.
At first glance these two posts would seem to be unrelated - as if one
or the other is off-topic. But they are very much related, in fact..........
That is one thing the Vatican has never said -- that the Sacraments
administered by the Priests of the SSPX are not valid.
This is a Bishop of a diocese acting & thinking that he is the Pope -
the Pope of his diocese!
What does he say about the schismatic sects of the Eastern and
Russian Orthodox Churches -- in which the Vatican has said that
their Sacraments are valid and Roman Catholics are encouraged
to attend!?
This question of Eastern Orthodox is the Achille's Heel of the New Order!
It's much like Conciliar Church "confessional hopping," Frances. Don't like what Fr. O'Grady said in the Reconciliation Room? Why, just go to Fr. Bill at Paul VI Catholic Community down the street!
I have a little story to tell, and I hope it doesn't scandalize anyone.
This was the last time I went to Confession at a NovusOrdo parish.
A traditional priest had told me that the sacrament of Penance is
one of the things that NovusOrdo priests still have intact, so it's fine
to go there. I took his advice and I would then later regret it.
I took my daughter with me. She was in line ahead of me. When
she came out of the confessional, she was crying. She was about
12 years old. I took her aside, out of earshot of the others in line,
and asked her what was wrong. She told me that the priest in the
confessional said she had committed a mortal sin by attending an
old Mass using the old liturgy because it is not approved (this was
before
Summorum Pontificuм), and so he said it was not valid and
it did not fulfill her Sunday obligation and she missed Mass so it was
a mortal sin. I assured her I would deal with this, and she was not
to worry about it. This calmed her fears. I returned to the queue.
When it was my turn, I went into the weird room, which was open
on the right where the penitent has the option to sit face-to-face
with the priest instead of behind the screen like Catholics have done
for centuries, and like all the saints have done for ages and ages.
But we're smarter than them, now, or so it would seem.
I confessed my sins, and the last thing I mentioned was that I had
taken my daughter to Sunday Mass where it was "one of those
old style liturgies." I heard him sit up straight to take notice. I
said that it was a concern to me that she had been worried that
this attendance did perhaps not fulfill her Sunday obligation, for it
was not an Indult Mass, and was offered by a priest who is not
from the diocese. He responded with a sharp tone, as if getting
ready to "rip me a new one." I recall thinking how ironic it was that
I could tell all of this without having seen his physical posture or
countenance in reaction to what I had said like I could have if I had
chosen the "face-to-face option" to the right, over there. So the
option would have been of no advantage at all, even in this case.
From the tone of his voice I could tell without question that he was
eager to take pleasure in showing me how wrong I was for daring
to attend the 'old Mass' (instead of the diocese version!).
He was really getting into this. I could almost hear the gears
spinning, and it would seem the sky would be the limit for my
penance - such a terrible offense - or, would absolution be withheld!?
I let it go on as long as I dared, until there was nothing more to
add or anything more of substance to obtain by way of counsel from
this confused priest. And then I let him have it. If he was 'confused'
before, what would you call the following?
I told him that this "old Mass" was an Armenian Orthodox Divine
Liturgy, and my daughter had been worried because everything was
so different, she had thought that it wasn't really Sunday Mass.
The confessor stopped breathing. It would seem his complexion
turned pale white from the sound of his utterance and the sound
of him slumping in his seat, deflated, as it were. At this point, I
almost regretted not having chosen 'the option' but for me, that
would have been an abuse.
The fact was, that I had actually taken my daughter to an Armenian
Orthodox rite Divine Liturgy, some time before that, without having
been specifically aware that it would not be okay, since we had been
hearing words of ecuмenical sharing with all manner of alternative
liturgies. So I wasn't telling him anything untrue, literally, it was only
the manner in which I said it that gave him the lead into presuming
something that was inaccurate at first.
He changed his attitude entirely. Suddenly, what I had done was not
such a terrible thing. There had been no sin, he said. While it is best
for us to attend our normal diocese Mass on Sunday, it is also not
a bad thing to experience the rich diversity in culture that is here in
our area, and the Orthodox liturgies are a vast source of such
experience available for us to enjoy, so as to appreciate the culture
of other rites, and on, and on. I asked him if we had fulfilled our
Sunday obligation at this schismatic sect's service, and he was a
bit shocked by the question, as if it was now him on the side of
defensiveness, and he had to hunt for an excuse. He hemmed and
hawed, as if befuddled. I was aware then and there that he was
now confronting the reality of his own self-contradiction. And that's
where I left it. He gave me a simple penance and I received
absolution.
After that, I decided that this is not what I go to confession for, to
put the priest on the spot and to make him re-consider his
outlook so as to be less critical of the penitent or anything like that.
It's not an opportunity to match wits. It is not the place to show
the priest that he has been wrong. The priest is not there to
confess to me. As a result, I have only confessed to traditional
priests ever since.
But it was rather telling, that this priest had been most critical of
what he thought was the Canonized Traditional Latin Mass because
it was independent and not under the authority of the local Roman
Rite bishop.
But he was in NO WAY critical of the Armenian Orthodox Divine
Liturgy, which is obviously independent of the authority of the local
Roman Rite bishop.
IOW what's good for the goose is not good for the gander, or else,
it has NOTHING TO DO with so-called authority under the
local bishop, and EVERYTHING to do with political correctness,
appearances, ecuмenism, religious freedom and cultural diversity. Please show me that topic in your moral theology handbook!
Topic: Richmond Diocese Newspaper calls SSPX "Schismatic Sect" (Read 3328 times)