There exists out there a book titled Infiltration by a Catholic speaker and writer by the name of Dr. Taylor Marshall. It is a book documenting the “infiltration” of the Catholic Church by various malicious groups who desire to destroy the Church from within (including Soviet Communist spies, Freemasons, Satanic groups, etc.). He and others go on to then argue that Vatican II Council is a result of this “infiltration,” and that we should reject Vatican II because there were people with malicious agendas behind it.

Now while it is true that there have been people in the Church with malicious agendas, I don’t think this invalidates the Vatican II Council. Why? Because there have ALWAYS been people in the Church who had impure, malicious, or selfish motives or agendas! That’s exactly why we have Church Councils. That praying and listening to the Holy Spirit by the Church isn’t just this or that individual’s interpretation. But it is the Holy Spirit working through the collective prayer and conversation of those who are the successors of the Apostles, to whom Jesus breathed and said, “receive the Holy Spirit.” And it is these successors praying together with the successor of Peter (that is, the Pope), to whom Jesus said, “You are Peter. And upon this rock, I will build my Church. And the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), which is from our reading today.

Jesus gave us the institution of the Church, and the hierarchy built on the foundation of the Apostles, specifically to guard against a particularly sinful or malicious individual misguiding the entire universal community of believers! Thanks be to God! And this is one of the many reasons why I am convicted about my Catholic faith! Even if individual bishops (and sometimes even popes) are terrible human beings, or bad shepherds, or misguided, despite what they do as individuals, does not change the whole collective teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church! Amen!

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin Earleywine