Skip to main content

Fr. Girouard's Opinions and Reality

+
JMJ

It appears that Fr. Girouard is still in business, but he's just occupying himself in the real world as opposed to the MO of Fr. Pfeiffer et al.



Periodically, he sends out an email to his 'parish' and they sometimes show up on the intergnat.

Here's one with the appropriate Tradicat reality instilling counter-points:

  1. The April 2012 Letters from and to the 3 Bishops show the SSPX General Council's true opinions. 
    1. Well that's good because their true opinions are Catholic which is more than can be said for Fr. Girouard and the Resistance.
    2. It would be nice to have the whole intercourse to establish context - but that is the nature of leaked documents - only those elements that the 'leaker' believes supports his position are leaked and not the ones that undermine it.
  2. In 2012, Bishop Fellay has sent the AFD to Rome, and has not since sent another official document to Rome to repudiate it. 
    1. Why would he want to repudiate the words of Archbishop lefebvre?
    2. Plus I am confident that there are lots of documents going between Rome and the SSPX.  It is not required that they tell Fr. Girouard or anyone else of their contents.
  3. Bishop Fellay sent a letter to the Pope on June 17th, 2012, saying he would continue with all his strength to work for a recognition, and saying the only reason he cannot sign the Rome proposal of June 13th, was that too many people in the Society were not yet ready to accept it. 
    1. I see that Fr. Girourd has greatly embellished the content and intent of the letter.
    2. I know that he has to fabricate excuses for breaking his engagement in the SSPX so shortly after renewing it, but really - was that necessary???
  4. The General chapter of 2012 has abandoned the 2006 Chapter Resolution ("no practical agreement without the conversion of Rome"), which was in line with the Archbishop's latest position. 
    1. As usual he (and the rest of the resistance) ignore WHY this was done.
    2. I challenge Fr. Girouard to produce the citation for when and where the Archbishop said those exact words!
  5. Since the summer of 2012, Bishop Fellay and his cronies have punished severely anybody (clergy and lay) who publicly criticized his new policy, going even as far as expelling H.E. Bishop Williamson. 
    1. Duh!  Bishop Williamson broke a rule of the SSPX (not to mention his previous issues) that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It is insane to believe that any Superior General should tolerate a member of a religious order who flouts the rule of the organization. Anarchy would prevail - just like in the rest of the Church.
  6. On June 27th, 2013 the 3 remaining SSPX bishops (F, G, T) declared publicly that they would accept an unilateral recognition by Rome, even without its conversion. 
    1. See #4
  7. In October 2012, Fr. Wegner, then District Superior of Canada, admitted to me, and promoted, the new branding of the Society effected by a professional firm. This branding was summarized in one sentence: "If the Society is to grow, it has to cease criticizing Rome and the VII reforms, and focus rather on the beauties of Tradition." 
    1. First, I suspect that there was a lot more around this statement than Fr. Girouard is letting on.  
    2. In fact given his previous comments above, I am confident that the inclusion of context would be very useful and exonerate Fr. Wegner from the crime of wanting to help the SSPX to present itself as a Catholic congregation and not a rabid collection of theological misfits that makes up the 'resistance'.  
    3. Harsh words perhaps, but most resistors that I encounter harbour bizarre excuses for their decisions.  The best are simply misguided and scandalized by the crisis of the Church and its effects.  The worst have a malformed (heretical?) understanding of the Church and the Virtue of Obedience.
Pray to keep a good perspective on the crisis of the Church.

P^3

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

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

The Curious Case of Steve Skojec and the Dangers of Deep Diving into the Crisis Sub-Titled: The Failings of Others

 + JMJ It's been a while now since Steve Skojec sold 1P5 and abandoned the Catholic Faith. I've been a 'Trad' since 1982 and in those 40+ years I seen this death-spiral before with a similar end point. It seems that anyone who jumps into the fray unprepared for the enormous task of righting wrongs will, eventually, become discouraged by not the task but the people who surround them.   I remember when Skojec complained of the treatment his family received from a traditional priest.  This seems to have been the start of the end for him. So what can we learn from the likes of Steve Skojec, Michael Voris (maybe?), Louie Verrecchio, Gerry Matatix and other celebrity Catholics? Probably quite a lot about what not to do. First, don't burn out on the crisis?  When you burn out, on work or anything else, little things assume a more greater importance than they are due.   This is one of my 'canary in the coal mine' signals that I've been stretching myself too th...

Church Militant TV and the SSPX - Again

+ JMJ The old narrative used to be that the SSPX was 'schismatic' and 'excommunicated'. Now the excommunication has been lifted for a number of years and the only ones who think it still has effect are the 'resistors'. That leaves the other opponents of the SSPX with the label 'schismatic'. Make it clear, the conservative Catholics have issues with the SSPX probably because they violate some of their assumptions about the Faith and this crisis of the Church. Church Militant TV is one of these the exists along the Catholic thought spectrum. They like the Traditional Mass but must ensure that they don't get tarred with the same 'schismatic' brush that the liberals use against the SSPX.  So what do they do, they use the same brush against the SSPX. The funny thing is that even when the Church does speak, they don't want to listen and persist in calling the SSPX 'schismatic'. Here's a transcript of the latest s...

The Position of the SSPX on Canonizations by the Saint Factory

+ JMJ I have sometimes been criticized for including 'St' as a title for Pope John Paul II et al. I've given my reasons here  in a discussion with Alex Long. The question is one of prudence in discussions with ntCatholics and in some cases with tCatholics. In discussions with:  ntCatholics, I will use the title in order to continue the discussion and help them arrive at a realistic understanding of the crisis of the Church. tCatholics, I will use the title in order to broaden their perspective on the doctrine of dogmatic facts. This broader perspective is, in my opinion, essential maintaining a realistic understanding of the crisis of the Church. So from a doctrinal position, I have written the article Dogmatic Fact of Fancy  and includes a reference on canonizations. Now, I know the position of the SSPX is that the canonizations are doubtful (see references below) and I also know of at least one non-SSPX theologian who agrees with the level of doubt du...