Another day, another dollar, another chance to post on a
topic of concern
Todays topic: Sedevacantists
Recently I reread the book Orthodoxy by the one and only GK
Chesterton and came across a number of relevant passages that could be related
to this topic but in an indirect manner.
First that it is always dangerous for the human mind to reckon up the
human mind.
So what is sedevacantism?
It is a sect of Christianity that claims to be the true Catholic
faith. In general sedevacantists hold
that the Chair of Peter is currently vacant, usually stating that it has been
so since Pope Pius XII died. Their focal
point rests in their interpretation of Vatican II teaching heresy when it comes
down to it. However they do pass around the
theory that a Cardinal Siri had actually been elected by the sacred conclave
but was forced by the modernists to reject the office for fear of his
life. Therefore they say John XXIII was
elected by the modernists but not actually by the conclave. Therefore the council and all the things that
followed the council including the ordinary form of the liturgy and the Popes
from John XXIII on are all invalid and heretical.
It is my opinion that most sedevacantists come at any
problem in a rather protestant manner.
Generally the will quote a Pope, or even an anti-pope (to them) to
confirm their theories, pulling quotes out of their context and creating a
super dogma out of texts that hold no such designation. For instance you will often hear it
referenced that Pope Pius V in
Quo Primum condemned any change
of the sacred liturgy by any individual.
This is however a faulty notion and is taken up by EWTN staff member Jeffrey
Mirus
here. Dr. Robert Sungenis has also taken on
sedevacantists and their arguments at his website
Catholic International as well as in
debates with sedevacantists
here.
Some might say that I am not being fair to these people, but
I do believe I am. I don’t judge their
heart just their actions, and their actions speak volumes. Often they will say we should look at the
fruits of the post council church and judge it based on this. So they want us to take a subjective approach
to the issue. Fine what are the fruits
the church shows following VII? In
general the number of Catholics in the world have doubled, relations with
people of good will in different religions or lack thereof have improved and
scripture studies and theological understanding have developed exponentially.
What are the fruits of sedevacantism? Perhaps we can say the best thing that comes
from this group is an ability to reference obscure popes and their zeal for
tradition, at least what they think tradition is. They have grown in numbers since their
inception, I guess we could even say exponentially since a jump from 0 to 1 is an
infinite jump in itself so congrats!
Bottom line what can you do with conspiratists that see
trouble everywhere they look, well youll have to read Orthodoxy for that, the
second chapter that is.
God Bless!
+JMJ+
