As it has been widely reported this week, the Pope indeed has lifted the excommunications of four SSPX bishops today. I guess this is phase two of Pope Benedict XVI’s work to bring the SSPX fully back into the Church.
Father Z has some wise thoughts on this which I heartily agree.
I especially agree with this snippet.
What it all depends on, to my mind, is the attitude of both sides, the Holy See and the SSPX leadership. If they really want unity, then they must make these concrete gestures, such as that which we saw today, and then get into the same room, roll up the sleeves, and work things out. They have to open their minds and hearts and keep in mind that we don’t have to be in lock step about the putative glories of Vatican II, or the efficacy of the Novus Ordo, etc. It is time to let go of the Council or its “spirit” as some sort of super dogma.
It is also time to start obeying the Roman Pontiff and tone down the language
3 comments
Father Z is dead wrong about the Feeneyites. Their teaching flatly contradicts the CCC. I wonder if his comment exposes his own sympathies?
I don’t know why we’d want to yoke ourselves to a group of heretical traitors, Holocaust deniers and cafeteria Catholics such as these. A local SSPX type told me that John Paul II was “damning Catholic souls to hell”… that’s the kind of people we’re dealing with here.
The same guy (an ex-seminarian, no less) also proclaimed that Jewish worship is false. So he’s basically a semi-Marcionite.
So while the Liberals are trying to drag the Church down into a fiery pit… conservatives can’t wait to counteract that by dragging the Church into a different fiery pit.
St. Dominic, pray for us.
Adeodatus, I disagree with you. How can you say you don’t know
why we’d want to yoke ourselves to the people of the SSPX? We’re
already yoked — they’re just as much Catholics as you and I — it’s
only their bishops who have incurred excommunication, remember.
Regularizing their situation will take hard work and the process
won’t be helped by inflammatory comments every bit as excessive
as those you accuse the SSPX of making.
As for the bit about “holocaust deniers”, I think you’re tarring the
whole group with a brush that only applies to one of their bishops.
Whatever crazy notions Bp. Williamson may hold personally has no
bearing on the situation at hand between Rome and the SSPX.
Father Z. is right, in my opinion — we need to start obeying the
Roman Pontiff and tone down the language. Praying for unity
sure won’t hurt either.
Considering that Pope Benedict and John Paul II were both called horrible names by representatives of this group, and the Holy Father desires reconciliation, it would be ridiculous to hold a grudge on his behalf.
I don’t think we have to smile and nod when Catholics or anyone else call our popes the “Anti-Christ” though, or when the N.O. is called a false liturgy. Hopefully the forgiveness of the Pope will melt the bitterness of the SSPXers.