Culture Of Life 101… “What Are “Heresy,” “Apostasy,” And “Schism”?”

By BRIAN CLOWES

(Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book Call to Action or Call to Apostasy, consisting of a detailed description of the current forms of dissent and how to fight them, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.)

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“Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. . . . For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Tim. 3:12-13; 4:3-4).

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The terms “heresy,” “apostasy,” and “schism” may seem quaint and outdated to our “modern” Catholic brethren (and sistren). However, canon law precisely defines these theological terms, which have concrete and wide-reaching implications in today’s Church, especially regarding dissent.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2089) and the 1983 Code of Canon Law (n. 751) distinguish between heresy, apostasy and schism as follows.
“Heresy is the obstinate post baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same.”
In other words, if a person believes everything that the Church teaches except for a single moral or theological point that is infallible as taught by the formal or ordinary Magisterium, he or she is properly defined as a “heretic.”
Saints have fearlessly opposed hundreds of different heresies throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the best-known of these is Manichaeism, which held that good and evil are equally powerful, and that all material things are intrinsically evil. Another example is Arianism, whose followers believed that Jesus Christ was created by His almighty Father, that He had a beginning, and that the title “Son of God” was an honorary one.
Today’s heresies have proliferated and take more current forms, including support of abortion, contraception, women and married priests and homosexual “marriage.”
Fr. John Hardon, SJ, gives a more detailed explanation of what “heresy” consists of:
“In the Roman Catholic Church, heresy has a very specific meaning. Anyone who, after receiving Baptism, while remaining nominally a Christian, pertinaciously denies or doubts any of the truths that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith is considered a heretic.
“Accordingly, four elements must be verified to constitute formal heresy: previous valid Baptism, which need not have been in the Catholic Church; external profession of still being a Christian, otherwise a person becomes an apostate; outright denial or positive doubt regarding a truth that the Catholic Church has actually proposed as revealed by God; and the disbelief must be morally culpable, where a nominal Christian refuses to accept what he knows is a doctrinal imperative.”
Dissenters sometimes loudly insist that they are not “heretics.” They claim that the Catholic Church holds conscience to be the supreme arbiter of all decisions and, as long as a person acts “in accordance with his conscience,” he is acting in the very best of Catholic tradition.
The dissenter’s “conscience,” of course, is a very flexible entity and, as we shall see, excuses and rationalizes acts not only condemned by the Church, but by Jesus Christ Himself.
“Apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith.”
Organized dissenters usually go far beyond “mere” heresy to complete apostasy, since their version of “Catholicism” is not only un-Catholic, it does not even slightly resemble anything Christian.
As one example, former Catholics for a Free Choice Board of Directors member Marjorie Reiley Maguire describes the nonexistence of religious practice at her former organization:
“CFFC’s claim to the name ‘Catholic’ is very questionable. Even if most of its dues-paying members were baptized Catholics, that does not necessarily make them ‘Catholic’ today. Only an outdated, legalistic, zap theology, which CFFC adherents reject in every other respect, would call people Catholic simply because they were baptized….Additionally, I think that the label ‘Catholic’ is proper only for a person who participates in the sacramental life of the church. Thus, regular attendance at Mass (except for the elderly and invalids) seems to be the minimum sign of membership in the church.
“When I was involved with CFFC, I was never aware that any of its leaders attended Mass. Furthermore, various conversations and experiences convinced me they did not. I myself did not. Today I see this failure as proof that I was not actually a Catholic for a Free Choice.”
“Schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
Schism is usually defined as the division of a church into two or more denominations due to doctrinal differences. The term can also be applied to an individual who, though originally Catholic, rejects the authority of the Pope or the Magisterium of the Church.
Organized dissenters in particular may rightly be termed “schismatics,” since they obstinately refuse to submit to the authority of the Roman Pontiff or the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and instead hold as the supreme authority “conscience” and “personal experience.”
What is Infallibility? There is much confusion today among Catholics regarding which Church teachings are infallible and which are not. In fact, most people do not have a clear grasp of what infallibility actually is.
To begin with, the infallibility of the Catholic Church, which has been acknowledged since her founding and confirmed during the First Vatican Council, is limited to matters regarding faith and morals.
There are two primary methods by which the Catholic Church may declare a teaching infallible through Her Magisterium, or teaching authority: By extraordinary and ordinary means.
The first method is exercised by the assembled bishops at ecumenical councils (such as Vatican II) or ex cathedra [from the chair of Peter] by the Pope. Papal pronouncements are very rare — the last two theological principles defined ex cathedra were the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854 and her Assumption in 1950.
The second means by which Catholics may know that a Church teaching is infallible is through the ordinary Magisterium. This is the day-to-day expression of the Church’s teaching authority, and does not require a solemn declaration by the Pope or by the assembled bishops of the world.
The Canon of St. Vincent of Lorenz declares that any doctrine that has been taught semper ubique ab omnibus — always, everywhere, and by everyone — makes it part of the ordinary and universal magisterial teaching.
Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium describes how the Canon of St. Vincent applies to the bishops:
“Although the bishops, taken individually, do not enjoy the privilege of infallibility, they do, however, proclaim infallibly the doctrine of Christ on the following conditions: Namely, when, even though dispersed throughout the world but preserving for all that amongst themselves and with Peter’s successor the bond of communion, in their authoritative teaching concerning matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement that a particular teaching is to be held definitively and absolutely.
“This is still more clearly the case when, assembled in an ecumenical council, they are, for the universal Church, teachers of and judges in matters of faith and morals, whose decisions must be adhered to with the loyal and obedient assent of faith” (n. 25).
Every Catholic must assent by faith to an infallibly proclaimed doctrine. As we have seen, those who persist in “obstinate post baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith” are formally defined as heretics.
Lumen Gentium also addressed the degree of assent that Catholics must give to the teachings of the Pope:
“. . . Loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given, in a special way, to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra in such wise, indeed, that his supreme teaching authority be acknowledged with respect, and sincere assent be given to decisions made by him” (n. 25).
We must make clear that the doctrine of infallibility is limited to the Church’s primary area of expertise, which is faith and morals. When the Pope addresses other areas, such as the scientific topics of evolution or global warming, we must listen respectfully but are not required to assent.