For years I searched for the Church of my youth and many years later found it with the SSPX. Where else could one rear children in the Catholic faith if there was not a church to bring them to on a Sunday or Holy day of obligation in the company of other like-minded Catholic families. Where else would they get to receive Holy Communion or Confirmation like I got as a child? Until I hear a teaching that contradicts my Catholic understanding, I will continue to go to my little SSPX chapel and support children growing up in an environment that I was reared in. A hotel room is not an option for me, my children or my grandchildren..
I appreciate your life-long perseverance and your love of the Catholic Faith.
But why do you preemptively reject hotel room Masses? The Irish used to say Mass on rocks. Masses used to be said in the Catacombs in early Church history. How can modern-day Catholics consider themselves "above" such behavior? Isn't that a dangerous attitude?
When Catholics insist on professional buildings for Mass or other smells & bells, doesn't that place them in a rather vulnerable position, open to blackmail and manipulation from priests and organizations with less than pure motives? After all, there are only so many groups that can offer church-like buildings for Mass. The SSPX could require a lot more compromises than they do today, but most people would go along with it -- because it's either A) stay with them, B) back to the Novus Ordo, or C) it's back to garages, warehouses, hotels -- and many Catholics (including you?) would rather die than go with option C.
Personally, attending the Holy Sacrifice of Mass in a humble location is not beneath me. I am just grateful for the Mass and for the Catholic Faith without compromise.
And you'd be surprised what kind of middle ground there is, between SSPX chapels and Mass in a temp location like a hotel room. My local Resistance chapel is in a converted warehouse of sorts, and we have the whole package -- stations, statues, a real altar and step, incense, High Mass, benediction, pews, the list goes on.
For that matter, I've seen some of the Resistance chapels in Ireland and they are small but very beautiful. It doesn't take much for a small but fervent group of Trads to put together a workable chapel. I believe the SSPX
monopoly or
virtual-monopoly on Traditional Mass & the sacraments must be destroyed. Having control of 90% of Traditional Mass centers is too much power for a handful of
unaccountable (answering to no man on earth) individuals.
Bishop Fellay, and now Fr. Pagliarani, have no charism or authority whatsoever to rule 90% (just a rough estimate; I might be wrong on the percentage) of the world's Trad chapels. Their authority is completely man-made, like the current CEO of Wal-mart. There is absolutely no difference. Both are in power by God's permissive will. The SSPX is indeed part of the Catholic Church, but they are not the Church. God never promised that no priest or bishop would ever fall or make a mistake. Only St. Peter received this promise, as well as the Catholic Church in general.
Here is the difference between the Church you remember before V2 and the SSPX today: The priests at your parish before Vatican II were under the authority of their local bishop, who in turn answered to the Pope. Today, the whole Trad world is made up of individual lifeboats. The SSPX is just the Wal-mart of lifeboats, consolidating over 90% of the lifeboats into their own organization, putting all the other mom & pop lifeboats (independent chapels) out of business.
And we all know what happens when a Wal-mart takes over and becomes a monopoly: the company's profit becomes king and 1st priority, they forbid any kind of employee unions, they force employees to work extra hours without pay, they pay as little as possible, etc. A monopoly is not a good thing, unless it's a God-appointed one, like the Catholic Church. But the SSPX is not the Church; it was not founded or appointed by God. It is a purely human organization, even though they happen to deal in sacred things. God never made a promise to +Lefebvre that "the gates of hell will not prevail against it" or, "Behold I am with you all days".
Topic: Ladies and Gents, I have a question for you (Read 2457 times)