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I attack disrespectful, disobedient, taste-obsessive schismatics, and have yet to attack a solid Catholic. Solid Catholics do not despise papal authority. The protest against papal authority is of the essence of Protestantism. You continually support your hatred of papal authority by creating strawmen. Many of us do not disagree with the idea that Latin ought to continue to be the language of the Church but it is NOT an essential.

Many of us do not disagree with the idea that the Tridentine Mass is usually said more reverently than the Novus Ordo (without a need for it to take an exaggerated hour and a half for a normal High Mass just to show our fellow man how VERY reverent we truly are), but recognize that there are also reverent Novus Ordo Masses.

Many of us prefer that the priest OUGHT to face ad orientem rather than ad populum, that the Sacrament of Penance OUGHT to be conducted in traditional confessionals (although again that is NOT an essential) and ought NEVER to be administered en masse other than in strict emergencies, that there are Novus Ordo priests, bishops and laity every bit as insolent, disrespectful and disobedient as the schismatic SSPX and, perhaps, even more so.

None of the above or any of the repetitive ravings of offended calcified trads amounts to a justification for the disrespect, disobedience, disdain and absolutely diabolical hallmark of your "movement", the ingrained habit of the sin which is the rebelliousness shared by SSPX with the worst of the reformation.

When your little temporary sect illicitly ordains priests and illicitly consecrates bishops, it ordains and consecrates IN and FOR disobedience, rebellion, insolence and dissent from the only legitimate religious authority available among men: the Vatican and the papacy in particular. You and that sect of yours then compound this by poisoning the souls of your young people against the papacy itself (against the Vicariate of Christ on earth).

I certainly hope that you get around to repenting before going the way of all flesh. If you want to adhere to this schism to your dying day, tugging pitifully at the sleeves of obedient Catholics bleating your petty arguments against the Church itself, have a party but it may well be both negative and eternal. God did not designate you to judge the pope any more than he designated Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Woods, Ferrara, Droleskey, Marcel Lefevbre or a legion of their respective followers to do so.

Neither SSPX nor Tom Woods nor Chris Ferrara nor Tom Drolesky nor the Remnant nor any other self-appointed religious authority will prevail against the Church any more than the other gates of hell. It's a guarantee on the Highest Authority.

For Catholics, Catholicism ought to be a norm, a sign of contradiction to the world, to be sure, but normal life for Catholics nonetheless and the safest of spiritual harbors welcoming a world weary of the consequences of the world's sorry standards.

We Catholics ought to be able to wear and live our Catholicism with a sense of joy in the conviction that Our Savior lives and, through the Paraclete, continues to govern the Church's life through His vicar on earth and we will. That vision does not seem satisfy you and others like you who worship themselves, their tastes, their opinions and, above all, (don't burn your fingers on their foreheads) your unjustified presumption of theological and prudential adequacy. It is unfortunate that your apparent need to draw attention to yourselves is more important to you than humility before and obedience to the best pope you will ever see and his successors whoever they may be.

Let me take your points one by one.

1. Solid Catholics do not despise papal authority. Right. Neither do I. Neither do traditionalists in general. Neither does the Society of Saint Pius X. It is not the Pope's authority that is despised. It is his unlawful use of it. No Pope may use his authority to command what would harm the Church.

2. Your claim that many Tridentine Masses are said irreverently and many Novus Ordo Masses are said reverently is true, but beside the point. The priest is not the star. The focus in the Mass should be on God, not on the priest and not on ourselves. In the old Mass the priest faces east, away from the people, and no less a liturgist than Cardinal Ratzinger himself has called this an essential point. As a result of facing away from the assembly, priestly actions cannot be ego-driven as they are in the new Mass. But even more than this, no amount of acting ability or reverence in the world can begin to compensate for the Protestant doctrinal underpinnings of the Novus Ordo Mass which wear away the Catholic faith in ways that Father Somerville has suggested.

3. Your bizarre claim that it is "rebellious" to defend the faith against violations by even this Pontiff and his hierarchy is incomprehensible. What are Catholics supposeed to do--throw away their faith to please superiors? They have tried silence and humility and it has resulted in an even speedier erasure of Catholic culture, Catholic teachings, Catholic devotions, Catholic liturgy. When are the faithful allowed to say: "Enough is enough. We don't want to kiss the Koran or worship in synagogues or mosques. We don't want bishops who are apostates awarded with red hats. We don't want lurid gay-friendly sex education introduced in parochial schools. We don't want the doctrine of the Real Presence insulted daily by clergy and bishops. We don't want to embrace this new liberal concoction that calls itself the faith but does not resemble anything Catholic"? --When it is too late and we have already been converted to a new one-world religion? How is it possible to resist such an abomination without speaking out against those who abuse authority by allowing this to happen, in violation of all past popes and councils? Yet your argument is precisely that. When faced with a choice between the traditional faith and the Pope, you choose the Pope. That is a wrong choice.

4. Your notion that the Holy Spirit "continues to govern the Church's life through His vicar on earth" flies in the face of the evidence. There are unprecedented signs of corruption and apostasy everywhere, not only here but around the globe. The Church in the West gives every indication of being effete and ineffectual in combating the serious evils within its own ranks. These are not signs of God's blessings.

Thanks for your moderate and reasoned reply to my last post. As you say, I think we actually agree on the great majority of this stuff.

Neither SSPX nor Tom Woods nor Chris Ferrara nor Tom Drolesky nor the Remnant nor any other self-appointed religious authority will prevail against the Church any more than the other gates of hell.

Before you cast these people into the outer darkness, I notice that this week's issue of The Remnant has a large ad on the back page for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy in Rockford IL. It has a picture of a nice-looking group of young Catholic students who are purportedly studying "The Baltimore Catechism, Formal Study of Latin, Traditional Mass and Devotions."

Would this be your parish in Rockford? If so, it would appear that some members of your community do not consider The Remnant to be heretical, schismatic, disobedient, etc.