Tradicat

 + JMJ Introduction There's a lot of noise about the SSPX and the impending Episcopal Consecrations of four auxiliary bishops. Actually, most of the noise is from the media and neither principal parties (Rome / SSPX). At this point is is important to reduce the noise in order to see the signal. The Heart of the Matter From my point of view there are four key issues: Consecration without Papal Mandate It is abundantly clear, that while the SSPX has asked from a mandate, one has not been and is unlikely to be given.  Thus we have a repeat of 1988, which Rome asking for 'talks' and delaying any real action - as well as trying to delay the consecrations. This action has been covered in Canon Law since 1950 (now Canons 1013, 1387), at least that's when the penalty was increase from suspension to excommunication by Pope Pius XII.  This was done when the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association  started to consecration bishops for its parallel Church.  This is a real sch...

 + 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....

 + JMJ So the world continues to spin and break apart - metaphorically. One item that I think I forgot to mention was that the Catholic Family News ceased publication (link) . I met John Vennari at the seminary in Winona where after some discussion he gave me permission to repost articles.  That CFN carried on for eight years after his passing is a testimony to the need for good reporting and articles. I still have over a dozen of his CDs and his ability to see the crisis for what it was and yet be grateful was an example worth following. Along this line of thinking, you'll notice a few links from articles posted on Unam Catholicam. This blog / website is run by an Philip Campbell and provides clear thinking on many topics. I respect his thoughts on the SSPX - even though I don't necessarily agree with many - I can respect his opinions on the matter. NB: This roundup contains some articles that are against Traditionalism and the SSPX. It is always good to have an idea of what...

 + JMJ Principle 1: Realize that something is amiss in the Catholic Church The world in which I had my Traditional Awakening, is one in which practically anything pre-Conciliar such as liturgy, doctrinc, and even dogmas are either suppressed, ignored or re-framed to be acceptable to the ‘world’. What is more, the people adhering to these pre-conciliar teachings and liturgy are persecuted by other members of the Catholic Church. The things that non-Trads say about Trads can be quite extreme. For example, accusations against Traditionalists include that they are: A revival of the Jansenists (link) , Schismatics, Heretics, Uncharitable, Lefebrists Radicals Integrists When one group of Catholics is persecuted by the others for simply wanting to live as Catholics before them did for generations … well something is wrong. Further, we need to realize that when what was previously condemned is now promoted and what was previously promoted as the trut...

 + JMJ After the Second Vatican Council there was a marked decline in many of the Catholic Orders with thousands of priests, nuns and brothers abandoning their religious life or in some cases being pushed out because they didn't want to 'adapt' to the modern age full of self-loathing. As their numbers shrank, properties were sold or repurposed.  I know of one Benedictine Convent built in the sixties that ended up being leased for non-Catholic purposes. The Trappists were not immune to this hollowing out of Catholicism and monasteries were closed and sold off as their numbers vanished. One monastery was visited by Traditional Catholics in the 80's, at which point the Monks had been gone for since the late 70's. The reason given was the encroachment of the nearby city.  In their move the Monks exhumed the bodies of the communities dead and moved them to their new location. What they left behind was telling. A Statue of Our Lady, high up on a pedestal in the Church. Pl...

 + JMJ Introduction Since the 1980’s when my family started going to Fr. Normandin’s mass (link: https://tradicat.blogspot.com/2026/05/stories-early-days-of-tradition-part-5.html ), I have seen the oppressive attrition resulting from the continuous pressure on Traditional Catholics and the inexorable passage of time. In Ecclesia Dei (link) , I intuitively recognized it as an attempt to scare people into submission with vague threats and ambiguities. Later on, when I studied ED, the chasm between disobedience and schism was one that seemed insurmountable – declaring an action contravened Canon 751 when it wasn’t included in the Canonical warning was akin to declaring something illegal after-the-fact (link) . Now we are faced with an objective repeat of the 1988 Episcopal Consecrations and the media frenzy and well / not so well intentioned voices are crying out all over the wilderness of the internet. Are they sirens calling us to our immortal damnation or voices of reason ...

 + JMJ A now the moment that we've all been waiting for ... well not exactly ... but I have been waiting to hear the names of the SSPX candidates for the auxiliary bishops (i.e. no jurisdiction and no schism). It is a sign of the passage of years that I have never met any of the candidates in my years roaming across Traditionalism - whereas in 1988, I had personally met 3 out of 4 of the candidates. I had been told that they would be older than forty and probably not much older than fifty. ... and so it is with two outliers:  Father Pascal Schreiber Swiss 53y German, French, English Father Michael Goldade USA 45y English and some competency in French and Spanish Father Michel Poinsinet de Sivry France 42y French, English and some competency in German and Dutch Father Marc Hanappier France 36y French, English and some competency in German and Spanish Suffice to say, I believe the SSPX is counting on Fr. Schreiber to add additional wisdom and Fr. Hanappier longevity to the SSPX....