Neurodivergent Sacramental Innovations Undermine Catholic Tradition
EWTN News (January 25, 2026) reports on Deacon Mark Paine from the Archdiocese of Birmingham developing catechetical resources for autistic individuals. The article promotes “Called By Name” and “Radical Belonging” as sacramental preparation tools employing “nonconventional ways” of communication, advocating for what it describes as “radical inclusion” inspired by Gospel values.
Naturalism Masquerading as Pastoral Care
The resources fundamentally err by prioritizing sensory accommodation over supernatural reality. Pius XI condemned such naturalistic reductions in Quas Primas (1925): “The kingdom of our Savior…requires its followers not only to renounce earthly riches…but to deny themselves and carry their cross.” The article’s emphasis on “communication needs” (Paine) ignores the sine qua non of sacramental validity: proper matter, form, and intention.
Nowhere do these resources address the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation (John 3:5) or the grave obligation to receive Communion in state of grace. Instead, Paine suggests autistic individuals might demonstrate sacramental understanding through “nonconventional ways” undefined by sacramental theology. This echoes Modernist errors condemned in Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (1907): “Faith…is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities” (Proposition 25).
Theological Contradictions in “Radical Inclusion”
Paine’s assertion that “radical inclusion is what Jesus preached” constitutes a dangerous half-truth. While Christ invited all to repentance (Mark 2:17), He also declared: “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). The article’s quoted “theology of radical inclusion” directly contradicts the Syllabus of Errors (1864): “Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ” (Proposition 17).
Cristina Gangemi’s praise for “privileged voice of autism” exemplifies the conciliar sect’s inversion of authority. St. Pius X warned against such subjectivism in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “Modernists place the foundation of religious philosophy in that doctrine which is commonly called agnosticism” (Chapter 4). The Church judges revelation, not personal experience.
Sacramental Minimalism and Hidden Modernism
Paine’s complaint that autistic individuals “have never received sacramental preparation” due to conventional programs reveals a fundamental misunderstanding. The Church has always accommodated legitimate disabilities without altering doctrine – as seen in the Rite for Deaf-Mutes (1916) requiring identical sacramental forms. His approach risks reducing sacraments to therapeutic rituals rather than channels of grace.
The resources’ silence on sacramental validity requirements proves alarming. Can a nonverbal person manifest the intention required for confession? Can they comprehend transubstantiation? These omissions violate Canon 752 (1917 Code): “The faithful are bound to profess their assent to all that is contained in the word of God written or handed down.”
Undermining the Church’s Hierarchical Mission
Archbishop Bernard Longley’s endorsement demonstrates the conciliar sect’s abandonment of doctrinal guardianship. True shepherds would recall Pius IX’s condemnation in the Syllabus of Errors: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55). By endorsing pastoral innovations divorced from doctrine, these authorities facilitate what St. Pius X called “the suicide of altering the Faith” (Allocution Vi ringrazio, 1912).
The article’s promotion of “alternative ways to demonstrate understanding” ignores the Church’s immutable sacramental economy. As Leo XIII declared in Apostolicae Curae (1896): “Sacraments cannot be subject to human innovation.” When the Church accommodates modes of reception (as for the paralyzed or mute), she never compromises doctrinal substance – a distinction wholly absent here.
Conclusion: Charity Without Truth Is Sentimental Betrayal
While pastoral sensitivity to neurological differences remains necessary, these resources exemplify the conciliar sect’s obsession with earthly inclusion at the expense of eternal salvation. They omit the sine qua non of Catholic life: submission to revealed truth. As St. Augustine taught: “Charity is no substitute for truth withheld” (Epistle 166). Until the Church returns to her pre-1958 discipline – where accommodations served doctrine rather than replacing it – such innovations will continue leading souls toward the abyss of indifferentism.
Source:
British deacon develops new resources for people with autism (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 25.01.2026