Imitating Christ: Being a Stranger and Sojourner
13 hours ago
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Ratzinger on the Lefebvrist Schism
Fr. Kimel has posted some remarks by then Card +Ratzinger on the Roman Catholic Traditionalists who revolted under the leadership of Archbishop +Lefebvre. I had not seen this particular quote before and I think it is well worth a read. I think they are all the more interesting given the current efforts by +B16 to heal this particular schism.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
The main problem right now, I guess you could say obstacle, is how the Vatican wants the SSPX to come back in. First, SSPX chapels would have to come under the jurisdiction of Novus Ordo Bishops. This could be bad, as many Bishops are in the Opus Dei and despise the SSPX. Many of the Bishops in the United States are modernists and liberals and over time would make it very hard for the former SSPX chapels to continue.
Second, the Vatican is asking the SSPX to turn a blind eye to all that is wrong in the Novus Ordo. "You can do your thing, but you cannot correct or say anything about what is going on around you."
The Society of St. Peter has been living this way, but the SSPX will not.
For example in my area, there is a large Novus Ordo Church, where the priest always preaches about the greatness of Bhuddism. He has a Lesbian Sunday School teacher and has brought in gay men to teach the youth group that homosexuality is not to be feared. The Bishop will not stop this. We now have many from that Parish in our SSPX Parish. But now if we are joined together, the SSPX who still believes what the Bible says, would not be able to say anything about this or correct it. They would have to turn a blind eye. The problem with that is St James teaches, "He who knows to do good, but does not do it, sins."
That's the problem right now.
But, I pray everyday for a "proper" reunion.
By the way, love your blog, great articles.
Dave
It's also a misconception that Pope Benedict's statements and intentions to de-restrict more traditional forms of worship (chant, older form of mass, etc) are specifically aimed at drawing the SSPX back from schism. This process is one of eliminating extreme misapplication of Vatican II, which was not intended to restrict the traditional forms of worship in favor of guitars and liturgical dance. Though some of these intentions may be appreciated by the SSPX and those sympathetic, their schism is not the motivating factor. I recommend the blog of Fr John Zuhlsdorf, a Roman Catholic priest, What Does The Prayer Really Say?, for more detail and for his thoughtful analysis on such issues.
I think those of us who are Orthodox might see the SSPX in something of the same light as ROCOR, and the recent statements from Vatican City like those from Moscow, but the differences are greater. The analogy isn't secure.
The link to Fr. Kimel's post is broken.
Fr. Kimel is taking some time off and visiting the Emerald Isle. Most of the classical anglican web sites have been having a lot of problems lately. My guess is that his site will be fixed once he gets back.
Post a Comment