Fr Pfeiffer's sermon today makes an interesting comment regarding SSPX priestly reaction to the leaked doctrinal preamble.  

He is talking about 5 groups/kinds of sinners, and how in the end times, there will be very few who even want to know the truth.

That people will not want to inconvenience themselves or obligate themselves by knowing the truth or speaking the truth.

He then relates how, within the SSPX, most priests will not even read the leaked Preamble.

The implication being that they do not want to know the truth because acknowledging and acting upon it would have consequences that would inconvenience them materially, socially, and spiritually.

On a side note, I just had dinner with an SSPX priest yesterday and the subject came up.

He said that most SSPX priests are not on the Internet, and are simply waiting for the Cor Unum to come out in a couple weeks, which will address the issue.

The point: it could be as Fr Pfeiffer says, or, it could be as this other priest says.  

I suspect it is a little of both.

FWIW...

Good point.

How can you give up TV *and* Internet in this day and age?

How will you keep up with the world?

Now stop and think about it. This is a trick question.

You might be tempted to say, "People got by just fine in the 1920's before TV and Internet existed." but I would counter, "But that was the 1920s, when people actually talked about real issues, sat on front porches (which existed then) and local communities did a better job of keeping the local population informed.

The newspapers weren't useless back then like they are today. Today they're extremely superficial.

Just like you can't live in the south without air conditioning TODAY unless you have a house built before A/C was invented. Today, they build houses differently, with A/C in mind. They're COUNTING ON YOU turning on the central air.

Likewise, this isn't 1920. A priest isn't going to stay informed by talking with parishioners he meets on the street -- people don't walk anywhere these days! There are no front porches, no home visits. It's a different world now.

We have to be wise IN OUR OWN AGE and distinguish God's will for us IN THIS AGE. We are not meant to re-create 1870's France.

Internet addiction counselors also advise good monitoring software like Net Nanny even if there is no specific impurity problem.  It just creates accountability and you can restrict usage to specific time blocks or number of hours per day, in addition to limiting which websites can be viewed.  It can also mask photos and profane language.  

Other content blockers like Web Watchers record keystrokes.  

Those are good ideas.


Speaking of "dangers on the Internet", I'd like to bring up a point that shouldn't be overlooked.

The Internet can bring problems into anyone's life, for example into a marriage. There are millions of people on the Internet, many of whom can be brought over into the "real world" easily enough.

But I'd like to make 2 points.

1. The Internet isn't the source of Original Sin -- all evil doesn't come from the Internet
2. The REAL problem is often present *before* the husband or wife start looking up old flames on Facebook.

I've known several trad Catholic families *personally* who have had serious marital problems. The Internet only played a "minor" role, and sometimes a non-existent role, in these disasters.

Once a spouse is dissatisfied with the marriage, it's "all over" as they say. When I say "all over", I mean you already have a problem, full stop. All it takes at that point is meeting the right person to have the whole mess erupt into full-fledged adultery. I know one case where the "replacement husband" was found at a local Traditional chapel! No Internet required.

True, the Internet is a convenient source, and many marriages have temporary problems and you wouldn't want them tempted DURING one of those down periods (or "big arguments", "periods of depression", etc.). It gives a lot of opportunity which wouldn't otherwise exist.

I'm just saying -- take care of any problems/dissatisfaction as it arises, and you could theoretically let your wife have her own private PC that you never look at, in a private, soundproof office you never enter. With a webcam attached. (That wouldn't be prudent, though, but I'm just making a point)

And don't think that avoiding the Internet entirely means that Original Sin won't enter your house. Such people often neglect their marriage, and you're just creating a train wreck waiting to happen. Like I said, even without the Internet, a depressed, desperate wife will find solace with a neighbor, fellow parishioner, etc.

Fr. Pfeiffer's Sermon

Fr Pfeiffer's sermon today makes an interesting comment regarding SSPX priestly reaction to the leaked doctrinal preamble.  

I had just listened to the sermon before I read this thread, and it's a thing
that I can't ignore:  in the whole sermon, this subject you allude to in minute
22 is the most prominent thing to me as well.  I do not know if this will be
the case in later months or years, but for now, this is the key point of interest.

And not that other things in the sermon are useless or uninteresting.  For the
greater theme is the 5 kinds or categories of people who hear the word of
God.  Each category is important, because each of us can spend time in each
of the 5 categories, and by being aware of them, we will be more capable of
discerning our own particular state at the present time, even in years to
come.  So this is really an important lesson to take in and memorize.  





Curiously, it is only the people who would be in CATEGORY FIVE who will be
ready, willing and able to take in the lesson and memorize it!  But he does
not explain that in the sermon!  It is up to US to figure it out.

He is talking about 5 groups/kinds of sinners, and how in the end times, there will be very few who even want to know the truth.

That people will not want to inconvenience themselves or obligate themselves by knowing the truth or speaking the truth.

He then relates how, within the SSPX, most priests will not even read the leaked Preamble.

The implication being that they do not want to know the truth because acknowledging and acting upon it would have consequences that would inconvenience them materially, socially, and spiritually.

On a side note, I just had dinner with an SSPX priest yesterday and the subject came up.

He said that most SSPX priests are not on the Internet, and are simply waiting for the Cor Unum to come out in a couple weeks, which will address the issue.

The point: it could be as Fr Pfeiffer says, or, it could be as this other priest says.  

I suspect it is a little of both.

FWIW...

This is very interesting, Seraphim.  

I find it rather difficult to believe that there are so many priests in the SSPX
who are not on the Internet.  I only know one priest (not SSPX) who has no
use of Internet, by choice.  He used to use it a lot, but he got to a point where
he had to abandon it because it was using up too much of his time and he
was being accused by people for "not getting their message" they sent by
e-mail, and that kind of thing.  So he got rid of his computer and email account.

He would have a hard time keeping a free checking account today when
every bank (practically) requires one online bill pay every month or else you
get a $10 service charge on your checking account.

Now, for the SSPX to ensure that the Cor Unum, the "interior bulletin" of the
Society, does not get distributed over the Internet, they would have to make
each copy of the Cor Unum different, such that each priest gets a different
version of it, and that way, when one shows up on the Internet, they'll be
able to look at it and see the ID of the priest to whom it had been sent.  They
could use things like several typos, or subtle changes in the order of words
in a sentence, or leaving out a word that doesn't change any content, or putting
an extra word in that doesn't change the meaning.  


Pretty slick, eh???


So, any Society priest who wants to share his Cor Unum, take note:  

~  Do not scan your copy, because you will be sharing your ID with Menzingen.

~  Type the whole thing all over into a Word file and share it as a PDF, so then
nobody will be able to change it, which could give you problems if they did.

~  When you type it, make corrections in any obvious typos, and that will have
the effect of giving you credibility with your friends who know you and it will
confuse Menzingen because their coded typos will be missing.

~  When you type it, put in one or two of your own changes, such as removing
one word that has no importance, or adding one word that changes nothing.  
This will confuse Menzingen as well.

~  If there are any curious punctuation marks like extra periods or colons or
semicolons or commas like this,,,,,,, after a paragraph, definitely delete those.
Also, they might be at the bottom of the page or even at the top, or after the
title block on the top, or just anywhere.  Those would show up in a scanned
copy, but you are eliminating them in your re-typed version.

Good heavens, what would you say the average age of the SSPX priesthood is??

"Not on the internet"?!

I know the internet can be fraught with spiritual peril but it is also a valuable communications and information dissemination tool (CI, for example)

It reminds me of a 'Conservative' NO order that was destroyed by scandal call the Legion of Christ. I met some of their priests: some of the nicest, most sincere men you'd want to meet, and I heard their consecrated women were equally authentic, but they didn't know until the world had literally completely crashed around them, and for months after received a dribbble of the available information about the scope and magnitude of the problem.

Because they couldn't watch TV, they couldn't use the internet, etc. Their hierarchy made such rules explicit, and it becomes clear why they made them.

It is better known as one of the ERRORS OF RUSSIA:  keep them dumbed-down.

Useful Idiots are not very useful if they are informed, because then they're
not idiots.

In North Korea outside information is contraband, and you can go to prison for
obtaining NOT APPROVED information.  

In Communist Russia the main newspaper of propaganda is "The Truth" (Pravda
means the truth in Russian).  

Red China, Castro's Cuba, Venezuela - they all have their propaganda organs.

In the USA it's the MSM.

And they want to get control of the Internet, too, because that's the one place
where the truth is not censored -- YET.   Stay tuned!  


Post

Good point.

How can you give up TV *and* Internet in this day and age?

How will you keep up with the world?

Now stop and think about it. This is a trick question.

You might be tempted to say, "People got by just fine in the 1920's before TV and Internet existed." but I would counter, "But that was the 1920s, when people actually talked about real issues, sat on front porches (which existed then) and local communities did a better job of keeping the local population informed.

The newspapers weren't useless back then like they are today. Today they're extremely superficial.

IMHO it's a two-way street.  People are more and more superficial today as
well!  "Most people are superficial."  (Very intuitive quote from Brother Francis.)
It is rare to find anyone willing to study the perennial philosophy of the
Catholic Church anymore, and it is even MORE rare to find anyone who has
attained great proficiency with it.  The Society USED to do a very good job
of teaching St. Thomas and the Doctors of the Church, but that is quickly
waning today, as the froggie is warmed and warmed.

So the newspapers are superficial because that's the copy that sells to people
who are superficial, and people become more superficial because they are
daily reading newspapers that are superficial.  They affect each other.  And
they effect the superficiality of each other.

Just like you can't live in the south without air conditioning TODAY unless you have a house built before A/C was invented. Today, they build houses differently, with A/C in mind. They're COUNTING ON YOU turning on the central air.

Likewise, this isn't 1920. A priest isn't going to stay informed by talking with parishioners he meets on the street -- people don't walk anywhere these days! There are no front porches, no home visits. It's a different world now.

"Different world" is an understatement.  Watch out for old ladies with cell phones.
They see something they don't understand and they immediately presume the
worst, and they call an 800 number to report a crime or they just call 911.  Then
the Sheriff shows up, or the police, or the paramedics or the fire department.  

In this case, it would be the police, because the nosy old woman would be
calling 911 reporting a child molesting priest who is trying to "pick up" someone
on the street because he's talking to her, or him -- talking with parishioners he meets on the street -- because, everyone knows, all Catholic priests are
child molesters!  That's the MSM doctrine, outside of which there is no
salvation!!

We have to be wise IN OUR OWN AGE and distinguish God's will for us IN THIS AGE. We are not meant to re-create 1870's France.

Very true!!