Whispering sweet nothings: On the errors of Barnhardt

You know, when you come back to the faith and somehow find your way into the trad-circles, it never really crosses your mind just what you are about to enter into. I mean, to go from a semi-pelagian point of view to dealing on a daily basis with the like of Feeneyites and sedevacantists... that's what
you call doing a 180 into on-coming traffic of nothing but semi-tractors. Consider how when going from that state of the pelagian error to flirting with sedevacantism myself (during the reign of Benedict BTW, not during this pontificate), I now find myself watching supposed sane minds chase after imaginary doctrines of duel papal powers and appointing themselves with the duty to declare anti-pope status.

This itchy-ear syndrome of modernists in the pretended trad-movement is a serious issue (not dissimilar to the Global Warming alarmists). It's bad enough to have people like Kung throw hissy fits and celebrate ambiguity, but its a whole-nother thing when people that should know better don't learn the lessons of history. Their errors are the same, but to a greater degree worse then Savonarola who didn't have the benefit of Vatican I or the doctors of the Church. In seeking an answer to sooth the problem, Savonarola allowed his guard down and bought into the propaganda coming from everywhere. He seemed happy to slander the Holy Father of his own time, even going as far as calling Alexander VI an anti-pope.

Even if Barnhardt fancy's herself along the lines of St. Vincent Ferrer, let her give a sign of her holiness as Ferrer did on many occasions. But she cant so lets not treat her with unwarranted importance. All the garbage she offered amounts to nothing, zip, zero, zilch... pure dog dookie because its foundation is a theological novelty.

For those trying to play it off like she is just like the rest of us... sorry I'm not a sedevacantist if Father Benedict were to pass away tomorrow. And all this based on something Ratzinger supposedly told his secretary. The same Ratzinger who supposedly withheld this or that about Fatima willingly, the same Ratzinger who goes back and forth on the liturgy, the same Ratzinger who will both praise and exalt documents from the second Vatican Council, then talk disparagingly about them at other times.  Add on the age factor, still sharp as a tac right? This position is incompatible with the Catholic religion, she is in the realm of the Cardinal Siri theorists. And if this Benedict is the real Pope thesis is mainstream among the traddies consider me against the pretended traditionalists.

There is often a desire to trace part of the Fatima prophecy of a Pope being taken out by bullets and arrows to the Muslims, but I have always thought this to be much over played. In Proverbs 25:18 we read: "A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is like a dart and a sword and a sharp arrow." Seems to me like the Bishop in white is currently under attack from not just without, but within, and I will have no part in that cause it is not my duty and it is likely not yours either. Boniface over at Unam Sanctam Catholicam has a great approach, respect the office, but dont obsess over every thing, its not healthy and frankly its not in keeping with the four marks of the Church. Read it HERE.

Let's be clear I only see one person at this point fully spouting a material heresy and finding herself in schism, and it obviously isn't Francis for all his issues. But unlike Barnhardt, I think it is just to give her the chance to renounce her errors before her peers given the just opportunity to bring herself in line with the perennial Church's teaching on the Petrine Office.

Leave it to Ferrara to be the one to show sanity on this:

Think of all the people that have been scandalized not just by what Pope Francis has said, but by the way the Vicar of Christ has been treated. All the recent and potential converts that have been influenced by Barnhardt to come to the faith recently... now this. Modernism is not just an issue for liberals, but as seen by this episode is a grave concern for and among traddies.

Instead of wasting your time on the novel notions of self-proclaimed theologians get yourself a Copy of True Pope, False Pope by John Salza or get a membership to the Veritas Radio Network and listen to the Modern Wrong World Made Right series called Calvin was Wrong with Ryan Grant by clicking the picture to the right.  But overall, stop the panic, Pray, Hope and don't worry

+JMJ+


Oh and a rare drawing of St. Thomas More with a beard:

A rare bearded image of More. Happy feast day of St. Thomas More. pic.twitter.com/UULRi0wVkx

— Sir Thomas More (@DivorceKills) June 22, 2016

And as a witness and in fidelity to the Holy See, Cardinal St. Fisher

Yeah but... acting like a sede

Ok so, first it is worth listening to Mike Church's radio show in the morning, however if you stream it on Youtube you will notice some oddities from the commentators.  The loud ones are part of the SSPX resistance.  (aka the Williamson split off)

One of them said that one day the popes after the council will be recognized as anti-popes, this after he confirmed that Paul VI was a valid Pope.  Then when called on it he said he didn't have to take a postilion on sedevacantism because other saints have said similar things.

Sure, St. Vincent Ferrer made comments similar, but this was also before Vatican I which defined the perpetuity of the Petrine office.

Note to the resistance "Step your game up"

A note on +Marcel Lefebvre and sedes

There are a lot of opinions out there on the SSPX and I am by no means an expert on the subject.  I do believe that the competency for the issue rests with the Ecclesia Dei Commision.

Now having said that...

There are some who will appeal to +Lefebvre and say that he thought the sedevantist proposition was a real possibility to hold to. There is one specific quote used by Sede's to lure trads into their disorder:

"I do not say that the Pope is not the Pope, but I do not say that you cannot say the Pope is not the Pope."

Now this sounds rather damning.  However, the former SSPX seminarian (expelled by Lefebvre before his ordination gives context to the quote:

"(Said at table to fellow clergy, to laughter, for the phrase in French sounds like a tongue twister.)"

In other words this is an informal, off the cuff discussion and seemingly not very serious.  Furthermore it should become obvious that when Fr. Cekeda was expelled as a seminarian (along with others) he was expelled for holding to the sedevacantist position.

+Lefebvre is a very complicated character in Church history.  Some people like to compare him with St. Athanasius, but I think this is more piety than reality.  It is, however, more interesting to look at him along the lines of Friar Savonarola during the Renaissance.

Ten Days of Davies: Against the Sedevacantists

Michael Davies was indeed a Traditionalist, but you always knew that he stood firmly with Holy HERE
Mother Church.  One of my favorite works from him was a small book entitled “I Am With You Always”, which is an apologia for the Church against the sedevacantists.  The following is related within that book which I do encourage you to pick up for your own use

The Duty of a Catholic 

The Doctrine of indefectibility does not protect us from harm done by weakness, poor judgement, or lack of liturgical sensibility on the part of a Pope. In the present crisis we can see that the Holy Ghost has done sufficient to prevent the Church from failing in her divine constitution, an no more. This should both comfort and strengthen the faith of traditional Catholics, and inspire them to play their full part as members of the Mystical Body  to restore that Body to sound health again. The first requirement to achieve this must be to obtain as many celebrations of the traditional Mass as possible. The number of such celebrations is increasing daily. The second is to work respectfully, as Mgr Gamber expresses it, for the eventual restoration of the 1962 Missal as “the primary liturgical form for the celebration of Mass”. Dietrich von Hildebrand described by Pope Pius XII as the twenthieth century doctor of the Church, reminds us that: 

"The faithful are not obliged to regard all ordinances as good and desirable. They can regret them and pray that they be taken back; indeed, they can work, with all due respect for the Pope, for their elimination."

The fact that the Latin Missal of Pope Paul VI can not be described as bad, evil, or intrinsically evil does nto mean that we must consider it an acceptable substitute for the traditional Missal. The devastating critique of the 1970 Latin Missal sent to Pope Paul by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci makes this quite clear. In their covering letter they explain to the Pope that:

"The Novus Ordo Missae – considering the new elements susceptible of widely differing evaluations, which appear to be implied or taken for granted – represents as a whole and in detail, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass which was formulated by Session XXII of the Council of Trent, which by fixing definitively the “canons” of the rite, erected an insurmountable barrier against any heresy which might attack the integrity of the Mystery."

Msgr. Klaus Gamber could envisage only one realistic solution to the present crisis in the liturgy:

"In the final analysis, this means that in the future the traditional rite of Mass must be retained in the Roman Catholic Churc… as the primary liturgical form for the celebration of Mass. It must become once more the norm of our faith and the symbol of Catholic unity throughout the world, a rock of stability in a period of upheaval and never-ending change. "

Will such a day ever come? Who can say? It may well be that we are even now in the last days. What we can be certain of is that it is our duty to work for this restoration however faint our chances of success may appear at present. In the days of the Arian persecution, when St. Athanasius was a hunted fugitive, excommunicated by the Pope, who would have imagined that the day was drawing near when true Catholics who had been forced to worship outside thaie parish churches would be able to return to them in triumph? We must pray for a pope such as Paul IV, St. Pius V or St. Pius X, who will not shrink from taking the measures needed to restore orthodoxy whatever the consequences. It would indeed be preferable to have a Chrch reduced to a fraction of its present size, but composed of true Catholics, rather than a Church composed of hundreds of millions of Catholics, a large proportion of whom have no right to the name. Cardinal Newman wrote: 

"May God Arise and shake terribly the earth (though it be an awful prayer), rather than the double-minded should lie hid among us, and souls be lost by present ease … Let Him winnow us, till the chaff be clean removed:  though, in thus invoking Him, we know not what we ask, and feeling the end in itself to be good, yet cannot worthily estimate the fearfulness of the chastisement which we so freely speak about."

However lamentable the state of the Church at present, however terrible the trials and tribulations we may have to face – Our Lady of Fatima warned us of them – we must under all circumstances remain in the barque of Peter which is the one Ark of Salvation. Pope Leo XIII warned us in Satis Cognitum:

"The Church of Christ, therefore, is one and the same forever: those who leave it depart from the will and command of Christ the Lord. Leaving the path of salvation they enter on the path of perdition."

Since its Davies on Sedes why not laugh about antipope Michael

+JMJ+

Sedevacantism

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+