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XI Sunday after Pentecost 9 August 2026
Authority and Truth

Epistle
I Corinthians 15, 1-10

    1 Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2 By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven. 6 Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 And last of all, he was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and his grace in me hath not been void, but I have laboured more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me.


Gospel
Mark 7, 31-37

    31 And again going out of the coasts of Tyre, he came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: 34 And looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened. 35 And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. 36 And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it.  37 And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
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    Today we read of Our Lord opening the ears and loosing the tongue of a deaf and dumb man. We use this ceremony in baptism. The new Church has rejected it and if you had the misfortune to be baptized in the Conciliar Church this ceremony was not done.

  The Conciliar Church, imitating the Lutheran heretics, claims that baptism, confirmation and first Communion are “initiation rites”. They are not for them sacraments instituted by Christ to give grace. Rather they are to make you full members of the “Christian community”. And they include in the “Christian community” many who do not have the Catholic Faith.

    In Catholic Baptism the priest performs this ceremony especially to open the ears of the new Catholic so that they may hear and embrace the Truth. Especially the supernatural truths of our Faith. That there is only one God. That there are Three Persons in God. That the Second Person became man. That He died for our sins. And rose from the dead. And that He will come to judge the living and the dead. And the other truths of our Faith, which the baptized person has an obligation to learn and believe. This ceremony at baptism tunes our ears to hear and embrace the Truth and reject errors. Especially supernatural truths and religious errors.

  Ears are opened at Baptism so that they may hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
    1 Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.  2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.  4 And when he hath let out his own sheep, he goeth before them: and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. 5 But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers [John 10, 1-5].

  Our Lord established an authority in His Church to teach the Truths of our Faith. One division of Catholics is into the “teaching Church” and the “learning Church”. The teaching Church are the pope and bishops. The successors of St. Peter and of the Apostles. Everyone else is part of the learning Church. We must learn what is taught. The pope and bishops are obliged to teach what is contained in the deposit of Faith. The deposit of Faith is the Truths that Our Lord taught to the Apostles and commanded them to teach all nations. The Church has custody of these Truths. Everyone in the world is obliged to hear these truths. Those “who believe and are baptised will be saved. Those who refuse to believe will be condemned”.

    Since the Council the Pope and bishops have abused their authority and use it to teach errors and lies. They have embraced the evil spirit of our age and shut their hearts to the Holy Ghost. Thus authority and Truth, which should be united, are split. The holders of authority, the Pope and Bishops, abuse their authority. Instead of using it to teach what is in the “Deposit of Faith” they are teaching the lies of the wicked spirit of our age, and the wicked Spirit of the Council. This voice we must refuse to hear! Archbishop Lefebvre said “it was a master-stroke of Satan to get disobedience to all tradition by obedience”.

    The Conciliar Popes, Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis and now Leo XIV speak strange languages; foreign tongues. They speak the languages of the world, of the flesh, and of the devil. The Catholic sheep of the Good Shepherd do not understand these languages. They do not know these voices. They “fly from those speaking these languages.” Conciliar sheep follow these different voices. Their ears were not opened to hear only the voice of the Good Shepherd. One hears and follows one voice, another hears and follows a different voice. Those speaking these strange languages are all wolves! They are devouring the Sheep. They have snatched the Faith away from the vast majority of Catholics. They have forbade them to believe Truths. Recently Pope Leo forbade believing Truths believed by all the Sheep of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. He forbade belief in Our Lady Co-Redemptrix, and in Our Lady, Mediatrix of all Graces. Our Lord’s Sheep did not understand this prohibition and refuse to follow it.

    These wolves instead of teaching Catholic Truth are deceiving the sheep foolish enough to listen to them with new and strange and foreign errors. For example: that all men are saved, that the Church has “Sister Churches”, that the prayers of infidels and heretics have value and are heard by God, that men are free to choose which religion to believe, or if they don’t like any of them to invent their own religion as Protestants are wont to do. They do not fear to scandalize the children by not teaching them the catechism, the truths of faith, but rather teaching sinful behaviour, e.g., Yoga.

    Instead of being satisfied with the good, holy and effective Mass and Sacraments that were instituted by Our Lord they updated everything. They called in Liturgical “EXPERTS” to make Mass and Sacraments conform to the current zeitgeist, or we might say to the revolutionary zeitgeist of the 1960s and 70s. The world has moved on and the evil spirit of the 60s doesn’t appeal to 21st century sheep. It is not modern enough for them. Thus, the Churches are empty; the religious orders are dead; the seminaries are empty.

  They never explained what an expert is, or how one becomes an expert. These ‘experts’ were rationalists, rejecting the supernatural. They do not believe in miracles, the Sacrifice of the Mass,… They did not become experts by prayer, penance and mediation; the method followed by saints. They changed the rites of the Mass and all the Sacraments. Rite means the ritual you follow. In the Missal it is in red ink. What you say is in black; what you do is in red. They also changed the words used. They deleted much of the red and black ink and put in new red rites and new black words.

    This is a serious problem. Archbishop Lefebvre called these new rites “bastard rites”, products of the adulterous relation between the revolution and the Church. An important question: Are these the sacraments instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ? Is this Novus Ordo Missae the Mass Our Lord instituted? Pope Paul VI had the audacity to name his creation Novus Ordo Missae, meaning New Order of the Mass. The very name condemns it: If it is new it is not part of the Deposit of Faith coming from Our Lord. Vatican I which proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility qualified it’s teaching: "For the Holy Ghost was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles."

    Paul VI introduced a new Mass and new rites for all seven sacraments. Everyone knows from the catechism: A sacrament is an outward or sensible sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Only Our Lord can make a sacrament because He is the only one who can attach supernatural grace to an outward sign. Catholics have certainty that when this sign is made by a valid minister grace is infallibly given. Our Lord did not give to St. Peter and the Apostles the power to make a sacrament. He made seven sacraments. There are exactly seven sacraments and cannot be more nor less. Now when Paul VI changed the rites of the sacraments did he change the sign? If the sign Our Lord instituted is not there then this ceremony is not a sacrament. It does not give grace.

  That a pope would change the sacraments and the Mass is a Mystery of Iniquity.

  Valid means that it has an effect. After a valid rite of Baptism a baby no longer has original sin; he has the habitual virtue of faith; he is a child of God; he has a supernatural character or mark on his soul enabling him to receive the other sacraments; he is an heir of heaven.

Invalid means it had no effect. It was not a sacrament. After an invalid baptism he remains in Original Sin; he doesn’t have the baptismal character; he is not an heir of heaven. The false rite that he endured had no effect.

  Doubtful means we do not know. There is a doubt. This man suffered the new rite of Confirmation. Is he a confirmed Catholic? a soldier of Christ? We do not know. This man underwent the new rite of Holy Orders. Is he a priest? We don’t know. This doubt will not be resolved until some day the Catholic Church makes a decision.

  These rites are new, they are not part of the Deposit of Faith; they are different; they are strange. Are they the sacraments instituted by Christ? Is it a new sign or the sign instituted by Christ. The answer is WE DO NOT KNOW. There is a doubt about their validity.

  We are forbidden to receive doubtful sacraments. A doubtful priest is forbidden to say Mass or give the sacraments.

  In the 16th century Cranmer changed the rites of the sacraments and the Mass in the new heretical sect founded by King Henry VIII, called Anglican or The Church of England. The faithful knew they could not go to this new Mass or receive these new sacraments. There was much pressure to do so. People were fined for missing the Anglican Sunday Mass. St. Margaret Clitherow refused to go. Every Sunday her husband paid the fine for her. Were priests ordained in the Church of England real priests? No one knew. But Catholics knew that they could not receive sacraments from them. More than 300 hundred years later at the end of the 19th century Pope Leo XIII infallibly declared that Anglican Orders were invalid. Finally everyone knew these men were not priests. It helped them because now they knew they were not priests. Those with greater faith scrambled to be given valid orders. Many got them from the sect of Old Catholics.

  The only way the doubt of the validity of these new sacraments and the Novus Ordo Missae will be resolved is when the liberal modernist usurpers are run out of Rome and we get a Catholic Pope. He will be obliged to make a decision. Until then we must stay far away from that Mass and those sacraments. They are doubtful and we are forbidden to receive doubtful sacraments; forbidden to attend a doubtful Mass.

  The Conciliar Popes and Bishops abuse authority. They use it in a way that they are forbidden to use it. They use it to teach new doctrine, new rites and a new morality. This is why the Catholic Sheep cannot hear their voice! Cannot understand what they are saying. But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers. These popes and bishops are strangers. We do not follow them. We do not hear their voice. Canon Gregory Hesse tells us that Pope Pius IX when asked what should one do if the pope teaches something wrong, replied “don’t pay any attention to him.” This was when he proclaimed papal infallibility. The dogma of papal infallibility does NOT mean that the pope is always right. It is only under certain conditions that papal teaching is infallible. It is rarely used. In 1870 Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility. In 1896 Leo XIII taught infallibly that Anglican Orders are invalid. In 1950 Pope Pius XII infallibly taught that Our Lady was assumed body and soul into heaven. In 1968 Pope Paul VI seems to have infallibly declared that all artificial means to prevent contraception can never be allowed. Those have been the only infallible pronouncements in recent times.

  Otherwise popes can err, they can be wrong.

  Unfortunately many are not satisfied living in a doubtful situation. They decide for themselves how to resolve these doubts. Some declare that all the new sacraments are invalid. The Novus Ordo Mass is invalid. There is no teaching Church. No Pope, no bishops, except for traditional bishops. They are what is called sedevacantists. Sede means seat, in this case chair. Vacant means vacant. Sedevacantist means that no one is sitting on the Chair of St. Peter. The Chair is the symbol of authority. When the Pope or a bishop teaches authoritatively he sits in his chair. Chair is cathedra in Latin. A Cathedral is a Church with a Chair in it. The bishop's chair. That is why there is only one cathedral in a diocese. The Pope sits in St. Peter’s Chair and when he teaches authoritatively it is said “Peter has spoken.” Peter speaks through Gregory or Pius or whoever is pope. When the pope or a bishop dies, the diocese becomes sede vacante. This state lasts until a new pope is elected or a new bishop appointed to the diocese.

    This situation leads to another abuse, a usurping of authority. No traditional Catholic, bishop, priest or layman, has any authority. Archbishop Lefebvre specifically said when he consecrated priests to be bishops: 'I give them no jurisdiction'. He had no jurisdiction to give them. [Jurisdiction is the technical term meaning authority. ‘juris’ = law ‘diction’ means to speak. A person with jurisdiction can make laws and judgments. A bishop has jurisdiction in his diocese; the Pope has jurisdiction over the whole Church.] Archbishop Thuc had no jurisdiction to give to the bishops that he consecrated. Both these bishops had had jurisdiction. Archbishop Lefebvre when he was superior of the Holy Ghost Fathers, and papal delegate to French speaking Africa. Archbishop Thuc when he was primate of Vietnam. But when they were consecrating bishops they had no jurisdiction.

    Traditional bishops teach what is in the deposit of Faith. They teach what has always been taught. They teach what they learned. We can hear them. But unfortunately too many of them are not satisfied with doing that. And many laymen are not satisfied with that as well. They want to make judgments. They want to take the confused gray-scale world; the confused gray-scale Church, and make everything black and white. It is impossible. Because to make things black and white requires authority. No one in tradition has one iota of authority.

  The SSPX on their UK website in an article on Confirmation state: Studies have shown that the new rite of bishops is valid. This is a usurpation of authority. All that any traditional person doing a study on the validity of the new rite of bishops can conclude is: IN MY OPINION the new rite of bishop consecrations is valid. His opinion carries no weight because he is not in a position to give a weighty opinion. No one can make a decision based on a study like this. But unfortunately people do make such decisions. Likewise Fr. Paul Robinson has a video on ordinations. He wastes much of his viewers time talking about sedevacantism, which has nothing to do with the question of the validity of the new rite of ordinations. He wasted this time because in fact he had no solid arguments to defend the validity of these ordinations.  Finally he tells us we send the video of the ordination to the superiors and they decide if it was valid or not. The problem with this is that superiors in the SSPX have absolutely no authority to decide if a ceremony was valid or not. The priest remains doubtfully ordained.

  The SSPX founded by Archbishop Lefebvre did many conditional confirmations and ordinations. Archbishop Lefebvre conditionally confirmed 1000s of faithful. His successors did as well. He conditionally ordained many priests. This is normal when there is doubt. Is this man confirmed? I don’t know. Is this man a priest? I don’t know. Therefore the ceremony is done 'under condition'. This is not a repeating of a sacrament that cannot be repeated. The bishop says “If you are not confirmed I confirm you… If you are not ordained I ordain you…” What happens? If the rite of confirmation or ordination that the person had earlier was valid, nothing happens now. If the previous rite was invalid then he is confirmed or ordained now. This ceremony removes the doubt. Now the priest knows that he is a priest. The confirmed that he is a Soldier of Christ.

  Why does the new SSPX not want to do conditional Confirmations or Ordinations? I don’t know the answer to that question but I can give an opinion. Bishop Williamson years ago gave a clue. In one of his YouTube videos he tells us that in the early 70s Archbishop Lefebvre went into the diocese of a Swiss bishop and gave confirmations. The bishop learned of this and wrote Archbishop Lefebvre “Why are you coming into my diocese and doing confirmations?” The Archbishop replied. “When you start doing confirmations correctly I will not need to come there and do confirmations.”

  The dilemma for the SSPX is that they have made deals with many diocesan bishops and effectively work under them. Now if the bishop confirms someone and then the SSPX conditionally confirms him; the bishop might question them “Why are you conditionally confirming someone I confirmed? They can hardly tell him “we doubt its validity”, after they have agreed to accept his authority. The same with ordinations. So now they are obliged to argue that the new rites of these sacraments are valid. Something Archbishop Lefebvre never did. And they have no possibility of resolving the doubt. Now they often refuse to conditionally confirm faithful who ask for it; they refuse to conditionally ordain priests. They also accept the marriage annulments and other decisions of the NO bishop. Most annulments are invalid. This is a serious problem because doubtful priests are forbidden to say Mass or give the sacraments. If you marry someone with an invalid annulment, your marriage is invalid. You are an adulterer. That is my opinion on why the new SSPX made an about face on these conditional sacraments.

    Sedevacantists are people, bishops, priests and laity, who have decided on their own authority that the Pope is not really the pope. But they have no authority. The Conciliar popes are abusing authority. No traditional Catholic bishop, priest or layman, has any authority.

  Traditional bishops, and also priests teach what is in the deposit of Faith. They teach what has always been taught. They teach what they learned. Then we can hear them. But unfortunately too many of them are not satisfied with doing that. And many laymen are not satisfied with that as well. They want to make judgments. They want to take the confused gray-scale world; the confused gray-scale Church, and make everything black and white. It is impossible. Because to make things black and white requires authority. No one in tradition has one iota of authority. Nevertheless they say. This man is a heretic. He cannot be pope. But they do not distinguish between a material heretic and a formal heretic. Many do not know the difference. To make that distinction they need to make a judgment. They do not have any authority to make a judgment. In the past there have been popes who were heretics, but no one ever said “this man was not pope”.

  Sedevacantism is a growing phenomenon. But it is built on the sand of the opinions of people who cannot make authoritative decisions. Fr. Cekada, may he rest in peace, and other sedevacantists refuse to understand that authority can be wrong. He said “when I was a boy I was taught to love and obey the pope.” Conciliar popes he could not love and obey so he concluded they must not be pope. And he tells us “if you say that he is pope you must obey him.” But he had no authority to make such a conclusion. All he could conclude is “I should not obey them.” This is what we conclude. He doesn’t have the Shepherd’s voice. We don’t hear him. But we don’t judge him. There is no one on earth who can judge the Pope.