Theme: Doctrinal Certitude Amid Growing Confusion

Title: Amid the Confusion; Grounds for Hope

By Mr. Gary Potter

Amidst the confusion of the post -Vatican II crisis, there is Catholic hope for Church restoration. Traditional Catholicism is growing today everywhere while the liberalism infecting the Church is on the decline, at least among the aspirants to religious life. The Novus Ordo mentality is slowly disappearing. Its facilitators are not reproducing themselves. They have contracepted themselves into oblivion while a new generation of serious Catholic couples are making the sacrifices that come with the joy of having many children. Traditional Catholic families are growing and expanding, and there is no shortage of vocations in the more traditional religious orders. However, even though the Tridentine Mass is being said in hundreds of chapels around the world, it is important to remember that dogma is more important than liturgy. The most important of all Catholic dogmas is the dogma of salvation, Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (No salvation outside the Church). Why? Because there is nothing more important than saving one's soul. Modern people have for too long been ignorant of this suppressed dogma, but gradually it is resurfacing and coming into the light. This is one more sign of Catholic rebirth and a very good reason for hope.

(From 1997 SBC Conference)