The modernists said, “Let’s get rid of that supernatural stuff. Nobody can believe all that junk about Virgin Births, miracles, walking on the water and all that first century superstition. Let’s play all that down and tell everyone the church is about US and our family and our community. Let’s get rid of those dumb old hymns that had doctrine and long words in them. Doctrine is divisive and nobody knows what “consubstantial, co-eternal while unending ages run” really means nowadays. Then let’s tell people it doesn’t matter if they become priests and nuns. They can be holy just where they are. Oh yeah, let’s get everyone involved in peace and justice to make the world a better place because that’s really what its all about isn’t it–“what the world needs now is love sweet love….I want to teach the world to sin in perfect harmony…”
So the modernists eviscerated the church and cleansed it of the supernatural. They brought in banal hymns, even more banal sermons about being nice to one another, built flying pancake churches and brought in awful rock bands and polyester vestments and told everyone to just try a little bit harder to be nice folks.
And then the churches emptied. People felt if that was church they didn’t really need it, and they were right. They didn’t need that kind of church. If they wanted Protestant they should go Protestant because the Protestants to Protestant better than the Catholics ever will.
Then here’s the crunch. When the churches emptied and people voted with their feet the modernists said, “I guess we didn’t have enough modernism. To get people back we need MORE peace and justice stuff, MORE rock bands, MORE do-gooder sermons, MORE vapid homilies, in effect, MORE modernism.
And it will continue. They will never learn because that’s also one of the signs of true madness–the self delusion and insanity goes on forever without a cure.