From a Correspondent in Ireland...

Dear Mr. Matt:

Please find below a translation of the Italian SSPX District's response to Bishop Semeraro. This is not the same document published by sspx.org and Rorate Caeli a few days ago, but a translation of what the SSPX Italy website says here. This statement gives additional details than were contained in the statement posted by the other two websites.

Yours sincerely,
Peadar Walsh

In a notification from the 14^th October last, Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, who administers the Suburbican Diocese of Albano, thought himself able to declare that the SSPX is not “an institution of the Catholic Church” and that the faithful should not frequent it in order not to break communion with the Church.

This from a reader of The Remnant in England...

Thought I should share with The Remnant and its readership some liturgically historic news for the Catholic Church in England and, specifically, the Diocese of East Anglia.

Bishop Alan Hopes of the Diocese of East Anglia became the first bishop in England to celebrate a Pontifical High Mass at the throne in the Extraordinary Form since the introduction of the new rite.  The Mass was celebrated on the feast of All Saints (Nov. 1) in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Norwich, England.  It was also the first Pontifical High Mass celebrated by a bishop in his own cathedral in the Diocese of East Anglia since the Protestant Reformation.

After posting a comment on The Remnant’s blog, Fetzen Fliegen, about singer/activist Elton John singing the praises of Pope Francis, his new ‘hero’, we garnered a few comments on The Remnant’s Facebook page accusing us of hating those with whom we disagree. One comment in particular provided an opening for us to address this issue of “hate” head on. Since hatemongering is the accusation du jour, leveled against anyone and everyone who would dare hold up the law of God to a world that is increasingly rejecting Him, we believe the following exchange may be useful.

COMMENT FROM HEATHER: Can't we just love all people for who they are? Doesn't your faith and religion teach you to cherish all life? Hate and meanness hurt all including those that spread it. Someone may not have the same beliefs as you but that doesn't mean you should put them down or bash their way of life. Put out hate and hate will spread...put out only love and love will be returned.

MJM RESPONDS: Agreed, Heather! Of course, our Church teaches that charity must always come first and that hatred of anyone is a mortal sin which, unrepentant, makes a person deserving of eternal damnation. And if you actually read the article you may be surprised to discover that it's something of an ironic defense of Elton John.

God save the Pope from his enemies, as Cardinal Pell said. May he find a consistent vision to guide him as pastor of the Universal Church. Awake Francis/Peter! Be the man that Christ wants you to be!

(ROME) My good friend and colleague, Chris Ferrara, has rightly indicated that this is no time to mince words. We are reaping all of the final madness that logically had to emerge from the victory of the conscious cabal that took the Roman Catholic Church captive at the time of Second Vatican Council. No one can play semantic games with the horrible reality this has caused.

Dear Miss Erinyes

I'm just wondering what your opinion is. Do you think that Francis really is pope? I cannot imagine the real pope doing and saying the things that Francis is doing and saying.

Do you think that it is possible that the last conclave was rigged, making Francis' election illegitimate?

Fr. M
_

Dear Father,

The truth is that I have no idea. I am not a canonist; I have no training in theology or Church history and have no special ability to discern between the various arguments now being commonly bruited about the internet. I can see that we have a very large problem, one in the person of Francis that seems to equal the horrifying problems in the world. He seems to me to be, indeed, an intrinsic part of those external problems, a product of them, one might even say.

Sister Cristina Sings 'Like a Virgin'

When I first saw this quaint, old photograph of a Catholic nun, playfully teaching a couple of street urchins how to dance a jig, I was surprised by the tears that suddenly began to burn behind my eyes. It’s certainly nothing profound but it says much about what we have lost. Catholic nuns, the old habits, innocent children playing in the street—it’s all gone now, along with  most everything else good, true and beautiful about the world in which we live.

If you don’t understand why my tears somehow make sense then perhaps you never knew the old Catholic Church of which this photograph is a happy reminder. It wasn’t a system of oppressive rules, abusive nuns and holy fools as we’re constantly told it was. In fact, the reality of it bore little resemblance to the Catholic-bashing fairytale we see depicted in the movies and everywhere else with such intensity that even the history we ourselves lived through is in danger of being transformed in the image and likeness of a Godless modern age.  

The dispute between the Pharisees and Our Lord is being misrepresented. It was the Pharisees through their technical distortion of the meaning of the words of the law that were advocating a minimalist compliance with the natural and divine law. In fact, Our Lord came to demand a more rigorous application of the Law and the Prophets.

Perhaps you have experienced a similar ad hominem attack as I have when simply stating or defending the very simple dogma on marriage that has been held by Catholics everywhere and always (at least before the gnostic oracle of Cardinal Kasper came on the scene). Marriage is the union between one man and one woman which bond is broken only by the death of one of the spouses. Our grandparents would have considered inconceivable that such a simple and basic statement could become the source of ridicule and persecution by fellow Catholics. Yet, utter this truth today and you are likely to be confronted with something like the following: “You are being like the Pharisees. Christ came to bring mercy and the Pharisees stubbornly held on to the letter of the law rather than embracing Christ’s new spirit of mercy. Like the Pharisees of old you obstinately are refusing the law of mercy Pope Francis seeks to promote.”

If we cannot depend upon the official documents, whether “final” or “working” from our bishops for an accurate iteration of Catholic teaching,  then how are we to proceed at all?

So, those who are watching the incredible debacle the Synod on the Family is turning out to be – with the press office clamping down on the information on who is saying what in the Aula; issuing only vague and subjective “summaries” of the day’s talks; blowing smoke whenever anyone asks a difficult question - should probably not be blamed for being thoroughly un-shocked by the contents of the now-notorious “Relatio”.