The Catholic Trumpet: Seven Verbatim Errors from Bishop Williamson’s Mahopac Conference

[Stone]

7 Verbatim Errors from Bishop Williamson’s Mahopac Conference

The Catholic Trumpet [slightly reformatted, emphasis mine] | March 27, 2025

“It must be understood immediately that we do not hold to the absurd idea that if the New Mass is valid, we are free to assist at it. The Church has always forbidden the faithful to assist at the Masses of heretics and schismatics even when they are valid. It is clear that no one can assist at sacrilegious Masses or at Masses which endanger our faith.…All these innovations are authorized. One can fairly say without exaggeration that most of these [new] Masses are sacrilegious acts which pervert the Faith by diminishing it. The de-sacralization is such that these Masses risk the loss of their supernatural character, their mysterium fidei; they would then be no more than acts of natural religion. These New Masses are not only incapable of fulfilling our Sunday obligation, but are such that we must apply to them the canonical rules which the Church customarily applies to communicatio in sacris with Orthodox Churches and Protestant sects.” (The New Mass and the Pope, November, 8, 1979)

Bishop Richard Williamson once stood courageously alongside +Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in the battle for Catholic Tradition. He helped expose the crisis in the Church and resisted the destruction of the Faith following the Second Vatican Council.

Many of our new listeners may be unaware that Bishop Williamson’s later teachings departed publicly and materially from the path of +Archbishop Lefebvre. This video is necessary precisely because confusion still remains—and some continue to deny what is now a matter of public record. Ironically, it was Bishop Williamson himself who gave permission to expose such errors when he said:

“I’m going to stick my neck out… and if anybody wants to chop it off, they’re welcome.”

This short video presents seven verbatim quotes—unaltered and unedited—from his 2015 Mahopac Conference. Each one stands as a clear departure from sound Catholic doctrine and Thomistic clarity. These are not private slips. They are public errors. They demand a public reckoning.

We release this video out of fidelity to the truth, out of love for souls, and for the honor of the Church. We pray for the repose of Bishop Williamson’s soul.

“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”
—2 Maccabees 12:46

7 Verbatim Quotes from the Mahopac Conference

“The golden rule is this, the absolute rule of rules seems to be with this: Do whatever you need to nourish your faith.” (~00:06)

“If you need to attend a society Mass, a decent society Mass—just like she's spoken of a decent Novus Ordo Mass… go to the society Mass.” (~00:24)

“There have been Eucharistic miracles with the Novus Ordo Mass.” (~00:47)

“While the new religion is false, it’s dangerous, and it strangles grace… at the same time, there are still cases where it can be used—and is used still—to build the faith.” (~00:53)

“I would like to say it's all black or it's all white, but if I look at the way it is, it's something of both.” (~01:14)

→ Ambiguity
“Therefore, there are cases when even the Novus Ordo Mass can be attended with an effect of building one’s faith instead of losing it. That’s almost heresy within tradition, but that’s what I think.” (~01:23)

“Therefore, I would not say every single person must stay away from every single Novus Ordo Mass… if they can trust their own judgment.” (~01:58)


Final Note

These statements were never retracted.

And his bishops remained publicly silent: +Faure. +Zendejas. +Ballini. +Tomas Aquinas. +Morgan. +Stobnicki.

This silence is not neutral. It is a grave failure of duty.

“To recoil before an enemy, or to keep silence when from all sides such clamors are raised against truth, is the part of a man either devoid of character or who entertains doubt as to the truth of what he professes to believe...such mode of behaving is base and is insulting to God.”
—Pope Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christianae, §14

The time has come to speak.
Will you?

[Stone]

The Catacombs fully acknowledges and supports the teaching of the 'traditional' SSPX and the 'traditional' Bishop Williamson. But it became painfully apparent that after 2012 the SSPX changed to a more Conciliar-friendly SSPX and in 2015, Bishop Williamson began to contradict his earlier traditional teachings for those that also were also much more Conciliar-friendly. This has been a monumental source of confusion for many faithful, to hear once-traditional bishops telling souls that they are free to remain in the Novus Ordo, if it feels right to them. We pray daily for the soul of Bp. Williamson, he did much good prior to 2015. The same applies to Bp. Tissier de Mallerais and the once traditional SSPX. But the confusion the now Conciliar SSPX and Bp. Williamson have caused remains. It is for this reason we cannot sweep these errors under the proverbial rug.

Perhaps the bishops consecrated by Bp. Williamson were too intimidated while he was alive to condemn these errors, though it is my understanding, most did condemn them privately. But the failure to do so publicly, which has contributed to the confusion, has given the distinct impression that they have condoned these errors that are in opposition to tradition and to the teachings of Archbishop Lefebvre.

Somewhere, the once traditional Bp. Williamson lost his way, leading many faithful, priests, and even bishops astray, with regard to the New Mass, in particular.

Bp. Williamson has been remembered in every Rosary of ours for many years now - as the bishops and priests have great influence over souls. Our prayers have not ceased since his passing. But we cannot remain silent on such a grave issue.


The Recusant: Fake Resistance Watch

Bishop Williamson [and the old-SSPX] The New Mass is Intrinsically Evil

Bp. Williamson makes the N.O. Miracles a Condition of Holy Oils

Debunked Novus Ordo Eucharistic Miracle

The Recusant: Bp. Williamson promotes Novus Ordo Divine Mercy ‘Messages from Heaven’