I was just told that the two beautiful lighted statues of angels were sent/sold (?) to a novus ordo parish in Phoenix, St. Catherine of Sienna.  I heard they were repainted, which would have been totally unnecessary as they were beautiful as is.

Such a sorry state of affairs here in AZ.

I was just told that the two beautiful lighted statues of angels were sent/sold (?) to a novus ordo parish in Phoenix, St. Catherine of Sienna.  I heard they were repainted, which would have been totally unnecessary as they were beautiful as is.

Such a sorry state of affairs here in AZ.

The SSPX has gone so far downhill.

Everywhere you look, in so many ways. Shrinking congregations, neglect of some buildings, while building monuments elsewhere.

But what other fruit could you expect, considering the Superior General and his cabal is set on betraying the mission of Archbishop Lefebvre, and trying to ѕυιcιdє the whole position?

Fortunately, the position isn't his to wipe out or destroy. The old SSPX position -- being pure, faithful Catholicism and all -- *will* continue, only now it's called the Resistance.

While Archbishop Lefebvre has gone on to his eternal reward (in heaven), we have one successor who has the same spirit: Bishop Williamson.

How many times does it turn out that your first choice turned out to be the right one? That sure applies to this case. I think that first choice was the suggestion of the Holy Ghost (to whose influence the Archbishop was most docile), but I don't know about the other 3. Perhaps they were more human choices.

Actually, all evidence points to the fact that the 4th choice for bishop (Fr. Bernard Fellay) was the most human choice of them all. Certain Swiss benefactors wanted a Swiss national to be among the 4 bishops to be consecrated. Bishop Fellay added no new languages to the mix, and he was the only one without pastoral experience -- he was a Bursar, an administrator, a bean counter. He was also the youngest by far, only 30 years old.

Our Lord chose 12 Apostles, and one of them was Judas. God's ways are inscrutable. "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor?"

But Our Lord didn't choose Judas first. :)

Among the 12 Apostles, Judas was the Bursar. Do you know what other famous bishop in the SSPX was Bursar?

But what other fruit could you expect, considering the Superior General and his cabal is set on betraying the mission of Archbishop Lefebvre, and trying to ѕυιcιdє the whole position?

The Superior General and the other bishops (including maybe Bishop Williamson) let power go to their heads when they began granting annulments themselves. From there on they were cursed. They have no authority to grant annulments. Mark the day they began granting annulments and you will see it was downhill from there.

Quote from: Matthew

But what other fruit could you expect, considering the Superior General and his cabal is set on betraying the mission of Archbishop Lefebvre, and trying to ѕυιcιdє the whole position?

The Superior General and the other bishops (including maybe Bishop Williamson) let power go to their heads when they began granting annulments themselves. From there on they were cursed. They have no authority to grant annulments. Mark the day they began granting annulments and you will see it was downhill from there.

That's an interesting observation. The Archbishop always opposed this idea and considered it schismatic since it reeks of creating a parallel church which the Archbishop was at pains to point out he had no intention of doing at the consecration sermon in 1988.

I see a kind of irony in this: 1st the moment the Archbishop was buried they started their commissions for everything under the sun which the Archbishop opposed because of the danger of the appearance of "schism" yet 10 years later (2000 - 2001 Year of the Jubilee) they begin to be reeled in by Card. Castrillon and it's been accelerating ever since.

I think, though, the answer is much more simple: the Archbishop was a Churchman and was attracted to the Rome of Faith but repelled by the Rome of the Council. His head told him the Council was at 1st questionable and later not Catholic, but his heart longed for the Rome of Faith. I think to some degree we all wrestle with this quandary and we solve it in different ways - more or less satisfactorily.

Quote from: curioustrad

------I think, though, the answer is much more simple: the Archbishop was a Churchman and was attracted to the Rome of Faith but repelled by the Rome of the Council. His head told him the Council was at 1st questionable and later not Catholic, but his heart longed for the Rome of Faith-----

So he thought that the Romans are only part-time apostates, there being such a thing as Part Time Apostasy?

No - he recognized the problem - desperately wanted the problem to be resolved - but recognized they held the offices they held. Michael Davies has the account of the audience with Paul VI where  he told the Pope that he did not encourage his seminarians to hate the Pope neither did he wish to be the Pope, but he reminded the Pope that one word from him (Paul VI) and everything would be as it was. Paul VI gave a  noncommittal reply.