AM+DG

Apologetics 102

I. State of Crisis
a. Rules of the Game
i. The mission of the Church is to pass on the Deposit of the Faith entrusted to
the Apostles until the end of time and to save souls by so doing.
ii. The Church can never fail; it is divine and protected by God.
iii. Those given charge over the Church can fail, as God uses human instruments
to take care of His Church.
iv. We should and must obey our superiors in all things; we cannot obey them,
however, when their commands run contrary to the Faith and so endanger
our salvation if followed. We are all responsible for our own souls and must
keep the Faith at all costs. We have duties to God before men.
b. Vatican II & its Aftermath – Vatican II was an overt attempt within the Church to
reconcile the Church with the modern world, i.e. Catholic Truth with the principles
of the worldwide anti-God revolution. Let us see how Catholic Truth differs from
modern principles and compromise as much as we can to make the Church
“likeable” – a novel attempt, contrary to the mission of the Church given to Her by
OLJC! She is to hold the Truth and never change it for anyone!
The principles of the Revolution are contrary to the Faith; they cannot be baptized.
The duty of churchmen is to pass on what was given to them, the Deposit of the
Faith. When they deviate from the Church’s mission, everything falls apart. The
Church can only prosper when her leaders continue on the course charted by Her
Founder.
Vatican II = a complete break with the past; changed sacraments, liturgy, Rosary,
canon law, theology, Catholic belief and practice  new religion, a dangerous path,
path of damnation!
USA Stats 1965 2002
Priests 58,000 45,000, 16%
foreign
Ordinations 1,575 450
Sisters 180,000 75,000, av. 68
Mass attendance 74% 25%
Annulments 338 50,000
Q: Do we have a grave spiritual crisis here or not?
We cannot follow this path. What should we do?
II. Proposed Solutions
a. Preliminary Note – Only the recognition of a grave spiritual crisis can justify
extraordinary extra-juridical action. The Church is hierarchical and works on
principles of authority. If there is no crisis, you cannot disobey or work outside
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normal channels. If a priest recognizes a grave need, he has a duty in charity to do
what he can to relieve this need. Correspondingly, faithful who recognize a crisis
must seek avenues to nurture their faith and save their souls according to what they
know objectively to be Catholic from 2,000 years of Catholic belief and practice.
b. SSPX
i. There exists a grave public spiritual necessity in all levels of Church life.
ii. In extreme or quasi-extreme necessity of our neighbor, we are bound in
charity to help him, even at the risk of our own life.
iii. Abp. Lefebvre saw this need and stepped forward to help whoever wanted
help. He was opposed by the Church hierarchy in his attempt to help the
Church. But his duty in charity remained. If he did not step forward, if the
SSPX did not exist and stand up for Catholic truth, the Church would be in a
much worse state today. After the crisis passes, the SSPX will no longer have
a reason to exist. Now, in the midst of the crisis, the SSPX in indispensable
for many souls & the Church.
c. Indult – It is contradictory to assert that we are in an extraordinary crisis, and then
demand that all of our actions be regulated by norms for ordinary circumstances.
The Indult is just a Vatican fishhook to snare unsuspecting Traditional Catholics. A
little advantage is given to Tradition for acceptation of everything that is causing
the crisis and hence cessation of fighting against the crisis.
It makes Tradition, the true Catholic life, merely an “option” or “preference.” Indult
priests fear being “too Catholic” and speaking out against all of the problems in the
Church. They aid the destruction of the Church by neutralizing resistance to errors.
Conciliar Rome would never have conceded the Indult if the SSPX was not around.
It took 20 years and was not the initial intention. The Ecclesia Dei crowd admitted
and defended all the positions of the SSPX before 1988.
d. Sedevacantists – Take disobedience too far, even to usurping the authority of the
Church. Prima sedes a nemine judicatur! The Pope must be convicted of formal
heresy – this can only be done by a superior, not by armchair Catholics. This
response to the crisis creates two serious problems:
i. The Church is hierarchical! It cannot be the duty of individual Catholics to
declare the Pope dethroned (and elect a new one). It cannot be possible for
such a decision to have weight. Otherwise we would follow the likes of
Luther.
ii. The Church is indefectible! If the last true Pope was Pius XII (died almost 50
years ago), then today there are very few true bishops or priests. The
visibility of the Church is all but gone, and there is no visible Church as far
as the everyday Catholic is concerned.
III. Conclusion – Keep the Faith, save your soul in these difficult times.