Linggo, Marso 15, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI and H.E. Bernard Fellay Release Additional Statements

Pope Benedict XVI releases a letter on his decision to "lift" the SSPX excommunications. Below is the letter from His Holiness along with my comments in brackets. Emphasis is in bold and my comments are in red.

Dear brethren in the Episcopal ministry!

The lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 without a mandate of the Holy See has led, both within and outside the Catholic Church, for a variety of reasons, to a discussion of such vehemence as we had not experienced for a long time. Many bishops felt at a loss before an event which came unexpectedly and could barely be integrated positively among the questions and tasks of the Church of today. Although many pastors and faithful were willing in principle to value positively the Pope's desire for reconciliation, against this was the question of the appropriateness of such a gesture, given the real urgency of a believing life in our time. Several groups, however, accused the Pope openly of wanting to return behind the Council. An avalanche of protests was set into motion, the bitterness of which made injuries visible which transcended the moment. Therefore I feel pressed to address to you, dear brethren, a clarifying word, which is meant to help to understand the intentions which have guided me and the competent organs of the Holy See in this step. I hope in this way to contribute to peace in the Church.

One mishap for me unforeseeable, was the fact that the Williamson case has superimposed itself on the remission of the excommunication. The discreet gesture of mercy towards the four bishops ordained validly but not legitimately, suddenly appeared as something entirely different: as a disavowal of the reconciliation between Christians and Jews, and therefore as the revocation of what in this area the Council had clarified for the way for the Church. The invitation to reconciliation with an ecclesial group separating itself had thus become the opposite: an apparent way back behind all the steps of reconciliation between Christians and Jews which had been made since the Council and which to make and further had been from the outset a goal of my theological work. The fact that this superposition of two opposing processes has occurred and has disturbed for a moment the peace between Christians and Jews as well as the peace in the Church I can only deeply regret. I hear that closely following the news available on the internet would have made it possible to obtain knowledge of the problem in time. I learn from this that we at the Holy See have to pay more careful attention to this news source in the future [This is interesting that the Holy Father is acknowledging the influence of the Internet]. It has saddened me that even Catholics who could actually have known better have thought it necessary to strike at me with a hostility ready to jump. Even more therefore I thank the Jewish friends who have helped to quickly clear away the misunderstanding and to restore the atmosphere of friendship and trust, which - as in the time of Pope John Paul II - also during the entire time of my pontificate had existed and God be praised continues to exist.

Another mishap which I sincerely regret, is that the scope and limits of the measure of 21 January 2009 have not been set out clearly enough at the time of the publication of the procedure. The excommunication affects persons, not institutions. Episcopal consecration without papal mandate means the danger of a schism, because it calls into question the unity of the Bishops' College with the Pope [But the Holy Father does not even discuss the canonical arguments of the Society of St. Pius X, which seem to be a valid argument]. The Church must, therefore, react with the harshest punishment, excommunication, and that is to call back the persons thus punished to repentance and into unity. 20 years after the ordinations this goal has unfortunately still not been achieved. The withdrawal of the excommunication serves the same purpose as the punishment itself: once more to invite the four bishops to return. This gesture was possible after the affected had expressed their fundamental recognition of the pope and his pastoral authority, albeit with reservations as far as obedience to his magisterial authority and that of the Council is concerned. This brings me back to the distinction between person and institution. The releasing of the excommunication was a measure in the field of ecclesial discipline: the persons were freed of the burden of conscience of the heaviest ecclesial censure. From this disciplinary level one has to distinguish the doctrinal area. That the Fraternity of Saint Pius X does not possess a canonical position in the Church is not based ultimately on disciplinary grounds but on doctrinal ones. As long as the Fraternity does not possess a canonical position in the Church, its officials do not exercise legitimate offices in the Church. One has therefore to distinguish between disciplinary level affecting the persons as persons, and the level of doctrine, at which office and institution are concerned. To say it once again: As long as the doctrinal issues are not resolved, the Fraternity has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers, even if they are free from ecclesiastical censure, do not exercise in a legitimate way any ministry in the Church [This is a very strong statement from the Holy Father, but we must also realize that this and all other statements in this article - from those condemning the liberal left to those against the far right - are not infallible. This document is not protected by papal infallibility].

Given this situation, I intend to connect the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", which since 1988 is responsible for those communities and individuals who, coming from the Fraternity of Pius X or similar groups, want to return into full communion with the Pope, in the future with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This shall make it clear that the problems now being treated are essentially doctrinal in nature, especially those concerning the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the postconciliar Magisterium of the Popes. The collegial organs through which the Congregation works on the questions arising (especially the regular assembly of the Cardinals on Wednesday and the General Assembly every one or two years) guarantee the involvement of the prefects of various Roman congregations and of the worldwide episcopate in the decisions to be made. One cannot freeze the magisterial authority of the Church in 1962 and - this must be quite clear to the Fraternity. But to some of those who show off as great defenders of the Council it must also be recalled to memory that Vatican II contains within itself the whole doctrinal history of the Church. Who wants to be obedient to it [sc. the Council] must accept the faith of the centuries and must not cut the roots of which the tree lives.

I hope, dear brethren, that with this both the positive meaning as well as the limit of the measure of 21 January 2009 is clarified. But now the question remains: Was this necessary? Was this really a priority? Are there not much more important things? Of course, there are more important and urgent things. I think that I have made clear the priorities of the pontificate in my speeches at the beginning of it. What I said then remains my guideline unchangedly. The first priority for the successor of Peter, the Lord has unequivocally fixed in the Room of the Last Supper: "You, however, strengthen your brethren" (Lk 22, 32). Peter himself rephrased this priority in his first letter: "Be ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you." (1 Peter 3, 15). In our time, in which the faith in large parts of the world threatens to go out like a flame which can no longer find food, the first priority is to make God present in this world and to open to men the access to God [And the Church has done this effectively for centuries by spreading the Tridentine Latin Mass throughout the world. Such an "archaic" Rite of Mass some how led to the conversion of hundreds of thousands from the primitive cultures of the world] . Not to just any god, but to the God who spoke on Mount Sinai, that God whose face we recognize in the love unto the end (John 13, 1)- in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. The real problem of our historic hour is that God is disappearing from the horizon of men and that with the extinguishing of the light coming from God disorientation befalls mankind, the destructive effects of which we are seeing ever more.

To lead men to God, to the God speaking in the Bible, is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and the successor of Peter in this time. From it then it follows on its own that we have to be concerned for the unity of believers. For their strife, their internal dissent, calls their talking about God into question. Therefore, the effort for the common witness of faith of the Christians - for ecumenism -is included in the highest priority. Then there is also the necessity that all who believe in God seeking peace with each other, trying to become closer to each other, in order to walk, in the different-ness of their image of God, yet together towards the source of light - inter-religious dialogue. Those who proclaim God as love unto the end, must give the witness of love: devoted to the suffering in love, fending off hatred and enmity - the social dimension of the Christian Faith, of which I have spoken in the encyclical "Deus caritas est".

If then the struggle for Faith, hope and love in the world is the true priority for the Church in this hour (and in different forms always), then still the small and medium-sized reconciliations also belong to it. That the quiet gesture of a hand stretched out has become a great noise and thus the opposite of reconciliation, we have to take note of. But now I have to wonder: Was and is it really wrong, also in this case, to go to meet the brother, who "hath any thing against thee" and to try for reconciliation (cf. Mt 5, 23f)? Does not civil society, too, have to try to prevent radicalizations, to bind their possible supporters - if possible - back into the major creative forces of social life to avoid isolation and all its consequences? Can it be entirely wrong to strive for the lessening of tensions and constrictions and to give room to the positive which can be found and integrated into the whole? I myself, in the years after 1988, have experienced how by the return of communities previously separating themselves from Rome the interior climate there has changed, how the return to the great, wide and common Church overcame onesided-ness and lessened tensions, so that now they have become positive forces for the whole. Can a community leave us totally indifferent in which there are 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university institutes, 117 brothers, 164 sisters? Should we really calmly leave them to drift away from the Church? I am thinking, for example, of the 491 priests. The plaited fabric of their motivations we cannot know. But I think that they would not have made their decision for the priesthood, if next to some askew or sick elements there hot not been there the love of Christ and the will to proclaim Him and with Him the living God. Should we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical marginal group, from the search for reconciliation and unity? What will then be?

Certainly, we have long and have again on this occasion heard many dissonances from representatives of this community - pride and a patronizing know-it-all attitude, fixation into onesidedness etc. For the love of truth I must add that I have also received a series of moving testimonials of gratitude, in which was made perceptible an opening of hearts. But should the great Church not also be able to be magnanimous [in German its a play on words: "great Church - great of heart"] in the knowledge of the long wind she has; in the knowledge of the promise which she has been given? Should we not, like good educators, also be able not to hear some bad things and strive to calmly lead out of the narrowness? And must we not admit that also from ecclesial circles there have come dissonances? Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group for which there need not be any tolerance; which one can unperturbedly set upon with hatred. And who dared to touch them - in this case the Pope - lost himself the right to tolerance and was allowed without fear and restraint to be treated with hatred, too.

Dear brethren, in the days in which it came into my mind to write this letter, it so happened that in the seminary of Rome I had to interpret and comment the passage of Gal 5, 13-15. I was surprised at how directly it speaks of the present of this hour: "Do not make liberty an occasion to the flesh, but by charity of the spirit serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another; take heed you be not consumed one of another." I was always inclined to regard this sentence as one of the rhetorical hyperbole which occasionally there are with St. Paul. In some respects it may be so. But unfortunately, the "biting and devouring" is there in the Church even today as an expression of a poorly understood freedom. Is it surprising that we are not better than the Galatians? That we at least are threatened by the same temptations? That we have always to learn anew the right use of freedom? And that we have always to learn anew the first priority: love? On the day on which I had to speak about this in the seminary, in Rome the feast of the Madonna della Fiducia - our Lady of Trust - was celebrated. Indeed - Mary teaches us trust. She leads us to the Son, in Whom we all may trust. He will guide us - even in turbulent times. So at the end I would like to thank from my heart all the many bishops who have given me in this time moving signs of trust and affection, but above all the gift of their prayers. This thank I extend to all the faithful who have shown me during this time their unchanged fidelity to the successor of St. Peter. The Lord preserve us all and lead us on the path of peace. This is a wish that spontaneously rises from my heart, especially now at the beginning of Lent, a liturgical time particularly propitious to inner purification, and which invites us all to look with new hope towards the radiant goal of Easter.

With a special Apostolic Blessing, I remain Yours in the Lord

Benedictus Pp. XVI

From the Vatican, on 10 March 2009

This document as a response by His Excellency Bernard Fellay is quite interesting as well.

Press Release from the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

Pope Benedict XVI addressed a letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church, dated March 10, 2009, in which he makes known to them the motives which guided the important step of the January 21, 2009 Decree.

After the “avalanche of protests unleashed” recently, we wholeheartedly thank the Holy Father for having placed the debate back on the level on which it must be held, that of the Faith. We fully share his main concern of preaching the Gospel “in our days, when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel.”

Indeed the Church is going through a major crisis which can be resolved only by an integral return to the purity of the Faith. With Saint Athanasius, we profess that “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.” (Athanasian Creed)

Far from wanting to stop Tradition in 1962, we wish to consider the Second Vatican Council and post-conciliar teaching in the light of this Tradition which St. Vincent of Lérins defined as “what has been believed at all times, everywhere and by all” (Commonitorium), without rupture and in a perfectly homogenous development. Thus we will be able to contribute efficaciously to the evangelization requested by the Savior (see Matthew 28; 19-20)

The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X assures Benedict XVI of its determination to enter into the doctrinal talks recognized as “requisite” by the Decree of January 21, with the desire to serve revealed Truth, which is the first act of charity to perform towards all men, Christians or non-Christians. It assures him of its prayers so that his faith fail not and that he may confirm his brethren. (cf. Luke 22:32)

We place these doctrinal talks under the protection of Our Lady of All Confidence, with the assurance that she will obtain for us the grace to hand down faithfully what we have received, “tradidi quod et accepi.” (I Cor.15:3)

Menzingen, March 12, 2009
+Bernard Fellay
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Biyernes, Pebrero 27, 2009
Pray for the Canonization of Marcel Lefebvre



I ask for your prayers for the repose of the soul of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and his saintly parents, as well as prayers for his canonization. Saints like St. Joan of Arc and St. Anthanasius were despised - St. Anthanasius was at one time excommunicated and St. Joan of Arc was executed for supposedly being a "heretic".

Pray for the canonization of Marcel Lefebvre. Without his role in the restoration of the Tridentine Latin Mass, it would not be available in the world today. Without his role, Summorum Pontificum would not exist. Our Savior has sent to us a shepherd after His own heart to protect the Mass of the Ages.
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Linggo, Pebrero 15, 2009
"The Practicing Catholic" Attends Her First Tridentine Latin Mass

Here are my words of advice to her. I pray that these benefit others as well. In response to My First Encounter with the Extraordinary Form.

Sexagesima Sunday 2009

I am so glad to have heard from you and I rejoice that Our Blessed Lord has used me as a means of spreading the beautiful Mass of the Ages to even just one more soul.

As you expressed in your post, it can feel clumsy and lost to attend anything new for the first time, but how beautiful the Mass of the Ages is! As I have heard it many times, it is not important for you to go there and understand everything. I am so proud to read that you were at least able to read along with the prayers, something that some people do not do at all at their first Tridentine Mass. During those first few Masses that you attend, just place yourself in the presence of the priest, who ascends to the altar like Moses ascended the Mountain in order to offer the sacrifice to God for the people. For me, as the priest ascends the altar and the Mass takes place, I find at the Tridentine Mass that I am closest to feeling and understanding that at the Mass Heaven and Earth are united.

In the context of this Mass, how beautiful it is hear the hymn "Faith of our Fathers".

I would encourage you to try to slowly obtain several wonderful works for your spiritual nourishment. Here are links to a few.

The Liturgical Year
The Angelus Press 1962 Daily Missal (in case that you don't have a Missal) These are at: http://sspx.org/en/media/books


A website to find many Traditional things at cheap prices is the Our Lady of the Rosary Library.
http://www.olrl.org/mm5/merchant.mvc
Image Source: Believed to be in the Public Domain, Image of the Society of St. Pius X SSPX.ORG
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Biyernes, Pebrero 6, 2009
Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey

I was recently given the opportunity to review "Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey". The CD features the recordings of the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey. While I have heard first-hand experience of the Norbertine order falling headfirst into liberalism, St. Michael's Abbey remains as a beacon of hope for the order. The CD features 18 beautifully Catholic titles including Exultet, Attende Coelum, Panis Angelicus, Ave Maria, Verbum Caro, and more! I highly recommend this CD to all Catholics.
Product Description

After "Christmas at St. Michael's Abbey" - "The singing on this album is so very beautiful, and thoroughly authentic," California Catholic Daily - Jade Music is proud to release the second album by the Norbertine Fathers: Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey, another rare release of chants and polyphony from a domestic U.S. abbey.

The eclectic selection on this album is a cross-section of music sung at the abbey that includes chants from the liturgy as well as motets and music from the Renaissance era. These latter are sung on more solemn occasions like Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, and other great feasts of the liturgical year. "Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey" is a testimony of the vigor and subtle beauty of Gregorian chant as sung today in the USA.

St. Michael's Abbey is a community of Norbertine Canons Regular in Orange County, California. Its first members were Hungarian priests who escaped communism to find refuge in the United States in 1957. The community was raised to the status of an abbey in 1984, because of its growth. St. Michael's Abbey now numbers nearly 70 members.
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Biyernes, Enero 30, 2009
His Excellency Richard Williamson: Mass after Confirmation: April 16, 2008

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Sabado, Enero 24, 2009
SSPX BISHOPS ARE NOT EXCOMMUNICATED - OFFICIAL FROM THE VATICAN


Today, since today was an interim day for a silent retreat at which I was obligated to attend, I began to browse through the blogs on my sidebar. Then, I noticed the glorious news: the bishops of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X have been declared as not being excommunicated. I have long supported the idea, canonically legitimate, that the Priestly Society of St. Pius X was never excommunicated because the initial decree was unjustifiable per Canon Law.

Yet, regardless, today it is official: The Bishops Bernard Fellay, Alfonso de Gallareta [sic - Galarreta], [Bernard] Tissier de Mallerais, and Richard Williamson are not excommunicated!!

Sources:

New Liturgical Movement: Excommunications Lifted
New Liturgical Movement: Response of SSPX Superior General
New Liturgical Movement: FSSP Press Release

As additional information becomes available in the coming weeks, I will update this post. Check back at the bottom of this post for future updates in the coming weeks.

Update (February 7, 2009): It is unfortunate that political reasons have caused the following stories:

Rorate Caeli: SSPX expels Father Abrahamowicz
Bishop Williamson is no longer rector of the seminary in Argentina (confirmation)
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Miyerkules, Enero 21, 2009
Requiem for His Royal Highness, King Louis XVI

 

Via The New Liturgical Movement. Scenes from the Requiem Mass at St.Eugene-St.Cecile (Paris, France) on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the former King. Mass from January 2009. 

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem. Exaudi orationem meam; ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
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Linggo, Enero 11, 2009
Anglican Use Requiem Mass



This requiem Mass was offered according to the Book of Divine Worship, the approved usage of the Latin Rite for certain congregations in the United States who have been received into the Catholic Church from the Anglican tradition.

I thought that this video was stunningly beautiful. I particularly love the black vestments, clearly illustrating our morality.
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Martes, Enero 6, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI Wears Fiddleback at the 2009 Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany





Image Sources: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
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Biyernes, Disyembre 26, 2008
Pledge Against Indecent and Immoral Motion Pictures

The American bishops at a meeting in Washington in 1938 requested all Ordinaries to have the Pledge of the Legion of Decency taken by all the Faithful at all Masses, in all churches and chapels throughout the United States, on the Sunday within the octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. For more information, see Vigilanti Cura: Encyclical of Pope Pius XI promulgated on June 29, 1936.


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen

I condemn indecent and immoral motion pictures and television programs, and those which glorify crime or criminals. I promise to unite my efforts with all those who protest against them.

I acknowledge my obligation to form a right conscience about films and television programs that are dangerous to my moral life.

As a true Roman Catholic, I pledge myself to watch only good motion pictures and television programs. I promise, further, to stay away altogether from places of amusement and sources of entertainment which are offensive to God and occasions of sin for myself and others for whom I am responsible.
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