The dialogue of the Church with the world of which today we hear so much talk, can never be that of two people speaking to each other on a plane of parity, in whatever way one thinks of the world. The first things that are striking in the encounter between the Church and the world is the transcendence of the Church and her irreducibility. … The result of this is that the encounter between the Church and the world can never be like two friendly companions who begin a dialogue as equals, on a summer night, under the trees in a public garden. The only authentic and saving encounter of the Church with the world is that of the Confessors without stain, of the inflexible Doctors, of the faithful Virgins and of the invincible Martyrs, covered in the red tunic colored by the blood of the Lamb. … We must separate ourselves from the world when we are not able to do as the world wishes without offending Christ.
— Fr. Roger-Thomas Calmel, O.P. (1914-1975);
h/t to Rorate Cæli.
