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

I doubt whether she will read anything

[fpb.livejournal.com]

You see, the point is that some people simply do not want to be told that the SSPX stinks of Petainism and Jew-bashing. This would mean that there can be such a thing as bad Traditionalists, and that is of course unacceptable to certain sensibilities. It is the party spirit - which I cursed again and again; the thing that makes us stupid, blind and arrogant, that destroys our sense of proportion and criticism, and that associates us with evil. It is the spirit that has led Republicans to defend Cheney when he said that there was nothing bad about torture, and that led Catholics to vote for Obama even though everyone had been warned in advance about his views. Our people cannot possibly be bad, even when they are; their people cannot possibly be good, even when they are. Curses, and curses again, on the party spirit; I will never tire of damning it.

Re: I doubt whether she will read anything

[tibba.livejournal.com]

But I've nowhere said that the SSPX are the best thing evar, or that all Traditionalists are the bees' knees. In fact, the only direct (well, it was online) contact I've had with an SSPX priest was quite unpleasant: he was very forthright about how Catholics should infiltrated mosques and hide miraculous medals in them in an effort to convert them. Moreover, his tone wasn't so charming. But he didn't exhibit Jew-bashing tendencies and I've nothing, other than your rant, to suggest that he might.

I think my shock at your piece here is mainly because even on the "traditional" blogs (etc) I read, there has been a real mix of opinion to yesterday's news. From the wildly enthusiastic to the cautious. Even the most "liberal" of Catholics I know have been more "Uhhh, ok, I don't like the SSPX and they need to do lots of work now" than "Nothing good can come of this."

I suppose my question here is: why are you so absolutely certain that no good can come of this decision?

Re: I doubt whether she will read anything

[fpb.livejournal.com]

First, it has given the best ammunition to the anti-Catholic forces since the KGB started spreading the "Hitler's Pope" lies about Pius XII; and this while anti-Church forces are triumphant in the USA, most of Latin America, and much of Europe. Every newspaper in the world has spun the news as follows: "Pope forgives Holocaust denier", and nearly every newspaper has put it on the front page. Second, it has done and will do nothing to convince the Lefebvrites that there was anything wrong with rejecting a Universal Council of the Church, charging four Popes with heresy, and, in the case of their founder, denying the validity of his own signature at the bottom of the Vatican decrees. Third, if we re-admit the Lefebvrites as a body, they will come in with their own arrogance and self-importance intact; and this may help damn quite a few souls, if that is of any importance. Fourth, it will put off the moderate and liberal wings of the Church without doing anything for the Trads; in fact, it will damage the Trads, since people like me will from henceforth look not with less but with more suspicion on parishes with Latin masses, being afraid of finding a Lefebvrite presence there. Fifth, it will convince the left that a Trad soul matters more to the Pope than a Liberal one; there are left-wing as well as right-wing schism, such as Dignity in the USA, but no such courtesy has been extended to them. Sixth, it will raise the smouldering suspicion of the Church in Hebraic, secular and Protestant breasts; this is exactly the sort of thing that enemies of the Church suspect it of. Seventh, it will demolish the moral leadership that the Church had been establishing among Christian bodies; and eighth, it is sure to discourage Protestants and other Christians who seek a safe doctrinal and religious harbour but are brought up to fear authoritarianism and anti-democracy. Does that seem enough for you?

Incidentally, I have heard from people, including Catholics, who agree with me. I am not alone in this.

Re: I doubt whether she will read anything

[luckymarty.livejournal.com]

FWIW I, as a Catholic, am one of those who pretty much agrees with you. I hope your complaints are overstated but fear they probably are not.