ELEISON COMMENTS DCCCLIV (25 November, 2023) : ISRAEL vs. HAMAS
Readers may well appreciate something being said about the insane clash between Israel and Hamas which began on October 7. Our Lord Jesus Christ is at the very centre of it. Here are two quotes. The first is from Scripture, the Word of God (and not just of St Paul), from I Thessalonians II, 14-16 :
“For you, Thessalonian Christians, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea; for you suffer the same things from your own countrymen as the Judeans did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all men by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved – so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them completely.”
Two comments on this first quote. Firstly, if anybody is tempted to think that St Paul was an “anti-semite”, let them read in Romans IX, 1 to 5, how St Paul loved and respected his fellow-Jews, but that did not stop him from telling the truth about them. Jews may well dismiss him as a “Jew-hater”, but that is obviously false, by the quote from Romans. And secondly, two thousand years of history are there to show how the Jews have indeed continually persecuted the Catholic Church from the Crucifixion onwards. See for instance Maurice Pinay’s 2000 years of Plot against the Church, written by a team of Catholic priests to warn every bishop at Vatican II against the danger of the Jewish influence in the Council. Alas, the warning was not sufficiently heeded. The Church largely succumbed to that influence.
But much more striking by way of proof that the Jews have not changed over 2000 years from how St Paul portrayed them above, is how they regularly “mow the lawn” in Palestine, their own expression in Hebrew for their vicious oppression of the Palestinians which we are observing once more today. Take for instance this speech of Israeli journalist Gideon Levy at the conference on “The Israel Lobby: Is it good for the US? Is it good for Israel?”, National Press Club, Washington, D.C., April 10, 2015. In summary –
Israel is living in denial. This denial is corrupting for Israeli society. Israel has surrounded itself with shields and walls – not only physical, but mental walls. Is there any example from history where a country lived on its sword forever? Israel is addicted to occupation. There is no chance of change from within Israeli society. It is too brainwashed. Israel is a lost cause. How do Israelis live with this reality? How do they live in peace with the brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank? There are 3 reasons:
1. Most, if not all, Israelis believe that they are the Chosen People. If they are Chosen, then they have the right to do whatever they want. 2. There has never been in history an occupation in which the occupier presents himself as a victim. Not only the victim but the only victim. Israel adopts a dual strategy – victimhood on the one hand and manipulation on the other. With victimhood also comes the ‘holocaust’. Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel from 1969-1974, stated that after the ‘holocaust’, “Jews have a right to do whatever they want”. 3. The systematic de-humanisation of the Palestinian people. If Palestinians are not human, then there is no question of human rights. Almost no Israelis will treat the Palestinians as human beings. Israel is a democracy for its Jewish citizens (as long as they think like the majority) but it is an apartheid regime in Gaza and the West Bank. This shared set of beliefs enables Israelis to live in peace with their ongoing crimes. Why would the Israelis change? What is the incentive?
In other words, says this intelligent and relatively honest Jew, there is no solution. You can only leave us to do as we like… But that cannot be true. The true solution is the Catholic Faith. When souls had the Faith in the Middle Ages, Jews were more of a threat than a problem. But when souls prefer Mammon (money) before God, then God uses the Jews to scourge their backs, so that they do not all fall into Hell.
Kyrie eleison.
Jews are a problem, but they’re not the worst. By way of problems, mocking God comes first.
In recent years many souls have been squirrelling away food and water in anticipation of severe shortages deliberately designed to starve us all into submission. It is a reasonable concern, and anybody who has not yet acted in this direction might be well advised to do so. Yet how much more important is the soul than the body – what about laying in provisions for the mind and soul ? Let us reflect for a moment.
Alas, the Third World War seems to be coming closer and closer, even nuclear war. It is not a pleasant thought, but it is no use hiding our heads in the sand. The electricity in our houses could easily be cut off and the satellites carrying the Internet could easily be knocked out of the sky. It is difficult today to tell exactly what form the chaos will take, but at a given moment there may be little or nothing left of the many luxuries we have enjoyed on a long and steady rise ever since since World War II. God gave to the world peace in 1945, and men responded for about five years, but then they turned away from God and only mocked Him the more, which led directly to the brink of Armageddon on which we live today. But God is not outwitted by men. There is a huge bill to pay for our sins. It will be paid.
Then what can I do to prepare for some dark days at home in the near future ? Steady family prayer is certainly the most important, with the father of the family leading the prayer, but next after prayer might come reading. Books depend neither on electricity nor on satellites, they are always there, they are always the same. They are much better for the mind than electronic media, because the mind is obliged to do that much more work on its own. Unlike the couch potato, the reader cannot just let programs wash over him, with a book he has to engage himself. So there will even be some advantages to the foreseeable chaos.
What to read ? There is a Catholic Resistance bookseller, based in Florida, who has a valuable list of books for sale which should help to strengthen the faith of many a soul in the darkest of days. None of us can tell for how much longer parcel post will be functioning across the Atlantic Ocean, but while there is what looks like being a real opportunity to read, order for yourself, to give to somebody else in the family for Christmas, any one of the volumes listed below. The bookseller’s name is Hugh Akins. His email address is : hughakins@comcast.net; website: http://www.ca-rc.com; Postal address: CARC P.O. Box 678047, Orlando FL. 32867, USA. The following postage-paid costs include media mail anywhere in the USA. For the cost on foreign orders, email the list of books and quantity desired along with the full shipping address. You will hear back from us promptly. We accept checks, Postal money orders or Paypal. All orders ship within 24 hours.
The Voice of the Trumpet– Dr David Allen White’s 2019 biography of Bishop Williamson, the last-standing of the original Society of St Pius X bishops to hold fast in the fight for the Faith in the uncompromising spirit of the Society’s founder, Archbishop Lefebvre. $26.95
The Rector’s Letters – four volumes of monthly letters written between 1983 and 2003 by Bishop Williamson when he was Rector of Ridgefield and Winona Seminaries. Hugh Akins calls the Letters “a goldmine of timeless information, inspiration, insightful commentaries and invaluable exhortations to
seminarians, clergy and laity alike”. $99 for the complete set, available separately from the website.
Eleison Comments – Three volumes by Bishop Williamson of weekly letters written between 2005 and 2019. Hugh Akins again: “A treasury invaluable to all who would help restore Catholic traditions to the Church, and Catholic sanity to both Church and world.” $89.95 for the set, but also available separately.
Conclusion: today’s world is so far from God that it makes less sense than ever. The grave temptation is to bend the Catholic religion right out of shape to fit the modern world. That is to abandon God and all hope of salvation. The “Letters” and “Comments” present a true synthesis, to keep the true faith.
Kyrie eleison.
“Letters” and “Comments” present one Catholic Truth
Readers over the last few years may remember how these “Comments” have recommended and promoted the book written in 2010 by Fr Alvaro Calderón on the true interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Fr Calderón is a priest of the Society of St Pius X from Argentina who has now been teaching thomistic philosophy and theology at the Society’s priestly Seminary in La Reja, Argentina, for several decades. His faithfulness to the teaching of the Catholic Church’s Common Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), is Calderón’s great strength, and it is the strength of his book Prometheus, the Religion of Man, an essay of interpretation of Vatican II.
The book is not easy reading, but it is an incomparable overview of the main errors of Vatican II which are still ravaging the Church 58 years later. Earlier last year the American District of the SSPX published an adaptation of “Prometheus” in English which is not entirely faithful to the original text in Spanish, because around 2012 the Society officially changed direction and no longer wishes to condemn Vatican II as clearly as Calderón condemned it, once and for all, in 2010. The Society needs new bishops to look after its worldwide flock. It wants to have them with Rome’s permission, and not without. So it cannot afford to republish a text like the “Prometheus” of 2010 without taking the sting out of it, because the “Rome” of Pope Bergoglio is intent upon driving Vatican II to the ultimate destruction of the Church.
For a mere taste of that sting, let us summarise here part of Calderón’s 2010 prologue to “Prometheus”.
When Vatican II opened in 1962, the Church’s change of direction was so drastic and so sudden that it took the whole world by surprise, and the Church is still trying to work out what it meant.Pope Benedict XVI wants to find a way of interpreting the Council in harmony with Catholic Tradition, because Catholic “Traditionalists” are claiming that the Council breaks with Tradition. “Prometheus” will then examine how to interpret Vatican II, but let us first anticipate some potential objections to what it will say.
The business of “interpreting” cannot go on for ever. it is common sense that words have a meaning, and mean what they say. Both great Church Councils before Vatican II, Trent and Vatican I, spoke so clearly
and decisively as to settle doctrinal problems and exclude all need for any further interpretation.
1 Then why does the sub-title of “Prometheus” announce that it is an “Essay of interpretation” ?
Because the texts of Vatican II do need interpretation, which shows that they are not clear, unlike texts of Trent or Vatican I. On the contrary they are deliberately confused in order to prevent Catholics from realising that the Council is not just up-dating, but completely changing, their Traditional religion. Pope Benedict wants continuity ? Alas, the continuity between Vatican II and the past is in fact between the Council and the Church’s enemies of yesterday down the ages, and today. Who are these enemies ? They are the Humanists, going back to the 14th century, always centring religion on man instead of on God.
2 But how can such a complex phenomenon as Vatican II be boiled down to one word, “Humanism”?
Because God is wholly simple, and the closer Catholics get to God, the more simply they can see things.
3 But why does a Catholic book have to resort to Greek mythology for its main title, “Prometheus”?
Because myths can contain profound human truths, and as the mythical Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give it to man, so the Conciliar churchmen stole the true religion from God to twist it for modern man. Prometheus was punished. The mythical Hercules rescued him. Can Aquinas rescue Conciliarists ?
. Kyrie eleison.
“Prometheus” must appear as written first.
Good souls for such truth have a genuine thirst.
So much for the sub-title of this book, “The religion of Man”, but why resort to Greek mythology for its main title, “Prometheus” ? Because like all classic mythology, the myth of Prometheus contains much truth bearing on man and life and human nature, and he in particular embodies the spirit of Humanism. For he was of divine nature and a worshipper of Zeus, the chief god, but Prometheus so came to favour mankind that finally he stole fire from the gods, to whom it belonged by right, in order to give it to men. Likewise the Council Fathers of Vatican II stole from Heaven the Catholic religion in order to hand it over to use by men, which meant that it ceased to be the true religion of God and became a poor imitation according to the wishes of men. And just as the mythical Prometheus was severely punished by Zeus with being chained to a rock where an eagle constantly tore out his entrails, so the Council Fathers were severely punished by God with their true Church being torn to pieces, a process still going on in 2010. In the Greek myth, Prometheus was finally rescued by the mighty Hercules. Will there be a Hercules to rescue the Church from Vatican II ? St Thomas Aquinas ?
This book is difficult to read, but it should be the last of four essays of mine on Vatican II. The first of the four was entitled “The Lamp under the Bushel” (Mt. V, 14). It examined whether Vatican II texts come under the Magisterium or teaching authority of the true Church. The second essay was entitled “The Paschal Mystery”. It began the endless task of disentangling the subtle errors of the modernists which entangle the mystery of the Redemption, which is at the heart of the Catholic sacrifice of the Mass. The third essay was entitled “The Kingdom of God”, another minefield of modernist errors, where, as it seems to me, even good theologians so defend the truth with liberal arguments that in the end they can no longer properly refute terrible documents of Vatican II like Gaudium et Spes and Dignitatis Humanae. And the fourth essay is this same book entitled “Prometheus, the Religion of Man”. It follows on the three previous essays where ideas summarised in “Prometheus” are developed at greater length. Time must tell whether I may continue to write on the Council, or not. I do hope that I do not have to dwell on the endless entanglements fabricated by the enemies of God to undermine and destroy His true Church.
If “Prometheus” makes difficult reading, that is precisely because the Council Fathers were obliged to cover their tracks to get their Revolution accepted by the mass of Catholics. They would certainly have rejected that Revolution had they seen clearly what was going on. To refute in the necessary detail all of the Council’s errors would have required a far longer book. To present a synthetic overview of those errors has required that this short book jump over a lot of detail, but that has also meant that many a paragraph is so packed with content that many a reader may feel overwhelmed. However, I have written “Prometheus” as I have written it, and I am not sorry, because it overviews the Council as I wanted to overview it.
So “Prometheus” divides into four parts: Part one, the being or nature of the Council, because anything must first be in order to act, and then three parts on the Council’s action. Parts two, three and four present the Council’s New-man, New-church and New-religion respectively, which are like a new building’s bricks, walls and edifice respectively.
It just remains for me to express my thanks to Bishop Richard Williamson, who not only encouraged me and almost compelled me to undertake this task – given that this essay should go ahead as being the last of my program – but he also provided me with the key idea, in order to shape it in the manner that it came out to be shaped. For instance to him belongs in essence the schema which you find being built up at the conclusion of each Chapter. I can say that I did not want to face up to the task of writing this essay, because I calculated that it would mean a lot of work for little profit, but as soon as I fixed on the Humanism of the Council with its turn to man being the central principle, then each question dropped into place without effort. Never did I think that such a complicated project could be resolved in such short time. I attribute this success to the merit of obedience and to the docilityof leaving one’s own idea aside in favour of my neighbor’s idea. I also believe that the ease of writing was a consequence of telling the truth.
Enough of preliminaries. Let us get going !
Father Alvaro Martin Calderón
Professor of Theology,
Seminary Mary Co-Redemptrix,
La Reja, Argentina, January 17 2010
It only
Footnotes:
The first time that Saint Peter was before the Sanhedrin, it was for having cured a sick man paralytic in the Temple, and with flat honesty he told them: “Ye princes of the people, and ancient, hear: If we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he has been made whole; Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, who God has raised from the dead, even by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” (Act IV, 8-12).
The second time he was not less clear: “We ought to obey God, rather than men. The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree. Him has God exalted with his right hand, to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are witness of these things and the Holy Ghost, who God has given to all that obey him. (Act V, 29-32) Ay! If at least today’s Popes would be able to tell them the same things!
(2) “La lámpara bajo el celemín.” Fr. Alvaro Calderón, Ed. Río Reconquista, Bs. As, 2009, p. 204: “The problems exposed by Vatican II are confused for two reasons: First, because the innovator group that took over in the Council had the prudence of not being explicit in order to avoid any open confrontation with the traditional understanding of most people present; secondly, because the Modernist thinking, which inspires it, necessarily and deliberately is ambiguous, for it does not maintain the instruments that give the driving force to their thinking, with the intention of remaining within the pacifist domain of doctrinal pluralism.”
ELEISON COMMENTS DCCCLI (November 4, 2023) : SEEKING GOD
From the story of a young Irishman’s recovering his Catholic faith, told briefly in these “Comments” two weeks ago (October 21, #849), it was clear that the mercy of God is still at work even in our godless world to bring souls in line with their eternal salvation, and not leave them to drift with the current to their eternal damnation. God exists. Heaven and Hell exist, and no human being that has once reached the age of reason can avoid spending his eternity in one or the other. An older generation, very broadly speaking, may in our time have settled for the short-lived comforts of materialistic atheism, but there is a younger generation which is still not accepting that those comforts are the best that they can find by way of a meaning for their lives. Let them seek God, as the Old Testament tells them to do :–
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him,” (Lamentations III, 25). “Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His presence continually !” (1 Chronicles, XVI, 11). “For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm IX, 10). In fact, God is positively looking out for souls to be seeking Him – “The Lord waits to be gracious to you,He exalts Himself to show mercy to you… blessed are all those who wait for Him” (Isaiah XXX, 18). “Blessed”, because they are on track for Heaven, in this life and in the life to come. Hence the Psalmist exults – “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice” (Psalm CIV, 3), because they are pursuing the real meaning of their lives, namely as creatures made by and for their Creator, to rejoin Him in the uninterruptable bliss of His Heaven.
In fact, God is so longing to be found by souls, that He lets Himself be found even by souls that were not seeking Him. “I was ready to be sought by those that did not ask for Me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ ” (Isaiah LXV, 1). True, certain dispositions of soul are necessary for an uninterested soul to be found in this way by God, as the Book of Wisdom tells us –
“Think of the Lord with uprightness, and seek him with sincerity of heart, because He is found by those who do not put Him to the test, and manifests Himself to those who do not distrust Him (Wisdom I, 1-2). Pride in a soul is the greatest of blockages between the soul and God. Hence the Prophet Sophonias says, “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do His commands, seek righteousness and humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the Lord” (Soph. II, 3).
This last quotation is a salutary reminder that seeking God is not for souls today an optional extra, if they wish to deflect the punishment from God that is hanging over all our heads. Events seem to be advancing slowly but inexorably towards a third World War, and it is difficult to imagine that war not turning nuclear at some point. We are already seeing horrors in the Ukraine and Palestine, and mankind as a whole has never been so far distant from God as it is today. But God did not create mankind, nor the universe for mankind, in order to populate Hell, but His Heaven. Therefore He is going to intervene, and soon, before all mankind finishes by choosing Hell. But such is the corruption of men today that only a very severe Chastisement will be enough to turn away the survivors from those sinful delights which they have so known in our time, if not practised, the worst being the mockery of God.
And so Almighty God has His arms wide open to welcome sinners in this last hour before His wrath breaks out, but at the same time life is not a game to be played on man’s terms – “The Lord searches all hearts, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off for ever” (I Chronicles, XXVIII, 9). Let no man today be so foolish as to say, “I am not a religious person”, meaning, “so the Chastisement does not concern me.” He runs a grave risk of understanding all too late how gravely he mistreated the infinite goodness of God.
Kyrie eleison.
Readers, read the Old Testament, where God appears
In majesty. Fear Him – or shed eternal tears !
Jer, XXIX 13: You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
14; I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will restore all your fortunes…
ELEISON COMMENTS DCCCL (October 28, 2023) : SYNOD versus CHURCH ?
The Catholic Church has always taught that its doctrine and Constitution are both of divine origin, having been established by Jesus Christ to belong to the foundation of His Church, and never to be changed by men, be they the highest officials in His Church. Yet from everything we know about the present Synod of Bishops’ meeting in Rome for this month of October, it does seem that revolutionary changes in Church teaching and structure are what Pope Bergoglio has in mind to bring about by means of this Synod. For instance, the participants in all previous Synods were predominantly high clergy, but in line with the Church’s democratisation by Vatican II (1962-1965), this time a large proportion will be laity and women.
Faced with the threat of this Synod to the Church’s very survival, five Roman cardinals from all over the world – Brandmueller (Germany), Burke (USA), Sandoval (Mexico), Sarah (Guinea) and Zen (China) – wrote to the Pope on July 10 of this year with a list of five “dubia” or doctrinal doubts, on which they asked him, entirely in accordance with Canon Law, for a doctrinal clarification of what he had meant by what he said on various occasions concerning 1 Divine Revelation, 2 Same-sex unions, 3 synodality, 4 women priests and 5 the Sacrament of Penance. Here is what the Church teaches on these points :
1 Divine Revelation: whatever the Church has declared to be doctrine from God, can never be changed.
2 Same-sex Unions : objectively sinful situations, e.g. same-sex unions, cannot be made good by the sinners’ good intentions, but remain a betrayal of the divine Revelation which condemns them.
3 Synodality : any meeting of bishops such as a Synod, with or without laity and women taking part, remains a group for the Pope to consult, but it cannot partake in his governing of the Church.
4 Women priests : by the very nature of the Sacrament of Orders, women can never be valid priests.
5 Sacrament of Penance : Confession is invalid if the penitent has insufficient contrition for his sins.
On July 11 of this year, Pope Bergoglio replied to each of the five “dubia” with considerations of his own. His full answers in his letter of July 11 can be found on the Internet, e.g. at edwardpentin.co.uk —
1 Divine revelation is binding for ever, but what binds for ever may need to be re-interpreted in order to fit the new circumstances of new times.
2 Perennial substance is one thing, but cultural conditioning is another. Thus there must always be pastoral charity for the Church’s sheep. Their behaviour does not always conform with Church norms.
3 The Catholic people must collaborate in the Pope’s government of the Church. All such collaboration can be called “synodal”. But to fit the Universal Church, it must always be wide open.
4 The Church has always taught that women cannot be priests, but they have equal rights with men.
5 Of course the Church always required repentance for absolution, but in our day things have moved so far on that the mere fact of a sinner coming to Confession can be enough to merit absolution.
The five Cardinals could not be satisfied with such considerations, however pious and well-meaning they may have seemed to be. And so on August 21, they wrote again to the Pope with their five “dubia”, reformulated so as to ask for a clear and doctrinal “yes” or “no” answer to each of their doubts. Here is how they recast the same doubts, to elicit from the Pope the exact answer that the questions call for –
1 Yes or no, if a text is once defined as divine doctrine, can that text be changed at any time later ? 2 Yes or no, can a Catholic priest bless a same-sex union ? Is all extra-marital sex still sinful ?
3 Yes or no, will the present Synod of Bishops be exercising the Supreme Authority of the Church ?
4 Yes or no, could the sacramental Ordination of a woman to the Catholic priesthood ever be valid ?
5 Yes or no, can a penitent Confessing a sin but not repenting of it, validly receive absolution ?
If the Synod pretends to change Catholic doctrine on any of these points, it will not have been a Catholic Synod, and the normal consequence will be a schism in the Church.
ELEISON COMMENTS DCCCXLIX (October 21, 2023) : IRELAND’S FALL – I
Here is the story of another young man’s finding his way back to the true Faith, this time from Ireland, once so Catholic, but today deep in apostasy. Like Quebec – the higher they were, the harder they fall. Notice how the turning point of his conversion was his beginning to pray, in particular the Rosary.
Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Ireland, things were rapidly changing for the worse. The deconstruction of Ireland’s past was already set in motion. As was common for most young men of my age, I was baptised and sent to the local “Catholic” school. But there was never any catechesis, or teaching on the Faith, which is why if you were to ask most children in Ireland who have gone to a “Catholic” school about even the most basic tenets of the Faith, they would not be able to answer.
My return to the Faith has been of an unconventional type. I have always had a hunger for knowledge and I devoured books as a child, but without the proper guidance from authority figures, I was easily led astray by my fallen nature. In my late teenage years, I read many different types of philosophy, with phases of Marx, Nietzsche, and Camus among others. Somehow, I came across the writings of the old-fashioned Italian philosopher Julius Evola, whose utter hatred and contempt for the modern world struck a chord with me. He never used the word God, as he himself was not Catholic, but he substituted the term with either the ‘Absolute’ or the ‘Transcendent’. However, around the same time as I began to read Evola, I began also looking into Catholicism, more for political than for any spiritual reasons.
The problem arose when I looked at the Church today and compared it with the radical ‘Traditionalism’ that I was learning from Evola. I knew some of the issues surrounding Vatican II and was familiar with the SSPX by name, but I knew little about going to Mass or doctrines of the Faith. I read up on how Catholics pray, and I came across the Rosary. I did not understand why Catholics prayed so much to Mary instead of to God, but I was willing to see what all the fuss was about, so I began to say the Rosary.
My reversion to the Faith was all happening during the Covid “pandemic”, when the Catholic churches in Ireland were shut for the longest continuous stretch in Europe. I had nowhere to go and could not have availed myself of Communion even if I had wanted to. Thankfully, I had been talking to some Catholics online and one informed me of a priest who was meeting with people to give Confession. I immediately contacted this priest, and my Confession took place in a cemetery. By going to Confession and trying to come back to the Faith, my old atheistic self was in a sense dying, and I was being reborn in the Faith.
Something I have noticed in the Latin Mass communities in Dublin is that the majority of men attending are reverts to the faith, while the women tend to be cradle Catholics. Many of the young men who would describe themselves as traditional Catholics are aware and knowledgeable on the ‘Jewish Question’, but are unsure of what they can do to combat the efforts of the Synagogue of Satan. What can we do aside from prayer to actively combat the enemies of the Church ? One thing none of us seem to be able to truly understand is – what happened to the Church? How does she find herself in the current state that she is in? And by extension, what has happened to our society? I read old Papal Encyclicals and compare them with what I see coming from many in the Church hierarchy today and I ask myself – is it the same Faith?
(No, it is not the same Faith, it is a new religion, at war with the old. The enemies of the Faith are best fought by the weapons of the Faith. Pray all 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, every day, for them. We are living through the climax of a 700-year apostasy of Christendom. Society has been in that downfall.)
Dr. E. Michael Jones (EMJ) is an American university professor whose name and books may be familiar to many readers of these “Comments”, because for many years since Vatican II he has been a prolific writer and lecturer on Catholic subjects. Some Catholics may not appreciate that he has never yet completely understood Archbishop Lefebvre’s apparent defiance of Catholic Authority, especially in 1988, when the Archbishop consecrated four bishops to save Catholic Tradition. However, no Catholic familiar with EMJ’s work can fail to appreciate the depth of his faith or the breadth of his culture, and above all his readiness to judge modern “culture” in the light of that faith.
For instance with his latest book just now appearing, The Holocaust Narrative, he is daring to tackle that most forbidden of all taboo subjects, namely the supposed death by gassing of Six Million Jews in Nazi gas-chambers of the Third Reich (1933-1945). We shall have to read the book to see what exactly EMJ says about that unbelievably influential myth, but there is no doubt that more and more serious historians are questioning that the “Holocaust” is a historical fact. Emotion, yes, and a’plenty, but evidence, little to none. Here is what EMJ himself says about the appearance of his book :–
…We have been overwhelmed with orders for the book. In fact we may sell out the first edition before the week is out. I think the book arrived at precisely the moment when the (1) Deep State turned on Biden and his (2) Jewish handlers. The (3) WASP faction of the (4) CIA is now faced with an emergency which forces them to push the Jews to one side before the (5) ADL/AIPAC and other similar organisations wreck the American Empire. It’s similar to the situation after World War II, when the WASP elite had to step in and get rid of the (6) Morgenthau Plan before Germany welcomed the Soviets (7) with open arms. Germany is in precisely the same situation now, ready to get out of NATO and make peace with Russia so that they can get access to the energy they need to maintain their industrial base. David Ignatius’s recent column in the Washington Post asking Biden to step down is an indication of how desperate the Deep State is at this moment.
Not all readers will understand all the references being made here by EMJ, but what he is saying here fully deserves to be explained. 1The “Deep State” in the USA today is the real government of the country operating beneath the appearances of the government. The proof of its existence in many western nations is how the parties in power can change, but policies unwanted by the people rarely change. 2 A “Jewish handler” is a Jew standing close behind a public politician to make sure that he will do or say nothing that will displease the Jews. Such “handlers” are key agents of the “Deep State” pursuing the aims of the New World Order, caring nothing about whether the people want the NWO, or not. 3 A “WASP” is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant who wants the Jews to help “Wasps” to get world power, but not when the Jews want that power for themselves. 4 The CIA was a Wasp creation founded to promote American supremacy, not Jewish supremacy, but it has long been so infiltrated by Jews or their friends, that it is no longer working for America but for the New World Order. EMJ says that the CIA is now in panic at the danger of the Jews wrecking America for their own benefit. 5 The Anti-Defamation League and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are two leading Jewish organisations with an immense sway over the direction of public life in the USA as a whole. The Wasp CIA no longer appreciates their power over America. 6 Henry Morgenthau (1891-1968), a Jew, was Secretary of the US Treasury from 1934 to 1945. At the end of World War II he drew up a notorious plan for the utter crushing of defeated Germany. 7 Had this plan not been dropped by the good sense of Wasps, it would have driven the entire post-war Germany into the arms of the Soviet Communists. EMJ is saying that good sense is likewise needed today to stop the same people who wanted utterly to wreck Germany from utterly ruining America.
Kyrie eleison
Some Protestants still have sense, but Cath’lics alone
None of what follows is dogma of the Church, nor official nor infallible, it is merely opinion of the author of these “Comments”, speculating on the nature of the Catholic Church and its present distress. Two weeks ago these “Comments” (845, Sept. 23) quoted a message supposedly from Heaven, in which an unknown Sister in France re-assured a Traditional priest that he was still serving Our Lord, even if he was apparently disobeying Church Authority above him in order to do so. Before commenting on the message it may be necessary to quote it again, as it appeared two weeks ago, but with some numbers for reference.
1 “The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is presently passing through a deep and hurtful crisis in its representatives, and you, Father, are one of its victims. 2 Mgr. Thuc understood the breakdown inside the Church, and as bishop he took a personal stand which was not according to the rules, because he ordained priests and bishops without incardination, thus putting them all in an irregular situation, even if they are fervent and wish to exercise a ministry in accordance with the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Mgr Williamson, having been put in a similar situation by his dismissal from the Society of St Pius X by its Superior at that time without valid reason, should be able to understand your situation because he too has consecrated bishops and ordained priests. Like yourself, for now, these too are lacking incardination. 4 The present situation within the Holy Catholic Church is so bad that the Lord is happy with all His ministers working faithfully for Him, with or without incardination.
5 This is the Lord’s answer to your question. As soon as Holy Church has recovered within itself the strength of the Truth, priests still seemingly adrift will be able to rejoin it officially, while unofficially never having left it. The Lord blesses you, be at peace, and be faithful.”
1 The message starts out from the Church’s present “deep and hurtful crisis”, to deny which is to grasp nothing of Church events today. The message shows real sympathy for a priest suffering in the crisis.
2 Some readers may be scandalised by the message beginning with mention of Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc (1897-1984), because his long career in service of the Church did not finish in glory. In principle he understood the gravity of the Church crisis in the 1960’s and the need for emergency measures, but in practice he finished by consecrating bishops and ordaining priests with a wild abandon. However, in this context the message is using his case to show that the principles of the crisis go way back to the 1960’s.
That Mgr Thuc exaggerated in practice is not strictly relevant to the underlying principles still in play today. The message goes on to recognise both the normal need of a priest for structural incorporation in a diocese or Congregation (Authority), and the good will of priests doing their best to serve God (Truth). The message is throughout balancing Truth and Authority.
3 Similarly with the movement in the Church going today by the name of “Resistance”, or “Fidelity”. On the one hand that movement has relied on abnormal or emergency measures for its bishops and new priests, as did Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 (“Truth”). On the other hand these bishops and priests have no normal incorporation, or “incardination”, in the official structure of the Church – “Authority”.
4 However – and here is the “punchline” of the entire message – as long as such bishops and priests are workingfaithfully for Our Lord, then lack of incardination is not so important, because “ the present situation in the Church is so bad”. In other words, Faith before structure, Truth before Authority.
5 And here is the basic principle of common sense which solves the above priest’s original problem. Church Authority only exists to serve Church Truth and therewith the salvation of souls. And as soon as Truth recovers its rightful top place in the Church, as it will do, then Authority will likewise recover its secondary place, and everything truly rightful will recover its temporarily lost official rightfulness. Deo Gratias !
Kyrie eleison.
Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the world o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.
ELEISON COMMENTS DCCCXLVI (Sept. 30, 2023) : BAD SHEPHERDS ?
As certain questions come back, so there are certain answers which need to be repeated. From the very beginning of the “Traditional movement” soon after Vatican II there arose the question of attending or not the New Mass of Pope Paul VI: If it is not necessarily invalid, if it can be valid, why can I not attend it ?” In accordance with Catholic theology of the Mass, the Tradionalists’ answer from the beginning was that even if the celebration of a New Mass with correct Matter, Form and Intention is valid, nevertheless it cannot normally be attended because it is so poisoned by the new humanistic religion of Vatican II that many a Catholic who attends it regularly, risks losing his faith by exposure to a false version of God, of man, of sin and Redemption, no less. The Traditional Mass is centred on God, the New Mass is centred on man.
However, the acceptability of attending the New Mass has been supported in recent years by the allegation that there have been a number of Eucharistic miracles with hosts consecrated at a New Mass celebrated by a priest ordained with the New Ordination Rite by a bishop consecrated with the New Consecration Rite, for instance in Sokulka, Poland, in 2008. Now Traditionalists not only claim, but can argue, that all three New Rites (of Mass, Ordination and Consecration) are not necessarily valid, but in the case of many of these alleged Eucharistic miracles they are up against the (truly) scientific evidence of transubstantiation having really taken place. See for instance the 279-page book recently published by the Sophia Institute Press, A Cardiologist Examines Jesus, in which a professional heart doctor lays out “the stunning science behind Eucharistic miracles.” A sane mind, having examined such “science”, starts out from it. Sokulka features in the book from pages 81 to 95. Two of the book’s 27 photographic plates come from Sokulka.
With such evidence we must assume that at least a number of alleged eucharistic miracles are authentic. The argument for the New Mass then takes the following form: If the New Mass is as offensive to God and as harmful to Catholics as Traditionalists claim, then how could God (who alone can produce the evidence behind such miracles) possibly have worked them at the New Mass ? And how can it possibly be wrong for me to attend it ? The answer has not changed from above. All that the scientific evidence has done is to prove beyond all possible doubt that transubstantiation really did happen at the Mass where the miracle took place. Then the question becomes, how can a loving God possibly want to poison the faith of His own sheep ?
The answer is classic. God does not want evil, but He wants to allow evil in order to bring a greater good from it. The evil is the exposure of Catholic souls to humanistic poison threatening their faith. This evil was wanted by the unfaithful churchmen who changed the Rite of Mass, but it was not wanted by God. What He wanted was to remind His shepherds (bishops) and His sheep (layfolk) that the Mass is the true Sacrifice of His Son, and both of them must stop behaving as though Mass is just like some glorified picnic. In Sokulka for instance, the parish priest at the time of the miracle and for a number of years afterwards, declares that devotion to the Holy Eucharist has notably increased in the whole region of Sokulka itself ever since the miracle. And the miraculous corporal is now exposed for adoration in a side chapel of the parish church.
Thus Almighty God does not like what a mass of churchmen and layfolk have done to His church down the ages, starting with Judas Iscariot, but He does want to put His infinitely precious Church in the hands of churchmen with free-will to merit for their own Heaven by how well they serve it, at the risk of their choosing to demerit by their dis-serving it, and he does want to allow His sheep to have bad church shepherds if that is what they deserve, so that they will suffer and return to wanting good shepherds. But He will never leave His sheep completely leaderless, if they want to get to Heaven. See how He gave us Archbishop Lefebvre to pioneer the return to Tradition, and now Archbishop Vigano to set an example of courage, in telling Catholic Truth to an apparently overwhelming anti-Catholic power.
Ever since Vatican II (1962-1965) when the highest Authority in the Catholic Church, its worldwide bishops assembled in an Ecumenical Council under Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, broke with Catholic Tradition and with Catholic Truth by imposing on the Universal Church a new humanistic version of Catholicism, supposedly “updated” to suit modern times, Catholics striving to remain faithful to Our Lord have had to be more or less schizophrenic. Either they clung to Catholic Authority and let go of the Truth at least partly; or they clung to Catholic Truth and “disobeyed” their authorities at least partly; or they chose any one of a variety of uneasy combinations in between.
In 1970 Archbishop Lefebvre founded in Switzerland a priestly Seminary and Congregation to produce a new generation of priests to protect the Church from the consequences of Vatican II which, as he foresaw, placed the very survival of the Church in peril. The Church authorities in Rome, still set upon the Council, bided their time before reacting, but when they saw that the Seminary in Econe was thriving and not about to disappear, they then began to use all the considerable means at their disposal to shut down Econe. The Archbishop would not give way, so there followed 13 years of conflict between Rome and Econe, because he refused to defy Roman Authority by going on his own outside of the normal Church structures. As for official Rome, it could neither swallow him down, because accepting Tradition would doom their false religion, nor could it spit him out, because condemning Tradition risked unmasking their false novelties.
And so the Archbishop presided over the expanding success of his Society while doing everything he could to avoid breaking the normal rules, while Rome watched and waited for the moment when it would at last be able to get away with smashing his work to pieces. That moment came when the Archbishop, approaching death, knew that he would have to consecrate bishops of his own to ensure the survival of his Society after his death, because all bishops “obedient” to Rome, which meant in practice all other bishops in the world, could not be relied on to stand up to the Conciliar authorities. And so in June of 1988 he proceeded to consecrate four of his own priests as bishops. And this was the quasi-consecration of the whole “Traditional movement” inside the Church, of Catholics by now numerous all over the world who understood that while authorities should be respected as far as possible, still Truth had to come first.
Now in November of last year, came allegedly from Heaven, a message from a Sister to a Traditional priest in France who was anxious about following Catholic Truth against the appearance of Catholic Authority. The message, heavenly or not, presents an admirable description of respecting Authority while protecting the Truth, but let readers of these “Comments” judge for themselves, and act accordingly –
The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is presently passing through a deep and hurtful crisis in its representatives, and you, Father, are one of its victims. Mgr. Thuc understood the breakdown inside the Church, and as bishop he took a personal stand which was not according to the rules, because he ordained priests and bishops without incardination, thus putting them all in an irregular situation, even if they are fervent and wish to exercise a ministry in accordance with the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mgr Williamson, having been put in a similar situation by his dismissal from the Society of St Pius X by its Superior at that time without valid reason, should be able to understand your situation because he too has consecrated bishops and ordained priests. Like yourself, for now, these are also lacking incardination. The present situation within the Holy Catholic Church is so bad that the Lord is happy with all His ministers working faithfully for Him, with or without incardination.
This is the Lord’s answer to your question. As soon as Holy Church has recovered within itself the strength of the Truth, priests still adrift will be able to rejoin it officially, while unofficially never having left it. The Lord blesses you, be at peace, and be faithful.
