BRING BACK ST THOMAS

A FATHER ROBERT MANN WROTE AN ARTICLE ON HOW THOMISTIC PHILOSOPHY HAD BEEN THROWN OUT OF THE SEMINARIES  AND HOW THE CHURCH WAS THE POORER FOR IT.   HAVING SPLENT THREE YEARS IN A SEMINARY STUDYING ST THOMAS I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANT AND HOW ILL-EQUIPPED PRIESTS OF THE LAST FORTY YEARS WERE IN EXPLAINING THE FAITH.  LITTLE WONDER SO MANY HAVE REJECTED IT.   THIS WAS MY COMMENT                                                                             This is one of the most important writings I have come across. I was in a seminary for three years and was taught Thomistic philosophy. On leaving I cam to London and heard a priest tell some young people “We cannot be sure that what we believe is true” I was amazed and replied “Are you absolutely sure that what you are saying is true” As a Thomas I could have written a couple of pages on he falsity of his remark. But he had already been taught to relegate the idea that `Jesus had come to give witness to the Truth to the rubbish bin no matter how often Jesus had repeated it in Scripture.
Then there a discussion on the Real Presence in the Parish Magazine. I gave the distinction between Substance and Accident in the Real Presence and in reply the priest wrote there was no such thing as substance. Since the Real Presence was relegated to myth it was little wonder that we were soon taking the host in the hand and refusing to kneel at Adoration. 
Then there is the Doctrine of Grace and the existence of the soul. Well in the Churches now although we offer the Sacraments we no longer talk about such things grace and soul and indeed the reason why anyone should receive then at all is rather dubious. 
In the Missal now we read “What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his LIFE” This renders the passage meaningless since we are all going to die one day. 
Then the attack on Our Lady “Hail, highly favoured…” We do not read “Hail, FULL OF GRACE’ The word has been abandoned and that probably started in the seminaries. As for Sacramentals- what was that. The laity who now give the host to people are now instructed to give a blessing to the person if he or she is not receiving. Apparently there is no real difference between a lady blessing and a priest’s blessing – I did once mention that the priests blessing was sacramental and the lay blessing had no significance but heck it does make the lay person feel important and after all that is what Church is about – making people feel important.

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