Sorrow Beyond Description
by Thomas A. Droleskey
The spirit of Christ, which dictated the Holy Scriptures, and the spirit which animates and guides the Church of Christ, and teaches her all truth, is the same; and therefore in all ages her conduct on this point has been uniformly the same as what the Holy Scripture teaches. She has constantly forbidden her children to hold any communication, in religious matters, with those who are separated from her communion; and this she has sometimes done under the most severe penalties. In the apostolical canons, which are of very ancient standing, and for the most part handed down from the apostolical age, it is thus decreed: "If any bishop, or priest, or deacon, shall join in prayers with heretics, let him be suspended from Communion". (Can. 44)
Also, "If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and deprived of communion". (Can. 63) (Bishop George Hay, (The Laws of God Forbidding All Communication in Religion With Those of a False Religion.)
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI being greeted by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Park East Synagogue, Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, New York, Friday, April 18, 2008.
Also, "If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and deprived of communion". (Can. 63) (Bishop George Hay, (The Laws of God Forbidding All Communication in Religion With Those of a False Religion.)
Showing respect for a dead, superseded religion that is hated by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who wills the conversion of those steeped in the blindness and the faithlessness of Talmudic Judaism.
What more can be said? Was there another one of those hidden, subliminal messages for "conversion" found in the brief remarks that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI made before the rather subdued crowd at the Park East Synagogue last evening, which was "Passover eve" for the adherents of the Talmud? Take a look:
Shalom! It is with joy that I come here, just a few hours before the celebration of your Pesah, to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community in New York City. The proximity of this place of worship to my residence gives me the opportunity to greet some of you today. I find it moving to recall that Jesus, as a young boy, heard the words of Scripture and prayed in a place such as this. I thank Rabbi Schneier for his words of welcome and I particularly appreciate your kind gift, the spring flowers and the lovely song that the children sang for me. I know that the Jewish community make a valuable contribution to the life of the city, and I encourage all of you to continue building bridges of friendship with all the many different ethnic and religious groups present in your neighborhood. I assure you most especially of my closeness at this time, as you prepare to celebrate the great deeds of the Almighty, and to sing the praises of Him who has worked such wonders for his people. I would ask those of you who are present to pass on my greetings and good wishes to all the members of the Jewish community. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
(Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Greeting at Park East Synagogue.)
The adherents of the Talmud, whose conversion to the true Church, the Catholic Church, is something that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Most Blessed Mother, Mary our Immaculate Queen, intensely desire, do not "sin the praises of Him who has worked such wonders for his people." They do the devil's bidding as they persist in their rejection of the Sacred Divinity of Our Lord Himself, the Word Who was made Flesh in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of God the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and dwelt amongst us.
To reaffirm people by sins of omission, no less by walking into a den of iniquity and treating it a place where the true God is actually worshiped (!), in a dead religion that is in the grip of the devil by refusing to speak even once of their need to embrace the the Faith is a grave crime against God and a a grave crime against those in the Park East Synagogue, each of whom has an immortal soul made in the image and likeness of God, Who wills their salvation as members of the Catholic Church. He died for each one of them. They were not told this by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, who spoke to other adherents of the Talmud gathered at the "Pope" John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, District of Columbia, about a "reconciliation" in eschatological terms, praying for a mutual respect in "universal brotherhood" until that time.
Also, "If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and deprived of communion". (Can. 63) (Bishop George Hay, (The Laws of God Forbidding All Communication in Religion With Those of a False Religion.)
And most recently, the Pope has been in the synagogue of the Jews in Rome. How can the Pope pray with the enemies of Jesus Christ? These Jews know and say and believe that they are the successors of the Jews that killed Jesus Christ, and they continue to fight against Jesus Christ everywhere in the world. At the end of the Pope's visit, the Jews sang a "hymn" that included the line "I believe with all my heart in the coming of the Messiah," meaning that they refuse Jesus as the Messiah, and the Pope had given permission for this denial of Christ be sung in his presence, and he listened, head bowed! And the Holy See announces that in the near future that he will visit Taize to pray with the Protestants, and he himself said in public at St. Paul Outside the Walls that later this year he will hold a ceremony gathering all of the religions of the world together to pray for peace at Assisi in Italy, on the occasion of the Feast of Peace proclaimed by the United Nations due to take place on October 24.
“Now all these facts are public, you have seen them in the newspapers and the media. What are we to think? What is the reaction of our Catholic Faith? That is what matters. It is not our personal feelings, a sort of impression or admission of some kind. It is a question of knowing what our Faith tells us, faced with these facts. Let me quote a few words - not my words - from Canon Naz’s Dictionary of Canon Law, a wholly official and approved commentary on what has been the Catholic Church’s body of law for nineteen centuries. On the subject of sharing in the worship of non-Catholics (after all, this is what we now see Pope and bishops doing), the Church says, in Canon 1258-1: ‘It is absolutely forbidden for Catholics to attend or take any active part in the worship of non-Catholics in any way whatsoever.’ On this Canon the quasi-official Naz Commentary says, and I quote, ‘A Catholic takes active part when he joins in heterodox; i.e., non-Catholic worship with the intention of honouring God by this means in the way non-Catholics do. It is forbidden to pray, to sing or to play the organ in a heretical or schismatic temple, in association with the people worshipping there, even if the words of the hymn or the song or the prayer are orthodox.’ The reason for this prohibition is that any participation in non-Catholic worship implies profession of a false religion and hence denial of the Catholic Faith. By such participation Catholics are presumed to be adhering to the beliefs of the non- Catholics, and that is why Canon 2316 declares them ‘suspect of heresy, and if they persevere, they are to be treated as being in reality heretics.’
“Now these recent acts of the Pope and bishops, with Protestants, animists and Jews, are they not an active participation in non-Catholic worship as explained by Canon Naz on Canon 1258-1? In which case, I cannot see how it is possible to say that the Pope is not suspect of heresy, and if he continues, he is a heretic, a public heretic. That is the teaching of the Church.
“Now I don’t know if the time has come to say that the Pope is a heretic; I don’t know if it is the time to say that. You know, for some time many people, the sedevacantists, have been saying ‘there is no more Pope,’ but I think that for me it was not yet the time to say that, because it was not sure, it was not evident, it was very difficult to say that the Pope is a heretic, the Pope is apostate. But I recognize that slowly, very slowly, by the deeds and acts of the Pope himself we begin to be very anxious. I am not inventing this situation; I do not want it. I would gladly give my life to bring it to an end, but this is the situation we face, unfolding before our eyes like a film in the cinema. I don’t think it has ever happened in the history of the Church, the man seated in the chair of Peter partaking in the worship of false gods.
“What conclusion must we draw in a few months if we are confronted by these repeated acts of partaking in false worship? I don’t know. I wonder. But I think the Pope can do nothing worse than call together a meeting of all religions, when we know there is only one true religion and all other religions belong to the devil. So perhaps after this famous meeting of Assisi, perhaps we must say that the Pope is a heretic, is apostate. Now I don’t wish yet to say it formally and solemnly, but it seems at first sight that it is impossible for a Pope to be publicly and formally heretical. Our Lord has promised to be with him, to keep his faith, to keep him in the Faith - how can he at the same time be a public heretic and virtually apostatise? So it is possible we may be obliged to believe this Pope is not Pope. (The Angelus, July 1986, transcripts of talks given by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on March 30 and April 18, 1986.)
Consider the bold words of Rabbi Arthur Schneier, who lectured Ratzinger/Benedict on the meaning of the Book of Exodus, as the man who believes himself to be, albeit falsely, the Vicar of Christ on earth listened attentively as an inferior, not even as an equal:
“With integrity and true to our respective traditions we look toward Heaven. To feel the presence of God we must also face one another. Our love for God can never come at the expense of our love for His children.”
"Our love for God can never come at the expense of our love for His children"? Says who? Not Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:
And as a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it. He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. (Mt. 10: 36-40.)
We love God as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His Catholic Church before we love anyone, including ourselves. God's love for us is an act of His Divine Will, the ultimate expression of which is for us to save our immortal souls as members of the Catholic Church. We love no one authentically if we do or say anything, either by omission or commission, which interferes with the salvation of the souls of others. We love others as God loves them. We do not put the love of God's children before the love of God.
What was the reaction of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI to this blasphemous language? Silence. Not a word in opposition. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has something to say about that silence:
And as he went, they spread their clothes underneath in the way. And when he was now coming near the descent of mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, Saying: Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high! And some of the Pharisees, from amongst the multitude, said to him: Master, rebuke thy disciples. To whom he said: I say to you, that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. (Lk. 19: 36-40.)
A coward and an apostate. That's who Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is, a man who accepts the symbols of false religions that deny the Sacred Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, a man who has walked into a mosque and now two synagogues to show his esteem and respect for false religions, a man who will turn around just moments later in an "inter-religious" prayer service with Protestants and the Orthodox, also forbidden by the consistent teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to proclaim Our Lord to be the one Redeemer of all mankind! This is Modernism writ large, the very embodiment of Paragraph 18 of Pope Saint Pius X's Pascendi Dominci Gregis:
This will appear more clearly to anybody who studies the conduct of Modernists, which is in perfect harmony with their teachings. In their writings and addresses they seem not unfrequently to advocate doctrines which are contrary one to the other, so that one would be disposed to regard their attitude as double and doubtful. But this is done deliberately and advisedly, and the reason of it is to be found in their opinion as to the mutual separation of science and faith. Thus in their books one finds some things which might well be approved by a Catholic, but on turning over the page one is confronted by other things which might well have been dictated by a rationalist. When they write history they make no mention of the divinity of Christ, but when they are in the pulpit they profess it clearly; again, when they are dealing with history they take no account of the Fathers and the Councils, but when they catechize the people, they cite them respectfully. In the same way they draw their distinctions between exegesis which is theological and pastoral and exegesis which is scientific and historical. So, too, when they treat of philosophy, history, and criticism, acting on the principle that science in no way depends upon faith, they feel no especial horror in treading in the footsteps of Luther and are wont to display a manifold contempt for Catholic doctrines, for the Holy Fathers, for the Ecumenical Councils, for the ecclesiastical magisterium; and should they be taken to task for this, they complain that they are being deprived of their liberty. Lastly, maintaining the theory that faith must be subject to science, they continuously and openly rebuke the Church on the ground that she resolutely refuses to submit and accommodate her dogmas to the opinions of philosophy; while they, on their side, having for this purpose blotted out the old theology, endeavor to introduce a new theology which shall support the aberrations of philosophers.
Consider also how the man who believes himself to be the Vicar of Christ, in Whose Holy Name he personally violated the First Commandment the night before by receiving with respect and esteem and equanimity and even joy the hideous symbols of various false religions, each of which denies the Sacred Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, had to listen to a song declaring "faith" in the tenets of Jerusalem as the "ark" in the Park East Synagogue was uncovered:
As the choir sang “Sh’ma Yisrael,” a central declaration of faith in Judaism, a synagogue elder drew back a thick blue velvet drape, exposing the Torah scrolls that are stored behind the bimah. Rabbi Schneier told the pope that after Exodus, the Jews “embraced the law that governs the relationship between man and God.”
"Oh," I can hear some of you out there saying. "Didn't Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI mention the Holy Name of Jesus to the Jews yesterday?" Yes. Once, saying that "I find it moving to recall that Jesus, as a young boy, heard the words of Scripture and prayed in a place such as this." Moving? The synagogue is now a den of iniquity, based upon a non-Biblical document, the Talmud, that blasphemies Our Lord. This is Our Lord's attitude about the synagogue, starting from the time that He breathed His last breath on the wood of the Holy Cross and the curtain in the Temple in Jerusalem was torn in two from top to bottom:
And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. And entering into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought.
Saying to them: It is written: My house is the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. (Lk. 19: 41-46.)
Once again, you see, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI esteemed a den of iniquity to curry favor with men, thereby denying Our Lord before their very eyes, which is precisely what they wanted to see happen. It is only God's ineffable Mercy--and His profound love for the soul of a true priest, whom He seeks to convert back to the true Faith before he dies--that lightning did not come down from the sky either on Thursday evening as this man's consecrated, priestly hands touched false idols or last evening as he sat in stony silence as offenses were committed against the true God and the true Faith.
From Apostasy to Apostasy
It was only a few mintues a few short blocks later that Joseph Ratzinger was boldly and firmly proclaiming Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ before representatives of the heretics and schismatics who were in attendance at an "inter-religious" prayer service at Saint Joseph's Church in the once heavily ethnic German Yorkville section of the Borough of Manhattan by saying that He
"is the one sent by the Father for the salvation of all."
The address delivered by Ratzinger/Benedict at Saint Joseph's Church was amazing for its chutzpah, if you will. He had just been to a Talmudic synagogue where He did not seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of those present, turning around just moments later to remind everyone at Saint Joseph's Church that the Apostles proclaimed Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to Gentiles and Jews alike! Did he? Consider this remarkable sleight of hand:
Throughout the New Testament, we find that the Apostles were repeatedly called to give an account for their faith to both Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:16-34) and Jews (cf. Acts 4:5-22; 5:27-42). (Ecumenical Prayer Service at Saint Joseph's Church. You can read the entire text of the address by clicking on this hyperlink. I will highlight one section in particular momentarily.)
The Apostles rejoiced
"that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus" (Acts 5: 41) What does Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI do? Revise a revised Good Friday Prayer for the Jews when the adherents of the Talmud demanded its revision and then issue an "official" clarification to appease the anger of those who were "outraged" by the revision of the already revised prayer. Not exactly from the Acts of the Apostles.
The false ecumenism on display at Saint Joseph's Church in the Yorkville section of the Borough of Manhattan is, of course, just as strictly forbidden by the authority of the Catholic Church as is the entering of a place of false worship, such as a synagogue or a mosque or a Protestant assembly hall (which they call, wrongly, "churches"):
So also, in one of her most respected councils, held in the year 398, at which the great St. Augustine was present, she speaks thus: "None must either pray or sing psalms with heretics; and whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the Communion of the Church, whether clergyman or laic, let him be excommunicated". (Coun. Carth. iv. 72 and 73)
The same is her language in all ages; and in this she shows herself to be the true mother, who will not suffer her children to be divided. She knows her heavenly spouse has declared that "no man can serve two masters; we cannot serve God and Mammon;" and therefore she must either have them to be hers entirely, or she cannot acknowledge them as such. She knows His holy apostle has protested that there can be no "participation, no fellowship, no concord, no pact, no agreement between the faithful and the unbeliever;" and therefore she never can allow any of her faithful children to have any religious communication with those of a false religion and corrupted Faith. (The Laws of God Forbidding All Communication in Religion With Those of a False Religion.)
So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly." The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills." For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)
What does any of this matter to man whose mind of Hegelianism and Modernism believes that truth is anchored in one place for a time and then anchored in another at a later time as its "nucleus" remains valid and the "particulars" contained within it grow "obsolete" over the passage of time as men recognize "new dimensions to "truth" in different, ever-changing circumstances that those who "anchored" truth in one place before could have foreseen in their own days? (That's about as concise a description of the evolution of dogma I am ever going to give you. I am tired and must arise less than six hours after the posting of this article!) What does an injunction by Pope Pius XI mean to Ratzinger/Benedict? Nothing. Nothing at all.
There was no call for a return to the true Faith by Ratzinger/Benedict at Saint Joseph's Church last evening. He rejects what he disparages as the "ecumenism of the return." He does not believe that his own immortal salvation is imperiled by failing to seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of the Protestants and the Orthdox--and everyone else in the world--to the true Faith, placing him at odds with the constant teaching of the Church, placing him at odds with Pope Pius IX, whose processional Cross he is now using, who understood quite well that his own salvation would be imperiled if he did not specifically and categorically invite Protestants, to whom he address Iam Vos Omnes, September 13, 1868, to return to the true Church from which their ancestors had fled:
It is therefore by force of the right of Our supreme Apostolic ministry, entrusted to us by the same Christ the Lord, which, having to carry out with [supreme] participation all the duties of the good Shepherd and to follow and embrace with paternal love all the men of the world, we send this Letter of Ours to all the Christians from whom We are separated, with which we exhort them warmly and beseech them with insistence to hasten to return to the one fold of Christ; we desire in fact from the depths of the heart their salvation in Christ Jesus, and we fear having to render an account one day to Him, Our Judge, if, through some possibility, we have not pointed out and prepared the way for them to attain eternal salvation. In all Our prayers and supplications, with thankfulness, day and night we never omit to ask for them, with humble insistence, from the eternal Shepherd of souls the abundance of goods and heavenly graces. And since, if also, we fulfill in the earth the office of vicar, with all our heart we await with open arms the return of the wayward sons to the Catholic Church, in order to receive them with infinite fondness into the house of the Heavenly Father and to enrich them with its inexhaustible treasures. By our greatest wish for the return to the truth and the communion with the Catholic Church, upon which depends not only the salvation of all of them, but above all also of the whole Christian society: the entire world in fact cannot enjoy true peace if it is not of one fold and one shepherd.
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has no such fear. He is a believer in false ecumenism, which he, the man of paradox and contradiction, believes must be rooted in a "quest for unity:"
Paul's exhortation resounds with no less vigor today. His words instill in us the confidence that the Lord will never abandon us in our quest for unity. They also call us to live in a way that bears witness to the "one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32), which has always been the distinguishing trait of Christian koinonia (cf. Acts 2:42), and the force drawing others to join the community of believers so that they too might come to share in the "unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3:8; cf. Acts 2:47; 5:14). (Ecumenical Prayer Service at Saint Joseph's Church.)
There is no need to have a "quest" for unity. A true pope would simply do what saints, including Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, who gave up his lives at the hands of the Calvinists on April 24, 1622, have done: lay down their lives to bring Protestants and the Orthodox back to the Catholic Church unconditionally. Period. Want another papal reminder of this? All right, here it is:
Let, therefore, the separated children draw nigh to the Apostolic See, set up in the City which Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, consecrated by their blood; to that See, We repeat, which is "the root and womb whence the Church of God springs," not with the intention and the hope that "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" will cast aside the integrity of the faith and tolerate their errors, but, on the contrary, that they themselves submit to its teaching and government. Would that it were Our happy lot to do that which so many of Our predecessors could not, to embrace with fatherly affection those children, whose unhappy separation from Us We now bewail. Would that God our Savior, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," would hear us when We humbly beg that He would deign to recall all who stray to the unity of the Church! In this most important undertaking We ask and wish that others should ask the prayers of Blessed Mary the Virgin, Mother of divine grace, victorious over all heresies and Help of Christians, that She may implore for Us the speedy coming of the much hoped-for day, when all men shall hear the voice of Her divine Son, and shall be "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
False ecumenism is offensive to God. It is offensive to the Mother of God, as Father Maximilian Kolbe noted:
"Only until all schismatics and Protestants profess the Catholic Creed with conviction, when all Jews voluntarily ask for Holy Baptism – only then will the Immaculata have reached its goals.”
“In other words” Saint Maximilian insisted, “there is no greater enemy of the Immaculata and her Knighthood than today’s ecumenism, which every Knight must not only fight against, but also neutralize through diametrically opposed action and ultimately destroy. We must realize the goal of the Militia Immaculata as quickly as possible: that is, to conquer the whole world, and every individual soul which exists today or will exist until the end of the world, for the Immaculata, and through her for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” (Father Karl Stehlin, Immaculata, Our Ideal, Kansas City, Missouri, Angelus Press, 2007, p. 37.)
"Oh," some might protest. "Didn't "Pope" Benedict XVI condemn theological "relativism? Didn't he speak about the importance of remaining true to Scripture and Apostolic Tradition? Didn't he speak about the importance of ecclesial structures and criticize the proliferation of free-standing sects?"
Yes, he did. What does any of that mean?
To wit, he, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is one of the biggest theological relativists alive, making short work of condemned doctrines and propositions (religious liberty, separation of Church and State, the very nature of the Church, the necessity of seeking with urgency the unconditional conversion of all non-Catholics to the true Church) according to his Hegelian and Modernist presuppositions, consigning Limbo, "unofficially," of course, to Limbo in the process. How can a theological relativist condemn theological relativism (as he did also at The Catholic University of America on Thursday, April 17, 2008, an address that will be analyzed later next week)?
While Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI correctly connected theological relativism with the proliferation of Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist sects, although he was not quite so specific as that in his address, he refuses to recognize that conciliarism has given birth to a congregational spirit within its own structures as what purports to be "Mass" is offered in different ways in the same conciliar parish as a variety of legitimate options, no less "unauthorized" improvisations, make it possible to make what is supposed to be Catholicity (universality) into pure congregationalism.
The same is true with respect to the "freedom" in pastoral praxis, despite all of the "papal" admonitions (Giovanni Montini/Paul VI, Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI) to the contrary, for there to be in parish after parish and school after school and university after university and religious community after religious community against attacks on articles in the Deposit of Faith that have not been attacked and/or redefined "officially" by the ethos of conciliarism. Remember, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Christopher Dodd and Edward Moore Kennedy, each of whom is a pro-abort, each received what purported to be Holy Communion at the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service at Nationals Park on Thursday, April 18, 2008. One "faith," "one baptism"? Go tell that to the innocent preborn whose deaths are approved by pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-perversity Catholics in the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism who remain in perfectly good standing "canonically."
The importance of ecclesial structures dating back to Apostolic times? Ah, that is the key to the whole of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's address at Saint Joseph's Church last evening:
Too often those who are not Christians, as they observe the splintering of Christian communities, are understandably confused about the Gospel message itself. Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are sometimes changed within communities by so-called "prophetic actions" that are based on a hermeneutic not always consonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradition. Communities consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead to function according to the idea of "local options". Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic koinonia - communion with the Church in every age - is lost, just at the time when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:18-23). . . .
Even within the ecumenical movement, Christians may be reluctant to assert the role of doctrine for fear that it would only exacerbate rather than heal the wounds of division. Yet a clear, convincing testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching: a teaching which indeed underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the sacramental life of Christians today. (Ecumenical Prayer Service at Saint Joseph's Church.)
Why is the key to the whole address? It is very simple: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI believes that he is "close" to reaching some kind of "accommodation" with the Orthodox (or at least that it is more possible now than it has been in the past to enter into some kind of "agreement," a modus vivendi, if you will). By appealing to Apostolic teaching, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is communicating to the Orthodox yet again (as he did in Principles of Catholic Theology) that he will not hold the Orthodox to anything other than what had been defined by the Church before 1054 (see
What's a Thousand Years Among Friends?).
Ratzinger/Benedict understands that any kind of substantive agreement, other than on common points of apostasy, such as the joint Lutheran-Conciliar Declaration on Justification (see Bishop Donald A. Sanborn's Critical Analysis of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification) that the then Joseph "Cardinal" Ratzinger personally saved, with most Protestant sects is unlikely. The address at Saint Joseph's Church is a clear message to the Orthodox that he is moving ahead with them because of their alleged "adherence" to "normative apostolic teaching."
Yes, it should be pointed out also, as was done a short while ago in this commentary, that any discussion of "doctrine" on the part of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is itself an exercise in relativism as he contradicts or ignores doctrines whose "particulars" he believes have become obsolete. Trusting a theological relativist to put an end to theological relativism is somewhat akin to trusting an arsonist to put out a wave of fires set by arsonists (or trusting Steve Blass to find the strike zone--if you don't get this allusion, don't worry about it; baseball historians will "get it").
Such contradictions, however, are very much apart from the point, which is that false ecumenism, no matter how it is defined or practiced, is of the devil, stands condemned by the authority of the Catholic Church. All of Ratzinger's words in its behalf are so much sophistry.
The message that is to be delivered to Protestants has been delivered by Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen and by Saint Francis de Sales and by Saint Peter Canisius and by Popes Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius XI, among so many others: return to the true Faith. Return. The message that is to be delivered to the Orthodox has been delivered by countless popes and by the very life of Saint Josaphat himself: return to the true Faith. Return. Period. No "obstinate wrangling" need apply.
Pope Pius IX used the Syllabus of Errors to condemn the proposition that "Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ." The same holy pontiff explained in Iam Vos Omnes:
It is for this reason that so many who do not share “the communion and the truth of the Catholic Church” must make use of the occasion of the Council, by the means of the Catholic Church, which received in Her bosom their ancestors, proposes [further] demonstration of profound unity and of firm vital force; hear the requirements [demands] of her heart, they must engage themselves to leave this state that does not guarantee for them the security of salvation. She does not hesitate to raise to the Lord of mercy most fervent prayers to tear down of the walls of division, to dissipate the haze of errors, and lead them back within holy Mother Church, where their Ancestors found salutary pastures of life; where, in an exclusive way, is conserved and transmitted whole the doctrine of Jesus Christ and wherein is dispensed the mysteries of heavenly grace.
Was there any such message emanating from Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI at Saint Joseph's Church in the Borough of Manhattan last evening? No. He reaffirmed adherents in false religions by a sin of omission that their salvation is more or less assured, which it is not. It is in great jeopardy. So is his for his, objectively speaking, for refusing to seek with urgency the conversion of souls whom God's Holy Providence has placed into his path. Poor, poor lost sheep needed a shepherd. What did they get? A wolf in shepherd's clothing, a wolf who's gotten so used to the conciliar apostasies that he believes he is a true shepherd of souls, which is the saddest of part of all of this sorrow by description.
Today, as noted in No Room for Christ the King at the United Nations, is the feast of Our Lady of Consolation. She wants to console us in our afflictions. May we seek to console the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, praying as many Rosaries of reparation in these next two days as our states-in-life permit, for all of the crimes against God and souls that are being committed in the name of the Catholic Church by apostates who believe that there is no need to bear a consistent, visible and tangible witness before all men and in all circumstances to the simple truth that the Catholic Church is one and only source of human salvation on earth, the one and only foundation of personal and social order, the one and only teacher of the Gospel, the one and only sanctifier of the souls of men purchased the cost of the shedding of every single drop of the Most Precious Blood of her Divine Bridegroom, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Our Lady has sorrow beyond description as a result of false ecumenism and the sins committed against the First Commandment engendered thereby. Isn't time to console her by praying a Rosary right now?
Kyrie eleison!
Our Lady of Consolation, pray for us!
Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey!
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
