Rome and the SSPX - Version 2026 Part 6c: Principles and Rules for Surviving this Crisis of the Catholic Church (Principle 2)
+
JMJ
Principle 2: Know the Faith as the Catholic Church Teaches or Taught it.
A knowledge of the Faith and familiarity with the history of the Catholic Church for at least the past 200 years provides a good foundation for weathering this storm.
Bias, Opinions and Misbeliefs
One landmine that undermines principle #2 is the mixing of personal opinion with doctrine. These opinions, beliefs by another name, are sometimes held in a death grip. In some cases they are just prejudices against various real groups such as immigrants, Jews, communists, masons etc. In some cases it extends to conspiracy theories such as sedevacantism.
These firmly held beliefs prevent people from both understanding Doctrine as Taught by the Church and making the necessary distinctions.
For example, which religions offer worship to the True God?
Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Jews and Muslims.
Some people suck in their breath through their teeth creating an noticeable hiss at the above statement. However, I have it on good authority:
12 Q. Who are infidels? A. Infidels are those who have not been baptized and do not believe in Jesus Christ, because they either believe in and worship false gods as idolaters do, or though admitting one true God, they do not believe in the Messiah, neither as already come in the Person of Jesus Christ, nor as to come; for instance, Mohammedans and the like. (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
- and -
Infidel: in ecclesiastical language those who by baptism have received faith in Jesus Christ and have pledged Him their fidelity and called the faithful, so the name infidel is given to those who have not been baptized. The term applies not only to all who are ignorant of the true God, such as pagans of various kinds, but also to those who adore Him but do not recognize Jesus Christ, as Jews, Mohammed; strictly speaking it may be used of catechumens also, though in early ages they were called Christians; for it is only through baptism that one can enter into the ranks of the faithful. (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Breaking it down – a distinction is made between the types of infidels as understood by the Catholic Church. There are those that worship false gods and those worshiping one true God.
I have had discussions with Trads where it took fifteen to twenty minutes for them to understand the distinction that needs to be made: Offering worship to the True God, does not mean it is ‘True Worship’ as the Catholic Church understands it.
Reference: Tradicat: Is the object of Catholic, Jewish and Islamic worship the same God? – Updated
So my point is that misbeliefs and holding to them causes a loss of perspective and ultimately adherence to religious error. Cognitive Dissonance theory is one way to explain these types of firmly held misbeliefs and the lengths that people will go to boslter their opinions when confronts with reality.
Link to articles
- Collection: Catholic Cognitive Dissonance
- Tradicat: Cognitive Biases
- Tradicat: The SSPX Deserves and Needs Juridical Status - Bishop Williamson December 8, 1987
Building a Foundational Knowledge
There is no way around it, you need to do the work. While Catholic magazines are a great starting point, it is critical to study actual Church documents.
Ones that I recommend are:
Catechism of the Council of Trent
Catechism of Saint Pope Pius X
Documents of Vatican 1
Pre-Council Encyclicals:
Popes Against Modern Errors (Tan book available on Archive.org)
ON LIBERALISM (Mirari Vos, Pope Gregory XVI)
ON CURRENT ERRORS (Quanta Cura, Pope Pius IX)
SYLLABUS OF ERRORS (Pope Pius IX)
ON GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY (Diuturnum Illud, Pope Leo XIII)
ON FREEMASONRY AND NATURALISM (Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII)
ON THE NATURE OF TRUE LIBERTY (Libertas Praestantissimum, Pope Leo XIII)
ON THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASSES (Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII)
ON CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY (Graves de Communi Re, Pope Leo XIII)
SYLLABUS CONDEMNING THE ERRORS OF THE MODERNISTS (Lamentabili Sane, Pope St. Pius X)
ON MODERNISM (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Pope St. Pius X)
OUR APOSTOLIC MANDATE (On the “Sillon,” Pope St. Pius X)
THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM (Pope St. Pius X)
ON THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING (Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI)
ON FOSTERING TRUE RELIGIOUS UNITY (Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XI)
ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM (Divini Redemptoris, Pope Pius XI)
ON CERTAIN FALSE OPINIONS WHICH THREATEN TO UNDERMINE THE FOUNDATIONS OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE (Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII)
Mystici Corporis (The Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, Pope Pius XII)
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Ludwig Ott
These are all available online for free and well worth the time needed to read them – cover to cover.
Building a Spiritual Foundation
Religious knowledge dies on the vine without an active spiritual life. Key elements are spiritual reading, prayer, meditation and contemplation.
I have mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning again advice that I received from a priest in the midst of the time when it appeared that the SSPX would obtain a no-compromise canonical regularization.
In those discussions, he said, I was pouring out drops of grace from my cup and if I didn’t “refill my cup”, I would crash and likely make big mistakes. Thinking about other Trads who were fervent, but held strong beliefs – they all ended poorly either abandoning the Faith altogether, ‘returning’ to the Novus Ordo, or became Sedevacantist.
“So you need to fill your cup and only give from the over flow.”
Another element is being grateful, not in the context that you have something someone else lacks, but that you have something that you didn’t and don’t deserve – the Faith and Catholicism. There was an article written by Robert Siscoe for the now defunct Catholic Family News that I recommend. When my wife and I first read it, we recognized it for what it is – a cornerstone for surviving this Crisis.
The Importance of Gratitude (Tradicat: Gratitude - Necessary for Surviving and Thriving in this Crisis)
P^3
Comments
Post a Comment