The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Just How Out of Touch With Reality is the SSPX ?

Schmidberger has the answer...

December 29th, 2005

Recently I took a heavy side-swipe at Bishop Williamson's latest intervention in the reunification debate of the SSPX and Rome. At a recent book-signing in Rome Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais was more than a little upstaged by the former superior general of the Society of St Pius X. Tissier was in Rome to plug the Italian version of his mammoth and extremely well-researched biography of Archbishop Lefebvre. Schmidberger was with him. At the press conference to launch the new book, reporters seemed more interested in asking questions about the latest developments between the Society and Rome. Schmidberger fielded those questions.... (Tissier did manage to sign a lot of books by the way - a whopping 130 copies - all destined for the curial cardinals no doubt, Castrillon was yet to receive his from Fellay !)

The audience with the pope

Father Schmidberger: "Benedict XVI is an affable man who radiates a certain spirituality. The contacts are good, but the pope is certainly a man of the council, and as such is attached to the points which we question. The difficulties are not human but truly doctrinal.

Nice words of "faint praise" (we know what that means). Problem: "the pope is certainly a man of the council". The Pope recently suggested that the Council was part of Catholic Tradition. I can see why he would be a "man of the council". In his meeting with Fellay, the Pope also suggested that to be Catholic one had to be people "of the Council". As I recall from Dogmatic Theology the Pope is the guardian of the Deposit of Faith - or has the See of Rome been recently translated to Menzingen or Econe ? Like the Mormons has the Society of St Pius X had another "revelation" ?

The council

Father Schmidberger: "Gaudium et Spes" contradicts the Syllabus, we choose the Syllabus.

There is indeed an apparent contradiction between these documents but the words: "we choose the Syllabus" are the clearest indication of a Protestant mentality I have ever seen in the SSPX. We choose ? I thought the Catholic mentality was I profess or I believe ! The words of St Augustine spring to mind: "I would not believe in the Gospel if I were not moved to it by the authority of the Catholic Church" (Ego vero Evangelio non crederem, nisi me catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret auctoritas). Again we wonder where the Pope resides, Rome or Menzingen ?

Ecumenism

Father Schmidberger: "The other religions – which I distinguish from their members – are false doctrines. There is as great danger that their members be prevented from knowing Christ. And yet everyone has a right to know the truth. When the pope meets the other religions, he should remind them of the three conditions mentioned by Saint Peter for the salvation of souls: to repent from one’s own sins, to believe in Christ, and to be baptized.

The Pope has several times recalled that we live in an age of doctrinal relativism. He did this in his address before the conclave:

"How many winds of doctrine we have known in these last decades, how many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought? The small boat of thought of many Christians has often remained agitated by the waves, tossed from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, etc."

He went on:

"Every day new sects are born and we see realized what St. Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error (cf. Ephesians 4:14). To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of "doctrine," seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the "I" and its whims as the ultimate measure."

And he proposed a solution:

"We have another measure: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. "Adult" is not a faith that follows the waves in fashion and the latest novelty. Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth. We must mature in this adult faith; we must lead the flock of Christ to this faith. And this faith, the only faith, creates unity and takes place in charity."

On December 22nd in an address to the curial cardinals he raised similar concerns:

"The Church itself is conscious that it is fully in sync with the teachings of Jesus (cf Mt, 22: 21), the Church of the early martyrs, and with all the martyrs.

Although the early Church dutifully prayed for emperors and political leaders as a matter of fact (cf 1 Tm, 2: 2), it refused to worship them and thus rejected the state religion.

In dying for their faith in the one God revealed in Jesus Christ, the martyrs of the early Church also died on behalf of freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one's own religion. (...) The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic both before and after the Council, throughout time. It "presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until He comes"

The mess in the Church is 40 years old - is this Pope supposed to wave a wand and it will all go away as if by magic ?

The new rite

Father Schmidberger: "We do not demand the abolition of the conciliar Mass at first. With the liberalization of the Tridentine Mass, the conciliar Mass will disappear of itself. The Mass of Paul VI was made with six Protestant pastors, and so it is not Catholic. The pope may have the Church adopt reforms of the liturgical rite, but he cannot go against Catholic Tradition".

This is where Schmidberger is most totally out of touch with reality. "We do not demand....at first." What a nerve these people have ! Effectively a drop in the ocean as far as Baptized Catholics are concerned and with all the recent media hype about a possible SSPX reunion now the former head-cheese demands but not at first the abolition of the conciliar Mass. Two whole generations have grown up with this Mass. It is clear that Schmidberger like most in the SSPX would act like a bull in a china shop if they got their way with things. The Novus Ordo was rammed down the throats of unsuspecting lay-people with disastrous consequences and he would repeat the failed experiment of Paul VI in reverse ? Where is the pastoral acumen of these people ? A very sensitive approach to the question is called for. It is absolutely unconscionable that such a slavish return to pre-Vatican II days is possible.

On top of this the claim that Paul VI's Mass is "not Catholic". I am sure this will be well-received in Rome. Ottaviani's Intervention seems more concerned with the Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum which promulgated the Novus Ordo (which contained ambiguous Protestant phrases capable of a Protestant interpretation) than with the actual text of the Ordo.

This interview taken in conjunction with Bishop Williamson's "internet interview" shows a high degree of paranoia and total lack of pastoral appreciation for the Pope's current predicament. He has a mess on his hands and off the wall statements like these do nothing to make the situation any better. Archbishop Lefebvre used to say of Traditionalists that we are the Pope's most loyal subjects by remaining faithful to Tradition. All of this behavior seems like a collective attempt to deliver a kick in the papal rump ! If this be the case such an attitude is very unhelpful for all concerned.

+TF