A.P., Portland, ME
A. All that glitters is not gold. Not every one who provides the Latin Tridentine Mass is thereby a Roman Catholic in good standing with the Roman Catholic Church.
There are many unscrupulous clergymen (validly ordained priests without a doubt) who are literally guilty of simony because they are `selling' the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments. Of course, they will never admit to themselves or to their clients that they are engaged in the most heinous blasphemy against God and His Church. By this time, such individuals have justified their deeds to make them appear as heroic virtue, whereas their deeds are nothing more than the greedy seeking of money in exchange for visible Sacraments which are devoid of grace.
They are devoid of grace not because the Sacraments and the Mass do not produce the grace they represent or apply the merits of Christ's Passion as in the Holy Mass. The grace is without benefit for those who receive these Sacraments because there is an obstacle in the way, placed there by the willful decision of the clergyman, of the recipient, or both.
Sacraments are fruitful only when administered in the Roman Catholic Church. This is why St. Augustine wrote to the heretic Donatists that they have everything we Catholics have as far as things visible are concerned. But, he tells them, "One thing you do not have: salvation."
So it is with all those clergymen, whether secular or regular, if they are not united to a validly and legitimately consecrated Bishop, they are not in good standing with the Roman Catholic Church.
For example, a retired priest is not in good standing with the Church if he adheres to an heretic Bishop and offers the Latin Tridentine Mass according to the Bull Quo Primum. He is still associated with heretics and according to Church Law suffers the same penalties as heretics: Excommunication. According to the doctrinal teaching of the Roman Catholic Church as expressed through Pope Pius XII, heretics, schismatics and excommunicated are not members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, namely, the Roman Catholic Church.
What could be more clear than that? Heretics and schismatics will never admit that they are the heretics and schismatics.
Perhaps the most notorious example of high-handed hypocrisy tearing the Catholic Church apart is the pretentious sect founded by Marcel Lefebvre commonly paraded as "The Society of St. Pius X."
Any honest and perceptive person who has followed the evolution of Marcel Lefebvre's sect can only gasp in disbelief at what one reads. The patent and constant contradictions defy the possibility of a kind construction of Lefebvre's statements. It has been said: "This `Society' was conceived in deception, was born and bred in deception, and it can only survive through deception. It cannot possibly be the work of the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost does not need deception to teach truth." (Bishop Louis Vezelis, OFM).
There is any number of older clergymen (Ordained prior to 1968) who have `set up shop,' so to speak, simply on the basis that they are validly ordained priests. They claim to have no need of a bishop. In this, any knowledgeable laymen knows they are in serious error, because no priest may function in the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ who is not united with his Bishop. The laws and practice of the Church leave no doubt in this matter.
The Council of Trent clearly taught that especially for the administration of the Sacrament of Penance, a valid priest must have authorization (faculties) from the Bishop in whose territory he (the priest) intends to administer the Sacrament. Failing this authorization, the Council of Trent states that such confessions must be considered as without fruit. This means that the sins of the person confessing to a priest without faculties are not forgiven through the Sacrament.
Since this is true of those who are valid priests, what must be said of those who are not validly ordained, or whose validity as priests is under a cloud, that is, doubtful? In the former case, you have all those who have supposedly been ordained according to the New Rite (1968), or, who have been `ordained' by Bishops who themselves have been `consecrated' according to the New Rite even though they may attempt to use the correct Rite insisted upon by Pope Pius XII.
Then, there are those whose ordination and consecration are doubtful because of the suspected lack of internal intention. The grounds for reasonable doubt consist in the fact that some of the Bishops involved in ordaining young men were secret adherents to the Religious Sect known as "Freemasons." Such was the case in the alleged-ordination of Marcel Lefevbre and his consequent alleged-consecration as a Bishop.
Incidentally, a little-known fact is that Archbishop Annibal Bugnini, the man spear-heading the fabrication of the New Order of the Mass together with fellow apostates and Protestant ministers was a Freemason of high rank. When one knows the secret plans of this religious sect to first destroy the Roman Catholic Church in order to establish the reign of the Antichrist, it does not take much to conclude that anyone who is a Freemason will do nothing to further the continuance and spread of Christ's mission. There are numerous examples of Talmudists (commonly calling themselves "Jews") who have infiltrated the Catholic Church for this very purpose: to deceive the faithful by means of false sacraments. Such inflitrators have been discovered in very high places and in many of the Religious Orders and Congregations. For example, the founder of the Illuminati sect of the Freemasons was Adam Weishaupt, a cryptic `Jew' who became a Catholic, entered the Society of Jesus, became a Canonist and then defected to the organized enemies of the Church. May 1 is the great day of celebrating the founding of the Illuminati sect of the Freemasons. Is it a coincidence that every country that has been taken over by the so-called `Communists' celebrates May 1?
It is not enough to attend a "Tridentine Mass" in order to be a Catholic `in good standing.' The moral principle is that an act, in order to be good, must be good in all its aspects.
What constitutes the moral goodness of an action is the presence of those elements which, precisely, make an action `morally good' or `morally evil.'
These elements are: The object, the circumstances and the end.
The object is the thing with which an action is essentially concerned. In this case, the object would be the Tridentine Mass. In itself, Holy Mass is a good thing. The action of attending Holy Mass, however, may be altered by the circumstances.
The next element to consider is the circumstances. The circumstances are conditions here and now that aid us in the determination of the moral nature of the act. The circumstances are the accidental considerations that change the relationship to the object. Here, then, the circumstances surrounding attendance at the Tridentine Mass must be considered because they change the morality of the relationship to the object (That is, attendance at the Mass)
Circumstances may affect the object, the agent, or the action itself.
The object is certainly good in itself. This, then, is not questionable. The second circumstance, however, is different. The agent - the person attending the Mass or the person offering the Mass - creates different circumstances affecting the object, namely, attendance at the Tridentine Mass.
The circumstances may make what would ordinarily be a good action an evil one. It is true that circumstances may make a venial sin a mortal sin, or vice versa. Circumstances sometimes add a new goodness or badness to an action.
The third element to be considered is the end for which the person undertakes an act. This is also known as the `motive' or reason for which the action is performed.
If the motive is morally sinful, the whole action is bad, no matter whether the end is the sole end, or whether other aims are associated with it. Here we encounter the adage "the end does not justify the means."
Does a person give honor and glory to God by disobeying God's appointed authority? If our Lord entrusted all His power to His Apostles and through them to the faithful bishops who succeed the Apostles when He said: "He who hears you, hears me," how can it be said they have good will who will not hear those whom the Holy Ghost has appointed to serve as guides?
The circumstances must be good for an action to be good, and therefore, a meritorious source of supernatural grace.
Satisfying what was once a good habit of attending Mass on Sunday in fulfillment of one's duties as a `Catholic in good
standing' is not a supernatural act in itself. Attending the true Mass at a place that is in keeping with the teaching and discipline of the
Church is a circumstance which makes such an action a good action. Just to satisfy a habit separated from the correct circumstances
is
neither meritorious nor praiseworthy.
We cannot express our supernatural obedience to God by supporting disobedience to this same God. On the contrary, we contribute to the delinquency and disobedience of those whose true motives may be questioned.
There can be only one Church of obedience; whereas there are numerous Churches of disobedience.
As members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, it behooves us to think and act as honorable and faithful members. Every organization has some kind of discipline for the sake of good order. Even the Church Laws are not arbitrarily made. They are made to guide us in the correct way of acting in the Catholic community. Their purpose, then, is neither our individual imprisonment within the chains of restrictions nor that of the entire community. The laws are there for our perfection and protection. This is the reason why Pope Pius XII addressed the clerical students of Rome on June 24 of 1939 with these words:
"Canon law likewise is directed to the salvation of souls; and the purpose of all its regulations and laws is that men may live and die in the holiness given them by the grace of God."
Those canonists who have studied the law more than others, yet abuse the law are much like the Pharisees and Scribes, who, having studied the law merely use this knowledge to circumvent the law. They thereby falsify the law and its purpose.
A law is a dictate of right reason for the common good, sufficiently promulgated by the superior of a public community. It is for each member of the community to desire to understand the law and its purpose. Laws are made to forestall greater evils or to eradicate existing evils. The law serves as a fence against foreign intruders, as a wall against foreign invaders. Laws are made, generally speaking, only after an evil has befallen the community. Where there is good will, there will you find fewer laws. And, on the contrary, the more that good will is absent, there you will find more laws.
Since the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God has had to command us to love Him and our neighbor - things which were self-evident when man did not sin but was in the state of supernatural sanctifying grace.
This is the reason why a candidate to the episcopacy takes the following oath:
"I N. elected to the Church of N., from this hour henceforward will be obedient to Blessed Peter the Apostle, and to the holy Roman Church, and to our Holy Father, Pope N. and to his successors canonically elected.
I will assist them to retain and to defend the Roman Papacy without detriment to my order.
I shall take care to preserve, to defend, increase and promote the rights, honors, privileges and authority of the holy Roman Church, of our lord, the Pope, and of his aforesaid successors.
I shall observe with all my strength, and shall cause to be observed by others, the rules of the holy Fathers, the Apostolic decrees, ordinances or dispositions, reservations, provisions and mandates." Etc.
We should all realize that there is a scandalous explosion of disobedience to proper authority today. This spirit of rebellion has caught up in its vicious web many people who have vigorously lived according to their duties and privileges as Catholics with disastrous consequences.
As the world draws closer to the Day of Judgment, all the vices possible to mankind will overshadow the virtues which make man like unto God and a partaker in the divine nature - as we read in the prayers at Mass: " O God, Who in creating man didst exalt his nature wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew: by the mystery signified in the mingling of this water and wine, grant us to have part in the Godhead of Him Who hath vouchsafed to share our manhood, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost; world without end. Amen."
We cannot honestly be said to strive for that closeness of mystical union with Jesus Christ and through Him with the Blessed Trinity, if we waver in our obedience to His holy will. The true Catholic cannot afford to minimize the requirements inherent in fidelity to the true Faith. Those who peddle the Tridentine Mass are certainly not examples of Catholicism; theirs will be a grave reckoning on the Day of Judgment. Nor are those who support such renegade clergymen free of guilt for participating in , aiding and abetting the sinful disobedience of such clergy.
To be sure, their despicable conduct will precede them into eternity. How many careless souls will they drag into hell with them is known only to God.
Attending the Masses of heretics is just as bad as attending the Masses of schismatics. Neither has any part with eternal reward for defending the true faith and persevering in that true faith to the end.
What about the so-called "Indult Mass"? Not much can be more contradictory than the liturgical charade pretending to be an "Indult Mass." What, exactly, is an "Indult Mass"? It is supposed to be a `permission' to celebrate the Latin Tridentine Mass as mandated by Pope St. Pius V in perpetuity.
If this legitimate Vicar of Jesus Christ, invoking his supreme authority mandated (commanded) that the Mass known today as the `Tridentine Mass' be said in perpetuity, it means just that: in perpetuity, forever, until the end of time. No valid and legitimate priest in good standing with the Church needs any further authorization to offer this particular Latin Rite Mass.
What has already been given once and for all time, cannot be given again. It is a stupidity of the Modernist heretics, wherever they may be entrenched, to pretend that "What one Pope can do, another and undo." Such a statement, on the face of it, is heretical to say the least. However, the haughty heretics and sly schismatics have no respect for any authority that is not their own. For this reason, they invent catchy phrases that sound good, but contain falsehoods.
A clergymen who uses the Protestant version of the Catholic Mass is a heretic. Therefore, even if he is sufficiently versed in Latin to attempt to offer the Latin Tridentine Mass, this is nothing more than an outrageous blasphemy.
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