"BW's Liberalism Again"

[Stone]

I received an email yesterday from Mr. Luke Ross (coordinator of one of the Australian chapels) with the subject line "BW's Liberalism Again."

The email links to a brief Q&A published online regarding a troubling recent Eleison Comments (authored by Bp. Williamson) regarding Novus Ordo Sacraments.

This is important as the accusations of "disgruntled infighting" are often hurled at Frs. Hewko and Ruiz for having said the same things as the more objective 'Traditio Fathers.' Traditio is not part of the Resistance and have 'no skin in the game' as the saying goes. They are simply comparing the words of Bishop Williamson with the teachings of the Church. 

Dear TRADITIO Fathers:

A well-known traditional (?) Catholic bishop has been scandalizing true Traditional Catholics by suddenly pandering to the "sacraments" of the New Order (Novus Ordo) sect, aka the Newchurch of the New Order. In his most recent writing he answers the question "What about receiving hosts supposedly consecrated at Novus Ordo Masses (sic)?" by stating: "Perhaps best avoid them, because they can be invalid, and with time may be more and more so. However, in case of need you can receive such hosts, because they may also be valid." Doesn't that answer flatly contradict Catholic doctrine?


THE TRADITIO FATHERS REPLY:

That statement most certainly does contradict Catholic doctrine. The Sacraments must be certain. There cannot be any moral doubt, or a Catholic is obliged under pain of idolatry, a grave sin against the First Commandment of God, to shun the fakery like the Devil. The idea that a Catholic could receive a doubtful "sacrament" is unconscionable.

There are certainly examples of this doctrine in the history of the Church. After the Church In England revolted and adopted a Protestant Ordinal in 1550, written by the Arch-heretic Thomas Cranmer, the Catholic Church was split. Some Catholics, even some prelates, considered Anglican ordinations valid; most did not. In this situation of doubt, the Catholic Church never allowed Catholics to receive "sacraments" from Anglican presbyter/ministers. The Catholic Church never said "perhaps." No, in the case of moral doubt, a Catholic is strictly bound to shun such spurious "sacraments" entirely.

In 1896 Pope Leo XIII settled the issue once and for all when he declared in his 1896 Papal Bull "Apostolicae curae" that all Anglican orders had been and are "absolutely null and utterly void" because the Anglican Ordinal is deficient in intention and form, not intending to ordain a sacrificing priesthood, but merely to install ministers to an ecclesiastical institution that was not Catholic in belief. [..]

What Pope Leo XIII decreed about the Anglicans is a fortiori, i.e., even more, true of the Novus Ordo sect, the Newchurch of the New Order, or whatever you want to call it. That Newchurch, founded in 1964 at the Vatican II Anti-council, eventually rejected, in its official writings, the traditional term "ordination" and uses instead "installation," as of a Protestant minister. It rejected the term "priest" and uses instead "presbyter," an ambiguous term, essentially meaning "elder," much as the Mormons use the term "elder" for their clergy.

Therefore, it is unconscionable that any true Catholic, let alone a supposed traditional Catholic bishop of over thirty years, would ever speak of a sacrament as "perhaps."
[The last sentence promoting sedevacantism is omitted here.]

(Emphasis in the original.)

The brief reply is very accurate. And the Church has spoken very, very clearly on doubtful sacraments and how we are to view them:

1917 Catholic Encyclopedia: Thus ... it is not lawful to act on mere probability when the validity of the sacraments is in question. Again, it is not lawful to act on mere probability when there is question of gaining an end which is obligatory, since certain means must be employed to gain a certainly required end. Hence, when eternal salvation is at stake, it is not lawful to be content with uncertain means. www.newadvent.org/cathen/12441a.htm

Once again, we see Bishop Williamson speaking out of both sides of his mouth. 'New Sacraments perhaps should be avoided but go ahead if you are in need.' This is very subjective, to leave it up to people to decided if they are in 'need.' Fr. Felix Sarday Salvany in his book, Liberalism is a Sin, notes that it is "Protestantism [that] naturally begets toleration of error."

The New Sacraments thus 'tolerated' eventually so blur the line for the simple Catholic adhering to such advice that they soon no longer distinguishes or remember why they were 'resisting' the errors of the Novus Ordo in the first place. We see the same tactics employed in the Indult communities and the New-SSPX and also in the False Resistance.

The words of Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos [1832] are just important now and they were nearly two hundred years ago:

"6. ... We must raise Our voice and attempt all things lest a wild boar from the woods should destroy the vineyard or wolves kill the flock. It is Our duty to lead the flock only to the food which is healthful. In these evil and dangerous times, the shepherds must never neglect their duty; they must never be so overcome by fear that they abandon the sheep. Let them never neglect the flock and become sluggish from idleness and apathy. Therefore, united in spirit, let us promote our common cause, or more truly the cause of God; let our vigilance be one and our effort united against the common enemies.

7. Indeed you will accomplish this perfectly if, as the duty of your office demands, you attend to yourselves and to doctrine and meditate on these words: “the universal Church is affected by any and every novelty”[5] and the admonition of Pope Agatho: “nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning.”

This certainly applied to all things Novus Ordo as everything from the Conciliar Church is indeed a New Order.




The referenced Eleison Comments:

EMERGENCY ADVICE – I

February 17, 2024
Eleison Comments Issue DCCCLXVI (866)

God asks us not the impossible to do,
But to leave for others the freedom you want for you.

A reader much confused by what is going on inside the Catholic Church sends in a number of practical questions which many Catholic souls must be asking themselves today in connection with the serious duty for any Catholic of attending Mass to fulfil his Sunday obligation. Normally the answers are more or less clear, but circumstances since the 1960s’ revolution of Vatican II inside the Church are no longer normal, and so the answers are no longer so clear. Let us list this reader’s questions in order, going from the general to the particular, to reply with answers offered by these “Comments,” but not imposed.

1 To what extent is the Newchurch of Vatican II Catholic, and to what extent is it counterfeit?

Answer, God alone knows, because He alone knows the secrets of men’s hearts, and the borderline between the true and the false Church often runs through men’s hearts, for instance whether or not they have the Catholic Faith. Since He alone can know for sure, then He does not expect us to know. However, He does give us sufficient means to know what we do need to know, and that is to judge by the fruits (cf. Mt. VII, 15–20). These will infallibly tell the difference, for instance, between true and false shepherds. Real joy and charity will reveal where the true Church still exists, even inside the Newchurch structures.

2 Do we have a Pope?

Answer, if we judge Pope Francis by his fruits, they are disastrous for the true Church, to the point that many serious Catholics argue that he is an anti-pope. God does not require of me to know for sure, one way or the other. Good Catholic theologians can disagree. The wisdom of Archbishop Lefebvre for his priests was that they could have their own opinion in private, but in public they should behave as though the apparent Vatican II popes are true Popes, unless and until the evidence is clear that they are not Popes. Even Pope Francis is still serving the Catholic function of providing the structural Church with a visible head, enabling the Church structures to continue functioning until God cleans out the Augean stables. In His own good time God will put the Pope back on his feet. Meanwhile, I may despair of this or that pope, but I must not despair of the Papacy, or of any other institution from the Tradition of Our Lord Himself.

3 What about the Newchurch sacraments?

Answer, like the Newchurch as a whole of which they are product and part, they are still partly good but essentially rotting, like the rotten apples to which they may be compared, because the Newchurch was cleverly designed from the beginning to rot over tens of years until there would be nothing of the true Church left. This was because by the 1960’s when Vatican II happened, many churchmen at the top of the Church had been thoroughly infected by the thinking of Freemasonry, the secret society created in 1717 in London to infiltrate the Catholic Church until it could be destroyed from within, thus enabling the known enemies of God and man to take over the world. Our Lord’s own Church is the great obstacle in their way.

4 What about the “Eucharistic miracles,” supposedly taking place at Novus Ordo “Masses”?

Answer, down all near 2000 years of Church history so far, God has always by such miracles helped Christians to believe in the stupendous miracle of His Presence beneath mere appearances of bread and wine, and these miracles continue today, because the Sacred Heart will not abandon sheep misled by their shepherds. The difference is that today modern science is available to provide truly scientific evidence to prove that the miracles, if they are genuine, are genuine. See for instance the book “A Cardiologist examines Jesus” by Dr. Franco Serafini, with explanations and photographic illustrations from several recent miracles. It is published by Sophia Institute Press, available from SophiaInstitute.com God bless Traditionalists for clinging to the Traditional Latin Mass, but not for refusing scientific evidence provided by the Sacred Heart for the salvation of souls.

5 And what about receiving hosts supposedly consecrated at Novus Ordo Masses?

Answer, perhaps best avoid them, because they can be invalid, and with time may be more and more so. However, in case of need you can receive such hosts, because they may also be valid.

Kyrie eleison.