Father James Scahill, the dissident priest who has received high praise from the anti-Catholic dissent group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) and has used his pulpit to level false accusations against the Holy Father, has said that the Catholic Church is "not the church of Jesus Christ" and is "insidiously evil." One cannot help but wonder why he stays then. Of course, in saying that the Catholic Church is not the Church of Jesus Christ, Father Scahill is placing himself outside of the Church's communion.
In his Encyclical Letter Satis Cognitum, Pope Leo XIII explained that "...There is clear and abundant proof in Sacred Scripture that there is one genuine Church of Jesus Christ. All agree on this and no Christian would dare deny it." And Pope Pius XII, in Mystici Corporis, teaches us that: "Our divine Redeemer also governs his mystical body in a visible and ordinary way through his vicar on earth..after he himself had ruled the 'little flock' in a visible manner during his mortal pilgrimage, when about to leave this world and return to the Father, Christ our Lord entrusted to the Prince of the Apostles the visible government of the entire community He had founded. He was all wise; and it was absolutely necessary for him to provide with a visible head the body of the Church he had founded as a human society. Nor against this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in the Church gives such a mystical body two heads. For Peter in virtue of his primacy is only Christ's vicar; so that there is only one chief head of this body, namely Christ. He never ceases personally to guide the Church by an unseen hand, though at the same time he rules it externally, visibly through him who is his representative on earth. After his glorious Ascension into heaven, this Church rests not on him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and his vicar constitute only one head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory, Boniface VIII, in the Apostolic Letter Unam sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same. Therefore, those who believe that they can accept Christ as the head of the Church, without giving loyal adherence to his vicar on earth, walk the path of dangerous error. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity, and they so disfigure the true concept of the mystical body of the Redeemer that it cannot be recognized or found by those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation.."
In the same Encyclical Letter, Pope Pius XII describes the Church as a "perfect society." He writes, "..the Church, which should be considered a perfect society in its own right, is not made up of merely moral and juridical elements and principles. It is far superior to all other human societies,; it surpasses them as grace surpasses nature, as things immortal are above all those that perish.."
But Father Scahill has referred to the Mystical Body of Christ, this "perfect society," as "insidiously evil." And so, Father Scahill has called Christ insidiously evil, for the Church is His Mystical Body. Recall that when Saul was persecuting the Church, Our Lord Jesus came to him and identified Himself as "Jesus whom you are persecuting." (Acts 9: 5). Every attack on the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is an attack on Jesus Himself.
And He has promised to repay each according to his deeds.
Related reading:
Fr. Fessio, S.J., Getting the story straight.
