The Apostasy of the Conciliar Sect: Bishop Varden’s Naturalistic Retreat
The cited article reports on a Lenten retreat given by “Bishop” Erik Varden to “Pope” Leo XIV and the Roman Curia. Varden distinguishes between falls that are “milestones on a personal journey of salvation” and those that “reek hellishly,” while lamenting “ecclesiastical corruption” as the Church’s worst crisis. His language, replete with psychological and sociological categories, utterly evades the supernatural realities of sin, grace, and the hierarchical constitution of the Church, presenting instead a modernist, immanentist reinterpretation of Catholic spirituality that is fundamentally heretical.
1. Factual Deconstruction: The Illusion of a “Crisis” Within
Varden correctly identifies grave harm from wrongdoing within the Church but frames it as a tragic failure of human institutions, not as the logical, divinely-permitted consequence of apostasy. He speaks of “structural hypocrisy” and “diseased roots” in a manner reminiscent of sociological analysis, not theological diagnosis. His distinction between redemptive and destructive falls is a humanistic innovation. Catholic doctrine teaches that every mortal sin is destructive, cutting one off from sanctifying grace and risking eternal damnation. A fall becomes a “milestone” only through the supernatural application of the Sacrament of Penance and God’s merciful grace, not by any inherent value in the fall itself. Varden’s framework reduces sin to a psychological setback and salvation to a personal “journey,” echoing the modernist error condemned by St. Pius X: “The spiritual life is not adjunct to the remainder of existence… it is its soul.” This is a Pelagian distortion, making sanctification a matter of human configuration rather than divine gift.
2. Linguistic Analysis: The Vocabulary of Apostasy
The rhetoric is symptomatic of the conciliar revolution. Key phrases reveal the underlying naturalism:
- “Hidden glory”: This vague, immanentist concept replaces the Catholic doctrine of gloria—the direct, intuitive vision of God in Heaven, and the gratia sanctificans that makes the soul a temple of the Holy Trinity. It aligns with the “anonymous Christian” theology of post-conciliar modernism.
- “Configure our physical and affective self”: This psychologizes asceticism, reducing it to self-configuration rather than the mortification of the flesh demanded by Christ (Luke 9:23) and the grace-filled cooperation with the Holy Ghost.
- “Spiritual exposure will seek physical or affective release”: This is a euphemism for sin, stripped of its moral object and gravity. It reflects the “situation ethics” condemned in Lamentabili sane exitu (Propositions 26, 64).
- “The Church reminds women and men of the glory secretly alive in them”: This inverts Catholic doctrine. Glory is not “secretly alive” in sinners; sanctifying grace is a supernatural reality conferred through the sacraments. The “glory” of the Resurrection is a future, definitive reality. This language is pantheistic, suggesting an inherent divine spark, a heresy condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 1).
The tone is therapeutic, managerial, and devoid of the stern, supernatural language of the Prophets, Apostles, and pre-1958 Pontiffs. This is the “new tone” of the conciliar sect, designed to soothe consciences while emptying doctrine.
3. Theological Confrontation: Every Statement Under the Light of Pre-1958 Doctrine
Varden’s entire presentation is a systematic denial of integral Catholic theology. Consider the following:
a) The Nature of the Church and Her Crisis: Varden laments “corruption within our own house” as the worst crisis. This implies the “house” (the conciliar structure) is still the Catholic Church. This is a fatal error. The current crisis is not one of “corruption” but of apostasy. The structures occupying the Vatican since John XXIII have promulgated heresy (cf. Lamentabili sane exitu, condemned Modernist propositions), destroyed the sacrificial nature of the Mass, and embraced ecumenism and religious liberty, all solemnly condemned by pre-1958 Magisterium. As St. Pius X taught in Pascendi Dominici gregis, Modernism is “the synthesis of all heresies.” The “wounds” Varden mentions are not those of a temporarily sinful body, but of a lifeless, apostate sect. The true Church, as defined by the Council of Trent (Session 23, Canon 4), is a visible society with valid sacraments and a hierarchical priesthood. The conciliar structures, having embraced false doctrines, have forfeited this claim. Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code (cited in the Defense of Sedevacantism file) states that an office is vacated by “public defection from the Catholic faith.” The post-conciliar “hierarchy” has publicly defected.
b) The Sacramental Reality Absent: Varden mentions the sacraments as channels of “hidden glory”: “Any Catholic knows what light can break forth in the confessional, in an anointing, at an ordination or a wedding.” This is a grotesque parody. In the conciliar sect, the “confessional” often offers only psychological counseling; “anointing” is a communal healing service, not the sacrament for the dying; “ordination” is frequently invalid due to the changed rite and the heresy of the minister; “wedding” is a natural contract. He speaks of the “holy Eucharist” while the vast majority of his confreres celebrate a valid but illicit “Mass” that is a Lutheran-style memorial meal, not the propitiatory sacrifice of Calvary. Pius XI in Quas Primas teaches that Christ’s kingdom is “spiritual” and entered “through faith and baptism.” The conciliar sect has redefined both. To speak of “light” in these invalid or abused rituals is to speak of the “light” of a counterfeit—a sacrilegious illusion.
b) The Denial of the Social Kingship of Christ: Varden’s focus on internal “corruption” and personal “journeys” is a deliberate omission of the central, defining doctrine of Christ the King. Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas, a pre-1958 document of the highest authority, commands the feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the secularism that Varden implicitly accepts. The encyclical states: “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” It condemns the error that “the State… can do without God” (Proposition 39 of the Syllabus). Varden’s retreat is silent on the necessity of the public, social reign of Christ the King over laws, institutions, and governments. This silence is a formal denial of a dogma of the Church, as defined by Pius XI. His “Church” is a private, spiritual club, not the societas perfecta with rights against the state, as defined by Pius IX (cf. Syllabus, Proposition 19).
d) The Heresy of “Dualism” and the Incarnation: Varden warns against “all dualism, always remembering that the Word became flesh so that our flesh might be imbued with Logos.” This is a perversion of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh to redeem fallen human nature, to restore grace, to establish the sacraments, and to found the Church. It does not mean that “flesh” (the natural, psychological, or affective order) is automatically “imbued with Logos” through vague “configuration.” This is a Monophysite or Pelagian error, denying the necessity of grace for supernatural elevation. The Catholic doctrine is that grace elevates nature, it does not simply “imbue” it as if nature were already disposed. Varden’s statement aligns with the Modernist proposition condemned by St. Pius X: “The spiritual life is not adjunct to the remainder of existence… it is its soul” (Lamentabili, Proposition 57). This reduces the supernatural to the natural, a classic Modernist tactic.
4. Symptomatic Analysis: The Fruit of the Conciliar Revolution
Varden’s retreat is a perfect symptom of the post-conciliar apostasy:
- Hermeneutics of Continuity in Action: He uses traditional-sounding phrases (“hidden glory,” “sacraments,” “Incarnation”) while emptying them of their supernatural, dogmatic content and filling them with naturalistic, psychological meaning. This is precisely the method of the “hermeneutics of continuity” condemned by true Catholics as a tool of deception.
- Silence on the Non-Negotiable: The complete absence of any mention of the sacrifice of the Mass, the primacy of the Pope (validly elected, not the antipope), the duty of the state to recognize Christ as King, the excommunication of Modernists, and the absolute prohibition of interreligious dialogue (cf. Mortalium Animos, Pius XI) exposes his allegiance to the conciliar sect’s program of dilution.
- The Cult of the Subject: The entire focus is on personal “journey,” “configuration,” and “hidden glory.” This is the “cult of man” condemned by Pius IX (Syllabus, Proposition 58) and the anthropocentrism of Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes, which placed human experience at the center, contrary to theocentrism of all pre-1958 teaching.
- False Ecumenism in Spirit: By speaking of “ecclesiastical corruption” as a shared human problem, he implicitly aligns with the conciliar sect’s view that the “Church” is a flawed, human institution among many, not the una sancta founded by Christ. This prepares the ground for the false ecumenism that seeks unity with heretics and schismatics, rather than their conversion.
5. The Unpardonable Omission: The Supernatural Horizon
The gravest accusation is the total absence of the supernatural end of man: beatific vision. There is no mention of judgment, hell, the particular judgment, or the absolute necessity of the state of grace at death. Varden’s “hidden glory” is a this-worldly, immanent quality. This is the essence of Modernism: to eliminate the “other world” from practical discourse. St. Pius X in Lamentabili condemned: “Faith, as assent of the mind, is ultimately based on a sum of probabilities” (Proposition 25) and “The dogmas of faith should be understood according to their practical function, i.e., as binding in action, rather than as principles of belief” (Proposition 26). Varden’s entire retreat operates on this functional, practical, this-worldly level. He offers a spirituality without dogma, a journey without a definitive destination, a Church without a Pope, a grace without sacraments.
Conclusion: Bishop Erik Varden, a prominent figure in the conciliar sect, delivers a retreat that is a masterclass in theological obfuscation. Using traditional vocabulary, he preaches a naturalistic, humanistic, and implicitly pantheistic religion utterly alien to the Catholic faith. His distinction between types of falls denies the uniform gravity of mortal sin. His concept of “hidden glory” denies the gratuitous, supernatural nature of sanctifying grace and the future, exclusive reality of the beatific vision. His silence on the Social Kingship of Christ, the sacrificial Mass, and the absolute necessity of the true hierarchical Church is a formal repudiation of pre-1958 dogma. This retreat is not a spiritual exercise for a Catholic prelate; it is a symptom of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place. The only appropriate response is total rejection and a return to the integral Catholic faith as it existed before the death of Pope Pius XII, the last true Vicar of Christ. The conciliar sect and its “bishops” and “popes” must be shunned as apostates leading souls to perdition.
Source:
Bishop Varden tells Vatican retreat: Not every fall ends in joy (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 26.02.2026