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Those Who Seek X Richard Palmer, Great Britain Some may well ask: "But what is the purpose of our Church - the nature of her work?" Clearly, it is not to create yet another form of Catholicism - the western world has more than enough of Catholic-type churches, from the all-powerful Roman Communion to the newly established traditional groups within the Anglican faith. We need not seek to justify our Catholicism, if that is what people hanker after, and we have sensible and fully structured arguments to counteract the silly and ill-conceived sceptics who would pour scorn on our sacramental or ecclesiastical reality. We are not given to wasting precious time on justifying the tenets of our position at a pseudo-bar of ecclesiastical intelligence, which is the product of play-actors in guise of Catholic form and order. In similar vein, we have no mandate to set altar against altar, or to detract the sincere seeker from the comfort of their own appreciative sacramental system and awareness. But, we are called upon to ask: "What is the message of The Liberal Catholic Church?" Firstly, we exist because we respond to the religious needs of our day. We stand today in an age of great intellectual and scientific development - every minute of every day the boundaries of knowledge are widened as each precise detail is tabulated with care and investigation. The Liberal Catholic Church is one with Science, as the Universe unfolds before us in all it's myriad forms of expression, in minute form on earth, or in the manifestation of new Solar Systems or Galaxies in discovery. The orthodox faiths base much of their teaching on deduction from revealed truths, truths given to man by God in the scriptures and in the ancient traditions of the Church. Since but few of the leaders of the churches claim to have any direct knowledge of the truths of religion, faith must be based on devotion and tradition, rather than upon experience and reason. Thus between science and religion we find a chasm seemingly impassable. The Higher Criticism (so-called) has often opened up points of contradiction between the inherited traditions and research into subjects as the early life and civilisation of man, the growth and evolution of the world. The textual critic has come forward to demonstrate the unequal age of various portions of scripture and has revealed mistranslation and interpolations that seriously alter certain doctrines held by the churches today. With all the weight of evidence now available, it would seem impossible for a thinking person to accept the doctrine of the infallibility of the Bible or it's verbal inspiration by God the Holy Ghost. The Liberal Catholic Church encourages all who look to the Lord Christ for light and blessing to use their intellectual freedom, unbound by the fetters of mediaeval superstition, to seek and judge truth for themselves. To follow the ancient and well-tested path of initiation into the Mysteries of Jesus through Purification, Illumination and Union, wherein one may come to realise an inner Divinity and discover the light within oneself. Of such is the inner message of The Liberal Catholic Church; and through meditation and what might be described as yogic practices in eastern forms of spirituality, balancing heart and mind, become ever increasingly conscious of the guidance of the Master. The parochialism and limitations of past times have given way to a universalism enabling a richer and fuller appreciation of the cultural and religious diversity of our planet Earth. Archeology and Anthropology and the human sciences in general have revealed that mankind was not bereft of spiritual inspiration and development, awaiting a Saviour whose teachings were never meant to doubt the work of the human spirit, but to awaken, to freshen toward a renewal of the divine impulses in mankind. To the Liberal Catholic mind nothing can ever hinder the realisation of the evolution of the spiritual nature of mankind - the Holy Spirit leading into all truth. No pious substitute must ever replace the unique position of an individual's understanding of truth - save in that the Saviour of the World guides from the great height of his own achievement and compassion. As a Church we therefore strive towards the ancient narrow path that leads to life eternal, aided supremely by the angels and the great celestial hierarchy, the Saints, the Watchers and the Holy Ones. Some may ask why we remain such a small communion. Our work remains to act as a catalyst, to attract adherents who will come to realise a contribution they can make, not to another branch of the Church Catholic, but in service to the World. To work as disciples of those great Shining Ones who ever watch over humanity from their inner sphere of Government, in order to advance the spiritual evolution of all life, not for their own spiritual advancement. To draw out from the hidden depths the true pulsating life in dynamic and conscious action and experience, ever exposing the negativity that many people are firmly imprisoned by, through dogma and slavish adherence to the strictures of materialism. As a Christian Church we take very seriously the advent of the Master. We believe that His Star will once again shine upon the world He loves; that He will come among us once again, not to be rejected of men, but to reveal to us, to those who seek, the great laws of the Universe, to quicken our spiritual natures. |
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