tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13804788.post1378707933419426258..comments2024-03-27T11:27:31.790-05:00Comments on A Catholic Life: Excerpt: "Brief Apology for the Church of all Time" by Fr Roger-Thomas CalmelMatthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07929374709032473716noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13804788.post-40581602501778785252014-02-06T11:57:33.946-06:002014-02-06T11:57:33.946-06:00I have great admiration for Fr. Calmel, and one ca...I have great admiration for Fr. Calmel, and one can take no exception to anything he says above in a positive sense. However, his approach is deficient in what it admits and what it implies. He seems to take no cognizance of the basic principle simply expressed by St. Thomas in the Summa (a surprising lack for a Dominican): heretics hold no authority in the Church. Fr. Calmel chose to consider the problem in terms of authority. That is logical and essential. Why then does he not consider the issue of who bears authority? The sainted Abbot Gueranger, the best exposer of the liturgical heresy (a term he himself used) also says quite succinctly that when the shepherds become wolves, the first obligation of the sheep is to defend themselves. It is impossible to consider how to defend oneself without a correct assessment of what, or whom, one must defend against.<br /><br />And, quite inappropriately for a Thomist, there is a clear contradiction, hence a serious lack of logic, in saying at the beginning "priests cannot take the place of bishops" (thus admitting that the current heretics continue to be Catholic bishops), and, at the end, looking forward to the time when bishops will return "to being bishops," thus obviously implying that they are not now bishops.<br /><br />One would wish to see more of Fr. Calmel, incidentally. I imagine much of what he wrote in Itineraires would be of great use on this website. Thanks for bringing his name to the American traditionalist public.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com