SSPX Head, Bernard Fellay: Jews Are ‘Enemies Of The Church’

What’s with the perpetual anti-Semitic leanings of this Society?!

The head of a controversial Catholic sect says that Jews are “enemies of the Church,” but the sect has denied any anti-Semitic intentions.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, declared Jews “enemies of the Church” during a talk that aired on a Canadian radio station, the Catholic News Agency recently reported. Fellay’s remarks took place on Dec. 28 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chapel in New Hamburg, Ontario.

Fellay, discussing negotiations with the Vatican in 2012 concerning the Society’s future, said the following during the address: “Who, during that time, was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the Society? The enemies of the Church. The Jews, the Masons, the Modernists.”

Fellay said Jewish leaders’ support of the Second Vatican Council “shows that Vatican II is their thing, not the Church’s,” according to the Catholic Register.

The Second Vatican Council modernized the Catholic Church in the 1960s and is the reason the Society of St. Pius X split from the main body and was founded in 1970 as part of the Traditionalist Catholic movement. Some traditionalists blame Jews for the reforms that took place during the Vatican II council meetings, notes the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Society of St. Pius X posted a press release in response to Fellay’s “enemies of the Church” comment, denying any anti-Semitic connotations. The release reads that “enemies” refers to “any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls.”

The release continued thus:

By referring to the Jews, Bishop Fellay’s comment was aimed at the leaders of Jewish organizations, and not the Jewish people, as is being implied by journalists. Accordingly the Society of St. Pius X denounces the repeated false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech made in an attempt to silence its message.

This is not the first time one of the sect’s members has spoken out against Jews.

In 1985, one of the Society’s founders, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre also identified enemies of the sect as “Jews, Communists and Freemasons,” according to JTA. In addition, traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson has denied that the Nazis used gas chambers to kill Jews in the Holocaust and that no more than 200,000 to 300,000 died during WWII.

Jesuit Priest Rev. James Martin expressed his disapproval of Fellay’s comment and of the Society in general. “I cannot imagine how any further talks can continue with the group,” Martin told The Huffington Post. “Theologians have been silenced for dissenting in lesser ways from official church teaching.

Meanwhile, via the Washington Post:

The Vatican reaffirmed its commitment to dialogue with Jews on Monday (Jan. 7) after the head of a traditionalist breakaway group called them “enemies of the Church.”

The Vatican chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that it was “meaningless” and “unacceptable” to label Jews as “enemies” of the Catholic Church.

“Both Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II personally engaged in dialogue with Jews,” he said. As a sign of their commitment, Lombardi noted the two popes’ visits to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred site, and to synagogues in Rome and elsewhere.

The Vatican reassurance came after Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), said on Dec. 28 that “the enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the modernists” were opposing the group’s reconciliation with the church.

Fellay assessed the status of relations between the SSPX and the Vatican in a long speech at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in New Hamburg, Ontario. The audio of the speech was posted on YouTube on Dec. 30.

At Benedict’s prompting, the Vatican in 2009 opened talks to repair the decades-long breach with the SSPX, focusing on the group’s rejection of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which revolutionized the church’s relations with Judaism.

Anti-Semitic strains within the SSPX have been a major headache for the Vatican; shortly after Benedict lifted the 1988 excommunications of four SSPX bishops, it emerged that one of the bishops, Richard Williamson, was a vocal denier of the Holocaust…

On Monday, Lombardi stressed that he was not directly responding to Fellay’s words but merely restating the church’s official position on relations with Jews, which dates to the Second Vatican Council. He declined to comment on the potential impact of Fellay’s words on the dialogue between the Vatican and the SSPX.

And the Jerusalem Post:

Jews are “enemies of the Church,” the head of a radical Catholic sect said in Canada.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, made the remark during a Dec. 28 address at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in New Hamburg, Ontario, about 90 minutes’ drive west of Toronto. He was reviewing the situation of the society, which opposes Catholic Church reforms decided by the Second Vatican Council and is not recognized by the Church.

According to an audio recording posted on YouTube two days later, Fellay spoke about the society’s three years of discussions with the Vatican over the society’s future and explained how he interpreted behind-the-scenes communications.

Apparently speaking without a text, Fellay asked, “Who during that time was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the society? The enemies of the Church: the Jews, the Masons, the Modernists.”

According to the Catholic News Service, Fellay added that Jewish leaders’ support of reforming Second Vatican Council “shows that Vatican II is their thing, not the Church’s.”

As of Friday, there was no response from the society’s Swiss headquarters to a Catholic News Service email request for comment, the agency reported.

The Society of St. Pius X, , was founded in 1970 as a reaction against the Vatican’s efforts to modernize. In 2009, Pope Benedict launched talks with the society and lifted excommunications imposed on its four bishops.

One of the bishops was Richard Williamson, who has denied that the Nazis used gas chambers and asserted that no more than 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died during  World War II…

Totally unacceptable.

 

Bishop Williamson Removed from SSPX

Rorate Caeli is reporting:

Rorate has learned and can confirm that Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and co-consecrated by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer on June 30, 1988, in Écône, Switzerland, for the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX) has been removed from membership in said society by its Superior General, and can now be considered a former member. The removal comes at the end of an internal procedure that included repeated entreaties by the higher authorities of the Society regarding Williamson’s decisions and actions that apparently went unheeded.

Williamson is an insolent, dissident, holocaust-denying stumbling block and I, for one, am glad he’s gone.

 

The Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists) Erected

Today:

A traditionalist group based on an island in Scotland has been formally established as an institute within the Catholic Church.

The Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, was erected today, on the feast of the Assumption, as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right.

The community, which has about 15 members, has been in limbo since 2008 when it announced that it wished to enter into full communion with Rome.

The group’s decision was a response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass freely.

Previously, the community had been a part of the worldwide Society of St Pius X (SSPX), the estranged traditionalist group currently in dialogue with Rome.

This evening the community were to make a public profession of vows at their home on Papa Stronsay, a tiny, windswept island in Orkney, off the north-east of Scotland. The profession will be celebrated by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of Aberdeen, who, as their diocesan bishop, granted them canonical recognition.

Bishop Gilbert was ordained as Bishop of Aberdeen exactly a year ago, taking over from Bishop Peter Moran, who had retired.

Truly,  Pope Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

Their website is here with the Decree of Erection.

 

SSPX: Doctrinal Preamble Leaked

ECCE HOMO: SSPX: Doctrinal Preamble Leaked:

“The criteria and guide for the understanding of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council are to be the whole Tradition of the Catholic Faith, which on its part makes clear certain aspects of the life and doctrine of the Church, which are not yet formulated, but implicitly present in it. The affirmations of the Second Vatican Council and of the Pontifical Magisterium of the past relative to the relationship between the Catholic Church and the non-Catholic christian confessions are to be understood in light of all of Tradition.”" The source is Father Pflüger, First Assistant Superior General of SSPX at a conference on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, at the school of Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes. It is a return to the 1988 formula of accession.

So as Ecce Homo cleverly comments-no more ” altar girls, Mass facing the people, Communion in the hand, and all the other innovations that Vatican II never permitted-not to mention no more compromise with other religions when it comes to ecumenical dialogue.”

And definitely no more stealth priestesses and the liturgical abuses which have recorded over many years on this blog!

If this is passed, liberal Catholicism is over, at least formally (one cannot but remember that repeated declarations would studiously ignored in the early part of the last century) and one can ask what was the point of the Council?

Source

All of which makes me wonder what the SSPX position on the Ordinariates (Anglicans coming in) would be? Probably not that positive, I somehow think, but I would be open to correction here. Although, then again, with the Ordinariate announcing that its liturgy will be eastward facing, coupled with the restoration of a number of other ancient usages, perhaps they won’t mind all the joining Anglophones?

 

Catholics Must Accept Vatican II, including on Judaism

So says Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

CNS) — The Catholic Church’s relationship to Judaism as taught by the Second Vatican Council and the interpretations and developments of that teaching by subsequent popes, “are binding on a Catholic,” said the Vatican official responsible for relations with the Jews.

Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke to reporters May 16 after delivering a speech on Catholic-Jewish relations in light of Vatican II’s declaration “Nostra Aetate” on the church’s relations with non-Christian religions.

The afternoon speech followed Cardinal Koch’s participation in a meeting of the doctrinal congregation to examine the latest progress in the Vatican’s reconciliation talks with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.

“There are questions to clarify in discussions with this community. I can’t say more than that,” he told reporters, echoing a Vatican statement saying the reconciliation talks are ongoing.

In addition to the highly publicized position of Bishop Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop who denies the Holocaust, public statements by the society’s superior general, Bishop Bernard Fellay, leave in doubt whether the society as a whole accepts the entirety of “Nostra Aetate,” including its condemnations of anti-Semitism and of the idea that the Jews were to blame for the death of Jesus.

“All the doctrinal decisions of the church are binding on a Catholic, including the Second Vatican Council and all its texts,” Cardinal Koch said when asked if the SSPX would be expected to accept all the teachings of Vatican II. “The ‘Nostra Aetate’ declaration of the Second Vatican Council is a clear decree and is important for every Catholic,” he added.

At the same time, Cardinal Koch said, “it is very necessary to make clear the difference between the position of the Society of St. Pius X and the negation of the Shoah (the Holocaust), which is a position that has no place in the Catholic Church. It is very clear.”
Following the revelation of Bishop Williamson’s comments about the Holocaust, SSPX leaders issued a statement saying his position in no way reflected the views of the society. “I’m very happy about this,” Cardinal Koch said. “The Holy Father has spoken clearly about this position of Williamson, that it’s not possible, there is no place for deniers in the Catholic Church.”

In his speech at Rome’s Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Koch said “Nostra Aetate” is “the ‘foundation document’ and the ‘Magna Carta’ of the dialogue of the Roman Catholic Church with Judaism.”

The declaration highlighted the Jewish roots of Christianity and took “an unambiguous position against every form of anti-Semitism,” he said.

The church’s theological reflection on its Jewish roots, as well as on the relationship between God’s covenant with the Jewish people and the new covenant instituted by Christ have been developed further and authoritatively by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, he said.

God’s plan of salvation for humanity began with his covenant with the Jewish people and if Christianity ignores that, he said, “it is in danger of losing its location within salvation history.”

Cardinal Koch said that for Pope Benedict, the key to the theological understanding of the importance of a relationship with Judaism and Jews is that the Bible is one book detailing the entire history of salvation.

While Catholics profess that, in the end, all salvation will be accomplished through Jesus Christ, “it does not necessarily follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the son of God,” the cardinal said. “That the Jews are participants in God’s salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly is and remains an unfathomable divine mystery.”

The cardinal said, “The Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed toward the Jews,” but that does not exclude Christians bearing witness to their faith “in an unassuming and humble manner.”

 

Parallels Between the TAC and SSPX

Are there? Writes Deborah Gyapong:

The letter reminds me of some of the objections and hardened positions and insistence that Rome repent or change or recognize “we’re already Catholic” etc. that I encountered among those in the Traditional Anglican Communion who have decided to refuse the offer of Anglicanorum coetibus…

Of course the TAC is nothing compared to the SSPX in size and any other Catholic standard.   I’m just saying the parallels struck me.

Do give the piece a read here.

 

The Society of St Pius X (SSPX) Responds

LaStampa this morning:

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has sent an answer to the Holy See about the “doctrinal preamble” which might be the basis for a reconciliation with the Vatican. In March, bishop Bernard Fellay met with card. William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Dotrine of the Faith, to discuss the earlier response given by the Society on the “doctrinal preamble”. After the meeting, the Vatican revealed that the ansie was inadequate, and asked new clarifications in a month’s time, i.e. Aprile 15th.

Now bishop Fellay sent the “clarification” and according to a spokesman there will be no further public statements from their side, until the Vatican evaluates the document. The lefebvrians declared that they could not accept the preamble in the original form, and asked for some amendments to be made. The Vatican wanted them to acknowledge the validity of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which the followers of mons. Lefebvre see with open hostility and perplexities.

In March the Vatican asked them to soften their position, “to avoid an ecclesiastical rupture of painful and incalculable consequences”. In the following days bishop Fellay exhorted the faithful to redouble the fervour of the prayers to the Virgin to,“obtain from her divine Son the lights necessary to know His will clearly and to carry it out courageously.”

 

Vatican Statement on SSPX Ultimatum

A Communique the Society of St Pius X for those following these matters:

Given below is the text of a communique relating to the Society of St. Pius X, released this morning by the Holy See Press Office.

“During the meeting of 14 September 2011 between Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and president of the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei,’ and Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, the latter was presented with a Doctrinal Preamble, accompanied by a Preliminary Note, as a fundamental basis for achieving full reconciliation with the Apostolic See. This defined certain doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation Catholic doctrine, which are necessary to ensure faithfulness to the Church Magisterium and ‘sentire cum Ecclesia.’

“The response of the Society of St. Pius X to the aforesaid Doctrinal Preamble, which arrived in January 2012, was examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being submitted to the Holy Father for his judgement. Pursuant to the decision made by Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Fellay was, in a letter delivered today, informed of the evaluation of his response. The letter states that the position he expressed is not sufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems which lie at the foundation of the rift between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X.

“At the end of today’s meeting, moved by concern to avoid an ecclesial rupture of painful and incalculable consequences, the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X was invited to clarify his position in order to be able to heal the existing rift, as is the desire of Pope Benedict XVI.”

 

Of Ordinariates, the SSPX, & the Gravitational Pull

Fr Z:

Benedict XVI, the Pope of Christian Unity, has made it possible by his provision in Anglicanorum coetibus, for Anglicans to enter into Holy Church in new Ordinariates.  Their liturgical traditions are being codified and approved by the Holy See and implemented.  As my friend Fr. Blake points out:

Perhaps the deepest liturgical changes are those which affect the calendar, so it is interesting that Rome’s latest moves on the liturgical front is to restore the more ancient usage, but for the Ordinariate.

• As in England, Ordinary Time will no longer be referred to, being replaced by Sundays after Epiphany or Sundays after Trinity, [The later is an Anglican thing.  Romans talk about Sundays after Pentecost.] thus ensuring the whole liturgical year is now explicitly anchored and referenced to the mysteries of salvation.
• The three “-gesima” Sundays are restored.
• Rogation days before Ascension, and the Ember days in the four seasons of the year are restored.
• The Octave of Pentecost is restored, [Huzzah! Huzzay!  See my PODCAzTs about the Octave.] to be marked properly except for the readings which will be of the particular weekday.

Already the Ordinariate have announced its liturgy should be eastward facing.

The liturgical rites of the Ordinariate will exert a “Gravitational Pull” on the rites of the Roman Church.

Imagine what impact the influx of priests of the SSPX could have on the revitalization of our liturgical worship?

The establishment of Ordinariates for Anglicans simply has herald what would be possible for the SSPXers.

I have a sensation in my bones, much as I do when weather changes, that something might be coming along soon from the Holy See about the SSPX.  May I ask you to stop and say a prayer NOW for they reconciliation as a group?

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection, implored Thy help or sought Thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to Thee do I come, before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petition, but in Thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Rabbis Ask Vatican Not to Reconcile with SSPX

In via The New York Times:

European rabbis urged the Vatican on Wednesday to stop any attempts to reconcile with a group of ultra-traditionalist Catholics, the Society of St. Pius X, until the movement pledges to renounce members who the rabbis say are anti-Semitic. The Conference of European Rabbis said Bishop Richard Williamson, already known for publicly denying the scope of the Holocaust, was one of two members who recently revived the age-old accusation that Jews killed Jesus.

The Roman Catholic Church said at the Second Vatican Council that it did not hold Jews responsible for killing Jesus.

The Guardian is also running with the story:

Relations between Jews and Catholics are under immense strain after a bishop made controversial remarks on his blog.

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus’s death.

In his weekly post, Williamson wrote that “the killing of Jesus was truly ‘deicide’ ” and that “only the Jews (leaders and people) were the prime agents of the deicide because it is obvious from the gospels that the gentile most involved, Pontius Pilate, … would never have condemned Jesus to death had not the Jewish leaders roused the Jewish people to clamour for his crucifixion.”

His comments have angered Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors, who are urging Rome to cease reconciliation talks with the ultra-traditionalist splinter group to which Williamson belongs, the Society of St Pius X. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of the European Council of Rabbis said: “We call upon the Catholic church to suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling antisemitism within their ranks.”

Last month, Régis de Cacqueray, the head of the French SSPX chapter, also accused Jews of deicide. To the despair of Jewish groups, there has been increased dialogue between the Vatican and SSPX.

Goldschmidt said: “Comments like these take us back decades to the dark days before there was a meaningful and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Roman Catholics. There must be no rapprochement within the Catholic church for those of its flock who seek to preach words of hate.”

The Vatican has said SSPX will have to sign up to core teachings if they are to reintegrate, although it has not stated what these are. Four SSPX bishops, including Williamson, were excommunicated in 1988 when they were illegally ordained.

But the Vatican lifted Williamson’s excommunication on the very day that his Holocaust-denying remarks were aired. The decision appalled Jewish leaders, with many suspending contact with the Vatican as a result. The Vatican said it did not know Williamson held such views…

Here is a 2009 interview with the man: