A
young man recently asked Bishop Williamson for advice where to attend
Mass, telling the bishop that there was an indult mass and an N-SSPX
mass near him. Bishop Williamson told him to attend whatever was the
“least contaminated” mass near him.note
note
This should not surprise us, because Bishop Williamson also approves attending:
Bishop Williamson even publicly declared that there is “true worship of God” among the Anglican heretics.
Thus, because Bishop Williamson has promoted the new conciliar mass and other evil masses in the past, it appears his failure (up to now) to also approve attending the indult mass, must have been a mere oversight.
Bishop Williamson approving the indult (motu proprio) mass is evil! An informed Traditional Catholic knows never to attend the indult mass. Read Twenty reasons to avoid the motu proprio Mass
The
“old” SSPX regularly warned against attending the indult mass.
Archbishop Lefebvre called those masses a “scam” and a danger to
the Faith.note
Whereas Bishop Williamson approves of attending the indult mass, Archbishop Lefebvre taught that the indult groups are doing the devil’s work and are betraying us. Here are Archbishop Lefebvre’s words:
[W]e must not waver for one moment ... in not being with those who are in the process of betraying us. Some people are always admiring the grass in the neighbor’s field. Instead of looking to their friends, to the Church’s defenders, to those fighting on the battlefield, they look to our enemies on the other side. “After all, we must be charitable, we must be kind, we must not be divisive, after all, they are celebrating the Tridentine Mass, they are not as bad as everyone says”—but they are betraying us—betraying us! They are shaking hands with the Church’s destroyers. They are shaking hands with people holding modernist and liberal ideas condemned by the Church. So they are doing the devil’s work.
When Archbishop Lefebvre condemned the indult groups as traitors and “destroyers of the Faith”, he especially lamented the young people falling into the trap of attending the indult mass. Here are Archbishop Lefebvre’s words in a 1991 interview:
Q: But there are Traditionalists who have made an agreement with Rome while conceding nothing.
A: That is false. They have given up their ability to oppose Rome. They must remain silent, given the favors they have been granted. Then they begin to slide ever so slowly, until they end up admitting the errors of Vatican II. “It’s a very dangerous situation.” Such concessions by Rome are meant only to get Traditionalists to break with the SSPX and submit to Rome.
Q: You say that such Traditionalists have “betrayed.” Isn’t that a bit harsh?
A: Not at all! For instance, Dom Gérard made use of me, of the SSPX and its chapels and benefactors, and now they suddenly abandon us and join with the destroyers of the Faith. They have abandoned the fight for the Faith. They can no longer attack Rome. They have understood nothing of the doctrinal question. It is awful to think of the youngsters who joined them for the sake of Tradition and are now following them to Conciliar Rome.
note
(emphasis added). Interview of Archbishop Lefebvre, March, 1991, Fideliter #79.
When
Bishop Williamson approvednote
Besides Archbishop Lefebvre’s own condemnations, the “old” SSPX faithfully followed its founder and published repeated warnings against attending the indult mass. For example, when summarizing the evils of the indult Society of St. Peter, the “old” SSPX warned that:
They are therefore Conciliar Catholics and not traditional Catholics. This being so, attending their Mass is:
- accepting the compromise on which they are based,
- accepting the direction taken by the Conciliar Church and the consequent destruction of the Catholic Faith and practices, and
- accepting, in particular, the lawfulness and doctrinal soundness of the Novus Ordo Missae and Vatican II.
That is why a Catholic ought not to attend their Masses.
note
Quoted from SSPX FAQs: Q. 13, Fraternity of St. Peter. See also:
- Angelus Magazine November 1991, volume XIV, Number 11, pages 2-9; and
- “The Indult Mass: Should One Attend It at All?”, by Fr. Marc Van Es, Angelus Magazine, June 1994.
Tragically,
however, there are many ways Bishop Williamson has departed from the
“old” SSPX’s traditional teaching and is progressively rolling
out a liberal agenda, against the true Catholic Faith and against his
founder, Archbishop Lefebvre.note
Bishop Williamson’s latest liberal advice doesn’t merely promote attending the indult mass. He also promotes the general principle of attending any contaminated (i.e., compromise) Tridentine Mass, unless there is a less-contaminated mass in the area. Here are his words:
[B]e content to attend the least contaminated Tridentine Mass that there is anywhere near you ....
note
Eleison Comments #505.
The truth is that no Catholic should ever attend a mass that is contaminated, i.e., a compromise! Bishop Williamson’s advice is plainly evil and promotes (objective) mortal sin! This is true for six reasons:
Saints, such as St. Hermenegild, proved with their blood the great evil of Bishop Williamson’s advice.
Pope
Saint Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church, who was a contemporary
of St. Hermenegild, recounts his glorious life and his courageous
martyrdom because he refused the “least-contaminated” communion
“that there is anywhere near you” (as Bishop Williamson advised
the young man recentlynote
King Hermenegild, son of Leovigild king of the Visigoths, was converted, from the Arian heresy, to the Catholic faith, by the preaching of the venerable Leander, Bishop of Seville, one of my oldest and dearest friends. ... It was the Feast of Easter. At an early hour of the night, when all was still, his wicked father sent an Arian Bishop to him, with this message, that if he would receive Communion from his hands, (the Communion of a sacrilegious consecration!) he should be restored to favor. True to his Creator, the man of God gave a merited reproof to the Arian Bishop, and, with holy indignation, rejected his sinful offer; for though his body lay prostrate in chains, his soul stood on ground beyond the reach of tyranny. The Bishop therefore, returned whence he had come. The Arian father raged, and straightway sent his lictors [i.e., officers], bidding them repair to the prison of the unflinching Confessor of the Lord, and murder him on the spot. They obeyed; they entered the prison; they cleft his skull with a sword; they took away the life of the body, and slew what he, the slain one, had sworn to count as vile. Miracles soon followed, whereby heaven testified to the true glory of Hermenegild; for during, the night, there was heard sweet music nigh to the body of the King and Martyr,—King indeed, because he was a Martyr.
note
Recounted in the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, quoted in The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger, Paschal Time, Vol. II, April 13 (parenthetical words in the original; bracketed word added; emphasis added).
Had
St. Hermenegild been the young man to whom Bishop Williamson gave his
evil advicenote
Thanks be to God, that St. Hermenegild knew his Catholic Faith and so is a glorious martyr rather than a traitor to his Lord and the Catholic Faith!
Thanks be to God, that St. Hermenegild preferred to die rather than follow evil advice such as given by Bishop Williamson!
Notice
St. Gregory tells us that St. Hermenegild was offered a
validly-consecrated
Host.note
note
St.
Jerome, Doctor of the Church, teaches the same thing, viz.,
that the
Holy Eucharist gives no help to those outside the true Catholic
Church
because the
Catholic Church is “where
alone the paschal Lamb can be rightly eaten”.note
St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, likewise teaches the same truth, that even the Catholic Sacraments do no good in a false religion:
For all the sacraments of Christ, if not combined with the Charity which belongs to the unity of Christ [i.e., the unity of the Catholic Church], are possessed not unto salvation, but unto judgment.note
St. Augustine, ad Petilian, the Donatist, Bk. III, ch.40, ¶46 (bracketed words and emphasis added).
Of
course, the great St. Hermenegild was not a blind sheep like Bishop
Williamson’s followers, who are unwaveringly loyal but uninformed
enough to defend his errors (or cowardly enough to remain silent).
Had Bishop Williamson given St. Hermenegild the advice he gave to the
young man,note
note