Skip to main content

Emerging from the crisis

Image
By
+
JMJ


What is a crisis????

  1. Simple Definition
    1. a difficult or dangerous situation that needs serious attention
  2. Full Definition A
    1. the turning point for better or worse in an acute disease or fever
    2. a paroxysmal attack of pain, distress, or disordered function
    3. an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person's life <a midlifecrisis>
  3. Full Definition B
    1. the decisive moment (as in a literary plot)
  4. Full Definition C
    1. an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending;especially :  one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome <a financialcrisis>
    2. a situation that has reached a critical phase <the environmental crisis>
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary


By all of these definitions the Catholic Church has been in crisis for well over a hundred years. I know most traditionalists trace what they see as a crisis to the Second Vatican Council. 


However, by way of analogy, the body of the Church has been infected with the Virus of Liberalism / Modernism / etc for a long time.  The Church's immune system put up a valiant fight dispatching white blood cells, but eventually as with an aggressive virus, they were overwhelmed and the blisters erupted at the Second Vatican Council.  

... and the blisters have been exploding ever since (Eponymous Flower)

Many cry in anguish and look at the Mystical Body of Christ rent with the scourges and nailed to the cross of our sins and say: This cannot be the Church of Christ.  Just as many disciples said that Our Lord was not God.

We must no lose Faith as did the Apostles at the passion of Christ.

A bit of wisdom aptly placed by Tolkien into the mouth of Gandalf:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo."So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” The Lord of the Rings
What are we to do with the time given to us? 

It is to save our souls and those for whom we are responsible.

In reality, for most Catholics, it doesn't matter what is the Pope's latest fantasy (see link to Eponymous Flower).

It suffices to say that, objectively speaking, for the latter part of the 20th Century the Catholic Church has been governed by ineffective Pope's who have made a long series of bad decisions (yes I am being charitable).

Prayer

Following St. Alphonsus de Ligouri we need to:
... always have our mouths open praying to God, and saying: Lord, assist me: give me light; give me strength; keep thy hand upon me, and do not abandon me. (sermon XXVI)
St. Alphonsus goes on to say that we must do violence to God with our prayers and continually and importune Him with our prayers for ourselves and for the Mystical Body of Christ which IS the Catholic Church (Mystici Corporis).

He ends the sermon saying:
Hence the holy doctor exhorts us, "to seek grace, and to seek it through Mary, because she is a mother, and her prayer cannot be fruitless" - de Aquoed.  When we ask her to obtain any grace for us, she graciously hears our petitions and prays for us; and the prayers of Mary are never rejected.
So prayer and unceasing prayer is how the leaders of the Church will obtain the grace to cure the Mystical Body of Christ of the virus' that have infected her.

That is the first thing we need to do ... pray!

Penance

The second is penance - especially in a world inundated with worldly pleasure.

Face it, most of us in the west have it pretty easy.  Elsewhere in the world, say Africa, it is something to be Catholic and survive.  Hence the reason for more vocations in the poorer areas where they really mean it when they say they're Catholic.

The same goes for the Traditional Catholic orders, where they maintain the same level of ordinations as pre-council. 

Perhaps the Church needs to be persecuted for her members to buck up and act like Catholics.

Well, in the west the persecution is coming so, like it or not the west is soon going to do penance.

Then the Church will plant her feet on doctrine and stand tall in the face of adversity.

Just don't expect to have a lot of people standing with you.

Patience

With all this, it is simple that the virtue of patience will be necessary for all Catholics who work to remain faithful.

Organizations don't 'turn on a dime', and the bigger the organization the longer it will take to turn.

Hence, we need to be patient and not make rash decisions.  

After 30+ years as a Traditional Catholics, I can safely say I've seen Trads make as many rash decisions as non-Trads.

Hence another exposition of my 'sig' Prayer, Penance, Patience.

Being in the west, I still need to work on the second one ... but be patient I'm working on it!

P^3


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

De Veritate - St. Thomas Aquinas - What is necessary to believe explicitly?

By
I was recently introduced to a work of St. Thomas De Veritate ( Source ) in the course of an argument concerning the minimum content of explicit faith.  When I submitted the following quote as proof: Theological faith, that is, a supernatural faith in Revelation, is necessary, and this is an effect of grace (D 1789); nemini unquam sine ilIa contigit iustificatio (D 1793). As far as the content of this faith is concerned, according to Hebr. 11, 6, at least the existence of God and retribution in the other world must be firmly held, necessitate medii (by the necessity of means) with explicit faith. In regard to the Trinity and the Incarnation, implicit faith suffices. The supernatural faith necessary for justification is attained when God grants to the unbeliever by internal inspiration or external teaching a knowledge of the truths of Revelation, and actual grace to make the supernatural act of faith. Cf. De verite 14, I I.Ott - Fundamentals of Dogma p241 In response my opponent ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

By
+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 5b - How Did We Get Here??? ... A Continued Anlaysis using ChatGPT.

By
 + JMJ Part 5b How Did We Get Here??? So in the previous ChatGPT analysis the LLM ‘concluded’ that there was continuity in doctrine. So now we’re going to explore this element. There is some repetition but I don't have time right now to do a lot of editing.  I think instead we'll have a Part 5c where I try to pull it all together with some old fashioned human sense making. At the end point, I think the LLM collects an interesting if somewhat skewed perspective: The SSPX mapping hinges on this claim: That Vatican II affirms (at least implicitly) propositions that the Syllabus of Errors explicitly condemned. The broader Church response is: The same propositions are still rejected—but Vatican II is addressing different categories (political, pastoral, anthropological) rather than reversing doctrine. While the summary of the SSPX position seems close, that of the broader Church seems to be either an outright AI hallucination or a consensus point from the literature that it used...
Post a Comment
Read more

News Roundup: April 30, 2026

By
 + JMJ I just realised that I haven't posted the latest Roundup ... and there is a lot in the roundup as the media storm around the SSPX continues! I also just noticed this article: European Conservative: Why the SSPX Bishop Decision Matters Far Beyond Church Politics (link) .  P^3 === Popes Past Present and Future Papal News and Views Cardinal Fernandez maintains that Francis is not dead- metaphorically Pope Leo XIV Reopens Amoris Laetitia File | FSSPX News Pope Leo: “We Do Not Agree with the Formalized Blessing of …Homosexual Couples” - OnePeterFive RORATE CÆLI: How Pope Leo is Reshuffling the Curia: Musical Chairs and Power Games RORATE CÆLI: A Giant Leap: The meaning of Cardinal Eijk’s Pontifical High Mass and the Rebirth of Dutch Catholicism RORATE CÆLI: A Sign of Continuity with the Pre-Francis Papacy: Pope to Wash Feet of Twelve Priests RORATE CÆLI: Vatican Blocks Continuity of Procedure of Beatification and Canonization of Argentine Bishop -- no new Satanellis Pope Leo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 5 - How Did We Get Here???

By
 + JMJ This is the fifth in this series and I think it may require a part b to show the controversial documents and teachings of the Pope post V2. P^3 Part 5 How Did We Get Here??? Introduction My family became ‘Traditional’ in early 1980’s and I didn’t realise until years later how early we entered the Fray. So the SSPX was slightly over a decade old when we started going to Mass. That is a young organization, as someone said at the consecrations “Aren’t you a little young to be a bishop?”, the response was, “That is something that time will change.” 1970: SSPX founded with diocesan approval (Abp. Marcel Lefebvre) 1974–1976: Vatican II disputes escalate; Lefebvre suspended a divinis 1988: Illicit episcopal consecrations → excommunications declared 2000: SSPX Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome (signals openness to talks) 2009: Excommunications lifted by Pope Benedict XVI 2011–2012: Doctrinal talks with CDF collapse 2015–2017: SSPX granted faculties for confessi...
Post a Comment
Read more