We have been surfeited in America in the last few years with sociological, psychological, and theological surveys of what has happened to the church. But they are not of much avail because cultural reasons do not explain what has happened.
The church has undergone a great crisis and some degeneration in every country in the world: Africa is suffering; the church in Asia is suffering; Europe is suffering.
If there were only cultural reasons, the effect would not be so universal. It can only be, therefore, that there are some other causes besides the cultural and national at work.
One that is not to be neglected is the demonic.
Whenever there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, there is always a strong effort put forth by the diabolic.
For example, when Moses worked miracles, the magicians of the Pharaohs duplicated some of them. When the church received the Holy Spirit, there was the persecution of Stephen. With the Vatican Council, there has been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and also an outpouring of the evil spirit. But our theologians have neglected the demonic.
God says, "I am who am". The devil said "I am who am not." The demonic is always most powerful when he is denied. It is almost impossible today to find a theologian writing about the demonic, unless it be to deny it.
That is not true of literature.
It is not true of psychiatry.
It is true only of theology.
Excerpt from Through the Year with Fulton Sheen, Compiled by Henry Dieterich
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