Jim Havens: Bishop, define this progressive ecclesial liberalism for us, and how can we make ourselves immune to it?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Progressive ecclesial liberalism has been at the root of our present crisis within the life of the Church for decades, since the Council. It is, I would say, the root of clerical liberalism. First, these clerics want their own personal advantages and power, not the glory of God, but the glory of the world, seeking approval not from God but from public opinion, the mass media, and the powerful of this world. To gain this power, they adapt themselves to the spirit of the world and become worldly.
Ultimately, this leads to loving what is in the world, as St. John the Apostle writes in his first letter, where he says, “My children, do not love what is in the world,” referring to the concupiscence of the eyes, the desires of the flesh, and the glory of the world. These are the temptations to which clergy, yielding to ecclesial liberalism, succumb. Therefore, those with the spirit of the world will never accept the constant, revealed truths of God.