Comments on: Barking Schismatics, Brave Fellay

By: James Cattaneo

James Cattaneo — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:13:07 +0000

I attend the SSPX Masses and have my whole life. I pray Bishop Felley is able to make this happen. I am said that others that have fallowed the SSPX are speeking so against it when this is truly what it has been working towrds and they have not even seen the ageement yet. Pray, pray, pray. Chatholics we are the world’s answer. Lets hope the Holy Ghost helps these two great men get over this hurdle.

By: MarylandBill

MarylandBill — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:30:13 +0000

I am very hopeful that the majority of the Society can be brought back into full union with Rome. I am troubled at the dissent within the Society (though I suspect as the article pointed out, it was inevitable). However, the approach of the dissenters suggest they are on the verge of accusing mainline Catholicism (including the Pope) of actual heresy. I can’t help wondering if they will take that step and then declare the seat of Peter to be Vacant? If so, will they decide to elect their own Pope?

By: David Mills

David Mills — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:11:17 +0000

Thank you, Michael PS, Stephen Barr, and Tracy, for the astute responses. We should have caught Russell Berry’s, since we try to avoid ad hominem speculations about people’s motives. The rest of his response suggests Oddie’s judgment was correct (returning to full communion with the Church is “betraying the Catholic Faith”? O-kayyy).

By: Tracy

Tracy — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:35 +0000

Ten years ago my husband and I became Catholic. In my years of study before that, I became familiar with the SSPX and had a lot of sympathy for them. However, as I became more understanding of the Holy Spirit’s protection of the Church, the meaning of the papacy, and the value placed on obedience, I began to understand that sympathy may not be the best response. In the end, I finally realized that what I sympathized with was the natural response we as Protestants had when the church we attended began to drift away from the clear teachings of Scripture–we formed a new church. As Catholics, we don’t do that. We hold fast to the Barque of Peter, even in rough waters. And we trust the Holy Spirit to keep us above water, not our own judgement that jumping ship is the only way to save the Church. It seems to me that Arch. Lefebvre forgot who the true Savior is. Thankfully, Bishop Fellay has not. Or, at least, he realizes it now, which takes a tremendous amount of humility.

Dr. Berry, I find it incredibly sad that your main concern is property, funds, and control. That, alone, speaks volumes.

By: Stephen M. Barr

Stephen M. Barr — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:02:10 +0000

For Catholics, it is ultimately the See of Rome and the body of bishops in communion with it that define the boundaries of orthodoxy. It seems that such a boundary line is about to be drawn. That line will presumably define the widest latitude that Rome can allow with respect to the status and authority of Vatican II. It is the widest latitude, because Rome clearly wants to reconcile as many of the SSPX members as possible. But if that is the case, it would seem to follow that any SSPX bishops who place themselves beyond that line are going to be in a very different situation than they were before. It is an important and interesting question what Rome will declare about this group. Having rejected what Rome has decided is the utmost it can offer, it would seem to be a point of no return for them in every sense.

By: ASCENSION THURSDAY AFTERNOON EDITION | The Pulpit

ASCENSION THURSDAY AFTERNOON EDITION | The Pulpit — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:56:58 +0000

[...] Barking Schismatics, Brave Fellay – David Mills, First Things/First Thoughts [...]

By: Dr Russell BERRY

Dr Russell BERRY — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:24:36 +0000

Bp Fellay will do what he must to gain himself a Cardinal’s hat even when that means handing the SSPX over to Modernist Rome, lock stock and barrel. The other three Bishops must now move legally to block all transfer of property and funds to Rome or anywhere else. they must then wrest control of the SSPX from Fellay and his two ‘Assistants’, Pflueger and Nely, and change the constitution of the SSPX so that no one man may exclusively speak or act for it. Bernard Fellay is about to betray the Catholic Faith.

By: Michael PS

Michael PS — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:35:38 +0000

The history of schisms always seems to follow the same trajectory; supporters of the SSPX should find the history of the Ultrajectine churches sobering. They sprang from the protest of austere and passionately traditional Jansenists and they are now indistinguishable from a liberal Protestant sect.

Their history is always the same, because they all fall into the same fatal error of defining the faithful by their tenets. Now, the Catholic theory alone frees us from that question-begging assumption. As Mgr Ronald Knox pointed out, “the faithful, be they many or few, be their doctrine apparently traditional or apparently innovatory, be their champions honest or unscrupulous, are simply those who are in visible communion with the see of Rome. No doubt, in the long run, this means the people who are so orthodox that Rome has seen no reason to excommunicate them, so that unity and orthodoxy still react upon one another.”

As a test, it is remarkably easy of application; just what one would expect of the criterion of a divine message, intended for all, regardless of learning, capacity or circumstances.