A
AJV
Guest
As some others have said, I would suggest that you avoid reading such articles if you are not somewhat well-versed with the background material. Indeed, part of the problem with many Traditional apologetics is the citing of authors as authorities and very little exploration of the various issues behind it. For example, the views on jurisdiction put forth in the article are only one example of a particular canonical view that separated jurisdictional power and the power of Order, leaving the first mostly in the hands of the Pope and the second in the hands of the bishop. There are other theologians who maintain that a certain power of governance also comes with episcopal ordination - and that is also one of the issues that plays into the debate.
To briefly address however, some of the arguments in the article (and this is by no means exhaustive).
(1) Paul VI defines the WHOLE PRAYER as the form of the sacrament, of which the “42 words” are regarded as essential.
(2) Frequently, Fr. Cekada quotes the Eastern Church “forms” which are the whole prayer, but where “form” is taken in the looser sense. He then claims that things like consecrating churches, ordaining priests , etc. are not found in the Paul VI form, when there is clearly an equivalent passage outside of the essential words.
(3) The essential words defined by “Sacramentum Ordinis” in the Traditional liturgy can also be called into question. How is one to know what is meant by “ministry” if not by context? Using Fr. Cekeda’s logic, even Protestant clerics exercise a “ministry”. And the word “ministerii” appears in the rite of ordination for the diaconate. How do I know that the fulness of the diaconate isn’t being conferred?
(4) Fr. Cekeda demonstrates his own ignorance in the Appendix attacking the Copts, as well as his ignorance of the history of the Coptic liturgical books, and the history of practice within the Coptic church that lead to the decision of the Holy Office.
(5) If you look at the Appendix produced in the quasi-apologetic Vindication (rore-sanctifica.org/etudes/2006/RORE-2006-02-17-EN-Vindication_of_Apostolicae_Curae_1898.pdf), you will see that in the Coptic prayer, the words “ruling Spirit” have been highlighted. Evidently, the theologians who wrote that back in the 19th century thought that it was a “clause…which can colourably claim to have been …recognised as sufficient by the Catholic Church”
(6) The fact that the Maronites have used the prayer in the rite for the election of a Patriarch is not a point against the rite. The prayer used in the Traditional episcopal consecration was also in the earliest times used in the installation of the Pope, with some changes.