........then surely we can accommodate the SSPX!
Don't get me wrong (especially any members of the Ordinariate flock who may have strayed to this blog inadvertently) - I believe that the moves made by the Holy Father have been both welcome and wise and it is a matter of some considerable joy that we are now "one".
But, for heaven's sake, if we can accommodate vicars and laity from the Anglican faith, we must surely be able to reach an agreement with our own?
After all, is the Society's stance so very different from the one that many thousands of Catholics made in the wake of Vatican II?
To "leave" the modern Mass and only attend the "Mass of all Time?"
Is the Society totally divorced from the martyrs of England and Wales who gave their lives for the sake of the Latin Mass (in essence?)
It is not the SSPX that has drifted so much as the modern Church.
It is the Church that is out of step and the Holy Father is working hard to bring it into line, hampered, as always, by the Vaticanistas who have a somewhat different agenda.
While there is continuing opposition to the Latin Mass by the Bishops they appear to have no difficulty in sliding the Syro-Malabar rite under our noses, or providing Mass in Tagalog or Mandarin......so one must wonder whether their motives are for good or for evil.
I have no doubt that it's the latter.
Prayers are needed to bring this negotiation process to a clean and successful conclusion.
Don't get me wrong (especially any members of the Ordinariate flock who may have strayed to this blog inadvertently) - I believe that the moves made by the Holy Father have been both welcome and wise and it is a matter of some considerable joy that we are now "one".
But, for heaven's sake, if we can accommodate vicars and laity from the Anglican faith, we must surely be able to reach an agreement with our own?
After all, is the Society's stance so very different from the one that many thousands of Catholics made in the wake of Vatican II?
To "leave" the modern Mass and only attend the "Mass of all Time?"
Is the Society totally divorced from the martyrs of England and Wales who gave their lives for the sake of the Latin Mass (in essence?)
It is not the SSPX that has drifted so much as the modern Church.
 |
| Just who is out of step in this picture. The officer or the troops behind? |
It is the Church that is out of step and the Holy Father is working hard to bring it into line, hampered, as always, by the Vaticanistas who have a somewhat different agenda.
While there is continuing opposition to the Latin Mass by the Bishops they appear to have no difficulty in sliding the Syro-Malabar rite under our noses, or providing Mass in Tagalog or Mandarin......so one must wonder whether their motives are for good or for evil.
I have no doubt that it's the latter.
Prayers are needed to bring this negotiation process to a clean and successful conclusion.
Richard,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your sentiments entirely-the SSPX should be welcome on board the Barque of Peter with open arms as has our Separated Brethren! It has been SSPX who have been keeping the torch of Catholic Orthodoxy and Tradition burning all these years also! However, regardless of the speculations abounding at the moment let us redouble our prayers for a fruitful, speedy and successful outcome-and leave the rest to the judgement of the Church and to the Court of Final Arbitrator Almighty God.
God Bless,
Michael.
It is with increasing gloom that I have been reading the exchange of letters among the senior members of the SSPX. It's not looking good.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the first leak appears to be from those dissenting from the efforts of Fellay, one wonders in whose interest it was to do that.
It wouldn't surprise me if there are forces at work within the Vatican indulging in black propaganda to keep the SSPX on the margins.
Is it so fanciful to imagine that there are insiders who have been communicating secretly with each of the dissenting bishops in order to play to their individual fears and prejudices, thus to divide and rule?
From what I see and read of Bishop Fellay, he would be a man to be feared by the liberal Vaticanistas, not least because the SSPX would be strongly allied with the Pope.
Those of us who have been shunned by the liberal consensus have longed for the regularisation of the SSPX. One can only keep praying that the Holy Ghost will pierce hearts and mind with grace and wisdom.
I second what Genty has just said, and merely add that the problem currently appears not to be in Rome but with those in the SSPX who would reject this regularisation for the various reasons they have so clearly stated.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I can only agree with you in your hopes and prayers for a successful negotiation, there is a difference between those Anglicans entering the Church and the SSPX. There is no doubt that the Anglicans have had to accept every jot and tittle of Catholic teaching including Vatican II. There is no doubt that they have had to accept the living Magisterium of the Church. Simply, they have submitted to the authority of the Church whatever practices they have been allowed to keep. There is a doubt (how real that doubt is I leave to those competent to judge) whether the SSPX is willing to do the same. I pray that they (or at least most of them) are. It would be a wonderful strengthening of the Church.
ReplyDeleteEvery time we hear of the Eucharist being "dished out" by Tracy from Asda, or of another Assissi outrage it gives voice to Sedevacantist nutters, as well as driving decent Catholics away from their Faith. What a to do!
ReplyDeleteAs one who has had a long association with SSPX I feel able to comment upon recent developments. I attended Holy Mass offered by Priests of the Society up to the time of the Motu Propio at which time the Institute of Christ The King began to offer Mass within traveling distance which I now attend. I have retained links with many of the laity who still adhere to SSPX and still receive their UK news letters. I have long felt that Bishop Williamson has a strong power base in this country particularly amongst the more senior clergy of the Society as well as amongst certain elements of the laity who have no wish to return to the fold at any price. I suspect that the leak of private correspondence may well have originated on these shores and be a last ditch attempt to further an agenda which is greatly at variance with that of Bishop Fellay and other senior members of SSPX. I firmly believe that the whole Church owes a great debt to His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and that he would be fully supportive of Bishop Fellay in his attempts to bring the Society home.
ReplyDelete