Posted on 01/20/2014 6:31:27 PM PST by RBStealth
The inherent separatism of the Society of St. Pius X and other similar Traditionalist groups is made glaringly obvious by the progress of Bishop Richard Williamson’s breakaway organization. In his latest newsletter, ( http://www.dinoscopus.org/#thisweek ) Williamson rejoices in the establishment of a new (and expensive) Queen of Martyrs house for his group in southeast England. (Note that the link is to his weekly “Eleison Comments”, and so the text there will be replaced by the next week’s comments within a few days.)
More importantly, Williamson regards it as good news that the “betrayal of the Faith” by what he now calls the “Newsociety of St. Pius X” is becoming clearer to priest members, some of whom regard the current leadership as far too soft. According to Williamson, “Newsociety leaders are abandoning Archbishop Lefebvre’s glorious fight for the Faith in exchange for a mess of Conciliar pottage”—a trend for which the Church of Rome has yet to see even the remotest evidence. Still, this allegation lies at the root of the growing split. But the point to notice here is that this tendency toward separatism is always found in groups of believers who reject the authority principle which is explicitly identified in Divine Revelation as found only in the Church united with the See of Peter.
To avoid any possible misunderstanding, let me explain my terminology. I use the term “Traditionalist” to describe one who makes an “ism” out of Tradition, in effect preferring his own theory of the deposit of Faith to the authority of that Church which alone can properly guard and explicate it. “Tradition alone” (without the Church’s authority) is no better than “Scripture alone” (without the Church’s authority). Note also that when I use the religious term “separatism”, I mean that phenomenon by which groups of believers, lacking any principle of authority, break into separate churches or sects whenever, according to their own lights, the church or congregation of which they have been a part fails to meet their own private tests for doctrinal, moral or ritual purity.
Thus separatism is a key feature of Protestantism, explaining why there are now several hundred conflicting Protestant sects. But separatism is also a key component of Traditionalism, and so we can all be sure of one thing: The splintering will continue. As I have said before, all those who love Tradition but accept the ongoing authority of the Catholic Church over its proper interpretation, as that authority is exercised in their own time and against their own potential errors, are correctly called by a different name. They are called Catholics, and should accept no substitutes.
ooops a mistake made. Oh well?
the articles conclusion:
“The lesson ought to be painfully clear to everyone involved. It is better to suffer any number of unfortunate modern tendencies (wherever such tendencies are truly unfortunate) and any number of wounded sensibilities (wherever such tendencies are simply uncongenial to one’s own particular piety)—better, I say, to suffer uncountable sins and sufferings in union with Rome than to enjoy a single apparent triumph through separation from the Bride of Christ.”
Williamson is supposedly very intelligent, but he’s very modernist, in his rebelliousness-for-rebelliousness’ sake. I think it’s extremely misguided to make himself into some kind of hero. He’s very foolish.
Only "several hundred" this week!
Without the SSPX, I believe the Traditional Mass would have been lost and there would be no “Extraordinary Form” celebrated in the Church today.
They mis-translated the memo on the 30000.
He's a neo-Nazi.
He’a not a neo-Nazi, he’s an adolescent. Like immature adolescence, he gets off by saying and doing things he knows will be controversial. He went on that TV interview and said what he did knowing full well it was illegal, just to stir up trouble. He deserves to spend whatever time he gets in jail in Germany. Who knows if he actually believes the craps he spews about the holocaust. For him, it’s all about thumbing society’s nose. Pretty pathetic for a man in his 70s.
>Only “several hundred” this week!
I dont know guys, what number would you use?
I don’t claim to know, those that do place it around 30k. If this guy is right, then they must be wrong. Perhaps since it appears important to Catholics, maybe the Pope could expound and provide direction within the monolith that is Catholicism. It would be a refreshment after the economic/ Muslim/homosexual comments.
Actually, for someone that age I'd suspect the type of senility that really does cause people to revert to adolescent behavior to act out frustration and anger. I forget the specific name, but I've known people who had to deal with elderly folks who were fine until they were angry or frustrated at which time they behaved like kids with an adult vocabulary.
He’s been that way all his life. Why do you think he converted? For a British person of his era, becoming Catholic was the best way to stick it to his society, Then becoming traditionalist just put a cherry on top.
And the problem of sola ecclesia churches and cults each defining itself as the one true church and absolutely necessary for assurance of Truth.
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