Interview with Bishop Williamson, SSPX
The following is a response to an interview with Bishop Williamson, SSPX, found on Fr. Z's blog site, "What Does the Prayer Really Say?" Very interesting observation by Matt Robinson. Needless to say, I have great respect for the SSPX, and for what they have done for Tradition these past 38 years.
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Williamson is wrong with regard to his degree of angst, but not with regard to his diagnosis of the substantial problem.
By “Vatican II”, he is not being vague. He means precisely:
1. Collegiality – which has transformed the Pope into a mirrorof the Archbishop of Canterbury – basically a symbolic figureheadwho is not obeyed even by his own Bishops, nevermind the SSPX!This policy is a direct result of Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium.A practial denial of authority on the part of the Pope, whichis followed in example by Bishops, and then by priests. Like every revolution, we are now ruled by faceless Councils with no individualtaking responsibility for the mess.
Read John XXIII’s opening address to the Council, this model for the Church is there…it’s all laid out there.
“Medicine of mercy” rather than correcting error – a virtual abdication of papal and conciliar responsibility in most respects.
2. Ecumenism – created a politically correct, anemic faith indicoeses worldwide. This lead to efforts to consult protestants on how to “exercise the papacy” vis a vis Unitatis Redintegratio, and the endless streams of apologies to non-Catholics for what prior Popes did ect. Ecumenism continues to cause massive confusion concerning soteroliogy and a “guilt complex” that Pius XII lamented would come via the modernists. On the realistic level, it was a complete waste of time, due to the RCC focusing on the fastest dying and most culturally irrelevant (not to mention heretical) liberal protestant dinosaurs.
The following is a response to an interview with Bishop Williamson, SSPX, found on Fr. Z's blog site, "What Does the Prayer Really Say?" Very interesting observation by Matt Robinson. Needless to say, I have great respect for the SSPX, and for what they have done for Tradition these past 38 years.
________________________________________________________
Williamson is wrong with regard to his degree of angst, but not with regard to his diagnosis of the substantial problem.
By “Vatican II”, he is not being vague. He means precisely:
1. Collegiality – which has transformed the Pope into a mirrorof the Archbishop of Canterbury – basically a symbolic figureheadwho is not obeyed even by his own Bishops, nevermind the SSPX!This policy is a direct result of Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium.A practial denial of authority on the part of the Pope, whichis followed in example by Bishops, and then by priests. Like every revolution, we are now ruled by faceless Councils with no individualtaking responsibility for the mess.
Read John XXIII’s opening address to the Council, this model for the Church is there…it’s all laid out there.
“Medicine of mercy” rather than correcting error – a virtual abdication of papal and conciliar responsibility in most respects.
2. Ecumenism – created a politically correct, anemic faith indicoeses worldwide. This lead to efforts to consult protestants on how to “exercise the papacy” vis a vis Unitatis Redintegratio, and the endless streams of apologies to non-Catholics for what prior Popes did ect. Ecumenism continues to cause massive confusion concerning soteroliogy and a “guilt complex” that Pius XII lamented would come via the modernists. On the realistic level, it was a complete waste of time, due to the RCC focusing on the fastest dying and most culturally irrelevant (not to mention heretical) liberal protestant dinosaurs.
Ecumenism was never defined in the council, alluding to another chief problem with Vatican II: its deliberately vagueconcepts and policies. However the Decree on Ecumenism wasCLEAR in pointing out that ecumenism has nothing to do withEvangelism (another myth propogated by many people of good willbut please read the council).
3. Aggiornamento “updating”: like “Hope and Change” it soundsnice, but is a challenge to implement. This results in the RCC, especially in its liturgy being stuck forever somewhere around 1975. Coupled with an outlook on the world which is hopelessly stuck in the naive optimism of the early 1960’s. (Pre Tet, Pre 1968, Pre Woodstock, Pre-Watergate, Pre- Roe Vs Wade )- basically hopelessly incapable of dealing or confronting the REAL modern world, which is anything but friendly to the faith.
4. Religious Liberty. Benedict in his December 2005 address on theCouncil stated that by secularizing the State (i.e. no roomfor Christ in the State) we are getting back to the Gospel.He is condemning 1,750 years of Catholic history. The practicalresult today is 57 Muslim countries who dominate the UN and 0 Catholic ones. We had many only 40 years ago.
Another result within society is a dictatorship of relativism in public life: because the modern secular state is no a friend of the Church, nor does it help souls get to heaven. The Kennedy Compromise repeated 1000 times without any politician being reprimanded.
A third result: with the Vatican forcibly laicized many nations in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it was nolonger illegal for every protestant sect and cult to prostheletize Catholics. Practically speaking, this was a boon for protestant missionaries who literally flocked to Latin America to completely undermine the Catholic faith. Latin America today is a patchwork of charismatic sects and cults directly thanks to this policy of the state not speaking on matters of faith nor restraining error.
An additional problem is that the secular state is now the GOAL! We are not to strive for a truly Catholic society or Catholic lawmakers, because this violates Nostrae Aetate! Unbelievable. True lawmakers must make their law according to Christ the King, (this includes providing special provision for the True Faith) yet this is impossible when Rome has abandoned the Social Kingship of Christ.
5. Guadium et Spes (written mostly by Hans Kung, need I say more??)This resulted in a mass exodus of monks from monasteries worldwide, as they were forcibly brought before psychologists. Nuns doing yoga, abandoning their communities and historic charters in order to “commune” with the modern world and “understand perfectly modern man”...again it’s all here. If you do nothing else, please go to the Vatican website and read it folks. Please educate yourselves!
6. Sacrosanctam Concilium – bascially followed the “camel’s nose under the tent approach” to experimentation, giving individual Bishops carte blanche authoirity to mess about with the sacred. Total chaos.
Clear enough?
Many problems in the modern world are a DIRECT result of Vatican II and its practical effect of causing the Church to “auto-destruct”, using Paul VI own words of assessment.
If you don’t believe me, look around your parish and tell me what the demographic spread is? And where do you think it will be in another 5-20 years?
If you don’t want to be stuck in the past, why are we then stuck with a Council 45 years in the past and hopelessly outdated in its assessment and approach on every level?
Comment by Matt Robinson — 27 July 2008
3 Comments:
If you don’t believe me, look around your parish and tell me what the demographic spread is? And where do you think it will be in another 5-20 years?
Well, in my small suburban (virtually rural) parish, I see a large number of families with numerous small children, slow but steady growth, a pastor ordained only four years assisted by an associate ordained only four months ago, every week making another small step towards increasing devotion to traditional Catholicism.
And if you investigated what this parish is doing right, you'd probably point to the presence of the TLM every week (soon to be every day), and the zealous orthodoxy of both the current clergy and the prior pastor, as well as the fidelity and reverence brought to bear on the new liturgy as well as reasons for the present success and rosy outlook for the future.
And you probably wouldn't be wrong.
I see my parish growing, fidelity to the Church, faithfulness to the Pope, and the graces of Carmel, my parish hasn't been hijacked by the SOVII
Umnnhhhh....
While Christ IS the King, I think He specifically mentioned that "...My kingdom is not of this world."
Perhaps Mgr. Williamson could reconcile that with his comments about the secular State.
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