CMTV, Save Us from Celebrity Catholics and Is the SSPX Way the Right Action to Take In the Crisis of the Church? Part 2

JMJ

Celebrity Catholics

Fr. Altman and Sedevacantistism

So Fr. Altman had fallen into the Sedevacantist pot hole and others will either follow him or use him as an whipping boy for the Traditionalists as a whole.

In light of the scandal caused by the Popes, Cardinals and Bishops, I can understand the desire to pick the easy answer that the Catholic Church is indefectible (or some other excuse) therefore the Pope can't be the Pope etc.

Were it that easy.

The sedevacantist 'solution' simply unravels the foundation of Catholic Dogma and Doctrine. For example, it is a Dogma that there will be successors of St. Peter until the end of time (see Vatican 1 link), and if Fr. Altman were to examine the pontificates of Pope John 23, Paul 6, John Paul II in the same light as Pope Francis 1, he will probably find reasons to suspect they also 'lost' the papacy. I know sedevacantists who take their principle to the logical end and say that the last valid Pope was Pope Leo 13.

This is absurd and contradicts the afore mentioned Dogma. We aren't in some weird inter-regnum, no one in authority had admonished Pope Francis and he hasn't done the actions required to make it explicit that he has lost the Faith etc.

Without that, Fr. Altman is simply uttering an opinion based on his personal feelings in order to try and make sense of a Church ripping itself apart like an alien spawn (i.e. chest burster).

A few years back I wrote an article titled "Yes Sally, Pope Francis IS the Pope and is in great need of our prayers!" and I think I will reblog it in the next few weeks because nothing has changed with regard to this latest disastrous Pontificate in a series of mediocre or bad Popes since Paul VI. In the meantime here's the link to the 2017 reblog: https://tradicat.blogspot.com/2017/08/re-blog-yes-sally-pope-francis-is-pope.html.

https://onepeterfive.com/altman-francis-father-wound/

The major problem I have with 'Traditional' Celebrity Catholics is that we've ween 'wandering in the wilderness' for so long that any person who reinforces our views becomes a hero. The hero worship is particularly bad when the person turns out to be a zero ... i.e. fallible human and falls into error - like Fr. Altman. Many others have preceded him into the pothole of sedevacantism and many more will follow.

So, beware of putting any person on a pedestal and attaching all your hopes on them. The odds are you will be disappointed in some degree.

Is the SSPX Way the Right Action to Take In the Crisis of the Church?

I guess the first question should be What is the SSPX way?

It is normally referred to as the recognize and resist. Which is not very useful but here is my explanation:

Recognize: Pope Francis or the previously reigning Popes are recognized as being the successor of St.Peter and the Vicar of Christ.
Resist: The people holding this remain ready and willing to obey orders from the Pope that fall under his authority to issue and do not involve sin.

The reasoning under this principle is that the Pope cannot order us to endanger our Faith by adopting a protestantized liturgy or formulas that make ambiguous what was previously clear (I'm thinking of the exclusion of the Filioque from the Creed).

This does not mean that Traditionalists are immune from error. Even the Pope is inflammable and only infallible under certain conditions (pun intended).

So the SSPX provides the Sacraments necessary for the salvation following the principle of State of Necessity and that you go to the point where everything went wonky and hold on until the current storm passes. That's ultimately the reason why the SSPX uses the 1963 missal as opposed to the older ones. That was the last Tridentine Mass issued before the Novus Ordo Missae.

There are two sacraments that were problematic for the Catholics who seek the sacraments from the SSPX. These are the Sacraments of Marriage and Confession, because they require jurisdiction as an element of their validity.

As we know since 2016 the confessions of the SSPX have received jurisdiction directly from Pope Francis and that since 2017 some marriages have received jurisdiction. Does this mean that all confessions were invalid prior to this? A number of people would have you believe that it does, but that isn't quite the whole story.

The question that strikes are the heart of the matter is whether or not there is a crisis in the Church that warrants the recognize and resist position in other words creates a State of Necessity.

If so, the salvation of souls would be paramount and the supplied jurisdiction would kick into action. I am simplifying the principle, but suffice to say that people who do not see the crisis in the Church will find the SSPX confessions (up to 2016) and marriages performed without the approval of the local ordinary (since 2017) invalid.

In the case of marriages it has long been an issue where Marriage Annulments will be granted to a party no longer seeks the sacraments from the SSPX on the basis of a lack of form (Canon 1108). This is the reason why the SSPX was seeking a 'sanitum' for the marriages witnessed by the SSPX priests and the partial resolution by Pope Francis of the problem in 2017.

I know that Siscoe and Salza have now turned against the SSPX on this point based on the opinion of professors in Rome. Such is life.

Looking around, it is quite apparent to me that the State of Necessity is real and has been since Faithful Catholics were persecuted for not accepting the danger to their Faith created by the Novus Ordo Missae and the 'Spirit of the Council' that it embodies.

I know Catholics who, only a few years ago, didn't think there was a state of necessity. Pope Francis has changed many of their minds and they now realize that the SSPX was right to hold on to the Tridentine Mass and Teachings of the Church.

Hopefully, Pope Francis will soon go to his eternal reward with the Last Sacraments and his successor will finally have the guts to end this crisis.

P^3

Reference

https://sspx.org/en/content/29002

News Roundup: October 19, 2026

+ JMJ Well ... I was looking in my blog drafts and found this list from after my News is an Addiction post. So ... yep ... not totally able to disconnect from the news world at this point. Frankly, I haven't read all of these articles - they catch my eye as I check for SSPX news regarding the exco's etc. So let's consider these topics as part of a higher level chronicle. They may not be key inflection points but helps to understand the flow of the world as perceived by the authors and myself who captured them as a snapshot in time. P^3 1 Popes Past Present and Future Benedict XVI and the Reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Re-Catholicizing the Liturgy—Part I - Adoremus RORATE CÆLI: France: Pope Lays Down the Law on Euthanasia RORATE CÆLI: "I went to France to preach the Gospel -- the Defense of Life is something that the Church believes very deeply" RORATE CÆLI: Image of the Day: the Pope at the Rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris RORATE CÆLI: Leo XIV and the Place...

The Debt Canadian Traditional Catholics Owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP)

+ JMJ On this All Souls day, I'd like to remind all Traditional Catholics in Canada the debt that they owe to Fr. Yves Normandin (RIP). Fr. Normandin stepped into the breach in the 1970's offering the Tridentine Mass across Canada for close to a decade before returning to his diocese for a number years before returning to the SSPX. I had the grace to visit him in Quebec twice and each time left with a greater appreciation of the fruits of his efforts. All of us 'old-timers' probably remembers Masses in Chapels, Homes, Halls, Funeral Homes, and event convention centres. I make the assertion that this laid the ground for all the Traditional Mass Communities, SSPX, FSSP, Diocesan and others. Probably a pretty safe assertion! In addition to praying for the repose of the Soul of Fr. Normandin, I'd ask you also pray for the repose of the soul of his Mother. I remember seeing her picture once and everyone has a Mom and she is worthy of our prayers for producing such a so...

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

SSPX: Requiescat in Pace - Nov. Devotions

+ JMJ Recently, the St. Gertrude prayer was recommended to me and given my devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, I thought it a good inclusion in the morning prayers and post it here for as a reminder for November - the Month of the Holy Souls. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org “Forget not the dead and hasten to pray for them!” - such is the Church's recommendation, beautifully summarized by St. Augustine. In Purgatory until the End of the World Our Lady Herself referred to Purgatory when, at the first Fatima apparition in May 1917, she was asked by Lucia about the souls of two young village girls who had recently died. The Virgin answered that the first one, Maria das Nevas, who died when about 16 years of age, was in Heaven. But of Amelia, a young lady of 18 years at her death, "will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” The disclosure about Amelia’s prolonged period of expiation never fails to shock and trouble. We are so easily misled to believe that Heaven is our natura...

The News is an Addiction ...

+ JMJ People seem to be mesmerised by train wrecks. They just can't turn away as the disaster creeps forward along train tracks towards the crossing where a car, truck, bus, trailer awaits its destruction. Trads have been watching the train wreck that is this crisis of the Catholic Church for decades. The trade war between the Canada and the US has reminded me that the news is addictive. The first time I was addicted what from 2009 to 2014 when I was closely following the Rome / SSPX discussions. I was at work watching a live-stream as Bishop Fellay disappeared into the Vatican. The lead-up to this moment had been intense as the 'resistance' got freaked out and the cultural cracks between doctrine and conspiracy theory widened. In the decade since then other things have emerged, wars, rumours of wars, conspiracies, celebrity Catholics etc. Now we have a new addiction and its name is Trump. Lately, no matter how much I try, I find myself wonderin...

Tradicat

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