Sean wrote in with a response to Henry04's rebuttal:
It was brought to my attention that someone posting as "Henry04" claimed to rebut two items in my article:
Firstly, it is claimed that Archbishop Lefebvre's 1990 comments (during his address to priests at Econe) disprove my contention that the Archbishop changed his prudential precondition for the acceptance of a practical accord after the 1988 episcopal consecrations, to the conversion of Rome.
Secondly, it is claimed that it would be impossible (or at least too vague a criteria) to know of what any such "conversion of Rome" would consist.
I would like to offer a couple comments on these rebuttals:
1) Firstly, I find the "blind spots" quite interesting, as the entire article Henry04 quotes from stands as a giant-sized indictment of Bishop Fellay's current orientation, highlighting the blatant contradictions in policy between Archbishop Lefebvre and neo-Menzingen. One would have thought that this article would have been avoided like the plague, by one trying to demonstrate a consistency between the policy of Archbishop Lefebvre and neo-Menzingen.
I encourage all CI readers to read it in entirety here:
http://archives.sspx.org/archbishop_lefebvre/two_years_after_the_consecrations.htm 2) Secondly, regarding the following quote from this article which Henry04 thinks refutes my claim that Archbishop Lefebvre refused to entertain a practical accord after 1988 (and which he also cites Bishop Williamson as supporting):
"Someone was saying to me yesterday, "But what if Rome accepted your bishops and then you were completely exempted from the other bishops' jurisdiction?" But firstly, they are a long way right now from accepting any such thing, and then, let them first make us such an offer! But I do not think they are anywhere near doing so."
Incidentally, Fr. Daniel Themann offered this same rebuttal in private correspondence a couple years ago.
Comments:
A) Archbishop Lefebvre is clearly dismissive of the idea. Note the incredulity regarding the suggestion, indicated by the exclamation mark after the words, "let them first make us such an offer!"
B) In other words, the Archbishop is not indicating his openness to the possibility (however far-fetched it seemed at the time), but rather expressing his astonishment, contempt, and dismissal of the idea (i.e., "Well first...).
C) The correctness of this interpretation is corroborated not only by the 1988 and 1991 Fideliter quotes provided in the original post, but also from quotes within this very address Henry04 is quoting from:
In all three accounts, the Archbishop makes it plain there can be no deal with unconverted Rome (Including this one from the article cited):
"I received a few weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago, yet another telephone call from Cardinal Oddi:
'Well Excellency, is there no way to arrange things, no way [i.e., practical accord]? I replied, 'You must change, come back to Tradition. It is not a question of the liturgy, it is a question of the Faith.'"
So much for Archbishop Lefebvre's alleged willingness to accept a practical accord in 1990.
3) Regarding Henry04's second objection (i.e., that it is not possible to judge when Rome will have returned to tradition sufficiently to declare that Rome has converted):
Firstly, perhaps unwittingly, Henry04 is indicting Archbishop Lefebvre with imprudence for having set a benchmark or standard which can never be measured or ascertained.
Secondly, in all three articles (i.e., The two Fideliter articles from the original past, as well as the article cited above, which Henry04 is citing from), it is pretty clear that in Archbishop Lefebvre's estimation, the conversion of Rome entails it's movement away from the doctrines of Vatican II.
For example, in the 1988 Fideliter interview:
"If you do not accept the doctrine of your predecessors, it is useless to talk! As long as you do not accept the correction of the Council, in consideration of the doctrine of these Popes, your predecessors, no dialogue is possible. It is useless.”
And again in the 1991 Fideliter interview:
"All the false ideas of the Council continue to develop, to be reaffirmed with ever greater clarity. They are hiding less and less. It is absolutely inconceivable that we can agree to work with such a hierarchy."
And finally, in the 1990 Address to Priests cited by Henry04:
"Hence, we should have no hesitation or fear, hesitation such as, "Why should we be going on our own? After all, why not join Rome, why not join the pope?" Yes, if Rome and the Pope were in line with Tradition, if they were carrying on the work of all the Popes of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, of course. But they themselves admit that they have set out on a new path. They themselves admit that a new era began with Vatican II. They admit that it is a new stage in the Church's life, wholly new, based on new principles. We need not argue the point.
and a couple sentences later:
"We must choose, as I said to Pope Paul VI: "We have to choose between you and the Council on one side, and your predecessors on the other; either with your predecessors who stated the Church's teaching, or with the novelties of Vatican II." (Citation above)
Therefore, for Henry04 to attempt to introduce some kind of vaguery into the question as to what constitutes "the conversion of Rome" strikes me a disingenuous, in light of the consistent post-1988 position of Archbishop Lefebvre:
When Rome corrects Vatican II in light of tradition (and not according to the bogus hermeneutic of continuity), Rome will have converted.
This was the mind of Archbishop Lefebvre, per the quotes and articles above.
So why is Menzingen departing from this path?
Because they have lost supernatural faith in the eventual restoration of the Church. This is what lies beneath all the shenanigans, and their working toward a practical accord (or more likely, a so-called "unilateral recognition" after sufficient compromise has assured Rome of the SSPX's new found harmlessness).
But in pushing the pace ahead of Providence (which only 3 1/2 years ago rejected the last attempt at a naturalist solution), a chastisement of tradition, rather than a new springtime, will be the result.