Tradicat

+ JMJ I had heard of Count Capponi over the years and was happy to hear a voice crying in the wilderness. I suspect that his conscience was clearer than many. This part of the article caught my attention: Capponi defended the right of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to continue his work without the label “schismatic,” which term Capponi rejected, saying: “You cannot apply the standards of the new code of canon law and the mentality of the old code. According to the new code, Lefebvre could do what he did with a Catholic intention, and he did what he did in ‘sincerity’ and invoked the ‘state of emergency’ argument, which the new code permits. You might not like the new code, but it’s what governs the Church.” I know a few people who tried to stir up a fuss when the SSPX cited the New Code in one of the documents with Rome.  Yet, the truth is what it is --- the New Code was promulgated by a reigning Pope and flawed as it is ... there are some benefits to its liberality. ...

+ JMJ Everyone follows some collection of core principles.  They are the guides we rely upon in making our various decisions the lead us into various directions. Good principles lead to good directions.  Bad principles have the opposite effect. 30 Years ago, Archbishop Lefebvre made a decision, guided by his principles, to consecrate 4 priests as bishops.  Auxiliary Bishops with no jurisdiction ordained simply to provide priests for the life of the SSPX and sacraments for the faithful who seek out the SSPX as a place of refuge in this crisis. I think that I have happened upon two of the Archbishop's core principles. The Salvation of Souls is the supreme law of the Church ( canon 1752 ). The ends do not justify the means. Let's take a look at how this played out. The Archbishop learned of the crisis in the seminaries as neo-modernism exploded from the shadows. It took some convincing by seminarians, but he eventually determined that it was the right decis...

+ JMJ The Groom pictured in the previous article has written an open letter providing the full context of the event.  The pdf version is available here, and for convenience, I have copied the text to this post. This first hand information provided much of the missing context! May God Bless them! P^3 A clarification on my wedding Ottawa, ON March 26th 2018 Greetings. I, Nicolas Lessard, got married to Monica Green on the 10th of February 2018, in the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Augustine of Canterbury in Brandon, Manitoba. Both my wife and I are faithful of the Society of Saint Pius X. The host priest, Father Kelly received our vows, and Father Vachon, of the SSPX celebrated our wedding mass. Following the wedding, there has been a lot of buzz about the circumstances of the wedding in the context of the relationship between Rome and the Society. This letter intends to address this “controversy”. The first point I would like to make is that the controversy ...

+ JMJ A wedding that took place in Brandon has caught the attention of Ecclesia Militans, a Canadian Resistance website run by a layman who is aligned with Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer.  The story has being picked up by Cathinfo (US Resistance website run by a layman who is aligned with Bishop Williamson), Fr. Girouard (aligned with himself) as well as Traditio (Sedevacantist???). I guess it was a slow news day for them in their search from something that appears to be a compromise. Here's Ecclesia Militans indepth and erudite analysis of the event: St. Raphael’s Priory of the SSPX in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has published its March 2018 Bulletin in which there is a picture of a married couple standing beside a Novus Ordo priest and Fr. Richard Vachon, SSPX.  It seems that the couple were married by the Novus Ordo priest in his parish and Fr. Vachon celebrated the Traditional Mass afterwards.  By this act, the SSPX Canadian District has implicitly admitted tha...

+ JMJ Understand the principles and use them as a guide to forming your opinion. I don't mean just the principles that confirm our beliefs - a broad understanding of Catholic Teaching is needed. Here are some principles for understanding the 'SSPX marriage' question. P^3 Courtesy of FSSPX.news

+ JMJ This is the final installment addressing the current situation of SSPX marriages. It would be nice if the state of necessity was no longer existent, however it is obvious from the German Bishop's reaction - it will be quite a long time yet before Catholics are accepted as Catholics. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org

+ JMJ This is part 2 of the SSPX series on marriage from Fr. Knittel's conference. To sacraments requiring jurisdiction for validity - Confession and Marriage. This is a usual attack point in discussions between Trads and non-Trads. Keep in mind the important distinction between Ordinary and Supplied Jurisdiction - not to mention all the exceptions in canon law. It is not black and white - even though some would like it to be so ... P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.org

+ JMJ In my research on the topic of 'state of necessity' I came across a number of good articles (some have been posted here already). Fr. Rostand makes a very good point: MJM: Archbishop Lefebvre justified his decision to consecrate bishops against the will of the Holy Father in 1988 by citing a provision in the Code of Canon Law for extraordinary measures during a “state of emergency” in the Church.  If rapprochement between the SSPX and the Vatican were now possible would that mean that the Archbishop was overzealous in 1988, or has the ‘state of emergency’ simply ceased to exist? FR: No, the state of necessity in the Church does not depend on the Society of Saint Pius X, regularized or not. It can only be an objective situation of the Church. Today, this state of necessity still exists, as unfortunately too often priests and faithful cannot receive in a normal way the true teaching of the Catholic Faith or receive the sacraments in a safe way. You have priests ...

+ JMJ There are two sacraments that require jurisdiction to be valid: Marriage and Confession. In this conflict between Rome and the SSPX, only Rome has compromised. Rome has: Conceded that the Tridentine Mass was never abrogated Lifted the 'excommunications' Granted jurisdiction for confessions Granted the bishops the authorization to grant jurisdiction for marriages. It is this latest Roman concession that is causing some people angst. As Rome makes concessions we need to keep a balance and read exactly what it says.  Do we hope for a full vindication of the fight of Traditional Catholics for the last 50 years - absolutely.  Will it happen that way - probably not. It took a hundred years for the Church to stamp out Arianism, the problems in the Church after Trent took at least 50 years. We haven't even hit the end of the first phase. So don't get angry with the latest shenanigans of Pope Francis et al.   Get even: Pray for them! ...

+ JMJ Around 2002 Bishop Fellay said that things will become more difficult as the SSPX and Rome near an agreement. He was right! One good point is the clarity that is provided - such as the state of necessity! "(The terms used will be rather words like "regularization of a situation" because, actually, in this respect), there is the problem to the consecrations themselves, which are censured by Rome ; on our part, we try to explain that the censure does not apply because of the circumstances, and, let us say, on the basis of canon law. Rome will say or has attempted to say through the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Laws that our argument, i.e. the argument of necessity, was not valid in that case. To express things more pointedly, let us say that there is a code, well a canon of the new Code of Canon Law which says that if someone acts out of necessity, he does not fall under the law; and another canon says that if this necessity was p...

+ JMJ Has Rome ever supported the SSPX's conclusion that a state of necessity exists? We have the words of Pope Benedict XVI as related by Bishp Fellay from 2006: Nevertheless, and this is very interesting too, during the private audience with the pope, the pope re-used the argument saying: "You may not justify your activity by referring to a state of necessity" giving as explanation: "I am trying", he said, "to solve the problems", such were his very words. It is at the same time an avowal: it means that there are problems; if he tries to solve them, it is because the problems still exist. And a few minutes later, in his explanation, he himself said: "We should see if there is not a state of necessity in France and in Germany." This shows that after all our argument is not so bad. Well this was just a very small development to say that… Bishop Fellay: ... First I wondered why these two countries? Now this is a pure… it is a per...

+JMJ + Now if the anti results of Trent were present but the Pope and Bishops were actually doing something to resolve instead of promoting the crisis or being impotent, then there would be no necessity. What we are witnessing is a dereliction of duty. The duty to God. This brings me to the novus Ordo missae. First of all the novus ordo missae is not a received and accepted liturgy of the Church (harsh I know ... sorry). It is a banal on the spot fabrication (quoting Pope Emeritus Benedict).  Its architect ensured that key elements expressing the Catholic faith were left out. So while it is possible that for the sacrament to be confected, the fact remains that compared with the Tridentine mass, it does not fulfill the duty of a liturgy. Just read the ottaviani intervention and you will see what I mean. So as Catholics we have a duty to worship God in a fitting catholic manner. Not a protestant manner. Since the council catholics (bishops, pr...

+JMJ+ Last post I talked about the state of necessity and how this was created by the dereliction of duty by the pope's since the council. Here's the benefits of the Council of Trent as described by the first vatican council ( http://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum20.htm) a closer definition and more fruitful of the holy dogmas of religion and the condemnation and repression of errors; thence too, the restoration and vigorous strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, the advancement of the clergy in zeal for learning and piety, the founding of colleges for the training of the young for the service of religion; and finally the renewal of the moral life of the christian people by a more accurate instruction of the faithful, and a more frequent reception of the sacraments. What is more, thence also came a closer union of the members with the visible head, and an increased vigour in the whole mystical body of Christ. Thence came the multiplication o...