Posted on 06/17/2025 4:33:58 PM PDT by ebb tide
Drawing from his own experiences under Soviet persecution, Bishop Schneider encouraged Catholics to be willing to suffer and persevere for the sake of the Catholic Faith and the traditional liturgy (pre-Vatican 2), despite facing “liturgical exile” or persecution within the Church. Strikingly, the prelate’s message was one of hope and joy, exhorting the audience to suffer for the Catholic Faith with joy, confidence, and zeal. After all, we have not entered the Barque of Peter “to escape out of it” but to keep the faith under the banner of Christ the King.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, an eminent champion of the Traditional Latin Mass and traditional Catholic doctrine, gave a speech at the Latin Mass Society’s (LMS) Faith and Culture Conference in the London Oratory on June 14, 2025 as part of various events commemorating the LMS’ 60th anniversary of existence. Notably, this conference brought together several prominent Church figures, including Bishop Schneider (in-person) and Cardinal Raymond Burke (via video link), who graced the event with insightful talks about the importance of the Traditional Latin Mass as well as the dynamics between faith, tradition, and culture in contemporary society.
Here are four main takeaways from His Excellency’s presentation:
At the beginning of his talk, His Excellency was quick to emphasize how the theological virtue of Faith, in itself a gift from Almighty God, is fundamental to a Catholic’s identity and (ultimately) eternal destiny. Conversely, the loss of the supernatural virtue of Faith is the greatest misfortune that could befall Man, exceeding all other forms of worldly sufferings and privations.
Citing a quote from “On Christian Doctrine” produced by the great saint and theologian Augustine of Hippo, Bishop Schneider said:
“Faith will falter if the authority of holy scripture is shaken; and if faith falters, love itself decays. For if someone lapses in his faith, he inevitably lapses in his love as well, since he cannot love what he does not believe to be true.”
Bishop Schneider was quick to point out that heresies and the persecutions that resulted from them are not new phenomena. Rather, Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom and Providence, has permitted these heresies to plague Holy Mother Church since the very beginning of time to test the Faith of members of the Church Militant and to assert Catholic dogma even more clearly.
Strikingly, as Bishop Schneider explained, various factors, such as heresies that undermine Church teaching, have contributed (and still are contributing) to the tragic loss of faith among many Catholics today.
Regarding the subject matter of “heresy”, Catholic Answers states:
“St. Thomas (II-II, Q. xi, a. 1) defines heresy: ‘a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas’. The right Christian faith consists in giving one’s voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ’s doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as to commend themselves to his own approval. The heretical tenets may be adhered to from involuntary causes: inculpable ignorance of the true creed, erroneous judgment, imperfect apprehension and comprehension of dogmas: in none of these does the will play an appreciable part, wherefore one of the necessary conditions of sinfulness—free choice—is wanting and such heresy is merely objective, or material. On the other hand the will may freely incline the intellect to adhere to tenets declared false by the Divine teaching authority of the Church. The impelling motives are many: intellectual pride or exaggerated reliance on one’s own insight; the illusions of religious zeal; the allurements of political or ecclesiastical power; the ties of material interests and personal status; and perhaps others more dishonorable. Heresy thus willed is imputable to the subject and carries with it a varying degree of guilt; it is called formal, because to the material error it adds the informative element of ‘freely willed’. Pertinacity, that is, obstinate adhesion to a particular tenet is required to make heresy formal. For as long as one remains willing to submit to the Church‘s decision he remains a Catholic Christian at heart and his wrong beliefs are only transient errors and fleeting opinions. Considering that the human intellect can assent only to truth, real or apparent, studied pertinacity, as distinct from wanton opposition, supposes a firm subjective conviction which may be sufficient to inform the conscience and create ‘good faith’. Such firm convictions result either from circumstances over which the heretic has no control or from intellectual delinquencies in themselves more or less voluntary and imputable. A man born and nurtured in heretical surroundings may live and die without ever having a doubt as to the truth of his creed. On the other hand a born Catholic may allow himself to drift into whirls of anti-Catholic thought from which no doctrinal authority can rescue him, and where his mind becomes incrusted with convictions, or considerations sufficiently powerful to overlay his Catholic conscience. It is not for man, but for Him who searcheth the reins and heart, to sit in judgment on the guilt which attaches to an heretical conscience.”
However, Bishop Schneider was quick to point out that heresies and the persecutions that resulted from them are not new phenomena. Rather, Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom and Providence, has permitted these heresies to plague Holy Mother Church since the very beginning of time to test the Faith of members of the Church Militant and to assert Catholic dogma even more clearly.
“If anyone”, says St. Paul, “preach to you a gospel, besides that you have received, let him be anathema” (Galatians 1:9).
“For there must be also heresies: that they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you.” (1 Corinthians 11:19)
As religious instruction is the primary means by which the Catholic Church transmits the Faith handed down by the Apostles, Bishop Schneider highlighted how ambiguity/equivocation in religious instruction forms a grave danger to the integrity of Catholic doctrine and the salvation of souls. Simply put, the bishop explained how if one part of the Catholic Faith is abandoned, neglected, or taught in a slipshod/vague manner, other parts would soon be regarded in like manner as a matter of time. Should individual portions of our holy Faith be rejected, the whole would ultimately be rejected.
Expounding on the significance of clarity in Catholic teaching, writer-editor John-Paul Meenan had this to say on Catholic Insight:
“There is an old saying that the three rules of real estate are ‘location, location, location’. A similar rule applies to public speaking: ‘brevity, brevity, brevity’. And, we may also apply an analogous principle to teaching: ‘clarity, clarity, clarity’. The ultimate point of teaching is to transmit the truth that is in the teacher’s mind (which he should know clearly) into the mind of the student. Ambiguities, double-entendres, irony, bombast, hyperbole and so on are essential in literature, poetry and drama, and one can ‘teach’ through these modes, but, at the end of the day, a teacher must be clear and direct, saying what he means to say with an economy of words.”
Bishop Schneider criticized how some modernists within the Catholic Church occasionally refer to the “hermeneutic of continuity” to justify vagueness in certain teachings, portraying their ideas as a development of doctrine instead of a deviation from traditional Catholic doctrine.
Moreover, Bishop Schneider criticized how some modernists within the Catholic Church occasionally refer to the “hermeneutic of continuity” to justify vagueness in certain teachings, portraying their ideas as a development of doctrine instead of a deviation from traditional Catholic doctrine. Such a modernist approach attempts to reconcile new or evolving ideas with traditional Catholic doctrine by interpreting these as part of a continuous, albeit evolving, notion of what “Faith” constitutes.
Quoting St. Vincent of Lérins, Bishop Schneider stated:
“The Church of Christ is the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changing anything in them. Never diminishes, never adds, does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what is another’s.”
Regarding Catholic doctrines that may not have been clearly or zealously transmitted or defined in the past, Bishop Schneider exhorted the audience to refer to St. Vincent’s advice that what had been “preached coldly should in future be preached earnestly, that what was before practised negligently should thenceforward be practised with double solicitude”.
Hence, Bishop Schneider called on church clergy and laity, in efforts to evangelize to Catholics and unbelievers, to avoid watering down Catholic teaching to pander to the whims of the world or “political correctness”. As St Vincent added:
“Do not substitute one thing for another. Do not for gold impudently substitute lead or brass. Give real gold, not counterfeit.”
In light of St. Vincent’s teachings, Bishop Schneider reminded the audience on how the Traditional Latin Mass enables doctrinal clarity, particularly Church doctrine about the sacrificial nature of the Holy Mass and the True Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
As many of The Remnant readers and supports already agree on, the Traditional Latin Mass is an indispensable part of the history, identity, and spiritual health of the Catholic Church.
It is noteworthy that despite the numerous crises beleaguering the Catholic Church (and the rest of society today), Bishop Schneider’s talk was not one of gloomy pessimism nor dreary despair.
Drawing from his own experiences under Soviet persecution, Bishop Schneider encouraged Catholics to be willing to suffer and persevere for the sake of the Catholic Faith and the traditional liturgy (pre-Vatican 2), despite facing “liturgical exile” or persecution within the Church. Strikingly, the prelate’s message was one of hope and joy, exhorting the audience to suffer for the Catholic Faith with joy, confidence, and zeal. After all, we have not entered the Barque of Peter “to escape out of it” but to keep the faith under the banner of Christ the King. Victory is assured, with the help of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“The church has earned the hatred of her opponents by her success in opposing them.” -St. John Henry Newman-
As many of The Remnant readers and supports already agree on, the Traditional Latin Mass is an indispensable part of the history, identity, and spiritual health of the Catholic Church. Thus, the preservation and perpetuity of the Traditional Latin Mass is an issue of fidelity to Catholic doctrine and a humble homage to Roman Catholicism’s rich history.
As the late Pope Benedict XVI said in “Summorum Pontificum”:
“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church's faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.”
Echoing Pope Benedict XVI’s sagely words decades earlier, one of my favorite writers, G.K. Chesterton, also had this to say:
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the Democracy of the Dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who really happen to be walking around. All Democrats,” and this is that is, like people who promote democracy, “object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth, tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.”
Ping
When and if will we hear about the status of the TLM under the new Pope?
ROBERT E. LEE’S CALL TO PRAYER
“Soldiers! We have sinned against Almighty God. We have forgotten his signal mercies, and have cultivated a revengeful, haughty, and
boastful spirit. We have not remembered that the defenders of a just cause should be pure in His eyes; that “our times are in His Hands,” and we have relied too much on our own arms for the achievement of our independence. God is our only refuge and our strength. Let us humble ourselves before Him. Let us confess our many sins, and beseech Him to give us a higher courage, a purer patriotism, and more determined will; that He will convert the hearts of our enemies; that He will hasten the time when war, with its sorrows and sufferings, shall cease, and that He will give us a name and a place among the nations of the earth.” (August 13, 1863)
ET you know all of this of course.
But for others:
Auxiliary Bishop Schneider recently visited the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (referred to in America as SSPX) in America and in France on behalf of the Vatican, for the purpose of evaluating, for lack of a better term, the SSPX’s “Catholicity.”
This from the SSPX’s website:
“Auxiliary Bishop Schneider has affirmed the SSPX thinks with the Church’s mind. Hence, there should be no serious reason for denying the priestly society full canonical recognition.”
By contrast, Cardinal Burke was, and has presumably remained, famously antagonistic toward the SSPX, not exactly shying away from intoning the term “schism”, or perhaps “schismatic”, one or the other, pursuant to that “old saw” continuously wheeled out by detractors of SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
So interesting that these two prelates in particular have been brought together at the same event to sing the praises of the ancient usage. The SSPX, committed by ABP Lefebvre to training seminarians and ordaining priests devoted solely (in terms of liturgy) to praying the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, must be thrilled to hear such sweet music in its ears from both Schneider AND Burke.
Yes. But it should be noted that article was written and those visits of the SSPX occured in 2015.
Francis, however, never let up on his persecution of traditional Catholics. He only increased it, e.g., with his draconian Traditionis Custodes in 2021.
ET:
Further to the remarkable simultaneous “teaming”, on the one hand (regarding the merits of the ancient usage and the need for our new Pope not to discourage but foster it), and apparant divergence, on the other hand (regarding advising Pope Leo on how to go about doing this) of Auxiliary Bishop Schneider and Cardinal Burke:
Please see:
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DVnsKLIlQ
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Bishop Schneider’s SHOCKING Response to Latin Mass Restrictions
Joe McClane
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Jun 19
2025
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Bishop Athanasius Schneider has encouraged the Catholic faithful to remain joyful, steadfast and fearless against the attacks of this world and from within the Church, remembering that their reward will be “the crown of life.” Bishop Schneider, who has become known and respected worldwide for his Catholic orthodoxy, recalled that throughout the Church’s history, the faith has been “attacked internally by heresies and externally by persecutions, which have also caused apostasy.” Heretics and apostates, he added, have always existed in the Church, in the laity and the clergy — a reality, he said, that the Lord points out in the parable of the field of wheat and tares.
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ET, this is astonishing!
Bishop Schneider is persuaded that nothing short of returning to the liturgical prescriptions of Pope St. Pius V is necessary!
By contrast, though Cardinal Burke’s counsel to Pope Leo regarding the blessings of the ancient usage is encouraging to hear about, Burke wants to return merely to Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum.
Surely Cardinal Burke knows that this is no longer a valid compromise approach, since Bergoglio himself BOTH embraced (wrongly) what has been termed the “New Church” (post VII), AND rejected (rightly) Benedict’s famous Hermeneutic of Continuity.
I continue to be so hugely impressed with Bishop Schneider and pray he gets and keeps Leo’s ear on this and so many other issues in the church.
Can you imagine the abundant blessings we Catholics would enjoy, were we to return, not merely to the Roman Missal of 1962 (ABP Lefebvre and SSPX), but all the way back the liturgical prescriptions of Pope St. Pius V?
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