Posted on 06/26/2008 2:51:31 PM PDT by annalex
PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group has rejected a Vatican offer to rejoin Rome, accusing Pope Benedict of trying to silence dissenting voices.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) that broke with Rome 20 years ago, said conditions set by the Vatican amounted to muzzling the traditionalists who claim to be the only true Catholics since Church reforms in the 1960s.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Disappointing.
It is sad that the SSPX leadership has chosen to do this. One can always hope (and pray!) that the rank and file will find their way back to the Church.
Caucus thread... and an awful broad brush you are using.
I haven’t heard the homily, but I am a bit puzzled how he got from a request to respect the office of Peter to a threat to silence SSPX.
The SSPX site hasn’t been updated since early June. It could be another case of mass media spinning Catholic interest stories.
Can you post the entire article or is this it? Would be interested in reading the rationale behind his decision. Unfortunately, I’m on dial up on an acient computer that cannot access the Reuters news story. Thanks!
Bad decision!
Fellay has not only snubbed the Vatican, he has shown total disregard for his priests and seminarians. As more and more Catholic parishes adopt the TLM, expect that the SSPX priests will swim towards the Barque of Peter.
Worth reprinting the terms of the offer that was turned down from an earlier thread [emphasis mine]:
1. The commitment to a response proportionate to the generosity of the Pope.
2. The commitment to avoid every public intervention which does not respect the person of the Holy Father and which may be negative to ecclesial charity.
3. The commitment to avoid the claim to a Magisterium superior to the Holy Father and to not propose the Fraternity in contraposition to the Church.
4. The commitment to display the will to act honestly in full ecclesial charity and in respect for the authority of the Vicar of Christ.
5. The commitment to respect the date - fixed for the end of the month of June [2008] - to respond positively.
Bad decision, but not unexpected. They want to believe they are the only true Catholics, yet they reject the most important mark of Christ’s Church-the Pope.
Yes — in other words, I don’t see any muzzling at all.
Catholic rebel snubs pope call to rejoin Rome
Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:25am EDT
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
PARIS (Reuters) - The leader of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group has rejected a Vatican offer to rejoin Rome, accusing Pope Benedict of trying to silence dissenting voices.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) that broke with Rome 20 years ago, said conditions set by the Vatican amounted to muzzling the traditionalists who claim to be the only true Catholics since Church reforms in the 1960s.
Keen to end this schism, Benedict agreed last year to their demand to restore the old Latin Mass. But he insists they must accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) before he can lift excommunication decrees against them.
“Rome is telling us, okay, we are ready to lift the excommunications, but you cannot continue this way,” Fellay said in a sermon last Friday now posted as an audio file on the U.S.-based Voice of Catholic Radio website.
“So we have no choice... we are continuing what we’ve done,” the Swiss-born Fellay said in English at an SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota. “They just say ‘shut up’ ... we are not going ... to shut up.”
The Milan daily Il Giornale reported on Monday the Vatican had told the SSPX it must pledge to respect the pope and accept him as the Church’s final doctrinal authority.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told the Paris Catholic daily La Croix: “The pope wants to extend his hand so they can return, but for that to happen, this offer must be received in an attitude and spirit of charity and communion.”
Lombardi did not spell out the consequences of rejecting the offer, but Il Giornale’s well-informed Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli wrote: “Such favorable conditions for a return to full communion will in all probability not come again.”
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
The SSPX claims about a million followers worldwide, many of them in France. It split off when its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four traditionalist bishops — including Fellay — in 1988 against orders from Pope John Paul.
Since then, it has regularly appealed to the Vatican to withdraw the excommunications and allow it to return to the 1.1-billion strong Church. But its leaders often publicly denounce the pope.
Fellay said the pope must restore other Church traditions besides the old Latin Mass before the SSPX could return. It is particularly critical of the Vatican Council’s reconciliation with Judaism and call to cooperation with other Christians.
“The new Mass is the tip of the iceberg of Vatican II and of these modern ideas.” Adding the old Mass to the “iceberg of Vatican II” did not change the reforms hidden below, he said.
Vatican watchers say the ultimatum could split SSPX into a hard core of rebels and a larger group ready to return to Rome now that it has allowed wider use of the old Latin Mass.
“Most people want a reverent Mass and sound preaching. They care little for the loftier theological arguments,” Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a prominent conservative Catholic blogger, wrote in an analysis. “The identity of the SSPX is at stake now.”
The ultimatum’s deadline of June 30 is the 20th anniversary of the bishops’ ordinations that sealed the schism.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
I’m not sure this is true. This story came out last Friday (almost a week past) and he has until June 30th to make his decision. So far as I know, he hasn’t said anything yet.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is there for them.
I thought to Catholics that the Pope is Christ’s representative on Earth. If that is true, this guy and all the rest are in the Church for pure feel goodism.
I think, the quotes from the homily are true quotes, but the idea that the offer has been thereby rejected ahead of time is spin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.