The Line of Archbishop Lefebvre

JMJ

Some acquaintances of mine received a nice family photo from a friend. On the inside of the card was written a short note that except for the following was full of the regular niceties.

It's too bad that you've abandoned the line of Archbishop Lefebvre. To have come so far in the battle for the true faith, only to lose one's way at the end is indeed sad indeed. Read, study, and pray for the grace to see clearly in this crisis.

I can avouch that my friends have 'read, studied, and prayed'. What they studied was the teachings of the Church (some of which are presented here on this blog). They did not "study" the writings/rantings of Bishop Williamson, Fr. Pfeiffer, Fr. Chazal, Fr. Rua, Fr. Girouard et al. The only time that these utterances were examined was to hold them up to the light of Catholic Teaching.

Comparing the teachings of the Church to the writing of the Bishop and priests associated with the 'resistance' has only solidified them in their conviction that anyone who departs from Catholic principles, doctrine and dogma CANNOT be following the path of Archbishop Lefebvre.

If they were, then it would be necessary to believe that the ...

Apostolicity of the Church derives from its mission (Apple meet Tree)
Holiness of the Church derives from having the Faith (Apple meet Tree)
Unity of the Church is derived solely from the Faith (Apple meet Tree)
Catholic Church lost the Four Marks (Open Letter to Bishop Williamson)
The Visible Church is not the Catholic Church (SSPX vs Resistance Ecclesiology )

None of these 'beliefs' are actually Catholic and they are all derived from the writings of 'resistance' associates. I label them as 'heresy' - meaning theological error. They may or may not be of the first degree, but it doesn't really matter.

The assertion that the SSPX has abandoned the line of Archbishop Lefebvre, implies that the loose association of loose cannons who collectively are called the 'resistance' is faithful to Archbishop Lefebvre.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe that His Grace set out a line that ended in heresy.

Please see The Four Marks of the Church, the Teachings of the First Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Council of Trent for the real teachings of the Church.

Further reading on the problems with the 'resistance' can be found here.

Pray and Study!!!

P^3

Comments

A Look Back: A short history of the SSPX

+ JMJ I started a timeline a while back but never finished it. Fortunately, here's one that brings us up to 1994!!! P^3 http://archives.sspx.org/SSPX_FAQs/a_short_history_of_the_sspx-part-1.htm A short history of the SSPX A presentation given by Fr. Ramon Angles in Kansas City, MO, on the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the SSPX and reprinted from the January 1996 issue of The Angelus . Part 1 The history of the Society of St. Pius X begins, of course, in the mind of God. But do not believe that its temporal origin is to be found solely at the time of the post-conciliar crisis. The Society of St. Pius X was made possible ...

Hermeneutic of the Hermeneutic of Continuity - sspx.org

+ JMJ Since I'm looking at the 'four things', I thought this article would be good. Unfortunately, with the new SSPX.org website, I've been unable to locate the original article. This is a copy the I emailed to myself. This is an article that, I believe, was written in response to a conference given by Msgr. Pozzo. P^3

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making. It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX. The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience. The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members. It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...

Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (de fide) - Expanded Listing: Answer for Reader

+ JMJ A reader asked the following question in the 2015 version of the article on the Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (link) : 117: "In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order." Where can you find this in the documents of the Church? ( Link to comment ) Here's the reference from Ott: The citation that Ott provided was Denzinger 1786 and the source document is Dogmatic Consitution Concerning the Faith from the First Vatican Council (Papal Encyclicals - link) : Chapter 2 On Revelation, Article 3: It is indeed thanks to this divine revelation , that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope of human reason, can, even in the present state of the human race, be known by everyone, without difficulty, with firm certitude and with no intermingling of error. Here's ...

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

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