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Neil Obstat,

Now, if I were to forbid or prevent him from going to St. Charles in some way, would I be doing him any good for his faith?  Or, if I were to encourage him to show up at St. Charles from time to time, would that rather help his faith more than the former idea?

Bishop Williamson is a pastor of souls, as best he can (without any ordinary jurisdiction), and as such when he says some things he has in mind not only people like YOU and ME, but people like my brother-in-law.

Do you see what I mean?

Of course I see what you are saying but although we can sometimes influence others in a positive way towards the Faith, it is really a matter of that person through his will to respond to the grace which God puts before Him.

The priest and Bishop as a first duty must transmit the clear objective truth in these matters to the inquiring or confused mind (which must be considered a great granting of grace and potentiatlity to the hearer). It is then up to each man who hears the Truth whether or not to respond to it either positive or negative fashion.

We can certainly encourage them towards that end but never by shading or adulterating that Truth to make it more suitable to human sensibilities.

"He who is of the Truth hears my voice" and "He who hears you hears me" are perfectly applicable in any such situation and that is the solemn duty of Bishops and priests, to transmit the truths of Salvation which are the Words of God.

And that bring us around full circle ending where we started.

As I understand it, the Bishop once thought that the Novus Ordo was intrinsically evil in itself. This being the case, it could not do the things for a soul that he proposes it can do.  We must assume that he has changed that opinion to the situational position that he appears to hold now that A can be A sometimes and A can be B at other times.

The brother in law analogy is pretty emotional and sentimental.  So, you say that if you don't speak the FULL truth to your brother, then somehow he will get the truth from an intrinsically chaotic "mass"?  How will that work?  Chances of this happening are slim.

Meanwhile, if you speak the truth, he may well convert fully.  Or he may not.  Chances of his converting are still slim, but they are greater than above.  If you aren't going to talk about the TLM at the moment, when ARE you going to talk about it?  What is this PERFECT moment that you are waiting for?  No such thing as a perfect moment; you do it when you can.  What if he dies tomorrow?

It's none of our jobs to "project" whether or not someone will convert.  Our job is to speak the truth, not give it piecemeal to whom we see fit.  Who would have bet that St Paul would convert when he did?

I understand that there are times when it is pointless to talk about the Faith to people, but these are usually times of extreme suffering or emotional turmoil.  These can be a barrier (in the short term) to discussions, because the person is preoccupied with stress.  But outside of this, when people are just living out their day to day lives, THAT's when they need to hear the truth.  It may not sink in right away, but it will eventually.