But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong.
~ Saint Paul [1 Corinthians 1:27]
Mission & Objective
Inthesamesense.org exists to offer a dispassionate examination of the theological, ecclesiastical, moral and other factors that gave rise to, sustains and deepens the disorder that afflicts the Catholic world.
In order to do so, Inthesamesense.org will provide an accurate and orderly presentation of the dogmas and doctrines within the perennial teaching of the Catholic Religion (that is, Catholic doctrine as it was universally taught and believed prior to the death of Pope Pius XII) that are relevant to a proper understanding of the disorder that now prevails in the Catholic world.
The objective of Inthesamesense.org is to assist would-be faithful Catholics to make an informed and intelligent comparison of the doctrine taught by the Catholic Church until and through the papacy of Pope Pius XII and the doctrine assumed and proposed by Pope John XXIII, the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Paul VI and his successors; this effort will enable the plain man to see and understand what contribution, if any, the differences between these two sets of doctrine have made to the present disorder within the Catholic world.
Since knowing, believing and living the doctrine of Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, Inthesamesense.org's goal is to assist the plain man in his effort to identify and embrace that doctrine and find a safe way forward through the current disorder so that he might save his soul.
Why Is Our Mission Important?
"Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned."
~ Jesus [Mark 16:15-16]
Our mission is important because every man’s eternal destiny, objectively speaking, hinges upon him properly understanding, believing and living the true Catholic Religion.
“We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.”
~ Pope Pius X, Acerbo Nimis, 2
Our Rule Of Thumb
IntheSameSense.org takes its cue from the exhortation given by Pope Benedict XV to the Archbishop of Tours in 1917:
“In the midst of the present upheavals, it is important to repeat to men that by her Divine institution the Catholic Church is the only ark of salvation for the human race… Accordingly, it is more seasonable than ever to teach…that the truth which liberates, not only individuals, but societies, is supernatural truth in all its fullness and in all its purity, without attenuation, diminution or compromise: in a word, exactly as Our Lord Jesus Christ delivered it to the world.”
We have adopted as our “rule of thumb” the solemn profession regarding the indefectibility of the perennial doctrine of the Catholic Religion which Pope Saint Pius X required of every candidate to Sacred Orders:
“I accept with sincere belief the doctrine of the faith as handed down to us from the Apostles by the orthodox Fathers, always in the same sense and with the same interpretation. And I reject absolutely the heretical doctrine of the evolution of dogma, as passing from one meaning to another and different from the sense in which the Church originally held it.” [The Oath Against Modernism]
For fifty years this profession served as a trustworthy rule of thumb for Catholic priests and, in its substance, this affirmation captures the manner in which Catholics have always judged the truthfulness of the doctrines that were bandied about them.
This then, is our rule of thumb:
That we will sincerely believe the doctrine of the faith as handed down to us from the Apostles by the orthodox Fathers, always in the same sense and with the same interpretation in which it was originally given.
Why have we adopted this "rule of thumb"? We have adopted this simple "rule of thumb" because Catholic doctrine cannot change; because God, the Most Holy Trinity cannot change!
An Apostolic Confidence
"I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel. Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema."
~ Saint Paul [Galatians 1:6-8]
These two commands of Christ, the one to teach and the other to believe, cannot even be understood, unless the Church proposes a complete and easily understood teaching, and is immune when she thus teaches from all danger of erring.
~ Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, 8
Inthesamesense.org proceeds upon the following cluster of Apostolic assumptions:
First: The doctrine of Jesus Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Apostles, and the doctrine of the Catholic Religion are one and the same thing.
Second: The Catholic Religion is and has always been a recognizable and knowable body of doctrines, rituals, moral commands and precepts.
Third: God has equipped the plain man with intelligence sufficient to the purposes of recognizing, knowing, understanding and accepting the doctrines, rituals, moral commands and precepts of the Catholic Religion.
Fourth: The plain man is able to recognize when two statements oppose or contradict each other; and, accepts the principle that two contradictory statements cannot both be true.
Fifth: The plain man, after having been properly taught the perennial doctrine of the Catholic Religion, is capable of recognizing when other doctrines contradict that perennial Catholic doctrine.
Sixth: The plain man who has been properly taught the perennial doctrine of the Catholic Religion is obligated to recognize contradictory doctrines, and to reject and denounce them.
Seventh: The plain man who has become aware that he does not know or insufficiently understands the perennial doctrine of the Catholic Religion is under a serious obligation to diligently seek to be instructed in the Catholic Religion.
Eighth: The plain man should expect that personal beings with apparently angelic powers, and men apparently possessed of Apostolic credentials will sometimes propose doctrines, devise rituals, give moral instruction and seek to bind Catholics to precepts that are opposed to the Catholic Religion.
Ninth: The eternal destiny of every man hinges upon his acceptance or rejection of the Catholic Religion.
Our Attitude
"If you want relief from your tensions, you must recognise that you can be wrong. Insisting that you are right is a childish trait that can keep you tense all your life. ‘I could be wrong’ is not the same as ‘I am wrong’. It does not mean giving up. It means graciously leaving enough leeway for re-examination of your position."
~ Fr. Oswald Baker, (Bulletin, 16th September 1984 via Bellarmine Forums)
Dedication
~ Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, 8
Robert Hugh Benson opens "The Religion of the Plain Man" with — among other things — the following declaration;
"This book is intended for the "man in the Street," who, after all, has a certain claim on our consideration, since JESUS CHRIST came to save his soul. This man in the street, like myself, is entirely unable to discourse profoundly upon the Fathers, or to decide where scholars disagree in matters of simple scholarship. His religion is composed partly of emotion a good deal of Scripture, partly of imagination and, to a very small extent, of reason.
[This man] "is competent to say what he thinks a text probably means; and to recognize a few of the plainer facts of history, such as that Rome has always had some sort of a Pope, and that ambition and wickedness may perhaps have characterized certain persons high in ecclesiastical affairs. He is capable also of understanding that oaks grow from acorns, and athletes from babies; and of perceiving a law or two in the development of life; he can grasp that poison has a tendency to kill; and that two mutually exclusive propositions require a good deal of proof before they can be accepted as different aspects of one truth.
Now this kind of intellectual attainment seems a poor equipment for the pursuit of salvation; but it is undoubtedly the only equipment that many of us have, and it is GOD that has made us and not we ourselves. Therefore if we believe in GOD at all -- at least in a GOD of mercy or even justice -- we are bound to acknowledge that this equipment is all that we actually require." (pp. 5-6)
IntheSameSense.org is dedicated to the plain man from whom Rev. Benson's book receives it name, and is offered in tribute to my father, Herbert Leon Treco (1930-2016), the plain man under whose watchful eyes I had the good fortune of spending my formative years.
Support In The Same Sense
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