Posted on 04/07/2005 6:54:37 AM PDT by Ebenezer
SSPX PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ
On the death of Pope John Paul II
Menzingen[, Switzerland] Easter Saturday 2 April, 2005
The Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X and his two assistants, together with all its members: bishops, priests, brothers, sisters as well as the faithful, join in the prayer of the Universal Church at the announcement of the passing of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. We commend his soul to the mercy of God the Father and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There will be a Requiem Mass said in each house of the Society for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father.
The Society of Saint Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, applauds the fight undertaken by Karol Wojtyla for the protection of life and his efforts in the moral sphere. Nonetheless, it feels it a duty to repeat that it has always disapproved of the indefatigable efforts of Pope John Paul II towards ecumenism, efforts which have led to a weakening of the Faith and of the defence of Truth.
The Society is aware of the superhuman task awaiting the future Supreme Pontiff and prays the Holy Ghost to enlighten the Cardinal Electors. It hopes the new Vicar of Christ will be able to take up the helm of the Church with a steady hand and make good the damage caused in the wake of the Second Vatican Council: liturgical unity and the unity of Faith have been dissolved and doctrinal errors have spread amongst all the clergy.
While we wait and hope for this, it is now time to pray for him who has just entered eternity.
Bishop Bernard Fellay Superior General of the SSPX
what the heck does this mean? I have a real issue with people who worship anyone other than God because she has an 'in' with him or something...
Boy, don't they come off as petty . . .
>>what the heck does this mean? I have a real issue with people who worship anyone other than God because she has an 'in' with him or something...<<
Do you not pray with other Christians, feeling that more power is given when two or more are gathered in His Name?
Catholics do not worship Mary. We ask her and many other Saints to basically pray with us for what we need.
Perhaps some education in the Marian Doctrine would be in order before one makes statements which are not correct.
The truth is that Catholics do *not* worship Mary (thus making her equal to God) but give her the highest honor among saints due to her being the mother of Jesus Christ. Therefore, her interceding in prayer is greatly sought by the faithful.
Praying for others is not exclusive to Catholics. Non-Catholic Christians do likewise, except that they do not pary for the souls of the dead.
"...they do not pary for the souls of the dead."
I meant "pray", not "pary".
"Intercession" equals a saint praying for you, not them actually having a power equal to a god.
I have a "real issue" with people who bitch about a theology they don't understand--especially when they can just Google to read up on it.
We Catholics worship God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) but we also pray [as in ask] for intercession to the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
We pray for intercession because the Saints and the Holy Mother of God take an active interest in our life down here and it is part of God's plan for us and them that we do so.
It is hardly worship when we are praying to the saints to pray to God for us.
To put this in context:
Asking for intercession, is no different than asking some fellow believer to pray for you. The only difference is that you're asking for the prayerful help of a person you know is in Heaven (the sine qua non of being a Saint).
True. The irony is that the St. Pius X folks and like-minded schismatic groups think they are doing the Church a favor by separating themselves from her. In the case of the SSPX, the loyalty they claimed towards John Paul II while alive came across as a lot of lip service.
Your headline is perjorative and factually incorrect. The Vatican does not view the SSPX as "schismatic". Rather, they consider the status of the Catholic priests in the SSPX to be an internal matter.
Mr. K, think before you make ignorant, slanderous comments.
Catholics, like other Christians, routinely ask other Christians to pray on their behalf or "intercede" for them.
The difference is that Catholics recognize those faithful Christians whose bodies have died are not really dead - they are alive with Christ.
Therefore, we ask all our fellow Christians, not just those who are currently breathing, to pray for us, because we know that earthly death is meaningless in the light of Christ's glory.
So we ask Mary, Christ's mother and our fellow Christian to pray to her Son for us.
that's not "worship" unless you think I am worshipping you if I ask you to pray for me.
hey ignorant - I only asked a question
The interesting question is, what does this statement mean by saying that SSPX will "join in the prayer of the Universal Church"? SSPX is somewhat ambiguous as to whether or not they are sedevacantists. Are they saying that they are joining in with a billion Catholics around the world who belong to the Church, or are they saying that they ARE what is left of the universal (i.e. catholic) church and that those billion Catholics are in a state of heresy or schism?
I believe the phrasing is deliberately fuzzy on this key point. But there's no question that the leaders of SSPX think that they are right and everybody else is wrong.
You didn't "only" ask a question. Reread your own post.
Ping.
BTTT!
I'm having a real problem finding the question mark at the end of this screed,
"I have a real issue with people who worship anyone other than God because she has an 'in' with him or something..."May be it's one of the tiny dots at the end so I'll try to zoom in a bit:
.
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