Posted on 10/24/2012 3:22:30 PM PDT by NYer
.- The Society of St. Pius X has expelled Bishop Richard Williamson, saying he has distanced himself from the traditionalist Catholic group’s leadership and he has refused “to show due respect and obedience to his lawful superiors.”
The Switzerland-based society said Oct. 24 that the “painful” decision was necessary because of “concern for the common good” and for the good government of the society.
The society’s Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay and his council declared the bishop to be excluded on Oct. 4. Bishop Williamson, in response to a final deadline for him to declare his obedience to the society, published an open letter asking the superior general to resign.
The Society of St. Pius X broke from Rome in 1988 when its founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops, including Bishop Williamson, against the orders of Pope John Paul II. The ordinations resulted in the excommunication of all five bishops. Archbishop Lefebvre founded the society in 1970 as a response to what he saw as errors in the Church after the Second Vatican Council.
The society only celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass.
Pope Benedict XVI has endeavored to reconcile the society with the Church. He lifted the excommunications of the society’s four living bishops in 2009. However, that act caused significant controversy because, unbeknownst to the Pope, Bishop Williamson had made statements that diminished the magnitude of the Holocaust.
The bishop told Swedish public television that only as many as 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, when the accepted figure is about six million.
Bishop Williamson caused internal strife in August when he made an unauthorized visit to a Brazilian breakaway Benedictine monastery and celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation there for nearly 100 lay Catholics.
A Society of St. Pius X district superior protested that the visit was an act of disobedience that disrespected the society’s procedures.
The society’s ongoing talks with the Vatican on possible reunification are also a source of internal controversy.
Ping!
hmmm...guys in silk robes excommunicating other guys in silk robes doesn’t do much for me...
The society had no choice I do miss the Tridentine mass being brought up with it. I try and get into the new form but my attendance to and participation in it is my weekly pennance .
I refuse to participate in any form of worship that drives me apart from the Lord and my faith. The possibility of endangering one's faith is a perfectly legitimate reason to avoid the nouveau protestantized form.
Huge, huge news.
This removes one of the last obstacles to a reconciliation between the society and Rome.
Benedict’s dream and life’s purpose is to fuse the best elements of the Tridentine and Novus Ordovician masses, thus bringing to fruition the true plan—God’s plan—for Vatican II.
Waiting on the edge of my chair to hear what “the best elements” of the NO form are.
The Bible I read doesn’t mention the Vatican at all.
The S-S-P-X (The Y-M-C-A)
Young priest, there’s no need to feel down.
I said, young priest, when the rites are unsound.
Young priest, find a chapel in town
There’s no need to be schis-ma-tic.
Young priest, there’s a place you can go.
I said, young priest, when you’re tired of the N.O.
They are straight there, and I’m sure you will find
The confessional has a long line.
Avoid the gay at the s-s-p-x.
Avoid the gay at the s-s-p-x.
Pius X, Malcolm X, I’m so confused!
bumpus ad summum
You know what else you won’t find in your Bible? “Bible”. It’s not in there. You won’t find “Trinity” either. You also won’t find a list of inspired books. You also won’t find anything in the Gospel of Matthew that tells you Matthew wrote a gospel. In other words, not every truth is in the Bible.
I don't think you're 100% correct about that. What's happening here is that the Catholic Church is making very slow, but unmistakeable, moves to reinstitute the Tridentine Mass. As time goes on -- and this may take decades, not months or years -- there are going to be more and more gradual changes in the Novus Ordo ... until eventually there will be almost no difference between the two.
The most obvious "restoration" move will take place when you walk into your local parish church and see the priest saying Mass with his back to the congregation.
Alberta’s Child,
You may be right. Time will tell.
I don’t think we’re ever going to go all the way back to the Tridentine in its unadulterated form. Mass will likely be celebrated in the vernacular, for instance.
But structurally and liturgically, we are certainly re-incorporating the lost elements of the old form. I do believe that the priest will eventually turn back to face the altar and tabernacle.
The big question is whether the concept of Mass as the “supper of the lamb” as opposed to a sacrifice will remain. Personally, I hope that it does.
Excellent point!
If the use of the vernacular is likely to remain in the Mass, then why is it that one of the first (and most obvious) things included in the recent changes in the Mass has been the re-introduction of Latin for some of the prayers?
Again, it is part of Benedict’s plan to fuse the traditional with the post-conciliar. There will be more Latin, just as there will be more reverence. But there will not, IMO, be a full return to the Tridentine.
There have been some excellent articles about this recently. Wish I could remember the authors/pubs, but you may already be familiar with them.
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