Back in 1878, Roman Catholic prelate John Henry Newman wrote: “Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon - worship to an evangelical use,... the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class. ”
न्यूमैन ने आगे कहा कि पवित्र जल, पादरीय परिधान, और मूर्तियाँ “सभी ग़ैर - मसीही मूल से थे, और उन्हें गिरजों में अपनाए जाने के द्वारा पवित्र बनाया गया है । ”