"We are never far from the demonic"

So said the highly talented and gifted speaker, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He was speaking of his experiences giving retreats for priests, of which he gave many.



Archbishop Fulton Sheen



According to ++Sheen, there would, inevitably be one or two priests in the audience

who would become agitated whenever the crucifixion or Christ's sacrifice for man or the issue of transubstantiation, (belief in the changing of the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Our Lord at the Consecration during Holy Mass) was mentioned. Often, the priest(s) concerned would start to heckle and agitate and (so the Archbishop predicted) would leave the retreat, and the Church within a few hours.
Belief in transubstantiation is critical but how many priests and Bishops believe today?
Is this (if I am correct in my hypothesis) one of the main reasons for the falling away of holiness in the Church today? Does the overwhelming desire to make the liturgical experience and sacramental  life as banal and as trivial as possible arise from the loss of belief in the Sacred Species?
It would be interesting to test this out. I believe that a rough poll count was taken in the early 80s and showed only 52% of parish priests believed. I cannot verify this, it is lost in antiquity but I have witnessed many post Vatican II priests who carry all the hallmarks of unbelief. By this I mean that they have a poor grasp of theological issues, appear slovenly and untidy in their dress and in the manner of carrying out their priestly duties, do not appear to actually work at anything other than celebrating two Masses on a Sunday and, in short, behave as if they were secular laymen rather than 'other Christs'.
Is this the reason why objections to the re-establishement of the EF Mass are so strong? Does this account for the lack of spine in our Bishops in standing up for the faith? We only have to look at a few of the issues facing the British Catholic Church in the past 12 months to find an answer. Adoption by homosexuals, homosexual Masses at Warwick Street, Sex education in Catholic Schools, celibacy of the clergy, women priests - the list goes on.
You could count on the fingers of one hand the number of Bishops who have stepped up to the mark on these and many other issues.
I am not claiming anything other than influence of the demonic but that is serious enough. The 'Judas' factor of one in twelve is perhaps not too far from the truth.

ADDENDUM: Further evidence has come, today from Fr Longenecker's blog Standing on my head

And even more from Stella Maris who carries a damning report on our Bishop!