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Wednesday 15 April 2020

To all those SSPX haters out there ...

Full Disclosure. I do not attend the SSPX chapel of the CATHOLIC Church in Toronto. I do not chant there. I have and was happy to do so at various times. If I had no work in diocesan Latin Masses leading and developing a schola and choir or as a cantor, there is no doubt that my wife and I would. It's about ten minutes from our home. That being said, I will help them in any way that I can.

The continued vitriol towards them on line, (I won't mention the names here) is simply demonic. I simply refuse to argue with anyone anymore about status and "irregular" communion or, "schism." It's all ridiculous. Given everything we face in the Church from the worship of pagan idols to the "rehabilitation" of Judas Iscariot, the sell-out of the Catholic faithful in communist China and everything else, this is what some have chosen to fight about - and very publicly. 

So, if this offends you, that I defend the priests and religious of the Society and their work and I have argued often that without Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Society, there would be no Latin Mass, then so be it. You can move along. 

In the spirit of this, I suggest to you this, by Joseph, no doubt equally frustrated with the shameful public fight.


20 comments:

Dad29 said...

Frankly, I don't understand the brouhaha, either. While I do not attend an SSPX Mass (albeit there is a chapel within 20 miles or so) my understanding of their situation is that they are 'in limbo' so to speak: not OUT of the Church, but not comfortably within Her. The Pope's actions regarding Confessions and Matrimony were likely aimed at straightening out a growing Canon Law mess (weddings) and the Pope's emphasis on 'mercy.' (That doesn't make me a fan of Bergoglio....)

One is tempted to suggest that 'The Arguers' here are all looking for more clicks/ad revenues. None of them impress me as Canonical scholars but all seem to have a slightly overweening interest in seeing themselves on TEEEVEE!!! mom!! I'm on TEEVEE!!

Sheesh.

C. LaSalle said...

Thank you for your personal clarity and for speaking to a "fight" that only serves to further divide Tradition.

Brian said...

Vox
Thank you very much for the Toronto SSPX link during Holy Week. My daily missal got a workout.

P. O'Brien said...

No comments yet? Here's one. Marcel Lefebvre was THE saint of the last part of the 20th century. The Latin Mass would be virtually dead without him, and I hope everyone who attends a "legal" Traditional Mass appreciates that.

James Joseph said...

Thank you.

Tom A. said...

What all Catholics who attend the Latin Mass should remember is that if it were not for Abp Lefebrve, the Latin Mass would probably be extinct or extremely rare. The only reason the indult communities exist is because Rome needed to combat Abp Lefebrve. The majority of early sedevacantist leaders were formed at Econe and ordained by Abp Lefebrve. Yes, they have some extremely difficult theological positions to defend calling Bergoglio their Pope. Personally, I think their argument falls flat on its face, but if it were not for the SSPX, I hate to imagine what life for a traditional Catholic would be today.

Peter Lamb said...

Dear Vox, we are pals who do not and have not agreed on everything for several years now. No matter. What does matter is that we respect each other and are pals. So, I'm not going anywhere and I am going to express my opinion in regard to SSPX. I tried to post this on Joseph's blog but it is not there:

I can easily understand Joseph's reaction to SSPX Priests. There is much good in them as individuals, but there is evil also in their Society. The evil is born of wilful ignorance. I asked a sedevacantist Priest who had been in the SSPX for 35 years, how it was possible that it had taken him so long to see the light. He said it was the seminary teaching. The seminarians were simply not taught true Catholicism regarding ecclesiology and the Papacy.
The evil of the SSPX consists in:

1. Not recognizing the Catholic doctrine that an heretic cannot be Pope. He who is not a member, cannot be head. Popes, Saints, Doctors of the Church, Vatican I and Catholic theologians state clearly and unambiguously: An heretic cannot be Pope!
The SSPX persists in recognizing the conciliar heretics as "popes". This is giving them false power and authority. The SSPX is what is called "controlled opposition." They recognize bergoglio as Pope. They swear allegiance to him: they wish for unity with his false church; they keep conservative Catholics within the ambit of the novus ordo Frankenchurch. That is their purpose.

2. Catholic doctrine cannot change. The Catholic Church is INDEFECTIBLE. That is Catholic DOGMA! God is immutable; therefore His teaching is immutable! Have the conciliar impostors taught new doctrine? Has bergoglio taught any new, or different, or changed "catholicism"? Does he deny the existence of hell? Does he deny eternal punishment there for unrepentant sinners? Does he deny the immortality of the human soul? Yes! He does - thereby denying three Catholic dogmas in one sentence. The SSPX recognizes bergoglio and his ilk as true Catholic Prelates, despite their teaching of altered, different, changed Catholicism. In other words, the SSPX denies the Catholic dogma of the indefectibility of the Catholic Church !!! They believe that the "Vicar of Christ" and the "bishops" in union with him can teach an altered "catholic" doctrine. They accept that the Catholic Church is DEFECTIBLE. Heresy most foul!!! They offer Our Lord to His Father in unity with an heretic bergoglio in their "una cum" Mass. What a sacrilege! They consort with heretics; they pray with heretics. That is their evil. They are become heretics.

Vox Cantoris said...

P. O'Brien said...
No comments yet? Here's one.

Ha! I was asleep and did not release until a few minutes ago (After my over 60 trip to Costco which should do us for the next few months).

I agree with you. The day will come and I pray to live to see it, when St. Marcel of Econe and Gabon will be raised to the Altar! It will happen, of that, I have no doubt.

And yes, without him and the Society, we would have no FSSP, no ICRSS no diocesan EF Masses, no others. It would have been gone. Those who deny this, and I know a few, are simply deluded fools.

M. Prodigal said...

Sadly both SSPX chapels in my state are also shut down. One is only a few miles from my home and I would be more than happy to attend there right now if it was open. Usually I attend a diocesan TLM on Sunday. And if one reads the biography of Archbishop Lefebvre they would find that it reads like one of a saint. I don't know that it needed to go to the 1988 issue but there it is. But God brought good out of it because we still have the holy Mass of the ages.

Osusanna said...

Amen Vox. If demonic vitriol is commin atcha you're doing something right.

Vox Cantoris said...

Peter Lamb,

We do not always agree but you know, Sir, you are always welcome. I'll say it again, I have more in common with you in S.A. than with those in my territorial parish in Toronto. The rest, we'll figure out.

God bless you my friend.

Frankie and David

Peter Lamb said...

Thanks Vox and Frankie. Ditto! :)

Irenaeus said...

Identity politics is an ugly business, and this recent eruption about the SSPX demonstrates it has no place in the Catholic Church.

Paul said...

I don't attend any SSPX chapel either, at least not since I was a child in 1988. Any reservations I have I keep to myself because the SSPX aren't the bad guys in a world with the current pontiff, the rife corruption in the Vatican, sodomite marriage, corruption in the clergy, trans-insanity, no belief in the Eucharist, abortion... etc. But if you choose to go there to receive communion (or from any other priest willing to give it you), can't you please just be discreet about it? Do you have to announce something you know is going to bring controversy on Easter Sunday? Ever heard of "don't let your right hand know what the left is doing?" I know of at least one private Mass that was shut down because an attendee couldn't keep her mouth shut on facebook. Let's please not toot our own horns in these serious times, even if your income depends on it.

Mary Ann Kreitzer said...

I have been attending an SSPX drive-in Mass at the Fairgrounds in Warren County, VA on Sundays for the past month. During the week my husband and I go to our parish church and pray the Mass in our Magnificats. There is no reason we could not have Masses in our church with distancing guidelines and marked pews if our bishop would allow it. Our county has only a few dozen cases of the virus. Before the shutdown we had a case from a Sunday Mass and no one else was infected. Every state should not be treated the same and neither should every county within a state. Rural counties should be treated differently than highly populated cities.

The fact that our bishops will not use common sense to open up less impacted areas makes it inevitable that Catholics will go where they must. TV Masses are not the same and many poorly catechized Catholics are likely to stop attending Mass altogether when the lockdowns are lifted. In the meantime I am most grateful for the SSPX shepherds who seem to have more concern for the sheep than our bishops to their shame.

Anonymous said...

I have thought for many years that the SSPX is just Catholic.
Of course they are seen as radical to modernist heretics.
I have watched them be vilified for years...but they are just
Catholic. The Faith I was baptized in. I love them because they are my Church.
I have never been to one of their Masses and have never been anywhere near one of their Chapels. I wish there was one close enough to go to, but alas!

People objecting to the Society must stop. They are preserving the Faith very well in spite of horrible attacks.
Bod Bless and Protect them forever+

Tom A. said...

There would be no identity crisis if there was a Catholic Pope.

Tom A. said...

Shuttered Novus Ordo churches are a blessing.

xsosdid said...

In my own diocese there is nothing. We are desolate. But an hour away is a little forgotten group of young sspx priests who have been busy hearing my families confessions and providing the Eucharist. "By their fruits..."

Dan hesko said...

With all the evil going on all around us, I'm scandalized that Catholic people would waste thier time fighting over whether is good or bad at attend SSPX Masses. Of course they are valid and if any Catholic can avail themselves to receive the Sacraments there, they'd be fools not to. Knock it off and rail and fight against real evil in the workd