I am at a loss when it comes to Fr. Beck.

With one possible exception, he was the finest priest I have ever known (the other being Fr. Gaudray, former professor at the seminary in Winona).

We gave our 3rd boy the middle name of Gerard, after him.

To this day, I cannot comprehend....

I don't know what you think your going to get when you go to a SSPX function with a SSPX priest.  Would you expect a FSSP or ICK priest to preach what you want to hear?

Sean,
I agree - I have never met a person (Father Beck) so suited to a vocation.  If he was a regular guy like us he would probably never get noticed.  

                                                          Commentary from a vigilant soul that sat in the audience.
                               
On the evening of April 16, 2013 Father Themann gave a conference in the auditorium on the grounds of Saint Mary's Academy and College. He showed a tremendous amount of calm and courteous behavior. There was a certain natural goodness in his attitude. He certainly wasn't looking for a fight and didn't expect one as we were told to be nice in our comments.

What was heard was enough to make comments on for many weeks. However, we decided to take to task simply putting on display for all to see some key aspects of the talk with our initial thoughts. Look to our Anti-Resistance Conf.  page for clarity in the days to come.

It all started with Father Beck making the announcement that they reserve all rights to any audio recording. In other words if your a little guy we will come after you. If your the media or somebody with money enough to defend yourself we will leave you be. This was our reaction as it seemed unlawful to PREVENT a recording in a public religious event. So the brain scrambling started early.

While we were busy wondering about that he proceeded to introduce Father Themann. Emphasizing that Father Themann is a professor at the seminary in Winona. Quickly the mind went back about 2 years ago when Father Themann wasn't even allowed to give advice to the faithful because he was a new priest. He's come a long way in 2 years!

In his introduction Father Beck said that the role of the Devil is "to confuse, to spread distrust and lead souls, if possible, astray." Being supporters of Catholic Resistance we couldn't help but notice how this comes no where near to describing us. Perhaps they were going to try to label us tonight? It was hard to tell. The people we have met in the Resistance are actually some of the finest and most serious Catholics we have ever met. The calumny was quite disturbing. Even more disturbing was the altruistic way in which it was all said.

Father started by explaining truth. Yes. truth with a small "t"apparently. This explanation will likely be touched on in days to come on our  Anti-Resistance Conf.  page. He did say "It is possible for somebody to speak very passionately about this word (truth) and yet not make a serious effort to acquire it." He said we have to judge precisely and accurately in order to live a right thinking life. "To judge precisely and accurately is what it means to take truth seriously." Okay, all fine and dandy but wouldn't it be a sign of taking truth seriously if we sought first the grace to judge precisely and accurately?

He continued:

1. Original sin gets in the way of our judging accurately
2.The emotion of fear steps in
3. Passions have to be put down before we can do serious thinking. General Patton says "never take advice from fear"
4.We might include evidence that is not relevant or exclude evidence that is relevant (wiggle room for the neo-sspx so the Resistance can be accused)
5.We give an unreasonable credibility to the evidence at hand. Don't be gullible or skeptical.
6.We investigate too much to to little.
7.Don't confuse "it might be true" with "it is true"

Father Themann told a story that tried to show the people that if you hear something tonight (or in general) it is possible you won't understand it and come away saying Father Themann said this when in fact he didn't mean it that way. It seemed a way of making more wiggle room.

He did bring up Our Lady and how some people might say Father doesn't love Our Lady and he proceeded to explain how that judgment could come from a faulty interpretation of what a person says. Interesting to note: This is the only time Our Lady was mentioned. It seemed a quick and simple way of cleaning up the mess of not promoting Our Lady in the SSPX in general. They should be emphasizing the necessity of  praying the Holy Rosary to keep a clear mind in our confusing times. This would have been a prime time in his talk to speak of the Rosary which is the "LAST" remedy given us by God (Sister Lucia of Fatima)

He said we must seriously make an effort to judge precisely or we will fail. He didn't give us any advice on how to make that effort (like pray for the grace, pray the Rosary for Our Lady's help...spiritual things first).

It is impossible to give all he said in one sitting. But he proceeded to speak about PRUDENCE vs. PRINCIPLE. This eventually let up to comments on how Bishop Fellay's decision to join (editor note:apostate) Rome without Rome converting is a decision of prudence. He said decisions based on prudence can change given the circuмstances and hence (since things are better in Rome & the Church than in the Archbishop's time) it is okay for Bishop Fellay to seek union with Rome (editor note: whom Our Lady said would lose the Faith and become the seat of the Anti-Christ). Around 800 people took this mush into their intellects.

He told a story of how he met 2 Novus Ordo priests who didn't like the way their bishop was running the diocese. They told Father Themann they wish the bishop would be more of a disciplinarian. He gave THIS as his personal proof that things are getting better in the Church today. Never mind Assisi 3, a pope who is an honorary Freemason, and the overall chaos and dark confusion in the world because the Truth (with a capital "T') is absent in people's lives. The world is getting closer and closer to accepting the eventual reign of the Anti-Christ and "things are getting better in the Church" ...yeah.

He said he is convinced that most people have a lack of understanding of the principles with which the SSPX has always stood for. He said many people hold Sedevacantist opinions without thinking they do. He said Vatican II is the problem for the Society. Not just abuses or misinterpretations.

He said the new Mass is "tainted" and is the problem besides Vatican II.

He said some of the faithful have taken Sedevacantist positions by saying things like "Having anything to do with modernist Rome is a compromise on principle" --He said that is true if you are a Sedevacantist. He then gives the impression that the hierarchy is the hierarchy so we have to mingle with them. He speaks of certain terms: Conciliar Church to the SSPX means the structure of the Church in so far as it is infected with modern errors. When a Sedevacantist uses that term they mean a different structure from the Catholic Church. Or not the Catholic Church but something completely different.

We are not Sedevacantists and don't keep company with any because we don't know any but to say the Conciliar  "church" and the Catholic Church herself are one and the same is contrary to the Archbishop who did ask which church you are talking about when you say Conciliar and Catholic. Another point: How could something dead (which Bishop Tissier de Mallerais said needs to be completely disposed of) be a part of a living body?

We have no shepherds to lead the flock. The pope is horribly liberal. The Bishops don't have the Faith and the Neo-SSPX keeps harping on those who take the Sedevacantist positions? The sheep are dispersed in all directions and the Neo-sspx runs around condemning people who have made honest decisions based on what they perceive to be true. First they are trying to make "Sedevacantist" a bad word and then they are throwing the Resistance in the oven with them.

To be continued.....



***Please be patient as our commentary on the conference may be delayed a couple of days, as Fr. Gerard Beck, the Rector of St. Mary's, forbade any recordings of the conference to be made, saying that the SSPX of St. Mary's were recording the conference and would make it available in due course.

We would prefer to have the conference 'word-for-word' to make our commentary and avoid any accusations of misquoting the speaker. However, our notes are extremely good, just in case!

I do not think there are any accordistas left after this new pope Francis has entered the picture.

Do we know each other?

Yes we do Sean, we both go to mass at IHM in St. Paul.  I'm not sure if you still run the book store but I still go outside to to my car after mass to listen to Souhan - it is the best and only sports radio program I listen to in the Twincities.

It seems that the local Fellay-Krah neo-SSPX sales rep. was let off the hook in this conference..What can I reasonably expect? But after the April 15th Doctrinal Preamble total sellout; signed and never repudiated by Bp Fellay..the Letter of the One to the Three; totally condescending and insulting..the failure of the Gen Chapter in July...the cowardly expulsion of Bp Williamson...and now this old..'07?..obnoxious letter just released fm Fr. Pflueger to Bp williamson...enough already..the SSPX doesn't deserve our trust or support any longer..

Let us not forget the revelations regarding Maximilian Krah, his influence in Menzugen and his involvement in the negative publicity against His Excellency Bishop Williamson.