Parishioner: Can I go to [the chapel served by Fr. Zendejas].
Fr. Zigrang: I do not recommend it.

Parishioner didn't get a reason, but neither did he ask for one.

Then I wrote to Fr. Zigrang himself to get to the bottom of this.

-------- Original message --------
From: Matthew
Date:08/04/2015 4:29 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: Fr. Zigrang
Subject: Question


Father,

Is it true that you told at least one St. Joseph's parishioner that you
"do not recommend" they go to [Fr. Zendejas' chapel] here in Seguin?

If so, why?

Sincerely,
Matthew

Then he wrote back:

Dear Matthew,
If I said that I'm sure I followed with, "It's a free country and people will go where they want."
God bless you.
Fr Zigrang
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

His response was disappointing. He didn't answer my question "why" at all. He didn't say, "Traditional Catholics are free to avail themselves of whatever lifeboat they feel is best equipped to preserve their Faith in this Crisis in the Church." or something along those lines. That would have been the truth, a proper Catholic attitude, and admirable.

He basically said "Well, everyone has Free Will. I can't stop ya." which is what he might say if a parishioner told him, "Father, I'm going to become a Lutheran", "Father, I don't feel the Mass is for me. I will stop going." or "Father, I'm going back to the Novus Ordo."

Evoking America's freedoms (to do good or evil) or the physical freedom God gives us (via Free Will) to choose good or evil is not exactly endorsing a course of action!


Next, the coordinator in Houston said that Fr. Zigrang recently preached against Fr. Zendejas' apostolate in Houston and/or San Antonio. I haven't verified this, so take it for what it's worth.

Fr. Zigrang is being transferred to Spring, TX in 1 week. He used to be amenable or at least tolerant of the Resistance. The new priest (emphasis on the "new") will be Fr. Chavarria, who will be flying out of Phoenix, AZ every Sunday to serve the San Antonio chapel. Talk about a downgrade for the SSPX chapel in San Antonio! They used to have a priest within 3.5 hours' driving distance.

I "can't wait" to see what this neo-SSPX priest is going to say when he gets here. Of course, the Resistance in San Antonio is very, very small. But everyone knows about it. Many at the chapel there get the weekly bulletins I send out. No one unsubscribes, but no one comes here either.

And the last thing I wanted to mention -- if anyone dares show their face at the SSPX chapel after coming here once or twice, they get "the business" from various parishioners. Again, we only got 2 poor families from that chapel coming here. What do they care? But they put all kinds of pressure/questions on them nevertheless.

It's having another option that bothers some of them. It prevents bullying, and breaks the monopoly that the SSPX would like to have. Plus, the thought of losing ANY of their precious money is intolerable to the SSPX superiors. They are acting like they are the Church, and we are a breakaway schismatic sect. Ridiculous!

Just remember: Joe Catholic could be organizing a Tridentine Mass in a shed with 5 people and a valid priest, and he'd be in the same fundamental situation as the SSPX chapel in San Antonio. No difference in essentials; just some differences in accidentals (bank account balance, # of parishioners, equipment, location, etc.)

It doesn't matter if the SSPX lifeboat has 8 rooms, a huge cargo hold full of food, GPS, and a backup generator. It's still fundamentally a lifeboat. Still operating on supplied jurisdiction from the Church, coming from the needs and requests of the Faithful. Just like that monthly Mass being said by that independent priest in a hotel room.

You don't get magic jurisdiction or extra legitimacy after being in business for 10 years, getting your 200th parishioner, or reaching $200,000 in your bank account. You also don't get "dibs" by being first, or first in a given area. This isn't a youtube video. Besides, commenting "FIRST!!1!!!!!1" on a youtube video is rather childish...

It would seem that things are heating up in Texas -- and I'm not talking about the 103 degree high temperatures we're getting.

It always seems like people give Fr. Zendejas more guff than most others out there. I've never met a trad who met him and didn't like him. Politics I guess!