"There's something wrong with the Church..."

A video clip featuring Bishop Fellay of the SSPX...what's not to like?

H/T to California Latin Mass

Yes, I do know that there are difficulties between Rome and Econe but, can you honestly say that +Bernard Fellay is a raging heretic or schismatic?

I have met this man.

He epitomises saintliness. I attended a Mass that he celebrated and I received the Blessed Sacrament from him.

He also, incidentally, consecrated a chalice for my family chapel.

I approached him before Mass with the request (at the time we had a small chapel in Pembrokeshire, where we said a 'dry' mass most Sundays and then had a real Mass whenever a priest came to stay).

Bishop Fellay was most suspicious, wary, I guess, of anything dodgy in the way of sedevacantism or the demonic.

He gave me a thorough interrogation; this was not going to be easy.

"Why are you having Mass in a private chapel?"

"Why do you not attend a normal Latin Mass?"

"Who is this priest who comes to say Mass for you?"

Eventually he said: "Come back and see me after Mass, I will give the matter some thought"

He walked off with my precious chalice in his hands.

And, when I went to the sacristy after Mass he told me that he was prepared to consecrate the chalice. Phew!

But first, he had to write out an attestation of consecration - in Latin - fluently and without thinking, as if it were his first language.

A fragment of Catholic history - Bishop Fellay's note of consecration
for a chalice

I am not, by choice an SSPX follower.
25 years ago they were the only option for a traditional Catholic family living hundreds of miles from the bright city lights.

The Society carries it's own agenda of problematical issues, foremost of which, is the puritanical attitude of some of their priests.

But, can you really fault them?

If you stood one SSPX priest alongside one of our OF only priests you might be shocked at the physical distinction, let alone the spiritual.

The Society priests bear the mark of the cross and it shows in their faces and in their demeanour and, who knows, before long we might all be beating a path to their door.

Bishop Williamson and the savage art of backstabbing

Over the past twenty odd years, Bishop Williamson has spoken out on many subjects and, at times, there have been brief sound bites coming from him that have sounded so logical and reasonable that I have had to pinch myself back to the reality that this man is a scoundrel.

When the "excommunications" were first announced I  vividly recall his phraseology:
"They will remember the True Church when the tanks begin to roll across the border, when the fire and brimstone begins to fall, they will all remember the one true Church". 

That is a pretty fair approximation.

At the time (and it was a very dark time, for those of us in Wales it was SSPX or nothing) I thought Williamson was the voice of the turtle but, as it transpires, I was wrong.

He is the voice of the turncoat, the traitor. Yet, there is something in his style of speaking that, just for a fragment of a second, can mesmerise you and transport you to....the Lord knows where.

Hitler and Mussolini must have had this sort or oratory power; a power that could sweep you off your feet and lead you to perdition if you were not careful.

It is the sort of power that one might think of as having some more sinister force behind it.

A year or so ago I heard Bishop Williamson give a sermon at a Mass in Wimbledon and quietly walked out afterwards, it was repugnant to remain in the same room as the man.

And now, this Bishop has turned against his Superior, his leader of twenty one years standing. Here is a video of the Bishop in Hamlet like mode, apparently talking to himself.........

Do not be fooled by this apparent off the cuff soliloquy, it is carefully crafted, even to the extent of being filmed in simple kitchen like surroundings ("He's a straightforward fellow with the common touch" is the tack he's on).

This clip displays the Bishop at his very cinematic best: calm, slightly worried and saddened at the crack in the SSPX foundations and then.....he does the Brutus on a good and saintly man, Bishop Fellay.

I know that Bishop Fellay can be slow to take action against his own but it is truly time that he upturns the glass on Bishop Williamson and boots him out of the door. H/T to Fr Z.

ON ANOTHER NOTE: Could I please ask for your prayers for Fr Patrick Keenan ODC., who is being operated upon for cancer. Fr Keenan now resides in Dublin but, some years ago, in Somerset, he received my wife into the Church for which I will be eternally grateful.

Last bus for the SSPX three!

All aboard for the Vatican!


The last bus for Rome is about to leave and the three SSPX Bishops who are having difficulty in signing up to Bishop Fellay's joint plan with the CDF need to make up their minds, pronto! Or the Holy Father will make up their minds for them.

It is a cause for sorrow that the Society is verging on a split but there is at least one Bishop whose loss will not be mourned.

Father Paul Morgan, Superior of the British District of the Society, has been reported as being "disappointed" (we presume at the 'breakdown') of the talks; and there is speculation that he will lead the British District away from the table. 

It may be distasteful to discuss the issue of property and goods, rather like relatives gathering around a much loved family member in their final moments and dividing up the spoil before there is even a corpse, but, in this instance, it could be a matter of spiritual life or death for many Catholic families who, at present, legitimately attend SSPX Masses but for whom, lies an uncertain future.

Who will inherit the family silver?

Not Fr Morgan and his group, surely? They are really tenants for the Swiss HQ of the Society.

If this is the case then, assuming that Rome and Econe are as one, Bishop Fellay will have to despatch squads of his priests to assume control over Bristol, Wimbledon, London and all other SSPX Mass centres.

And Fr Morgan and co will have to do the other thing.

One thing is certain, it will not be a happy situation. For all of those concerned.

Maybe we should all go down on our knees to the Saint whose feast it is tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd May).....it is...of course.....St Rita..........Patron of Hopeless Causes.