Jesus gave us a parable in which he compared the enemies of the Prophets and the enemies of himself to unjust laborers who have taken over the Lord’s vineyard, claiming the whole vintage for themselves.
Some picky-picky people have criticized this parable. They have asked why the owner was not more careful in choosing his laborers, and they have asked how could any laborers be crazy enough to try to get away with claiming everything.
The parable is more reasonable if one considers the Jewish Law governing the planting of vineyards. The Torah forbade planting two crops on the same land. It was seen to be vegetative adultery. However, since there were no grapes the first four years after planting the vines, during those years the Law allowed workmen to plant vegetables between the vines. The dispute in the parable was over whether the master or the laborers had a right to such produce.
Today the Church honors Pope Pius X, who riled from 1903 to 1914. He is a hero for conservative Catholics, condemning all the liberal views of his day.
Pope Pius X saw singing in church to be a function only for clerics, so he ruled against women singing in choirs. He called the theory of Evolution heretical. He rejected all scholarly research into the origin of the Bible Books. He had all priests take an oath against holding Modern ideas. In his Encyclical “Vehementer Vos” he declared the following.
The Church is essentially an unequal society, that is, it is a society
comprising two categories of persons, the Pastors and the flock. . .
so distinct are these categories that with the pastoral body alone
rests the necessary right and authority of promoting the end of
the society, and directing all its members toward that end; the
only duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, andlike a docile flock, to follow the pastors