St. Raphael, Archangel
A recent comment on the site board needs to be addressed on a broader scale and some misconceptions about the mission of this site clarified. Recently “Paul” wrote: “I’m sure the Dimonds feel vindicated. Even if you are a critic of the Dimonds, you’re going to have a tough time defending against what they have been saying for the past 10 years. Rome is in total disarray. First off, their refutation of Protestantism is like no other…” etc. Well, Paul, I am not sure what all they are saying because I long ago realized they have no right to say it and therefore, I cannot read it. I don’t waste my time, as a rule, reading Traditionalist articles, or critiquing their websites unless what they are saying is particularly egregious. They are part of the problem, not the solution.
We are not to listen to those who are disobeying the laws of the Church and using their so-called stature as monks to launch a website ministry when they are not authorized to do so by the Church, as they imply. For proof this is indeed the case, see my blog post three years ago at: https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/canon-law-the-dimond-brothers-are-not-monks-and-their-monastery-is-no-monastery-9-29-16/ St. Robert Bellarmine’s definition of the Church, used by theologians for centuries, runs as follows: [The Church is] “the assemblage (coetus) of men, bound together (colligatus) by the profession of the same Christian faith and by the communion of the same sacraments, under the rule of legitimate pastors, and especially of the one Vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff.” In his infallible encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, Pope Pius XII expanded on this definition as follows:
“Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the practical observance of the same laws.” Pope Pius XII also says in this same encyclical that, “These sacred laws are imposed on all… We are commanded to obey her laws and her moral precepts, even if at times they are difficult to our fallen nature; to bring our rebellious body into subjection through voluntary mortification; and at times we are warned to abstain even from harmless pleasures.”
The Dimonds are not legitimate pastors, as they claim. Monks were religious, some of them priests and some lay brothers, but none were ever pastors. We owe the Dimonds no obedience or attention whatsoever and indeed must avoid them, as explained in the Oct. 17. 2019 blogpost on this site. Even the slightest tendency to embrace the Traditionalist “solution,” — which is, all at once, sacrilegious, schismatic and heretical — must be recognized for what it is: participation in a non-Catholic religion. This is defined by the Church as communicatio in sacris, which automatically excommunicates one as a member of the Church. Paul’s comments demonstrate a total lack of understanding about what this site is intended to be and why it even exists. It seems necessary then to explain why it does exit, and what those reading it should expect to come away with.
Legitimate pastors
We are to follow only those pastors, and these include theologians, who were known to be certainly legitimate. This would be all those prior to Pope Pius XII’s death who adhered to the teachings of the continual magisterium in their writings and were not members of the “new theology” crowd that began emerging in the decade or more preceding Vatican 2. In the case of theologians, those officially approved by the Church are the most reliable, and according to Rev. Nicholas Neuberger, such theologians are those used and quoted by the Roman Curia. Neuberger wrote in 1927, and at that time his list included such familiar names as St. Thomas, Suarez, Ferraris, D’Annibale, Sanchez, Gasparri, W. Smith, Wernz and many others, ranging all the way back into the 1700s. Many modern theologians would doubtlessly be included on this list if the Church was still functioning today.
Monsignor Joseph Fenton, in his article “The Teaching of the Theological Manuals” (The American Ecclesiastical Review, April 1963, pp. 254-270), wrote: “The unanimous teaching of the scholastic theologians in any area relating to faith or morals is the teaching of the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church… There is a fund of common teaching (like that which tells us that there are truths which the Church proposes to us as revealed by God, and which are not contained in any way within the inspired books of Holy Scripture), which is the unanimous doctrine of the manuals, and which is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. The unanimous teaching of the scholastic theologians has always been recognized as a norm of Catholic doctrine.”
Monsignor Fenton goes on to mention in his article several authors who made notable contributions in the last century to this common teaching. Among them are Reverends Tanquerey, Billot, Van Noort, Garrigou-Lagrange, Herve, Devivier and Sasia, E.S. Berry, Parente, Lahitton — all of whose works I have quoted often. It is this “fund of common teaching” I appeal to on this site, as well as those approved authors mentioned above. Pius XII being the last true pope, with serious doubts having been cast on all those who were “elected” after his death, nothing except what went before Oct. 9, 1958 can be trusted. Nearly all the truths necessary for salvation were questioned after this date, thanks to Vatican 2. And according to the modern teachings of theologians, which Monsignor Fenton describes above as “the teaching of the ordinary and universal magisterium,” those failing to uphold the Deposit of Faith are doubtful and their “papacies” are null and void.
Those not acting as legitimate pastors — since no true pope or bishops approved by him exist — are not only forbidden to teach; all the sacraments they pretend to administer and the masses they appear to offer are also null and void and of no effect. This has been gone into in great detail in articles posted to this site and readers are urged to refer to these articles. (See Vacantis Apostolica Sedis, other relevant articles on the Free Content page of the site.) “Paul” praises the Dimonds for their condemnation of Protestantism, but who could possibly best St. Francis de Sales’ The Catholic Controversy or St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Exposition and Defence of Faith, both unparalleled for their exposition of the Protestant heresies? Not to mention the Council of Trent documents and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
Mission of Betrayed Catholics
At one time the mission of this site was to expose Freemasonry, and that has not changed. It is the duty of every Catholic to denounce that and other heresies whenever and wherever they see them, and today they are everywhere. As for the audience I hope to reach or what this site expects to accomplish, that is really something out of my control. God alone can grant the grace to those wishing to know the truth in these times and that is what I do my best to present here – the truth. I have no power to convince anyone and no desire to engage in protracted arguments with those who will not accept what the Popes and the Ecumenical Councils over the ages have taught as Catholic truth. I am not here to collect “followers” a la Facebook or to make a name for myself, (as if that was even possible today, given the climate both in the Traddie and secular forums). I am only a messenger, a chronicler of what the Church taught for 1,958 years prior to Pope Pius XII’s death. The site’s primary mission today is to defend the papacy as it existed and taught within that time frame. The teachings of the Roman Pontiffs themselves are the only guide we may use in these times and is superior by far to anything taught by the theologians spoken of by Monsignor Fenton. These theologians are referred to only as a reflection of papal teaching, to better explain that teaching.
What I am trying to do here is the same thing I have always done as a journalist — create a record. As Reverend E. S. Berry teaches in his The Church of Christ, Vol. I: “If the Church should lose any of these necessary qualifications [the four marks and also the attributes of perpetuity, indefectibility, visibility, and infallibility], it would be incapable of doing what Christ intended it to do; in fact it would cease to be the Church instituted by Him… If the Church could fail in any of its essentials, even for a time, it would lose all authority to teach and to govern, because the faithful could never be certain at any time that it had not failed — that it had not ceased to be the Church of Christ, thereby losing all authority. But an authority that may be justly doubted at all times is no authority. It commands neither obedience nor respect.”
So the salvation of souls that Traditionalist clergy have long claimed as the reason for their existence is a sham. As Berry states elsewhere, only the Apostolic See is truly indefectible: “The Church, as it exists in particular places may fail; even the Church as a whole nation may fall away, as history abundantly proves. The Apostolic See of Rome is the only particular church to which the promise of perpetual indefectibility has been made” (p. 57, Vol. 1). Unity of government, faith, doctrine and worship is a necessary part of the four marks, not a pretended moral union of those preferring the Latin Mass and old rites of the Sacraments. Berry teaches that unity of government primarily means that the pope must be at the head of the Church, and all must be subject to him. He pointedly asks: ”Does a chimerical Church composed of innumerable warring sects fulfill this prayer of Christ’s for perfect unity?” (see John 17: 20). Berry notes that only non-Catholic sects maintain that “unity of faith in the Catholic sense” is not necessary for salvation. And how can there be unity of faith without unity of government? For Pope St. Pius IX taught: “There is no other Catholic Church save that built upon the one Peter and united into one compact body by the unity of faith and charity” (DZ 1686).
In DZ 1821, the Vatican Council infallibly teaches: “But that the episcopacy itself might be one and undivided, and that the entire multitude of the faithful through priests closely connected with one another might be preserved in the unity of faith and communion, placing Blessed Peter over the other apostles, He established in him the perpetual principle and visible foundation of both unities.” So can we wonder today that Traditionalist and Novus Ordo “episcopacies” are divided and no one can agree on what articles of the faith are necessary for salvation? If they proceed without the papacy they are lost, for “the strength and solidarity of the whole Church” rest on Peter (DZ 1821). Regarding unity in doctrine, Reverend Berry emphasizes that according to Matt. 28: 19-20, the apostles and their legitimate successors must teach ALL things that Christ has commanded them to teach, not just a select few. Berry writes: “The Church must teach… all the doctrines of Christ, to all people, at all times, in all places. She cannot teach contradictory doctrines in different places at different times.” So to teach that the Church can now exist without a true pope, contradicting all Church teaching set out from the beginning, is to deviate from the faith. Nor can there be any unity of worship, without unity of government under one head.
Given all the above, Traditionalists and conservative Novus Ordo types are fooling themselves if they think they can thumb their noses at Francis and still claim any sort of unity. Having lost that unity and all guarantee of any real authority, they no longer constitute Christ’s Church as He established it on earth. Let them meet, eat and retreat all they like, it will accomplish nothing. For as Reverend Berry also says, the Church will not be restored until Christ comes to destroy Antichrist, and the accomplishment of that restoration will require a miracle.
Conclusion
One more note regarding for whom this site is intended. In Rom. 11: 5-8, St. Paul speaks of “…a remnant saved according to the election of grace… That which Israel sought, he hath not obtained, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest have been blinded, … God hath given them the spirit of insensibility,” or as St. Paul says elsewhere “The operation of error to believe a lie.” As Reverend Leo Haydock explains, this means, “They will be led away with illusions, by signs, and by lying prodigies, which the devil shall work by Antichrist. God shall suffer them to be deceived by lying wonders and false miracles,” and all this for rejecting the known truth, a terrible sin against the Holy Ghost. First there was the illusion of a pope in Rome, when only a usurper reigned, Then there was the illusion of a resurrected Church, but no pope, a dogmatic impossibility. Finally some realized there was no true pope, yet continued to frequent mass and sacraments without him, denying his necessity for their liciety/validity.
This site, then, is written only for the remnant, whoever they may be; not the “Catholic” masses, who have been blinded and without a rare miracle of grace will never see. God alone knows who they are and will either lead them to this site or instruct them in other ways suitable to their level of intelligence and circumstances. To read a bit more, see the article at https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job written almost 100 years ago, which comments on the book of Isaias. It is a good secular summary of why it is useless to appeal to the masses, but should not be considered a reliable commentary on the book of Isaias. One thing is certain: God was not pleased with the Israelites then and He has definitely turned His back on the world today, and who can blame Him. Nevertheless, he is still in charge. The Eternal Shepherd knows His lambs and sheep and will not forsake them.
