Eleison Comments

“Resistance” Unity

“Resistance” Unity on August 3, 2019

With the purpose of aiming a fire-extinguisher at pride, these “Comments” choose rarely to highlight any achievement of the priests and lay-folk labouring since 2012 to ensure the survival of Catholic principles and practice, especially but not exclusively within the Newsociety of St Pius X, i.e. that Society which is sliding into the arms of Rome. Newsociety leaders naturally condemn the so-called “Resistance” or “Fidelity” movement, pointing out in particular the divisions that have arisen between its various priests. But the time has come to highlight the contrasting unity of the Catholic “Resistance.”

For instance a long-standing observer of the “Resistance” scene makes the following pertinent remarks: The main argument of the Superiors of the Newsociety against the “Resistance” is to point out the divisions between Resistant priests. But while various Resistant priests have a variety of vocational gifts, giving rise to a variety of Resistant works (e.g. a Friary, a Seminary, a Monastery, a Priory, a Mission, etc.), there reigns amongst them all a remarkable unity as to the end being pursued – the survival of the Catholic Faith. On the contrary, the Newsociety is a giant with feet of clay, held together only by disciplinary measures, the fear of sanctions and personal interests, but as to the end being pursued it is highly divided: an Agreement with Rome, or not; marriages under official authority, or not; flirting with Conciliar bishops, or not – the Newsociety is cracking in all directions.

Once again, what we are seeing today is how all Catholics without exception are undermined by the split between Catholic Truth and Catholic Authority which resulted from the conscious or unconscious betrayal of the 2000 bishops and two Popes who engineered Vatican II. Thus in 2019 on the one hand the “Resistance” holding to the Truth suffers outward divisions from the lack of Authority, because the need for authority cannot from below create its reality, because authority can by definition only come from above. On the other hand the Newsociety holding to Roman Authority suffers inward division from the lack of Truth, because that Roman Authority is clinging to the lies of Vatican II.

But Truth is the purpose of Authority, and not the other way round. “Peter, when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Lk. XXII, 32). In other words, firstly recover your own shaken faith in the Truth, then secondly exercise your Authority over the other Apostles. This is because in a fallen world, the inward Truth needs outward Authority to defend it, but if the outward Authority is no longer defending that inward Truth then it has lost its true reason for being, and it becomes an end in itself, ultimately a tyranny to serve personal positions, as with Paul VI and the Archbishop’s successors.

Thus however plentiful be the personal miseries of individual Resistants, so long as they are faithful to the Truth, the “Resistance” will outlive the Newsociety, just as the Archbishop’s Society, as long as it was faithful to the Truth, dominated, and will ultimately outlive, the Conciliar Romans. The ultimate problem is not one of persons or Authority, but of doctrines and Truth. Thus when in the early 2000’s the successor of the Archbishop at that time appealed to Authority to solve divisions inside the Society, he was already well down the Conciliar path of preferring Authority to Truth, of preferring will to reason. As a result, the Archbishop’s Society has been turned into a tyranny, and although the tyrant was apparently dismissed from the seat of power by the election of a year ago, really he is back there. Such is our modern world. Reality gives the lie to appearances.

Kyrie eleison.

Contradiction Rampant

Contradiction Rampant on July 27, 2019

Back to Bishop Huonder, not for any personal reason, but for the universal confusion which he illustrates. On the day when he resigned from being head of Switzerland’s major Diocese of Chur to take up residence in the Traditional SSPX boys’ school of Wangs in the Diocese of St Gallen, his move may have seemed so surprising, that on the same day he issued two explanations, one for Tradition and the other for the mainstream Church. Here are the key words from each explanation, which distort neither explanation by their being taken out of their full context.

To his former colleagues and lay-folk in the Diocese of Chur he wrote about his retirement to Wangs: “In accordance with the mind of Pope Francis I shall strive there (in Wangs) to contribute to the unity of the Church, not by excluding anyone but rather by discerning, following and integrating people.” For the Traditional Catholics among whom he was about to retire, he co-signed with the SSPX Superior General, Fr David Pagliarani, a joint Statement containing these words: “The one and only purpose of Bishop Huonder’s retiring within a house of the SSPX is to devote himself to prayer and silence, to celebrating exclusively the Tridentine Mass and to working for Tradition as the only way to renew the Church.”

But how can the honourable Bishop not see the contradiction between his two explanations? Ever since Francis became Pope in 2013, who has not seen the almost daily flow of words and deeds by which this Pope means Catholics to leave behind the Church of Tradition? Who has not sensed the deep and instinctive repugnance, which he shares with all the Conciliar churchmen who wrought the revolution of Vatican II, for the Church as it was before the Council? How can Bishop Huonder not see that between the “mind of Pope Francis” and “Tradition” there is a great gulf fixed?

If he is imagining that the “mind of Pope Francis” is other than what it is, or if he is hoping that it can be brought to be other than what it is, then on all previous showing the Pope will surely correct him swiftly and firmly as to the true state of his mind. On the other hand if the Bishop is imagining or hoping that Tradition is not what it is, here alas we must admit that he can well have been deceived by the 20-year slide from what the Society of St Pius X was under Archbishop Lefebvre to what the Newsociety has become under his successors. Under the Archbishop it was the Church’s single greatest fortress of the Catholic doctrine, sacraments and morals of all time, but once his personal magnetism died with him in 1991, then within a mere few years the official magnetism of Rome that draws all Catholics re-asserted itself, and the Society began with GREC its change into the Newsociety to fit in with Rome’s Newchurch. Probably Bishop Huonder sees no contradiction because he wants to help that change along.

But how about the Bishop’s co-signer on the joint Statement for Traditionalists, i.e. the Newsociety’s Superior General, Fr Pagliarani? Obviously he knows what Pope Francis is up to, and certainly he knew 20 years ago what the Archbishop understood by Tradition. So when he co-signed the Statement, did he know of the Bishop’s simultaneous intention to work in Wangs both “in accordance with the Pope’s mind” and “for Tradition”? And if he knew of the double intention, did he too see no contradiction? And if he sees the contradiction now, what has he done about the Trojan Horse, however well-intentioned, within the gates of Tradition? Perhaps he is saying to himself, “Oh, it hardly matters. The Archbishop wanted us to look after Newchurch priests (yes, but not Trojan Horses). Bishop Huonder is a nice man. We are all nice. We will all get along. Contradiction is more of a problem in theory than it is in practice, etc . . .”

If that is indeed how the Newgeneral is thinking, then he has caught the Conciliar disease, and the Society is truly sunk, while the Mushsociety is set fair to sail happily for ever after on the Mushchurch seas of confusion and contradiction. But woe to souls!

Kyrie eleison.

Cardinal’s Clarity

Cardinal’s Clarity on July 20, 2019

In a recently appeared book or interview by a Roman Cardinal one can read unusual good sense on the waves of immigration that have now for tens of years been threatening to swamp the once great Western nations. But Cardinal Sarah is no “racist” – he comes from black Africa. If only Europeans would appreciate God’s gifts to Europe as he does! But who in Europe wants God? “Ay, there’s the rub,” as Hamlet says.

I am scandalised by all these men dying at sea, by the human trafficking, by the mafia networking, by the organised slavery. These people emigrating with no papers, nor prospects for the future, nor family. Do they think they are going to find paradise on earth here? It’s not in the West! If these people are to be helped, better do it where they come from, in their own villages, amidst their own races. The economic imbalances and the human dramas cannot be justified. You cannot welcome migrants from all over the world. To welcome means not only letting these people into your own country, it means giving them work. Can you do that? No. It means giving them somewhere to live. Can you do that? No. Parking them in inadequate lodgings, with no dignity, no work, that is not what I call welcoming people. It is more like something organised by the mafia! The Church cannot co-operate in human trafficking, which is more like a new form of slavery.

What I find equally scandalous is using the Word of God to justify all that. God does not want people migrating. The Christ child took refuge in Egypt, because of Herod, but he returned home afterwards. God always brought His people back to Israel, whether it was a famine at home, or a captivity abroad. A country is a great treasure, it is where we were born, where our ancestors are buried. When you welcome somebody, it is to give them a better life, not to herd them into immigration camps. When you are fed without doing any work, there is no dignity there.

And what culture do you have to offer them? Are you capable of sharing your Christian culture and roots? I am afraid that the population imbalance brought about by these waves of immigration will make you lose your identity together with what makes you who you are. Europe has a special mission given to it by God. It is you Europeans that taught us the Gospel, and the values of family, personal dignity and freedom. If you give up your identity, if you allow yourselves to be swamped by peoples that do not share your culture, then your Christian values and identity risk disappearing. Like happened when ancient Rome was invaded by barbarians. You need to think – are today’s migrations not a new form of slavery, being organised to get cheap labour? All of these people coming here in pursuit of a dream way of life. What a lie! What sheer cynicism! Pope Benedict XVI was especially clear and prophetic on all these questions. [ . . . ]

You Europeans have been moulded by Christianity, everything in Europe is Christian. Why deny it? No Muslim denies his identity. If you do not come back to being who you are, you will disappear. And if Europe disappears, there will be an appalling upset: Christianity would risk disappearing from the face of the earth. You see how you are being invaded by Islam: Muslims mean to take over the world, and they have the financial means to do it. They will not succeed because the Lord is with us to the end of the world. But you must not deny who you are: those immigrants that you allow in must integrate into your culture, assuming that you still have a culture. You will not integrate them into your atheistic materialism. They want nothing to do with it.

Kyrie eleison.

Further Undermining

Further Undermining on July 13, 2019

These “Comments” have more than once recommended the Internet site of the American commentator on worldwide political and economic developments, Dr Paul Craig Roberts, because he may lack the fullness of perspective provided by the one true religion, but he sees a great deal of worldly truth, and he tells it on his site – paulcraigroberts.org – to the point that one asks oneself, when is he going to be assassinated? But murder is always messy, and the murder of a messenger always risks giving credit to his message. Be that as it may, Dr Roberts’ articles are widely read all over the world, and a recent article reinforces on a very practical level the starting of Fr Calderón’s dissection of the “new man” of Vatican II (see these “Comments” of June 22) by modern man’s being cut off from objective truth by subjectivism. Read Dr Roberts’ article, slightly resumed below, for a typical advance today of that cutting off—

Dr Roberts begins by quoting a truth-telling site, Zero Hedge, which reports that “the ability to falsify reality is growing by leaps and bounds. Thoughtless geeks have now developed technology that makes fake reality indistinguishable from real reality. “I don’t think we’re well prepared at all. And I don’t think the public is aware of what’s coming,” said the Chairman of the U.S.A. House Intelligence Committee. He was discussing the rapid advance of synthesis technology. This new artificial intelligence capability allows competent programmers to create audio and video of anyone, saying absolutely anything. The creations are called “deepfakes” and however outrageous they may be, they’re virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. No sooner had we adjusted to a world where our reality seemed fake, than things that are fake became our reality.

“We’re outgunned,” said a UC Berkeley digital-forensics expert, “The number of people now working on video-synthesis outnumber those working on detecting deepfakes by 100–1.” . . . . Already two-thirds of Americans say altered images and videos have become a major problem for understanding the basic facts of current events. Misinformation researchers warn of growing “reality apathy” whereby it takes so much effort to distinguish between what is real and what is fake that we simply give up and rely on our base instincts, tribal biases, impulses. Immersed in our leaders’ deceits, we come to believe in nothing.

For instance, two oil tankers burst into flames, billowing smoke. On cue, a suspicious Iranian Revolutionary Guard boat appeared on grainy video. Viral images flooded earth’s nine billion screens. Each side told a different story. No one quite knew who to trust. Conspiracy theories filled the void, as we each clung to what we most want to believe. https://​www.​zerohedge.​com/​news/​2019-06-16/​hedge-fund-cio-i-dont-think-public-aware-whats-coming Dr Roberts goes on, Why is it that tech geeks take pride in developing technology that makes truth even harder to find? What is wrong with their character as humans that they create methods of destroying the ability to know truth? How is this different from releasing an undetectable substance into the air that wipes out life? The only use of this technology is to allow the police state complete control. It is now possible to put words and deeds into the mouths and actions of anyone, and to use the faked evidence to convict them of the simulated crime. Without truth, there is no liberty, no freedom, no independent thought, and no awareness. There is only The Matrix. How has America so lost its way that corporations, investors, and scientists are motivated to develop truth-destroying technology? Aren’t these mindless idiots our real enemies? The most difficult thing in the world today is to ascertain the truth. And Dr Roberts’ article ends with a plea for support, which he surely deserves.

Readers, hold on to truth for dear life, because it is being undermined fast, as the world is putting liberty in front of truth, and fantasy in front of reality. The consequences will be humanly disastrous for us all.

Kyrie eleison.

“Prometheus” – Idolatry

“Prometheus” – Idolatry on July 6, 2019

Part I – the essence of Vatican II is a glorification of man disguised by Church officials as Catholicism. Part II – the New Man of V II is free: from reality, by subjectivism; from morality, by conscience; by grace, from nature. Part III – the Newchurch of VII is no longer against the world, nor against other religions, it is the Newchurch of niceness and dialogue with everybody. In Part IV of his book, Fr Calderón asks if Vatican II amounts to a new religion, and he says it does, because it no longer renders worship to the Holy Trinity, because Catholicism’s 1 Revelation and Tradition, 2 central act of worship, and 3 Incarnate God, have all been essentially changed.

1 The true Church’s doctrine is changed because a Catholic can believe either in the object itself, for instance the Incarnation, or in an objective proposition expressing that object, for instance “God became incarnate.” The proposition expresses the mystery inadequately, but it expresses it truly, and for the believer to save his soul, sufficiently. But Newchurch is modernist, and for modernists no propositions can be objective. Therefore in Newchurch there can only be subjective experience of the mystery (Dei Verbum#2; LG#4), which leaves doctrine wide open to the vagaries of all kinds of charismatic subjects. For in Newchurch, the Mystery is present in the living Church community, with which the doctrine of both Revelation and Tradition may and must evolve in their changing historical circumstances. Thus Newfaith is a frame of mind enabling one to experience and interpret the Mystery in some communion. The formulae or creeds merely follow. Newscripture is merely the foundational fixing of that experience, a model for God’s people to follow. Neworthodoxy is thinking with the Newchurch-community, so that a refuser of that Newcommunity is the worst of heretics, e.g. Archbishop Lefebvre.

2 As for worship, the medieval religion of the Cross is depressing! So Newchurch will keep the joy, but eliminate the sacrifice. Thus if it was men’s sin that led to men’s debt to God, which led to Christ’s paying the debt by sacrifice, let us get rid of sin. God is above and beyond suffering, so men’s sins do not hurt Him, He may lament for them but He would never punish anyone with eternal Hell. Christ died merely as the Father’s instrument (G&S#22) to show solidarity with men, so it is not Christ but the Father who saves us, and not by the Cross but by the Resurrection which was wrought by the Father to glorify man! So the Mass renamed, i.e. the “Paschal Mystery,” is to glorify man, and God should thank man for being so glorious for Him! This string of blasphemous lies, clearly orienting the New Mass imposed on the Church by Paul VI in 1969, is implicit rather than explicit in VII’s decree on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, because it dated from early in the Council when the modernists needed still to tread carefully. But from 1969 onwards the brakes have been off. Church liturgy is now in chaos.

3 As for the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, at the centre of Christianity and of the true Catholic Church, He is treated of directly in two VII documents, Gaudium et Spes and Ad Gentes. Fr Calderón declares that the doctrine of both documents is the same: the Cross is horrible, so it is better to be a mere man of peace than an adopted son of God by suffering. Man is in the image of God (by his freedom), so the more man he makes himself, the more divine he becomes. Therefore Jesus Christ became man not for man to become adoptive son of God, but for man to become more fully man! Moreover, nowhere does VII state that Jesus Christ is truly and properly God, nor does it once mention the Hypostatic Union. Conciliar theologians fluctuate in their language between Tradition and Newtheology, according to their audience.

4 Fr Calderón’s conclusion is that the dignity of man is the final purpose of VII, and final purposes in effect make religions, so VII is a different religion from Catholicism, whose final purpose is the (extrinsic) glory of God. Thus with VII, grace is to free human nature, Jesus is the man who came to make us more human, and Mass is no longer the sacrifice owed to God, but the thanksgiving of mankind crowning the Creator, because it is more free than He is, because it is capable also of choosing evil!

Kyrie eleison.

“Prometheus” – Newchurch

“Prometheus” – Newchurch on June 29, 2019

After studying in Part II of The Religion of Man the New-Man that emerges from the Council, in Part III of his book on Vatican II Fr Calderón studies the Council’s Newchurch, a new Church indeed. The one true religion of the one true God was founded by Jesus Christ, Incarnate God, to “teach all nations” (Mt. XXVIII, 20), so as to reach all souls and save as many of them as possible. To adapt such an ambitious Church to modern man, to protect modern humanism, such a Church must be re-defined and down-sized, radically changed, while disguising the change. Therefore 1 Newchurch no longer has a mission to all mankind, and 2 i t will no longer interfere in the World-part of mankind. 3 Even in the Church-part of mankind it will no longer be the only church, and 4 it will need to be re-defined to fulfil its new role.

1 Catholic Tradition teaches that the “Kingdom of God” and the “Church” are two expressions for exactly the same reality. Both have the same mission of universal outreach. But to adapt that Church to a world in which it is less universal in reality every day, Vatican II will distinguish between the Kingdom of God which is universal in reality, being present invisibly in all men’s hearts, and the Newchurch which is universal only in intention, because it is all the time visibly building and extending the Kingdom in men’s lives. The Newchurch is also universal as being the “sacrament” or sign of the unity of all men (LG#1).

2 Here is where the Newchurch liberates worldly powers from any Church domination. The glorification of man made the “Kingdom of God” no longer potential to all men by baptism, but actual to all men by nature. Therefore nature has taken over from religion, and so Newchurch may signal the Kingdom’s universality but it cannot assert or claim it. Therefore politics are free from religion, and Newchurch need only purify them in their own domain. Here is Maritain’s Newchristendom, in which Mammon may take over the world, as we have seen since Vatican II. The Council was in fact the logical conclusion of the long decline of the true Christendom from the Middle Ages. But then Newchristendom is godless? No, Maritain’s New World, neither believing nor baptised, is still freed by Christ and heading for glory.

3 This liberal down-sizing of the Church is followed by the ecumenical down-sizing. Ever since Protestantism broke up the Catholic Church, the broken fragments have tried to re-unite. The true Church wanted and wants no part in their vain quest for their lost unity, unless they rejoin the Catholic Church, but the glorification of man makes the Newchurch glorify non-Catholics and want to reach out to them. So in non-Catholic Christians it will glorify the lifeless “traces” of Catholicism, still present but lifeless among them, e.g. among the Orthodox, valid Orders without jurisdiction; among the Protestants Scripture without authoritative interpretation; and it will make them into living “elements” (Unitatis Redintegratio). In non-Christian mankind it will find “seeds of the Word,” i.e. any truth and goodness which are sparks of the Word that “enlightens all men coming into the world” (Jn.I, 9) (Nostra Aetate), because all rational beings have been chosen out by God to glorify Him, and all chosen are saved.

But how can the Council upgrade in this way all non-Catholics without down-grading Catholics? By declaring that the all-embracing “Church of Christ” “subsists,” i.e. exists in some special way, in the Catholic Church (LG#8). But “subsists” is merely a verbal trick – if it upgrades non-Catholics, how can it not down-grade Catholics? If it does not down-grade non-Catholics, how can it up-grade Catholics?

4 Finally, how is the Newchurch to be re-defined to fulfil its new role? As “People of God,” necessarily democratic, so that the priesthood of Orders will be blurred into the “priesthood” of baptism (I Pet. II, 5) and all Newchurch will be priestly with a mission to all the World, and so that bishops will be promoted to govern the Church alongside the Pope (LG#22). Another word vague enough to correspond to the vagueness of notions of Newchurch is “Communion,” whose main activity is “Dialogue” with all men, so that nobody is ever wrong, and everybody can be nice to everybody else. Forget doctrine or truth!

Kyrie eleison.