To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos

    Your Eminence

    Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.

    For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:

    "Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."

    Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the docuмent signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.

    Sincerely yours in Christ

    +Richard Williamson


Written to Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos on January 28, 2009.

Hmm... doesn't sound like he wants people to break into sects and "follow" him! It doesn't sound like he's boiling mad and outraged... How about that? A bishop that thinks like one!

I suspected from the first that the good Bishop had this kind of view towards what had happened. It's still more wonderful that he is humble enough to say it. Everybody knows what he thinks on the topic (the topic of this historical point). I'm sure he will not have changed his mind. I'm sure he wishes everyone else had read the things by the experts he had. I'm very sure many people agree with the conclusions of those experts. But I could never imagine, at any point in this little 'outrage' that His Excellency was so proud a man that he would wish the fact and his belief in it, to trump the work of saving souls. That would denote a man who had more care for his public honor than for saving souls... something I could never once persuade myself could possibly be the case.

I was waiting eagerly for someone or other from the SSPX to clarify that there's no "split", no animosity, no grave division, no fuming Bishop Williamson wanting his own way come hell or high water... I was overjoyed to see that piece of information come from His Excellency's own hand as proof of it's very authenticity. (For who can claim it was force and not holy and genuine humility that prompted it?).

What I love about these holy Bishops is precisely this. They DO practice what they preach. They are a living example of the application of those Catholic virtues down the median line of sanity, temperance and true holiness. (Which err neither to the one side or the other by excess.) A bishop (as his crosier implies) is a shepherd, and should be able to be followed and trusted by his sheep. And it's refreshing that with these four men, you CAN follow them, because they follow sanity, reason, temperance and true virtue, rather than erring to one side or the other out of the pride so rank in this increasingly ungodly world.

The example of these men, even in sticky situations like this one, is just edifying and heartening, and I sincerely thank God for them! +

I think this is a most suitable apology because it acknowledges that +W did cause unnecessary problems, but that the problems resulted from "the media storm" and not inherently the comments themselves.

Contrast this with Bp Fellay's remarks

It must remain clear that those comments do not reflect in any way the attitude of our community. That is why I have forbidden Bishop Williamson to issue any public opinion on any political or historical matter until further notice.

He's clearly blaming the comments themselves rather than the ridiculous media response to one man speaking an opinion that offers nothing to suggest that he loves/hates the Jєωιѕн people. As I believe +W said, "truth is truth," and I'm disturbed at the idea that seeking truth does "not reflect in any way the attitude of [the SSPX]."

Contrast this with Bp Fellay's remarks

Quote from: +Fellay

It must remain clear that those comments do not reflect in any way the attitude of our community. That is why I have forbidden Bishop Williamson to issue any public opinion on any political or historical matter until further notice.

He's clearly blaming the comments themselves rather than the ridiculous media response to one man speaking an opinion that offers nothing to suggest that he loves/hates the Jєωιѕн people. As I believe +W said, "truth is truth," and I'm disturbed at the idea that seeking truth does "not reflect in any way the attitude of [the SSPX]."

No one is perfect. Even Bp. Fellay may have shortcomings. Let's just hope and pray that they would always be enlightened by the Hoy Ghost.

However this one sounded very appropriate:

This we cannot accept, and we declare that we will continue to preach Catholic doctrine and administer the sacraments of grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.