SSPX Opens New Church, Not Everybody Is Happy

There is a particular kind of sneaky assault on others, which consists in reporting biased information from third parties as if they lent credibility to one’s own agenda.

Yes, some SSPX priests are under investigation. Hey, there are hundreds of them. Hey, we all know bad apples can be everywhere, even among the Apostles. Hey, we know the SSPX is fully collaborating with the authorities. It is no surprise that some news outlet will link the two events (the opening and the investigation), because “bad priest” sells a lot, particularly among leftists and assorted anti-Catholic folks. Everyone with some sense should understands that this is a cheap shot.

Also note, in the original article, that the reporting is not all biased. Together with the cheap, “bad priest sells” shot, you have phrases like

The Society of St. Pius X, [..] is attracting adherents from across the United States to the town of St. Marys,

This is high praise in my book. The average reader will actually gasp a little at the idea of people attracted from the United States to this organisation! If they are non-Catholics, they might actually think whether their “church” does the same!

And it goes on:

The Society of St. Pius X chapel in St. Marys doesn’t have enough room for the church’s members in St. Marys.

Some 4,000 people attend Masses that are offered on weekends. Latin Masses also are celebrated each day of the week.

So, 4,000 faithful attending every weekend, and the existing church cannot contain them anymore? And they are growing “attracting adherents from across the United States”!

Is this not the picture of a thriving organisation of true faithful?

But no, there must be some sneaky attack like this one:

 

You see? A third party is used to say what the poster actually want to do: “let us attack the SSPX using a news outlet, shall we?”

Alas, it did not work. These pesky Catholics keep being Catholic, instead of joining the Church Of The Holy Whig. How do they dare!

The replies were these ones:

 

All three very much on point, and two of them very funny, too. The attacks of the Church of the Holy Whig bring more donations to the local SSPX chapters, and heartfelt thanks of the great news of the SSPX continuing expansion and, obviously, vast financial prosperity!

Ouch!

God bless the SSPX.

Beat a platinum wig every day.

 

 

 

Of Useless Shepherds And Their Flocks

Corona Clown in action

 

I do not want to link to the hideous website, but it appears the Evil Clown has, semel in anno, said something quite right: a good shepherd is distinguished by his flock.

Quite so, Father Castro, quite so!

This is why the shepherds of the V II nuChurch have been steadily losing ground in all Western Countries, whilst the small but dedicated orders of Traditionalists (all of them, but particularly the heroic troops of the SSPX) keep thriving.

It is part and parcel of human nature to, in time, detect the phonies. It was, therefore, unavoidable – if very sad – that millions of people realised that the priest talking to them in a slightly too high-pitched on the Sunday was not a man of God, and could not give them the nourishment they wanted. The amount of people who have – sadly – abandoned the Catholic Church, or at least Catholic liturgy, by keeping a solid, if vitiated, faith – think of Sarah Palin, or Mike Pence – is a testimony to that.

In fact, I wonder how many of these people have abandoned their attendance to Catholic Mass simply in order to keep a faith they were afraid of losing; something, mind my words, very wrong from a theological standpoint, but very real from the vantage point of a poorly catechised Catholic.

Pope Francis can’t even get the people to see him as a tourist attraction in St Peter. He has failed even as a curiosity object and popular “moving landmark”. That he dares to make such comparison shows that he likely does not even read beforehand the homilies others write for him, or he would have asked that the subject be changed. Unless he is really so dumb that he does not understand what an indictment of his work his very words are.

In the meantime, the SSPX keeps thriving (sorry, Mr Voris: you lose), Francis keeps blabbering, and the faithful keep suffering. But the truth of the matter is this: that the bad shepherd will only be allowed to scatter their sheep as long as the Lord allow them to. in the end, not one sheep will be lost that is supposed to go back to the fold.

Francis’ diabolical hate for the Church is infinitely sad, but ultimately useless.

 

SSPX: What Is Going Horribly Wrong

Please follow this link and, among the documents therein contained, isolate and read (at least) these:

1. The one dated 7 April 2012 (Three Bishops to General Council).

2. The one dated 14 April 2012( General Council to Three Bishops) .

I have – not for the first time – read both documents and found myself – not for the first time – in full agreement with Fellay & Co.

However, I point out to the following. I will present this as a series of short points in an effort to make my thought linear and easy to digest in short pills. What I lose in prose I hope to gain in clarity and brevity.

1. You could have said that Ratzinger was sincerely interested in healing the riff with the SSPX. You cannot say that Bergoglio is sincerely interested in anything Catholic, at all.

2. This being the situation, mistrust toward any ouverture from the Vatican is more justified, and must be taken more seriously, than this was the case in 2012.

3. There can be no doubt that every agreement, every agreement at all which leads to a big fracture within the SSPX is not worth pursuing, as it is far more important that the SSPX remains a visible instrument of help to faithful Catholics in a time of crisis; a crisis which we see becoming deeper and deeper.

4. From what I can see up to now, the Vatican has laid no obvious traps. The independence of the Order is not threatened. The Order will maintain its own autonomy. The agreement seems to be no – legal – Trojan Horse.

5. However, Bishop Fellay's interview (about which I have written yesterday) indicates that a different price is being requested: the softening of tones against the Conciliar Church. This is extremely grave in light of the fact that this is most certainly not the time to soften any tone.

6. In turn, this softer attitude – now officially proclaimed by Bishop Fellay – reinforces the suspicion, certainly present inside the Society, that this embrace will prove deadly, albeit in several instalments. The recent removal of the eight French SSPX priests, though obviously connected to other controversies, does nothing to assuage the fear that some bullying not from Francis, but from the inside of the Society, in order to make it more agreeable to Francis and thus “deserving” of reconciliation, is in fact happening.

7. This is a destructive way to go at things. Archbishop Fellay should never put the reconciliation with the Vatican in front of the danger of a division within the SSPX. If he did so he would allow the enemies of Tradition to celebrate the tearing in two of the Society. Any reconciliation that causes such a bad outcome can most certainly wait for better times, when more orthodox Popes will allow a rapprochement in a different spirit and with far less divisions. No serious Catholic considers the SSPX one iota less Catholic without reconciliation. The reconciliation in itself is a lesser good than the continuation of the work of the SSPX in favour of tradition, her prestige and powerful voice speaking for orthodox Catholic in a time of heretical Popes.

8. Alternatively – and as others and myself have suggested in the past – a much better way is open to Bishop Fellay: a brutal defence of Catholic Truth, against the Pope and his minions, day in and day out. This would assuage fears that the SSPX is “going native”, which is the most important result. From this position of strength, every proposal of reconciliation – without any do ut des – could be discussed within the Society in a completely different atmosphere. And if, in consequence of this vigorous defence of Truth, no offer of reconciliation comes, so be it. This would be the obvious evidence that the reconciliation had only one aim: emasculate the SSPX and make of it a shark without teeth.

——-

Bishop Fellay undermines the very mission of the SSPX when he states that, in consideration of the process of reconciliation, the SSPX will get softer. He is doing the work of Francis. This attitude can only have as a result a self-imposed obligation to be either silent or very hushed in the denunciation of the thousand evils of the Church. Even if the authority and autonomy of the SSPX should remain complete and unchallenged, this attitude would still be tantamount to a half self-castration for the sake of… what exactly? The approval of the biggest rascal ever elected Pope?

Fellay 2017 seems much different to me from Fellay 2012. I do not trust the motives of anyone who, in the face of unprecedented attack on Christ, invites to be less incisive in its condemnation. The SSPX must go to war full scale against Francis and his heresies, and leave Francis with the choices of whether to play the “inclusive card” for his own motives (which he has, as he could claim a non-judgmental attitude towards both extremes of the spectrum) or go wherever he pleases, sharpish.

What is happening is, if you ask me, very wrong. I hope that this line does not prevail. It would cause immense damage to the cause of Traditionalism exactly in a time of emergency. I would prefer for Bishop Fellay to be made to go first.

M

 

Misericordia Et Misera: Controlled Explosion

The V II nuChurch was slowly beginning to come to terms with the fact that the SSPX is, erm, Catholic….

 

The Apostolic letter Misericordia et Misera was released today, and it did not contain the huge bomb of the regularisation of the SSPX. However, it still contained a controlled explosion: the Vatican recognises the sacramental validity of SSPX confessions beyond the Year of false Mercy and, this time sine die.

This is not huge, but it’s big. It seems clear to me that such a decision is clear indicator of a situation like the one I have tried to describe yesterday: the SSPX and the Vatican already have an agreement in the pocket and what is happening now is the preparation of the ground, the “framing” of the reconciliation in a big “Project Mercy” to be used by Francis as an alibi to pursue his heretical agenda. 

If this were not the case, it would be difficult to understand why Francis would not take this carrot (admitting for a moment the SSPX cares for it) away from the SSPX and send a message on the lines of: “I have given you something, but now it’s your turn to make a step towards me”. On the contrary, today’s announcement makes sense only if it is the prelude to bigger things to come. 

What has not happened is what I had considered, yesterday, also a possibility: that Francis is so scared of the dubia-Cardinals that he needs to push the button of the reconciliation now. This is clearly not the case. However, one can say that in this perspective it makes even more sense to wait for such an announcement around the time the cardinals do accuse him of heresy.

I think this development is 100% positive, at least from what we can see at the moment. The SSPX does not give an inch, but they get a lot of credit and credibility even among the V II movers and shakers, who will now have a great deal of difficulty in explaining to their V II-ing sheep what is, exactly, so wrong with an organisation by which everyone can go for Mass, Communion and Confession without even the Vatican having to say a word. If this is not a formal recognition, it is certainly an informal one, as the SSPX is now meant to have these faculties in permanence as opposed to a special concession limited in time. 

I am, personally, not interested in Francis recognising the SSPX, exactly as I am not interested in Francis beatifying Pius XII. I could not care less about what Francis says whether I can confess, make communion or (in hypothesis) marry in a SSPX chapel. But again, he is the Pope, and if the Pope says that you are right you don’t go to him and say that he is wrong in saying that you are right. You might as well say that two and two is five because Francis happens to say that it is four.

Let Francis concede to the SSPX all that he thinks useful to promote his agenda, and let faithful Catholics (starting from the same SSPX) oppose his obvious Modernism with the same energy with which they have done it up to now (I remind my readers that the only bishops openly accusing the Pope of being a Modernist through and through are, to date, the SSPX ones).

Francis’ little Spiel is obvious enough, nor can it be avoided.

But it does not mean that we should not make the most of it.

M

  

 

 

The SSPX Has No Vocation For Suicide

No vocation for suicide

As the last hours of awaiting begin, I would like to make some short considerations for my concerned readers (who might be many).

Firstly, the SSPX exists just in order to offer an alternative to the horrid developments of V II. The refusal of Archbishop Lefebvre to close his first seminary, which he was ordered to do in 1975, was obviously meant to have consequences. Archbishop Lefebvre knew it, and did it nevertheless. Not for one day in the history of the SSPX being in “full communion” has been more important than, or even equally important as, existing. 

Secondly, the idea that the SSPX would, on demand, simply walk toward the executioner, safe in the knowledge that at least (and at last) they will die in “full communion” is absurd. If it were so, it would have been the dumbest thing for several V II Popes not to have “recognised” them.

“Please come here, I want to slit your throat”.

“Certainly, Holy Father. How can I say ‘no’?”

Come on…

Thirdly, the SSPX does not exist primarily for you. It exists primarily for Christ. I cannot imagine that the majority of the SSPX priests (who, as we have been told, must approve the deal) will just say: “hhmmm, this is good for me; it certainly increases my chances of being bishop one day; yep, I will throw away all that I have been and thought up to now and sell the Society to the likes of Francis. Fidelity to Christ is overrated!”

Fourthly, these are people ready to accept suspension a divinis the day they were ordained. They think of the V II church even less than you do. The word “trust” does not exist in their vocabulary in conjunction with “V II Church”. Of course the society will officially talk of “trust”. This is standard diplomatic language. But they don’t trust either Francis or his successors one bit. As well they should.   

Fifthly, it’s not that the FFI treatment has escaped them. They would have been extremely mistrustful of any V II Pope even without the FFI episode. But this Francis here, they must know he is pure poison. 

I can only imagine one scenario in which things go wrong, and it is one in which the Vatican lawyers are smarter than the SPPX ones, and manage to arrange things in a way that screws them in a way they cannot even see. An improbable, but thinkable scenario.

As I have written in the past, the matter of who controls the assets is the real pivotal point. If the SSPX keeps controlling the assets they will be able to walk away from any order to – in any way, shape or form – comply, submit or disband in a moment. Archbishop Lefebvre could refuse to close the seminary exactly because the seminary belonged to the SSPX. He could go on with his own assets, his own churches, his own seminaries exactly because everything belonged to themselves.

Keep control of your name and assets and you will keep control of your destiny. Lose control of your name or assets and you will be forced to start from ground zero when the Vatican strikes.  And I wonder how many donors will give money to a new “SSPX Mk II” if they know everything will be transferred again to the Vatican by the next trap in which the SSPX priests stupidly fall. Again, this is an improbable scenario. I am sure the SSPX respects their donors more than that.  

We should now, as the Germans say, wait and drink tea. I do not think fear that the SSPX will willingly walk toward an executioner they know to be the worst pope in 700 years and one of the worst in the history of the Church is a rational attitude.

Pray, hope, and don’t worry. 

M    

SSPX: Provisional All-Clear

 

You will remember my corruptio optimi pessima blog post of only some days ago. The main issues there were the following: 

1. A bishop coming from outside and appointed from the Pope among a terna chosen by the SSPX
2. The possibility of this bishop to have sweeping powers concerning, inter alia, new admissions, with a huge danger of infiltration of V II elements. 
3. The ability of this bishop, which could be reasonably inferred from his extensive powers, to dispose of the assets as he sees fit, with the imaginable consequences. 

I had expressed, on that occasion, my hope that this turned out not to be so. Fortunately, it did turn out not to be so. 

Louie Verrecchio writes the following on his blog (emphasis mine): 

Just to make certain, I reached out to the District House of SSPX here in the U.S. for clarification and was informed that my understanding is correct; i.e., the terna – should it come to this – will not include anyone from outside of the Society.

Point 1. of the above is therefore out-of-the-way. There would be no infiltration even indirectly piloted from the Vatican. The breeze you’re noticing now is my sigh of relief. 

But what about points 2 and 3?

Here too, the excellent Mr Verrecchio comes to the rescue. 

I was cautioned to keep in mind that the proposed prelature, from the standpoint of the Society, is entirely contingent upon Rome accepting certain non-negotiable conditions; e.g., no doctrinal compromises will be made by the SSPX, and the Society must be entirely free to continue preaching and practicing as it always has.

Note the reference to “practicing”. If we read it together with the above we come back to what I touched upon in another post of mine, 

It appears the problem of who controls what, and what the powers of the Vatican after a possible “reconciliation” will be, has been recognised by the SSPX and is being dealt with accordingly: we do not trust you and we want to have total autonomy just as before, is the message. I read this yesterday, and it truly made my day.

In consideration of all this, I think it is fair to give a (provisional) all-clear. There will be other occasions to be worried, but sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Two (or four) words of conclusion. Why, some would ask, has your humble correspondent shot with the Great Bertha at the first sign of danger?

For the following reasons:

1. The words in themselves were alarming. The fact that it turned out that the words were actually wrong does not mean the alarm was not justified. The very words were there. 
2. This was compounded by other very alarming statements of the bishop: “[Francis] wants the good of tradition, he wants tradition to […] spread in the Church”. Really? This can be dismissed as some form of not very clever diplomacy now, but it could not be dismissed so easily then. It frankly had the smell of betrayal. 
3. The SSPX is the greatest bastion of Catholic orthodoxy remained. It is the beacon that will – God willing – lead a perverted Vatican back to the path of virtue. And Satan is obviously working against it. Allow me to take every signal that the smoke of Satan might be entering it extremely seriously, and to sound the alarm as loud as I can.
4. This blog has always believed reality must be seen as it is, instead of fabricating a parallel world to accommodate our illusions. If I see that the SSPX might be giving up, how many times I have said they will never do so it’s irrelevant. If I smell betrayal, I will tell you so. It does not matter how dear the SSPX is to me or to you. Truth first. 

Well, this is it then. You can sleep at night again.

For now. 

M

 

 

SSPX: Another “Soon, Soon!” Moment?

 

 

Cardinal Mueller – extremely silent concerning Amoris Laetitia, but extremely chatty concerning the SSPX – has given an interview stating that no, the SSPX will not be allowed to “reconcile” without offering to the gods of Vatican II.

My forecast? That's it, folks.

Mind, I do not think this development bad. Whilst I do not think that the SSPX should refuse a “reconciliation” that is simply given to them – and that requires neither doctrinal concessions nor the endangerment of their autonomy – I am also not eagerly awaiting, either. To every sound Catholic the SSPX must surely appear more Catholic than the Vatican, and therefore in no need of any reconciliation. It it falls on their lap, so much the better. If it doesn't, amen to that, too.

However, the Yogurt Offensive means that Francis would have to go, if he really wants the reconciliation, against his theologian in chief. Now, Francis is certainly ready to walk all over his Cardinal when he wants to be blasphemous and heretical. I very much doubt he will even eat a bit of yogurt in order to promote a Catholic organisation which, whilst certainly feared, represents all that he hates.

Far more probable is that Francis had another “soon, soon!” moment, sending signals he would do something he had never intention to deliver, but trying to look good in the process.

How are these people called? Oh yes…

Jesuits.

Enjoy the SSPX's wonderful moral and doctrinal integrity. Thank the Lord everyday for this precious gift. Do not be worried whether this “recognition” comes or not.

We do not get our doctrinal teaching from yogurt cans, but from the bimillenarian teachings of Holy Mother Church.

M

 

“What We Are Hearing Today Is Unbelievable, Unheard Of!”

Behold a true Bishop!

 

 

Bishop Fellay has given a sermon on occasion of the opening of a new church (V II nincompoop bishops are all busy in managing decline; meanwhile, the SSPX thrives). 

The sermon is interesting for several reasons, and I might write more than one blog post on it. Here, let us reflect on this phrase: 

[…] even a pope is now saying unbelievable things on morality and trying to tell us that sin is the state of grace – what we are hearing today is unbelievable, unheard of! [..]

The Bishop is here making the point that we must not give up on the Church and plunge into that pit of self-righteous arrogance called Sedevacantism. But the way he makes his point is telling: he chooses to level an extremely strong criticism at Pope Francis and Amoris Laetitia even as Francis is clearly trying to have them if not as friends, at least as silent adversaries.

Not going to happen. The SSPX will keep the course, and whatever the Vatican wants to unilaterally concede to them (or better said: whatever truths the Vatican decides to finally live with) it will not move the SSPX to become silent in their criticism of all that is wrong.

Also note that Francis’ antics are taken as the epitome of what is wrong with the Church. The Bishop could have used a different example. He could have recalled the corruption of past ages. He could have generically criticised V II. But no: he chose to point his finger exactly in the direction of Pope Francis.

Admittedly, this isn’t as beautiful as the image of the Pope making a hole on the bottom of the Barque, and I think the latter will stick when this sermon is long forgotten. But it goes to show that the SSPX will not be mollified by any cajolery coming from the Vatican.

Francis fears the Society. They do not fear him. It’s as simple as that.  

M   

 

 

SSPX Saturday

The Remnant Will Be Strong

The SSPX, The Confessional And The New Mass 

Ecclesia Supplet

The Athanasius Question

By All Means, Attend Mass At An SSPX Chapel!

 

Stay Calm And Trust The Society

With great surprise I read around that some bloggers are afraid that the SSPX may deliver themselves to their executioner in order to… Well I don't even know: to be allowed by Francis to listen to confessions, which they do anyway and ever did anyway?

Do not be afraid and sleep soundly. I know we live in times of widespread betrayal and mass flight of supposed faithful pastors, but it is utterly unrealistic to think that this would apply to the SSPX, too.

Let us see why.

1. These are people ready to be excommunicated the day of their consecration. Everyone of them. They don't look to me like the ones eager to get the approval of a lewd heretic. They look to me, actually, like pretty tough guys.

2. Fellay told some years ago (when there was the provisional agreement with Ecclesia Dei, reneged by Benedict at the eleventh hour) that any deal with the Vatican would have to be approved by the majority of the SSPX priests. Therefore, even if you do not trust Fellay (very wrongly, I add) you can sleep soundly.

3. The SSPX has enough financial support to finance a massive growth, and their seminaries attract enough candidates to fuel this growth. The Society goes on like clockwork. If they were in dire financial straits one might understand a degree of fear; but they are in rude health both spiritually and financially.

4. Every SSPX priest has certainly been told, and has present at all times, the duplicitous attempts to neutralised them perpetrated by JP II and Benedict. That they would trust, of all people, Francis is simply beyond belief. Within the SSPX there is a culture of deep mistrust in the Vatican hierarchy. You can't undo such a situation so easily if you are a saintly Pope who is a friend of truth and tradition, much less if you are a dirty old man with a satanical attraction for Judas' character.

5. The treatment or the FFI must have opened the eyes even of those, say, three Pollyannas within the SSPX ready to trust Francis. But three seems a big number to me.

6. Two words: Amoris Laetitia.

No. The SSPX simply delivering themselves to a V II pope's mercy is just not going to happen.

What can happen, however, is that the Vatican surrenders unconditionally to their requests, creating a situation of de facto “pacific convivence”. We are pretty much there, in fact, when you think that Francis has just decided – as largely expected – to extend sine die the faculties of the SSPX to listen to confessions. This certainly authorises to think that the SSPX will keep doing their thing and the Vatican will simply look the other way, with nothing more than a mild meow of disagreement for their refusal of V II.

Stay calm and trust the Society.

They aren't the guys to be conned by a simpleton like Francis, or by any V II pope come to that.

M

 

Smelling A Rat

Bishop Fellay has met the Evil Clown himself. This is if not historic, certainly important. Methinks, one of the two might be happening.

1) Francis, who is afraid of the damage serious Catholics like the SSPX can do to him, is preparing a reconciliation, which might well look like a simple unconditional surrender: “keep doing your own thing in your own way. You're in full communion. Nothing else changes”. Not very likely, but possible. Upside for Francis: he keeps his most dangerous opponents if not quiet, at least on better terms. Upside for the Society: no compromises and, obviously, no delivering themselves to their executioner. Francis isn't a theoretical man, and he doesn't care for principles of any sort. If there's a pope who can say “who cares, it's expedient, let's do it” it's him.

2) A huge bomb is about to explode on the 8 Aprl. Francis is preparing the defence with 360 degrees “mercy” credentials. “Why do you complain for adulterers receiving communion? I also allow the SSPX priests to validly hear confessions! You see? The “peripheries” are sooo important to me!”.

We will have to wait some more days.

As it is, I smell a big rat. But then again to me hearing from Francis and smelling a rat go together like the well-known horse and carriage.

M

 

The Remnant Will Be Strong

Deo gratias...

Twelve SSPX seminarians take the cassock (one of the steps towards priesthood) in France. Further nine do so in Germany.

It is difficult not to be impress by the numbers, or pleased at what they mean.

It is not only that the Traditionalist plant is strong. It is, more tellingly, that these young seminarians know that they are choosing to be priests in a much different environment that it was thinkable only one decade ago. To them, persecution is more than a vague possibility. It is, if things continue to go on this way, a factual certainty.

And yet, God inspires them to give their lives to Him, uncaring of consequences, and very probably the more motivated because of them.

The good tree gives good fruits. What is Francis' tree producing besides a fluffy new world religion, environ-mentalism, socialist kindergarten talk and illegal Muslim immigration?

As the corrupted mainstream V II withers and dies, the remnant grows strong and ready to give battle.

In your charity, consider saying your rosary of today for these brave souls.

M

 

The SSPX, The Confessional And The New Mass

 

 

You really should (I mean, I cannot force you to; but I encourage you to see this as a must) head to father Z and read the beautiful exchange he had with a SSPX priest about not only the Mass, but the V II Sacraments in general.

(Now I will patiently wait a couple of minutes until you have read all of it…)

I allow myself to notice the following:

1. The SSPX speaks, very boldly, for the entire Society. And says, very boldly, that strange “attending the new Mass is a sin” talk is not the SSPX line, and would have caused a frightful shampoo even in the “old bad days”, when certain elements were still around. 

Yours truly remarks that this has always been his position, too, and the way he has always understood the SSPX’s position; and that the occasional unfortunate, or very unfortunate, remarks coming from some corners of the SSPX must be read cum grano salis, and put in the context of an organisation that feels, not without reason, under siege by those who should defend the common faith. Besides, there is no denying until some years ago there were elements within the SSPX that were pushing a Rome=evil agenda, which is also not the SSPX position and sounds very Protestant to me. Whilst there is a lot of evil in Rome, it’s not Satan’s HQ, nor will it ever be.    

2. The Novus Ordo mass is certainly valid, and it is certainly not a sin to attend it; but the entire “Spirit of V II” that goes with it – and which influences both the way the Mass is celebrated, and the way the priest steers his congregation – is such that it puts souls in danger, as (this is mine), they get exposed to a Kindergarten Mass together with Worse Than Kindergarten Theology, and the results are in front of all of us. Yours truly feels, in a word, vindicated from the accusation of “not caring enough for truth” raining on him every time he says to his readers that whilst it is much preferable to attend a TLM if they can, the NO Mass is certainly valid and they are not exempted from mass obligation merely because the priest is an idiot of dubious virility. 

3. The SSPX recognises all of the other Sacraments, too. This means – shocking! – that they even recognise absolutions given by Jesuits!    

All of the above must, as always, be read with a brain. It does not mean that the SSPX recognises the validity of a NO mass in which such abuses take place, that it is legitimate to doubt that the mass is valid. But your garden variety NO Mass is valid.

You will, however, notice this: that a conservative V II priest and a SSPX priest are, undoubtedly, both united on the same side; and whilst they might differ on a couple of issues, they recognise this reality in the same way as they recognise the distance separating both of them from heterodox or utterly heretical priests, bishops and cardinals. 

The NO is not invalid, nor is it evil. But when the Church goes back to sanity, the NO will most certainly go.  

M

 

 

Ecclesia Supplet

Most of my readers are certainly familiar with the concept of supplied jurisdiction, so I will waste time on this. I would like, however, to make some considerations for the “legalist” crowd.

So, you think the SSPX has no supplied jurisdiction, and any confession or marriage celebrated by them is not valid. Why would you, then, go to confession by them after the 8 December and for around one year afterwards? Why would you go to confession to people you consider abusing their priestly role by doing things they are explicitly not allowed to do, and even deceiving the sheep about the validity of their confession or their marriage?

Apart from very rare, rather extreme examples, in which I believe the SSPX priest has jurisdiction even for the Vatican (say: man about to die, no Novus Ordo priest around for the Last Rites) the answer can only be one: because they are so beautifully, authentically Catholic.

Which, truly, answers the question about the supplied jurisdiction once and for all. These are perfectly Catholic priests doing nothing else than perfect (ahem, almost perfect if you ask me) Catholic work. There can be no doubt on their being 100% orthodox. There can be no doubt on their obedience to ecclesiastical authority whenever this does not contravene to a higher loyalty, the one to God. There can be no doubt the metre with which the SSPX measures this higher loyalty is nothing else that Catholic tradition in its purest form, as opposed to the orgy of Neomodernism (or worse) en vogue in Rome.

How can you, therefore, say that these disobedient people are your example of Catholicism, which is, in the end, obedience to the Lord? Are they being obedient to the Lord? Then they most certainly have supplied jurisdiction. Are they not obedient to the Lord? Then you should not approach them during the Year of False Mercy.

Ecclesia Supplet. When a Catholic is not allowed by his bishop or his Pope to do the Catholic thing, he does it nevertheless, with many greetings to the Pope or bishop. Athanasius did it, Eusebius did it, and Marcel also did it. I am pretty sure many others simple priests found themselves in similar situations and did the right thing, particularly during the Arian troubles, because I can't imagine that there weren't many priests ready to say exactly this: Ecclesia supplet. If you are a truly Catholic priests, and your bishop tells you that you must recite a different Creed at Mass – because some of the pewsitters might be offended by the old one – you know exactly what directions you will give to him, and that's that.

The SSPX have supplied jurisdiction, or they haven't. If they have, you certainly don't need Francis to tell you what they can or cannot do. If they cannot they are at least disobedient and probably gravely sinful people, and then you should avoid them anyway.

M

 

The Athanasius Question

Athanasius was excommunicated. He continued his job, uncaring. More than that – and something I seldom read about – he and St. Eusebius started appointing bishops of their own, again ignoring the Pope. The bishops they appointed – and I read about that seldom, too – were not bishop without territorial jurisdiction, like the SSPX one. They were bishops in charge of a diocese all right. Nor can it be said that in that world of difficult communications the Pope might not have had control of certain territories. Firstly, it is poppycock (communications in the Roman Empire were, like all the rest, stunningly efficient), secondly it is neither here nor there, because the fact remains that Athanasius and Eusebius clearly appointed those bishops without caring a bit of what the Pope thought about it. He could approve them if he wanted to. If he did not like them, though luck.

To make a modern comparison, it is as if the SSPX appointed the new archbishop of Chicago without either asking or caring for what Francis says, and the Catholic faithful of Chicago accepted this appointment as a matter of course, fully uncaring of Francis’ more or less sensible thought on the matter.

Let us, then, now pose the “Athanasius question”: did those Bishops have jurisdiction? Could they hear confession, administer the Last Rites, marry their sheep? And could the priests appointed by them do the same?

If yes, why? If not, why not?

It is very tricky, the Athanasius question. There is no doubt whatever Athanasius was a Lefebvre on steroids. There is also no doubt there was no precedent for the situation in which Athanasius found himself, whilst the SSPX has the shining example and illuminating precedent of… Athanasius. We know as a fact that Athanasius refused to obey to the point of incurring excommunication, did not recant after receiving it, appointed bishops of his own, and really did not care what Patheos would have said.

Therefore, if you follow modern mainstream V II conservatism Athanasius and his brave men had no jurisdiction, those sacraments were not valid, etc. If, however, we accept the principle that when those at the top behave like heretics the tough Catholics begin to play then we must apply the same reasoning to the 100%, 2k years-certified SSPX.

There is no doubt in my mind that the second applies. Every now and then, the Church loses her mind from the very top. It is then the task of a handful of very tough Catholics to simply keep doing what they have always done, safe in the certainty of their orthodoxy because… they do what Catholics have always done. There is no better guarantee of orthodoxy, and no better litmus test of Catholicism.

Athanasius did not know when sanity would come back. Nor did he ever care. He kept doing the Catholic thing and if the entire world derides him, so be it. Athanasius knew he might have to die in the middle of rampant, apparently triumphant heresy. He did not care for that, either.

Truth is truth. How many people refuse to follow the truth is ultimately irrelevant. If the Pope sabotages the truth, then he will be punished more harshly unless he repents, but sabotage it still is.

Truth is truth. It does not depend of from the rank of those who spread lies.

So: Athanasius disobeyed to the Pope. What say you? Athanasius appointed bishops, and bishops with territorial competence, fully ignoring the Pope. Schism? Athanasius decided to disobey and to die, if needs be, excommunicated for being (far) more Catholic than the Pope. What is the difference with Archbishop Lefebvre?

Why, why all those semi-conservative legalists apply all their clerical rigidity to Archbishop Lefebvre, and forget all of it when they speak of Athanasius? Was Athanasius schismatic in the moment, and Catholic only after victory? Or was he, as logic commands, 100% Catholic all the time?

The Athanasius question cannot be easily avoided. It stares at us straight in the face every time we compare Athanasius’ “disobedience” to Lefebvre’s. It has no other answer than this: no heresy can be acceptable because it’s promoted or protected or encouraged from the very Pope, and those who defend orthodoxy are right even when the pope excommunicates them.

In times of great turmoil, God sends us great men.

Thank God for Athanasius, and for Archbishop Lefebvre.

M

 

 

By All Means, Attend Mass At An SSPX Chapel!

So, should we attend a SSPX Mass? Most people (even conservative ones) say “no”. Other people say “of course”. I personally say “by all means, but paying attention it does not lead you culpably go down the wrong path”.

The short, but already meaningful history of this little effort shows than not a few are the cases of people who start attending a TLM – which can easily be in a SSPX chapel – and after a while throw away the child with the bath water and become either Sedevacantists or so venomous against the Church that one does not understand what their understanding of Catholicism is.

I cannot – in the same way as Bishop Schneider – detect any area in which the SSPX are not Catholic. It is, therefore, a mystery to me how this previously unknown concept of “imperfect communion” may work. The SSPX are as Catholic as they come, and infinitely more Catholic than the Pope – as every good Catholic is, by the way – and they merely refuse obedience to the pope on matters in which a sound Catholic has always been entitled to refuse obedience. You can’t be half pregnant, and you can’t be in imperfect communion. Most of all, you can’t be something that never existed before, and the fruit of a verbal gymnastics invented after V II to describe someone who does not want to give in to Neo-Modernism (or outright Modernism) when the hierarchy in Rome does just that.

By all means, go to a SSPX mass if you can. Only pay attention, if you want my advice, that this does not create in you a siege mentality, according to which only a little moat separates the SSPX from the Whore of Babylon.

I find it a useful experience to also attend at NO Mass. It teaches me obedience. It tells me that the Church is my mother even when she nourishes me badly, and at times seems to hate me. It helps me to avoid the moat thinking, and the siege obsession. It reminds me that horrible as her state may be, this organisation that celebrates these NO Masses all over the world is, in fact, the Only Church; and I prefer to bring this kind of sacrifice as a penance rather than run the risk of slowly persuading myself I am too good for the Mass the Church gives me.

By all means, attend Mass at an SSPX Chapel. But do not think that there are too churches, of which the Vatican is the wrong one. There is only one Church, and he who does not see that the SSPX is 100% part of it probably cannot be helped anymore.

M

 

Clarifications

And it came to pass Bishop Schneider gave a wonderful interview to the Spanish version of Rorate Caeli, stating that the SSPX are not in any schism whatsoever, praising their orthodoxy and wishing that they were brought again (I use Vatican terminology here) in “full communion”. Your humble correspondent reported.

After which, Michael Voris embarrassed himself once again with a series of “improvements” of the Bishop's thoughts. The manipulations and misrepresentations were painful to behold. Your humble correspondent ignored them, and so should you. Spend your time on Rorate, not on Voris' outlet.

Now Bishop Schneider has addressed Michael Voris with a very dry clarification on Voris' misrepresentation of his interview. There are no open criticisms and no emotional tones in the Bishop's answers, but as they say, intelligenti pauca.

Now, if Voris were one of the many wannabe “c”atholic incompetent hacks who go around writing rubbish about Catholicism (or about me) I would, life being too short for hacks, simply ignore the whole thing. But the problem here is that Voris is – and there is no doubt about this in my mind – a good and sincere Catholic soul who has been led on the wrong path, if you ask me, on three issues: the matter of criticism of the Pope, the position of the SSPX, and the shameful attacks to great Catholic writers – and true Catholic men – like Vennari, Ferrara, Matt, and Verrecchio. A great shame, because the man has heart and talent, and he is wasting his credibility away.

I understand Voris has his set opinions on a couple of matters, as I have mine. Reasonable people will also be able to disagree in matters that have no sure answer in the history of the Church. The situation of the SSPX (sidelined for being pure Catholics as the Vatican smears itself with Protestant thinking) and of the actual papacy (too atrocious for words, and absolutely unprecedented in 2,000 years of Church history) are two rather obvious points in case. But when Voris looks at the matter coolly, he will see that he has misrepresented a bishop in a way that moved this bishop to correct him in a very decided way. All this, because his emotional investment in the jihad against the SSPX has now gone out of control, and the man just can't think straight whenever the issue is touched.

I wish Voris would stop embarrassing himself, and free himself from the influence of horrible priests and misleading, if very probably good intentioned, donors. If an interview of a bishop goes against his grain he can, in my eyes, do one of the two: openly criticise the bishop, or simply ignore the matter. He does the first all the time with the other bishops, and he does the second all the time with the pope. Therefore, it should not have been too difficult.

A great pity. We have a very sincere Catholic soul here, misled by people he should do without.

M

 

SSPX: Nothing New Under The Sun

It astonishes me how, time and again, people read imminent good news in “business as usual” announcements.

Bishop Fellay (may the Lord protect him always) has given an interview, and he has stated within it a lot of things we knew already:

-The SSPX is healthy and strong. She is, I add myself, very rich. Long may it last.

– Many within the Vatican truly like the Society (hint: that's because they are honest-to-God Catholics), and Bishop Schneider and Cardinal Brandmueller are only the most recent examples. Many others do not, because they are of the devil or very, very stupid.

– The followers of Williamson have proved a limited group of nutcases; it is good to have lost them.

-We are “on the eve of important events that we cannot yet define”. What this means is everyone's guess. I think it means “we might have to call for the deposition of this pope in October, and we have many bishops and cardinals on our side already”. But the truth is: I do not know. To interpret this statement as the announcement of a reconciliation would be, in my eyes, reckless, because that event we could define extremely well.

Summa summarum: there's nothing explosive, or even new, in the Bishop's interview. Whilst repetita iuvant, we knew all already. The sibylline statement at the end could be a veiled threat to Francis to very much pay attention to what he does or not, as the case may be. We don't know.

What I personally know is that I am so glad that the Society exists.

M

 

SSPX: Curb Your Enthusiasm

There is a lot of talk about the “recognition” of the SSPX as a Catholic organisation from the Argentinian Government, and with the obvious help of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. Personally, everything seems very straightforward to me, and nothing to get anyone excited.

Bring a Catholic, non-profit organisation obviously gives a legal status in Argentina. Whether it is about tax treatment, or the issuing of visas, or who knows how many other things, being recognised as Catholic has a bearing on your legal status as seen by the Argentinian Government.

The SSPX would obviously never say “we aren't Catholic”. Just as obviously, no archdiocese which does not want to cause a huge uproar – and big trouble with the Vatican, very possibly – would say to the Argentinian Government “they aren't Catholic”. Besides, I imagine that rules of Catholic decency and common courtesy do not allow for this kind of under-the-beltline bickering.

Result? The Archdiocese says to the Argentinian Government “why, we have internal disagreements; but of course, of course they're Catholics”.

Again, I would not want to be the Archbishop who has to explain to the Catholic Press why the SSPX are allegedly “not Catholic”. He would lose face before he loses the argument.

Therefore, the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires has done the only thing it could reasonably expected to do: confirm the reality on the ground.

Of course this is no canonical recognition, something that is nothing to do with how a Government sees you. Of course the SSPX is not now the obedient subject of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. What has simply happened is that the Archdiocese has had the common sense of recognising the reality on the ground: the SSPX is a Catholic organisation, and not less so because of unresolved issues.

There's nothing more than this, I think. It all seems very straightforward. Nothing very exciting has happened.

Unless it be this: that those outlets – not the Vatican – who described the SSPX as schismatic might have some explaining to do. But the latter weren't much fazed by facts beforehand, and will not be swayed by this further occasion for a reality check now.

The SSPX is Catholic. Dogs bark. The sun goes up on the East.

M

SSPX: Hopes Of Agreement Are Not Realistic

Every time a bishop or Cardinal meets some representative of the SSPX or visits one of their seminaries hopes are rekindled that a reconciliation might be in the cards. I consider these hopes unrealistic.

The differences between the SSPX and the Vatican are fundamental ones. Let us see the issues in detail:

1) The SSPX will never (niemals; jamais; mai e poi mai) accept to dilute a proper understanding of Catholicism by accepting the polluting elements of V II as a legitimate part of Church teaching.

2) The Vatican side has no interest in opening to them the doors of what they call “full communion”, and leave the SSPX free to criticise them from a position of full legitimacy.

3) The SSPX will never accept loss of autonomy, and the risk of ending up like the FFI. Not with this Pope, not with the next Pope, not with any of their successors even remotely stinking of V II.

Therefore, what is the only thinkable scenario of an agreement? It is Francis deciding that the best way to show “openness” and “mercy” is to open the doors wide to the SSPX without any request whatsoever, in the hope that the SSPX will moderate its criticism after so unexpected a gift and that his Traditionalist critics will suddenly hail him as the new Pius XII.

Not going to happen, say I.

Favours to the SSPX are not of the kind that can be done without consequences. Encourage Trannyism, and your fan base will applaud you until there’s no skin left on their hands. But just tell the world the SSPX is a 100% orthodox, fully Catholic, A-OK organisation and the very people whose approval you have tried to win so hard will be seeking your blood. For Francis there is no realistic upside in a reconciliation.

The “talks” between the SSPX and the Vatican continue in an “informal” setting, because years of formal, very accurate theological discussions have shown that the differences are irreconcilable. It is what it is, and wishing that these differences may magically disappear is not going to have any effect.

Bar Francis’ stupidest self-goal ever, there will be no reconciliation. But not even Francis is so thick that he thinks a reconciliation with the SSPX would consolidate his image as the “Mercy Pope”. Even if he – absurdly – really were so thick, countless people around him would dissuade him from such a harakiri.

It’s not going to happen.

Frankly, I am not sad at all. The SSPX is perfectly fine where they are now. They do not need any validation from Francis. It is the job of every Catholic to educate themselves and recognise why the present situation has come into existence, who is at fault for it, and how it will be made to end. It is not the job of the SSPX to compromise with the Depositum Fidei and the liturgical richness of the Church so that a couple of vaguely conservative Catholics may feel better with themselves.

The real goal is not the reconciliation of the SSPX with the Vatican. It’s the end of the V II drunkenness.

M

“Schismgate”: John Vennari Replies To Michael Voris On “Schism”, “Reactionaries” And “Francisvacantism”

I have very recently reported about Mr Louie Verrecchio’s reply to Michael Voris’ attacks to the SSPX and the “Reactionary” Catholics.

Today I am very pleased to inform you of another brilliant reply from John Vennari, of CFN. This reply comes in two videos. The first video deals with the accusation of “Schism” levelled at the SSPX by Voris, and the second deals with the methods employed by Voris and the mixing of the argument of “Pope is not validly a Pope” with the legitimate grievances of sound Traditionalism.

The videos are fairly short, totaling less than 20 minutes together. They are a beautiful integration to what has been already said on the matter. The first one gives more and very convincing arguments against the abstruse claim of Schism, and the second shreds some light on the media methods of Mr Voris besides bringing clarity in the matter of “Francisvacantism”.

Enjoy the show.

 

 

 

 

Calling All Church Historians

Just as a way of I do not want to say “preparation for the worse”, but rather “exploration of our past”, I would be very grateful for credible sources and links concerning what exactly happened during (not after) the Pontificates of Popes like Liberius, Honorius, Formosus, or John XXII. 

Let me explain: though we all know that Liberius lost face and Honorius was declared heretic in the end, and after their death, that Formosus was also rather spectacularly condemned after death, and that John XXII renounced to his error the day before he died, I am rather curious to know more about the day-to-day dealing of the clergy and the the faithful when these Popes were still alive and in power. 

Take John XXII. 

Chappy goes around saying that there is no beatific Vision before the Universal Judgment. He says he is minded to proclaim this as dogma. His attempt is thwarted (methinks, some Dominican managed to let the stake appear to him a very real possibility; but that’s just me…) and he renounces to the proclamation of the dogma; but at this point, the world still has a Pope who is as officially heretical as can be; a formal heretic so attached to his error as to continue to defend it for almost the rest of his life in front of the brutal opposition of his own Church; one whose theology denies all the edifice of the Communion of saints, make a good part of the Mass senseless, et cetera, and still keeps saying he is right and Church Tradition and Mass are wrong.

How did the bishops deal with him? Did they deny him obedience in everything? Or only in that which pertained directly to his heretical thinking? If he issued encyclical letters, what value did they have? I know that the Sea was not declared vacant in the proper sense (say: with the large majority of Cardinals and Bishops declaring the Sea empty for manifest and persistent heresy; this is, in my understanding, the concept that St. Robert Bellarmine developed later), but do we know of bishops and cardinals who simply declared that they would deny obedience to such a Pope, without denying that he is Pope? What happens of the cardinals and bishops appointed by a Pope in manifest heresy? What of his letters, bulls, etc? What of his administrative orders, disciplinary measures,and such? They may be changed, of course. But were they valid?

It’s even more complicated for Formosus; because whilst we – AFAIK – know that many of his administrative acts were declared at least formally invalid after his death – I have little doubt many will have been validated by his successor anyway – there is a thick fog as to what  happened whilst Formosus was alive and in charge. Formosus remained Pope for around five years. This is a long, long time for the wrong kind of Pope. But then again it would appear the Sea was not declared vacant: not during his Pontificate, and not even retroactively after his condemnation in the famous “Cadaver Synod”. May his acts have been annulled, this does not make a Pontificate null. Nor does it answer the question whether his acts were obeyed at the time they were issued.

If Francis throws himself and the Church (or better: those member of her who will be reckless enough to follow him) in the abyss of blasphemy and heresy, it will be very important to have clear historical coordinates about what exactly happened in the past in at least comparable circumstances.

Ideally, from places like the SSPX a clear guidance should come before hand: how to behave in scenarios a, b, or c; what conditions must exactly be fulfilled for the Sea to be declared vacant; in which ways the SSPX would examine the matter and make it public, etc.

Mind, not only I do not think in the least that the Sedevacantist position is justified as I write this. I do not even think that Francis will ever be so stupid as to push things in that direction, because as I have already written it seems to me that when he had to show if he has the balls to plunge the Church into chaos he showed no balls whatsoever, but abundant Jesuitism instead.

But it is true that we are at the brink of a precipice, irrespective of how optimistic we may be concerning vast sectors of the Church ever falling into it.

 

I am grateful for usable historical material.

What times are we living in.

Ah? Uh? No? 

Mundabor 

Vatican-SSPX: Let’s Play

Concerning the matter in the title, I beg not to be counted among the optimists. I do not believe in the least that any sincere reconciliation effort will come from the Vatican. If any rapprochement were to be seen, it would probably only be aimed at dividing the SSPX, as already seen in 2011.

Still: it shall be allowed, I hope, to play a bit. Let us imagine, them, what would be reasonable and acceptable to the right side.

The principle that what the Church has always held stays, and that the SSPX has the right to refuse strange novelties, is too banal to merit discussion. The principle that in whatever V II documents have declared that is in harmony with Truth cannot be logically denied is also too banal to waste time on it. The fact that V II was a merely pastoral Council is also an undisputable fact for every sound Catholic.

The problem is, if you ask me, another: control. The Vatican might want to attract the SSPX in a mortal embrace, and they might even be ready to make concessions for this. But the SSPX will – I am sure of this – not accept any agreement that puts them at the mercy of the V II Church. Not with Benedict as Pope, much less with Francis.

Therefore, the issue, and the litmus test of the Vatican's honesty in any agreement, will be that of independence.

Own seminaries, own finances, complete freedom from episcopal interference, and – as unavoidable consequence – complete freedom to criticise Pope Francis and V II left, right and centre. Nothing else would be acceptable, nothing less should be accepted, and nothing else will.

Unacceptable for the Vatican? So be it. Profitable in the longer term, or just the Catholic thing to do? Welcome.

In theory, there would be an upside for Francis: the “mercy” rhetoric and the “inclusiveness” propaganda, and the personal satisfaction of having “succeeded” where Benedict failed. In practice, it will never happen: those who hate Catholicism, that is, Francis' audience and applauding public, would turn against him faster than you can say “Ricca”, and the myth of the revolutionary Pope would die a fast but horribly painful death, without making him more popular among true blue Catholics in the least. A heretic remains a heretic even if he embraces a saint.

Back to the issue of acceptable compromise, it is clear there can be no compromises on what is not negotiable (the issues of the Liturgy, of religious freedom, etc). It is also clear it would be suicide – an act Fellay or his would never commit – to deliver themselves to the mercy of V II Popes, who would – this, or the next, or the following one – subject the SSPX to the FFI treatment.

This, I think, is the inescapable frame of any serious discussion, or lack thereof.

Of course, the SSPX would not maintain that all of VII was evil. V II was a modernist mixture of truth and lie, and one can't deny the truth just because the Devil says it. Rather, the SSPX will maintain that everything that is not truth must be expunged from the teaching and the praxis of the Church; and that V II was, as a whole, the work of the devil in its mentality and inspiration, which both must be expunged from the Church, too.

Will, or should, the SSPX demand that the Vatican goes back to sanity before accepting reconciliation? Of course not. If the work of the SSPX can go on in exactly the same way, to refuse a freely offered reconciliation would be tantamount to elevating the SSPX to a parallel church, of which the Vatican is not worthy. It would be like refusing the blessing of a priest because one does not like the priest. One may despise the man, but one will still recognise the office.

This is, I think, the only possible frame of a reconciliation. At the same time, this is why the reconciliation will not work as long as The Most Astonishing Hypocrite In Church History (TMAHICH) is in power.

Even a “gratuitous” exercise of “mercy” would be too expensive for the Vatican.

They know perfectly well how mercilessly the same people would attack them, who are now the beneficiaries of the fake “mercy” they peddle around.

M

Curb Your Enthusiasm

And it came to pass the SSPX announced – after leaks in a French blog – that there will be an informal meeting between Bishop Fellay and Cardinal Müller in the Vatican.

I am, personally, unable to see that anything at all may come out of it. In my eyes, this is nothing more than an informal meeting asked by Müller because of the job he occupies; nothing more, nothing less.

It is not realistic to think a man who does not even get what “ever Virgin” means will seek a rapprochement to the Society; particularly after the harsh words he spoke in the past.

It is also not realistic to think that Müller may try to intimidate the SSPX into submission with the threat of declaring them “schismatics”, or “Martians”, or “Blue Elephants”, or the like. Fellay would eat him for breakfast, and no sound Catholics will believe the SSPX are Blue Elephants, Martians, or Schismatics, whatever rubbish Müller may, in hypothesis, declare.

The positions are, as we all know, even more distant now that a clown is running the show in the Vatican. Mistrust runs deep on both side. The SSPX has no interest whatever in showing itself an accomplice of the clown, and they have already branded him in strong enough terms.

Nor have we had signs of a devilish offensive of the Unholy Father against them. Francis is weak with the strong, and does not look for conflicts. He never picked a fight with the SSPX in Buenos Aires, it's not clear to me why he would want to pick it now. He would be ridiculed and exposed as utterly and completely incompetent. He would have nothing to gain as the leftist, socialist, dissenting side is already supporting him. There is no upside.

Therefore, I think that nothing will happen.

Tea and scones, rather; “touching base”; a friendly meeting between opposing sides like countless of them happen in diplomatic circles.

In order for anything in this matter to change we need for the Pope, the CDF and the entire Vatican attitude to change.

The SSPX will, for sure, not change in the least.

M

 

Bishop Williamson Spreads Some Rumours.

In one of his eleison editorials, (it's number 355; no independent link) Bishop Williamson states that the Vatican is thinking of doing what, in fact, Benedict should have done in 2012: recognise the full legitimacy of the Society without any condition or demand.

The statement seems absurd, and it probably is. One simply struggles to see why the Bishop of Rome would do something like that, and at the same time persecute the FFI. Yes, Francis might try to spin this as a move toward “inclusiveness”, particularly if he plans something very scandalous on the other side of orthodoxy, like paving the way for sacrilegious communion. A way to, so to speak, try to make everyone happy and show he is the Saint Protector of Absolutely Everyone: Atheists, Muslims, Jews, Heretics, Sodomites, even Catholics.

One could think he might make such a move, but let us reflect: is this the way he has operated up to now?

No. What he has done up to now has been consistently belittling, insulting or persecuting decent Catholics whilst he panders to the emotional needs of all kind of wrong people, who in turn build his personality cult. Why would he change direction now? Has there been a scandal too big for him, short of officially overturning Church teaching? Does he think if he gives the SSPX a “certificate of conformity” they will stop their rather ferocious, if always respectful, criticism of him? Has he been persecuting the FFI for, basically, no reason at all? Is he not afraid that this might backfire mightily, destroying the image of liberal icon he has been building for himself?

No, I cannot see this working. Rather, it seems to me that the Bishop is receiving third-hand rumours from sympathisers within the SSPX, and that he tries to make the argument of how little orthodox the SSPX must be, if Francis is even thinking of receiving them into his ample, inclusive, Catholicism-free bosom.

Don't believe the rumours.

Believe the facts.

Mundabor

 

More SSPX Wisdom

As a salutary antidote to the orgy of V II celebration, you may consider this reblog.

The reflections of this good SSPX priest are as ruthless as they are calm and reasonable.

Mundabor

Francis: Generous Only With The Wrong Crowd

Only the friend of the wrong ones: Francis, the Bishop of Rome.

 

 

Pat Archbold has written a blog post, then removed from the NCR website, about Francis and the SSPX. 

The American Catholic noticed the fact, and reposted the article’s best part. Mr Archbold also has it on his other blog.  I will repost it the best bit in its entirety. Emphasis mine.

I have great concern that without the all the generosity that faith allows by the leaders of the Church, that this separation, this wound on the Church, will become permanent. In fact, without such generosity, I fully expect it. Such permanent separation and feeling of marginalization will likely separate more souls than just those currently associated with the SSPX.   I have also come to believe that Pope Francis’ is exactly the right Pope to do it. In his address to the evangelicals, he makes clear his real concern for unity.   So here is what I am asking. I ask the Pope to apply that wide generosity to the SSPX and to normalize relations and their standing within the Church. I am asking the Pope to do this even without the total agreement on the Second Vatican Council. Whatever their disagreements, surely this can be worked out over time with the SSPX firmly implanted in the Church. I think that the Church needs to be more generous toward unity than to insist upon dogmatic adherence to the interpretation of a non-dogmatic council. The issues are real, but they must be worked out with our brothers at home and not with a locked door.   Further, Pope Francis’ commitment to the aims of the Second Vatican Council is unquestioned. Were he to be generous in such a way, nobody would ever interpret it to be a rejection of the Council. How could it be? This perception may not have been the case in the last pontificate. Pope Francis is uniquely suited to this magnanimous moment.

In fact, it beggars belief that a man who does not hesitate in calling a Proddie wannabe bishop “brother bishop” in a frenzy of heretical, possibly tipsy, grappa-fueled generosity would not run to extend to the SSPX a tiny and perfectly orthodox fraction of the same compassion  by simply understanding how infinitely nearer the SSPX are to any Catholic than the deluded heretics he tirelessly cajoles. Yes, of course such a “compassion loving” Bishop of Rome should extend his compassion to perfectly orthodox Catholics first. It should really go without saying. 

Alas, the brutal truth is that Francis only has one enemy, and they are orthodox Catholics. These are the only ones who get mocked and insulted in every possible and impossible way. Everyone else, from atheists to Proddies to subversive nuns, get away with pretty much everything, and he will actually berate rosary-counting Traditionalists in the very presence of those nuns he encourages not to pay too much attention to what the CDF says to them. 

Now, it remains to wonder why the NCR has removed the blog post.

If you ask me, it is because with his invitation to extend to the right crowd the generosity he lavishly extends to the wrong one, Mr Archbold unwittingly highlights the hypocrisy and the heretical madness of this pontificate. He does not say so of course, and I am rather sure he does not even want to say so. But this is the logical consequence of a continued inaction toward real orthodox Catholics, even as Francis abandons himself to every kind of heretical talk and senseless waffle every time an Iphone is in the vicinity.

The dismal state of Catholicism in this XXI can be perfectly seen from the fact that we have a tango-loving clown as Pope, and 90% to 95% of Catholics either cheer him, or have no problem at all with his antics, or do not dare to think he might be wrong because they are afraid of what the consequences of that would be for their very badly formed Catholicism.  

We are being punished. Deservedly so, of course.

Mundabor   

 

 

 

The Little Guide To Sound Catholicism

Santo subito! Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

I have received a message from a reader; she laudably realises her Catholicism has been polluted by V II rubbish, and asks me for suggestions to create a good and sound Catholic foundation.

I would personally tackle the matter in two phases: the foundation itself and those texts particularly devoted to the distortions and trouble of the V II theology reaching its implosion in these decades under our very eyes. This would give a very solid knowledge of where we are as opposed to where we should be. Of course, from there the journey can go pretty much everywhere, as by God’s grace we now have an immensely vast choice of traditional books on the Internet.

Firstly, though, a recommendation:the one to buy good Catholic apps if one has a smartphone or a tablet. I go as far as to say that the Catholic apps available are, in fact, reason enough to buy one of those devices if one hasn’t done so already. Similarly, the purchase of a tablet and the download of a Kindle app will allow one to save the money for the Kindle device if one does not read for many hours on end.

For the first phase, I suggest the following:

1. Throw away your JP II catechism. No, I really mean throw it away. Whilst generally orthodox, it has questionable phrasing and suggestive, covertly accommodating theology on several issues (see baptism and salvation). The Abbé de Nantes found it heretical in twelve points.

Let me repeat it: throw it away. You can thank me later. For the sake of clarity, the compendium appeared in 2005 (Ratzinger’s) is fine, and the Abbé de Nantes himself recognised none of the twelve heretical points of the “Schoenborn” catechism were therein contained.

2. Catholic apps (like Ipieta, a must!) or electronic books or, in case, print allow one to easily access the following:

A. Penny Catechism.

This is the ideal text to start from scratch in redoing one’s thinking. You can buy it on the Internet for a pittance, probably on apps too. He who masters the Penny Catechism is way in front of 90% of V II priests, and can already teach Francis the basics. Already the Penny Catechism shames our inglorious Bishop of Rome page by page. You compare it and Francis’ uninterrupted, obscene waffle and understand they are on two different planets already.

B. Baltimore Catechisms

There are three of them in growing order of difficulty, plus a fourth which is the third with commentary. The first three are on Ipieta, which also has a number of other old catechisms and even the Compendium. The purchase of Ipieta is, again, invaluable. A wealth of Catholic wisdom of all sorts always with you! Don’t delay, buy today! I doubt I will read in a lifetime the hundreds of text therein contained. Seriously, Ipieta is not a weapon, but an entire arsenal of Catholicism.

If one has already digested the Penny Catechism, I suggest to go directly to Baltimore III. There is no real need for a commentary (which a I found very good, though) as the Baltimore Catechisms are of exemplary clarity but still accessible for everyone.

When one has these two well assimilated, he is already equipped to properly interpret every antic of Francis and see the magnitude of this man’s – and of many V II priests’ – confusion.

C. Other catechisms.

Again, IPieta has a nice choice. The catechism of St. Pius the X is wonderful but as far as I know there are no official English translations. I found the Italian text online, and it’s as good as you expect. But in general I would say there’s no need to have many catechisms: pick a sound one, and absorb its content well.

At this point, I would proceed with some texts aiming at a specific comparison between “old” and “new”: the 2000 years of tradition and the 50 years (and counting) of drunken madness.

I mention here only some fundamental works, which will be reading enough:

1. Iota unum

The printed edition is expensive but I found it well worth the expense. SSPX Asia have a free electronic version on their site. You may check if it is available as electronic book. My copy is invaluable, and to me one of those “desert island books”.

2. “The Catechism of the Crisis in the Church””

This is not a catechism, but a SSPX publication, available on kindle. In general, absolutely everything one can read from the SSPX is wonderful and above suspicion, albeit I do allow myself – like many others among their supporters – to attend the V II mass. There were long discussions about this, so please refrain from starting a new one. Back to the matter at hand, this book is an excellent comparison between timeless truth and convenient accommodation or outright lie. Obligatory reading, if you ask me, for the aspiring Traditionalist.

3. One Hundred Years of Modernism

This is another SSPX book, also available on Kindle. It explains – giving a sound philosophical introduction – how the cancer of Modernism found its way in the organism of the Church. Not easy subject matter – it will help a lot if you have studied philosophy at school or university – but explained with exemplary clarity. If you are not trained in philosophy, this will require some work, but the reward will be rich.

4. Life of Christ

This is in my eyes the most glorious of Fulton Sheen’s books. A joy to read and re-read. Archbishop Sheen packs his book with so many sound and easy to understand explanations of Catholic teaching that this book can be considered a kind of subsidiary catechism in itself. I have the paper version, I think it is also on Kindle now. This book is also a formidable weapon to address the remarks of sceptics and infidels.

5. “Life Everlasting” & any Garrigou-Lagrange Book. 

Well, any of them at a more advanced level. I have read four: “Reality”, “Predestination”, “Providence” and “Life Everlasting”.

The first three are more complicated, and the first two of them require either a philosophical foundation or the willingness to plow through it page by page. The fourth is a very good integration to a Catechism in matters of salvation and damnation, and it is written in a much more accessible way than the other three books.

The list could go on, but I think the sources mentioned provide already a more than solid ground, and if properly absorbed would put one well in the front row of the Army of Christ, at least as far as weaponry is concerned.

Two things to conclude:

1. Buy Ipieta.

2. Always pay attention to catechesis texts, even if before Vatican II. I once bought on Kindle a book from a chap called Karl Adam without knowing who he was, merely browsing Kindle for pre-V II theologians. Utter rubbish, I tell you. Again, I could immediately see it was rubbish because once you have the fundamentals down well, you will be able to smell the smoke from pretty far away.

So, that was that then, and again for a first plunge in sound Catholicism it is more than enough. It must be clear that infinite other choices are thinkable, this is just one possible path among very many.

The most beautiful effect of being grounded solidly in Truth (wretched sinners as we all are, of course) is that no antics of this or that stupid bishop, drunken Cardinal or diva Pope will ever confuse you again.

I have stated in the past, and repeat here, that Truth is as hard, and as beautiful, as a diamond. Once you have mastered the use of the diamond (and you need not be an expert theologian for that; nowadays most of them seem to lose their faith anyway; just be prayerful and sincerely desirous to know the a Truth and submit to it, and to live it as well as you can) you will be able to cut through every Modernist or Zeno-Modernist rubbish in no time.

Have fun.

And buy IPieta.

Mundabor

2014 SSPX Rosary Crusade: Keep Calm, And Count Your Rosaries.

Beato Angelico, “Madonna and Child”

The SSPX has now released the anticipated details about the 2014 Rosary Crusade.

All details here.

I will not repeat the very useful and complete information you will find on the site. Still, please note the following: 

1. As Francis invites you not to pray by rote, and ridicules those who count rosaries, it is the more important we react to this devotional barbarism by increasing our efforts not only to pray the Rosary, but to reestablish Tradition.  

2. From the site:

The three-fold object of this Rosary Crusade for the good of the entire Catholic Church is:

• To implore from the Immaculate Heart of Mary a special protection for the traditional apostolate;

• For the return to Tradition within the Church;

• For the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the consecration of Russia.

The insertion of the consecration of Russia will certainly be welcome to many of us, and might persuade the one or the other to join this crusade who are not the best fans of the SSPX.

3. The tally and reporting have been made as easy as possible, with several formats that can be used for the purpose, and with the possibility to send only one tally by email in June.

The aim is 5 million rosaries. Just think: all that rosary counting!

This is more than enough to let the heart of a good Catholic rejoice.

Keep calm, and count your rosaries.

Mundabor

 

SSPX: New Rosary Crusade

The SSPX will launch a new Rosary Crusade on 1  January.

Details here, with many thanks to the reader Elizabeth.

Other details will hopefully follow as to the participation of the laity (I’d love to enroll, though I do not live in the US).

Also please look at the other beautiful initiative of the pilgrimage of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. 

 

I look at the SSPX and Francis, and I have not the slightest doubt about who could teach Catholicism to the other.

Mundabor