What is the 'Resistance' hiding? Review of "How to see clearly through the current situation of Tradition?" Part 2

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JMJ

Introduction to the 'Private Conference'

Interestingly at the end of the introduction are the following words:

Firstly, let us say that this is not for us to judge people and to impute motives.
Above all, what is needed is to try to analyze the situation objectively based on facts and official documents.

Given my encounters with "resistors", I expect to find a vary narrow selection official documents used to support what they perceive as facts in order to judge people and impute motives.



Let us see if my expectations are met ... I expect to have to wade through the morass of ideas, assumptions and fallacies in order to get to the heart of the matter.

1. The Heart of the fight is no longer Christ the King, but the Mass
1. The battle of the popes, and that of Archbishop Lefebvre
2. Change of perspective
2. The distinction between "eternal Rome" and "the Rome of Neo-Modernist and Neo-Protestant tendeancies" - what was the basis of Archbishop Lefebvre's rules of engagement has been obliterated.
1. Discourse held by Tradition until 2013
2. The new discourse since February 2013
3. Bishop Fellay imposes the new discourse in Tradition
4. The consequence of the new manner of speaking about the Church
3. Silence regarding the Roman scandals
1. The painful but necessary duty to warn the faithful about the misguided ways of the successors of Peter.
2. The silence of the successors of Archbishop Lefebvre
4. Relations with Conciliar Rome: can a practical agreement be considered without a doctrinal agreement?
1. The position of the Archbishop and of the Society until the General Chapter of 2012.
2. Change of orientation
5. Conclusion

Section 1: Heart of the Fight

Here the argument is made that the 'heart of the fight' is not centered on the Mass, but on the Doctrine of Christ the King, and that the SSPX has shifted from the doctrine to the Mass.

That's what makes our opposition [to current Rome], and that's why we cannot get along. This is not primarily the issue of the Mass ... The real fundamental opposition is the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ... (Fideliter 1993)

Further, the author asserts that:

Archbishop Lefebvre did not see any possible reconciliation with the Roman authorities as long as they have not re-crowned Our Lord.

In support of this assertion, Archbishop Lebevre's words in the 1993 Fideliter article and Bishop Fellay's November interview (DICI no 286) are quoted.

Its primary concern is truly what keeps the Church alive: the Mass. (DICI 2013)

From this the first question is needs to be resolved is whether or not these two statements are actually on the same topic.  Reading the full context of the DICI interview, Bishop Fellay is discussing how to resolve the crisis of the Church: By Grace and that the Mass is the source of this Grace.  Hence, the fundamental objective to restore the Church is through the Mass.

In short Bishop Fellay is discussing a solution to the problem of the crisis of the Church.

Now the question is, what is Archbishop Bishop Lefebvre discussing?

First, he states that it is not 'primarily the issue of the Mass'. The Avrille author passes over a key point here, the word 'primarily'.  So the Mass IS part of the issue.  Secondly, Archbishop Lefebvre is discussing the conflict between Rome and the SSPX, not the problem of the crisis of the Church itself. Thirdly, Archbishop Lefebvre later stated that it would be up to the Superior General to negotiate with Rome when the vitality of Tradition became apparent.  Fourthly, if this was the primary focus of the SSPX, I would have thought it would be explicitly mentioned.  To my knowlege the purpose of the SSPX is:

The Society’s purpose is the priesthood and all that pertains to it and nothing but what concerns it SSPX Statutes

Ultimately, Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Fellay are discussing two different aspects of the crisis of the Church one strategic and another tactical.  One the suppression of the Doctrine of Christ the King and the other part of the solution to the crisis.

In short, the first step to the solution is to get Grace to flow via the proliferation of the Traditional Mass. That the Monks of Avrille 'see' a contradiction or departure from the path of Archbishop Lefebvre is simply a confirmation bias.

They are seeing what they want to see ... probably because a fundamental assumption of theirs has been challenged by the SSPX.

P^3


Series Links
Part 1: Background
Part 2: Introduction and Heart of the Fight
Part 3: Distinction between "eternal Rome" and "the Rome of Neo-Modernist ..."
Part 4: Silence regarding the Roman scandals
Part 5: Relations with Conciliar Rome: can a practical agreement ...