+St. Elizabeth of Portugal, Widow+

Introduction

In recent blogs as well as numerous articles on this site, it has consistently been pointed out that (a) it is the dogmatic teaching of the Church, not private revelations, on which we must base our assessment of the times in which we live; (b) the views and opinions of so-called experts in the fields of speculative, dogmatic and moral theology, eschatology and other Catholic sciences are without any value at all or are gravely flawed. This is because such supposed experts are either not validly ordained or consecrated, or in the case of secular “experts,” have not been educated in Catholic institutions. And (c) Those bishops who allowed the poison of Modernism to infiltrate their teachings and that of their seminaries abandoned the Catholic faith, and according to dogmatic Church teaching and Canon Law could never be restored to their positions. This occurred long before the death of Pope Pius XII and explains how and why the Church was successfully infiltrated by neo-Modernists, proving Angelo Roncalli could never have been elevated to the papacy.

Even secular writers decry the adverse influence of self-appointed experts, as can be seen in online comments and articles. One such writer recently observed that by introducing mind-altering drugs, both pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs, and food additives that affect brain chemistry, a mental state has successfully been created that more readily accepts a “reality shift” created by influencers and experts. She describes this as mind control tactics effecting an information reality shift, information which is delivered “in special ways, in audio, visual or written format.” The writer goes on to state that this information can be false while appearing to be true, making it difficult for the general population to determine just how much truth, if any, it might contain. We have seen this play out politically for decades.

She then goes on to note that it is the “experts” and “fact checkers,” who are to blame for this — those in the media and elsewhere who at one time were expected to hold public officials accountable, investigate any suspected corruption and collusion and expose it. She blames modern technology for occasioning this reality shift, advising people to stop relying on modern methods of information gathering and delivery. This is why articles on this site repeatedly warn that one must not depend on lengthy videos, podcasts, DVD’s and other non-traditional means of relaying information which LibTrad experts produce and disseminate as education in the Catholic faith. Such dissemination is, quite simply, neo-Modernism at its best, used to warp and redirect enquirers sincerely wishing to learn about the Catholic faith.

Had the election of Angelo Roncalli been investigated as it should have been long ago, the flood of information generated by the contentious LibTrad movements — propaganda intended to herd Catholics into the pre-designated channels — would never have been successful in confusing and deceiving so many of those exiting the Novus Ordo Church in the late 1960s, early 1970s. Roncalli’s disqualification for election on several counts became known in the 1970s, through public statements revealed in his biographies, works by respected Catholic authors and his actions as “pope,” but were suppressed or ignored. This is how clerical “experts,” who never trained in Catholic seminaries and never received valid ordination or consecration, along with the lay “experts” they endorsed, gained control of sincere Catholics.

Nothing illustrates this point better than the article reviewed below, written by Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton. An approved theologian or true expert, personally commended by Pope Pius XII, Fenton here examines a much-neglected document condemning Modernism, issued by Pope St. Pius X.  And in examining its contents through his explanation, we see unfold precisely how the Church was infiltrated and subverted. Having just celebrated July 4 in this country, the beginning of a yearlong celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the following review also highlights the connection between Modernism and Americanism, something very familiar to Msgr. Fenton. For he and Rev. Francis J. Connell were the only ones to oppose the resurgence of Americanism at the first session of the Vatican Council, after Time/Life publisher Henry Luce, with the with the assistance of Connell’s and Fenton’s nemesis, John Courtney Murray, S. J., helped spread its doctrines throughout the world.

Sacrorum Antistitum and the Background of the Oath Against Modernism

In this article, written for the The American Ecclesiastical Review in October, 1960, Msgr. Fenton translates and explains the introduction and conclusion of Pope St. Pius X’s Motu Proprio Sacrorum Antistitum,  or Oath against Modernism, which Fenton terms “the most important, of the three main anti-Modernist pronouncements issued by the Holy See during the brilliant reign of St. Pius X” (the other two being Pascendi and Lamentbili). Fenton begins:

“Quite obviously the greatest danger to the faith of the members of the true Church of Jesus Christ exists when some members of this Church actually teach or even show sympathy for doctrine contradictory to or incompatible with the body of Catholic dogma without receiving any reproof from those whom God has commissioned and obligated to protect the purity and the integrity of the Catholic faith. St. Pius X was acutely conscious of the fact that many influential Catholics were teaching or encouraging erroneous doctrines opposed to the divinely revealed Catholic message long after those erroneous doctrines had been pointed out and condemned by the highest teaching authority within the Church… St. Pius X speaks out very clearly of the existence of a secret alliance or a foedus clandestinum among the Modernists of his day — (a clandestine alliance or secret pact) connected with and inherent in the Modernist movement.

“…The introduction to the Sacrorum antistitum takes cognizance of the fact that most of the genuinely dangerous supporters of the Modernist movement, the men against whose efforts the Sacrorum antistitum and its commands were particularly directed, were priests active within the Catholic Church itself. St. Pius X took cognizance of the fact that such priests were actually perverting their own ministry… No one has ever been as well placed to harm the true Church and to counteract its essential work as a Catholic priest in good standing. If such a man, by his preaching, his teaching, or his writing, actually sets forth the kind of teaching condemned in the Lamentabili sane exitu and in the Pascendi dominici gregis, or if he works to discredit the loyal defenders of Catholic dogma without receiving any repudiation or reproof from those to whom the apostolic deposit of divine revelation has been entrusted, the Catholic people are in grave danger of being deceived.

“The Bishops of the Catholic Church were bound in conscience by the obligations of their office to act energetically against this teaching that contradicted the divinely revealed truth proposed as such by the true Church. The “defence of the Catholic faith” and strenuous efforts “to see to it that the integrity of the divine deposit suffers no loss” are definitely not works of supererogation. These are the duties prescribed by Our Lord Himself for the leaders of the Church, which He has purchased by His blood.”

The danger spread by members of the clergy

Fenton quotes St. Pius X: “For it is no longer a case, as it was in the beginning, of dealing with disputants who come forward in the clothing of sheep. Now we are faced with open and bitter enemies from within our own household, who, in agreement with the outstanding opponents of the Church, are working for the overthrow of the faith. They are men whose audacity against the wisdom that has come down from heaven increases daily. They arrogate to themselves the right to correct this revealed wisdom as if it were something corrupt, to renew it as if it were something that had become obsolete, to improve it and to adapt it to the dictates, the progress, and the comfort of the age as if it had been opposed to the good of society and not merely opposed to the levity of a few men. To counter such attempts against the evangelical doctrine and the ecclesiastical tradition, there will never be sufficient vigilance or too much severity on the part of those to whom the faithful care of the sacred deposit has been entrusted.”

TSB comment: So what makes anyone believe that this war ever ended? LibTrads merely picked up where the neo-Modernists left off. They pretended to keep the Mass while abandoning the papacy, paying only lip service to Canon Law and papal teaching. They ”corrected” papal teaching on jurisdiction with their claim to epikeia and jurisdiction proceeding directly form Christ, in flagrant violation of Mystici Corporis Christi. And this, without ever validly possessing episcopal or priestly orders. Surely, they exceeded the Modernists’ wildest dreams.

Fenton comments: “It is quite obvious that, given the intimate connection between the Church and the faith, a connection so close and perfect that the Church itself may be defined as the congregatio fidelium, the repudiation of the Catholic faith would inevitably lead to the dissolution of the Church. Yet, for the Modernists and for those who co-operated in their work, the immediate object of attack was always the faith itself. These individuals were perfectly willing that the Catholic Church should continue to exist as a religious society, as long as it did not insist upon the acceptance of that message which, all during the course of the previous centuries of its existence, it had proposed as a message supernaturally revealed by the Lord and Creator of heaven and earth. They were willing and even anxious to retain their membership in the Catholic Church, as long as they were not obliged to accept on the authority of divine faith such unfashionable dogmas as, for example, the truth that there is truly no salvation outside of the Church.

Both LibTrad and Novus Ordo pseudo-clergy equally responsible

What these men were really working for was the transformation of the Catholic Church into an essentially non-doctrinal religious body. They considered that their era would be willing to accept the Church as a kind of humanitarian institution, vaguely religious, tastefully patriotic, and eminently cultural. And they definitely intended to tailor the Church to fit the needs and the tastes of their own era… They sought to force or to delude the teaching authority of Christ’s Church into coming out with the fatally erroneous proposition that what is accepted by divine faith in this century is objectively something different from what was believed in the Catholic Church on the authority of God revealing in previous times.”

TSB comment: And both the Novus Ordo and LibTrad sects were wildly successful in doing just that. They abandoned doctrine and focused on the liturgy, each in their own way. LibTrads emphasized the preservation of Catholic culture, an Americanist-style patriotism and the Latin Mass. The Novus Ordoites “humanized” their sacrilegious liturgy, destroyed any meaningful traditions and embraced ecumenism, condemned by the Church. (Back to Fenton)

This Modernistic outlook is precisely what Pope Leo XIII condemned in his teaching on Americanism, Msgr. Fenton notes, quoting this pope: “The principles on which the new opinions We have mentioned are based may be reduced to this: that in order the more easily to bring over to Catholic doctrine those who dissent from it, the Church ought to adapt herself somewhat to our advanced civilization, and, relaxing her ancient rigor, show some indulgence to modern theories and methods. Many think that this is to be understood not only with regard to the rule of life, but also to the doctrines in which the deposit of faith is contained. For they contend that it is opportune, in order to work in a more attractive way upon the wills of those who are not in accord with us, to pass over certain heads of doctrines, as if of lesser moment, or so to soften them that they may not have the same meaning which the Church has invariably held.”

Americanism and Modernism work hand in hand

Fenton continues: “Thus, when we examine the actual texts of the Testimonium benevolentiae and of the Sacrorum antistitum, it becomes quite apparent that Pope Leo XIII and St. Pius X were engaged in combating doctrinal deviations that actually sprang from an identical principle, the fantastically erroneous assumption that the supernatural communication of the Triune God could and should be brought up to date and given a certain respectability before modern society. The men who sustained the weird teachings condemned by Pope Leo XIII, a document which, incidentally, did not denounce any mere phantom body of doctrine, and the men who taught and protected the doctrinal monstrosities stigmatized in the Lamentabili sane exitu and in the Pascendi dominici gregis, based their errors on a common foundation. The false Americanism and the heresy of Modernism were both offshoots of doctrinal liberal Catholicism.

TSB comment: Well we don’t call them LibTrads for nothing! In their own way the leaders of these LibTrad sects especially are just as heretically evil as the Novus Ordo sect they consistently condemn. They are merely flip sides of the same coin. Take the case of a LibTrad “priest” corrected by one of his parishioners about displaying an American flag on the altar — the parishioner’s objections were rebuffed and the flag remained. And of course there was the influence of the Americanist John Birch Society among Traditionalists, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. Some LibTrad clergy even preached Birch propaganda form the pulpit. Today, however, we know the Birch Society was founded and headed by Freemasons. (Back to Msgr. Fenton)

“The first components of liberal Catholicism, during the earlier days of the unfortunate Felicite De Lamenais, were religious indifferentism, some false concepts of human freedom, and the advocacy of a separation of Church and state as the ideal situation in a nation made up of members of the true Church. But, after these teachings had been forcefully repudiated by Pope Gregory XVI in his encyclical Mirari vos arbitramur, a new set of factors entered into this system. These were inserted into the fabric of liberal Catholicism because the leaders of this movement persisted in defending as legitimate Catholic doctrine this teaching, which had been clearly and vigorously condemned by the supreme power of the Catholic magisterium. Most prominent among these newer components of liberal Catholicism were minimism, doctrinal subjectivism, and an insistence that there had been and that there had to be at least some sort of change in the objective meaning of the Church’s dogmatic message over the course of the centuries.

“This common basis of the false doctrinal Americanism and of the Modernist heresy is, like doctrinal indifferentism itself, ultimately a rejection of Catholic dogma as a genuine supernatural message or communication from the living God Himself. It would seem impossible for anyone to be blasphemous or silly enough to be convinced, on the one hand, that the dogmatic message of the Catholic Church is actually a locutio Dei ad homines, and to imagine, on the other hand, that he, a mere creature, could in some way improve that teaching or make it more respectable… The conclusion to the Sacrorum antistitum brings out more clearly than any other statement of the Holy See the fact that Modernism sprang from the same basic principle, as did the false Americanism pointed out and proscribed in the Testem benevolentiae of Pope Leo XIII.

TSB comment:  “Catholic” Liberalism begat Americanism and Americanism evolved into Modernism, although both coexisted side by side before Pope St. Pius X’s condemnation of the Modernist heresy. We have commented at length on doctrinal minimism on this site, citing Rev. John F. Cronins as follows: “The great bulk of Church teaching is had through the normal channels of pronouncements by the popes, bishops, and theologians… A “minimist” attitude of accepting only infallible pronouncements is simply un-Catholic.” And as Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton wrote: “Ultimately theological minimalism was a device employed BY LIBERAL CATHOLICS to make the rejection of authoritative papal teaching on any point appear to be good Catholic practice. Sometimes it took the crass form of a claim that Catholics are obligated to accept and to hold only those things which had been defined by the explicit decrees of the ecumenical councils or of the Holy See. This attitude… was condemned by Pope Pius IX in his letter Tuas Libenter (DZ 1683).” (“The Components of Liberal Catholicism,” The American Ecclesiastical Review, July 1958). (Back to Msgr. Fenton)

Investigation of candidates for ordination key

“These four directives are: (1) the strict carrying out of the legislation set down under n. 2 of the first section of the Sacrorum antistitum, (2) the submission by individual seminary professors to their Bishops at the beginning of the scholastic year of the textbooks they are going to use and of the theses they are going to propound, (3) the investigation (obviously by the competent and proper ecclesiastical authority), of the teaching offered in the various courses being given to the seminarians, and finally (4) the making of the Tridentine-Vatican profession of faith and the taking of the Oath against Modernism. The teacher is to sign his name to the Oath he has taken. The context would seem to indicate that it was the mind of St. Pius X that this Oath should be taken every year at the beginning of the academic term.”

Fenton then quotes Pope St. Pius X: “Equal diligence and severity are to be used in examining and selecting candidates for Holy Orders. Far, far from the clergy be the love of novelty! God hates the proud and the obstinate mind. In the future the doctorate in theology or in canon law must never be conferred on anyone who has not first of all made the regular course in scholastic philosophy. If such a doctorate be conferred, it is to be held as null and void. The rules laid down in 1896 by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars for the clerics of Italy, both secular and regular, about the frequenting of universities, we now decree to be extended to all nations. Clerics and priests inscribed in a Catholic institute or university must not in the future follow in civil universities those courses for which there are chairs in the Catholic institutes to which they belong. If this has been permitted anywhere in the past, we order that it shall not be allowed in the future. Let the Bishops who form the governing boards of such institutes or universities see to it with all care that these Our commands be constantly observed.”

TSB comment: Here Pope St. Pius X recognizes the cause of the Modernist mindset: civil universities polluted with liberalism and Modernism. And yet how many among the LibTrad pseudo-clergy and their lay apologists put forth their credentials from these universities as something that places them above the laity and endows them with some sort of credibility?! Even those now calling themselves pray-at-home Catholics point to these credentials as academic achievements the Church would actually endorse. (Back to Fenton)

Catholic cardinals and bishops abandoned the faith

“All of these directives went against the liberal Catholic spirit, of which Modernism was the outstanding expression. All of them were likewise unpopular, as calculated to arouse the antagonism of the enemies who attacked the Church from the outside. All of them were duly denounced and regretted as obscurantist… It was and always will necessarily remain the duty of the bishop to see to it that any individual who teaches or who supports Modernism in any way be excluded from any co-operation in the apostolic task of teaching the divine message of Jesus Christ within His Church. In issuing this decree, St. Pius X was taking cognizance of the basic truth about the teaching work in the Church, which was afterwards brought out so clearly by Pope Pius XII in his allocution Si diligis. This document brings out more clearly than any other in recent years the tremendous responsibility of the bishop in the field of teaching the divine message.”

TSB comment: This definitely being the case, what would Pope St. Pius X have said of a bishop on the Modernist watchlist (Angelo Roncalli) elected as head bishop of the Church, in charge of delivering the divine message and guarding the Deposit of Faith?!!! This was precisely why Pope Pius XI listed him as a suspected Modernist in the first place. Cum ex Apostolatus Officio infallibly teaches that such a man could never become head bishop. (Back to Fenton)

Profession of faith for Catholics demands obedience to Pope, Councils, CANON LAW

“The Sacrorum antistitum likewise contains strict directives about the candidates for Holy Orders. Men who hold Modernistic teachings or who are sympathetic towards the Modernists are not to be ordained… Other dignitaries of the Catholic Church are ordered to take this Oath, along with the Tridentine Profession of the Faith. But it is something intended primarily and immediately for those who are called upon to teach or to direct candidates for Holy Orders. Thus the Oath itself is constituted as a Profession of the Catholic belief. The man who takes this Oath makes his solemn declaration in the sight of God Himself that he firmly accepts and receives all the teachings and each individual one of the teachings “that have been defined, asserted, and declared by the infallible magisterium of the Church, especially those points of doctrine which are directly opposed to the errors of this time.”

“The Oath against Modernism is undoubtedly, up until now, the most important and the most influential document issued by the Holy See during the course of the twentieth century. It is a magnificent statement of Catholic truth, in the face of the errors, which were being disseminated within the Church by the cleverest enemies the Mystical Body of Christ has encountered in the course of its history. “

We have posted on this site for many years now the updated version of the Profession of Faith and Abjuration of Error, (issued by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office for the U.S. in 1942 to replace the previous profession prescribed by the Holy Office in 1859; Canon Law Digest, T. Lincoln Bouscaren S.J., S.T.D, L.L.B, 1943.) We list it with the Oath against Modernism immediately following, recommending both be made before witnesses and notarized, if possible, when returning to the Church from error or on conversion. For those who dare to suggest that the Vatican Council be “revised,” that Canon Law has ceased to apply to us today, that the decrees of the Council of Trent can be manipulated or interpreted other than they have always been held by the Church,  that one can follow LibTrad pseudo-clergy who attempt to interpret the teachings of the popes to justify their errors, need to review exactly what they must vow to believe in order to be considered a Catholic.

“I recognize the Holy Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all the Churches, and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ… Besides I accept, without hesitation, and profess all that has been handed down, defined and declared by the Sacred Canons and by the General Councils, especially by the Sacred Council of Trent and by the Vatican General Council, and in a special manner concerning the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. At the same time I condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved.”

No obedience to papal teaching, utter disregard for the Sacred Canons, no respect or reverence for what is taught by the General Councils as a whole and absolutely no acceptance of papal infallibility and the necessity of the papacy as taught by the Church — this is what LibTrad pseudo-clergy cultivate among their followers. Those making this profession of faith who are coming from non-Catholic sects as “Traditionalists” are no more Catholic than the Dalai lama. What they swear on the Gospels is a lie. As Pope Pius XII teaches in his infallible constitution Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, even during an interregnum NO ONE is permitted to change, even partially, or dispense from the Sacred Canons or usurp papal jurisdiction, which, as mini-popes, LibTrad pseudo-clergy have done for decades. Time is running out for those few individuals sincerely seeking the truth.  War or natural disasters at any time could silence the Internet and prevent access to solidly reliable pre-1959 Catholic teaching, and we can see that these unfortunate events cannot be excluded from our immediate future.

Conclusion

A validly ordained Catholic priest who avoided involvement with LibTrad groups wrote to a follower as early as 1979: “At present, if one of us could perform miracles to prove the Church is in apostasy, the Catholics who have been blind since John the 23rd’s reign will claim the miracle is by power of Beelzebub. It has been actually about a year that I do not wish nor try to convert anyone because it is useless. Only at the extreme where I am asked for help do I waste my energy… I am convinced that if people did not see the light in 15 years of Paul 6, they never will… The devil has really had a holiday with private prophecies. Prophecies are vague notions — nothing definite — open to hundreds of interpretations. Satan has made prophecy become ridiculous and a laughingstock especially when the ignorant Catholics were basing their hopes not on the Bible and Bible prophecy but on what one might suspect: hysterics… that salvation would come out of France with the limping nobleman who would lead an army on a horse and subjugate all nations to the Church. How stupid and ridiculous!

“We must not look for chronological order in Bible prophecy especially in the Apocalypse where there is none. Hence the false prophet John 23rd set up the state statute that came alive — humanism and the ecumenism. He opened with the papal key the bottomless pit. Out of it came the beast Paul 6 who destroyed everything Catholic down to the seven sacraments. Tell me what another Antichrist could, if it is not Paul 6, do that would be worse than what Paul 6 did?” (Rev. Gabriel Sparacino, O.F.M, 1911-1987). And as readers well know, this has been my own position for over 40 years. Rev. Sparacino also commented that another validly ordained priest, Rev. John Gentakes, a Passionist, shared his opinions. I would like to remind readers that anything they find on this site is written first, as an obligation to defend the faith; second to create a record of the true teachings of the Catholic Church from papal and conciliar teachings, Canon Law and approved theologians and only third, as a way to lead others to the truth.

As stated here repeatedly, this third reason — that others embrace the truth — cannot be realized without the graces provided by the Holy Ghost. The operation of error has allowed nearly all calling themselves Catholic to believe lies, and Satan is the father of lies. We are all in God’s hands until he grants St. Michael permission to seize the Devil and cast him for all eternity into hell. Through the power of St. Michael, may God soon forever rebuke him we humbly pray!