Structure & Authority
“I think - I may be wrong - that [God] wants a loose network of independent pockets
of Resistance, gathered around the Mass, freely contacting one another, but with no
structure of false obedience [i.e. no structure] such as served to sink the mainstream
Church in the 1960’s, and is now sinking the Society of St Pius X.”
- Eleison Comments 277
“It is not clear that the present need is to rebuild a classic Congregation or Seminary.
Both may be somehow out-dated.”
- Eleison Comments 278
“But God is God, and for the salvation of souls tomorrow it may be that he will no
longer resort to the classical congregation or seminary of yesterday.”
- Ibid.
“Again I am being urged by a valiant participant in today’s Catholic “Resistance” to put
myself at the head of it. … But God gave the dying breath of true Church authority to
Archbishop Lefebvre… ‘The wide diversity of opinion amongst Resistance priests
confuses the laity.’ But to control opinions requires authority (see above). ... ‘There is
no Church without a head or hierarchy. God wants us organized.’ Normally indeed
there is no Church without head or hierarchy, but modern man has created an abnormal
situation.”
- Eleison Comments 311
“Don’t be under any illusion: it’s not going to be me who puts together a new SSPX.
No way! The time for that is over. Put away your toys everybody and get with it. Grow
up! ”
- St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada, 5th Nov. 2014
“I envisage [myself as] being little more than father, adviser and friend for any souls
calling for a bishop’s leadership and support.”
- Eleison Comments 307
“Even if all the laity want to obey me, even if all the priests want to obey me … I
don’t have authority. I cannot have authority. Friendship, advice, contact, support: no
problem. Authority: problem. Can you imagine that commanding resistant priests is
like herding cats, can you imagine? In which case, is it worth trying if it is bound to
fail?”
- June 2014, Post Falls, Idaho USA
“In the early 21st century there seems to me to be just not enough Catholic straw left
to make a Catholic brick like the SSPX of the late 20th century.”
- Eleison Comments 311
“Dear Father, thank you for this email, as for the letter of attestation which arrived
separately and which I have read. […] I do sympathise with your desire to have
Boniface ordained, but into what structure would he be incorporated? […] In Latin
they say nobody is bound to do the impossible – nemo ad impossibile tenetur. In
today’s situation it may be impossible for you or for him to do more than you are
already doing. Patience. … For myself I am already very busy, probably too busy,
distracted by the chaos. I honestly do not see my way to extending my apostolate to
Nigeria. I am very sorry if this disappoints you…”
- Reply to Fr. John Bosco Ohadugha, 27th Jan. 2016
“Without the Pope you can't be Catholic in any way. ... In our time, authority is dis-
solved. So, to structure a resistance with authority and obedience and superiors, don’t
hope for it. … The time for structures is past. What, what's he saying? The time for
structures is yesterday!”
- Consecration sermon in Brazil, 19th March, 2016
“Today the situation is so bad that I don’t think a structure or organisation, I, my
opinion is that a structure or an organisation can’t be put together. It’s too late.”
- Sermon in St Paul, Minnesota, USA 25th May, 2016
“The resistant groups, the resistants - a - n - t - s - and I very much prefer the expres-
sion ‘resistants’ to the expression ‘resistance’ … I very much believe in the resistants,
I’m not sure I believe in the Resistance.”
- June 2014, Post Falls, Idaho
“[Question:] Something is bothering me. On [the website] ‘Non Possumus,’ it was
announced that Mons. Faure, has founded a congregation. You, however, had said at
the episcopal consecration of Dom Tomas, that that was not the intention. For no one
in the resistance has ordinary jurisdiction which diocesan bishops have.
[Bishop Williamson:] For myself I have until now thought that a new Congregation
was neither necessary, nor probably possible. But [Bishop Faure and his seminary]…
needed, sooner or later, a structure to belong to. It is in fact sooner, i.e. now, rather
than later, because a rival structure was coming on the scene...”
- Interview with Radio Cristianidad, 12th Sept, 2016
2. Trad- Religious Liberty
“At present I am more and more disinclined to impose even a true viewpoint on
anybody.”
- Eleison Comments 420
“The essential principle is: do whatever you need to do to keep the Faith. ... You must
work it out for yourselves. Any other question?”
- Mahopac, New York, 28th June, 2015
“We are not converting the [conciliar] church, we are not converting the Society. It’s
beyond us. … If nobody is interested in us, that’s not a bad thing. … And so I don’t
think we need to be too concerned to bring souls towards us because people just don't
understand today. They don’t have ears to hear.”
- Banquet speech after consecration, Vienna Virginia, May 2017
“I do not say to everybody inside the Novus Ordo, priests and laity, I don’t say:
‘You’ve got to get out!’ ”
- St. Catherine’s, Ontario, 5th November 2014
“Therefore, it seems to me, if James is convinced that to save his soul he must stay in
the Newchurch, I need not hammer him to get out of it. If Clare is persuaded that there
is no grave problem within the Society of St. Pius X, I need not ram down her throat
why there is. And if John can see no way to keep the Faith without believing that
the See of Rome is vacant, I need urge upon him no more than that that belief is not
obligatory.”
- Eleison Comments 348
“While the new religion is false, it’s dangerous, it strangles grace and it’s helping many
people to lose the Faith: at the same time, there are still cases where it can be used and
is used still to build the Faith.”
- Mahopac, New York, 28th June, 2015
“Therefore I will not say every single person must stay away from every single Novus
Ordo Mass. If they can trust their own judgement that attending this [Novus Ordo]
Mass will do more good than harm spiritually... [shrug] ...The rule of thumb is and will
remain: stay away from the Novus Ordo Mass. But, exceptionally - the wise thing
would probably be to say in private to this or that person, but here I am saying it in
public, that may be foolish …”
- Mahopac, New York, 28th June, 2015
“[Question:] Regarding the poem ‘Man of God’ [sic], it’s on the Index or forbidden.
What is the explanation for that?
[Bishop Williamson:] My answer is that in the 1950s, the officials in Rome were
already close to Vatican II. That’s my answer. I’ve not studied that question. […] And I
think the devil was in the Holy Office at that time. It says that the story is romanced,
that’s one thing that the Holy Office says. I don’t find that the case. […] I read it and I
don’t bother too much about - I don’t know all the background details. I get so much
out of it myself that I’m not worried about it, you know.”
- Emmett, Kansas, 26th May, 2016
3. Trad- Ecuмenism
“Therefore, in my opinion, be content to attend the least contaminated Tridentine
Mass that there is anywhere near you.”
- Eleison Comments 505
“My dear friends, dear Fr. Zendejas, It’s a great pleasure to be back in Louisville, to
be able to bring you the sacrament of confirmation. I think Fr. Bitzer is still sane and I
think he thinks I’m still sane...” [N.B. Fr. Bitzer’s chapel is Feeneyite]
- Louisville, Kentucky, 25th May, 2016
“You’ve got to do what you can. God doesn’t ask the impossible. He does ask the
possible. The sedevacantist Mass is available. It’s close enough, and so - is it a devout
priest? Is he a raving madman? Does he have the Faith? Sedevacantism is dangerous.
But if there’s no other Mass available, I wouldn’t exclude attending it.”
- Houston, Texas, 25th Sept, 2016
“[Sedevacantism] is dangerous precisely because it can be the beginning of a slide
towards losing the Faith. … Now if a Catholic needs to hold that opinion in order not
to lose his Catholic Faith, let him hold it.”
- Eleison Comments 417
“Thus one reader of these ‘Comments’ was surprised to see them (August 5) referring
to ‘Holy Russia,’ when since 1917 it is Russia that has been spreading its errors
throughout the world. But ‘Holy Russia’ is an expression that goes much further back
than the 20th century. It refers to the Russian people’s natural inclination to reli-
gion.” [N.B. ‘Holy Russia’ is an exclusively Russian Orthodox title, never been used by the
Catholic Church.]
- Eleison Comments 535
“Some experts in the perfidy of the nєω ωσrℓ∂ σr∂єr are still distrustful of Vladimir
Putin, which is understandable, but as Americans say, if he talks, walks and quacks
like a follower of Christ, then common sense says that he is a follower of Christ.”
- Ibid.
“Without the moral values that are rooted in Christianity and other world religions,
without rules and moral values that have been formed and developed over thousands
of years, people inevitably lose their human dignity.”
- Ibid.
“If I look behind me, the line is fairly straight that’s brought us to where we are today.
To be a Catholic rather than a non-Catholic because a Catholic has a much better
chance of getting to heaven.”
- Banquet speech after consecration, Vienna Virginia, May 2017
“May God bless Bishop Zendejas. May God bless all Catholics in whatever part of the
church who are keeping the faith despite everything. Not only inside Tradition. Let us
not believe that tradition has a monopoly on Catholicism. Catholicism is much, much
more than the dear movement of tradition of today. May our Lady look after all Cath-
olics in whatever part of the church they are found.”
- Sermon at the consecration of Bishop Zendejas, Vienna Virginia, May 2017
“Surely resistant Catholics, inside or outside of Tradition, have to take into account the
many consequences of this split between Truth and Authority…”
- Eleison Comments 455
“You know, I mean Heaven has got all these souls to look after and try to get to heav-
en, not just those souls who make their way to Tradition.”
- Veneta, Oregon, 29th Sept, 2016
“The recommendation to look around you inside the Novus Ordo church for people or
occasionally churches where you might dare to practising confession or communion,
that is not one hundred per cent, that’s dependent upon the degree of sin raging in the
diocese around you, in the poor churchmen. Even with the Novus Ordo churchmen one
may have certain compassion. Not with the villains who know exactly what they’re
doing in destroying the church, but the mass of - because the priests have been misled
as well, for goodness sakes, and the bishops have been misled.”
- Livestream interview with Friends of Aquinas, 4th August, 2022
“Dear young friend, Congratulations on having received from God important graces of
conversion […] By all means meet a variety of Catholic priests and learn from each of
them, but not to the point where you would get confused. Visit communities, and stay
as long as you are welcome in any surroundings where you find God.”
- Eleison Comments 608
“When it comes to apparitions and messages supposedly coming from Heaven, to be
prudent is certainly wise … But one can be excessively prudent, especially when the
normal Church Authority is itself in confusion. … Let us give to a series of recent
Messages coming from backwoods Texas, USA, a hearing. … The little Catholic
centre in Texas receiving these Messages has its own website – look up ‘Mission of
Divine Mercy.’ ”
- Eleison Comments 875
4. The New Mass
“There are cases where even the Novus Ordo Mass can be attended with an effect of
building one’s Faith instead of losing it. … Be very careful with the Novus Ordo …
But, exceptionally, if you’re watching and praying, even there you may find the grace
of God. If you do, make use of it in order to sanctify your soul.”
- Mahopac, New York, 28th June, 2015
“Therefore I will not say every single person must stay away from every single Novus
Ordo Mass. If they can trust their own judgement that attending this Mass will do more
good than harm spiritually.”
- Ibid.
“Doctrinally, the Novus Ordo Mass is ambiguous, poised between the religion of God
and the Conciliar religion of man. Now in matters of faith, ambiguity is deadly, being
normally designed to undermine the Faith, as the Novus Ordo Mass frequently does.
But as ambiguity is precisely open to two interpretations, so the Novus Ordo Mass does
not absolutely exclude the old religion.”
- Eleison Comments 437
“However, these [Novus Ordo] miracles – always assuming they are authentic – have
lessons also for the Catholics of Tradition … ”
- Eleison Comments 438
“As an essential part of the subjective and ambiguous religion, the Novus Ordo Mass
can be what you make of it. A priest can celebrate it decently, a Catholic can attend it
devoutly.”
- Eleison Comments 447
“[Question]: Then, does it mean that those knowing what they know, such as the souls
here could go to that [Novus Ordo Mass] and expect to receive grace?
[Bishop Williamson]: If anybody here who knows what the Novus Ordo means went
back to the Novus Ordo - pffff! - then [*pause*] - why would they want to go back?
[*laughter*] Well, it’s, I would - they can receive grace. But they have to judge the
priest…”
- Emmet Kansas, 18th Sept. 2016
“You know, I mean Heaven has got all these souls to look after and try to get to
heaven, not just those souls who make their way to Tradition.”
- Veneta, Oregon, 19th Sept. 2016
“A Mass which clearly pushes towards liberalism, like many Novus Ordo Masses,
those you can’t attend.”
- Houston, Texas, 25th September, 2016
“But don’t say that there’s no good in it at all and that there can be no grace passed
attending the Novus Ordo Mass.”
- Emmett Kansas, 18th Sept, 2016
“But, you know, that doesn’t mean that everything in the Novus Ordo is black. So
when you say, ‘What am I going to do?’ and here again many of my colleagues could
say I’m being far too soft on the Novus Ordo … if you look somewhere in your area,
within reach of your car’s petrol tank, your gasoline tank, you will find, somewhere,
you will find a decent Novus Ordo priest who is just waiting to hear properly a young
man’s confession in order to give him back the state of grace. Which is his business as
a priest. And he knows it. And I don’t believe that there are no priests in the Novus
Ordo, in the Novus Ordo church who understand this. I believe there are some who
do understand it and who still want to practice as good priests. Now, they’re forced to
celebrate the New Mass. ”
- Livestream interview with Friends of Aquinas, 4th August, 2022
“You ask me the practical question: how can I go to confession, how can I go to
communion … Now you say that the Novus Ordo is all completely gone and rotten. I
understand and you can’t afford to eat a half-poisoned cake. I understand. But if the
cake is half-poisoned then there’s half of it that isn’t poisoned. … I’m obviously not
pushing the new religion. … And have you got to stay away from every anything
that’s got anything to do with the Novus Ordo? My answer to that absolute question
is: no. You don’t have to stay absolutely away.”
- Livestream interview with Friends of Aquinas, 4th August, 2022
“I’m sure you ask yourselves ‘What kind of word are my children going to have to
grow up in? How are they going to keep the Faith?’ Very good questions. By prayer
and Charity and by frequenting the sacraments, so long as they are still available, so
long as it’s at all still possible to reach the sacraments. And some Novus - I’ve got into
quite a lot of controversy for saying this, but it’s true - there is no question that some
Novus Ordo Masses are valid. And if they’re valid, then it’s defined by the Council of
Trent that grace passes, “ex opere operato” is the strict phrase. And you and I have no
right before God to look down our noses and to write off these Catholics as though
they’re just trash.”
- Vienna, Virginia, 20th May, 2016
Topic: Some interesting quotes (Read 630 times)