Bishop Williamson: Then Or Now?

[Stone]

Taken from The Recusant #62 - Autumn 2024 [slightly adapted]:

Of course, as always there will be no public answer to this question. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be asked:

Bishop Williamson: Then Or Now?

If you speak to someone who tells you that he is a supporter of Bishop Williamson, you have the right to probe a little deeper. Try the following question: which Bishop Williamson do you support: the Bishop Williamson of back then or the Bishop Williamson of now?


THEN:

Here is what the old Bishop Williamson used to say concerning the New Mass:

• “Take for instance the Novus Ordo Mass. The New Rite as a whole so diminishes the expression of essential Catholic truths...that it is as a whole so bad that no priest should use it, nor Catholic attend it.” (Eleison Comments #387)
  
  
• “The New Mass is in any case illicit. In any case, it’s designed to please Protestants, it’s designed to undo Catholicism. It’s intrinsically offensive to God, it’s intrinsically evil. That’s how it was designed and that’s how it turned out. … If the New Mass is valid but illicit, may I attend? NO! The fact that it’s valid does not mean it’s ok to attend.”  (See The Catacombs; see also audio, here)
  

That was the old Richard Williamson, the one whom Archbishop Lefebvre chose to become a bishop. Had he spoken back then the way he speaks now, he would not have been chosen and would in all likelihood have been disciplined and, if obstinate, thrown out. The new Richard Williamson contradicts the old Richard Williamson. If you side with the old Richard Williamson, then the cult followers, sycophants and hangers-on of the new Bishop Williamson will attack you for it, including behind your back. If you are a priest who sides with the old Bishop Williamson, then you can expect the new Bishop Williamson to maintain a sacramental blockade against your faithful.

NOW:

What does the new Bishop Williamson teach concerning the same question?

• “Bishop Williamson: There are a number of decent priests still operating as decent priests inside the Novus Ordo… if you look somewhere in your area within reach of your car’s petrol tank, your gasoline tank, you will find, somewhere, you will find a decent Novus Ordo priest. … I believe there are some who do understand it and who still want to practice as good priests. Now, they’re  forced to celebrate the New Mass. …
  
  Interviewer: People who go to those [Novus Ordo] Masses, in the vast majority of cases, are of a liberal mindset, they go into the church and come out and answer a survey saying: abortion is acceptable in some circumstances, homosexuality is acceptable, this is acceptable. You, your excellency, are asking me, in this heresy, in this just absolute cesspool of heresy, to try to maybe find some priest which I don’t even think exists, to hear my confession. But to me it is so obvious that this whole thing is fake! How can I participate in it? It’s fake! This has nothing to do with Vatican I, it has nothing to do with the teachings of Pius X, it’s got nothing to do with Pius IX, it has nothing to do with Thomism. It’s Protestantism and Communism. So how can I even approach this as an honest Catholic?
  
  Bishop Williamson: OK, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I understand where you’re coming from. I only say, I think there’s a little more white around you and available if you look for it than you believe. … but don’t believe that you’re up against a world in which everything is either black or, well I’m sorry, in which all of the grey is all black. No, if it’s grey, then there’s some white mixed in with the black. It’s your business to sort out the white from the black, to frequent the white as you say, not to frequent the black, not to go along with the black, not to go along with this fake religion as you quite rightly say. The new religion of Vatican II is a fake religion, no question about it, and it’s at war with the true religion. I’m obviously not saying go along with the new religion. What I’m saying is: I do believe in the terrible mixture of grey and black that exists, in this vale of tears, that’s almost everywhere in this vale of tears … Now you say that the Novus Ordo is all completely gone and rotten. I understand and you can’t afford to eat a half-poisoned cake. I understand. But if the cake is half-poisoned then there’s half of it that isn’t poisoned. And if you’re using your mind a point comes when you can begin to distinguish what is poisoned and what isn’t. So when you come to applying - the principles are absolute but their application is - the principles are in black and white, no mixture, but the application is in a world of greys, so when it comes to applying the principles you’ve got to - [talks about Novus Ordo miracles] . . .
  
  I’m obviously not pushing the new religion. What I'm saying is that there is still part valid in the new religion along side all that is fake. I may well admit readily that in many cases there’s much more fake than there still is validity. That’s not the question. The question is what you should do where you are. And have you got to stay away from every anything that’s got anything to do with the Novus Ordo. My answer to that absolute question is: no. You don’t have to stay absolutely away. I’m not saying follow the new religion. I’m saying you’re young and you’re strong, you can drive around the diocese. That SSPX priest probably knows some conservative priest in the area, probably. Ask him.”  (Youtube interview, 4th August, 2022)
  

• “There are cases where even the Novus Ordo Mass can be attended with an effect of building one’s Faith instead of losing it. … Be very careful with the Novus Ordo … But, exceptionally, if you’re watching and praying, even there you may find the grace of God. If you do, make use of it in order to sanctify your soul.”  (Mahopac, New York, 28th June 2015)
  
  
• “I do not say that every person should stay away from every single Novus Ordo Mass.”  (Ibid.)
  
  
• “I don’t say to everybody inside the Novus Ordo, priests and laity, I don’t say: ‘You’ve got to get out!'" (St. Catharine’s, Ontario, 5th November 2014)
  
  
• “The Novus Ordo is false, but it’s not only false, it’s part true part false. The false part is very dangerous, but the true part enables souls to keep the Faith.”  (Veneta Oregon, 19th September, 2016)
  
  
• “Therefore, it seems to me, if James is convinced that to save his soul he must stay in the Newchurch, I need not hammer him to get out of it.”  (Eleison Comments #348)
  
  
• “As an essential part of the subjective and ambiguous religion, the Novus Ordo Mass can be what you make of it. A priest can celebrate it decently, a Catholic can attend it devoutly.”  (Eleison Comments #447)
  
  
• “Question: Then, does it mean that those knowing what they know, such as the souls here could go to that [Novus Ordo Mass] and expect to receive grace?
  
  
• Bishop Williamson: If anybody here who knows what the Novus Ordo means went back to the Novus Ordo - pffff! - then [pause] - why would they want to go back?
  
  [laughter] Well, it’s, I would - they can receive grace. But they have to judge the priest…”  (Emmett, Kansas, 18th September, 2016)
  

• “I’m sure you ask yourselves: ‘What kind of word are my children going to have to grow up in? How are they going to keep the Faith?’ Very good questions. By prayer and Charity and by frequenting the sacraments, so long as they are still available, so long as it’s at all still possible to reach the sacraments. And some Novus - I’ve got into quite a lot of controversy for saying this, but it’s true - there is no question that some Novus Ordo Masses are valid. And if they’re valid, then it’s defined by the Council of Trent that grace passes, “ex opere operato” is the strict phrase.”  (Vienna, Virginia, 20th May 2016)
  

Summary

Bishop Williamson Then: The New Mass is evil! Don’t go to it!

Bishop Williamson Now: Go to the New Mass! You’ll Get Grace There!

Conclusion:

Catholics who live in contradiction are Catholics who are living a lie. One characteristic of the truth is that it does not change, because God does not change. If someone who used to tell you that the New Mass is evil and must be avoided now says that you can go to it and receive grace there, that person has gone astray and you must not listen to his advice.