The Pope revokes the sentence of excommunication upon the Lefebvrists

[fpb]

I am horrified. Of all the unwelcome, untimely, ill-conceived, unnecessary, insulting and disastrous measures Pope Benedict could have taken, this is the worst. On the very week that the most anti-Catholic and pro-abortion President has taken office in Washington DC, the Pope seems to indicate that open flirtations with Le Pen and Pinochet, notorious sympathies for Petain, open Jew-bashing of the vilest sort, are no obstacle to reconciliation with Rome. Thos of us who try to fight on a principled opposition to abortion and murder in all its forms have now had a ton of banana oil poured under our feet; any opponent of Catholic teaching will be able to raise the ugly spectre of Marcel "Marechal a nous!" Lefebvre, and the horrible living presence of Richard Williamson, whose moral and intellectual sins go even beyond his obscene denial of the Holocaust and belief in the Protocols. And what about Catholic leadership among Christians? For the last few decades, the mere force of events had driven many Christian bodies closer together, to discover that they shared so much of morality and belief, and against that dictatorship of relativism against which the Pope himself spoke such memorable words. And now, for the sake of a few hundred thousand obstinate, wilful and often bizarre schismatics, who never did anything on their own to earn or even encourage reunion, and who positively insulted the last two Popes, all this common ground, all this real and verifiable growth together, is endangered; because most Christians will see the Lefebvrists for what they are. Just because Richard Williamson is such an ugly caricature of the worst sort of traditionalists, real conservatives, let alone middle and liberals, will want nothing to do with him. How many Protestants and Anglicans in search of a decent Christian centre away from the various heresies and schisms of their own confessions will have seen this as confirmation that everything they had been told about Rome was in fact true? I am willing to bet that the conversion of adults will slow down considerably. And what about the Church itself? This act has been taken as much on the Pope's own decision as the famous Motu Proprio that sought to reinstate the Latin Mass. If the one can be described as reactionary, ill-advised, insensitive to Jew-bashing and admiration for tyrants, then so can the other. Far from strengthening the conservative side of the Church, the Pope has just delivered them a vial of poison. And at the same time, he has done nothing to please liberals, many of whom will read this to mean that one hard-right soul is more important to the Pope than one left-wing one, and either leave or reinforce even further their "inner schismatic" position. I will not leave the Church - I know how many like Williamson there are already; but many others may. There is absolutely no upside to this decision; every aspect of it is completely mistaken.

God help the Church. Mother of Victory, pray for us.

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

There is a difference here. I am strictly neutral about Opus Dei; the worst I can say about them is that I never could manage to get into St. Josemaria Escriva's writings, and they do not inspire me. I am strictly not neutral about the Church of St.Petain and St.Pinochet, because by their fruit ye shall know them. Their racism, their Jew-bashing, their conspiracy theories, their anti-democracy, their support for bloodstained tyrants, have been public acts, and I suggest you look them up. A few half-hours with messrs. Google and co. ought to be enough.

Let me add something for you. I am familiar with that claim: "Such and such are not a monolithic group... you cannot condemn everyone in it... I am not saying they are nice people, but..." I heard it before, both in the case of Communism, and in the case of Islam. It is the classic defensive strategy of someone who does not want to condemn something that really deserves to be condemned. In the case of Communism, it was actually quite false - Communism was monolithic; in the case of Islam, it is irrelevant, because the many decent and peaceful Muslims in the world are so in despite and not because of the aggressive and supremacist nature of Islamic teaching. Either way, it set off all my defensive reflexes.

And if you have any problems with being condescended to, don't call others "superficial" or insinuate that they are condemning other Christians lightly. I would not do this if I were not convinced twenty times over that I have to do it. At least take for granted that I do not dance my way to condemning others.

[filialucis]

Now you really are scraping the bottom of the barrel. But since you consistently refuse to engage my point, I'm going to stop wasting my time in this conversation.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

How, exactly, am I not "engaging your point"?