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The reason Rome goes ballistic regarding the traditionalist's rejection of the Novus Ordo, is that it seeks acceptance from those who know what Catholic tradition is precisely because they have lived it without a break the past forty years. Rome wants the imprimatur, so to speak, of all previous popes before the Council. And it wants to beat-down anybody who would affirm an allegiance to the doctrines defined by Trent, rather than to Bugnini's concoction. SSPX in particular has refused to say something that is so obviously Protestant, is Catholic. For this it is persecuted.

I make no concession, therefore, to being schismatic by attending SSPX Masses, but only meant to underscore the absurdity of your charge by using a little sarcasm. But you reply by saying "Rome is right", then turn around and reject whatever Rome is saying to prove my point---namely, that Catholics who attend SSPX Masses are not schismatics. You sniff at this unambiguous declaration and want to pick and choose like everybody else. Not that I blame you--Rome is an unsure guide for certitude these days. It speaks out about a great many things and gets a lot of them totally wrong--which is why it has been obliged to do a lot of back-tracking the past forty years. This is not esepcially surprising for a regime that makes things up as it goes along.

So let me ask you--was Pius IX mistaken when he warned us to disobey any pope who would ask us to follow him into error rather than follow the faith? And how do we judge such a thing in the first place? Easy--when a pope substitutes his own version of the faith for what has been handed-down, he is standing on erroneous ground. That is the bottom line. And there is another test--given by Christ himself who warned us to be wary of false prophets who would look like pussycats--or maybe rock stars. By their fruits we were to know them. Well, we've seen their fruits. The springtime never came.

You see then, it is not I who cry out "Non serviam", but people like yourself who serve a man and not the faith. Non serviam was Lucifer's refusal to serve God, remember, not a mere pope subject to humanity's weaknesses. You have confused the two, then turn around and accuse me of doing precisely what you do.

In any case, it is pointless to track down every give and take of this dispute with Hoyos and FSSP and SSPX. It is to be expected that somebody like yourself, for whom authority trumps everything else--even the facts themselves--would give undue weight to that particular side of the argument, though you ignore this same prefect when it is inconvenient. The bottom line is that the Cardinal acted against FSSP in a way he would never have dared act against even the most egregiously corrupt and apostate churchmen. No one doubts that behind such animus is the Boss himself whose novel policies and highly selective use of discipline speak volumes about the continual rejection of Catholic tradition. Clown Masses, gay Masses, polka Masses, yes. But an exclusive use of the ancient Mass, no. That says it all.

Finally, it is certainly true you may hear, "This is My Body and this is My Blood" at a Novus Ordo Mass, but you can also hear this same invocation at an Eastern Orthodox liturgy--or at a Lutheran Lord's Supper for that matter. What you apparently are not hearing or seeing or thinking is that the Novus Ordo is permeated by Protestant doctrines which continue to undermine the Catholic faith. Pius XII warned us this dark age was coming, that we would some day search in vain for the red sanctuary lamp. That day is now here. Father Jeremy now has center stage instead of the tabernacle, with Sister Stephanie at his side to bathe in the spotlight and perhaps give the sermon or do a dance, and with myriad other ministers to stand around to drink in the applause. Meanwhile Blessed Sacrament is shunted to an obscure church corner and is forgotten. If this isn't at bottom Protestant, nothing is.

The short and sufficent answer to all of which is that Dario Cardinal Castrillon de Hoyos is Monsignor Perl's boss not vice versa. Even if you were right about the significance of Monsignor Perl's letter, which you are not, since that letter is nothing more than a simple rejection of Donatist heresy, Perl's letter is no rejection of the fact that SSPX is in schism. First, of all, no one died and left him pope either. All Perl is saying is that no matter how sinful, disobedient, schismatic, defiant, impudent and scandal-mongering your schismatic clergy and their illicitly consecrated superiors in schism may be, their Masses are still Masses and their Eucharist is still the Eucharist and a SMALL contribution to defray expenses will not trigger punishment. Nothing more. Perl answered specific questions and did not give the schismatics license to go off to the races as usual drawing impious inferences to support their sinfulness.

You do not merely attend regularly the Masses of the SSPX schismatics without, in all likelihood, just cause, you very actively promote the schism itself by waging a campaign of its lies on this website to recruit Catholics away from the Church and into schism. The pope says SSPX is a schism. Last time I checked, he outranks any other living authority and crushing the schism is within his job descrtiption. If he lacks adequate stamina, we pray that the next pope will not lack the health or stamina. If the pope says you are in schism, you are in schism.

Eastern Orthodox Masses and Eucharist are every bit as valid as SSPX Masses or Eucharist and as Catholic Masses and Eucharist. In each, the bread and wine, by transubstantiation, become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. No Catholic authority encourages attendance at Eastern Orthodox Masses because the Eastern Orthodox are in schism. Nor does any Catholic authority encourage attendance at SSPX Masses for precisely the same reason. There is one distinction. Most Eastern Orthodox were born into their ancient Faith. Most SSPX have made the personal decision to apostasize from the Roman Catholic Church.