‘Love One Another’ as Naturalistic Gospel: A 50-Year Deviation in Bangladesh
The EWTN News portal (December 1, 2025) reports on Father Robert McCahill’s 50 years of service in Bangladesh, portraying his work with disabled children through bicycle visits and interfaith relations. The article emphasizes his nickname “Bob Bhai” (Brother Bob) among Muslims, his 12-15 mile daily bicycle journeys, and his philosophy that “lov[ing] one another is the key to happiness” without reference to sacramental ministry or conversion efforts. Notably absent are any mentions of administering last rites, promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart, or offering the Traditional Latin Mass – with McCahill stating he “celebrate[s] Mass here myself every day” in unspecified conditions.
Reduction of Priesthood to Social Work
The article’s central error lies in presenting priesthood as mere humanitarian service rather than the opus Dei (work of God) defined by Pope Pius XII’s Mediator Dei: “The chief element of divine worship must be interior… But the worship of God cannot be complete unless it is also exterior.” McCahill’s exclusive focus on medical assistance for disabled children – while praiseworthy in temporal terms – constitutes a complete inversion of priestly priorities.
“I think that just as Jesus was not tied to one place and asked to spread the word of God, I travel around and reach people of all religions with love and work.”
This statement dangerously conflates Our Lord’s divine mission with a naturalistic activism devoid of supernatural purpose. Christ commanded: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19), not merely “reach people of all religions with love.” The Syllabus of Errors condemns the notion that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error 55), yet McCahill’s ministry operates precisely within this condemned framework – acting as a social worker who happens to be ordained.
Sacramental Dereliction and Liturgical Ambiguity
The conspicuous absence of sacramental ministry in McCahill’s 50-year service constitutes grave dereliction of priestly duty. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane condemned the modernist error that “the sacraments merely serve to remind man of the presence of the ever-benevolent Creator” (Proposition 41), yet EWTN’s portrayal reduces McCahill’s priesthood to precisely this naturalistic function. His self-described daily Mass celebration – conducted without specifying which rite or whether valid matter is used – raises canonical concerns given the Maryknoll Society’s notorious post-conciliar deviations.
“Bob Bhai often comes to my house, laughs and jokes with my son… Now I am getting treatment in the hospital through him. I don’t need any money.”
This Muslim father’s testimony reveals the tragic substitution of sacramental economy with medical referral services. While corporal works of mercy remain essential, they become spiritually sterile when divorced from the munera sacerdotii (priestly offices) of sanctifying, teaching, and governing. The article’s repeated emphasis on McCahill’s bicycle as symbolic of “simplicity” and “poor people’s vehicle” constitutes fetishization of poverty – a modernist tendency condemned in Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno as “exaggerated compassion” divorced from eternal truths.
Ecumenical Syncretism in Muslim Context
The article’s celebration of Muslim acceptance (“90% Muslim population… less than 1% Christian”) without conversion narratives reveals post-conciliar religious indifferentism. Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos explicitly condemned the false ecumenism where “Catholics may view other religions as partial reflections of divine truth.” McCahill’s acceptance as “Bob Bhai” by Muslims mirrors the condemned practices of Matteo Ricci’s accommodationism – a precursor to the conciliar heresy of religious liberty formalized in Dignitatis Humanae.
Maryknoll’s Modernist Trajectory
Founded in 1911, the Maryknoll Society degenerated into theological modernism by mid-century, exemplified by its missionaries promoting liberation theology and religious pluralism. McCahill’s ministry continues this condemned trajectory, reducing Christianity to social service while ignoring Pope Pius XI’s warning: “Charity will never be true charity unless it takes just account of the rights of God and His holy law” (Caritate Christi Compulsi, 1932). The article’s photographic evidence of McCahill’s living quarters – showing no sacred images, only a “dirty mosquito net” and “kerosene stove” – visually reinforces this desacralized priesthood.
The Missing Eschatological Dimension
Most damningly, the article completely omits any reference to the novissimi (last things) – death, judgment, heaven, hell – which formed the backbone of missionary preaching from St. Francis Xavier to Ven. Fulton Sheen. This modern “gospel of niceness” contradicts Christ’s own words: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword” (Matthew 10:34). McCahill’s assertion that “lov[ing] one another is the key to happiness” reduces Christianity to a social ethic, denying the necessity of grace and conversion proclaimed in the Council of Trent’s Decree on Justification.
Conclusion: When Charity Becomes Apostasy
While McCahill’s endurance merits natural admiration, his ministry epitomizes the conciliar sect’s destruction of missionary activity. Pius XII’s Evangelii Praecones (1951) mandated that missionaries “lead [non-Christians] to the truth… especially by preaching the Gospel,” not merely provide medical referrals. This 50-year celebration of interfaith social work – devoid of baptisms, Eucharistic adoration, or Marian devotion – constitutes what St. Pius X called “the synthesis of all heresies” in Pascendi Dominici Gregis. Until such missionaries rediscover the regnum Christi (kingship of Christ) proclaimed in Pius XI’s Quas Primas, their natural virtues remain but “sounding brass” in the economy of salvation (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Source:
Father Bob and his bicycle: How this 88-year-old priest serves Bangladesh’s disabled children (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 01.12.2025