Did Janenistic thinking influence catholic teaching in England in the 1950s - common errors and corections?

Question

I read that the irish famine enhanced the power of Maynooth-trained priests, leading to very strict, supposedly Jansenistic teaching with too much emphasis on unworthiness and guilt. When I was growing up in the 1950s, most of our parish priests were irish and put a lot of emphasis on these issues. I suspect my perception of catholicism may be unduly influenced by this but I don't know. It would be interesting to read a critique of the sort of teaching common at that time in contrast to that officially advocated today.

Answer 1

I don't know specifically about England in the 1950s, but in general, in the English-speaking world (and probably often outside it) there was an influence of what is usually called Jansenism -- though like many such things, I suspect it was more complex than that. The picture many people were given of the the Catholic faith involved the following: strong emphasis on obedience to Church authorities; virtual idolization of priests; hatred of the body and especially of sexuality; contempt for women -- or angelizing them (the so-called 'virgin or whore' syndrome); sacraments treated as 'objective' sources of grace to the neglect of the subjective dimension, which had the effect of treating confession and communion in a highly mechanistic way; ecclesiastical triumphalism; an unbiblical mariology that sometimes displaced Christ; a rigid form of thomism influenced by some of the worst aspects of early modern philosophy. And above all, as you mention, an emphasis on avoiding sin rather than cultivating closeness with God. I'm sure there are other elements, but you get the idea.

What was neglected? Well, the Bible was. Laypeople were often told not to read it, since Protestants did such things. The Holy Spirit was the unknown person of the Trinity. Even Jesus was treated as a distant judge accessible only through his mother's mediation. The idea that being a Christian means cultivating a close friendship with Jesus for the purpose of transforming one's life into a 'divine' sort of life -- deification by participation -- was largely if not completely absent.

Anyway, I doubt all this can be attributed to Jansenism, but it was a factor. And I'm sure this can't have been the universal experience of Catholicism. But from everything I've heard, these features were quite common before Vatican II, and they still influence many people's reactions to the Church even today. In fact, most of the controversial debates inside Catholicism have their roots in this kind of Catholicism -- or in reactions against it.

Answer 2

I think my perception of catholicism is also influenced by jansenism but for other reasons. When I went to catechism as a kid, we never had a real teacher so we were sometimes taught religion by people who had hardly opened a bible in their life and when I stopped catechism, I had nearly no religious education. Then, in literature classes, I read texts by Pascal and so it is nearly my only religious education.
I think jansenism had a huge influence on French literature , even on writers who were not religious. Many Irish priests were studying in France because of the English laws about catholicism (there is a "rue des Irlandais" in Paris) so maybe it has something to do with it but I'm not sure

Answer 3

Your perception of Catholicism is probably influenced by the Catholic people round you while you grew up but I don't think so many people were influenced by a 300 year old heresy.

Jansenism is a heresy from the 1600s that taught the following doctrinal errors:

- It denied the necessity of free will in receiving and utilizing grace

- It claimed that grace is so efficacious that the will need not assent to it and in fact cannot reject it

- It concluded that this grace was intended only for a predestined elect

- It concluded that God actively bestows grace on some while actively withholding it from others.

The heresy also led to a disregard of the authority of the pope.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

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