The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

"INFALLIBLE AUTHORITY. 95considered and abolished at the approaching General Council ;in fact, that the definition was a mistake, and that the blunder of 18.54 would be repairedin 1869." I told him, of course, that no such question could be entertained in the Council ;that thedoctrinal decrees of the Church were irrevocable,and that the dogma of the Immaculate Conceptionwas defined once and forever.If only one instance could be given in which theChurch ceased to teach a doctrine of faith which hadbeen previously held, that single instance would bethe death-blow of her claim to infallibility. But itis a marvelous fact worthy of record, that in thewhole history of the Church, from the nineteenthcentury to the first, no solitary example can be adduced to show that any Pope or General Councilever revoked a decree of faith or morals enacted byany preceding Pontiff or Council. Her record inthe past ought to be a sufficient warrant that she willtolerate no doctrinal variations in the future.If, as we have seen, the Church has authority fromGod to teach, and if she teaches nothing but thetruth, is it not the duty of all Christians to hearher voice and obey her commands? She is theorgan of the Holy Ghost. She is the Representative of Jesus Christ, who has said to her : He thatheareth you, heareth Me; he that despiseth you,Me."despiseth She is the Mistress of truth. It isthe property of the human mind to embrace truthwherever it finds it. It would, therefore, be not