Cardinal Siri, John Senior, and the Rock

Cardinal Siri, Renovatio II (1967), fasc. 2, pp. 183-184 (via FideCogitActio, January 7, 2016), writes:

This “roccia” (rock) will never crumble, nor flake, given that its solidity is guaranteed in the text of Matthew until the end of time. The “rock” remains and no one will scratch it, implicated as she is in a divine undertaking. But on occasion some men may take from others the vision of the rock. Other things may be made to seem like the rock, other things that may appear to all as such. The distinction is a profound one, even if the errors of these men are capable of veiling the reality (truth), they cannot destroy it. The question, easy for all, that presents itself is one of the visibility of the rock. If then situations should occur, that took from certain men the visibility of the “roccia” (rock) in the Church, the consequences would be grave. Those that convert to the Church, convert because they are convinced that they have found the “roccia” (rock), not doubt, hesitation, contradiction or doctrinal anarchy. One converts when one knows that ones hope is not futile. Taking away the visibility of the “roccia” (rock): what happens? (emphasis added)

What happens? Indeed. As a weary Guy Noir writes, "Discouragement, fatigue, and finally doubt as to whether the Church or any religious ideas matter much at all in our Era of Grand Syncretism."

Well, I have no doubt that the Church, in the final analysis, matters very much, because the deposit of the Faith received via Sacred Tradition remains very much intact no matter what the vicissitudes of our current storm. But do not be deceived, the theological shenanigans we have seen over the last decades do take their toll and cannot be justified or papered over by means of facile smoke-and-mirror 'explanations.' The damage is real.

Noir goes on to point out what he calls "a sobering if not anesthetizing remedy" from John Senior's book, The Remnants - the "Final Essays" of John Senior, a Columbia University grad who co-founded the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas, and was Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and Classics at Cornell, among other institutions. Here I quote him just as I received his words from Noir:

We are under the authority of theologians who deny the laws of contradiction, sufficient reason, and cause/effect. They really believe that the dialectical philosophy of Marx and Engels can be reconciled with Christian revelation. In practical management this means a zig to the right and a zag to the left while steering for the Norvus Ordo Saeculrum. Chop off Lefebvre, and throw a sop to trade... They have refused the face the issue -- which is not nostalgia... but the shipwreck of the Catholic Church. I mean a new Mass, a new catechism, a new morality, a flagrantly mistranslated Bible, an architecture and music which constitute a thoroughly orchestrated and rehearsed attack on Catholic doctrine and practice. Read the papal statement ten times if you can. You don't need arguments. It constitutes itself proof of its own radical insincerity. It cannot be explained away as a misunderstanding of the issue; it is quite simply a misrepresentation... This pseudo-Church, imposed upon the real subsistent one since the Vatican Council, is like [a] glass confessional. Anyone can see -- and everybody does -- that whatever it is, it is not the Church of our Fathers.

[Disclaimer: See Rules 7-9]. Oremus erga Sanctam Matrem Ecclesiam.