Supernature Abhors a Vacuum

A reader writes:

Your latest entry dealt with the list, and I very much enjoyed that, as I
came across the dreaded faith-shaking list the other day.

I was wondering if you could answer a question I've had for a while.

Where does the idea of Infant Dedication come from? It could easily be
added to that Protestant Inventions list you had there. I thought maybe
with your background you may have an inkling.

Basically it comes from the same process whereby All Saint's day is banished as pagan or unbiblical or whatnot by an early generation of Protestants, and then Evangelicals slowly feel their way back to the hole left by the banishment and decide to fill it with something. I chronicle this process here.

Similar processes occur when babies are forbidden baptism: their parent still feel the healthy desire to hand them over to the grace of God and so, dedication ceremonies get invented to fill the void left by the expulsion of the sacrament. Mortal and venial sin are banished--and then rediscovered as "stumbling" and "acksliding". Evangelicals are, to their credit, constantly discovering Catholic truths. That's because they care about reality and Catholic teaching describes reality. So they keep bumping into it and not realziing what it is.