Richard Williamson, in his June 30th Kyrie Eleison comments, amongst other things, claims that the Pope is an only "half-believing" Catholic. Well, actually, if he leaves one point of doctrine out, he is not Catholic. Period. Williamson should re-read St. Augustine. In truth, this latest comment is really another attempt to torpedo any Rome-SSPX reconciliation. It is also a grave insult to the Pope (not to mention Williamson's Superior, Bishop Fellay).
Williamson writes:
If all Church leaders always co-operated with their graces of state, how could there ever have been Judas Iscariot? And how could we ever have had Vatican II? The argument from graces of state is as foolish as it is simple.... The Church is weak because the bishops’ poor behavior follows on their poor grasp of the doctrine of Heaven, Hell, sin, damnation, redemption, saving grace and the Redeemer’s ever-present sacrifice in the true Mass. The bishops have such a poor grasp of these world-saving truths because, amongst other things, the Bishop of bishops only half believes them. The Pope only half believes them because the other half of him believes in Vatican II. Vatican II undermines all the true religion of God by the deadly ambiguities planted throughout its documents (as you recognize), and designed to put man in the place of God...
.... By the grace of God the SSPX has up till now upheld Jesus Christ’s true teachings, but if it put itself under Church authorities only half-believing them at best, it would soon stop attacking error (as is already happening), and it would finish by promoting error, and with error all the horrors you mention. God forbid!
.... By the grace of God the SSPX has up till now upheld Jesus Christ’s true teachings, but if it put itself under Church authorities only half-believing them at best, it would soon stop attacking error (as is already happening), and it would finish by promoting error, and with error all the horrors you mention. God forbid!
6 comments:
Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the SSPX, likens Williamson to uranium: "It's dangerous when you have it," he says, but you can't "simply leave it by the side of the road."
Why do we listen to Williamson at all? Clearly his superior would like him to shut up as would the Holy See. Only the fact that he has managed to con someone into making him a bishop keeps him from being tossed out altogether.
But I do so wish you had responded to the content. SSPX and Bishop Fellay do not say the Pope is 'half Catholic' but clearly they do say there is a grave error in the conciliar teaching on religious liberty and also on ecumenism--and related issues, including the canon law that has spun off the new tradition--if I may call it that, bitterly. You have written here a superficial rejection of Bishop Williamson. But what about the greater point? What about religious liberty and ecumenism? Do you know the poison bits in the constitutions of Vatican II? They have been named and numbered by SSPX, and thank God for it. Google Gleize SSPX and you'll get to the article--again, for surely you read it when it came out, but have so quickly forgotten.
Gruner syndrome... again.
Actually I read the document in question and am quite ready to concede that there are aspects of Vatican II that need some clarification. However if my salvation depended upon understanding the theological intricacies of that document I would likely be doomed. Fortunately it does not... even illiterates can be saved. The crux of the issue is the implicit threat of schism lurking in the background of any theological discussion. My response is not to somehow become a theologian so as to make sense of the mountain of documents. It is not to somehow determine in my private judgement who is correct. It is to stand, and the place to stand is obvious to me. Tu es Petrus.
A number of Cardinals - e.g. Burke, theologians e.g. Bux et al., have stated there are ambiguities in the texts... this is old news. The question is: do I respond with a schismatic attitude, with schism? The Church in her wisdom has always kept marriage and confession as two sacraments that not only require Holy Orders, but Jurisdiction. This ensures to maintain the divinely appointed hierarchical structure.
"But then disaster struck! Just when the movement was gaining more and more souls from the collapsing Newchurch, the leaders of the movement began to say that the ills of the modern world can be exaggerated, so the four-year meeting was not so bad after all. These leaders then began to make friends with the Newchurchmen, and they showed great harshness towards any members of the movement who might insist on condemning the Newchurch and its false principles. Worse, these leaders were not without followers inside the movement, because Catholics are so used to thinking they are disloyal if they do not trust their leaders.” Richard Williamson's latest
"newchurch and its false principles" this is schism...
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