Traditionalists have outrun grace

There is Catholic Action and then there is the defensive reaction of Traditionalists who cannot justify their position, so resort instead to unsupported and doctrinally incorrect statements in their own defense.

As repeatedly proven on this site and elsewhere, those purportedly defending the Faith must proceed only within the parameters of scholastic method and the constant teaching of the Church. In order to do so they must first prove those condemning Traditionalism as non-Catholic to be in violation of Catholic doctrine and this same scholastic method. When neither of these requirements is even so much as mentioned, far less any attempt made to prove their opponents are in error, Traditionalists easily demonstrate their own incompetence and non-Catholic orientation.

The old bugbear so common to liberalism in the 1800s and Modernism a few decades later — that those accusing them of heresy and schism are guilty of various sins against charity — is no more true today than it was 100 years ago and more. If the claim that those opposing Traditionalists are attempting to deprive them and others of the Mass and Sacraments was not so laughable, considering the mountain of evidence to the contrary, it might even be worth refuting. Illicit and questionably valid ministers (it has been proven they cannot be clergy) are incapable of providing what the true Church considers a worthy Sacrifice and licit, valid Sacraments producing grace; not sacrilegious acts. But Traditionalists refuse to accept the constant teaching of the Church in this regard.

It puts one in mind of the comment made by the historian Rev. Philip Hughes concerning Luther's defender, Melanchthon. The Catholic scholars at Augsburg had written their Confutatio, a learned refutation of Luther's heresies, so Melanchthon replied with an Apologia of his own. Hughes comments: "He repeated all his nonsense about Catholic doctrine as though the Confutatio had not proved what a caricature this was," (A Popular History of the Reformation, pg. 129). In short, the tactics of the heretics have changed little in 500 years time.

Lest those favoring the liberal brand of charity believe this virtue has been ignored where Traditionalists are concerned, a brief history lesson is in order. Luther tacked his thesis to the church door in 1517. The Pope sent Cardinal Cajetan, the esteemed writer and theologian, to dissuade him of his views. According to Hughes, Cajetan received Luther in "a kindly and fatherly way…with never a hint of threats." This was within months of his heresy. "His only wish was to put Luther right and reconcile him to the Pope," Hughes writes. "Luther wished to argue his case, but the cardinal refused. He put to Luther the Bull of Clement VI…For a Catholic this was a fact to be accepted, not a theory to be discussed. Luther, proposing to discuss it, [was] in fact calling into dispute already the essence of the papal authority," (Ibid, pg. 111). Needless to say, Luther never repented.

Within two years Pope Leo X condemned Luther's propositions and Luther and his cohorts as "notorious and pertinacious heretics." Following many entreaties and unsuccessful negotiations between Henry and Rome, Pope Paul III excommunicated King Henry VIII in 1538, some eight years after the King proved himself intent upon repudiating the papacy and establishing his own religion. By 1560, 43 years from the time Luther's theses were published, the Council of Trent finally finished the job of condemning the many errors spawned by the Reformation.

Forty-eight years have passed since the death of Pope Pius XII and Traditionalists are still enthroned on their pity pot, whining about charity grown cold. Hugo Maria Kellner, to that time a Traditionalist himself, was one of the first to observe in the late 1970s that, try as they might, Traditionalist "clergy" simply could not function licitly. He was roundly ignored. Traditionalists have been given ample time to accept the truth and all the evidence they need. They have long since passed the two-year mark allowed Luther, and Henry VIII's eight-year stay of execution. The Church did not delay Her condemnations in order to politely "reason" with the followers of these heretics, as many sympathetic to Traditionalists insist upon today. They forget that the losses to Protestantism in Europe during the 1500s were permanent losses, and it is abundantly clear that Traditionalists as a group have no intention of reversing their position, either.

The Church did not long tolerate the dissemination of heresy and schism by Her enemies but ran to stem the poisonous contagion before it could infect yet others. This is true charity. The prefiguration of this swift judgment is found in Holy Scripture, as Rev. James Meagher demonstrates. Following the Babylonian Captivity, the prophet Jeremias hid the Ark of the Covenant in a cave on Mt. Nebo, because "the Jews' covenant or contract with God was broken [and] the Shekinah spoke no more," (How Christ Said the First Mass, pg. 44). It was prophesied, however, that the Shekinah would return to speak to the Jews "when the Messiah would come."

Rev. Meagher explains that the Shekinah was the Holy Ghost, and that even in the Talmud the words Holy Spirit have the same meaning as in Christian writings. The Shekinah was the star, then, seen over Bethlehem; the bright cloud seen by the shepherds; the Dove at Christ's Baptism; the cloud at both the Transfiguration and the Ascension and the fiery cloud raining tongues of fire on Pentecost. "When Christ died, He left the Holy of Holies as a mighty wind, saying 'Let us go hence.' …Jewish writers tell us 'the Shekinah took up its abode on the summit of Mt. Olivet for three and a half years [following Pentecost]; day and night they heard His voice in pleading words: Come back to Me, my people; O come back to Me. The Presence never spoke again,'" (the Shemoth, by Warsh; Ibid pg. 44).

Traditionalists outran the grace to reverse their course many years ago. By all accounts the Holy Ghost will not return to them, since the Church has assured us that impenitence, obstinacy and resisting the known truth are very difficult of pardon, and final impenitence is unpardonable. "Those who reject deliberately the means of salvation also are rarely pardoned…The difficulty in obtaining pardon for these sins is caused by the sinner himself, who rejects God's grace," (Rev. Paul O'Sullivan, The Holy Ghost, Our Greatest Friend). And it must be remembered that Pope Boniface VIII infallibly declared that it is necessary to salvation to recognize the Roman Pontiff. Like the Protestants before them, Traditionalists have not only refused to recognize him, but have denied by their actions the necessity of a canonically elected Pope to the Church's very existence.

The great Irish catechist Rev. John Kearney (who died in 1941) explains why it is so unlikely that Traditionalists ever will regain their faith. He quotes St. Paul, who taught, "'It is impossible for those…fallen away to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God and making Him a mockery,' (Heb. 6:4-6). Impossible here means very difficult, morally impossible, impossible without a miracle of grace…It is a gift that God gives a second time to those only who ask it with humility and perseverance…Humble and persevering petition is not easy for those who have lost the Faith. We can say it is almost impossible for them because humble and persevering petition means going back on and reversing their own pride and independence of mind, which independence was the cause of their refusal to submit to God and believe His words," (Our Greatest Treasure, pg. 107-8). It is more reasonable, then, to seek conversions among Protestants and pagans than Traditionalists; for these never spurned the gift of Faith.

A final word on Traditionalists. It is our duty to pray unceasingly for the miracle necessary for their conversion. But in the end Traditionalists alone, if they arrive at great humility and exert the necessary effort, can facilitate their return to the Church. Only the Divine Mercy can grant the grace; men are helpless in this matter.