It is Time for what may be the Church’s last and greatest Crusade
Introduction
In this year, 2002, the sedevacantist Catholic clergy and laity still number in the thousands. However, many are drifting – without guidance and uncertain of their position – in a sea of uncontrolled jurisdiction and belief. Many of the clergy are now more concerned with either deprecating others as ‘not valid’ or ‘without jurisdiction’; and/or promoting their own pet attitudes to life and faith.
Indisputably then, re-established authority is needed to restore the fragmented Church to universality of Faith and purpose. Without central Church government, it is not possible to recapture and maintain a unity of spirit, a regularization of accepted dogma and ecclesiastical observance, or a recognizable Church. (According to Pius XII the Catholic Church must have a visible head and hierarchy)
To achieve this there needs to be a departure from any self indulgent and irrelevant quibbling. The chief concern of the Church is the salvation of souls and the accompanying graces the sacraments provide the faithful where it is possible to receive them. All Church law has been developed with that concern in mind and all laws are to be considered according to that underlying principle. It is that principle that the clergy of today must use to guide their actions, decisions and utterances –
There is now a wealth of opinion and writing – dating from the post V2 era which serves little but to arouse doubt and distrust in the minds of the laity. There is little evidence of harmony between the clergy, there is only infighting and one-uppance. It is time the clergy moved beyond their own spheres and prayed and acted for the welfare of the Church. We – the abandoned laity - call them all to unite in prayer and action to attempt to resolve this current crisis. We ask them to forgo the idle pursuit of either academic conceit and/or fruitless inaction – waiting for God to intervene rather than using their own considerable Faith, prayers and abilities.
For God’s sanction of any action will become manifest by the success of the result. But we cannot expect Him to laud a half - hearted attempt. His purpose and that of the clergy must be one and the same – to feed His lambs – feed His sheep.
While Christ hung on the Cross and said ‘I thirst’. Was He referring to our days when in 1958 we saw the demolition of the Church? Was He thirsting for all the lost souls now tumbling into Hell because we are still in the catacombs? He had three days in the tomb. Have the last 44 years been our days in the tomb, paralleling Christ’s life, as the Church is His Mystical Body? Isn’t it time to move? Man proposes, God disposes. Yes, but He makes use of men of good will. The Church did not bunker down at the time of the Arian heresy: At the time of the Saracen invasions: At the time of the Protestant Reformation: At any other time. Are we any less than our ancestors?
Pius XII wrote in his paper for future conclaves that even clergy that were under interdict (and this does include ALL those ordained and consecrated out of regular order) were to be able to take part in the next election. He wrote in his paper “De Sede Apostolica Vacante et de Romani Pontificis Electione” that even those interdicted must vote and not be kept away from the next election. (He never mentioned allowing heretics or non-Catholics as were the leading lights of Vatican II. They were non-Catholics, already separated from the Church even before their “election”) Did Pius XII foresee this situation today as he mentioned many times that he was the ‘last true pope from time immemorial’? Certainly to those who have read his works and those of Pope Leo XIII, and in fact those I call the great Popes, including Pius IX, Pius XI and St. Pius X, these were the true guardians of the latter days fight to safeguard the Church they all loved they can only come to the conclusion that the fight for the disemboweled Church has not even begun. No one can give up. To do so is to flee from the enemy of God and thus earn God’s wrath and condemnation in the next life, perhaps even in this one.
Epikeia
Much has been written in recent times as to how the law of epikeia operates at this time where there is no Pope and no central Church authority to authorise Church appointments, new departures from the law etc.
Epikeia is a principle which applies to other ecclesiastical law stretching from the austere Canon Laws down to the most minor detail of Lenten Fasting. (It is not, of course, a principle which applies to Church dogma, that is unalterable and embedded in its eternal unchanging truth)It is a principle which behaves analogously to the principle of Equity in secular law – it is governed by a need for moral justice and fairness. As a result therefore, where a law cannot be obeyed for unassailable reason – the original purpose of the law must be looked to and an alternative can be used until a Church authority can be called to judge on the matter. As a guide to how to look for the intent – it is again essential to realise that the Church was formed for the salvation of souls and the purpose of law must be interpreted with that in mind. More has been written on this matter by others and those who are interested can contact us and we will send them a paper…
The application of epikeia today is most obvious in the issue of jurisdiction – there is no authority to ‘send’ the clergy. Yet these men are ordained in the correct rite/s of the pre V2 Church and have the intention of administering sacraments and offering the mass. Until they can be once more regularised by a Church authority they cannot be just rejected out of hand by those who presume to know the Almighty’s mind with the tag of ‘illegitimate’. They are working as an Underground fighting force in a war torn climate – their work is invaluable to the remnant Church. God promised He would be with us to the end of time and it would be a foolish person indeed who tried to quibble on a mere matter of jurisdiction –(a non essential man made law) Christ told the apostles to go forth…His injunction is as relevant to those remnant clergy today.
Epikeia and the Council of Constance.
At many points through Church history the administration of the Church has been rocked to its foundations by intrigue and controversy. Anti popes have abounded, factions have resorted to bloodshed, great Schisms have split the East from West, whole countries have been ground under unswerving Protestant cleansing, The Church though has survived. At no point either has God directly intervened – His will has been fulfilled by recourse to prayer and the restoration of harmony and unity of purpose. None of you should need a lecture on such historic examples – all may be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia. One though is outstanding – the Council of Constance. This is a brilliant example of where a solution was needed which could not be provided by recourse to Church law, tradition or precedent. The people at the time realised that the need for universality and a stable Papacy was paramount for the good of the Church. So they convened a Council of all the factions and an election was held. That God sanctioned their action was self-evident for the result was successful and the Church restored.
Let us heed the conclusions, and its results of Constance. The clergy of the time did not fall back on rigid canon laws as some do today even among some of the laity. They used the Scholasticism of St. Thomas Aquinas so well eulogised by the popes of the post reformation period up to and including that of Pius XII. These great popes used the ‘spirit’ of the law and not the ‘letter’ as was the wont of the Pharisees.
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