Funny, that’s how I feel about Novus Ordo neoconservatives - “But Rome says altar girls/communion in hand/EMHCs/other nonsense is allowed!” And, of course, people who say that Archbishop Lefebvre (without whom the traditional Mass would only be in the hands of sedevacantists, and lost from the Church forever) is in hell, because according to strict reading of Cannon Law received excommunication. Or that people who go to SSPX priests for confession aren’t really absolved for their sins and are therefore going to hell. You know, things like that.
It is those in the SSPX who are clinging to rules from the past that are no longer what the Church teaches, like the pharisees who clung to the rules of their past after Christ came and they were no longer necessary. I don’t think anyone here would condemn Archbishop Lefebvre, he could have repented of his wrong in the last moments before his death, only God knows. And, no one should say that if a person goes to confession to a SSPX priest and has the belief that the confession is valid, that the confession is invalid. It is the SSPX who say that the NO is invalid, and so all who go to the NO are stupid because they are going to invalid masses. I have had the opportunity to travel allot, and during those travels my family has always made sure that we make Sunday mass, well, in Florida especially we have come across some bad masses, but there were no other masses within a two hour drive, and we tried our hardest to find a good mass, so our Sunday obligation was fulfilled. After all of those irreverent masses, my father would go and confront the priest and choir directors and if they did not receive correction well, he wrote to the bishop. But we were following Rome’s orders to attend mass and to attend a mass in union with Rome. We were not following the rules of men about what language the mass should be said in, but rather the rules of God that say Sunday is a holy day, and that Peter is the supreme authority on earth. We follow the rules of God, while the SSPX clings to the rules and comforts of the rules of men.
Those in the SSPX are not evil, they have simply blindfolded themselves, and when we try to remove the blindfold, they keep their eyes closed. Part of it is that the priests brainwash them, because the priests were brainwashed in seminary. My godfather was a priest in the SSPX, he left and came back, and he said that in seminary they were shown VatII documents that were not approved, and they were shown these docs as though they were the official VatII docs and they were not shown the final official draft of Vat II. That is not what led to him returning to the Church, but it seems very important to me. It shows that the SSPX can’t fight against the real VatII doc, so they show faulty ones instead and send their priests out spewing hatred of VatII, but all they know of it is the false docs they were shown.
Yes, we trads do not like the altar girls, yes we don’t like EMHE (but here in Vegas they are necessary), yes we don’t like the music, yes we don’t like the modern churches, yes we don’t like the sister Mary-Miss-Her-Habits, yes we don’t like the ill formed and ill taught priests, but we are in the Church trying to help fix the problems. Can’t you see that this is the only way that is right? Can’t you see that sitting outside and mocking those of us who are trying to fight the good fight, is only hurting the Church to which you still claim to belong? Can’t you see that there is work to be done and we need all the workers we can get? Why then do you sit and laugh and wait for us to serve you instead of helping us and then we can all serve eachother? The Pope can’t do this alone, it takes everyone working together to build the Church back up, help don’t hinder.
HOPEFUL_IN_UK,
Thanks for the complements, I will pray that you find some like-minded Catholic families with kids your children’s ages. When I was about ten, we visited Scotland and when we were there, we noticed how anti-large family they were. We were literally told at some hotels that said they had a Vacancy that they wouldn’t allow more than two children per family. Ireland, they were of the opinion that the more the merrier and in England they had the same opinion as the Scotts. It must be hard to live there. Thanks for reminding us to be thankful. We in the US are facing a bad presidential election and we need to be reminded of all that we have.
My family has been blessed because God gave me two brothers and three sisters, so we have eachother for support. Also, we moved allot when I was young, so we were even closer to eachother because we didn’t have time to make many friends, and we were homeschooled, so we didn’t meet up with the wrong sort of kids. We became very secure with only having eachother around and only having eachother for support. I am thankful for this. God allowed me to have this childhood, and I now know that it is only important what God thinks, friends come and go, but God is the only constant. Even family is inconsistent, as my parent’s families have shown, but hopefully, my brothers and sisters and parents and I will be close for our entire lives, because of our unique upbringing. God is good.
What a concept for a Roman Catholic.
