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Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: rowenwdse on December 07, 2023, 10:36:05 AM

Title: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: rowenwdse on December 07, 2023, 10:36:05 AM
I just want to say that I totally respect and understand why people take the Sedevacantist position.

In fact a CMRI priest who takes the Sedevacantist position comes to our home once a month, says Mass and offers the Sacraments - and we keep the peace by not arguing about it.

And so I want to share here a 1 page PDF on how me and my family understand the Sedevacantist position.

Please Click this Link: https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf (https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf)

Thanks and Kind Regards in +J M J,
Roger
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: TKGS on December 07, 2023, 05:44:32 PM
I read your docuмent.  Why are you judging the First See by refusing his doctrines, his commands, and the sacraments according to the liturgy he commands and accepting sacraments from priests who are absolutely refuse communion with him?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 07, 2023, 06:17:44 PM
I just want to say that I totally respect and understand why people take the Sedevacantist position.

In fact a CMRI priest who takes the Sedevacantist position comes to our home once a month, says Mass and offers the Sacraments - and we keep the peace by not arguing about it.

And so I want to share here a 1 page PDF on how me and my family understand the Sedevacantist position.

Please Click this Link: https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf (https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf)

Thanks and Kind Regards in +J M J,
Roger
I commend you on your sensible approach to the crisis, Roger. Would that we all agreed!
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 07, 2023, 06:36:46 PM
I read your docuмent.  Why are you judging the First See by refusing his doctrines, his commands, and the sacraments according to the liturgy he commands and accepting sacraments from priests who are absolutely refuse communion with him?
You are trying to make a case that Roger is contradicting himself. He is not. It requires a Catholic to understand what the Magisterium is and when it is infallible. It requires a Catholic to understand the difference between true and false obedience. Happily, most traditionalists do. Sedevacantists do exactly the same thing - judge the utterances and actions of the Pope. The only difference is, when they hear or see something against the Faith or Tradition, they believe they may judge him in his office and declare him deposed. There is no practical difference in your idea of judging the First See, other than one deposes and stops praying for the Pope, the other does not. Catholics may not turn off their reason when they are given a command, no matter who it is commanding.

As far as accepting sacraments from such priests, I would say we are in a crisis and it is understandable that there is confusion in such matters. As much as I disagree with such priests, I still hold them to be Catholic, as Roger probably does too judging from his post. I would accept the sacraments at their hands, provided I was sure of the validity of their orders and there was no scandal involved.

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 06:37:37 PM
Got it.  So basically you've become an Old Catholic.  Does the CMRI priest know your position or do you deceive him?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 06:39:50 PM
It requires an Old Catholic to understand what the Magisterium is and when it is infallible. It requires an Old Catholic to understand the difference between true and false obedience. Happily, most traditionalists do.

I fixed it for you above.  Nothing but a bunch of lies parroted mindlessly by people who have basically become thinly-veiled Old Catholics.  We're not talking about an obiter dictum in some papal Magisterium, nor about simple obedience.  You posit a corruption of the Magisterium, the Public Worship of the Church, and the faith that it so extensive, extreme, and endemic as to not only warrant but even require separation of communion with and submission to the Vicar of Christ and the hierarchy, which is nothing more than a defection of the Catholic Church.  You fallaciously attempt to reduce this to an extension of a difference of degree in the fallibility of papal Magisterium, but what you describe is actually different in kind from a mere fallible statement in authentic papal Magisterium.  You assert that the papal authority is capable of corrupting the Church so badly that it has effectively become a new religion that lacks the Marks of the One True Church founded by Christ (as per +Lefebvre).
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 07, 2023, 06:42:36 PM
Drats! I was really hoping, Roger, that your testimony might open the eyes of Ladislaus. Looks like you have failed like the rest of us... Hope springs eternal!
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 06:44:11 PM
Drats! I was really hoping, Roger, that your testimony might open the eyes of Ladislaus. Looks like you have failed like the rest of us... Hope springs eternal!

There's no opening my eyes to Old Catholicism.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 06:54:46 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzvNrX-FTyk

+Lefebvre:
Quote
ultimately I agree with you; it's not possible that the Pope, who is protected by the Holy Ghost, could do things like this.  There we agree; it's not possible, it doesn't fit, this destruction of the Church ...

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 07:09:00 PM
“You know, for some time, many people, the sedevacantists, have been saying, ‘there is no more pope’. But I think that for me it was not yet the time to say that, because it was not sure, it was not evident…” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)

"The question is therefore definitive: is Paul VI, has Paul VI ever been, the successor of Peter? If the reply is negative: Paul VI has never been, or no longer is, pope, our attitude will be that of sede vacante periods, which would simplify the problem. Some theologians say that this is the case, relying on the statements of theologians of the past, approved by the Church, who have studied the problem of the heretical pope, the schismatic pope or the pope who in practice abandons his charge of supreme Pastor. It is not impossible that this hypothesis will one day be confirmed by the Church.” (Ecône, February 24, 1977, Answers to Various Burning Questions)

“To whatever extent the pope departed from…tradition he would become schismatic, he would breach with the Church. Theologians such as Saint Bellarmine, Cajetan, Cardinal Journet and many others have studied this possibility. So it is not something inconceivable.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“Heresy, schism, ipso facto excommunication, invalidity of election are so many reasons why a pope might in fact never have been pope or might no longer be one. In this, obviously very exceptional case, the Church would be in a situation similar to that which prevails after the death of a Pontiff.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“…these recent acts of the Pope and bishops, with protestants, Animists and Jews, are they not an active participation in non-catholic worship as explained by Canon Naz on Canon 1258§1? In which case I cannot see how it is possible to say that the pope is not suspect of heresy, and if he continues, he is a heretic, a public heretic. That is the teaching of the Church.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)

“It seems inconceivable that a successor of Peter could fail in some way to transmit the Truth which he must transmit, for he cannot – without as it were disappearing from the papal line – not transmit what the popes have always transmitted.” (Homily, Ecône, September 18, 1977)

“If it happened that the pope was no longer the servant of the truth, he would no longer be pope.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000)

“While we are certain that the faith the Church has taught for 20 centuries cannot contain error, we are much further from absolute certitude that the pope is truly pope.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“It is possible we may be obliged to believe this pope is not pope. For twenty years Mgr de Castro Mayer and I preferred to wait…I think we are waiting for the famous meeting in Assisi, if God allows it.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, published in The Angelus, July 1986)

“I don’t know if the time has come to say that the pope is a heretic (…) Perhaps after this famous meeting of Assisi, perhaps we must say that the pope is a heretic, is apostate. Now I don’t wish yet to say it formally and solemnly, but it seems at first sight that it is impossible for a pope to be formally and publicly heretical. (…) So it is possible we may be obliged to believe this pope is not pope.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)

“That is why I beseech Your Eminence to …do everything in your power to get us a Pope, a true Pope, successor of Peter, in line with his predecessors, the firm and watchful guardian of the deposit of faith. The…eighty-year-old cardinals have a strict right to present themselves at the Conclave, and their enforced absence will necessarily raise the question of the validity of the election” (Letter to an unnamed cardinal, August 8, 1978.)

“It is impossible for Rome to remain indefinitely outside Tradition. It’s impossible… For the moment they are in rupture with their predecessors. This is impossible. They are no longer in the Catholic Church.” (Retreat Conference, September 4, 1987, Ecône)

“…a grave problem confronts the conscience and the faith of all Catholics since the beginning of Paul VI’s pontificate: how can a pope who is truly successor of Peter, to whom the assistance of the Holy Ghost has been promised, preside over the most radical and far-reaching destruction of the Church ever known, in so short a time, beyond what any heresiarch has ever achieved? This question must one day be answered…” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“Now some priests (even some priests in the Society) say that we Catholics need not worry about what is happening in the Vatican; we have the true sacraments, the true Mass, the true doctrine, so why worry about whether the pope is heretic or an impostor or whatever; it is of no importance to us. But I think that is not true. If any man is important in the Church it is the pope.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)

“We believe we can affirm, purely by internal and external criticism of Vatican II, i.e. by analysing the texts and studying the Council’s ins and outs, that by turning its back on tradition and breaking with the Church of the past, it is a schismatic council.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“We consider as null…all the post-conciliar reforms, and all the acts of Rome accomplished in this impiety.” (Joint Declaration with Bishop de Castro Mayer following Assisi, December 2, 1986)

“It is not we who are in schism but the Conciliar Church.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000 – these words appear in the original un-corrected version of the sermon as recorded and reported in the press)

“Rome has lost the Faith, my dear friends. Rome is in apostasy. These are not words in the air. It is the truth. Rome is in apostasy… They have left the Church… This is sure, sure, sure.” (Retreat Conference, September 4, 1987, Ecône)

John Paul II “now continually diffuses the principles of a false religion, which has for its result a general apostasy.” (Preface to Giulio Tam’s Osservatore Romano 1990, contributed by the Archbishop just three weeks before his death)

“This Council represents, in our view and in the view of the Roman authorities, a new Church which they call the Conciliar Church.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)

“The Church which affirms such errors is both schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is therefore not Catholic.” (July 29, 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)

“To whatever extent pope, bishops, priests or faithful adhere to this new Church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (July 29, 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)

“To be publicly associated with the sanction [of excommunication] would be a mark of honour and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful, who have a strict right to know that the priests they approach are not in communion with a counterfeit Church…” (Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin, July 6, 1988, signed by 24 SSPX superiors, doubtless with Archbishop Lefebvre’s approval)

“This union which liberal Catholics want between the Church and the Revolution is an adulterous union – adulterous. This adulterous union can only beget bastards. Where are these bastards? They are [the new] rites. The [new] rite of Mass is a bastard rite. The sacraments are bastard sacraments. We no longer know whether they are sacraments that give grace. We no longer know if this Mass gives us the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (…) The priests emerging from the seminaries are bastard priests.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000.)

“If we think that this reformed liturgy is heretical and invalid, whether because of modifications made in the matter and form or because of the reformers’ intention inscribed in the new rite in opposition to the intention of the catholic Church, evidently we cannot participate in these reformed rites because we should be taking part in a sacrilegious act. This opinion is founded on serious reasons…” (Ecône, February 24, 1977, Answers to Various Burning Questions)

“The radical and extensive changes made in the Roman Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and their resemblance to the modifications made by Luther oblige Catholics who remain loyal to their faith to question the validity of this new rite. Who better than the Reverend Father Guérard des Lauriers to make an informed contribution to resolving this problem…?” (Foreword contributed to a book in favour of the thesis of invalidity by Fr Guérard des Lauriers. Écône, February 2, 1977)

“So we are [to be] excommunicated by Modernists, by people who have been condemned by previous popes. So what can that really do? We are condemned by men who are themselves condemned…” (Press conference, Ecône, June 15 1988)

Post-consecration statement (Summer 1988), SSPX school Bitsche, Alsace-Lorraine: “the archbishop stated, going even beyond even his 15th June press conference, that those who had excommunicated him had themselves long been excommunicated.” (Summary in the Counter-Reformation Association’s, News and Views, Candlemas 1996)

“The See of Peter and the posts of authority in Rome being occupied by antichrists, the destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord is being rapidly carried out even within His Mystical Body here below (…) This is what has brought down upon our heads persecution by the Rome of the antichrists.” (Letter to the future bishops, 29 August 1987)

“We have been suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church and from the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong.” (July 29 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)

“…we do not belong to this religion. We do not accept this new religion. We belong to the old religion, the Catholic religion, not to this universal religion as it is called today. It is no longer the Catholic religion…” (Sermon, June 29, 1976)

“I should be very happy to be excommunicated from this Conciliar Church… It is a Church that I do not recognize. I belong to the Catholic Church.” (Interview July 30 1976, published in Minute, no. 747)

“We have never wished to belong to this system that calls itself the Conciliar Church. To be excommunicated by a decree of your eminence…would be the irrefutable proof that we do not. We ask for nothing better than to be declared ex communione…excluded from impious communion with infidels.” (Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin, July 6, 1988, signed by 24 leading SSPX priests, doubtless with Archbishop Lefebvre’s approval)
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 07, 2023, 07:19:39 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgcCujfQF0
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 07, 2023, 10:28:07 PM
Sedevacantists like to take the Archbishop out of context and make him appear a closet Sedevacantist. It's laughable if not dishonest. What all the above quotes demonstrate clearly is that the Archbishop did take the question very seriously, but he could not, before God, reach such a conclusion, because it was not a just conclusion. Below is just a little context, lest some be scandalised.

Excerpts from the article "Archbishop Lefebvre and the Roman See" by Fr Juan Carlos Ceriani:
    
“From these precise acts, to conclude that the pope is heretical and therefore not the Pope any longer is to reason a little too quickly. It is enough to read da Silveira’s book to realize that it is a question discussed within the Church by theologians; that it is not a clear-cut opinion. I think that reality is more complex than those who reason like this imagine. I fear that these people ignore the moral theology and ethics and that they are reasoning in a purely speculative way. Moral theology and ethics teach us to reason and to judge according to a context of circuмstances which we have to examine to judge the morality of an act.
I cannot admit that we should refuse to pray to the Pope, because it would mean that there is no Pope and it would be to enter on a path which would do considerable damage to the faithful. I cannot permit the Society to enter on a path which would completely disorient the faithful.
I have wanted to write this article so that everyone may know, including the faithful, what the position of the Society is. So that the faithful may know that if one of our priests preaches that there is no Pope, this preaching is not in conformity with that of the Society.
I hope this article will help each and every one of you to follow the path that, in conscience, before God, they believe they must follow. I believe that it is necessary to make these remarks to remain within the spirit of the Church.
[This article is used by Archbishop Lefebvre in chapter XXI of his book “Open letter to confused Catholics”, where he comments in extenso on his position on this topic.]

December 1988:
(Conference to the seminarians of Flavigny)
Fortunately, the Society is not alone. With the Dominican monks, the Dominican sisters, the Capuchins, etc, the Church continues. We are not saying, like some say we do, that there is nothing else than the Society. We are with all those who want to perpetuate the Catholic Church conform to what the Popes have always during twenty centuries until Vatican II. The Society is not a party, or a sect hanging on to folklore. It is not about that. The situation is much more serious. It is not only the liturgy which we want to defend. The problems of faith are the most important ones.
We could have adopted many different attitudes, and particularly that of radical opposition: “the Pope confesses to liberal ideas, therefore he is a heretic, therefor there is no pope anymore.” That is sedevacantism. “It is over, we do not look towards Rome.” “The cardinals promulgated by the Pope are not cardinals, all the decisions he makes are null.”
It is an option with Pere Guérard des Lauriers and a few other priests who left us have taken: there is no longer a Pope.
Personally, I have always seen it as too simple a logic. Reality is not so simple. One cannot accuse anyone of being a formal heretic so easily. That is why I have seen it right to remain on the side of underestimation and to maintain some contact with Rome, to think that there is a successor of Peter in Rome. A bad successor admittedly, that we must not follow because of his liberal and modernist ideas. But he is there, and in so far as he could convert, as St Thomas Aquinas said, we have the right to oppose the authorities, publicly, when they proclaim and profess errors.
That is what we are doing. Who knows if the grace of God might ever touch him? I am sometimes being told: “It is utopic! You will never manage to convert him!” I do not hold many illusions, but it is not me who can convert him, it is God. So everything is possible” (Fideliter No. 68, pages 12-13).

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 07, 2023, 10:38:44 PM
I fear that these people ignore the moral theology and ethics and that they are reasoning in a purely speculative way. Moral theology and ethics teach us to reason and to judge according to a context of circuмstances

Personally, I have always seen it as too simple a logic. Reality is not so simple. One cannot accuse anyone of being a formal heretic so easily. That is why I have seen it right to remain on the side of underestimation and to maintain some contact with Rome, to think that there is a successor of Peter in Rome... we have the right to oppose the authorities, publicly, when they proclaim and profess errors.

That was the conclusion, both in theory and in the practice, of this great churchman and theologian raised up by God in this unprecedented crisis to save His Church. That is what he thought was "right".
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: BrianA on December 08, 2023, 12:49:52 AM
Quote
we have the right to oppose the authorities, publicly, when they proclaim and profess errors. [Plenus Venter of CathInfo]


-The Vatican Council
(not some made-up sh*t by idiots on CathInfo)
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: BrianA on December 08, 2023, 01:08:39 AM
Sedevacantists like to take the Archbishop out of context and make him appear a closet Sedevacantist. It's laughable if not dishonest.

The Archbishop waffled... That's the TRUTH. To not recognize that is dishonest. Everyone just quotes what they want from him. It's not out of context. Some of you just can't handle the truth.

Try reading what the ONE HOLY CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC Church teaches... I'll give you a hint ... It's not that the Vicar of Christ can lead you astray. If he could, why would you believe anything ever taught by Peter?

It's ONE See. I don't need the Internet or books to know what the apostle St. Peter taught. I only need to go to the same and current See of Peter because it's the same See...which doesn't EVER teach error because OUR LORD divinely conferred upon it the "gift of truth and a never failing faith."

My Jesus, Mercy!
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 06:09:38 AM
Sedevacantists like to take the Archbishop out of context and make him appear a closet Sedevacantist.

Apart from the Father Cekada's video, where he's clearly trolling R&R by entitling the video, "Marcel Lefebvre: Sedevacantist", I've never known a sedevacantist who claimed that +Lefebvre was a "closet Sedevacantist".  Most SVs recognize the objective truth, which some of the obsessive/dogmatic R&R like Plenus deny.

1) Apart from a period in the early 1980s, +Lefebvre was not particularly hostile to SVism.
2) There were times, 1976, 1986, 1988 where he flirted with it and appeared to come close to embracing it.
3) Unlike many of his later R&R followers, +Lefebvre did not deny that the Papacy is protected by the Holy Ghost and prevented from destroy the Church to the degree that the V2 popes did, thereby upholding the MAJOR premise of sedevacantism, but simple felt that the MINOR (the explanation for how this happened) was uncertain, deferring it to the Church's future judgment.

That is the objective reality that some / many of his followers refuse to admit, because they're intellectually dishonest.

See, here's the thing.  SVs can be objective because they don't uphold +Lefebvre as some kind of substitute rule of faith for the Magisterium.  "+Lefebvre did not embrace sedevacantism 100%.  So what?  He was wrong."  Meanwhile, many R&R have replaced the actual Catholic / papal Magisterium with the teaching of +Lefebvre (which changed at different times, so that their "Magisterium" is changeable, like that of the Modernist, ironically).  This is to fill the vacuum of the Magisterium that they discard.

Father Cekada astutely points out that at different points in SSPX history, the so-called "hard-liners" were on the outs, and at other times the "soft-liners", but at all times the +Lefebvre-liners, the sycophants who didn't think but just believed as dogmatic truth whatever the Archbishop said on any given morning, thrived and were promoted into positions of authority, even if it means holding the opposite opinion from one day to the next.

Back to the Archbishop, he was not "dishonest" or "two-faced" or a "flip-flopper".  Archbishop Lefebvre was truly conflicted by the contradiction posed by the Conciliar Church, almost tormented by it.  This is a conflict that many modern R&R, like Plenus here, don't have, because they've discarded the one pole of that conflict, namely, Archbishop Lefebvre's conviction that the Papacy and the Church are protected and guided by the Holy Ghost and prevented from destroying the Church.  He couldn't resolve that principle with the reality of a Montini or Wojtyla.  So that's why he termed it a "mystery" and left it there, unable to definitively resolve the conflict in his mind.  But modern R&R have conveniently disposed of the one side or the one pole in that conflict, namely, the protection of the papacy and the Magisterium by the Holy Ghost.  That's why, sadly, many modern R&R have devolved into a form of Old Catholicism.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 06:26:21 AM
The Archbishop waffled... That's the TRUTH. To not recognize that is dishonest. Everyone just quotes what they want from him. It's not out of context. Some of you just can't handle the truth.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl5JYR_13As&t=1s)(118) You Can't Handle The Truth - A Few Good Men (Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson #movie #shorts) - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvypKtPhRU0&t=7s)

:laugh1:
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 06:31:43 AM
I just want to say that I totally respect and understand why people take the Sedevacantist position.

In fact a CMRI priest who takes the Sedevacantist position comes to our home once a month, says Mass and offers the Sacraments - and we keep the peace by not arguing about it.

And so I want to share here a 1 page PDF on how me and my family understand the Sedevacantist position.

Please Click this Link: https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf (https://mothermary.website/sedevacantism.pdf)

Thanks and Kind Regards in +J M J,
Roger
Does the CMRI priest know your position?    
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 06:32:35 AM
The Archbishop waffled...

I would avoid the term "waffled," which makes him sound weak-minded or even somewhat dishonest.  He was in fact truly and deeply conflicted.  Archbishop Lefebvre never abandoned the notion, the principle, that the Papacy is guided by the Holy Ghost, and prevented from destroying the Church the way that the Conciliar papal claimants did.  But then he was confronted with the terrible reality of Montini and Wojtyla.  That's why he ultimately called it a "mystery", since he could not resolve the conflict in his mind.

Quote
“…a grave problem confronts the conscience and the faith of all Catholics since the beginning of Paul VI’s pontificate: how can a pope who is truly successor of Peter, to whom the assistance of the Holy Ghost has been promised, preside over the most radical and far-reaching destruction of the Church ever known, in so short a time, beyond what any heresiarch has ever achieved? This question must one day be answered…” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
and from the video/audio above:
Quote
ultimately I agree with you; it's not possible that the Pope, who is protected by the Holy Ghost, could do things like this.  There we agree; it's not possible, it doesn't fit, this destruction of the Church ...

He himself was unable to "answer" this question definitively, and so he left it as a "mystery" and something that would "one day" have to be answered by the Church.  See also the video I posted above, where he called it a mystery, reaffirmed this same principle, that the Papacy is protected and guided by the Holy Ghost, then examines various possible explanations, from drugged pope to prisoner pope to insane pope, most of which he dismisses as "ridiculous", and finally to sedevacantism, which he says is a possible explanation ... but he's just not sure enough about it to commit to sedevacantism.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 06:39:59 AM
Popes don't proclaim and profess errors, you poor souls!



-The Vatican Council
(not some made-up sh*t by idiots on CathInfo)


Yeah, I have no idea how R&R can look at this dogmatic teaching from Vatican I.  Another translation I've seen is that the See of Peter remains unBLEMISHED by any error.

If the R&R view of Vatican II does not entail the See of Peter being blemished/impaired by error, then there's no such thing.  There's no way that R&R does not contradict this teaching.  We've also posted walls of other papal teaching reaffirming over and over again that the papal Magisterium can never be tainted or stained by any error.  I think that they just filter these teaching out and ignore them ... unlike Archbishop Lefebvre, who accepted this teaching, but was unable to definitively resolve the apparent contradiction, leaving it in the realm of a mystery that would one day have to be answered by the Church, but not ruling out sedevacantism, considering it "possible" (except for a few years in the early 1980s).

Here's a link to the substantial body of papal teaching that also affirms that the Magisterium cannot be stained or blemished by any error:
https://schismatic-home-aloner.com/the-magisterium/

If one accepts the position held by modern R&R, there's no coming back from this for the Papacy.  We've gone from Catholics being required to giving internal assent to the Magisterium to, "Hey, there's Pope Francis with another garbage recyclical.  Let's start ripping it to shreds while it's still hot off the presses."
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 08, 2023, 06:42:02 AM
Apart from the Father Cekada's video, where he's clearly trolling R&R by entitling the video, "Marcel Lefebvre: Sedevacantist", I've never known a sedevacantist who claimed that +Lefebvre was a "closet Sedevacantist".  Most SVs recognize the objective truth, which some of the obsessive/dogmatic R&R like Plenus deny.

1) Apart from a period in the early 1980s, +Lefebvre was not particularly hostile to SVism.
2) There were times, 1976, 1986, 1988 where he flirted with it and appeared to come close to embracing it.
3) Unlike many of his later R&R followers, +Lefebvre did not deny that the Papacy is protected by the Holy Ghost and prevented from destroy the Church to the degree that the V2 popes did, thereby upholding the MAJOR premise of sedevacantism, but simple felt that the MINOR (the explanation for how this happened) was uncertain, deferring it to the Church's future judgment.

That is the objective reality that some / many of his followers refuse to admit, because they're intellectually dishonest.

See, here's the thing.  SVs can be objective because they don't uphold +Lefebvre as some kind of substitute rule of faith for the Magisterium.  "+Lefebvre did not embrace sedevacantism 100%.  So what?  He was wrong."  Meanwhile, many R&R have replaced the actual Catholic / papal Magisterium with the teaching of +Lefebvre (which changed at different times, so that their "Magisterium" is changeable, like that of the Modernist, ironically).  This is the full the vacuum of the Magisterium that they discard.

Father Cekada astutely points out that at different points in SSPX history, the so-called "hard-liners" were on the outs, and at other times the "soft-liners", but at all times the +Lefebvre-liners, the sycophants who didn't think but just believed as dogmatic truth whatever the Archbishop said on any given morning, thrived and were promoted into positions of authority, even if it means holding the opposite opinion from one day to the next.

Back to the Archbishop, he was not "dishonest" or "two-faced" or a "flip-flopper".  Archbishop Lefebvre was truly conflicted by the contradiction posed by the Conciliar Church, almost tormented by it.  This is a conflict that many modern R&R, like Plenus here, don't have, because they've discarded the one pole of that conflict, namely, Archbishop Lefebvre's conviction that the Papacy and the Church are protected and guided by the Holy Ghost and prevented from destroying the Church.  He couldn't resolve that principle with the reality of a Montini or Wojtyla.  So that's why he termed it a "mystery" and left it there, unable to definitively resolve the conflict in his mind.  But modern R&R have disposed of the one point or the one pole in the conflict, namely, the protection of the papacy and the Magisterium by the Holy Ghost.


Excellent! I just want to add that the Archbishop knew the principles involved. He knew that if it was objectively manifest that JPII was a heretic, he would not be a true pope. He struggled with calling him out on it. If he were alive today, with Bergoglio the communist squatting in Vatican City, there is absolutely no question in my mind that he would have rejected him as a pope.

Saint Robert Bellarmine’s teachings regarding a heretic pope were accepted by most traditionalists until Ratzinger came on the scene. The R&R adherents suddenly found themselves with a unquestionable manifestly heretical usurper in control of Vatican City, so their position needed to morph. The went from “you can’t prove he’s a heretic” to “a heretic can still be the pope”.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 06:42:45 AM
Archbishop Lefebvre ... was confronted with the terrible reality of Montini and Wojtyla.  That's why he ultimately called it a "mystery", since he could not resolve the conflict in his mind.

He himself was unable to "answer" this question definitively, and so he left it as a "mystery" and something that would "one day" have to be answered by the Church.

Because it IS a mystery! There IS a conflict between truth and authority. The problem is, sedevacantism doesn't resolve that conflict AT ALL. It merely gives you a NEW conflict that is equally mysterious; a new crisis of conflicting Catholic dogmas.

Christ did promise to St. Peter that He would be with him until the end of the world. Must I point out that this thread and other Sedevacantist debates are taking place in 2023, SIXTY FIVE years since the sede's believe we last had a Pope. We're not having this debate in the 1970's or 1980's. 65 years is a hell of an interregnum!

As I've said a thousand times, Sedevacantism doesn't solve anything, which is probably why +ABL never "went there" and certainly why I haven't gone there myself.

Just for starters, 99% of sedevacantists are of the non-Conclavist variety, which makes them a joke. So they're basically saying "we don't need no pope!" like the Orthodox. I mean, no Pope for 65 years, and there have been no effort(s) to elect one? I'd have to conclude, quite honestly and correctly, that their position is "we don't need no pope" at least PRACTICALLY speaking.

How does that preserve the full package of the Catholic Faith in the hearts of the Faithful "better" than the R&R position? How does that make sedevacantism a better "lifeboat" during this Crisis? I firmly believe it DOES NOT.

The only sedevacantist worthy of my respect is the Conclavist variety. At least they are consistent, and putting their "sede" belief to some good use. If you're not Conclavist, you are living like a non-Sedevacantist, regular Trad Catholic practically speaking. Or to put it another way, like the dreaded "R&R" they malign so much. Let's face it, SSPV, CMRI, SSPX all resist the Pope, they all promote and live Traditional Catholicism, all are aloof from the Conciliar Church, and none of them are working to elect a new Pope.

(Now the SSPX has lately become the neo-SSPX, but I digress. Let's just say "Resistance" or "non-sedevacantists" in place of SSPX, if you must...)
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 08, 2023, 06:44:14 AM
I would avoid the term "waffled," which makes him sound weak-minded or even somewhat dishonest.  He was in fact truly and deeply conflicted.  Archbishop Lefebvre never abandoned the notion, the principle, that the Papacy is guided by the Holy Ghost, and prevented from destroying the Church the way that the Conciliar papal claimants did.  But then he was confronted with the terrible reality of Montini and Wojtyla.  That's why he ultimately called it a "mystery", since he could not resolve the conflict in his mind.
and from the video/audio above:
He himself was unable to "answer" this question definitively, and so he left it as a "mystery" and something that would "one day" have to be answered by the Church.  See also the video I posted above, where he called it a mystery, reaffirmed this same principle, that the Papacy is protected and guided by the Holy Ghost, then examines various possible explanations, from drugged pope to prisoner pope to insane pope, most of which he dismisses as "ridiculous", and finally to sedevacantism, which he says is a possible explanation ... but he's just not sure enough about it to commit to sedevacantism.

I just saw this after I wrote the post above.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 06:49:17 AM
Because it IS a mystery! There IS a conflict between truth and authority. The problem is, sedevacantism doesn't resolve that conflict AT ALL. It merely gives you a NEW conflict that is equally mysterious; a new crisis of conflicting Catholic dogmas.

But that's the wrong conflict.  It's not between truth and authority.  This perspective on the nature of the conflict begs the question that the V2 papal claimants have authority.  For +Lefebvre, the conflict was between the principle that the Papacy is guided (in its exercise of authority) from destroying the Church and the fact that these men who appear to be Popes, appear to have been elected as Popes, have in fact wrought this terrible destruction upon the Church.  And one possible solution to the conflict that +Lefebvre remained open to (except for a period in the early 1980s) was in fact sedevacantism, which would eliminate this conflict between the Protection of the Holy Ghost and the V2 destruction precisely by holding that these men LACK said "authority".  This is how sedevacantists resolve this conflict, by holding that these men did not in fact have the authority, which then permits the principle that the Papacy is guided by the Holy Spirit and is the unfailing rock upon which the Church has been founded.

With that said, there is a certain amount of wisdom in +Lefebvre's approach, because he did realize that the MINOR of the sedevacantist "solution" lacked the certainty of faith.  So, if we turn the SV conclusion of this conflict into a syllogism.

MAJOR:  Papacy is guided by the Holy Spirit from destroying the Church to the degree we've seen with V2 (affirmed by +Lefebvre).
MINOR:  V2 Papal claimants have wrought this destruction on the Church. (affirmed by all Traditional Catholics).
CONCLUSION:  V2 papal claimants were not in fact legitimate Popes (SV resolution).

Now, there are other possible explanations that +Lefebvre touched upon (but dismissed), such as theories about the drugged popes, imposter popes, blackmailed popes, etc.  In these cases, the destruction would not have come from papal authority, since a pope who wasn't acting freely (e.g. blackmailed) would not be actually exercising papal authority, since the exercise thereof has to be a free human act (rather than coerced).

One possible explanation, for instance, is that Montini was being blackmailed on account of sodomy (not impossible, IMO).  Had that been the case, the his acts would be null and void and would not be acts of his authority.

So there's enough room for doubt regarding the minor, regarding the explanation, and the explanation has not been confirmed by the authority of the Church (which is why +Lefebvre defers to the future authority of the Church to resolve it), and this prevents the SV conclusion from being dogmatically certain.  Since the Church's authority has not confirmed what's going on, the MINOR cannot have the certainty of faith.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 06:55:49 AM
This is how sedevacantists resolve this conflict, by holding that these men did not in fact have the authority, which then permits the principle that the Papacy is guided by the Holy Spirit and is the unfailing rock upon which the Church has been founded.

Which sounds good, the part you typed. But you failed to type out why Sedevacantism isn't the perfect, or even better, solution.

There's the small matter of the Church having Christ's promise that the gates of Hell wouldn't prevail over it, that St. Peter would have perpetual successors.

An interregnum is one thing. A 65-year-long interregnum is a FAILURE, pure and simple.

We're back to my thesis, that the Crisis in the Church, including the Pope question, is a mystery. All WE have to do is keep the Catholic Faith until God Himself steps in and solves it. It's outside of our control at this point.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 06:58:37 AM
I had to ban BrianA for his gross lack of charity towards the entire membership of the forum.

CathInfo is not populated by "idiots" nor should one consider our posts "sh*t".

But I guess we have here more of the fruits of sedevacantism. Anger and bitter zeal to the Nth degree *sigh*
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 06:59:10 AM
Just for starters, 99% of sedevacantists are of the non-Conclavist variety, which makes them a joke. So they're basically saying "we don't need no pope!" like the Orthodox. I mean, no Pope for 65 years, and there have been no effort(s) to elect one? I'd have to conclude, quite honestly and correctly, that their position is "we don't need no pope" at least PRACTICALLY speaking.

How does that preserve the full package of the Catholic Faith in the hearts of the Faithful "better" than the R&R position? How does that make sedevacantism a better "lifeboat" during this Crisis? I firmly believe it DOES NOT.

The only sedevacantist worthy of my respect is the Conclavist variety. At least they are consistent, and putting their "sede" belief to some good use. If you're not Conclavist, you are living like a non-Sedevacantist, regular Trad Catholic practically speaking. Or to put it another way, like the dreaded "R&R" they malign so much. Let's face it, SSPV, CMRI, SSPX all resist the Pope, they all promote and live Traditional Catholicism, all are aloof from the Conciliar Church, and none of them are working to elect a new Pope.

(Now the SSPX has lately become the neo-SSPX, but I digress. Let's just say "Resistance" or "non-sedevacantists" in place of SSPX, if you must...)
No, your conclusion is not "correct".

The reason why most SV bishops/clergy do not elect a pope is because they do not believe they have the authority to do so, not because they believe we don't need a pope. 

After all of these years and all of the SV-related threads on your forum, you really didn't know this?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 07:01:56 AM

Quote
The reason why most SV bishops/clergy do not elect a pope is because they do not believe they have the authority to do so, not because they believe we don't need a pope. 

I don't care what their excuse(s) is/are. In practice, practically speaking, it leaves ZERO difference between THEIR vision of Trad Catholic and that of other non-Sede groups. That was my point.

My point is that they are CONTENT to go on for decades with a "mystery", a bad pope (or no pope) that we can't solve. No practical difference why I should be with CMRI or SSPV instead of some non-Sede group which is equally Trad Catholic and aloof from the Conciliar Church.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 07:04:34 AM
I don't care what their excuse(s) is/are. In practice, practically speaking, it leaves ZERO difference between THEIR vision of Trad Catholic and that of other non-Sede groups. That was my point.

My point is that they are CONTENT to go on for decades with a "mystery", a bad pope (or no pope) that we can't solve. No practical difference why I should be with CMRI or SSPV instead of some non-Sede group which is equally Trad Catholic and aloof from the Conciliar Church.
So, that would also mean that the non-sedes are practically speaking ....sedevacantist.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 07:06:17 AM
Which sounds good, the part you typed. But you failed to type out why Sedevacantism isn't the perfect, or even better, solution.

There's the small matter of the Church having Christ's promise that the gates of Hell wouldn't prevail over it, that St. Peter would have perpetual successors.

An interregnum is one thing. A 65-year-long interregnum is a FAILURE, pure and simple.

We're back to my thesis, that the Crisis in the Church, including the Pope question, is a mystery. All WE have to do is keep the Catholic Faith until God Himself steps in and solves it. It's outside of our control at this point.

That's the argument, which is a bigger failure, a very long interregnum or the fact that the Magisterium and the Public Worship of the Church have become so corrupted that they're not recognizable as Catholic and that Catholics must refuse submission to and communion with the "Catholic hierarchy" in order to remain Catholic.

If the Magisterium can destroy the faith and lead souls to hell, as R&R hold, then who cares if it goes vacant or dormant for 65 years?  According this position, we'd have been better off WITHOUT the Magsiterium for these past 65 years.  It would have been better for the Church had no pope been elected after Pius XII until now, no?  Absolutely it would have.  So why do you care about a lengthy absence of the Magisterium when the Church would have been better off had said "Magisterium" been in fact absent?

Father Edmund O'Reilly, S.J., for one held that an interregnum lasting the entire duration of the Great Western schism (about 40 years) would not have been incompatible with the promises of Christ.  And, yet, a Magisterium that destroys the Church most certainly would have been contrary to those promises.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 07:10:38 AM
Just for starters, 99% of sedevacantists are of the non-Conclavist variety, which makes them a joke. So they're basically saying "we don't need no pope!" like the Orthodox. I mean, no Pope for 65 years, and there have been no effort(s) to elect one? I'd have to conclude, quite honestly and correctly, that their position is "we don't need no pope" at least PRACTICALLY speaking.

OK, so please explain what we "needed" Montini, Wojtyla, and Bergoglio for.  What good did they provide for the Church?  So SSPX chapels could put their picture up in a vestibule but then constantly denounce them?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 08, 2023, 07:21:24 AM
As I've said a thousand times, Sedevacantism doesn't solve anything, which is probably why +ABL never "went there" and certainly why I haven't gone there myself.

Matthew, I will admit that sedevacantism doesn’t answer every objection, but at least it answers most problems in the Church today and does not contain contradictions. It abides by the laws and dogmas of the Church.

Among other things, the sedevacantist position helps solve the following:

1) It allows it’s adherents to still respect and honor the Papacy, as all Catholics must.
2) It gives an explanation as to why and how a supposed “hierarchy” embraces and promotes heresy.
3) It gives peace of mind to the faithful without having to go through numerous mental gymnastics attempting to reconcile contradictions.

The R&R position, on the other hand, contains several contradictions that cannot be reconciled with Church doctrine. The two most obvious contradictions are:

1) The need to depose a pope. (Which is heretical)
2) The idea that the Church and the pope can officially teach error. (This is also heretical)

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that you and other R&R adherents are necessarily heretics. I believe that you and *most* R&Rers are just confused, as we all are, and are trying to the best of our abilities to make sense of this unprecedented situation. 

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 07:22:59 AM
So, that would also mean that the non-sedes are practically speaking ....sedevacantist.

Yes, and VIRTUALLY ALL sedevacantists (any who are not "conclavist") are practically speaking non-sedevacantist. Since they make zero effort to fill the "empty Chair".

Now you're getting it.

That was my point: zero practical difference. No benefit. All "mainstream" (the non-conclavist variety) sedevacantism has given to the world: more artificial division in the Trad world, more home-alone families, and a lot of arguments.

And since there's no practical difference between the two, I see NO REASON to "take the exit" onto the sedevacantist off-ramp. And that's what it is: it's not a T in the road, with Sedevacantism on the left and Recognize and Resist on the right. Because that would suggest that BOTH are a positive decision, with no "default" position available.

But no, there very much IS a default position in Catholicism: The elected Pope is the Pope. Anything other than that is the equivalent of taking POSITIVE action, turning the wheel, and steering your car OFF the highway/default and taking an exit ramp.

Someone has to DECLARE that elected Pope to be deposed. Someone has to formally condemn him, depose him. What layman can do that with any authority? That's my problem with sedevacantism. It goes JUST A BIT too far. But that little bit of excess can make a whole lot of difference practically speaking. It can lead to needless division, bitter zeal, etc.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 07:27:41 AM
Yes, and VIRTUALLY ALL sedevacantists (any who are not "conclavist") are practically speaking non-sedevacantist. Since they make zero effort to fill the "empty Chair".

Now you're getting it.

That was my point: zero practical difference. No benefit. All "mainstream" (the non-conclavist variety) sedevacantism has given to the world: more artificial division in the Trad world, more home-alone families, and a lot of arguments.
Except sedes don't preach that they believe that the man sitting in the Chair is a true pope and refuse to submit to him.  Which group is it that doesn't need a pope?

I see you added more after I quoted.  As for the bitter zeal and anger, I've seen quite a bit of that on this forum from the dogmatic anti-sede side as well.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Matthew on December 08, 2023, 07:34:05 AM
Except sedes don't preach that they believe that the man sitting in the Chair is a true pope and refuse to submit to him.  Which group is it that doesn't need a pope?

I see you added more after I quoted.  As for the bitter zeal and anger, I've seen quite a bit of that on the dogmatic anti-sede side as well.

Well I can't speak for "dogmatic anti-sedes" any more than I speak for sedevacantists. I'm not part of either of those groups.

I'm adhering to +Lefebvre's position, because no one was more blessed by God or providential than him, in the Crisis in the Church era in which we live. If I'm looking for answers from God as to "what do we do?" in this Crisis, you're not going to find more clear sign of where Catholicism is best preserved than by reading the life of Archbishop Lefebvre. His whole life seems arranged by Providence, and he kept such a good balance, avoiding all the pitfalls and extremes, and was a hero for Tradition and the Catholic Faith. His life and his many virtues impress me to this day.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 08, 2023, 07:37:23 AM
Someone has to DECLARE that elected Pope to be deposed. Someone has to formally condemn him, depose him. What layman can do that with any authority? That's my problem with sedevacantism. It goes JUST A BIT too far. But that little bit of excess can make a whole lot of difference practically speaking. It can lead to needless division, bitter zeal, etc.

Saint Alphonsus, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and many others taught that the putative “pope” has *already* been judged and deposed by Christ Himself by embracing heresy, he thus loses his office. *NOW* the Church can judge and punish him accordingly. Do you see the difference?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 08:23:01 AM
So, this shows the transmission:

+Lefebvre:  Papacy is protected and guided by the Holy Ghost against the type of destruction we've seen from the V2 papal claimants.  This is a problem that must one day be resolved.

Modern R&R:  Papacy destroying the Church?  Not a problem.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 08:27:26 AM
Someone has to DECLARE that elected Pope to be deposed. Someone has to formally condemn him, depose him. What layman can do that with any authority? That's my problem with sedevacantism. It goes JUST A BIT too far. But that little bit of excess can make a whole lot of difference practically speaking. It can lead to needless division, bitter zeal, etc.

Yeah, someone has to declare him deposed and elect another to SOLVE the crisis.  But the reason SVs cling to the SV theory / hypothesis / position is to salvage the integrity of the Holy See and the indefectibility of the Church.  There are other potential hypotheses that would do the same:  e.g. the theory that Montini was being blackmailed and not acting freely, etc. (some of these were listed by the Achbishop).

In one sense, neither SVism or R&Rism is going to "solve" anything, but, as Bishop Williamson hammered into us, ideas matter.  Our view of the Church and of the Papacy matter.  It would be a great tragedy if in our attempts to preserve our Catholic faith we actually end up undermining it and slide into a form of Old Catholicism.

See, I think of myself not as a sedevacantist, but as an indefectibilist.  If someone wanted to argue that Montini was replaced by a double with big ears and kept in a dungeon, as far as I'm concerned, more power to you.  I can neither prove nor disprove that.  I don't really care.  But don't tell me that legitimate Catholics Popes have corrupted the Catholic Magisterium and promulgated a Protestant Rite of Public Worship and polluted the entire catalogue of saints, etc.

I'm a Siri theorist myself.  I think sedeprivationism makes sense in theory, but I don't think the V2 papal claimants were even material popes.  I believe that Siri was the legitimately-elected pope (until his death in 1989).  In any case, yet another theory, but to me the key is preserving the integrity of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Magisterium, the Catholic papacy, etc.  I'm not willing to throw the Church and the Papacy under the bus (legitimizing all the complaints of Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and Old Catholics that the popes have become corrupted in faith) in order to salvage Jorge Bergoglio, just so I can put the guy's picture up in a vestibule and find some strange "comfort" in seeing a guy prancing around the Vatican gardens in a white cassock.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Barry on December 08, 2023, 08:44:43 AM
Well I can't speak for "dogmatic anti-sedes" any more than I speak for sedevacantists. I'm not part of either of those groups.

I'm adhering to +Lefebvre's position, because no one was more blessed by God or providential than him, in the Crisis in the Church era in which we live. If I'm looking for answers from God as to "what do we do?" in this Crisis, you're not going to find more clear sign of where Catholicism is best preserved than by reading the life of Archbishop Lefebvre. His whole life seems arranged by Providence, and he kept such a good balance, avoiding all the pitfalls and extremes, and was a hero for Tradition and the Catholic Faith. His life and his many virtues impress me to this day.
 It is good to consider adhering to the Archbishop's position, but also consider, to "[keep] such a good balance" and not be "extreme", we must look at all that he said, such as "So it is possible we may be obliged to believe this pope is not pope".  And, "I do not say that the pope is not the pope, but I do not say either that you cannot say that the pope is not the pope." (Talk about a "balancing" act!)

While the Archbishop said and did much that show that he considered the Conciliar popes to be valid, there is also "rest of the story".  It must be acknowledged, if we are to keep "a good balance". 

John Daly's article below provides some of these details:

ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE AND SEDEVACANTISM
by John Daly
(Four Marks, 2006)
So far as we know, Archbishop Lefebvre never formed a definite judgment that John-Paul II was not a true pope. So if we divide the ecclesiastical spectrum into two categories, those for whom the see is legally vacant and those for whom it is legally occupied, Archbishop Lefebvre will be in the non-sedevacantist camp.
But such divisions are not always helpful. If we divide the animal kingdom between bipeds and the rest we shall find ourselves misleadingly close to the turkeys. Other criteria of evaluation exist. Did Archbishop Lefebvre admit that sedevacantists might well be right? Did he consider them to be upright members of the Church? Did he avow that his persevering recognition of John-Paul II was due more to heroically cautious hesitation than to any solid conviction? Did he envisage declaring the vacancy of the Holy See if the situation continued unchanged? Did he insist that settling the question of whether the Vatican II “popes” were truly popes or not was an important duty, not to be evaded? Did he hold that Vatican II was unequivocally schismatic? Did he hold that Vatican II was unequivocally heretical? Did he believe it impossible to interpret Vatican II in an orthodox sense? Did he reject outright all the conciliar reforms? Did he declare that Vatican II had founded a new, false and schismatic religion? Did he deny that the members of the new Vatican II Church were Catholics? Did he doubt the validity of the new rites of Mass, ordination and episcopal consecration? Did he hold that John-Paul II and his henchmen were already excommunicated? Did he rejoice to be separated from the Church of John-Paul II? Did he consciously employ sedevacantist seminary professors at Ecône, ordain and assign ministries to sedevacantist clergy, and send his seminarians to gain pastoral experience with a sedevacantist priest?
You may find it surprising, even bewildering, but the answer to all the above questions is “yes”, as we shall shortly see. But it should first be emphasised that we are not studying Archbishop Lefebvre’s convictions in order to accept them as necessarily sound and judicious in every respect. Nor do we deny that other apparently contradictory texts may be cited from him on many of these points. The interest of the late prelate’s attitude to the Conciliar Church lies elsewhere. We shall come back to that subject after having shown that the Archbishop did indeed express the views we attribute to him. To do this we shall repeat the above questions, allowing the Archbishop’s own words and deeds to answer them.
Did Archbishop Lefebvre admit that sedevacantists might well be right?
1. “You know, for some time, many people, the sedevacantists, have been saying, ‘there is no more pope’. But I think that for me it was not yet the time to say that, because it was not sure, it was not evident…” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)
2. “The question is therefore definitive: is Paul VI, has Paul VI ever been, the successor of Peter? If the reply is negative: Paul VI has never been, or no longer is, pope, our attitude will be that of sede vacante periods, which would simplify the problem. Some theologians say that this is the case, relying on the statements of theologians of the past, approved by the Church, who have studied the problem of the heretical pope, the schismatic pope or the pope who in practice abandons his charge of supreme Pastor. It is not impossible that this hypothesis will one day be confirmed by the Church.” (Ecône, February 24, 1977, Answers to Various Burning Questions)
Did he frequently and respectfully allude to the sedevacantist explanation of the crisis?
1. “To whatever extent the pope departed from…tradition he would become schismatic, he would breach with the Church. Theologians such as Saint Bellarmine, Cajetan, Cardinal Journet and many others have studied this possibility. So it is not something inconceivable.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
2. “Heresy, schism, ipso facto excommunication, invalidity of election are so many reasons why a pope might in fact never have been pope or might no longer be one. In this, obviously very exceptional case, the Church would be in a situation similar to that which prevails after the death of a Pontiff.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
3. “…these recent acts of the Pope and bishops, with protestants, Animists and Jews, are they not an active participation in non-catholic worship as explained by Canon Naz on Canon 1258§1? In which case I cannot see how it is possible to say that the pope is not suspect of heresy, and if he continues, he is a heretic, a public heretic. That is the teaching of the Church.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)
4. “It seems inconceivable that a successor of Peter could fail in some way to transmit the Truth which he must transmit, for he cannot – without as it were disappearing from the papal line – not transmit what the popes have always transmitted.” (Homily, Ecône, September 18, 1977)
5. “If it happened that the pope was no longer the servant of the truth, he would no longer be pope.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000)
Did he consider sedevacantists to be upright members of the Church?
Undoubtedly. He rebuked certain over-zealous Society priests who refused the sacraments to sedevacantists. He collaborated with Bishop de Castro-Mayer after the Brazilian prelate had made his sedevacantism quite clear. He accepted numerous seminarians from sedevacantist families, parishes or groups. He patronised the Le Trévoux “Ordo” with its guide to traditional places of worship throughout the world, which has always included (and still does) certain known sedevacantist Mass centres. He was at all times well aware of the presence of sedevacantists among the Society’s priests.
Did he avow that his persevering recognition of Paul VI and John-Paul II was due more to heroically cautious hesitation than to any solid conviction?
1. “While we are certain that the faith the Church has taught for 20 centuries cannot contain error, we are much further from absolute certitude that the pope is truly pope.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
2. “It is possible we may be obliged to believe this pope is not pope. For twenty years Mgr de Castro Mayer and I preferred to wait…I think we are waiting for the famous meeting in Assisi, if God allows it.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, published in The Angelus, July 1986)
3. “I don’t know if the time has come to say that the pope is a heretic (…) Perhaps after this famous meeting of Assisi, perhaps we must say that the pope is a heretic, is apostate. Now I don’t wish yet to say it formally and solemnly, but it seems at first sight that it is impossible for a pope to be formally and publicly heretical. (…) So it is possible we may be obliged to believe this pope is not pope.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)
Did he envisage declaring the legal vacancy of the Holy See if the situation continued unchanged?
1. “That is why I beseech Your Eminence to …do everything in your power to get us a Pope, a true Pope, successor of Peter, in line with his predecessors, the firm and watchful guardian of the deposit of faith. The…eighty-year-old cardinals have a strict right to present themselves at the Conclave, and their enforced absence will necessarily raise the question of the validity of the election” (Letter to an unnamed cardinal, August 8, 1978.)
2. “It is impossible for Rome to remain indefinitely outside Tradition. It’s impossible… For the moment they are in rupture with their predecessors. This is impossible. They are no longer in the Catholic Church.” (Retreat Conference, September 4, 1987, Ecône)
Did he insist that settling the question of whether the Vatican II “popes” were truly popes or not was an important duty, not to be evaded?
1. “…a grave problem confronts the conscience and the faith of all Catholics since the beginning of Paul VI’s pontificate: how can a pope who is truly successor of Peter, to whom the assistance of the Holy Ghost has been promised, preside over the most radical and far-reaching destruction of the Church ever known, in so short a time, beyond what any heresiarch has ever achieved? This question must one day be answered…” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
2. “Now some priests (even some priests in the Society) say that we Catholics need not worry about what is happening in the Vatican; we have the true sacraments, the true Mass, the true doctrine, so why worry about whether the pope is heretic or an impostor or whatever; it is of no importance to us. But I think that is not true. If any man is important in the Church it is the pope.” (Talk, March 30 and April 18, 1986, text published in The Angelus, July 1986)
Did he hold that Vatican II was unequivocally schismatic?
“We believe we can affirm, purely by internal and external criticism of Vatican II, i.e. by analysing the texts and studying the Council’s ins and outs, that by turning its back on tradition and breaking with the Church of the past, it is a schismatic council.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
Did he hold that Vatican II was unequivocally heretical?
In an interview with Mr Tom Chapman’s Catholic Crusader in 1984 the Archbishop expressly characterised the decree on Ecuмenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) as “heretical”.
Did he believe it impossible to interpret Vatican II in an orthodox sense?
“Do you agree to accept the Council as a whole? Reply: Ah, not religious liberty – it isn’t possible!” ((Retreat Conference, September 4, 1987, Ecône. The Archbishop’s words imagine the kind of interrogation his seminarians would have been submitted to if he had accepted the terms of agreement John-Paul II was offering him, entailing a Cardinal-Visitor entitled to grant or refuse the ordination of seminarians. The reply is the reply he assumes his seminarians would have to make and he goes on to explain that such a reply would have enabled the Cardinal-Visitor to refuse the seminarian’s ordination – his reason for refusing the deal.)
Did he reject outright all the conciliar reforms?
We consider as null…all the post-conciliar reforms, and all the acts of Rome accomplished in this impiety.” (Joint Declaration with Bishop de Castro Mayer following Assisi, December 2, 1986)
Did he say that Vatican II and its “popes” had founded a new, false and schismatic religion?
1. “It is not we who are in schism but the Conciliar Church.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000 – these words appear in the original un-corrected version of the sermon as recorded and reported in the press)
2. “Rome has lost the Faith, my dear friends. Rome is in apostasy. These are not words in the air. It is the truth. Rome is in apostasy… They have left the Church… This is sure, sure, sure.” (Retreat Conference, September 4, 1987, Ecône)
3. John Paul II “now continually diffuses the principles of a false religion, which has for its result a general apostasy.” (Preface to Giulio Tam’s Osservatore Romano 1990, contributed by the Archbishop just three weeks before his death)
Was he forthright in stating that the Conciliar Church is not the Catholic Church?
1. “This Council represents, in our view and in the view of the Roman authorities, a new Church which they call the Conciliar Church.” (Le Figaro, August 4, 1976)
2. “The Church which affirms such errors is both schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is therefore not Catholic.” (July 29, 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)
Did he deny that the members of the new Vatican II Church were Catholics?
1. “To whatever extent pope, bishops, priests or faithful adhere to this new Church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (July 29, 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)
2. “To be publicly associated with the sanction [of excommunication] would be a mark of honour and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful, who have a strict right to know that the priests they approach are not in communion with a counterfeit Church…” (Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin, July 6, 1988, signed by 24 SSPX superiors, doubtless with Archbishop Lefebvre’s approval)
Did he question the validity of the new rites of Mass, ordination and episcopal consecration?
1. “This union which liberal Catholics want between the Church and the Revolution is an adulterous union – adulterous. This adulterous union can only beget bastards. Where are these bastards? They are [the new] rites. The [new] rite of Mass is a bastard rite. The sacraments are bastard sacraments. We no longer know whether they are sacraments that give grace. We no longer know if this Mass gives us the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (…) The priests emerging from the seminaries are bastard priests.” (Homily preached at Lille, August 29, 1976, before a crowd of some 12,000.)
2. “If we think that this reformed liturgy is heretical and invalid, whether because of modifications made in the matter and form or because of the reformers’ intention inscribed in the new rite in opposition to the intention of the catholic Church, evidently we cannot participate in these reformed rites because we should be taking part in a sacrilegious act. This opinion is founded on serious reasons…” (Ecône, February 24, 1977, Answers to Various Burning Questions)
3. “The radical and extensive changes made in the Roman Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and their resemblance to the modifications made by Luther oblige Catholics who remain loyal to their faith to question the validity of this new rite. Who better than the Reverend Father Guérard des Lauriers to make an informed contribution to resolving this problem…?” (Foreword contributed to a book in favour of the thesis of invalidity by Fr Guérard des Lauriers. Écône, February 2, 1977)
4. Moreover Archbishop Lefebvre personally conditionally re-ordained many priests who had been ordained in the 1968 rite and re-confirmed those purportedly confirmed in the new rite or by the new bishops.
Did he hold that John-Paul II and his henchmen were excommunicated “antichrists”?
1. “So we are [to be] excommunicated by Modernists, by people who have been condemned by previous popes. So what can that really do? We are condemned by men who are themselves condemned…” (Press conference, Ecône, June 15 1988)
2. Post-consecration statement (Summer 1988), SSPX school Bitsche, Alsace-Lorraine: “the archbishop stated, going even beyond even his 15th June press conference, that those who had excommunicated him had themselves long been excommunicated.” (Summary in the Counter-Reformation Association’s, News and Views, Candlemas 1996)
3. “The See of Peter and the posts of authority in Rome being occupied by antichrists, the destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord is being rapidly carried out even within His Mystical Body here below (…) This is what has brought down upon our heads persecution by the Rome of the antichrists.” (Letter to the future bishops, 29 August 1987)
Did he rejoice to be separated from the Church of John-Paul II?
1. “We have been suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church and from the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong.” (July 29 1976, Reflections on the Suspension a divinis)
2. “…we do not belong to this religion. We do not accept this new religion. We belong to the old religion, the Catholic religion, not to this universal religion as it is called today. It is no longer the Catholic religion…” (Sermon, June 29, 1976)
3. “I should be very happy to be excommunicated from this Conciliar Church… It is a Church that I do not recognize. I belong to the Catholic Church.” (Interview July 30 1976, published in Minute, no. 747)
4. “We have never wished to belong to this system that calls itself the Conciliar Church. To be excommunicated by a decree of your eminence…would be the irrefutable proof that we do not. We ask for nothing better than to be declared ex communione…excluded from impious communion with infidels.” (Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin, July 6, 1988, signed by 24 leading SSPX priests, doubtless with Archbishop Lefebvre’s approval)
Did he consciously employ a sedevacantist seminary professor at Ecône, ordain and assign ministries to sedevacantist clergy, and send his seminarians to gain pastoral experience with a sedevacantist priest at his month-long summer camp each year?
He did indeed. We shall not run the risk of setting the poursuivants on the heels of those involved by naming persons who in many cases are still sedevacantist and still members of the SSPX or in collaboration with it. Any priest who was at Ecône in the days of the Archbishop will confirm our answer.
********************************************************************
The above quotations and facts point to a hard-line Lefebvre, very close to sedevacantism, rejecting outright Vatican II, the new sacraments and doctrines and communion with the leaders of the new pseudo-Catholic religion. But it is only honest to grant that that is only half of the story. Other words and deeds of the Archbishop would give a strikingly different impression.
It would be idle to debate which was the real Archbishop Lefebvre. The plain fact is that the Archbishop wavered. Unswerving on the fact that a new and false religion has been founded, he hesitates as to whether the pope of the new religion can also be head of the Catholic Church. Particular outrages provoke a strong reaction on his part: the suspension of 1976, the 1985 Synod, the 1986 Assisi jamboree of false religions, the 1988 excommunication – all bring him to the very brink of the explicit statement that those responsible cannot be popes. Close contact with men such as Fr. Guérard des Lauriers and Bishop de Castro Mayer, and with books such as that of Arnaldo Xavier de Silveira, encourage him towards such a declaration. Poised to plunge, he hesitates…and retreats.
We cannot justly force the facts in order to make Archbishop Lefebvre into a sedevacantist, for he was not one, but we can justly and respectfully draw several interesting conclusions from our texts and others too lengthy to quote in this article.
1. From 1975-8, and from 1985 until his death, Archbishop Lefebvre was not hostile to sedevacantism as such and seems to have accorded it the status of what theologians would call a “probable opinion”. He often came close to sharing this opinion, never pretended to be able to refute it outright, and he recognised that it might well one day become sufficiently clear for him to accept it firmly.
2. Not even the Archbishop’s most fervent admirers could claim that his statements bearing on recent papal claimants were always clear, firm and consistent or that they displayed detailed knowledge of the relevant theology and Canon Law.
3. Though aware of the classic “heretical pope” controversy among theologians, the Archbishop does not seem at any stage to have made a serious study of the nature of heresy, its effects and its recognition. He even thought that the extreme liberalism of Paul VI and John-Paul II was in some sense a defence against the charge of heresy. He meant that their minds were too full of heretical ideas for them to be insincere in believing these ideas to be orthodox. It does not seem to have occurred to him that such a “defence” would have been equally available to the likes of Lammenais and Loisy.
4. He was confident of his competence to recognise and denounce the heresies of Modernism and Liberalism, but he was conscious of lacking the theological formation necessary to be able to evaluate the status of the Johns and the Pauls, the difficulty the crisis poses with regard to the Church’s indefectibility and the infallibility of the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium.
5. His seminary training at the French College in Rome under the celebrated Père le Floch had vaccinated him forever against Liberalism in all its shapes. His ecclesiastical career had prepared him for organisation and for diplomacy. But neither had made him a specialist theologian or given him any notion of being one. This is apparent in his rôle of defender of tradition at the Council and afterwards: he organises and negotiates with skill, but he is uncertain in the theological evaluation of previously unimaginable events. He had relied heavily – and for very good reason – upon his profoundly learned and saintly theological adviser Fr Victor-Alain Berto, responsible for many of the Archbishop’s interventions at Vatican II, but Berto had died in 1968, succuмbing to the anguish of the Vatican II apostasy. Lefebvre was never again to find an adviser he could so fully trust, even when he stood in most need of one.
6. Archbishop Lefebvre’s nominal recognition of Paul VI and his successors was explicitly presented as being a provisional position. Those who have erected it into an immutable dogma are thus unfaithful to the Archbishop.
7. Archbishop Lefebvre was highly optimistic in the early years of John-Paul II and it was in those years that he was most trenchant in his anti-sedevacantist words and deeds. Yet even then he never expelled any priest from his Society for private sedevacantism and only twice for even public sedevacantism in the absence of other issues. His general policy was to persuade sedevacantist priests to remain. And with the 1985 Synod and Assisi in 1986 he was disabused of his illusion that “Pole” could be made to rhyme with “Pope”.
8. No one can be sure that, if Archbishop Lefebvre were alive today, he would not be a sedevacantist. No one can be sure that he would be one either. But one thing that seems highly improbable is that he would have adopted the anodyne style of Bishop Fellay and the ruling left-wing of the Society for whom in our days expressions such as “excommunicated antichrists” is more likely to be an allusion to sedevacantists than to the apparent occupant of the Roman See. And another equally improbable notion is that he would have been deceived into taking Josef Ratzinger, whom he cordially detested, for a sincere friend of traditional Catholicism.
9. It is possible to sympathise with the Archbishop’s plight as he contemplated, alone, the very grave ecclesiological aspect of the crisis – the aspect which he felt unable to make up his mind about; indeed it would be heartless not to sympathise. Defend the faith, assure the continuity of the priesthood and the availability of the sacraments to the faithful, but leave “on hold” the difficult question of the status of the soul-murderers in the Vatican: however much we may regret it, that is at least a comprehensible policy. Certain glib young sedevacantists of our days, with no gift of hindsight and quick to attribute blame, clearly cannot imagine the weight of responsibility felt by the Archbishop as he contemplated, trembling, the enormity of what sedevacantism implied.
10. What seems much harder to countenance is the consequent policy of pragmatism by which a position the Archbishop himself was not sure of became officially obligatory in the Society in order to maintain unity and streamline the Society’s apostolate. Like all men, priests need to be able to converse freely with their peers about their concerns and their doubts, without fear of denunciation for “thought-crime” and possible sanctions. The Archbishop failed to provide this facility and it still does not exist in the SSPX. One consequence is the weakness of character of many SSPX priests – inevitable outcome of a sectarian training. Another is the massive defection rate from the Society: some have become sedevacantists, some have accepted the indult, some have gone independent, some have gone off to “marry” and some have succuмbed to nervous breakdowns – all bear witness to the Society’s internal stress problem.
We have seen that there is no truth in the mythology according to which Archbishop Lefebvre had a firm and consistent policy of recognising the Vatican II popes, sternly and consistently rejecting sedevacantism as a solidly refuted error. On the contrary, the Archbishop often expressed views so hard-line that today no SSPX priest or seminarian would dare say anything similar for fear of expulsion! The mythology is due to the fact that the Archbishop fluctuated and hesitated, leaving on the record words and acts enabling him to be invoked both by the liberal and by the hard-line camps. Indeed his fluctuations and hesitations were on a scale such as to be tolerated only because of the great personal veneration which the mass of traditional Catholic faithful felt for the Archbishop himself. And today the Society no longer has any prominent member whose personality or ecclesiastical status are comparable to those of the Archbishop. Thus the Society’s need for credibility requires it to show more consistency than the Archbishop himself did, while continuing to invoke his authority for decisions that no one can feel any confidence he would have endorsed.
Let us be candid about the origins of this situation. The SSPX’s independent traditionalist apostolate was originally intended only as a provisional succour for a temporary need. Understandably no one foresaw the length of the crisis. Emergency measures sometimes have to be undertaken before there is time for a full theological evaluation of the need that calls for them. But there can be no lasting and effective apostolate which is not firmly founded on theology. This does not mean merely that effective apostles must have an adequate formation in theology, though that is true. It means that the basis, nature, actions and aims of their apostolate itself must also be theologically determined. This is not and never has been the case of the SSPX, because the Archbishop’s legacy to the Society he founded did not include any ecclesiology of the Conciliar Church’s relation to the Catholic Church. The SSPX malaise will continue until this omission is fully rectified, if that is possible.
And that malaise cannot be denied. A quarter of a century ago, the SSPX was swamped with vocations, had a high level of priestly loyalty and was in a position to contrast its success with the manifestly miserable state of the Modernist seminaries and clergy. Everyone knows that the gloating has stopped. Fewer vocations, very high drop-out and expulsion rates in the seminaries, numerous priestly defections in every direction, scant sign of a theological élite among the Society’s clergy, the toleration of priests infected with the innovative itch, high second-generation lay lapsation rates even among those schooled in the Society’s own schools – the sad tale is undeniable and things are not getting any better. Meanwhile, the Society is losing the theological debate not only with sedevacantism but also with the indult groups, who have shown a remarkable drawing power and a surprising ability to produce a learned and thoughtful clergy.
For the SSPX publicly and formally to declare the vacancy of the Holy See would require a miracle and doing so would not suffice to cure the malaise we have pointed to.
But it is perhaps not completely unrealistic to wonder whether the Society’s authorities might not one day explicitly avow that sedevacantism is at least a theologically probable opinion and encourage polite and open debate about the sedevacantist thesis among priests and faithful within the Society and outside. It would not perhaps be incurably optimistic to hope that the Society’s sedevacantist priests and collaborators might be allowed to be frank about their convictions. A statement might be made pointing out that in any discussions with occupied Rome, Benedict XVI can place nothing worth having on his side of the negotiating table except the remote prospect of his own conversion to the Catholic Faith which he has spent the greater part of his life destroying. While we are daydreaming, we could imagine collaboration between SSPX priests and such sedevacantist priests as might be appropriate and willing. We could add the expulsion of the Society’s ultra-liberal fifth column – beginning with Fr. Grégoire Célier – and what about publicly disowning Fr. Boulet’s absurdly ignorant anti-sedevacantist pamphlet which finds it necessary to quote falsified history and theology from a book on the Index of Forbidden Books in order to defend what its author believes to be the party line? Nor could anyone reasonably object to the formal study of Bellarmine’s De Romano Pontifice on the dogmatic theology syllabus.
It cannot seriously be doubted that such measures would be sound in theology, a relief to many of the Society’s priests and faithful and would strengthen the Society’s ability to answer the objections made to it from Conciliar quarters. Nor would there be any difficulty in invoking Archbishop Lefebvre’s authority in favour of such initiatives. Above all, there should be the consideration that truth is more important than pragmatism and that its courageous profession earns the blessing of God.
© John Daly 2006


Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Pax Vobis on December 08, 2023, 10:46:05 AM
Quote
OK, so please explain what we "needed" Montini, Wojtyla, and Bergoglio for.  What good did they provide for the Church?
The solution is for everyone to be a sede-impoundist (i.e. Fr Chazal) or sede-privationist.  This is what St Pius X and Pius XII were envisioning when they changed the conclave laws to allow excommunicated Cardinals to elect/be elected.  They both knew that new-rome was filled with heretics.  To keep the papacy intact, if not spiritually, then at least materially/govt, was to keep the visible church intact.

Straight sedevacantism throws away a bad pope (i.e. with the potential to convert and regain authority), and has no means of re-gaining such authority.

R&R is kinda, sorta sede-impoundist, but they don't go all the way.  Sometimes the pope has authority and sometimes he doesn't.  They need to go all the way, like Fr Chazal, and say "the V2 popes have no spiritual authority" but they retain temporal/govt authority.  This is what St Pius X and XII had in mind when they said "immediately after the papal election, all spiritual penalties go back to full force".  In other words, a heretic pope has no spiritual authority.

The 2 sides of Tradition are closer than they think.  But human nature keeps them apart.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: MiracleOfTheSun on December 08, 2023, 12:19:35 PM
They need to go all the way, like Fr Chazal, and say "the V2 popes have no spiritual authority" but they retain temporal/govt authority. 

Seems like I've heard of this basic approach before, before Fr. Chazal started using it...

Thoughts ???
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: songbird on December 08, 2023, 02:03:02 PM
Papacy is protected by the Holy Ghost.  This is a statement?  This is brought up in Vatican 1. Cardinal Manning wrote: The True Story of Vatican council.  It is in the archives to read.  I highly recommend it to be read!!  The Papacy/Pope when elected has the special Graces Given to him "might "he take those special Graces.

Just like those, who marry, they are given special Graces for the vocation they take on.  The special Graces are there,"might" they take them on.  Pope Leo XIII pressured to get this Vatican I Council up and going.  Cardinal Manning knew it was most needed.  The 300 years leading up to it was destructive in the infallibility of the Church.  This issue with the protection of the Holy Ghost needed to be understood.  Therefore, the word "might" was in the wording, defining, made clear of the position of this Divine Office.

Pope Leo XIII saw what took place at the tabernacle with Satan and Christ.  Christ's permission to give Satan 100 years.  Pope Leo XIII knew there was more coming of evil and Cardinal Manning was well educated in this matter.  The two asked themselves, can a truly elected, true pope go wrong in his pontificate.  They both agreed that it was possible.

That is why this book and the study of Vatican I is so important.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: DecemRationis on December 08, 2023, 02:34:05 PM
Because it IS a mystery! There IS a conflict between truth and authority. The problem is, sedevacantism doesn't resolve that conflict AT ALL. It merely gives you a NEW conflict that is equally mysterious; a new crisis of conflicting Catholic dogmas.



Yes, it's a mystery. A basic understanding of it was revealed in Scripture. The Gospel itself was a "mystery" to the Jews, yet it was all there in their Scriptures - the Cross and the Passion,  the Resurrection, the New Covenant. And the events themselves, afterward, elucidating the "mystery." Yet they are still blind, and the mystery still veiled to them. They read the Scriptures after the event - still blind.

There is no need for us to commit the same mistake, but the same mistake will be made, with the "mystery," the prophesied events, unfolding before are eyes. 

Pray and study the Scriptures. Start with doing a simple search of the word, "mystery." It's easy enough - drbo.org. Then read Daniel, 2 Thessalonians 2, Matthew 24 - for starters. Then the Apocalypse.

Pray. 

As St. Paul said, we've been told before, and we shouldn't be gaping at this, flat-footed. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 08, 2023, 03:50:27 PM
Does the CMRI priest know your position?   
This is a curious question. What difference would it make whether or not he informed the priest of his opinion on a non-dogmatic issue?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 08, 2023, 03:53:26 PM
This is a curious question. What difference would it make whether or not he informed the priest of his opinion on a non-dogmatic issue?
Because it would be wrong if I had a Resistance priest come to my house every month to offer mass and not tell him I was a sedevacantist.  Don't you think he would have the right to know?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 08, 2023, 03:59:20 PM
The solution is for everyone to be a sede-impoundist (i.e. Fr Chazal) or sede-privationist.

I agree.  This should satisfy most of the concerns/debates out there.  This position "works" on so many levels, and I was hoping that Father Chazal's position could help bridge the gap between the various factions ... but I was wrong.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 08, 2023, 04:07:14 PM

Because it would be wrong if I had a Resistance priest come to my house every month to offer mass and not tell him I was a sedevacantist.  Don't you think he would have the right to know?
No. What is the need for him to know? Now if you were an Anglican or a Calathumpian he should be informed, but as you and the resistance priest are both practicing Catholics, there is no need whatsoever. Any more is cultish and sectarian.

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Emile on December 08, 2023, 04:22:39 PM
Calathumpian

Thanks for teaching me a new term, Nadir. :laugh1:
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Mysterium Fidei on December 08, 2023, 07:32:38 PM
Yeah, I have no idea how R&R can look at this dogmatic teaching from Vatican I.  Another translation I've seen is that the See of Peter remains unBLEMISHED by any error.

If the R&R view of Vatican II does not entail the See of Peter being blemished/impaired by error, then there's no such thing.  There's no way that R&R does not contradict this teaching.  We've also posted walls of other papal teaching reaffirming over and over again that the papal Magisterium can never be tainted or stained by any error.  I think that they just filter these teaching out and ignore them ... unlike Archbishop Lefebvre, who accepted this teaching, but was unable to definitively resolve the apparent contradiction, leaving it in the realm of a mystery that would one day have to be answered by the Church, but not ruling out sedevacantism, considering it "possible" (except for a few years in the early 1980s).

Here's a link to the substantial body of papal teaching that also affirms that the Magisterium cannot be stained or blemished by any error:
https://schismatic-home-aloner.com/the-magisterium/

If one accepts the position held by modern R&R, there's no coming back from this for the Papacy.  We've gone from Catholics being required to giving internal assent to the Magisterium to, "Hey, there's Pope Francis with another garbage recyclical.  Let's start ripping it to shreds while it's still hot off the presses."
This link doesn't seem to work.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 08, 2023, 07:45:30 PM
No. What is the need for him to know? Now if you were an Anglican or a Calathumpian he should be informed, but as you and the resistance priest are both practicing Catholics, there is no need whatsoever. Any more is cultish and sectarian.

Ha. ha. Yes, my father was very fond of that term. Perhaps it is indicative of our geographical location and vintage, Nadir? But I agree, and I don't think any Resistance priest would have an issue with this, unless there were to be an appearance from such an arrangement that the Resistance priest was now a sedevacantist. SSPX and Resistance priests as a whole are happy to give the sacraments to sedevacantists in my experience, but not the other way around, at least with Bishop Sanborn's priests. Is that the case with all the sedevacantists?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 09, 2023, 01:36:33 AM
So, this shows the transmission:

+Lefebvre:  Papacy is protected and guided by the Holy Ghost against the type of destruction we've seen from the V2 papal claimants.  This is a problem that must one day be resolved.

Modern R&R:  Papacy destroying the Church?  Not a problem.
Not so, Ladislaus.

The Archbishop did not espouse your ecclesiology, which we might term "New Catholic", and you know it. "New Catholic", which is not so new, I will term the other extreme from "Old Catholic" which is not a label that in any way attaches to Archbishop Lefebvre or his faithful followers, much as you keep repeating it. I don't know if you are half-joking but you should desist as you are bound to influence some poor souls, and who knows where it might lead them.

"New Catholic" is indeed an apt description of your error on Infallibility, as it is the same as those in the Conciliar Church, as Bishop Williamson has so often explained. It is the same exaggerated notion of Infallibility that leads some Novus Ordo Catholics to say "we must obey because he's Pope" as leads you to say "what he says is evil so he can't be Pope". One falls to the left, the other to the right.

Neither is true.

Sedevacantists are very fond of quoting the words of Vatican Council I "this gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors”.

They are not so fond of providing the context that immediately follows that gives the true measure of this never failing faith, giving it specificity and limits: "But since, in this very age in which the salutary efficacy of the Apostolic office is most of all required, not a few are found who take away from its authority, We judge it altogether necessary to assert solemnly the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God found worthy to join with the supreme pastoral office. Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God Our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic Religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the Sacred Council approving, We teach and define that it is a divinely-revealed dogma: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex Cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals: and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church. But if anyone - God forbid - whould presume to contradict this our definition; let him be anathema." - Pastor Aeternus

That is what Vatican I defined, and that is what Old Catholics reject. New Catholics, like you, reject it too. You want to dispense with all the conditions.

It is the same understanding St Robert Bellarmine had of the faith of Peter that cannot fail, as also the saints and Popes cited by him: 

"'I have prayed for thee that thy faith not fail; and when you have converted, strengthen your brethren' (Luke 22:31). From this text, St Bernard in letter 90 to Pope Innocent deduced that the Roman Pontiff teaching ex cathedra cannot err; and before him the same was said by Pope Lucius I in letter I to the Bishops of Spain and France, by Pope Felix I in a letter to Benignus, Pope Mark in a letter to Athanasius, Leo I in sermon 3..., Leo IX in a letter to Peter Patriarch of Antioch, Agatho in a letter to the Emperor Constantine IV which was read at the Sixth Council (act 4 and again act 8) and approved by the whole Council, Pope Paschal II at the Roman Council..., Innocent III in the chapter Majores on Baptism and its effect... Therefore, if the Roman Pontiff cannot err when he is teaching ex cathedra, certainly his judgement must be followed... For we read Acts ch 15 that the Council said: 'It has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us'; such also now is the Pontiff's teaching ex cathedra, whom we showed is always directed by the Holy Ghost so that he cannot err." - St Robert Bellarmine, On the Word of God, Lib 3, Cap 5

Archbishop Lefebvre faithfully transmitted the doctrine of the Church:
"We have too easily believed since Vatican I, that every word that comes from the mouth of the Pope is infallible. That was never said in Vatican I! The Council never said such a thing. Very specific conditions are required for the infallibility; very, very strict conditions... Then we must not keep this idea which is FALSE! which a number of Catholics, poorly instructed, poorly taught, believe! So obviously, we no longer understand anything, we are completely desperate, we do not know what to expect! We must keep the Catholic faith as the Church teaches it..." - Retreat at St. Michel en Brenne, April 1st, 1989

As explained to the Council Fathers by Bishop Vincent Gasser in his official Relatio:
"It should not be said that the Pontiff is infallible simply because of the authority of the Papacy but rather inasmuch as he is certainly and undoubtedly subject to the direction of the divine assistance. By the authority of the Papacy the Pontiff is always the supreme judge in matters of faith and morals, and the father and teacher of all Christians. But the divine assistance promised to him, by which he cannot err, he only enjoys as such when he really and actually exercises his duty as supreme judge and universal teacher of the Church in disputes about the Faith. Thus, the sentence 'The Roman Pontiff is infallible' should not be treated as false, since Christ promised infallibility to the person of Peter and his successors, but it is incomplete, since the Pope is only infallible when, by a solemn judgement, he defines a matter of faith and morals for the Church universal".

The Council may well have defined that the Pope is infallible every time he teaches on matters of faith and morals, period. But it did not. It might have defined that the Pope is infallible every time he teaches the universal Church on matters of faith and morals, period. But it did not. There are quite a few conditions, as Archbishop Lefebvre noted.

When the Popes in their Ordinary Magisterium teach about the Roman See being without blemish, when they talk about the never failing faith of Peter, that is how we are to understand it. It is not without grave reason that one opposes the See of Rome, but that such a reason can exist, there is no doubt. You, Ladislaus, think you can put a limit on just how far it can go...

The possibility of a Pope who wants to destroy the Church is discussed by St Robert Bellarmine at some length. He says that even if he couldn't be removed, God would provide the remedy. The remedy will come.





Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 09, 2023, 01:48:16 AM
That quote of the Archbishop above, it should be noted, was in the context of praying for the Pope in the Mass. He was linking recognition of the Pope to the question of infallibility. It was near the end of his life, and as you know, it was his consistent position all through the crisis, much as it took some study and serious thinking on his part. The great scandals of these Popes, the damage done to the Church and souls, it gave him reason to pause, but your solution was always for him "too simple", "too speculative", the reality he said was more complex. And so it is.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: MiserereMei on December 09, 2023, 07:42:58 AM
Ha. ha. Yes, my father was very fond of that term. Perhaps it is indicative of our geographical location and vintage, Nadir? But I agree, and I don't think any Resistance priest would have an issue with this, unless there were to be an appearance from such an arrangement that the Resistance priest was now a sedevacantist. SSPX and Resistance priests as a whole are happy to give the sacraments to sedevacantists in my experience, but not the other way around, at least with Bishop Sanborn's priests. Is that the case with all the sedevacantists?
In my experience CMRI priests don't deny the sacraments, at least in the US and Mexico. They even take care of faithful that have been "rejected" by other groups due to disagreements. They acknowledge the confusion.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 09, 2023, 08:45:28 AM
No. What is the need for him to know? Now if you were an Anglican or a Calathumpian he should be informed, but as you and the resistance priest are both practicing Catholics, there is no need whatsoever. Any more is cultish and sectarian.

I still think honesty is always the best policy.  I would make it clear that I was a sedevacantist in the event he had an issue with it.  The priest would be going out of his way to provide sacraments at my home.  This is different than my going to him for mass or confession (I have gone to a SSPX chapel for confession and mass before and did not inform the priest then). 

In any event another poster PMed me to let me know that the priest does in fact know the OP's position on sedevacantism.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Mark 79 on December 09, 2023, 01:33:03 PM
If "your family" is not the Magisterium why would we care what "your family" thinks?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: ByzCat3000 on December 09, 2023, 03:09:19 PM
Got it.  So basically you've become an Old Catholic.  Does the CMRI priest know your position or do you deceive him?
It said the post V2 popes “materially and illegitimately” hold the office but not “formally and legitimately”.  That just seems like Sedeprivationism to me (albeit maybe not worded super precisely)
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 09, 2023, 03:36:41 PM
If "your family" is not the Magisterium why would we care what "your family" thinks?
Fair go, Mark, none of us here has Magisterial authority. We all do our best to adhere to the teachings of the Magisterium. Recounting our experiences and what we stand for gives encouragement to others and can help them to understand the crisis and stand firm in the Faith.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: OABrownson1876 on December 09, 2023, 03:42:46 PM
If the church can last three years without a pope, who is to say that the interregnum cannot last ten, twenty, or even seventy years.  There is not some magical formula, "Well three years we can do, seventy years we cannot do."  

And my question is, why does John Paul II get dethroned from the papacy for supporting the New Mass and ecuмenism, but Siri does not?  Once again, Card. Siri did nothing to blast the NO, nothing to defend his "papacy," and what evidence is there to the contrary?  

I often wonder what would have happened if Pius XII put a statue of Buddha on top of the tabernacle, what would have the Catholics said?  Because he would have been a validly elected pontiff, who, committing a sacrilegious action, would have given grave scandal to the Church.  This is the case of JPII at Assisi.  And once again, a good number of the cardinals who elected JPII were valid cardinals even by sedevacantist standards.  

And I am not so sure that a pope loses his pontificate because he has a positive desire to destroy the Church.  The head of any other entity, the family, a business - any entity that comes to mind- can have a desire to destroy that entity, while still remaining its head.  
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 09, 2023, 03:45:38 PM

-The Vatican Council
(not some made-up sh*t by idiots on CathInfo)
Oh goodness, I didn't see that comment before. Brian, you should have noticed that this was a statement of Archbishop Lefebvre, not Plenus Venter of Cathinfo. I agree that our opinions are worth little. That is why I follow a good shephered that the Good Lord gave us. Some seem to think it is a cult of personality which I absolutely repudiate. It is rather St Paul's admonition "be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ".
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 09, 2023, 03:48:48 PM
If the church can last three years without a pope, who is to say that the interregnum cannot last ten, twenty, or even seventy years.  There is not some magical formula, "Well three years we can do, seventy years we cannot do." 

And my question is, why does John Paul II get dethroned from the papacy for supporting the New Mass and ecuмenism, but Siri does not?  Once again, Card. Siri did nothing to blast the NO, nothing to defend his "papacy," and what evidence is there to the contrary? 

I often wonder what would have happened if Pius XII put a statue of Buddha on top of the tabernacle, what would have the Catholics said?  Because he would have been a validly elected pontiff, who, committing a sacrilegious action, would have given grave scandal to the Church.  This is the case of JPII at Assisi.  And once again, a good number of the cardinals who elected JPII were valid cardinals even by sedevacantist standards. 

And I am not so sure that a pope loses his pontificate because he has a positive desire to destroy the Church.  The head of any other entity, the family, a business - any entity that comes to mind- can have a desire to destroy that entity, while still remaining its head. 
I agree with everything you say here OAB.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Mark 79 on December 09, 2023, 04:15:42 PM

Fair go, Mark, none of us here has Magisterial authority. We all do our best to adhere to the teachings of the Magisterium. Recounting our experiences and what we stand for gives encouragement to others and can help them to understand the crisis and stand firm in the Faith.
As does everyone here (except Meg and Songbird).  The variety of rational (not Meg, not Songbird) opinions testifies that families have conflicting positions "to understand the crisis and stand firm in the Faith."
Just sayin'.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 09, 2023, 05:02:33 PM
1. I still think honesty is always the best policy.

2. I would make it clear that I was a sedevacantist in the event he had an issue with it. 

3. The priest would be going out of his way to provide sacraments at my home.  This is different than my going to him for mass or confession (I have gone to a SSPX chapel for confession and mass before and did not inform the priest then). 


In any event another poster PMed me to let me know that the priest does in fact know the OP's position on sedevacantism.
1. There is no sign that the OP was dishonest. He seems on the contrary to be an open person.
2. If the priest had an issue with it, he could ask and you would give an honest aswer. BUT the priest has no right to withhold the sacraments on the account of a your answer.
3. whether the priest travelled to you or vice versa is irrelevant.

The priest cannot put unreasonable demands on the conscience of the communicant, as has been my personal experience. It is not for the priest to to divide the Church, on non-dogmatic principles.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 09, 2023, 06:22:48 PM
1. There is no sign that the OP was dishonest. He seems on the contrary to be an open person.
2. If the priest had an issue with it, he could ask and you would give an honest aswer. BUT the priest has no right to withhold the sacraments on the account of a your answer.
3. whether the priest travelled to you or vice versa is irrelevant.

The priest cannot put unreasonable demands on the conscience of the communicant, as has been my personal experience. It is not for the priest to to divide the Church, on non-dogmatic principles.
I never said the OP was dishonest.  However, the OP did sound like he chose to keep his position a secret from the priest (again, I later found out from another poster via PM that the priest does know).

I disagree that the fact that the priest is going out of his way, possibly states away, to come to my home on a monthly basis is irrelevant.  It absolutely is relevant.  He doesn't HAVE to come to my house.  Therefore, I will be upfront.

Even if I don't HAVE to tell him, that's just how I roll. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 09, 2023, 07:04:25 PM
I never said the OP was dishonest.  However, the OP did sound like he chose to keep his position a secret from the priest (again, I later found out from another poster via PM that the priest does know).

I disagree that the fact that the priest is going out of his way, possibly states away, to come to my home on a monthly basis is irrelevant.  It absolutely is relevant.  He doesn't HAVE to come to my house.  Therefore, I will be upfront.

Even if I don't HAVE to tell him, that's just how I roll.
It is, of course, the decision of the priest to visit their home. (I would assume that the family has no other option for Mass and the Sacraments - which is the situation in which I find myself). 

Yes, it’s a personal decision for you, but can’t be expected of anyone else. 

My point is that no priest has the right to refuse Communion to a bona fide Catholic. End of story.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 11, 2023, 12:33:48 PM
I agree.  This should satisfy most of the concerns/debates out there.  This position "works" on so many levels, and I was hoping that Father Chazal's position could help bridge the gap between the various factions ... but I was wrong.
I missed this debate.  Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?  I probably shouldn't ask, but I am really getting tired of the "I am more Catholic than you" fighting.

 It shouldn't be this hard.  If you are in a Pope Francis approved group (like ICK, FSSP, or diocesan) then you border on showing disobedience to the Pope, (I saw this a lot and it confused me).  If you are not in a Pope Francis approved groups (like the SSPX (debatable), neo-SSPX, CMRI, etc.) then in normal times you would be considered Schismatic, Heretical, etc.  We have a mystery here and instead of fighting we should be using our resources to become the best and strongest Catholics we can become.  Regardless, the laity can't make this happen, only the clergy can.  I know I am probably beating a dead horse :fryingpan:, but I am just so frustrated, and I know there are so many other frustrated Catholics out there.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Stubborn on December 11, 2023, 02:27:23 PM
I missed this debate.  Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?  I probably shouldn't ask, but I am really getting tired of the "I am more Catholic than you" fighting.

 It shouldn't be this hard.  If you are in a Pope Francis approved group (like ICK, FSSP, or diocesan) then you border on showing disobedience to the Pope, (I saw this a lot and it confused me).  If you are not in a Pope Francis approved groups (like the SSPX (debatable), neo-SSPX, CMRI, etc.) then in normal times you would be considered Schismatic, Heretical, etc.  We have a mystery here and instead of fighting we should be using our resources to become the best and strongest Catholics we can become.  Regardless, the laity can't make this happen, only the clergy can.  I know I am probably beating a dead horse :fryingpan:, but I am just so frustrated, and I know there are so many other frustrated Catholics out there.
The reason it's confusing is because too many people listen to too many voices saying too many different things.

St. Paul tells us that if he himself were to preach error, or if you were to hear error preached from an angel from heaven, you must maintain the true faith and do not listen to either of them. Seems simple enough to me. To help unconfuse matters in this mess, simply do not listen to popes who preach all manner or heresy and error, and don't add additional confusion into the mix by being concerned about whether or not popes are popes.  

 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 11, 2023, 04:50:06 PM
The reason it's confusing is because too many people listen to too many voices saying too many different things.

St. Paul tells us that if he himself were to preach error, or if you were to hear error preached from an angel from heaven, you must maintain the true faith and do not listen to either of them. Seems simple enough to me. To help unconfuse matters in this mess, simply do not listen to popes who preach all manner or heresy and error, and don't add additional confusion into the mix by being concerned about whether or not popes are popes. 
That still doesn't answer "Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?"  and if you are trying to be a Catholic in good standing then what?  Are we saying that when it comes to this confusion do what you feel, even if you might be mortally sinning based on what others are saying?  Within two hours of my house I can go to an independent Una cuм Mass, I can go to an SSPV, I can go to an Independent non-una cuм, I can go to the SSPX, I could go to an RCI, I can go to an FSSP, and many indults. Yet some will say I am mortally sinning if I attend others.  If I just determine that I am not and go where I want, then I become my own boss and that is not good for my soul either.  I do what my husband wants, which is fine with me.  But I want all the rest to make sense.  I know "Crisis in the Church"  be patient.  Again it is just so frustrating.  They are all trying to be Catholic and do what Catholics did before VII, but they have no bridges between any of them.  On top of that I have to raise Catholic children and tell them don't worry about all the in-fighting hopefully that will work itself out eventually. :facepalm::confused:
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 11, 2023, 05:13:26 PM
That still doesn't answer "Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?"
Well, Gray, you've answered your own question. If all these Trad groups have different beliefs and one is accusing the other of mortal sin etc, how do you think the situation can be resolved? The shepherd is struck and the sheep are scattered! We need to pray for a good Catholic Pope who alone can unite us all again.

In the meantime, I could say to you - no, don't just do what you feel, follow the great leader that Divine Providence gave us as a beacon of light and truth in this crisis... Archbishop Lefebvre. You will be safe doing that. Don't worry too much about 'is he pope or isn't he', because I really don't think your salvation depends too much upon that. The Pope is destroying faith and morals, so avoid him and adhere to Tradition! Ensure you have valid priests and sacraments. Stay away from novelties!

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 11, 2023, 05:31:47 PM
Well, Gray, you've answered your own question. If all these Trad groups have different beliefs and one is accusing the other of mortal sin etc, how do you think the situation can be resolved? The shepherd is struck and the sheep are scattered! We need to pray for a good Catholic Pope who alone can unite us all again.

In the meantime, I could say to you - no, don't just do what you feel, follow the great leader that Divine Providence gave us as a beacon of light and truth in this crisis... Archbishop Lefebvre. You will be safe doing that. Don't worry too much about 'is he pope or isn't he', because I really don't think your salvation depends too much upon that. The Pope is destroying faith and morals, so avoid him and adhere to Tradition! Ensure you have valid priests and sacraments. Stay away from novelties!
To be honest I am not sure that is helpful anymore, to just follow +ABL.  He has been gone for 32 years (RIP) and we have no idea how he would react in this current situation.  He might of left with the "Resistance".  He might have agreed with Fr. Chazal.  He might have become a sedevacanist or a sedeprivationist.

I will be safe if I follow my husband.  Who will my husband be safe following?  Who will my sons be safe following, when they leave my home?  
and what do you mean by novelties.  I frankly don't see why +ABL did a great thing and +Thuc did not.  VII was a mess, people made choices based on their vantage point.  
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 11, 2023, 05:59:30 PM
To be honest I am not sure that is helpful anymore, to just follow +ABL.  He has been gone for 32 years (RIP) and we have no idea how he would react in this current situation.  He might of left with the "Resistance".  He might have agreed with Fr. Chazal.  He might have become a sedevacanist or a sedeprivationist.

I will be safe if I follow my husband.  Who will my husband be safe following?  Who will my sons be safe following, when they leave my home? 
and what do you mean by novelties.  I frankly don't see why +ABL did a great thing and +Thuc did not.  VII was a mess, people made choices based on their vantage point. 
There you have it. We all have to inform ourselves and follow the men of the Church we believe are best fulfilling their sacred duty of handing on to us that which they received - the Faith and valid sacraments - while waiting and praying for an end to the crisis. For me, that means following ABL and his faithful successors, yet not isolating myself from sacraments just because there is no valiant Resistance priest at hand if there are still good SSPX priests that I can attend. As regards Archbishop Thuc - for me that is the Church upside down - priests deciding they have to save the Church and running off to a bishop to have themselves consecrated - like Fr Pfeiffer in his turn. Furthermore, all the videos I have watched on this forum only confirm my doubts regarding AB Thuc's consecrations - good man as he was.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 11, 2023, 07:21:36 PM
There you have it. We all have to inform ourselves and follow the men of the Church we believe are best fulfilling their sacred duty of handing on to us that which they received - the Faith and valid sacraments - while waiting and praying for an end to the crisis. For me, that means following ABL and his faithful successors, yet not isolating myself from sacraments just because there is no valiant Resistance priest at hand if there are still good SSPX priests that I can attend. As regards Archbishop Thuc - for me that is the Church upside down - priests deciding they have to save the Church and running off to a bishop to have themselves consecrated - like Fr Pfeiffer in his turn. Furthermore, all the videos I have watched on this forum only confirm my doubts regarding AB Thuc's consecrations - good man as he was.

Utter hogwash.  I'm pretty sure that +Williamson has consecrated as many bishops in his 10 years post-SSPX than +Thuc did the entire time he was active, and there's zero doubt about the main +Thuc lines (the ones that can be traced by to +Thuc vs. some those resting upon dubious claims).  You've made it quite clear that you do little more than emote.  Pfeiffer, lest you forget, is a fruit of the Resistance, and only sought a bishop from the +Thuc line because he could find no one else to consecrate him ... as he's ranted repeatedly against both sedevacantism and Feeneyism (and Bishop Webster was both SV and Feeneyite).
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 11, 2023, 08:50:34 PM
Utter hogwash.  I'm pretty sure that +Williamson has consecrated as many bishops in his 10 years post-SSPX than +Thuc did the entire time he was active, and there's zero doubt about the main +Thuc lines (the ones that can be traced by to +Thuc vs. some those resting upon dubious claims).  You've made it quite clear that you do little more than emote.  Pfeiffer, lest you forget, is a fruit of the Resistance, and only sought a bishop from the +Thuc line because he could find no one else to consecrate him ... as he's ranted repeatedly against both sedevacantism and Feeneyism (and Bishop Webster was both SV and Feeneyite).
Glad I caught your attention, Lad! I will admit I'm not totally without emotions, but I do my best to reason on Cathinfo. Your comment about Bishop Williamson and Fr P missed my point (my reasoning).
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Stubborn on December 12, 2023, 04:57:56 AM
That still doesn't answer "Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?"  and if you are trying to be a Catholic in good standing then what?  Are we saying that when it comes to this confusion do what you feel, even if you might be mortally sinning based on what others are saying?  Within two hours of my house I can go to an independent Una cuм Mass, I can go to an SSPV, I can go to an Independent non-una cuм, I can go to the SSPX, I could go to an RCI, I can go to an FSSP, and many indults. Yet some will say I am mortally sinning if I attend others.  If I just determine that I am not and go where I want, then I become my own boss and that is not good for my soul either.  I do what my husband wants, which is fine with me.  But I want all the rest to make sense.  I know "Crisis in the Church"  be patient.  Again it is just so frustrating.  They are all trying to be Catholic and do what Catholics did before VII, but they have no bridges between any of them.  On top of that I have to raise Catholic children and tell them don't worry about all the in-fighting hopefully that will work itself out eventually. :facepalm::confused:
Plenus answered about the gap. I would add that the gap is actually disunity caused by, among other things, a lack of authentic Catholic teaching. The authentic Catholic teaching has been largely inundated and adulterated with opinions - from all over.

But you have many options within two hours of your house, seek out a priest for your spiritual adviser. I cannot tell you what to do, I *can* tell you what I would do and I can tell you what I would *not* do, and what I would avoid.

 Knowing nothing about you except from some of your posts, I presume you are seeking truth but a bit lost. First, I would avoid all things NO, this includes the diocesan indults. I would visit the above trad chapels near you and speak to the priest at each chapel, even if it's in the confessional, until you are satisfied you found one who is able to actually able to help you with sound spiritual instruction. 

 I could write a TLDR but I would offer the advice that you need to do a lot of praying especially the rosary, frequent confession, Mass and communion. For us, we had no options you have, heck, my mother would have catechism for about an hour a few times a week from the Baltimore Catechism, sometimes we listened to sermons/talks given by good priests, or read The Lives of the Saints, but we prayed together every single day the rosary and the Novena to the Holy Ghost and traveled long distances for the Mass and sacraments when there was one available. 

We all need to do something for our faith and those in our care - and I don't mean go to abortion protests or the like - I mean pray, seek, ask. Avoid all bad influences of society, friends and relatives.   
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 12, 2023, 05:53:38 AM
Glad I caught your attention, Lad! I will admit I'm not totally without emotions, but I do my best to reason on Cathinfo. Your comment about Bishop Williamson and Fr P missed my point (my reasoning).

That's the problem.  I'm missing any "reasoning" whatsoever.  You just hurl gratuitious statements out there which rest on top of begged questions, such as how "for Lefebvre to have become a sedevacantist would have been tantamount to abandoning the souls under his care" (a couple layers of begged questions)", that the "+Thuc line [consists] of priests running around trying to get consecrated", trying to blame Pfeiffer on "sedevacantists" when he's clearly a fruit of the Resistance, was "running around trying to get consecrated" and merely USED a +Thuc bishop for consecration, disparaged the number of priests who had become bishops, ignoring the fact that +Williamson has consecrated nearly as many (if not more) than +Thuc did, begging the question that there's some doubt about the validity of +Thuc consecrations, ignoring the fact that one of Bishop Kelly's biggest arguments against the +Thuc line was the secrecy of consecrations, and +Williamson has done a secret consecration also (and perhaps more).

In other words ... double standards based on nothing but emoting, your governing "rational" principle being "Muh sedevacantism bad."
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 12, 2023, 07:05:02 AM
That still doesn't answer "Why don't the various factions want to bridge the gap?"  and if you are trying to be a Catholic in good standing then what?  Are we saying that when it comes to this confusion do what you feel, even if you might be mortally sinning based on what others are saying?  Within two hours of my house I can go to an independent Una cuм Mass, I can go to an SSPV, I can go to an Independent non-una cuм, I can go to the SSPX, I could go to an RCI, I can go to an FSSP, and many indults. Yet some will say I am mortally sinning if I attend others.  If I just determine that I am not and go where I want, then I become my own boss and that is not good for my soul either.  I do what my husband wants, which is fine with me.  But I want all the rest to make sense.  I know "Crisis in the Church"  be patient.  Again it is just so frustrating.  They are all trying to be Catholic and do what Catholics did before VII, but they have no bridges between any of them.  On top of that I have to raise Catholic children and tell them don't worry about all the in-fighting hopefully that will work itself out eventually. :facepalm::confused:
Gray....just as those of us here cannot "bridge the gap" with each other, neither can the clergy.  You would like to think that they could, but just like us, they have very strong opinions on what is the correct position and what is the right way to go forward.  As long as there is no pope to unite us, we will remain divided.  So, bottom line, you're not going to get a good answer to your question from any of us here. 

However, I do think that there are/have been groups that try to work with each other out there.  For example, I'm pretty sure that the CMRI and the SGG are on good terms/have worked with each other.

That was also the case between SGG and Bishop Sanborn's group when Fr Cekada was alive and teaching at Bishop Sanborn's seminary (MHTS).  Unfortunately, after Father died, there was a tragic falling out between Bishop Dolan and Bishop Sanborn over the Cassiciacuм Theory. I hope that they can get past that eventually now that Bishop Dolan has passed away.

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: PAT317 on December 12, 2023, 07:10:05 AM
 "for Lefebvre to have become a sedevacantist would have been tantamount to abandoning the souls under his care"

In which post was this statement found?  
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Pax Vobis on December 12, 2023, 08:00:46 AM
Quote
that the "+Thuc line [consists] of priests running around trying to get consecrated"
Yeah, this shows PV's lack of understanding of +Thuc's history and actions. 

Don't be the male version of Meg, PV.  Just because someone disagreed with +ABL, doesn't mean they are wrong.  +ABL was not infallible and he didn't build Tradition single-handedly.

Tradition would not be where it is today, had God not inspired many, many diocesan priests to leave their diocese and become independents.  They bridged the gap in the 70s/80s until the sspx and sede movements we know today could grow.  +Thuc was part of this independent movement.  It was necessary part of this time of history.  The sspx didn't really get going until the early 1990s (consecration of the 4 bishops was in 1988).  1969-1989 - that's 20 years.  Who do you think kept Tradition going for that time period?  A LOT of priests who weren't part of the sspx.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: PAT317 on December 12, 2023, 09:15:51 AM
Yeah, this shows PV's lack of understanding of +Thuc's history and actions. 

Don't be the male version of Meg, PV.  Just because someone disagreed with +ABL, doesn't mean they are wrong.  +ABL was not infallible and he didn't build Tradition single-handedly.

Tradition would not be where it is today, had God not inspired many, many diocesan priests to leave their diocese and become independents.  They bridged the gap in the 70s/80s until the sspx and sede movements we know today could grow.  +Thuc was part of this independent movement.  It was necessary part of this time of history.  The sspx didn't really get going until the early 1990s (consecration of the 4 bishops was in 1988).  1969-1989 - that's 20 years.  Who do you think kept Tradition going for that time period?  A LOT of priests who weren't part of the sspx.

I didn't take Plenus Venter to be saying what you seem to be making him say here.  Plenus Venter said “for me” - i.e. in his opinion, for himself, he finds +ABL & his faithful successors to be the best at fulfilling their sacred duty of handing on to us that which they received.  This is a discussion forum, and people share their opinions.  He stated very clearly, “For me, that means following…”  He said, “We all have to inform ourselves and follow the men of the Church we believe are best fulfilling…”  and for him, that is +ABL & his faithful successors. 

If you disagree that’s the best, you can say so, but don’t put words in his mouth that he didn’t say, such as +ABL was the “only” one, there was no one else, etc.  He never said +ABL was "infallible" & "built Tradition single-handedly."  He did not discount or diminish the work that good individual priests did to keep Tradition.  He didn’t say there is nothing of value from these other good priests. 

And regarding Archbishop Thục, PV mentioned that priests were running off to a bishop to have themselves consecrated by him.  Is that not the case?  Did Archbishop Thục seek out those men he consecrated, or did they seek him to get themselves consecrated? 

[This is meant as a simple question, not to get into whether said consecrations were justified, good, etc.  Those are other topics already beaten to death on other threads.]
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Viva Cristo Rey on December 12, 2023, 09:41:48 AM
All of this are distractions. We need to focus on our goal to live with God in Heaven. 

We need to Read our Bible and pray the Rosary.  We need to repent and believe.

We need to live Christ like everyday. 

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: TheRealMcCoy on December 12, 2023, 09:43:52 AM
All of this is distractions. We need to focus on our goal to live with God in Heaven. 

We need to Read our Bible and pray the Rosary.  We need to repent and believe.
 Yes but it's impossible to get to Heaven without the sacraments.  We need priests and bishops for that.  

"Repent and believe" is protestant.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 12, 2023, 10:26:30 AM
And regarding Archbishop Thục, PV mentioned that priests were running off to a bishop to have themselves consecrated by him.  Is that not the case?  Did Archbishop Thục seek out those men he consecrated, or did they seek him to get themselves consecrated? 

[This is meant as a simple question, not to get into whether said consecrations were justified, good, etc.  Those are other topics already beaten to death on other threads.]

That's a good question regarding +Thuc. It would seem that priests were running after him in order to have themselves consecrated by him. Didn't +Thuc himself say something about that?

I don't have anything against +Thuc at all. He seemed very sincere to me, and not a liar. That counts for a lot. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Pax Vobis on December 12, 2023, 11:00:11 AM

Quote
He never said +ABL was "infallible" & "built Tradition single-handedly."  He did not discount or diminish the work that good individual priests did to keep Tradition.
He has implied such in other posts.  Many times.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 12, 2023, 11:21:22 AM
He has implied such in other posts.  Many times.

When has he implied that +ABL was infallible?

If you choose to reply to this post, please be honest, and do not lie. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 12:32:47 PM
Gray....just as those of us here cannot "bridge the gap" with each other, neither can the clergy.  You would like to think that they could, but just like us, they have very strong opinions on what is the correct position and what is the right way to go forward.  As long as there is no pope to unite us, we will remain divided.  So, bottom line, you're not going to get a good answer to your question from any of us here. 

However, I do think that there are/have been groups that try to work with each other out there.  For example, I'm pretty sure that the CMRI and the SGG are on good terms/have worked with each other.

That was also the case between SGG and Bishop Sanborn's group when Fr Cekada was alive and teaching at Bishop Sanborn's seminary (MHTS).  Unfortunately, after Father died, there was a tragic falling out between Bishop Dolan and Bishop Sanborn over the Cassiciacuм Theory. I hope that they can get past that eventually now that Bishop Dolan has passed away.
I do get what you are saying, but I think God won't give us a Pope until we are willing to work with each other.  In the mean time, souls are falling into a spirit of rebellion or a spirit of despair.  Souls are being lost.  Families are falling apart.  And we just say, oh it was predicted in a prophecy, so I have to ride it out.  The thing is people do have to become better at their Faith.  I am not looking for someone to help me.  I am looking for the +Priests and +Bishops to practice more humility.  I am looking for men to practice more humility.  Because face it a woman who is doing everything "right" is just a long for the ride, but crying her eyes out when nobody is looking.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 02:38:48 PM
I didn't take Plenus Venter to be saying what you seem to be making him say here.  Plenus Venter said “for me” - i.e. in his opinion, for himself, he finds +ABL & his faithful successors to be the best at fulfilling their sacred duty of handing on to us that which they received.  This is a discussion forum, and people share their opinions.  He stated very clearly, “For me, that means following…”  He said, “We all have to inform ourselves and follow the men of the Church we believe are best fulfilling…”  and for him, that is +ABL & his faithful successors. 

If you disagree that’s the best, you can say so, but don’t put words in his mouth that he didn’t say, such as +ABL was the “only” one, there was no one else, etc.  He never said +ABL was "infallible" & "built Tradition single-handedly."  He did not discount or diminish the work that good individual priests did to keep Tradition.  He didn’t say there is nothing of value from these other good priests. 

And regarding Archbishop Thục, PV mentioned that priests were running off to a bishop to have themselves consecrated by him.  Is that not the case?  Did Archbishop Thục seek out those men he consecrated, or did they seek him to get themselves consecrated? 

[This is meant as a simple question, not to get into whether said consecrations were justified, good, etc.  Those are other topics already beaten to death on other threads.]
Since the priests and bishops after V2 see that Rome doesn't appear to be Catholic, then they will perform Catholic sacraments in an "emergency state".  This means the Faithful, who can't find a "true priest" will ask to be provided one to perform all needed Sacraments in a state of emergency without jurisdiction.  If they need a priest, they have to ask a bishop to help get them one, because a "true Bishop" can only make "true priests".  This is what we base our ideas on to justify being outside of Rome.  I know I don't have the most perfect words to explain this, but the Faithful are required to ask for the Sacraments and the Priests should provide them, regardless of what the "true theological position is", because we do not have an authority to tell us which of us are right and which of us are wrong.

Period end of story. 

All of the groups outside of Rome are continuing the Catholic Church in this way, but they spend more time fighting over "unapproved theological positions" and less time making sure all of the Faithful are getting the sacraments they need.  It shouldn't be that I have access to 5 priests (all with different positions) and some have no priests.  And the Faithful should accept all "true priests" regardless of differences in these "unapproved theological positions" because the "True Sacraments" bring down graces that we need for the spiritual battle we are currently fighting.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 12, 2023, 04:16:59 PM
I do get what you are saying, but I think God won't give us a Pope until we are willing to work with each other.  In the mean time, souls are falling into a spirit of rebellion or a spirit of despair.  Souls are being lost.  Families are falling apart.  And we just say, oh it was predicted in a prophecy, so I have to ride it out.  The thing is people do have to become better at their Faith.  I am not looking for someone to help me.  I am looking for the +Priests and +Bishops to practice more humility.  I am looking for men to practice more humility.  Because face it a woman who is doing everything "right" is just a long for the ride, but crying her eyes out when nobody is looking.

How do you suggest that we all work together? We don't have the same goals at all.
For example, I don't have the goal of trying to make everyone become a sedevacantist. Nor do I believe that everyone has to believe what I personally believe, which is that is good to not follow a heretical pope.

That's the difference between sedevacantists and non-sedevacantists. When one believes that the most important thing that he or she can do is to get everyone to be a sedevacantist, then there's going to be a problem; that is, unless all trads become sedevacantists. I don't see that happening though.

Therefore, there will always be disunity among trads. I think that God will provide a good pope when a fair percentage of Catholics (whatever their stripe may be) strive for holiness and love of God and neighbor above all else.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 04:50:00 PM
But we actually have to be charitable and humble and realize we don't know the answers.  The point is we are all operating outside of Rome and it takes great humility to admit we do not know how God is going to fix this.  In the mean time, we need to get the Sacraments to the people.  We still can discuss the issues but there shouldnt be "oh you are not my ilk, so i can't help you."  I know some on here dont even think that +Sanborn and +Privanus are bishops, which mean their priests arent priests.  We need to stop this and fight modernism not each other.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 12, 2023, 04:51:13 PM
Yes but it's impossible to get to Heaven without the sacraments.  We need priests and bishops for that. 

"Repent and believe" is protestant.
One absolutely requires the Sacrament of Baptism to get into Heaven.

Can you put a date on when St Mark became protestant? 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 12, 2023, 05:02:02 PM
But we actually have to be charitable and humble and realize we don't know the answers.  The point is we are all operating outside of Rome and it takes great humility to admit we do not know how God is going to fix this.  In the mean time, we need to get the Sacraments to the people.  We still can discuss the issues but there shouldnt be "oh you are not my ilk, so i can't help you."  I know some on here dont even think that +Sanborn and +Privanus are bishops, which mean their priests arent priests.  We need to stop this and fight modernism not each other.

I for one would be happy to fight modernism and not each other.

But what can I do when the sedevacantists believe that I do not have the right to believe that I cannot follow a heretical Pope? They believe that I cannot be allowed to believe that a heretical pope can be a Pope. How do you propose to deal with that?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 12, 2023, 05:11:57 PM
I for one would be happy to fight modernism and not each other.

But what can I do when the sedevacantists believe that I do not have the right to believe that I cannot follow a heretical Pope? They believe that I cannot be allowed to believe that a heretical pope can be a Pope. How do you propose to deal with that?


Oh, so you finally admit it! You finally admit you follow Bergoglio! I’m curious however, in what way do you follow him? :laugh1:
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 12, 2023, 05:29:54 PM

Oh, so you finally admit it! You finally admit you follow Bergoglio! I’m curious however, in what way do you follow him? :laugh1:

Lack of logic on your part prevents any logical dialogue. Obviously, you will not allow anyone to disagree with you. That's how it is with dogmatic sedes and sedeprivationists. It's a type of sedevacantist supremacy which believes that it must dominate all others. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 12, 2023, 05:31:57 PM
Tradition would not be where it is today, had God not inspired many, many diocesan priests to leave their diocese and become independents.
Of course, Pax, my first priest in Tradition was one of these valiant warriors when my family came from the NO in 1980, before the SSPX was in Australia.

And stop picking on Meg! She makes many intelligent observations that not a few on this forum could learn from. We all have our opinions.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 12, 2023, 05:41:17 PM
Since the priests and bishops after V2 see that Rome doesn't appear to be Catholic, then they will perform Catholic sacraments in an "emergency state".  This means the Faithful, who can't find a "true priest" will ask to be provided one to perform all needed Sacraments in a state of emergency without jurisdiction.  If they need a priest, they have to ask a bishop to help get them one, because a "true Bishop" can only make "true priests".  This is what we base our ideas on to justify being outside of Rome.  I know I don't have the most perfect words to explain this, but the Faithful are required to ask for the Sacraments and the Priests should provide them, regardless of what the "true theological position is", because we do not have an authority to tell us which of us are right and which of us are wrong.

Period end of story. 

All of the groups outside of Rome are continuing the Catholic Church in this way, but they spend more time fighting over "unapproved theological positions" and less time making sure all of the Faithful are getting the sacraments they need.  It shouldn't be that I have access to 5 priests (all with different positions) and some have no priests.  And the Faithful should accept all "true priests" regardless of differences in these "unapproved theological positions" because the "True Sacraments" bring down graces that we need for the spiritual battle we are currently fighting.
You said you need help, Gray, but clearly you have your opinion all worked out, along with the husband you said you must follow.
However, it is abundantly clear that you are here as an apologist for the sedevacantist position. Why pretend otherwise?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 12, 2023, 05:44:56 PM
Lack of logic on your part prevents any logical dialogue. Obviously, you will not allow anyone to disagree with you. That's how it is with dogmatic sedes and sedeprivationists. It's a type of sedevacantist supremacy which believes that it must dominate all others.

Fine, but please enlighten this forum on how you follow Bergoglio? 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 12, 2023, 05:47:03 PM
That's the difference between sedevacantists and non-sedevacantists. When one believes that the most important thing that he or she can do is to get everyone to be a sedevacantist, then there's going to be a problem
Amen, Meg! I've been told I'm outside the Church, on the road to Hell... by people who espoused the same position as I for decades... evidently they didn't have the Faith until they became sedevacantist.

Of course they are not all of this persuasion, but they certainly have an over-representation of such people.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 12, 2023, 06:00:52 PM
Fine, but please enlighten this forum on how you follow Bergoglio?
Well, Pax, I would say Meg clearly means follow him in the sense of acknowledgement of the office that he holds, and the prayers which that obliges us to say for him. We pray for him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and our own private prayers according to our duty of justice and charity, and we fervently pray that he will convert "and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren" and finally consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 06:04:43 PM
I for one would be happy to fight modernism and not each other.

But what can I do when the sedevacantists believe that I do not have the right to believe that I cannot follow a heretical Pope? They believe that I cannot be allowed to believe that a heretical pope can be a Pope. How do you propose to deal with that?
I actually think that we shouldnt focus on that argument, because the main argument is inside Rome vs outside Rome.  Most of us here are outside Rome.  We need not worry about what others think or if we think the same.  We should encourage each other to do what we know to be true and Catholic.  Go to valid Masses, keep ourselves in a state of Grace, pray the Rosary, beg God to fix this with prayer and penances.  We have so much real practical stuff we can do that we shouldn't keep fighting each other.  The sceme of the devil is to keep this going, because he knows his days are numbered if we stop fighting each other.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 06:15:23 PM
You said you need help, Gray, but clearly you have your opinion all worked out, along with the husband you said you must follow.
However, it is abundantly clear that you are here as an apologist for the sedevacantist position. Why pretend otherwise?
I have been watching this fight for 20 years.  I see good people on all sides just trying to get by.  Starting a fight is what keeps this going.  I would attend any valid Mass, so stop judging what you dont know.  It is easy to just hide and make posts.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 06:18:23 PM
Fine, but please enlighten this forum on how you follow Bergoglio?
Meg is just trying to figure things out like the rest of us.  This type of reply just puts people on the defensive and then ends conversations.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Plenus Venter on December 12, 2023, 06:20:15 PM
I have been watching this fight for 20 years.  I see good people on all sides just trying to get by.  Starting a fight is what keeps this going.  I would attend any valid Mass, so stop judging what you dont know.  It is easy to just hide and make posts.
Exactly, you are a sedevacantist apologist, why did you appear on here feigning desire for advice when in fact you just want to give it? 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 06:29:06 PM
Exactly, you are a sedevacantist apologist, why did you appear on here feigning desire for advice when in fact you just want to give it?
Proof?  I never preached one side or the other.  I want men to stand up and stop continuing the arguments they cant solve.  I am tired of sitting on the sideline and watching it happen.  You seem to be so wrapped up in attacking people.  Why?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 12, 2023, 07:42:20 PM
Meg is just trying to figure things out like the rest of us.  This type of reply just puts people on the defensive and then ends conversations.


You’re new here. I tried that approach several times with her, to no avail. She is an unreasonable, illogical, irrational, dogmatic anti-sedevacantist. If you take an hour and read through he anti sedevacantist rants you will see that I’m on the mark.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 12, 2023, 07:42:52 PM
Exactly, you are a sedevacantist apologist, why did you appear on here feigning desire for advice when in fact you just want to give it?
Really?  That's not how she has come across to me.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 12, 2023, 07:44:06 PM
 I want men to stand up and stop continuing the arguments they cant solve.  I am tired of sitting on the sideline and watching it happen.  
(https://i.imgur.com/PtxELuW.png)
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 07:53:14 PM

You’re new here. I tried that approach several times with her, to no avail. She is an unreasonable, illogical, irrational, dogmatic anti-sedevacantist. If you take an hour and read through he anti sedevacantist rants you will see that I’m on the mark.
I think she is just frustrated with the mean things, sedevacantists keep saying to her.  I don't know. I don't know her personally.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 12, 2023, 07:57:30 PM
I think she is just frustrated with the mean things, sedevacantists keep saying to her.  I don't know. I don't know her personally.

Honestly Grey, she’s usually the first one to attack. Look through her old posts. I’m fed up with her nonsensical attacks.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 08:26:21 PM
Honestly Grey, she’s usually the first one to attack. Look through her old posts. I’m fed up with her nonsensical attacks.
If that is the case, then should we ignore it, than to attack back.    

"Then came Peter unto him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times." Matthew 18:21-22
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 08:33:01 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/PtxELuW.png)
Am I suppose to laugh or attack?  Please explain Nadir.

Aren't you tired of all this fighting?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 12, 2023, 08:41:11 PM
If that is the case, then should we ignore it, than to attack back.   

"Then came Peter unto him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times." Matthew 18:21-22

That is true and I thank you, but we must also correct error and admonish those who spread falsehoods. Sometimes sarcasm can be used to demonstrate the point, if I over used sarcasm or was overly uncharitable, I apologize.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 12, 2023, 09:06:17 PM
That is true and I thank you, but we must also correct error and admonish those who spread falsehoods. Sometimes sarcasm can be used to demonstrate the point, if I over used sarcasm or was overly uncharitable, I apologize.
It really isn't me you should apologize to.  I guess we just need to use prudence and I was feeling that Meg was being called out too much.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Nadir on December 12, 2023, 10:51:07 PM
Am I suppose to laugh or attack?  Please explain Nadir.

Aren't you tired of all this fighting?
I hope that you don’t attack. When I read your posts about the failures of men and your weeping on the sidelines, I imagined a melodrama. That image was the closest I could find to illustrate. I suppose I might be a bit weird. I think that if knowing Church History there should be no surprises. You know, nothing new under the sun.

As for the fighting, No, I just take it with a pinch of salt. Mostly I ignore it unless something jumps out at me which I can’t ignore, like blatantly false teaching.

Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 12:07:19 AM
I hope that you don’t attack. When I read your posts about the failures of men and your weeping on the sidelines, I imagined a melodrama. That image was the closest I could find to illustrate. I suppose I might be a bit weird. I think that if knowing Church History there should be no surprises. You know, nothing new under the sun.

As for the fighting, No, I just take it with a pinch of salt. Mostly I ignore it unless something jumps out at me which I can’t ignore, like blatantly false teaching.
No attack. I am melancholic, so I love a good melodrama.  I guess I feel free to speak here.  I know I am hard on men. I just know that they can do better.  

I see what you mean about Church History, it just feels like the pace is accelerating and I just hope everyone is where God wants them to be. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 13, 2023, 06:00:57 AM
It really isn't me you should apologize to.  I guess we just need to use prudence and I was feeling that Meg was being called out too much.


I wasn’t directing that part to you and I will still call her out as needed. Let me add this, I don’t feel any hatred toward her and I hold no grudges.

By the way, have you taken the time to look at her old posts?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 13, 2023, 06:12:36 AM
I think she is just frustrated with the mean things, sedevacantists keep saying to her.  I don't know. I don't know her personally.
:facepalm:

This is why I suggested awhile back that you should sit back on the forum before posting as much as you do.

Although I don't agree with PV that you are a "sedevacantist apologist", I am beginning to wonder why you are here.  Something is off, but I'm not yet able to put my fingers on it nor put it into words.  

Why *did* you join the forum?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 07:12:39 AM

I wasn’t directing that part to you and I will still call her out as needed. Let me add this, I don’t feel any hatred toward her and I hold no grudges.

By the way, have you taken the time to look at her old posts?
I do understand where you are coming from.  But i think what you see as dishing back, she sees as meaness.  But again i am just guessing.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Meg on December 13, 2023, 07:22:49 AM
I do understand where you are coming from.  But i think what you see as dishing back, she sees as meaness.  But again i am just guessing.

Thank you Gray. They know that it is not I who attack first. Honesty is not what they practice. Evidently, the ends justify any means necessary to convert everyone to SVism. 

I defend my right to not be a sedevacantist, which is offensive to some here. I've said many times that I don't have a problem with anyone holding the sedevacantist position, but when they try to force it on others, I see that as a problem. 

You are correct to say that we should stop all this fighting. But when one side believes it has to force its views on everyone else, that's a problem. Not all sedevacantists do this of course. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: TheRealMcCoy on December 13, 2023, 07:27:09 AM
:facepalm:

This is why I suggested awhile back that you should sit back on the forum before posting as much as you do.

Although I don't agree with PV that you are a "sedevacantist apologist", I am beginning to wonder why you are here.  Something is off, but I'm not yet able to put my fingers on it nor put it into words. 

Why *did* you join the forum?
It has been pointed out several times by long term members who see the signs that this person is a troll.  She needs to be banned for the good of the forum because she has ill will towards the members and hasn't posted a single useful thing.  It's clear that she isn't a traditional Catholic in the manner she claims.  She hasn't made a single reference to her supposed 5 children...does she have any?  She doesn't post in the Women's forum on the feminine topics of homemaking, child rearing, cooking, etc. She hates her husband and all men in general, especially the clergy.  She worships the witchcraft practicing feminist Taylor Swift and believes all marriage problems are caused by men not listening to womens "feelings".  Anyone who calls out her hypocrisy is immediately attacked as a "hater" and lacking "humility".  Common marxist accusations.

Someone claims to know her in real life.  And what of it?  Who is that individual?  Many of us have been here for a decade or more and don't know either of you.  I have blocked them so I don't have to be bothered with their feminist claptrap.  

We should all be wary of new members who carpet bomb the threads with non-Catholic ideas and sow seeds of chaos and discontent.  I wonder if FBI infiltraitors are on the forum.  We know they are grooming the SSPX chapels in Virginia.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: TheRealMcCoy on December 13, 2023, 07:31:14 AM
Thank you Gray. They know that it is not I who attack first. Honesty is not what they practice. Evidently, the ends justify any means necessary to convert everyone to SVism.

I defend my right to not be a sedevacantist, which is offensive to some here. I've said many times that I don't have a problem with anyone holding the sedevacantist position, but when they try to force it on others, I see that as a problem.

You are correct to say that we should stop all this fighting. But when one side believes it has to force its views on everyone else, that's a problem. Not all sedevacantists do this of course.
You are correct Meg.  But the solution isn't to "put aside differences" and come together under the Big Tent as suggested.  The answer is to learn, believe, and PRACTICE the Catholic Faith as it is handed down.  
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: jen51 on December 13, 2023, 07:31:58 AM

Aren't you tired of all this fighting?
Aren’t you?

Gray, it seems like you came onto this forum with finger pointed and an ax to grind. On one hand you say you are sad and sensitive to the strife in the trad community, yet after reading your posts over the past week they seem to have a rather bossy and aggressive tone. Am I understanding this wrong?

Several good men have offered you an explanation about the strife and what it will take to fix it, which is a good pope. The fact is, the disagreements and infighting is sadly a part of the cross we must bare. You don’t seem to want to accept this answer. Your tears and mourning are only meritorious as far as your resignation and trust in God’s care for you and others goes.  Maybe I have/am overstepping my bounds but I think you have let this topic overcome you. It is not in your control and the more you strive to make it so the more miserable you will become. I think you have internalized this too much. I know you are melancholic. I think melancholic need to be extra careful about this.

Do I get frustrated at the bickering and mud slinging that goes on from time to time here? Yes. But we are all called to look at our own interior actions and disposition. I’m not sure yours is any healthier than those who you accuse of being rash and unkind.

Please, I mean this in the best way possible. I’m not trying to attack you. Just stating my observations. God bless you!
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: B from A on December 13, 2023, 07:55:42 AM
Aren’t you?

Gray, it seems like you came onto this forum with finger pointed and an ax to grind. On one hand you say you are sad and sensitive to the strife in the trad community, yet after reading your posts over the past week they seem to have a rather bossy and aggressive tone. Am I understanding this wrong?

Several good men have offered you an explanation about the strife and what it will take to fix it, which is a good pope. The fact is, the disagreements and infighting is sadly a part of the cross we must bear. You don’t seem to want to accept this answer. Your tears and mourning are only meritorious as far as your resignation and trust in God’s care for you and others goes.  Maybe I have/am overstepping my bounds but I think you have let this topic overcome you. It is not in your control and the more you strive to make it so the more miserable you will become. I think you have internalized this too much. I know you are melancholic. I think melancholic need to be extra careful about this.

Do I get frustrated at the bickering and mud slinging that goes on from time to time here? Yes. But we are all called to look at our own interior actions and disposition. I’m not sure yours is any healthier than those who you accuse of being rash and unkind.

Please, I mean this in the best way possible. I’m not trying to attack you. Just stating my observations. God bless you!

Very good post. 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 07:58:58 AM
Thank you Gray. They know that it is not I who attack first. Honesty is not what they practice. Evidently, the ends justify any means necessary to convert everyone to SVism.

I defend my right to not be a sedevacantist, which is offensive to some here. I've said many times that I don't have a problem with anyone holding the sedevacantist position, but when they try to force it on others, I see that as a problem.

You are correct to say that we should stop all this fighting. But when one side believes it has to force its views on everyone else, that's a problem. Not all sedevacantists do this of course.
Meg,  I know in charity I defended you, but I also see that you say some very harsh things.  I don't think people are trying to make you a sedevacantist.  Aren't you trying to force your beliefs on others?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: 2Vermont on December 13, 2023, 07:59:23 AM
Aren’t you?

Gray, it seems like you came onto this forum with finger pointed and an ax to grind. On one hand you say you are sad and sensitive to the strife in the trad community, yet after reading your posts over the past week they seem to have a rather bossy and aggressive tone. Am I understanding this wrong?

Several good men have offered you an explanation about the strife and what it will take to fix it, which is a good pope. The fact is, the disagreements and infighting is sadly a part of the cross we must bare. You don’t seem to want to accept this answer. Your tears and mourning are only meritorious as far as your resignation and trust in God’s care for you and others goes.  Maybe I have/am overstepping my bounds but I think you have let this topic overcome you. It is not in your control and the more you strive to make it so the more miserable you will become. I think you have internalized this too much. I know you are melancholic. I think melancholic need to be extra careful about this.

Do I get frustrated at the bickering and mud slinging that goes on from time to time here? Yes. But we are all called to look at our own interior actions and disposition. I’m not sure yours is any healthier than those who you accuse of being rash and unkind.

Please, I mean this in the best way possible. I’m not trying to attack you. Just stating my observations. God bless you!
Well said.  I think you may have helped put into words what I couldn't.  I think the bolded is the main issue.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 08:12:46 AM
Aren’t you?

Gray, it seems like you came onto this forum with finger pointed and an ax to grind. On one hand you say you are sad and sensitive to the strife in the trad community, yet after reading your posts over the past week they seem to have a rather bossy and aggressive tone. Am I understanding this wrong?

Several good men have offered you an explanation about the strife and what it will take to fix it, which is a good pope. The fact is, the disagreements and infighting is sadly a part of the cross we must bare. You don’t seem to want to accept this answer. Your tears and mourning are only meritorious as far as your resignation and trust in God’s care for you and others goes.  Maybe I have/am overstepping my bounds but I think you have let this topic overcome you. It is not in your control and the more you strive to make it so the more miserable you will become. I think you have internalized this too much. I know you are melancholic. I think melancholic need to be extra careful about this.

Do I get frustrated at the bickering and mud slinging that goes on from time to time here? Yes. But we are all called to look at our own interior actions and disposition. I’m not sure yours is any healthier than those who you accuse of being rash and unkind.

Please, I mean this in the best way possible. I’m not trying to attack you. Just stating my observations. God bless you!
Yes Jen.  I am tired of the fighting.  I am also tired of being quiet.  This forum allows me to be loud.  I see that from all of the church's history men keep trying to change things for their own agenda (Protestants like Henry VIII, Martin Luther, The Westley Brothers and now Catholism is being split apart.)  It is really up to men to start doing a different thing.

I just think in the meantime we can do the best we can with ourselves.  We can't just sit back and wait for a good Pope, because right now that good Pope will only look good to some.  

I don't feel attacked and I thank you for observations.  May God bless you and keep you.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: jen51 on December 13, 2023, 08:34:47 AM
Yes Jen.  I am tired of the fighting.  I am also tired of being quiet.  This forum allows me to be loud. 
I beg you turn from being loud. It is not the answer. You will do more harm than good to your soul and the souls of your children, especially daughters. As mothers, let’s model to our children love and trust in Our Lord, and imitate his blessed mother. In her we see humble obedience and silent suffering. She is our model. She shows us how it is done. Why would we as women give up our unique and powerful opportunity to be the salve of this world be being loud and obstinate? You won’t help by being loud, you will only succeed in driving a greater wedge between men and women. The world has had its fill of loud women.

Having said that, this is the last I will say on this subject. I invite you to the women’s sub forum to talk about child rearing, recipes, homemaking, gardening and all of the stuff that is within our realm. It is a great place to visit and find encouragement! 
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 08:40:20 AM
It has been pointed out several times by long term members who see the signs that this person is a troll. (I think only you and SeanJohnson have said that.  Who were the others?  She needs to be banned for the good of the forum because she has ill will towards the members and hasn't posted a single useful thing. (I do not have ill will toward anyone)  It's clear that she isn't a traditional Catholic in the manner she claims. (How is this clear?) She hasn't made a single reference to her supposed 5 children...does she have any? (Yes 5 boys, (7, 11, 13, 16, 18) and I have referenced the one who is trying to find a Seminary) She doesn't post in the Women's forum on the feminine topics of homemaking, child rearing, cooking, etc. (These things don't interest me much and I have no girls to teach.) She hates her husband and all men in general, especially the clergy. (I don't hate anyone.  I just think men keep passing the buck and no one is calling them out on it)  She worships the witchcraft practicing feminist Taylor Swift (That is silly, I just don't like people making serious accusations without proof and media isn't good proof because it is good at manipulating people to feel certain things) and believes all marriage problems are caused by men not listening to womens "feelings". (It takes two to break up a marriage) Anyone who calls out her hypocrisy is immediately attacked as a "hater" and lacking "humility". (A lot of people do lack humility, people infer why I made a post, usually the post is to get a conversation started, to get a feel for the room per se.  Many times people think that i am looking for personal answers for myself.  I am not.  I have just seen too many bad things happen to good Catholic families) Common marxist accusations.

Someone claims to know her in real life.  And what of it?  Who is that individual?  Many of us have been here for a decade or more and don't know either of you.  I have blocked them so I don't have to be bothered with their feminist claptrap.  (I do apologize for making you so mad.  I tried sending you some private apology messages.)

We should all be wary of new members who carpet bomb the threads with non-Catholic ideas and sow seeds of chaos and discontent.  I wonder if FBI infiltraitors are on the forum.  We know they are grooming the SSPX chapels in Virginia.
Wow!  When I read your posts to people who know me, they laugh because you have me pegged all wrong.  What do you want me to say to you to prove that I am not a troll?
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 08:49:27 AM
I beg you turn from being loud. It is not the answer. You will do more harm than good to your soul and the souls of your children, especially daughters. As mothers, let’s model to our children love and trust in Our Lord, and imitate his blessed mother. In her we see humble obedience and silent suffering. She is our model. She shows us how it is done. Why would we as women give up our unique and powerful opportunity to be the salve of this world be being loud and obstinate? You won’t help by being loud, you will only succeed in driving a greater wedge between men and women. The world has had its fill of loud women.
Jen I do understand what you are saying.  I am that in real life.  Here I want to plant seeds to look at the problems at hand differently. 

By loud I just meant, to be heard, not loud and obnoxious.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Gray2023 on December 13, 2023, 09:09:40 AM
Having said that, this is the last I will say on this subject. I invite you to the women’s sub forum to talk about child rearing, recipes, homemaking, gardening and all of the stuff that is within our realm. It is a great place to visit and find encouragement!
Not all women are the same.  I love to have deep conversations.  I live with all men and I was a Daddy's girl.  Men used to seek counsel from wise women. I am sure that the disciples looked to Mary for counsel.  I just don't think men tend to do that anymore.  I might be wrong.  It doesn't mean that they have to do what she says.  It just means that they are trying to see the problems from different points of view.  Men and women definitely look at things differently.

I truly believe that texting on forums is a very challenging way to communicate and not ideal.  What some might interpret as harsh, others will interpret as soft.
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Persto on December 13, 2023, 11:02:16 AM
This thread has become all about Gray instead of Sedevacantism
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Quo vadis Domine on December 15, 2023, 11:41:13 AM
Thank you Gray. They know that it is not I who attack first.

:laugh2::jester::laugh2:
Title: Re: The position me and my family take on Sedevacantism...
Post by: Ladislaus on December 15, 2023, 11:45:13 AM
:laugh2::jester::laugh2:

Yeah, that comment should be in the CathInfo Hall of Fame / Shame.