Jim Havens: Bishop, define this progressive ecclesial liberalism for us, and how can we make ourselves immune to it?
Bishop Schneider: The progressive ecclesial liberalism is at the root of the present crisis within the life of the Church, which has existed for decades, since the Council. I would say the root of this ecclesial and clerical liberalism is that many clerics seek their own advantage, their own personal gain and power, not for the glory of God but for the glory of the world. They seek approval not from God, but from the opinion of this world, from the powerful of this world, from public opinion, from the mass media, and so on.
To gain this approval and maintain their power, they pay the price of adapting themselves to the spirit of the world, becoming worldly. Ultimately, this leads them to love what is in the world. As St. John the Apostle writes in his first letter, “My children, do not love what is in the world, the concupiscence of the eyes, of the flesh, and the glory of this world.” These are the temptations to which many clergy have yielded, and therefore, the spirit of this world will never accept the constant and revealed truths of God.