A complete lack of urgency
by crucesignatus1096
As a man of extraction from two great, Catholic cultures, my family, especially my mother, faced all of our problems with great diligence. Whether an aunt was sick, a cousin needed to be baby-sat, and grandmother needed medicine, or I slacked off in my students, we sought to find the root of our problems and eliminate them to make life easier. Although I am no longer a child, my family takes this same attitude towards me up to this day.
Unless one has completely missed what every trad, and even neo-con, has shouted from the rooftops, the state of the Church today is absolutely abysmal. We need not get into the details here. On top of theological, disciplinary, and liturgical crises, there is an appalling sexual abuse scandal that cries out to high Heaven. Yet, for whatever reason, those men who have the ability, and if one is a Guerardian, even the authority, to end this crisis, refuse to do so. Everything is a new springtime, and a new pentecost. Indeed, the Vatican recently rebuked “restorationists” as “pelagian” (though I don’t think they know what that word really means).
For good reason, the Society of Saint Pius X, along with many other traditional Catholic clergy and laity, operate apart from the mainstream church. They do this so that they can hear their Masses, teach their catechisms, and live their Faith just like their ancestors did, and they have every right to do as such. The current status quo of this Swiss-based religious congregation serves as the diving line of most of the serious Catholic world. Some who operate essentially as the SSPX do take the final step and realize that such irregularity would be impossible on the part of a true pope and magisterium, and impossible for clerics and laity to stand upon. These are the sedevacantists. Those who look at the Society’s path of resistance and see the impossibility but go the other way are the former indult or neo con crowd. I have been associated with all three of these groups.
The Church of Rome is the Mater et Magistra for every man and woman on earth. Just as my family went to extreme lengths to care for, and even baby me, the Roman Pontiff is bound with caring for all of our souls, and, notwithstanding his faults and limitations as a man, should strive to do so. Why is it, then, that Francis, Benedict XVI, soon to be “Saint” John Paul II, and Paul VI did so little to change the present condition of the Church? I highly doubt that popes of prior times, even the most scandalous of Renaissance or the Middle Ages, would allow such a situation to persist for decades. These men, in spite of their scandalous sins, took doctrine, as we say, dead seriously. Would Pius IX or Benedict XV ever allow a group as large as the SSPX to merely wallow in a state of uncertainty? I do not think so.
Lets say that in 1875, a Filipino religious congregation, with 500 priests around the world and about a million faithful in their chapels, conducted a state of affairs similar to what Écône does. Let’s say they feared the result of the Churh after the close of Vatican I, but after one examined their seminaries, priests, schools, etc., they were found to be faithful. Fidelis inveniatur.
I do not have a penumbra of doubt in my mind that Pius IX, then Leo XIII, and St. Pius X would conduct things the same way the conciliar popes have. These current leaders have no sense of urgency.
Even though it probably never happened, some 2000 years later, the man in charge fiddles not only as Rome burns, but millions of souls risk being burned to due his failings as Roman Pontiff. Because of recent attacks, such as the one in Boston, authorities at sporting events have tightened up. After 9/11 and other terrorists attacks, the powers that be, rightly or wrongly, subjected their citizens to a withering away of civil liberties all for the hopes of preventing another tragedy. Most people have been willing to surrender these benefits for that added sense of security, real or not. Would that those entrusted with a far greater responsibility did a fraction of this effort to prevent a far more dangerous and permanent tragedy.
Chronicles of a Crusader 
Well, I don’t think the lack of urgency on the part of any ‘official’ clergymen can be much of a surprise. I mean, sedevacantist or not, NO traditionalist considers these men in the Vatican to be pope. They might put that title in front of his name and mumble his name in the canon of the mass, but actions speak louder than words, and traditional Catholics don’t pay any attention to the Conciliar popes. I don’t think trads can be shocked at the shenanigans of the newpopes anymore, either. They can be saddened or dismayed, but not shocked. They know that ‘thing’ that most people identify isn’t Catholic. I don’t think they’re normally taken aback at a lack of urgency on the part of these officials, because it’s an entirely different religion they represent, and for many of them (the older ones, now) it’s a religion they BUILT.
A better question might be, why the lack of urgency on the part of the faithful? What are self professed ‘trads’ doing attending the Novus Ordo and getting excited about a sermon from Casual Frank that doesn’t have blatant heresy? What are they doing attending Diocesan approved masses which are usually presided over by a priest with doubtful orders, and are prone to abuse?
The general spread of the TLM in the advent of the relativistic Summorum Pontificum may have the positive upside of ‘exposing’ more people to the Latin Mass, but if they bring the Novus Ordo theology with it (and have a priest who may not even be properly ordained celebrating it) you’ve just got a really nice ceremony, sometimes a valid mass, but you’ve still got a gaping wound of doctrine.
I’ll stop before I get too tangential. Nice blog. Got a few errors in it, though. Most notably, a sentence which seems to end without finishing: “I highly doubt that popes of prior times, even the most scandalous of Renaissance or the Middle Ages.” Maybe give it another look-over.
I think that most lay Catholics are not doing more because it is very difficult to do so. It is natural for the Catholic to pay, pray and obey. What we as “independent” trads do is unnatural and irregular. It is akin to an amputation. We aren’t really indie, it’s just that we see the evils and errors of the New Church, and we separate ourselves (physically) from that wicked entity. Theologically, they have excommunicated themselves.
As Bishop Sanborn once said, it is difficult for laity and clerics to break off from New Church because it is the carcass of the Catholic Church. It maintains the buildings and many of the people who once formed the Church.
I agree with the dangers of the motu proprio, but it is also an admission on the part of the modernists that their program failed, and their religion is failing.
Finally, thanks for your constructive criticism. I posted this in haste, and I am usually a stickler for grammar and prose. I hope you enjoy this blog. I have new found time to do something I’ve always loved, writing.
Yes, it is difficult. It’s a remarkable crisis, though, because at the same time it is quite simple. I would say that the difficulty is in realising how simple it actually is, if that makes sense. I don’t mean to be too harsh on those Catholics who are hanging on to the Novus Ordo, but I know that it was precisely the relentless and ‘harsh’ manner of those trads who criticized my own attachment to it that eventually pushed me to leave it.
Writing is good. I hope to be able to do some in the near future.
You’re correct, the Church is a Mess, and the World is now worse than ever because of it. As Catholics we are to be “In the World, but Not of the World. So what is a lay person to do? Get married, honor your spouse, have, and raise and teach your children well, do your station in this life, go to Mass, and Pray the Rosary? And what is different between current serious Catholics when compared to those Catholic laymen who lived quit differently two hundred years ago? For in times past our technological inventions were merely dreams in an H.G. Well’s fictional novel! True the entire Catholic Church was at that time able to fight as a “Church Militant,” an authoritative moral force that impacted the world and its evils.
Some of us have found the old ways of the Catholic Church and have clung to Traditional Mass societies, and a few have taken the logical leap and entered the circles of Traditional Sedevacantis. These are “NOT” in so many words “insignificant actions. And yet there still burns a question which remains unanswered even to those few who call themselves Sedevacantis and that is “what is a lay Catholic To Do” considering these horrible times? The lack of moral power and authority, of the Catholic “Church unfortunately no longer Militant in our day, so as a result the serious Catholic clings to those few clerics whose promotion of Pre-Vatican II Catholicism is the building block of Catholic sustainability. So too each layman must become acquainted with Catholic dogma and theological doctrine if he is to teach and protect his very family.
So is the question “What are traditional Catholics to do in these horribly times with regard to a so-called Catholic Church that has lost its focus, its dogma and its leadership?” That the entire world now suffers from the heresy of Modernism, because of this devastation in the lost of Faith, Hope and Charity that the church has undergone over the past 50 years. Will God give us and answer to this question, or has the answer always been with us. I believe that it is not what they, the isolate Traditional Catholic should do, but rather what they should not do in order to sustain and reverse the outcome of Vatican II’s heresy’s and evil consequences..
Simply put, “What should Traditional Catholics Not Do in our Modern Era?
I think that the first thing Not To Do is…
(1) “To Not take seriously anyone who promotes the Modern Vatican II church. That those who believe in the Vatican II Church have been in it long enough to have swallowed the cool aid and who like (in a strange) way the poison that has affected their reasoning and logic. I do believe that most of them suffer from the ills of the philosophy given to us by Emanuel Kant – a liberal subjectivism. I on the other-hand personally believe and believe that Catholicism is taught by example, and that to argue like a Protestant over doctrine and Text is a complete waste of time. When things are tough try the Rosary and have faith in the Providence of God! This doesn’t mean reading the Bible and sharing stories that are found it should be ignored. On the contrary human behavior can be found out via the wisdom of the Old Testament.
(2) Secondly we were taught in our Catholic Catechism to “Avoid all near occasion of sin.” That is to avoid all places or groups of people who promote sin. This means we need to have a reference for our behavior in the World and as Catholics. In other words there are behaviors that are both New Church and Modern World – like, that we should Not behave as. We should avoid those Modern behaviors that bring about evil, sinful, and destructive actions. Not attending Holy Days of obligation, Eating Meat on Fridays, Not going to Confession are the ways of the New Church. The pretext for the “Good” behavior for individual Traditional Catholics must be found in Traditional Catholic Families and communities of families centered on a Traditional Cleric.
When working with None Traditional Catholics, perform your work so as to promote your continuance. Always avoid politics and scandalous conversations. Be conscientious regarding the foods you and your family eat, and be ever vigilant in protecting and educating your family. As one rule of thumb would beg the question: Would you do that behavior in front of your mother or the Mother of God for that matter? Finally, Single people should follow the examples set by the husbands and wife of those who examples provide clarity of faith hope and charity.
(3) I would do all in my power and ability to NOT PROMOTE DECEIT, in your Traditional Community of Catholic Families. Speak honestly, truthfully, with the intentions found in the behaviors of the Catholics of the early church found in the “Acts of the Apostles.” Kindness, Charity, Prayerfulness, Hopefulness, and Faithfulness are necessary components for a solid Catholic community. Power plays for positions of significance or to promote ones abilities in a Catholic Community is poisonous and a complete waste of time. Back biting, unkindness, disbelief, contrarian speech, scandalizing, murmuring, and destroying others people’s names and reputations cannot be part of a Catholic Community.
Obviously telling the Truth is paramount, so the proper order of what Truths are most important should be given it hierarchical listing within a community. Catholic Doctrine and Dogma should always be first. Care for the young and old, as well as the women in the community should be considered second in importance. World politics should be the least significant, as is personal commerce. One–up-man-ship jokes and comments should never be used against those who lack wisdom and knowledge about subjects and temperaments. Giving sound advice takes patience, listening and experience.
I know these may sound boring or hum drum, but they do have a significant bearing upon a Catholic communities of Families. I do believe these are the same don’t that the first Catholic Community found in the Acts of the Apostles – within which the followed. Considering that the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus had a new system of belief that they in fact seriously acted out and that the sustainability of the New Faith required the avoidance of deceitfully evil behaviors found among their surrounding communities of Jews, Romans and Greeks.
I believe that the content of my response needs to be said to many who do not know this simple process of not doing as the world does, to be in the world not of it, sometimes requires a simple translation. Sorry it wasn’t shorter.
Tom,
The comments are a bit droll, but they make sense. Charity (meaning true love of God and neighbor for God’s sake) is paramount.
You also walk the walk, so your advice has credibility and weight.