Further scholia of Nicolás Gómez Dávila on the Catholic Church of today from a second collection: New Scholia on an Implicit Text (1986). Once again I have to translate from the German translation: Auf Verlorenem Posten: Neue Scholien zu einem inbegriffenen Text (Karolingerverlag, Vienna, 2nd Edition 2006). These aphorisms dealing with contemporary Catholicism are of course only a tiny selection of Nicolás Gómez Dávila’s work.
Today the sacrifice of the mass is the torture of the liturgy. (p. 41)
When the progressive clergy has finally emptied the Church the last superstitious civilization will have come to an end. (p. 42)
To proclaim Christianity “the cradle of the modern world” is either a severe indictment or a severe calumny. (p.45)
By abolishing definite liturgies we abolish definite manifestations. Clearing sacred forests means eliminating traces of the divine. (p. 47)
The common clergy is aristocracy and people: the Benedictine family, the mendicant orders.
The Jesuits are the bourgeoisie of the Church. (p. 66)
Looking at the contemporary Church (clergy, liturgy, theology), the veteran Catholic first is outraged, then shocked – and finally bursts into laughter. (p.95)
Catholicism of the last few centuries has noticed the pit only after the whack of the club. (p.137)
Faith – any faith – is lost when it gets mixed up with the faithful. (p.144)
The increasing difficulty of gaining new priests should embarrass humanity and not worry the Church. (p.236)
To reintroduce an ancient liturgical gesture in a new context can border on heresy. For example, the way communion in the present day is received standing turns out to be a gesture of pride. (p.242)
A Catholic shouldn’t lodge a complaint against the pope with the council but with the papacy, (p. 140)
A cloud of incense equals a thousand sermons. (p. 254)
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