The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

"Comparatio non est ratio"
(A comparison is not a reason)

December 20th, 2007

Ecce manus sacerdotis magni !

Well cyber space has been buzzing of late. On the one hand we have Bishop W. consigning Pope Benedict and all who follow him to "destruction".

Then a leading sede luminary is cranking out yet another denunciation of the "resisters" and why the Pope can't be the Pope and why to mention his name in the canon of the Mass is a terrible sin... (so much blather !)

To return to the former issue. Bishop Williamson uses a "comparison" in his piece excoriating Pope Benedict. This I found to be highly amusing since in 1993 he had me write a piece refuting Sedevacantism in order to defend the "resistance" position of the Society of St. Pius X. In the work (which is simply abysmal theology re-reading it years later) I use an analogy of an elevator in which I (stupidly) argue that Pope John Paul II could not teach error in a formal sense because like an elevator button which is disconnected, the elevator cannot be summoned. (I warned you it was terrible theology - the actual text is even worse !) As an irony I wrote this stupid comparison in imitation of Bp. W's style of writing where he always uses analogies and comparisons to "prove" his case when arguing a position. Anyway either because the comparison was pathetic (which it was) or because he failed to recognize the imitation of his own style, my paragraph elicited the hand-written remarks you see in red above.

All of which leads me to this text from Bp. W's latest:

The river is our swiftly passing life in this world. The men in mid-stream are the mass of its inhabitants, drifting blithely towards eternal damnation. The tree is the saving doctrine of Catholic Tradition, thrown out afresh to each age by the rope of the Magisterium. The first man represents Catholic Traditionalists. The second man represents Conciliar churchmen like Benedict XVI, who in their concern to reach modern man have untied their teaching from Tradition and tied it to themselves. But in this condition they can no longer rescue modern man, they can only perish with him.

The appealing side of Benedict XVI and his latest Encyclical is his evident and sincere desire to reach out to modern man by, for instance, his abandoning of the classic precision of concepts such as faith, hope and redemption (no less!), in order to “refresh” their content in a way meaningful to humanists today. However, such humanizing gravely foreshortens and distorts the Church’s divine doctrine. Immensely dangerous, to take just one example, is the strong suggestion (Section #46) that “the great majority of people” go to Purgatory, and so are saved. Our Lord said on the contrary, “Many are called but few are chosen” (Mt.XX,16), and “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat” (Mt.VII,13).

Holy Father, you are drifting to destruction, and you risk taking many souls with you. We pray for you ! Kyrie Eleison.

The problem lies in the last sentence and it is exactly the same error that the Sedes begin with in their theological meanderings... namely the Pope can lead the Church astray. Today I was consoled to read these words from Origen. I'll scan the book for you so no-one can suggest I'm making this stuff up. The title speaks for itself.

+TF

PS. Who're y'all gonna believe ?