What [was Fr. Hesse's] opinion of Pope Paul VI????
I can't give you an accurate response to this good question right away.
I do recall hearing him have some pretty scathing words in regards to
Paul VI,
but I do not remember in which of his lectures that is to be found. He stays on
topic pretty well, but sometimes outbursts of detail enter a related topic, and it
would not be evident by looking a the title that it's to be found there. Sort of like
trying to find a particular post in a CathInfo thread, but you're not sure which
thread it was in! The thread titles don't always describe the theme of every
post to be found therein. If you like, I will be happy to transcribe the most
noteworthy comments he made regarding
JPII earlier in this same CD that
I've quoted above. "It ain't pretty," as they say in the movies.
Fr. Hesse, God rest his soul, had "had enough" of soft words and weak response
to the heresies and corruption flooding the world after Vatican II, and he was not
afraid to say exactly what he meant.
We should keep in mind that he was a serious student of the history of the
Church and the lives of the great saints, and he was moved to imitate the
forceful and outspoken style of such like St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom.
I do recall what his opinion was of
Pope John Paul I (the first). This stuck with
me because it was the only clear insight I have ever heard about him, and given
no less by someone who knew him personally. If you remember how President
Richard Milhous Nixon used to hold up two fingers on each hand and wave them
at a crowd? (In his early years, it meant "V for victory," but in his presidential
years it had become usurped by the hippie movement.)
Fr. Hesse used that gesture, and applied a Southern United States accent, such
as Georgia or Tennessee, to the word, "PEACE!"
He said that
JPI was a flower-child sympathizer, a new generation enthusiast,
and therefore eager to promote cultural innovations into the practices of the
Church such as guitar mass, waving arms at the Our Father, and the like.
He did not say, when I heard this, that
JPI wanted to promote the Charismatic
movement
per se, but I suppose that isn't too far off his point. I would
guard against making that leap, unless someone has better data on it.
As you can see, he was no fan of the new liturgy, and was devoted to making
widely known his observation: the Holy Ghost protects the Church not only
in a positive way but also in a
negative way, and that is, that He did not
allow any official seal of infallibility on the Second Vatican Council, nor a
single Vatican docuмent to be signed that demands Catholic obedience to
A) the use of the new missal, or B) attendance at the
Novus Ordo liturgy.
Fr. Hesse had
bitter contempt for the lone docuмent ("Notification of the
Congregation") that fraudulently demands that Catholic priests use the new
missal.