Posted on 01/28/2025 9:30:29 AM PST by ebb tide
In his letter to friends and benefactors on the Feast of St. Joseph in 1978, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre wrote of the “passion” of the Catholic Church:
Providence has allowed this painful crisis in the Church for our sanctification and in order to give more brightness to the pure gold of its doctrine and its means of redemption. This passion of the Church is a great mystery, for it reaches chiefly its hierarchy, its scholars, who seem to no longer know who they are and the reasons of their being appointed. Satan, the father of lies, as Our Lord Jesus calls him, has the extraordinary talent of finding out some words, to which he assigns a new meaning so that from their ambiguity, he achieves acceptance of the destructive falsehood which overthrows the best established societies. He found it in this ‘ecumenism’ of the Council which has created an ecumenical liturgy, an ecumenical Bible, and ecumenical catechism, uniting truth and falsehood — marrying the true and the false.
Archbishop Lefebvre was truly pained to witness the passion of the Church, but he saw that God was permitting it “for our sanctification and in order to give more brightness to the pure gold of its doctrine and its means of redemption.” Today, almost fifty years later, the passion of the Catholic Church has only become more painful. We can see this by considering the various aspects of this ongoing passion of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ.
Without a doubt, celebrants and attendees of the Traditional Latin Mass can offend God through their irreverent actions, intentionally distracted thoughts, or otherwise bad behavior. However, it is obvious that the Novus Ordo Missae — as it is celebrated in most instances — makes it far more likely for irreverence, sacrilege, and other abuses to occur. For example, we do not need to be theologians to recognize that there tends to be more reverence toward the Blessed Sacrament when we kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue from a priest than if we stand and receive Holy Communion in our hands from a lay minister. Tragically, every facet of the liturgical revolution has similarly led to increased abuses, causing immeasurable offenses against God.
Among those calling themselves Catholic, it has become increasingly common to find those who believe one or more of the following heresies: there is no hell (or it is empty); God does not give souls the grace to overcome their grave sins; souls do not need to belong to the Catholic Church; and Jesus is not truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Heresies such as these are a natural result of the false ecumenism that teaches that heretical, non-Catholic religions please God and lead their adherents to Heaven. The fact that Rome has permitted these heresies to flourish for nearly sixty years is among the greatest scandals the world has ever known.
Related to rampant heresy is the commonplace belief that Catholics can pick and choose which beliefs and practices they must accept. As one simple illustration, serious Catholics know that Biden and Pelosi do not really believe or practice the Faith; and yet they are model cafeteria Catholics. This problem has been widespread ever since Paul VI confirmed the Church’s prohibition on artificial contraception with his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, provoking clerics and laity to openly rebel. What, though, has Rome done to actually curb cafeteria Catholicism? Even if we could identify token efforts to bring Catholics back to the true religion, the vast majority of Rome’s actions tend to reinforce, rather than reverse, the tendencies to practice cafeteria Catholicism.
One of the most painful aspects of the ongoing passion of the Mystical Body of Christ has been the seemingly endless clerical abuse scandals. Every instance of this abuse offends God, harms the victims, scandalizes those who learn about it, and makes it less likely for souls to trust the Catholic Church. Of course there have been symbolic efforts to end clerical abuse, but we cannot begin to take those efforts seriously when we see reports that the majority of bishops are homosexual. Either those in power who would address these scandals are among the most incompetent people in the world, or they are malicious.
In various ways, all of this contributes to a proliferation of sin among nominal Catholics that may be worse today than at any other point in Church history, both in terms of the magnitude and volume of the sins. Yes, we know that there have been periods of profound sin and corruption, even at the highest levels of the Church, but for sixty years this has been facilitated and encouraged by the seemingly official policies of Rome. It is as though the leaders of the hierarchy want to increase the level of sin in the Church and world.
All of these factors tend to repel serious souls from the Catholic Church, but Rome exacerbates the outflows from Catholic pews by encouraging souls to remain in their non-Catholic religions. This is a feature (rather than a flaw) of the false ecumenism that has thrived since Vatican II. This, combined with the declining birthrates and baptisms among Catholics, has made the populations of many Novus Ordo parishes dwindle and age, while Traditional Catholic parishes are generally moving in the opposite direction.
Despite the grave problems associated with the various changes implemented after Vatican II, Rome has reserved the bulk of its disciplinary efforts to persecuting those clerics and laity who seek to remain faithful to what the Church taught prior to the Council. Somewhat paradoxically, though, those Catholics persecuted by Rome tend to adhere to the Faith much more closely and fervently than those who enjoy perfect peace with the Vatican. Why is that?
Part of the answer likely relates to Archbishop Lefebvre’s observation about the Providential role of the passion of the Church: “Providence has allowed this painful crisis in the Church for our sanctification and in order to give more brightness to the pure gold of its doctrine and its means of redemption.” Those who choose to follow what the Church has always taught are persecuted by Rome for their fidelity, and for counteracting the elements of the Church’s passion described above; and, in turn, that persecution generally promotes their increased sanctification and purification. This leads those who are persecuted for their fidelity to draw ever closer to the Church. God is good.
Archbishop Lefebvre continued his letter with advice that is even more relevant and necessary today:
One must, at all costs, remain bound to truth without mingling. Pope Pius IX vigorously denounced these liberal Catholics who believe they can unite falsehood and truth, good and evil, in order to please their contemporary fellowmen. Whether this poisoned ecumenism reaches us through the hierarchy or not, the channel is not important — it is the poison that one must refuse to swallow. It is a matter of strict obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Church of all times, to all the successors of Peter. We will, therefore, keep the Catholic liturgy, the Catholic Bible and catechism. And it is for this reason that we must have Catholic priests and Catholic seminarians, Catholic monks [and[ nuns, active and contemplative. The Catholic Church will not perish!
Archbishop Lefebvre remained faithful, just as Our Lady did at the foot of the Cross. He saw the passion of the Church, but he also knew that God wins in the end and that our task is simply to remain as faithful to the unadulterated Catholic Faith as possible.
While it is true that Archbishop Lefebvre did not have to contend with Francis’s hostile occupation of the papacy, we can be fairly certain that it would not have changed his fidelity to the immutable Catholic Faith if he had lived to see it. Even if he might have concluded that Francis is not the pope, Archbishop Lefebvre never would have abandoned the Church. Whether Francis is the worst pope in history or an anti-pope, he is simply another excruciating element of the passion of the Church that Archbishop Lefebvre saw decades ago. Just as the example of St. Peter did not cause St. John to abandon the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross, the scandal of Francis (whatever he is) should draw us closer to the Cross rather than cause us to flee. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Ping
The word he is looking for is "complicit".
Ah, the cartoon network is promoting the frenchy, discredited, removed from his own order(Holy Ghost Fathers), who died excommunicated and leaving his pretend/outlaw order (sspx) in shambles while leading to the excommunication of others, Levevbre. ImagineThat!
An honest reporting of the “disgraced” would include:
“In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy – constitutes a schismatic act. In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on 17 June last, Mons. Lefebvre and the priests Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, have incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law (cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 1382).”
I don’t engage with non-Catholics who violate catholic caucuses.
On the basis of the powers expressly granted to me by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, by virtue of the present Decree I remit the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae incurred by Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, and declared by this Congregation on 1 July 1988. At the same time I declare that, as of today’s date, the Decree issued at that time no longer has juridical effect.[3]
https://freerepublic.com/focus/religion/4293036/posts?page=7#7
If so, just a reminder that this is what the Forum rules say regarding "Catholic Caucuses":
From now on any poster that identifies as Catholic and is an Active Catholic may post on Catholic Caucus threads.
You are correct! An ebby miracle? Yes, Lefevbre died excommunicated.
Pope Benedict, who was involved in the situation of excommunication prior to being Pope, in his paternal concern for the spiritual distress of the 4 named persons in your post, remitted their excommunication based upon their promises of following Papal Primacy - meaning that the 4 recognized their error and promised not to commit schism or disobedience.
In other words, Lefevbre led a schism, took his sheep down a dangerous path for which they paid a terrible price. This is universally understood.
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Ahhh, the “silent ebby,” when caught by a Catholic in the Caucus in his misdirection and omission - Lefevbre’s excommunitcation still stands - can’t admit mistake or ask for forgiveness of error. Intead ebby relys on the example of his leaders of schism, and the excommunicated, for these repeated behaviors, acts, ommissions and obfuscation of fact.
It reminds me of a biblical A. Lincoln quote, an ebby divided against itself cannot stand. Or if you wish the more direct message, from the Gospel of Mark 3:25, where Jesus says, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
So, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but it’s clear that he does not consider you nor I a Catholic. Apparently, he is the only one allowed to determine who is Catholic despite the fact that the forum rules say anyone who identifies as Catholic is allowed to post on Catholic Caucuses (ie. they aren’t violating them).
Yes, identifies and is an active Catholic.
Who are you to decide who is an “active” Catholic?
I don’t.
But I have my doubts about those who defend sodomy and sodomites and in turn attacks orthodox Catholic priests, bishops and laymen.
I don’t consider you to be one of them. But as for the other...
I can certainly appreciate your concerns. Outside of the question of whether the Vatican II popes are/were valid, you and I are on the same page wrt the pre-Vatican II Catholic Faith.
I am not familiar with the other poster’s posting history, but I still don’t think we can say he/she violated the Catholic Caucus based on the rules set forth in the forum.
But I am familiar with his posting history, the majority of his posts (90 %) being directed towards me and attacking the Catholic Church while giving full support to Bergoglio's "Sin-Nodal" church and his lavendar mafia.
No, it’s my choice.
Are you a practicing Catholic?
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