Posted on 07/25/2002 5:31:43 AM PDT by Notwithstanding
Your parable sunk at the dock.
Mr. Hand didn't say they WERE overboard. He was cautioning them about the DANGER. Instead of your parable, think of Hand as a Beacon anchored to solid ground warning those about the the rocky shores of private judgement and selective obedience he himself was almost dashed against.
I think many of those who have responded to this piece missed the first sentence.
This was a warning not a condemnation.
As to those that noted being friends with others who are in varying degrees of union with the Pope,I will just note that in my case, when I had some pieces published in schismatic-leaning papers and in online sites, I was routinely applauded and flattered and told I was "bold" and "bright" and "faithful" and "very knowledgeable."
Once I quit my flirtation with schism, I suddenly became an "idiot" a "coward" a "traitor" and a "protestant" and my former friends do not talk with me. C'est le Vie
It's FORMER Archbishop Weakland, but your point is otherwise well taken. He was a law unto himself, and now that he has been disgraced it seems that they are not even going to prosecute him for misappropriating $450,000+ of Dioscesan funds. My purse will be zipped tight the next time the Bishop asks for a donation. We can't even get him out of the dioscese. His face is slapped on the front page of the newspaper everytime they write about the Catholic Church here. I wish he would go back to his "Order" house to live out his days and leave Milwaukee to recover under the new Bishop.
Sure, Jesus said ``Get behind me Satan,'' but he also gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom. Of course, St. Paul wasn't there for Jesus' ministry, he was busy persecuting Christians. So what's your point, that we should play, ``Who's the best disciple?''I think his point is that, since St. Paul (who was divinely inspired, miraculously chosen and converted by God, and who was an Apostle) rebuked Peter once, therefore Mr. McDuel and colleagues are free to rant and rave all they like about how horrible the Pope is, how he has done nothing for the faith, and of course they are free to schism and ordain their own Bishops as freely as they like.
Since, after all, St. Paul spoke to St. Peter once.
patent +AMDG
But for arguements sake, let's presume you are correct and I am a schismaticThe SSPX Bishops were excommunicated, and JPII called it a schism. Whether you are personally schismatic or not Ill leave to the Church to work out, but the Church has spoken about your Bishops and the Society.
It has said they are schismatic.
According to the Holy Father John Paul II, there are many paths to HeavenActually the Holy Father has not said that. Jesus Christ is the only path.
and our "seperated bretheran" are able to share in the fruits of Christ's redemptive act. So what have I to lose by trying my best to follow the teaching of Christ, the saints, many Popes and doctors of the Church?The separated brethren can get there through a level of invincible ignorance, but even then their odds would be much better if they were to reside in the bosom of the Church.
You, fully knowing the Pope to be Gods representative on earth, do not have the luxury of invincible ignorance. You have the faith, should you leave it it is your choice. You are not a Protestant, dont act like one.
You can have at least some of the Sacramental Grace in the SSPX, the liturgy is valid of course. But if you are schismatic, you recognize that, as Aquinas said, schism is a sin against charity. Sins separate us from God, especially one this serious. Were it me, this would be a cause for concern. That is what you have to lose.
You cant claim you are doing your best to follow the teachings of many Popes and doctors of the Church and then proceed to ignore - in part or in whole - the Pope placed over you today. The Church is not a dead organism, as so many Protestants would have us believe. Its teaching authority did not end after Trent or Vatican I. To believe this is similar to believing that its teaching authority ended after the Apostles died, as most Protestants believe.
Vatican I also made it clear you have to do more than obey the infallible pronouncements. The Pope has ultimate jurisdiction, and a Catholic is subject to that. If you are not subject to that authority, you are schismatic, and that authority states you cant properly attend a Society Mass.
Dominus Vobiscum
patent +AMDG
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