Faith vs Experience, by James Baresel

Recently, I have been more disappointed than surprised to hear three unimpeachably faithful and admirable priests attempt in their preaching to ground Catholic belief in “experience.” One argued that reception of Communion by supporters of abortion is “incompatible with the ‘experience’ of Catholic truth,” another encouraged those “who have ‘experienced’ God’s truth” to “share the ‘experience’ with others.” I cannot remember details, but the remarks of the third were along similar lines. The first was a young priest from Poland—where the Church did not suffer from the widespread extreme dissent seen in the United States—who was here studying for an advanced degree. Both of the others regularly offer the Tridentine Mass and attended what has long been regarded as one of America’s best seminaries. Each of the latter’s time as a seminarian took place during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, when even good seminaries were improving.

If it is at all common for good men like these to hold such views after receiving some of the better formation available today—and I have every reason to believe it is common—then we are in more of a mess than is generally realized. …

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