Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on Conformity to God's Will

It is a great satisfaction for me to report that, fourteen years from the foundation of the Society, its organization, its purpose―particularly sacerdotal―of forming priests shaped in the spirit of Our Lord, in the spirit of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass―is finding its realization in the ministry, in the practice of the priestly life that you lead now, (…) which shows also your concern to keep up and to perfect your desire for holiness. This is our outstanding importance.

You see, I think that if difficulties have arisen, which we know, in the priesthood, and in the sphere of secular priests in particular, since the Council, and these difficulties have been a painful verification of something that was lacking in the formation of these priests, it is without doubt that they had lost at the same time the true notion of the priesthood in which they were clothed, and that they had not taken the means of keeping this desire to maintain their faith and their fervor…

(…)

…And then it is another great trial that we all suffer: the trial of the Church, because we finally have to recognize it, the exterior situation and in a certain way the juridical situation (at last juridical in the sense of purely literal law), well, now it is not normal, that is true. Thus we are not in a normal relation with the bishops, with the priests who are around us and who also have an apostolate―what apostolate?―but in the end, they are priests who are still in the parishes; the relations with them are obviously not the relations, which we normally should have had in the holy Church. So, no normal relations with the bishops, no normal relations with the priests who are around us, no normal relations with men religious or sisters, with a good part of the faithful, with Rome itself. It is an appalling, horrible trial, because it is abnormal. But the anomaly does not come from us. It is from them that it comes, from all those who have not followed the Tradition of the Church, who have themselves put themselves permanently outside all legality, outside the Faith, yes―even outside the Faith!

But however it may be, we are convinced of this, it is they who are wrong, who have changed course, who have broken with the Tradition of the Church, who have rushed into novelties, we are convinced of this. That is why we do not rejoin them and why we cannot work with them; we cannot collaborate with the people who depart from the spirit of the Church, from the Tradition of the Church. But that puts us in a very critical situation of breaking with that mass of Church people who are departing from the Tradition of the Church. That makes thus for an unlikely situation, assuredly unbelievable, that is at times for us a cause for sorrow, for a desire to see the Church rediscover her way, that is to say, her Tradition―at least not the Church, but the people of the Church―for a desire that the Church not be torn anymore as it is right now, and finally that her passion in some way end.

Source: Archbishop Lefebvre gave this address to the priests of the French District on December 13, 1984.

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Excerpt from "The Restoration of Christian Culture"

I spent this weekend reading the majority of John Senior's fantastic work The Restoration of Christian Culture. I can not recommend it highly enough to my readers.  I'd like to share some of the passages from the book as well as some brief thoughts.

Quoting from John Senior's fantastic work The Restoration of Christian Culture, "Work is a physical necessity; if you don't work you don't eat.  Prayer is a necessity of obligation; if you don't pray you will not enter the Kingdom.  Prayer is a duty, an office; it is free, voluntary payment of the debt we owe to God for existence and grace.  The Latin word for duty is officium, and the perfect prayer of the Church is its Divine Office; St. Benedict call it the opus Dei, the work of God" (60).

John Senior continues, "I have cited the Latin for the meaning of many words not for the pretense of learning, but because their meaning is Latin.  Latin is the language of the Roman Catholic Church; you can repudiate the tradition and overthrow the Church; but you cannot have the tradition and the Church without its language.  And though the Second Vatican Council permitted the substitution of vernacular liturgies where pastoral reasons suggested their usefulness, it commanded that the Latin be preserved.  The Catholic Faith is so intimately bound to the two thousand years of Latin prayers any attempt to live the Catholic life without them will result in its attrition and ultimate apostasy - which we have witnessed even in the few years of the vernacular experiment.  We must return to the Faith of our fathers by way of prayer of our fathers" (60 - 61).

John Senior's works are beautifully said and express an absolute reality - the Church is timeless; she is outside of time.  Only by restoring true Christian culture, as Senior explains throughout his book, will Christ again reign in our hearts, our homes, and our families.  Christ must reign.  And how can we bring about the reign of Christ without frequent prayer?  Prayer is necessary.  It is essential for the spiritual life.  A life spent in good works of charity that has no prayer is a life built on bad soil.  And no soul whose life is built in bad soil can inherit everlasting life.

You might be concerned and ask "how many hours of prayer must I perform daily?"  Quoting again from Senior on the topic, "The strictly cloistered monk and nun lead that life in the highest degree, but each of us in his station must pay his due.  There are three degrees of prayer: The first, of the consecrated religious, is total.  They pray always, according to the counsel of Our Lord.  Their whole life is the Divine Office, Mass, spiritual reading, mental prayer... They pray eight hours, sleep eight hours and divine the other eight between physical work and recreation... The third degree is for those in the married state (or single life) who offer a tithe of their time for prayer - about two and a half hours per day - with eight hours for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining five and a half for recreation with the family" (62-63).

Make an effort - an obligation - pray the Divine Office and other pious devotions for 2 and a half hours each day.  And no prayer is greater than the Mass.  If possible, attend Holy Mass daily.  We quote one final time from Senior who said, "Whatever we do in the political and social order, the indispensable foundation is prayer, the heart of which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the perfect prayer of Christ Himself, Priest and Victim, recreating in an unbloodly manner the bloody, selfsame Sacrifice of Calvary.  What is Christian Culture?  It is essentially the Mass" (16-17).

To conclude with his words on our culture: "Our Lord explains in the Parable of the Sower that the seed of His love will only grow in a certain soil - and that is the soil of Christian Culture, which is the work of music in the wide sense, including as well as tunes that are sung, art, literature, games, architecture - all so many instruments in the orchestra which plays day and night the music of lovers; and if it is disordered, then the love of Christ will not grow.  It is an obvious fact that here in the United States now, the Devil has seized these instruments to play a danse macabre, a dance of death, especially through what we call the "media," the film, television, radio, record, book, magazine and newspaper industries.  The restoration of culture, spiritually, morally, physically, demands the cultivation of the soil in which the love of Christ can grow, and that means we must, as they say, rethink priorities" (21).

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St. Ambrose on the Blessed Virgin Mary

The first thing that inspires enthusiasm in learning is the greatness of the teacher. Who is greater than the Mother of God? Who is more glorious than the one whom Glory itself chose? Who is more chaste than the one who bore a body without contact with another body?

For why should I mention her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind. No guile stained her sincerity. She was humble in heart, serious in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading. She put her hope not in riches but in the prayer of the poor. There was nothing gloomy in her eyes, nothing forward in her words, nothing undignified in her acts. There was not a foolish movement, not an unrestrained step. She was never irritable.

In this way her outward appearance itself became the image of her soul, the representation of what is approved. We ought to be able to recognize a well-ordered house on the very threshold: it should show at the very first entrance that there is no darkness hidden inside it. In the same way our soul, hindered by no bodily restraints, should shine forth like a lamp placed inside.

Source: St. Ambrose, Three Books on Virgins

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First Mass of Fr. Augustine at St. Jude's Church in Philadelphia

St. Jude's Church near Philadelphia, PA joyfully celebrated the recent priestly ordination of one of its parishioners, Fr. Augustine, a Benedictine at Our Lady Of Guadalupe Monastery in Silver City, New Mexico.

Father celebrated a Solemn First Mass for his home parish on Sunday, June 26.  Below are some photos from that Mass.

O God, our heavenly Father, who lovest mankind, and art most merciful and compassionate, have mercy upon thy servants for whom I humbly pray thee, and commend to thy gracious care and protection. Be thou, O God, their guide and guardian in all their endeavors, lead them in the path of thy truth, and draw them nearer to thee, that they may lead a godly and righteous life in thy love and fear; doing thy will in all things. Give them grace that they may be temperate, industrious, dilligent, devout and charitable. Defend them against the assaults of the enemy, and grant them wisdom and strength to resist all temptation and corruption of this life; and direct them in the way of salvation, through the merits of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the intercessions of his Holy Mother and thy blessed Saints. Amen.

Let us pray for Fr. Augustine.

Source: SSPX.ORG

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Activities for our Baptism Anniversary

What activities should we, as Catholics, perform on the anniversary of our baptism?  Well, perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.  Do you even remember the date on which you were baptized?  You remember your birthday and secular holidays.  For those readers from the United States, I'm sure you can recall the secular meaning of July 4th, can you not?

Yet, why do you fail to remember heavenly occassions?  Have you failed to recall the date on which your soul was purchased from satan.  That's right, it has always been taught that we can not be saved without Baptism.  Before your Baptism your soul belonged to satan.  Whether you were baptized as a child or as an adult, you (or your parents on your behalf) made a series of promises to the Church and you are bound to keep your share of those promises.

Thus, your first responsibility is to find out when you were baptized - the month, day, and year.  Next, write this on your calendar each and every year.  On the anniversary of your baptism, you should renew your baptismal promises and re-read the Rite of Baptism.  To aid you in this, I share below the Rite of Baptism performed according the 1962 Rubrics, which are still used by traditional Catholics.  Even if you were baptized in a different Rite (after all, you might have been baptized in an Eastern Catholic Rite), this Rite (or a similar one) should be read each year on your Baptism as a reminder of the transformation in your soul on that day.  Your soul will never the be same.  If you go to Heaven or Hell, your soul - by Baptism - is marked.  There is a mark present on your soul in a real way so that in the life hereafter it will be visible - no matter if you go to Heaven or Hell.

We begin our examination of the Rite of Baptism.  The Traditional Baptismal Rite begins as follows:

1. The priest says the greeting: Peace be with you.

He then asks the name of the child (if several are to be baptized he asks the name of each one):

Priest: What is your name?
Sponsors: N.

{From the beginning the Church has proclaimed to men the good news of salvation in Christ. And from one who wants the benefit of the good news the response of faith is demanded. To ask for baptism is first of all to ask for the faith of the Church. In the following brief dialogue between priest and subject is summed up the chief content of Christian life, of which faith is the foundation, everlasting life the goal, and love of God and of neighbor the means. The priest's role in the sacrament is pointed up here, that of representative of Christ and the Church, the role he plays from start to finish of the sacramental action.}

P (to each): N., what are you asking of God's Church?

Sponsors: Faith.

P (to each): What does faith hold out to you?

Sponsors: Everlasting life.

Stop here. Before you were baptized, you (or your parents on your behalf) asked for what? They asked for Faith. Faith is necessary for salvation. Our Lord, in His divine will in ordering of the universe, has made it so that we (as humans) can not love that which we do not know. We must first know something in order to love it. By Faith, we know God and by knowing God, we can love Him. Recall it was He who first loved us, while we were yet sinners (and unborn). It was then that our Lord gave up His Divine life in upspeakable love for us. We ask, before our baptism, for Faith. Do you have Faith? Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in His Son, the Redeemer of the World, and in the Holy Ghost? Do you belief that our Lord was crucified for our sins and, in so doing, died for all mankind? Do you believe that He rose again from the dead physically and ascended psychically into Heaven? Do you believe in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist? Do you believe all that the Church of God teaches?

You asked for Faith. Do you have it? Do you frequently pray the Act of Faith, a prayer which we we ask God to increase our Faith? If not, add it to your daily morning prayers (that is, assuming that you are faithful in your obligation to pray every morning).

And, what does the Rite of Baptism tell us that Faith will give us? It says "Everlasting life". Without Faith, we can not love God. If we have no love for God, He does not dwell within us. And if our Lord does not dwell within us, we can not be saved and possess everlasting life.

The Rite of Baptism continues with the priest saying:

P (to each): If, then, you wish to inherit everlasting life, keep the commandments, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Now ask yourself, do you keep the Commandments? Can we say as the Psalmist proclaims, "Therefore have I loved thy commandments above gold and the topaz"? Do you love God more than men? Do you love God more than your family, your possessions, and even your own life? Our Divine Redeemer has said that "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38).

Do you love God more than everything else in the world? And if you say yes, do your actions show it? "Faith without works is dead," says St. James.

I ask that you continue through this examination. Reference the Rite of Baptism and continue to search your own soul. If you find yourself in sin, go to Confession (assuming you have already been baptized in the Catholic Faith). Go to Confession to receive the pardon of Almighty God.

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Prayer for the Canonization of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

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Litany to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Lord, have mercy. Christ,have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Make our family life holy, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Sanctify our clergy, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Make our Catholics more fervent, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Guide and inspire those who govern us, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Cure the sick who confide in thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Console the sorrowful who trust in thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Help those who invoke thy aid, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Deliver us from all dangers, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Help us to resist temptation, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Obtain for us all we ask of thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Help those who are dear to us, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Bring back to the right road our erring brothers, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Give us back our ancient fervor, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Obtain for us pardon of our many sins and offenses, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Bring all men to the feet of thy Divine Child, Immaculate Heart of Mary
Obtain peace for the world, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Let us pray.

O God of infinite goodness and mercy, fill our hearts with a great confidence in Thy Most Holy Mother, whom we invoke under the title of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and grant us by her most powerful intercession all the graces, spiritual and temporal which we need, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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The Church Fathers on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven

A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. -- (Ps. 97. 1). Sint ye to the Lord a new canticle: because He hath done wonderful things. V.: Glory be to the Father . . . -- A great sign appeared in heaven . . .

Today is the First Class Feast of our Lady's triumph Assumption into Heaven, which we recall in the 4th Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary. In honor of our Blessed Lady, who was born and remained without defilement of sin, let us remember that today we as Catholics are required, under pain of mortal sin, to attend Holy Mass. Additionally, on this day we are required, in so far as we are able, to refrain from all servile work.

Let us in honor of our Lady and to help protect the name of the Blessed Mother of God from unjust attacks by Protestants read the writings of the Early Church Fathers, which illustrate that the Church since time immemorial has honored the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven.

Pseudo – Melito

If therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: "Be it done according to your will" (The Passing of the Virgin 16:2-17 [A.D. 300]).

Timothy of Jerusalem

Therefore the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her transported her to the regions of her assumption (Homily on Simeon and Anna [A.D. 400]).

John the Theologian

The Lord said to his Mother, "Let your heart rejoice and be glad. For every favor and every gift has been given to you from my Father in heaven and from me and from the Holy Spirit. Every soul that calls upon your name shall not be ashamed, but shall find mercy and comfort and support and confidence, both in the world that now is and in that which is to come, in the presence of my Father in the heavens". . . And from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise (The Dormition of Mary [A.D. 400]).

Gregory of Tours

[T]he Apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb; and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; and the holy body having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise: where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary] rejoices with the Lord's chosen ones. . . (Eight Books of Miracles 1:4 [A.D. 575]).

Theoteknos of Livias

It was fitting ... that the most holy-body of Mary, God-bearing body, receptacle of God, divinised, incorruptible, illuminated by divine grace and full glory ... should be entrusted to the earth for a little while and raised up to heaven in glory, with her soul pleasing to God (Homily on the Assumption [ca. A.D. 600]).

Modestus of Jerusalem

As the most glorious Mother of Christ, our Savior and God and the giver of life and immortality, has been endowed with life by him, she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the body together with him who has raised her up from the tomb and has taken her up to himself in a way known only to him (Encomium in dormitionnem Sanctissimae Dominae nostrae Deiparae semperque Virginis Mariae [ante A.D. 634]).

Germanus of Constantinople

You are she who, as it is written, appears in beauty, and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, entirely the dwelling place of God, so that it is henceforth completely exempt from dissolution into dust. Though still human, it is changed into the heavenly life of incorruptibility, truly living and glorious, undamaged and sharing in perfect life (Sermon I [A.D. 683]).

John Damascene

It was fitting that the she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped when giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father, It was fitting that God's Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God (Dormition of Mary [A.D. 697])

Gregorian Sacramentary

Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten Thy Son our Lord incarnate from herself (Gregorian Sacramentary, Veneranda [ante A.D. 795]).

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Six Components of Liberal Catholicism that Seek to Destroy the Church: Part 1

Eminent American theologian Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton wrote an enlightening article in the American Ecclesiastical Review (1958) titled “The Components of Liberal Catholicism”. Despite its apparance before the Second Vatican Council, Msgr. Fenton appropriately presented, as in prophetic fasion, the coming attack on the Church from within. Msgr. Fenton summarizes liberal Catholicism into six main categories which together pose the greatest threat to the Church in our modern times:

1. Religious Indifferentism
2. False concepts of human freedom
3. Advocacy of the separation of Church and state
4. Minimism
5. Subjectivism
6. The evolution of at least some dogmatic teachings of the Church.

Starting with this post, I will explore each of these areas and highlight why these principles, although present in our world, are sinister and not of God.  Blessed Pope Pius IX went so far to say, "Liberal Catholics are the worst enemies of the Church." And our Lord Himself has said that the lukewarm (e.g. liberal Catholics) are more egregious to him even than hardened sinners, as they do Him the greatest injustice to Him (e.g. Revelations 3:16)

Through the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, our Blessed Lord has provided us with the means to reach Heaven
RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENTISM

A fundamental error with modernism and those who adhere to it (i.e. liberal Catholics), is that they refuse to embrace extra ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside of the Church there is no salvation"). Pope Innocent III declared at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: "There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." His Holiness Innocent III unequivocally declared that all men must belong to the Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Period. Subsequently, Pope Boniface VIII made the matter even more clear when in 1302 he unequivocally declared, "We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." (Unam Sanctam, 1302.) Read those words carefully: absolutely necessary.

And these remarks are not the only ones pronounced by the Holy Catholic Church. As I've written previously in Can Non Catholics be saved?, The Church continues to teach that outside of the Church there is no salvation. Period. Oh, then but what about the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Edition) and the statements of Paul VI and his successors? Some might object and say that the Church has changed its position. But this can not be so. Liberal Catholics fail to understand that the Church is unchanging in matters of Faith and Doctrine. If it is true that in the past salvation was possible only for Catholics and if this is not true now, then the Faith has changed. But the Faith can not change. "Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." If the Church changed this matter it would be a liar and, as the Bride of Christ, it would seem that Christ Himself has lied to those in times past.

So then, what are we to do? Has the Church changed? Has the Faith changed? And, if so, then Christ is not unchanging. Stop. The simple answer is that the Church in Her glory and perfect Truth has not changed. Salvation is still only possible to those within the barque of Peter. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Edition) in paragraph 1260, states, "Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved." But herein enters the problem with the 2nd Edition of the Catechism - unlike the unequivocal teachings of the Holy Fathers of times past, the teachings in the Catechism are vague and unclear. Just what does the Catechism mean by "ignorant of the Gospel" and what is "seeking truth"? Some would argue that all men seek the truth since all men by their nature are inclined to know the Truth. Therefore, it would seem that all men are saved since the Catechism states that all men who seek the truth are saved. What is worse and most dangerous for the Church and the salvation of mankind is that clergy are lured into this argument and accept it without evaluating the soundness of the premises in the argument.

Let's look at what do we mean by "Truth" and "ignorance." What is the truth (Quid est veritas?). We, if we are grounded in sound catechesis, we will declare that Jesus Christ is the sole way, Truth, and life (cf. John 14:6). And what is "ignorance." The Church has clarified this to describe "invincible ignorance," which unlike "ignorance" has a rather precise meaning.

Invincible ignorance refers to the state of persons (such as pagans and infants) who are ignorant of the Gospel message because they have not yet had an opportunity to hear it. The first Pope to use the term officially seems to have been Blessed Pope Pius IX in the allocution Singulari Quadam (9 December 1854) and the encyclicals Singulari Quidem (17 March 1856) and Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (10 August 1863). The term, however, is far older than that. St. Thomas Aquinas uses the term "invincible ignorance" in his Summa Theologica, which has been a foundation for the Thomistic Philosophy on which the Church's teachings are based. In short, invincible ignorance only applies to those who, through no fault of their own, were ignorant that the Church existed - people who were ignorant of the fact that there was a Jesus Christ.

Yet, in our modern era, with missionaries preaching around the world and with a globalization of the world, people in diverse places have been connected through technology in ways never before possible. People around the world have the ability to read this blog now with only an Internet connection. What does this mean? It means that with access to such a wide variety of information, it is highly unlikely that many people even exist who are invincibly ignorant and have never heard of our Lord or the Church.

It was Archbishop Sheen that said, "There are not one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church but there are millions who hate what they mistakenly believe it to be." Some would counter that because these millions are ignorant of what the Church really is that they can still be saved. Rather, now that we have clarified invincible ignorance, we can assert that these people - though ignorant - are not invincibly ignorant because they have access to the Gospel.

In fact the Church has always and continues to profess that these souls of the invincibly ignorant are spiritually united to the Church so, nonetheless, they are still saved through the Church. Outside of the Church there is no salvation. Those who teach this doctrine false - both clergy and laity - do great harm for souls and possibly have prevented souls from converting, thus rejecting salvation. This error of liberal Catholics must be countered. It must be faught. This false teaching is one of the six principles that seek to undermine the Church and is none other than an attack by the devil, which has polluted the minds of even ordained members of the Church. Let us with charity fight this error of our times that is undoubtedly leading souls straight to hell.

Further complicating the matter, in our times even the Holy Father of recent memory (John Paul II) caused great scandal to the Faithful with his aapperance at Assisi and many of his statements, where he seemed to indicate, at least through example, that those of other faiths can be saved. While I will not at this time examine this error (that is for Part 3), it nonetheless only illustrates how deep this error has sunk into seminaries over the past century so that now even members of the hierarchy of the Church seemingly sin against what the timeless Church has always taught.

To support religious indifferentism, in essense, violates the First Commandment since, by such support, we deny that there is One God, through whom salvation alone comes.


True Inculturation: Kenya, 1937
True incultration is the answer. We do not force our Lord and the Faith to conform to our cultures.  Rather, we all conform to our Lord Jesus Christ.

TAKE AWAY

While I do not unequivocally endorse all of the statements by Michal Semin, Director of St. Joseph Institute (Prague), I do agree with his statements concerning this issue when he states, "Many traditionally-minded Catholics are loosing, due to their mental or emotional embracement of the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which to a certain degree liberalizes the use of the 1962 Missal, their awareness about the doctrinal nature of the crisis in which we are living today. Even if the motu proprio would provide a healing in the field of Catholic liturgy, which is debatable, one cannot forget that lex credendic precedes lex orandi. The main battlefield is in the field of doctrine, not liturgy..."

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Canon Lawyer Discusses Canonical State of the Society of St. Pius X

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