DECLINING SLOWLY – I
If I will not live up to what I think,
My thoughts to the level of my life will sink.
Here follows an abbreviated testimonial from the United States, which hits many a nail on the head:—
The Society of St Pius X has been “rebranded,” and it is not the same as it was. As the original SSPX belonged to the Catholic Church, so the Newsociety belongs to the Newchurch. To those old enough to remember, it seems like Vatican II all over again, only worse, because this time there is no direct doctrinal attack, nor a major Council, instead the revolution is being spread by slow, almost imperceptible social transformation.
For while the appearances of Tradition are being maintained, the Traditionalist Movement is being slowly changed from within. Outwardly and materially things appear to be more successful than ever, with increasing amounts of money and buildings, but inwardly and spiritually there is decay, because the disease of modernism is imperceptibly infecting the ranks. A variety of symptoms indicate that the modernism is the same, for instance the new, young happy-faced Society priests who are just like the “peace priests” of the 60s and 70s, as the great Cardinal Mindszenty called them. But unlike the previous generation of priests they lack masculinity, and so do some of the Newsociety’s leading lay teachers.
Thus the Mass may still be Traditional, but the whole culture around it is Novus Ordo. Traditionalists want to preserve the Old Mass and the Sacraments, and some of the morals from the Catechism, but at the same time they want to have everything else the modern world has to offer. This makes many so-called Traditional Catholics, outside of the Mass and the Sacraments, largely indistinguishable from their counterparts in the rest of the modern world. The statistics are the same when it comes to divorce, annulment, “single mothers,” etc. If Traditionalists want to go with the modern world, they cannot stay with the true religion. It is one or the other.
As it is, the Traditionalist Movement is now opening up to the world, to become socially acceptable and normal. and the process of modernization is underway, slowly but surely. There is a new, young generation in charge and they are changing things. The old, quirky, embarrassing hardliners have been replaced, and Tradition has a new image, a young, happy, friendly face. The mainstream Church had its aggiornamento fifty years ago, the Society is being updated today. The old generation which fought so many battles to preserve things is now being replaced by a new generation which never knew the Novus Ordo, or how it came to be, and has never had to fight for anything. Today’s youngsters are liable to have grown up in a Traditional bubble, and have too little knowledge of yesterday’s war, background of today’s. Before the Council Bella Dodd testified to the Communist infiltration of the Church. Are we so sure that the same thing is not being done now to the Traditionalist Movement?
It was all too predictable. Being neither infallible nor indefectible, the Society is now going through what the Church went through fifty years ago – infiltration, compromise, disintegration and the same process of autodemolition. Archbishop Lefebvre would have noticed the radical change immediately, but a large number of the frogs in the Society pot have not even noticed how the water temperature is rising. The Archbishop”handed down what he received,” but how can the new generation hand down what it is no longer receiving? Therefore we now hear that the “inevitable reconciliation” is at hand. The SSPX will be accepted as part of the Newchurch, and conversely, it will have to accept the Newchurch. It will now be just one of many side-chapels in the Pantheon of the New World Order. And as for “reconciliation,” which side has given in to the other? Has the Conciliar Church become Catholic? Far from it!
See next week further examples from the same witness.
Kyrie eleison.
Declining Slowly – II
April 1, 2017
The modern world has wholly lost its way.
I cannot follow, and not go astray.
The original letter of last week’s writer from the USA was rather longer than the EC taken from it, and many interesting things were left out. Here are another two valuable paragraphs, on Traditional schools and Traditional women. The great lesson is always the same – if I do not live as I think, I will inevitably think as I live. Patience. God does not ask of us the impossible, but on the other hand He does expect us to do our best possible:—
Perhaps modernism is making its greatest inroads into the Traditionalist Movement in education. All kinds of modern practices have made their way into its schools without anyone seeming to notice. The modernist pedagogical and psychological philosophy of the 50s and 60s is being brought in, along with all the usual buzzwords and paraphernalia. Old-fashioned teachers have become the problem. A modern army of administrators, curriculum specialists, educational experts, child psychologists, etc., is now in charge, promising as usual to make everything better, especially in worldly matters such as test scores, college placement, and lucrative careers. Supposedly Traditional schools are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from the public schools.
The social revolution going on among the children in our schools daily, is especially strong among the young ladies. There is a virulent new strain of Traditionalist feminism. Many have imbibed the modern poison of equality with, and competition against, men. From a young age they are pitted against men. They want to compete against them, and they think they can do almost anything a man can. They think that the only test of whether or not a woman should do something is whether she is physically capable. To whatever Tadition may say about the role of women, they pay little or no attention. They believe the same lies that have already ruined a generation or two. They have the idea that they can have a highly successful professional career in any field, and still be a good Catholic wife and mother at the same time. The old phrase “A woman’s place is in the home” is not heard anymore in Traditional circles, in fact it is openly scorned. Worst of all, our young ladies are hearing and learning this not from the world, but from our own people. There are too many women in positions of public authority in our schools and there are too many women teachers. This is Revolutionary, and it sets a terrible example for our young ladies, which cannot be overcome by any amount of preaching. Yet what good does it do for a woman to dress modestly if she acts like a man in every other way, especially socially, economically, and politically? A few years ago anyone, not just Traditionalists, would have known this, yet now here it is, being promoted as Traditional.
Then what is so wrong with modern education and its modern methods? Answer, the heart and soul of true education is the Catholic Faith, meaning adults with the backing of the (true) Church, using their authority to teach youngsters, by direct human contact, firstly how to get to Heaven, secondly how to live sane lives as adults in the world, consistent with getting to Heaven. How many “administrators, curriculum specialists, educational experts and child psychologists” even have experience of the living classroom, let alone have the Faith? For lack of the Faith, today’s living classroom is a jungle full of wild beasts. No wonder the “experts” flee it. They are clueless, and powerless to educate.
And what is so wrong with modern women? Modern men, who have let them get out of control. God made women to be under their menfolk, even before the Fall. So what can a good girl do? Pray to St Joseph and to St Anne – both found wonderful spouses – to find a husband that she can respect. God’s arm is not shortened by the wickedness of men (cf. Is. LIX, 1). And men? Your womenfolk will find it much easier to obey you, if you yourselves obey God (I Cor. XI, 3).
Kyrie eleison.
