, feminist…'
By any logical measurement, Martin Luther was more closely aligned with the Catholic Church than Donna Quinn is today. But Luther left, and Quinn stayed. The Sun-Times offers a revealing explanation: “She ‘could have left’ the Church long ago but thinks her voice is stronger within.” [Read the entire article HERE.]
Saint John Paul II on Dissenting Catholics
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