"Nothing outside ourselves can guarantee renewal"

Editorial: Radicati nella fede, May 2014 (Newsletter of the Catholic community of Domodossola and Vocogno, Diocese of Novara, Italy):

There is nothing which is merely outside ourselves that can guarantee the renewal of the Church or the rebirth of Christian life.

When we talk of the crisis of the faith in modern times, when we desire the re- flowering of Christian life for our people, we must be very much aware that it is not possible to put our faith in any guaranteed automatism of something that happens outside of ourselves: the rebirth will always begin with our being born again through the grace of God. Yes, it is in personal conversion that we must hope for the re-flowering of the Church.

The idea of spreading Christianity to the sound of reforms started precisely from an error in perspective. We believe that this was the error of the conciliar years. We shall try to explain.

Was there need for a renewal in the Christian life in the ‘50s and ‘60s? Certainly there was. Was there need for greater truth in priestly life, in convents, in lay associations, in Catholic schools, in families? We have no difficulty in admitting it: a certain formalism was placing the life of faith in danger…there was need for authentic freshness.

However, it was a grave mistake to imagine that authentic freshness in the Christian life was to be found in an entire series of reforms, which radically changed, if not distorted, the face of the Church. (emphasis added)

Read more >>[Hat tip to JM]