A distinction can be made between white and black propaganda. White propaganda is basically an informercial. You know someone is trying to sell you something and that they are going to spin the presentation in the interests of their sale. Black propaganda, on the other hand, is false information from a source that pretends to be friendly but is actually hostile.
Leave it to the traditionalists to exploit Christmas for their anticonciliar views. At least no one can fault them in this for a lack of transparency.
Bishop Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X promulgated a Christmas pastoral that impresses upon the faithful why the mystery of Christmas reveals to us the evils of the Second Vatican Council. Merry Christmas everyone!
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The King of peace, Rex pacificus. Here we would like to elaborate somewhat on this truth, which is so to speak at the heart of the crisis that is shaking the Church and affects the relations of the Society of St. Pius X with the Holy See.
Indeed, it seems to us that the basis for the current problem can be summed up as a loss of faith in the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! Of course many people protest that they believe that Jesus is God, but very few are ready to draw the practical consequences of that truth which will manifest itself in the sight of the whole world at the end of time.
…Our Lord is the Head of the Church. But since He willed that His Church should be visible, after His ascension into heaven, He gave her a visible head, who is His Vicar on earth, Peter and his successors…. To him alone did Our Lord give the power to feed the sheep and the lambs, he alone has full, sovereign, and immediate authority over each and every member of the Church. That is why the Church has always proclaimed herself to be a monarchy, governed by one man. Certainly, the human character of government makes it quite understandable to seek counsel and the advice of wise persons, but a form of democracy imported into the Church by collegiality and by the parliamentary parody of bishops’ conferences allows all sorts of abuses and subjects to group pressure the decrees of Divine Law that declare that each diocese has only one head, the bishop of the locality.
Authority today is seriously shaken, not only outside, through the litigation of secular leaders who claim a share in government, but also within the Church, through the addition of a number of councils and commissions which, in today’s atmosphere, prevent the just exercise of the authority delegated by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The really unfortunate thing is that these kinds of ideas are gaining currency among those who are ostensibly “regular” and openly supportive of the present occupant of the Chair of St. Peter, as though Pope Benedict’s hermeneutic of continuity was a question rather than an answer. Collegiality is anathema to the traditionalists because theirs is an elitist way of life in which the few have control over every aspect of the lives of the many. ”Who cares what the pope or an ecumenical council says if it does not confirm our airtight system of ideas?”
It is funny how everything, and I mean everything, points to the same conclusion, that the poor plebs in the pews should have more trust in Bishop Fellay than they should in Pope Benedict. Aren’t you amazed that this little kernel of gold was hidden in the manger of Bethlehem?
It was news to me too.
Filed under: Catholicism, Church, Religion Tagged: Benedict XVI, Bishop Fellay, Hermeneutic of Continuity, Traditionalists 
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Bravo Father! It may shock them to hear it, but elitists/traddies are relativists masquerading, perhaps even in their own minds, as those with the only key to objective truth.
They don’t even see the irony in promoting the idea of the Pope as the single point of accountability in the Church…….except when he promulgates an idea with which they disagree.
Vatican II was an agreement of the entire Church, including the Vicar of Christ, and has been supported as such by each succeeding Pope. To suggest differently is an amazing feat of coming to the conclusion before beginning the reasoning process. So much for objectivity!
How much damage Satan is causing among the Shepherds of Holy Mother Church….
May the hearts of Jesus and Mary be consoled.
It has taken me 3 days to respond to this post. Air Maria has been my home page for well over a year (as I considered her a safe haven), but I have to tell you this post kept me awake last night. Awake, because I couldn’t get the memory of the profanations that I have witnessed through Post Vatican II priests and Masses. Or from the priests that say they don’t believe there is a hell and if there is, few reside there. What struck me most was the sarcasm in this post (and against a particular priest). The greatest temporal reason that has kept me from SSPX was the anger and sarcasm of their writings. But I must tell you, I feel Bishop Fellay’s pain. And I can imagine (from a mushy feeling that I have) that this group of Catholic’s was HOPING FOR a response from the HOLY SEE by Christmas because who wants to be separated after all from the authority and beauty of the See of Peter. I can tell you that I feel the Bishops pain through experience and not knowledge of Vatican II as I am dumb as dirt. But I wish to offer a few questions. How many of you have to attend the Novus Ordo Mass daily? How many of you are blessed in abundance to offer or attend the Extraordinary Form? As for me, I have only one choice on Sunday in CT which is St. Cyril and Methodius in Bridgeport. If I wish to attend daily Mass, I AM FORCED to attend the N.O. or nothing at all. I believe Our Lord is present to those who BELIEVE HE IS PRESENT. period whether it be at Mass or at your house or in your car!. Because the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the highest form of prayer, should we not wonder that the SSPX continues their struggle against all odds? Let me ask further if I may…how many of you like to see women in sweatpants in the Sanctuary while you are preparing in prayer before Mass? Have you attended a Mass where the Lector who has just cursed you on the road for not going fast enough, is now unleashed to enter the Holy of Holies (the Tabernacle) for a consecrated Host check…because the priest believes “All are Welcome at the meal” which leads to the priest fracturing OUR LORD into tiny pieces as not to run out of the Sacred Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord (is that even possible?)…who then has to admit to the communicants that there is not enough of Our Lord for everyone present. God forgive us. ( How attractive is this to you? The priest yells out from the Altar in the presence of God “Are there any Eucharistic Ministers present”. (ok, I know i’m dumb but according to church documents, that is you Father!). No hang on…there is another priest (true Eucharistic Minister) in the back of the church preparing to make the second collection of money. Seeing that he is too busy it ultimately defers to the Lector who becomes the priest (in his mind). How about considering this experience…you are at a church who has a Eucharistic adoration chapel where Our Lord is left alone and covered with a cloth for hours on end. You ask help from devout Catholics and Religious. You receive NONE. They actually advise you not to return. You write letters to the diocesan Vicar, no response. You attend (their Protestant version) of the Mass to see a woman sitting next to the Good Monsignor during Mass. As he is offering Communion to the poor plebs in the pews, she is purifying the sacred vessels. Not that he offered Communion alone because he had the filthy handed organist and Lector to help him with his Cross. (this is totally against Holy Mother Church and her documents) Jesus, mercy! I myself, have a litany of experiences that I could name over the last year that are just heart crushing. Just tonight on the Feast of the Holy Family, (while I had this post very present in my mind) there was a person before me to receive Communion who had a glittery coat on. How shocked I was to see that it was a man dressed in women’s clothing. Yes, he received. And in a very demonic way he pranced about with pride in himself twirling his head around as he sashayed off with Our Lord with no one to defend HIM or stop him, it was too late. The priest realized after he offered the host, that something was very wrong. I felt for that priest as I could see he was distressed over what had just happened in a split second. Please be careful in your criticism of a priest. Please be careful who you call “Traddie”….because you don’t know who Our Lord through consecration has led to lead others past the Novus Ordo or who attend the N.O and ultimately HAVE to bring awareness to priests. There are no coincidences. Am I Roman Catholic? At this writing, yes, but I’m tested at every NO Mass I attend and the journey has been very painful. Do I share Bishop Fellay’s pain through experience. Absolutely. They are like one voice crying in the wilderness. “make straight the way of The Lord”. I wish to refer to a writing by Fr. Rodriguez from New Mexico. He is the courageous priest who spoke out about openly gay priests in his diocese and spoke out against same sex marriage. He has since been transferred by the same bishop who put Fr. Frank Pavone in the pokey, (most likely until the elections have passed in 2012). Thank God Fr. Frank knows God’s providence and that ALL is from HIS hand. Fr. Rodrigues said that shouldn’t we be excommunicating the likes of Pelosi, SEBELIUS, Biden and Kennedy and not the SSPX. Father Rodgrigues was ordained a N.O. priest but only offers the Extraordinary Form now because he has come to understand…. His writings are worth pondering. Sometimes in my mind and heart, I believe we are going through the passion of Our Lord and that the Novus Ordo is the scourging of Our Lord and we must endure it with HIM. If it upset Padre Pio and AB Fulton Sheen, I can only imagine the sadness of Our Blessed Mother at the loss of souls and loss of faith it has brought about.
More from the letter of Bishop Fellay….the remedy is the one that the Church has always pointed out: tolerance. The right to religious liberty, as proclaimed at Vatican II, is something else. That is one of the points over which we come to grief with the Holy See.
This religious liberty, in placing what is true and what is false on equal footing, deliberately dispenses the State and human society from their duties to honor and to serve God, their Creator. It opens the door to all sorts of license in religious matters. It is as though, within the Church, they had renounced the prerogative of being the unique path of salvation for all mankind. Those who still believe this no longer say it. Many even lead you to think the contrary. This concession to today’s world is made at the expense of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Joanne Marie,
I am sorry you were kept awake at night by my post. Indeed, I can be sarcastic at times. I also experience the pain of this situation, as do many others in traditional communities who see those around them flirting with anti-conciliar and anti-papal ideas and practices. One extreme does not justify the other.
The Holy See has been very generous with the SSPX, and the fact remains that all they have to do is accept the Holy Father’s hermeneutic of continuity in respect to the Second Vatican Council. What response from the Holy See do you think the SSPX is waiting for? A repudiation of the Council? A repudiation of the last fifty years of papal teaching?
I have lived in a novus ordo religious community for twenty-five years. I have celebrated from time to time the old rite since about the mid 90’s. I have no problem with either form.
The SSPX is not simply rebelling against abuses but against the Council itself and against the Holy Father, who alone in the end has the right to settle matters of dispute on the question of faith and morals. As for example, the SSPX portrayal of religious liberty as putting truth and error on an equal footing is simply a misrepresentation of the Council and caricature of the pope’s position.
You spend a great deal of time outlining the abuses you experience, which I know to be very real, painful and tragic, but then you admit you really do not know much. You need to keep in touch with the teaching of Pope Benedict, it seems to me. You don’t need to listen to me, but neither are Bishop Fellay and the likes going to save the Church.
Beware of propaganda. Stick with the pope. If you choose to do otherwise, that is up to you, but I for one am not going to treat, Bishop Fellay’s position, or your position, or my position as though they had any particular importance when compared with that of the Second Vatican Council and the popes.
I truly appreciate your response to my post. I know that what you were referring to in your original post is not quite what I was responding to. If you don’t mind, I would like to ask a few questions and bring across what is the heart of what distressed me with the post. In your religious community do you use “Extraordinary Ministers”? Do you have lay women sitting in the Sanctuary choir or reading Scripture passages? (I have nothing against women, but I believe Our Lady taught me by her example where my place is)? Have you ever ommitted or failed to offer prayers for yourself and the faithful during Mass such as “The Lavabo”?. Would you leave out the prayers of the Offertory? I don’t really need an answer because I’m sure I know that the answer is no. Please know that these are commom occurances when I attend daily Mass at different parishes locally. (Its by the grace of God alone and the knowledge that HE is TRULY present that I still continue to go.) I say this to anyone who is blessed enough to offer or attend the Masses of the FI either daily or on Sundays. There are faithful out in parishes that have no choice but to endure the abuses that are present in the common Novus Ordo parishes while attempting to offer themselves to the Lord through Mary in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass but meet with nothing but distraction and heartache. It is a RARITY to find a parish who does not have abuses. While I do not agree with the SSPX nor would I leave the Pope to join them, I can and do experience their pain. That being said, I believe that the SSPX has it’s place in God’s Providence, hence the FSSP which was begun by Blessed John Paul II (the fruit of Post Vatican II priests). All of the above being said, I would like to finally bring this across. I lose sleep when I hear a priest maligned. AND I MEAN ANY PRIEST! Especially one who is obviously in pain and heartache. Whether he might be separated, found to be in public sin, misunderstood by the judges and jury’s on the internet or even guilty of sexual abuse. I rarely comment online EXCEPT when a priest is maligned. These are Our Lady’s sons, all of them. I am one person who knows that I could never carry such blessed responsibilities for which their lives have been given over which is why I need them. I also wish to say to the poster who called people “Traddies” this…when you are in prayer and the Congregation of the powers of the soul come together and by your memory of generosities given to you by the Lord through Our Lady, if you have been blessed enough not to have to endure the Eucharistic or Liturgical abuses at the hands of weakened priests, offer unending gratitude, do so over and over again, thanking HIM for the many blessings HE has given you and pray for those who hold tight to Tradition, especially for priests. In the spirit of St. Francis, no matter what any priest does or says, sinner or not, his hands and prayers have the power to bring “Emmanuel” to reside among us and within us. Lastly and personally, I am a person who works full time, I have two aging parents and not a ton of time for study. I am grateful for the homilies via “Air Maria” and I try to fit in what I can. Therefore I use what time I have to attend Mass and pray. My experience has been that more knowledge is infused by a humble participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the praying of the Rosary than any book I might have time to read. My prayer is for priests and that the day will come that most of us will be able to participate in the Holy Liturgy without distraction or heartbreak. Ave Maria!
Ephesians 6:12: For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
Joanne Marie,
I appreciate your comments. I generally do not criticize priests and bishops publicly. In any case, though I was a bit sarcastic, I attacked ideas, not a person and my motive was the defense of the Church from whatever front it is attacked.
I realize that my experience might be a minority one. But I also know that the choice between modernism and traditionalism as the only options is a false one, and one about which the faithful have not sufficiently been informed.
If traditionalism was examined and critiqued by those who are sympathetic to it, I would not be in a position to have to do it myself.
Father,
I thank you for your homily yesterday and for your comments. Because I live in a small sphere, I did not realize that there was an anti-VII movement. I myself want no part of that nor would I lead anyone in that direction but I would lead them to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass if they were struggling like I was. My thinking is if you are going to pray the Credo you better mean what you are praying. There are many suffering devout Catholics out there Father, some who are going to extremes. Gratefully, your homily yesterday will help me when I come across these people (and I do). I almost became one myself. There were times that I became so disgusted and broken hearted, I felt like bailing. I believe Our Lady and her Rosary kept me with her Son and Rome. I am eternally grateful to Pope Benedict for giving the faithful the option of the Extraordinary Form. Gratefully, because of your words yesterday I will continue to attend the Novus Ordo during the weekdays. I apologize Father but I think the sarcasm hit a nerve with me. (My weakness). We lost a few good priests over the last few years (some who were very instrumental in teaching me the Catholic faith and discernment of spirits, where it SEEMED as if the evil one had won those battles and it’s compounded by people slicing and dicing these poor priests in public (social networking) and in Catholic publications. It truly hurts to hear Catholics talk like that. As if these priests hadn’t lost enough. I would comment to these people that they need to pray for them and not comment on them. It resulted in me being booted from most sights. If anything it taught me how fast people will turn on a priest. There is one VERY IMPORTANT thing I forgot in the midst of all this darkness of which you generously reminded me of in your homily which is to unite the sufferings endured (especially during Mass) with my Savior’s sacrifice. For myself, I have decided to use as a meditation a scene from the Passion of the Christ to reflect on when in the midst of trouble at Mass where Our Lady was walking with Our Lord on the road to Calvary. On the opposite side of the road was the evil one and his offspring yet with all of the violence, indifference and heartache she was assailed with she kept her focus on her Son who was more present to her than anything that was going on around her. Over the last few days I have decided to pray more fervently for our separated brethren, have Masses said for their HUMBLE and obedient return to Rome.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one:
praying for a blessed New Year to the Friars Immaculate! Ave Maria!
Joanne Marie,
No need to apologize. My manners are sometimes wanting. I do not dispute that. I am willing to take my lumps. I think we all need to be willing to examine ourselves, especially on points of substance.