04-14-2023, 05:54 AM
The Recusant #60 - Editorial
“We likewise order and declare that no one whosoever shall be forced or coerced into altering this Missal; and this present Constitution can never be revoked or modified, but shall forever remain valid and have the force of law … Therefore, no one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission.”
“Certainly the Pope, St. Pius V, was not anticipating legislating to all his successors … he certainly wasn’t wanting to set limits on the power of future Popes to either change that missal or bring in a different Mass. … St. Pius V was not wanting to bind all his successors that you can’t change the missal. ”
FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR:
Dear Reader,
Happy Easter. Ideas have consequences. A priestly society which maintains that Quo Primum is still in force, that the New Mass is illegitimate and the Tridentine Mass the only authentic Roman Missal which every priest still has the right to use, will be a priestly society which is in a strong position to champion the Traditional Mass. It will be a priestly society which knows full well that it doesn’t need any bogus “permission” to use the Traditional Mass and sacramental rites. It will also be a priestly society which totally and consistently refuses the Novus Ordo Paul VI rites and tells others not to use them either.
If that same priestly society were to change its position and begin claiming that Quo Primum is not still in force, of accepting the right of Popes to overthrow the Traditional rites and replace them with newfangled, man-made ones, in theory if not in practice, well then… where will that lead? Will it not lead, sooner or later, to the adoption and tolerance of those very same new rites? That, at any rate, seems to be the lesson of the Fraternity of St Peter. Remember that they started out boasting that they were able to use the Traditional rites exclusively. That exclusivity lasted little more than a decade until, in the late 1990s, Rome overthrew its then – superior general, Fr. Josef Bisig, and replaced him with one more to their own liking, in order to allow Fraternity of St Peter priests to ditch their erstwhile exclusivity and occasionally concelebrate the New Mass (particularly the chrismal Mass with the conciliar bishop of whatever diocese).
The SSPX has not yet adopted such a pluralist position. Many of us believe, however, that they are sliding in that direction. If we are right, does it really matter whether it takes six months or twenty years for the New Mass to start to appear in their chapels? One starts by accepting the New Mass in principle: eventually one tolerates it in practice; in the end, one might even finish by adopting it oneself. In this issue we have gone to some trouble to present serious evidence for the SSPX’s slide into accepting the so-called “liturgical reform” in principle, if not yet in practice. How long it will take for the principle to turn into practice, God alone knows. In the meantime, ask yourself this: if you are not fighting for even the principle of Quo Primum and the Traditional Mass, what in fact are you fighting for?
Chief among this evidence is an overlooked but hair-raising ‘SSPX Podcast’ interview between our old friends Fr Paul Robinson and Andrew, during which the two agree with each other that Pope St. Pius V’s Bull Quo Primum was perfectly good for its time, but basically has no relevance or legal force today. Yes, I promise, I am not making that up. Andrew even claims that Quo Primum, “says: this is the Mass … [but] Popes down the line can change it.”
I am still in shock at how wrong those words are! Read Quo Primum for yourself and see if it says any such thing! Who knows where he got that idea from, unless it was purely from his delinquent clerical friend. If this is the sort of rubbish which the SSPX is feeding the faithful, heaven help us all.
Does this mean the SSPX is about to start offering the New Mass? I would imagine not. Although there is a clear link between recognising someone else’s supposed “right” to do something wrong, and doing that same wrong oneself, it can take a while to go from the one to the other and I don’t think we’re quite there yet. What is perhaps a little closer on the horizon is the terrifying prospect of the so-called “hybrid Mass”, long beloved brainchild of Cardinal Ratzinger and others of his like. And no, please don’t ask me to give details. Bishop Fellay at one time talked about how he was made “glad” by the thought of inserting the traditional offertory prayers into the New Mass; at other times others have suggested that the Traditional Mass but with vernacular epistle and Gospel, vernacular hymns and so forth might be the way forward. Either way, we have provided, we think, more than mere hearsay on that point.
Again, take a look for yourself.
Possibly related to this is the unusual “fashion” which seems to have the SSPX hierarchy in its grip for altars and sanctuaries which have a freestanding altar, no gradines, no reredos and steps going all the way around, which would allow Mass to be said facing the people. Why this should be is anyone’s guess, but I think the faithful at least have the right to be suspicious and to ask themselves the all-important question: Why? Taken all together, then, the signs are not encouraging. As I write, we are preparing for an allnight exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament here in London. We are extremely grateful to Fr Hugo Ruiz for coming to London to make this possible. Of course, we will all be praying for the Resistance; one of the main objects of our prayers must surely be priests. If this latest nonsense shows us anything, it surely shows us (yet again) that one good priest is worth more than ten thousand no-good, wishy-washy, vax-and-evolutionism-tolerant, compromising and at-one-with-the-world priests, even if they do (for the time being at least!) offer the Traditional Mass.
Please take this seriously and redouble your prayers and penances too. The situation surely demands it. Not many people, one suspects, realise just how bad things are in the world and the Church. The phrase “crisis in the Church,” used by the SSPX all through the 1980s, 90s, 2000s and on, is today almost redundant. It doesn’t adequately describe where things are at.
We ought really to talk about the zombie apocalypse in the Church, the nuclear holocaust in the Church, the Day of the Triffids in the Church. Like a dystopian sci-fi novel, one or two ragged, shell-shocked survivors are to be found stumbling around and picking their way over miles of desolate lunar landscape which was once a thriving city of millions of inhabitants, now reduced to rubble. That, one suspects, is how things really look, if we could only see it.
But Our Lord wanted us to experience this: so it must be how we are going to save our souls. Finally, allow me to encourage as many of you as possible who are able to take advantage of the upcoming Ignatian Retreat. English-speakers from abroad are welcome too: the retreat house is located on the edge of London, within easy reach of Gatwick and Heathrow airports and a greater-than-usual number of spaces is available, all with individual rooms, en-suite showers and professional catering provided. Although this all comes at far greater cost than we have ever had to bear before, this was a conscious decision made in view of the fact that it is the first retreat the Resistance has had in this country for more than five years, and will
almost certainly be the last one for the foreseeable future. Hence the entire retreat is being funded thanks to the good-will of some very generous souls. Take advantage of it: there may not be another opportunity like this again.
“We likewise order and declare that no one whosoever shall be forced or coerced into altering this Missal; and this present Constitution can never be revoked or modified, but shall forever remain valid and have the force of law … Therefore, no one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission.”
- Pope St Pius V, Quo Primum (see p.29)
“Certainly the Pope, St. Pius V, was not anticipating legislating to all his successors … he certainly wasn’t wanting to set limits on the power of future Popes to either change that missal or bring in a different Mass. … St. Pius V was not wanting to bind all his successors that you can’t change the missal. ”
- Fr. Paul Robinson, SSPX (see p.30)
FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR:
Dear Reader,
Happy Easter. Ideas have consequences. A priestly society which maintains that Quo Primum is still in force, that the New Mass is illegitimate and the Tridentine Mass the only authentic Roman Missal which every priest still has the right to use, will be a priestly society which is in a strong position to champion the Traditional Mass. It will be a priestly society which knows full well that it doesn’t need any bogus “permission” to use the Traditional Mass and sacramental rites. It will also be a priestly society which totally and consistently refuses the Novus Ordo Paul VI rites and tells others not to use them either.
If that same priestly society were to change its position and begin claiming that Quo Primum is not still in force, of accepting the right of Popes to overthrow the Traditional rites and replace them with newfangled, man-made ones, in theory if not in practice, well then… where will that lead? Will it not lead, sooner or later, to the adoption and tolerance of those very same new rites? That, at any rate, seems to be the lesson of the Fraternity of St Peter. Remember that they started out boasting that they were able to use the Traditional rites exclusively. That exclusivity lasted little more than a decade until, in the late 1990s, Rome overthrew its then – superior general, Fr. Josef Bisig, and replaced him with one more to their own liking, in order to allow Fraternity of St Peter priests to ditch their erstwhile exclusivity and occasionally concelebrate the New Mass (particularly the chrismal Mass with the conciliar bishop of whatever diocese).
The SSPX has not yet adopted such a pluralist position. Many of us believe, however, that they are sliding in that direction. If we are right, does it really matter whether it takes six months or twenty years for the New Mass to start to appear in their chapels? One starts by accepting the New Mass in principle: eventually one tolerates it in practice; in the end, one might even finish by adopting it oneself. In this issue we have gone to some trouble to present serious evidence for the SSPX’s slide into accepting the so-called “liturgical reform” in principle, if not yet in practice. How long it will take for the principle to turn into practice, God alone knows. In the meantime, ask yourself this: if you are not fighting for even the principle of Quo Primum and the Traditional Mass, what in fact are you fighting for?
Chief among this evidence is an overlooked but hair-raising ‘SSPX Podcast’ interview between our old friends Fr Paul Robinson and Andrew, during which the two agree with each other that Pope St. Pius V’s Bull Quo Primum was perfectly good for its time, but basically has no relevance or legal force today. Yes, I promise, I am not making that up. Andrew even claims that Quo Primum, “says: this is the Mass … [but] Popes down the line can change it.”
I am still in shock at how wrong those words are! Read Quo Primum for yourself and see if it says any such thing! Who knows where he got that idea from, unless it was purely from his delinquent clerical friend. If this is the sort of rubbish which the SSPX is feeding the faithful, heaven help us all.
Does this mean the SSPX is about to start offering the New Mass? I would imagine not. Although there is a clear link between recognising someone else’s supposed “right” to do something wrong, and doing that same wrong oneself, it can take a while to go from the one to the other and I don’t think we’re quite there yet. What is perhaps a little closer on the horizon is the terrifying prospect of the so-called “hybrid Mass”, long beloved brainchild of Cardinal Ratzinger and others of his like. And no, please don’t ask me to give details. Bishop Fellay at one time talked about how he was made “glad” by the thought of inserting the traditional offertory prayers into the New Mass; at other times others have suggested that the Traditional Mass but with vernacular epistle and Gospel, vernacular hymns and so forth might be the way forward. Either way, we have provided, we think, more than mere hearsay on that point.
Again, take a look for yourself.
Possibly related to this is the unusual “fashion” which seems to have the SSPX hierarchy in its grip for altars and sanctuaries which have a freestanding altar, no gradines, no reredos and steps going all the way around, which would allow Mass to be said facing the people. Why this should be is anyone’s guess, but I think the faithful at least have the right to be suspicious and to ask themselves the all-important question: Why? Taken all together, then, the signs are not encouraging. As I write, we are preparing for an allnight exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament here in London. We are extremely grateful to Fr Hugo Ruiz for coming to London to make this possible. Of course, we will all be praying for the Resistance; one of the main objects of our prayers must surely be priests. If this latest nonsense shows us anything, it surely shows us (yet again) that one good priest is worth more than ten thousand no-good, wishy-washy, vax-and-evolutionism-tolerant, compromising and at-one-with-the-world priests, even if they do (for the time being at least!) offer the Traditional Mass.
Please take this seriously and redouble your prayers and penances too. The situation surely demands it. Not many people, one suspects, realise just how bad things are in the world and the Church. The phrase “crisis in the Church,” used by the SSPX all through the 1980s, 90s, 2000s and on, is today almost redundant. It doesn’t adequately describe where things are at.
We ought really to talk about the zombie apocalypse in the Church, the nuclear holocaust in the Church, the Day of the Triffids in the Church. Like a dystopian sci-fi novel, one or two ragged, shell-shocked survivors are to be found stumbling around and picking their way over miles of desolate lunar landscape which was once a thriving city of millions of inhabitants, now reduced to rubble. That, one suspects, is how things really look, if we could only see it.
But Our Lord wanted us to experience this: so it must be how we are going to save our souls. Finally, allow me to encourage as many of you as possible who are able to take advantage of the upcoming Ignatian Retreat. English-speakers from abroad are welcome too: the retreat house is located on the edge of London, within easy reach of Gatwick and Heathrow airports and a greater-than-usual number of spaces is available, all with individual rooms, en-suite showers and professional catering provided. Although this all comes at far greater cost than we have ever had to bear before, this was a conscious decision made in view of the fact that it is the first retreat the Resistance has had in this country for more than five years, and will
almost certainly be the last one for the foreseeable future. Hence the entire retreat is being funded thanks to the good-will of some very generous souls. Take advantage of it: there may not be another opportunity like this again.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre